‘We are turning a corner.’ Acting White House science director moves to calm troubled office | Science

It has been 1 month since Alondra Nelson became acting head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) following the 7 February resignation of Eric Lander, who admitted to “disrespectful and demeaning” treatment of employees at the low-profile policy shop. Nelson, a sociologist who has written extensively about the impact of … Read more

Newly Invented Catalyst Dramatically Increases The Efficiency of Turning CO2 Into Fuel

It took nature decades of photosynthesis, followed by eons of intense heat and pressure from geological activity to bake atmospheric carbon dioxide into the long chains of hydrocarbon that make up fossil fuels.   We don’t have the luxury of millions of years to mop up the excess carbon from our atmosphere, but advances in … Read more

Mysterious Syndrome Turning Sea Stars Into Goo Reveals Another Strange Twist

As we battle against our own pandemic, sea stars are being killed in the millions by a horrible condition that melts them into a sickly goo. Sadly, there’s no straightforward way to help these animals, such as protecting them with a vaccine, so conservation biologists have been desperately trying to find another way.   In … Read more

The Science Behind Why Some of Us Can’t Grow Big Muscles After Turning 50

There is perhaps no better way to see the absolute pinnacle of human athletic abilities than by watching the Olympics. But at the Winter Games this year – and at almost all professional sporting events – you rarely see a competitor over 40 years old and almost never see a single athlete over 50.   … Read more

2022 could be a turning point in the study of UFOs

In 2021, there was an upsurge in peculiar sightings reported, thanks to people with smartphones or other video gear that captured these strange glimmers in the sky.  Could these unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) be satellites, technology deployed by foreign governments, falling space junk or maybe even floating specialty balloons or purposely faked unidentified flying objects … Read more

The Amazon is turning into savannah – we have 5 years to save it

We have been hearing warnings about the destruction of the Amazon rainforest for decades, but experts say a catastrophic tipping point is now just over the horizon. Are they right? And if so, what can we do to pull things back? Environment 8 December 2021 By Graham Lawton The Ecuadorian Amazon Tropical Herping IT IS … Read more

Fix the Planet newsletter: The tide is turning for sea power

By Adam Vaughan One of Atlantis Energy’s turbines being lowered into the water in Scotland Atlantis Energy Hello, and welcome to this week’s Fix the Planet, the weekly climate change newsletter that reminds you there are reasons for hope in science and technology around the world. To receive this free, monthly newsletter in your inbox, … Read more