154 articles from MONDAY 10.1.2022

Last 7 years 'warmest on record' globally: EU

The last seven years have been the hottest on record globally "by a clear margin", the European Union's climate monitoring service reported Monday, as it raised the alarm over sharp increases in record concentrations of methane in the atmosphere.

Climate change and COVID-19

The lockdowns, travel restrictions, and remote working and remote learning that became obligatory for many people around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic may have been inconvenient for some of them but they also represented a lesson we might learn regarding how well we can cope without the daily commute. Such a lesson could point us to new ways of working and learning that might even have a...

Water security status in northeast China deteriorated from 2005 to 2015

Fresh water is the most important ecosystem service for human society. Its spatial flows establish the linkage between freshwater sources and human demands, and affect interregional water security. This is called "freshwater services flow" by researchers. A related, more general term, "ecosystem service flow," is often used to describe the transmission of a specific ecosystem service.

Competitive e-cycling lets you be a champion from your apartment

Later next month, Maeghan Easler will have a box fan propped in the window, blowing cold February air into her apartment in Des Moines, Iowa. She’ll have cooling packs—tights filled with ice cubes—stuffed into her cycling kit. And she’ll be pedaling like crazy.  Easler will compete with dozens of other e-cyclists from around the globe in the UCI Cycling Esports World...

A crowning achievement in understanding head development

Cranial neural crest cells, or CNCCs, contribute to many more body parts than their humble name suggests. These remarkable stem cells not only form most of the skull and facial skeleton in all vertebrates ranging from fish to humans, but also can generate everything from gills to the cornea. To understand this versatility, scientists from the lab of Gage Crump created a series of atlases over time...

Will we ever reach herd immunity to Covid? | Erin Mordecai and Mallory Harris

Access to vaccines, masks and tests will help us make the awkward transition from pandemic to endemicIn May 2020, we and other scientists predicted that many regions of the world might never reach the herd immunity threshold for Covid-19 – the point at which enough people are immune to infection that transmission begins to slow down.This remains true today, even as vaccines have become...

Can you solve it? Gödel’s incompleteness theorem

The proof that rocked mathsIn 1931, the Austrian logician Kurt Gödel published his incompleteness theorem, a result widely considered one of the greatest intellectual achievements of modern times.The theorem states that in any reasonable mathematical system there will always be true statements that cannot be proved. The result was a huge shock to the mathematical community, where the prevailing...

Fossil of 10 metre-long ‘sea dragon’ discovered next to Rutland Water

Most complete large ichthyosaur ever found in Britain found beside England’s largest reservoirThe fossilised remains of a 10 metre-long ichthyosaur, a giant “sea dragon” that terrorised marine life 180m years ago, have been discovered beside England’s largest reservoir.The discovery at Rutland Water nature reserve is the most complete large ichthyosaur ever found in Britain, with a skull...