Flooding affects more than 1 million across East Africa

Flooding has affected well over a million people across East Africa, another calamity threatening food security on top of a historic locust outbreak and the coronavirus pandemic.

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New design principles for spin-based quantum materials

As our lives become increasingly intertwined with technology—whether supporting communication while working remotely or streaming our favorite show—so too does our reliance on the data these devices create. Data centers supporting these technology ecosystems produce a significant carbon footprint—and consume 200 terawatt hours of energy each year, greater...

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Anti-resonant hollow-core optical fiber reduces 'noise'

A new hollow optical fiber greatly reduces the "noise" interfering with the signals it transmits compared to the single-mode fibers now widely used, researchers at the University of Rochester report.

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VLBA makes first direct distance measurement to magnetar

Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) have made the first direct geometric measurement of the distance to a magnetar within our Milky Way Galaxy—a measurement that could help determine if magnetars are the sources of the long-mysterious Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs).

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Biologists create new genetic systems to neutralize gene drives

In the past decade, researchers have engineered an array of new tools that control the balance of genetic inheritance. Based on CRISPR technology, such gene drives are poised to move from the laboratory into the wild where they are being engineered to suppress devastating diseases such as mosquito-borne malaria, dengue, Zika, chikungunya, yellow fever...

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Mapping the 1.6 billion people who live near forests

Global maps of places where people and forests coexist show that an estimated 1.6 billion people live within 5 kilometers of a forest. The assessment, based on data from 2000 and 2012 and published September 18 in the journal One Earth, showed that of these 1.6 billion "forest-proximate people," 64.5 percent were located in tropical countries, and 71.3...

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Bolsonaro's Indigenous land mining policy a billion-dollar backfire

Research has found a proposal to regulate mining of Indigenous lands in Brazil's Amazon rainforest could affect more than 863,000 square kilometers of forest and harm the nation's economy.

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Melting glacier floods Arctic coal mine, highlighting climate change irony

On July 26, Svalbard's only active coal mine, Gruve 7, was reported to be flooded by its operators, Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani. It had been shut down earlier this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; now plans to reopen the mine will now be delayed even further as a result. Glacial meltwater entered the mine through a crevasse at the...

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Arctic sea ice is being increasingly melted from below by warming Atlantic water

Each September, scientists like me look out for the point when the Arctic's meager summer fizzles out and sea ice begins to grow once more. This point is known as the annual sea ice minimum extent. It has declined consistently over the past 15 years, and 2019 was the second lowest after 2012 in 42 years of continuous satellite records. This year's minimum...

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Hot Stuff: Unusual thermal diode rectifies heat in both directions

You can feel it on your laptop and mobile phone. It's behind your refrigerator and office copy machine. While heat is desirable for appliances like a coffee maker, it can jeopardize the reliability and safety of electronic systems in other devices, causing premature failure at best and explosions at worst.

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