What Makes the Eastern U.S. Drought Different from the West’s
November 27, 2024 4 min read Drought is more synonymous with the western U.S., but the eastern part of the country can descend into such conditions surprisingly quickly By Andrea Thompson The Manasquan Reservoir in New Jersey, which supplies drinking water to 1.2 million people, dropped below half empty in mid-November. Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via
Expressions of Pain May Have a Common Origin
November 27, 2024 4 min read Ouch! Linguists Find Universal Language for Pain From “ouch” to “aïe” to “yakayi,” languages across the world exclaim pain using similar-sounding words, hinting at a common origin By Allison Parshall Richard Drury/Getty Images What would you say if you suddenly stubbed your toe on a doorframe? Depending on how
Why We Probably Won’t Find Aliens Anytime Soon
Are we alone in the universe? The answer is almost certainly no. Given the vastness of the cosmos and the fact that its physical laws allowed life to emerge at least one place—on Earth—the existence of life elsewhere is effectively guaranteed. But so far, despite generations of looking, we haven’t found it. In that time
A Science Breakthrough Too Good to Be True? It Probably Isn’t
In 2014 astronomers announced a whopper of a discovery: primordial waves from the earliest moments of the big bang. The South Pole telescope results validated the long-standing but still-shaky hypothesis of cosmic inflation, the scenario where the extremely early universe underwent a period of massively accelerated expansion. News reports went wild, as did the scientists
Fluoride in Drinking Water Is Safe. Here’s the Evidence
Municipalities across the U.S. have been safely adding fluoride to their tap water for decades, and reams of data prove the mineral has worked wonders in strengthening enamel and preventing tooth decay. But communities could soon start removing or lowering levels of fluoride in public drinking water as misinformation about its purported harms gains dangerous
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