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Landmark U.S. EPA regulations to reduce air pollution from ships off the East and West coasts of North America came into effect yesterday, receiving a swell of approval from environmental groups. The North American Emission Control Area, or ECA, will reduce harmful emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter that can contribute to climate change and negatively affect the health of coastal communities. The EPA estimates that using cleaner marine fuels and engines will avoid up to 14,000 premature deaths each year by 2020 and up to 31,000 premature deaths per year by 2030....

Key concepts Genetics Inheritance Family Physical traits Introduction Has anyone ever told you that you look just like one of your parents or grandparents? Some characteristics, such as the shape of your hairline or whether your earlobes are attached or detached, are inherited. In this activity you’ll get to see how writing some characteristics onto a family tree can help you determine just how you inherited them. You will likely discover some characteristics that you got from your dad’s side of the family, and for this Father’s Day you can thank him for giving them to you!...

When a heart attack brings blood flow to a screeching halt, that’s only the first assault on our fist-size organ. Among survivors, the recovery itself fuels more permanent damage to the heart. Scar tissue can harden once-flexible heart muscle, making it less elastic. And as tentacles of this tissue creep over the aorta the heart muscle can no longer fully contract. This long-term damage can minimize the amount of oxygen-rich blood sent throughout the body, which can send patients spiraling into heart failure....

Key Concepts Gravity Air pressure Fluid dynamics Introduction Flying is thrilling. Do you ever make paper airplanes to watch them soar—or marvel at hot air balloons as they float through the sky? There are many ways of keeping objects aloft. Planes use lift by accelerating to high speeds; hot air balloons heat air so that it “floats” above ambient air. In this activity you’ll explore a different form of keeping an object aloft—and learn about gravity at the same time....

The United States was struck by more natural disasters last year than ever before, with 247 blizzards, thunderstorms and floods accounting for a record level of frequency partly attributable to climate change, according to a major reinsurance company. About 150 of the events were rainstorms and snowstorms, showcasing the rising number of meteorological disasters that are pelting the United States. In 1980, for example, when total disasters barely reached 60, the number of damaging storms was just over 50....

Early 1950s Tuberculosis researchers discover that a drug that treats infections, called iproniazid, also boosts patients’ mood. They learn that iproniazid slows the breakdown of three chemicals in the brain— serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine. These molecules take center stage in the next two decades, as scientists search for antidepressants. 1974 Eli Lilly researchers develop fluoxetine (Prozac), the first selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Fluoxetine thwarts the absorption, or “reuptake,” of serotonin. This boosts levels of the chemical in the pockets of space between neurons....

Education has been liked to decreased risk for dementia for decades, but researchers behind a new study opened up the brains of hundreds of people who had died with the disease to try to find out why this correlation exists. The scientists found that the number of years a person had spent in school early in life did not change the amount of damage to the brain from dementia. Most of the previous studies describing the link between education and risk for dementia were purely observational—a method in which “you can’t really prove a cause and effect,” says P....

By Amanda MascarelliA plethora of health problems from exposure to chemicals threatens workers and volunteers involved in clean-up efforts for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. People living in communities around the Gulf of Mexico are also at risk.But more monitoring is needed to determine exactly how the vulnerable are being affected, said researchers and health officials at a workshop in New Orleans, La., on June 22-23.The meeting was organized by the Institute of Medicine, a non-profit organization within the US National Academies in Washington, D....

By Zachary Fagenson MIAMI Fla. (Reuters) - A pair of aging airplanes that have flown into more than 100 hurricanes to provide data for U.S. meteorologists are receiving a retrofit this month that will leave just one available to fly when storms threaten the East Coast. Work on the two so-called hurricane hunters has been staggered over multiple years, ensuring one plane is always available to track a storm’s intensity and path, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which operates the Florida-based planes....

Parents of teenagers often view their children’s friends with something like suspicion. They worry that the adolescent peer group has the power to prod its members into behavior that is foolish and even dangerous. Such wariness is well founded: statistics show, for example, that a teenage driver with a same-age passenger in the car is at higher risk of a fatal crash than an adolescent driving alone or with an adult....

