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New Maps Show US Flood Damage Rising 26 Percent in Next 30 Years

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The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. Climate change is raising flood risks in neighborhoods across the U.S. much faster than many people realize. Over the next three decades, the cost of flood damage is on pace to rise 26% due to climate change alone, an … Read more

The Mysterious ‘Pareidolia’ Phenomenon Turns Out to Have a Surprising Bias

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It’s fun sometimes when your eyes play tricks on you, and you see a face that isn’t really there, staring back at you from a power plug or a potato. This phenomenon is called face pareidolia, and it’s something that humans, and even chimps, naturally do.   But it looks like facial features aren’t the … Read more

Invisible Air Pollution in The Country May Be Just as Toxic as The Smog of The City

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It’s easy to see air pollution when it settles as smog over a city. Yet even in rural areas, where the air looks clearer, researchers have found unhealthy particles floating in the atmosphere.   That sweet country air may not be as invigorating as we once thought. Fine particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in … Read more

Planet Earth Contains Over 9,000 Tree Species Yet to Be Discovered, Scientists Say

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An ambitious, first-of-its-kind effort to estimate how many different kinds of trees exist on Earth suggests our planet is teeming with thousands of tree species that still haven’t been discovered.   The huge international research effort – involving the work of over 100 scientists – estimates that there are approximately 73,000 tree species in total … Read more

Most COVID-19 ICU Survivors Still Experience Symptoms a Year After Admission

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Efforts to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control while still returning to some sort of normal life are delicately balanced – and new research suggests more attention needs to be paid to the long-term effects of the virus for those patients who required placement in intensive care units (ICUs).   An analysis of 246 patients … Read more

Waiting Over 5 Hours in ER Is Linked to Higher Death Rates, New Data Show

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As emergency rooms worldwide are flooded with a wave of new COVID-19 patients, a large study in the United Kingdom has laid out the deadly consequences of delayed critical care.   Nearly 27 million individuals attended a major emergency room in England from 2016 to 2018, waiting on average just under five hours for a … Read more

The World’s Massive Need For More Solar Panels Has One Shiny Catch

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There’s a major catch to the world’s need for solar panels, a new analysis suggests. The booming solar panel market – which is critical for a clean energy future – could demand close to half the world’s aluminum by 2050. Thankfully, there are ways we can mitigate this.    Unlike more precious metals, such as … Read more

A ‘Pristine’ Reef of Rose-Shaped Corals Was Just Found Off The Coast of Tahiti

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Scientists have discovered a vast reef of “pristine” rose-shaped corals apparently unharmed by climate change in deep water off the coast of Tahiti, UNESCO announced Thursday. Mapping approximately three kilometers (two miles) long and up to 65 meters (213 feet) wide, UNESCO said it was “one of the most extensive healthy coral reefs on record”. … Read more

We’re Facing a Myopia ‘Epidemic’, Scientists Say. Here’s Why

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Scientists are warning of an emerging ‘epidemic‘ of myopia or near-sightedness, having observed sharp increases in the adult onset of myopia among late baby boomers. Based on data collected from 107,442 participants in the extensive Biobank program in the UK, people born in the late 1960s are 10 percent more likely to be near-sighted than … Read more

In a Historic Milestone, Silicon Quantum Computing Just Exceeded 99% Accuracy

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A major milestone has just been reached in quantum computing. Three separate teams around the world have passed the 99 percent accuracy threshold for silicon-based quantum computing, placing error-free quantum operations within tantalizing grasp.   In Australia, a team led by physicist Andrea Morello of the University of New South Wales achieved 99.95 percent accuracy … Read more