wired.science
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Astronomers Radically Reimagine the Making of the Planets
by Rebecca Boyle on June 26, 2022 at 12:00 pm
Observations of faraway worlds have forced a near-total rewrite of the story of our solar system.
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A Warming Climate Takes a Toll on the Vanishing Rio Grande
by Jim Robbins on June 25, 2022 at 12:00 pm
Rising temperatures and an unprecedented drought pose a grave and growing peril to the river and its ecosystems.
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A Guide to Abortion Resources in a Post-Roe America
by Lux Alptraum on June 24, 2022 at 5:07 pm
Most people don’t think about abortion until they need one. But with the right to access under threat, the time to plan is now.
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Roe Is Overturned After 49 Years. It Revolutionized Life for Women
by Maryn McKenna on June 24, 2022 at 2:31 pm
The national right to abortion pushed back the age of childbearing, increased college and workforce participation, and created economically stable families.
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The Capstone Launch Will Kick Off NASA’s Artemis Moon Program
by Ramin Skibba on June 24, 2022 at 12:00 pm
The tiny spacecraft is set to explore an orbit for a planned space station that will travel around the moon and serve as a staging point for future missions.
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What Polar Bear Genomes May Reveal About Life in a Low-Ice Arctic
by Maggie Chen on June 24, 2022 at 11:00 am
Two new studies use whole genome sequencing to explore how the animals have fared in warmer conditions, raising questions about climate and adaptation.
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What the DNA of Ancient Humans Reveals About Pandemics
by Rachael Pells on June 23, 2022 at 11:00 am
Genomic analysis of ancient remains has shed light on the origins of the black death and offers insights into the coevolution of humans and diseases.
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How Covid Tracking Apps Are Pivoting for Commercial Profit
by Matt Reynolds, Morgan Meaker on June 23, 2022 at 11:00 am
In the pandemic’s early days, government-backed public health apps acquired millions of users—a ready-made audience developers are eager to tap.
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Covid Shots for Little Kids Are Here. Now for the Hardest Part
by Maryn McKenna on June 22, 2022 at 7:04 pm
Hesitancy, bureaucracy, inequity, and the need to explain new formulas could slow down vaccine delivery to the last unprotected group.
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The Nightmare Politics and Sticky Science of Hacking the Climate
by Matt Simon on June 22, 2022 at 2:36 pm
Spraying aerosols and sucking carbon out of the air would bring down temperatures, yes. But the unintended consequences of geoengineering could be enormous.
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Do Birth Control Pills Affect Your Mood? Scientists Can’t Agree
by Grace Browne on June 22, 2022 at 11:00 am
Over 100 million women are estimated to use oral contraceptives, but studies on the pill’s mental health effects raise more questions than answers.
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NASA’s Giant SLS Rocket Is One Step Closer to Launch
by Ramin Skibba on June 21, 2022 at 8:03 pm
After three aborted attempts, engineers successfully completed a practice countdown that included filling the tanks with liquid oxygen and hydrogen.
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Here Comes the Sun—to End Civilization
by Matt Ribel on June 21, 2022 at 2:53 pm
Every so often, our star fires off a plasma bomb in a random direction. Our best hope the next time Earth is in the crosshairs? Capacitors.
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These Satellites See Through the Clouds to Track Flooding
by Sarah Scoles on June 21, 2022 at 12:00 pm
Remote sensing systems can struggle to spot high waters, especially in stormy weather or at night. Synthetic aperture radar offers a shot in the dark.
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How Lori Garver Launched NASA’s Commercial Space Partnerships
by Ramin Skibba on June 21, 2022 at 11:00 am
WIRED spoke with the agency’s former deputy administrator about how she architected a major shift to working with the fledgling private space industry.
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This Year’s Extreme Weather Is Just Getting Started
by Chris Baraniuk on June 20, 2022 at 11:00 am
Climate change and natural variability are making 2022 a year of big weather events—so get ready for more heat waves, droughts, and hurricanes.
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A Photographer Captures Earth as a Strange New World
by Zak Jason on June 20, 2022 at 10:00 am
Inspired by an 18th-century naturalist, Christopher Edward Rodriguez set out to document our climate-changed planet with fresh eyes.
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A Grad Student’s Side Project Proves a Prime Number Conjecture
by Jordana Cepelewicz on June 19, 2022 at 12:00 pm
Jared Duker Lichtman proved a long-standing conjecture relating prime numbers to a broad class of “primitive” sets. To his adviser, it was a “complete […]
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What Is the Ideal Gas Law?
by Rhett Allain on June 19, 2022 at 11:00 am
Without it, it would be impossible to inflate a balloon or a tire. But understanding how it works requires a little bit of physics and chemistry.
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Some Scientists Coined a New Name for Summer: ‘Danger Season’
by Kate Yoder on June 18, 2022 at 12:00 pm
Hurricanes, heat, fires, smoke, drought. Is it time to stop making the hottest part of the year seem cool?