RESEARCH AND INCOME In “The Other 1 Percent,” Paula Stephan provides no evidence that income inequality positively affects scientific output, as she argues. As she mentions, the U.S. pours more than 0.3 percent of its (very large) GDP into science, and there are 100 other reasons—social, economic and historical—for high U.S. publication rates. The only evidential statement made, about Saudi Arabian output, goes against the article’s main point (illustrating that high pay has not correlated with top research rankings), but even here it is difficult to discern the relative contributions of size, geographic location, and so on....

Although climate change, deforestation and depletion of ground water are all serious threats to sustainable development, the biggest threat to future well-being remains the specter of war. The world was at the brink of nuclear conflict during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, and could quickly find itself there again in South Asia, the Middle East, the Korean Peninsula or some other hotspot. The Cuban crisis was transformed, through President John F....

A Chinese court has sentenced He Jiankui, the biophysicist who announced that he had created the world’s first gene-edited babies, to three years in prison for “illegal medical practice”, and handed down shorter sentences to two colleagues who assisted him. The punishments put to rest speculation over whether the Chinese government would bring criminal charges for an act that shocked the world, and are likely to deter others from similar behaviour, say Chinese scientists....

Wind farms are popping up all over the world. In the U.S. alone wind power capacity has tripled over the last decade. Although this trend is good news for efforts to curtail emissions and climate change, a growing body of research suggests wind turbines disturb their local environment in a significant way. Scientists have documented, for example, turbines killing hundreds of thousands of birds and bats. Now a new study has found wind energy also influences ecosystems indirectly, via changes that trickle down through the food web: Like tigers, great white sharks and humans, wind turbines can function as apex predators....

When Michael Wigler saw researchers using classical genetic methods “breaking their teeth” on the underpinnings of autism, he took a different approach. By looking at large genetic events, he developed a unified theory of autism that would recharge the field. The search for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)—substitutions, deletions or additions of a single base along the genetic code—associated with autism has yielded minimal insight into the genetic footprint of the disorder....

Offshore wind turbines will line the Atlantic coast; vast solar arrays will cover swaths of the southwestern desert; transmission towers will cradle high-voltage direct current lines and take electricity from the windy Great Plains to the populated coasts. That is the renewable future for the U.S. that the Obama administration seems to envision and, certainly, what Jon Wellinghoff forecasts. And as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Wellinghoff has a better than even chance of making his vision a reality....

Did you make it to work on time this morning? Go ahead and thank the traffic gods, but also take a moment to thank your brain. The brain’s impressively accurate internal clock allows us to detect the passage of time, a skill essential for many critical daily functions. Without the ability to track elapsed time, our morning shower could continue indefinitely. Without that nagging feeling to remind us we’ve been driving too long, we might easily miss our exit....

Our solar system’s first known interstellar visitor is likely even more alien than previously imagined, a new study suggests. The mysterious, needle-shaped object ‘Oumuamua, which was spotted zooming through Earth’s neighborhood last October, probably originated in a two-star system, according to the study. ‘Oumuamua means “scout” in Hawaiian; the object was discovered by researchers using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS), at Haleakala Observatory on the island of Maui....

Some creatures will go to great lengths just to save a little energy. Take the blind Mexican cavefish; this super-efficient animal uses almost 30 percent less energy to survive than its counterparts in surface waters, and it accomplishes this in a rather interesting way, a new study suggests. The blind Mexican tetra or cavefish (Astyanax mexicanus) saves energy by forgoing circadian rhythms, according to researchers at Lund University in Sweden. Sometimes referred to as an internal clock, circadian rhythms help many organisms — including animals, plants, fungi and even certain bacteria — coordinate their behavior and physiology with the day-night cycle, according to study researcher Damian Moran, a postdoctoral student in the Lund University department of biology....

A Georgia court this week halted construction of a new 1,200-megawatt coal-fired power plant on the Chattahoochee River, dubbed Longleaf, because backers failed to provide a plan to limit climate change–causing carbon dioxide emissions from it. “The plant as permitted [by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources] would annually emit large amounts of air pollutants, including eight [million] to nine million tons of carbon dioxide,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore wrote in her decision....