Notebook
- Health & Medicine
Blame opioids for a fifth of young adult deaths in the United States
Of young adults aged 25 to 34 who died in 2016, 20 percent of those deaths were opioid-related.
- Health & Medicine
Even in the shade, a car’s interior can get lethally hot
A car’s interior can get lethally hot on summer days, even when it’s parked in the shade.
- Health & Medicine
The CDC advises: Don’t swallow the water in a hotel swimming pool
In a 15-year period, hotel swimming pools and water parks had the highest number of swimming-related disease outbreaks in the United States.
- Animals
50 years ago, scientists warned of a sparrow’s extinction
Only 17 dusky seaside sparrows remained in 1968. Today, there are none.
- Animals
With a little convincing, rats can detect tuberculosis
TB-sniffing rats prove more accurate in detecting infection, especially in children, than the most commonly used diagnostic tool.
- Animals
These caterpillars march. They fluff. They scare London.
Oak processionary moths have invaded England and threatened the pleasure of spring breezes.
- Math
Real numbers don’t cut it in the real world, this physicist argues
Physicist Nicolas Gisin argues that real numbers don’t properly represent the natural world, which is a good thing for free will.
- Climate
Globetrotting tourists are leaving a giant carbon footprint on the Earth
Globetrotters are responsible for about 8 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, starving tumors of oxygen proposed as weapon in cancer fight
Starving cancerous tumors of oxygen was proposed to help kill them. But the approach can make some cancer cells more aggressive.
- Health & Medicine
Synthetic opioids involved in more deaths than prescription opioids
Winning a ghastly contest, synthetic opioids become most common drug involved in U.S. overdose deaths, bypassing prescription opioids in 2016.
- Tech
Private web browsing doesn’t mean no one is watching
Many people misunderstand what private web browsing actually is. Web browsers’ explanations don’t help.
- Astronomy
Celebrity names now mark places on Pluto’s moon Charon
Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, now has 12 new names for its topological features.
