News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
For countless Americans, there was a dull but persistent pain to prepandemic life: high-priced housing, nearly inaccessible health care, underresourced schools, wage stagnation and systemic inequality. It was a familiar ache, a kind of chronic hurt that people learned to live with simply because they had no other choice. Faced with threadbare safety nets and … Read more
The searing “megadrought” that has gripped the southwest U.S. for more than two decades is the driest 22-year period in at least 1,200 years. The region hasn’t seen a more severe drought since the start of the scientific record around the year 800, according to new research published yesterday. An exceptionally dry year in 2021 helped break … Read more
Thousands of studies have linked the trillions of microbes living in and on our bodies to conditions from cancer to autism to depression. But most microbiome samples come from wealthy countries in North America and Europe, a new analysis finds, distorting our understanding of human-microbe interactions. “There are many ethnic groups and geographical locations that … Read more
Depression has become a leading cause of disability worldwide with no signs of slowing down. By 2030, the World Health Organization predicts the disorder could be the main contributor to the global burden of disease. Even though we now have some effective treatments for depression, including medications and psychological interventions, medical care remains woeful … Read more
Tanya Lewis: Hi, and welcome to COVID, Quickly, a Scientific American podcast series. Josh Fischman: This is your fast-track update on the COVID pandemic. We bring you up to speed on the science behind the most urgent questions about the virus and the disease. We demystify the research and help you understand what it really … Read more
Starting Wednesday (Feb. 16), aspiring space tourists can once again book a trip to the final frontier with Virgin Galactic. The company announced Tuesday (Feb. 15) that it will temporarily reopen its waiting list for customers ahead of providing commercial service. The seat deposit is $150,000, and the total ticket price is $450,000. As of … Read more
In the spring of 2020 a cartoon was making the rounds on social media. It showed a city perched on a tiny island, surrounded by ocean. A speech bubble emerged from the skyline: “Be sure to wash your hands and all will be well.” Not far out at sea, a giant wave labeled “COVID-19” was … Read more
Footage from China’s space station shows how its large robotic arm can “crawl” along the outside of the spacecraft. The new video from the Chinese Manned Space Agency (CMSA) shows the space station’s 33.5-foot-long (10.2 meters) robotic arm rising up from behind the Tianhe module and reaching out to find a docking port in the … Read more
Feast your eyes on our guide to the Star Wars movies ranked, worst to best! With 12 Force films (and counting), spanning multiple generations and yet all still somehow connected in the Star Wars universe, ranking them all from worst to best is no mean feat. While there are some obvious sweeping generalizations most fans … Read more
Often mistaken for primitive plants such as moss (if they are even noticed in the first place), lichens are actually not plants at all. They are a group of versatile symbiotic life-forms that play crucial roles in myriad ecosystems, from rain forests to Arctic tundra. Though some do closely resemble moss, others look like little … Read more