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Ripples in the fabric of spacetime could someday provide observational evidence for the goings-on in the earliest instants of the universe, revealing high-energy processes that currently remain opaque to even the largest particle colliders. So-called gravitational waves are a prediction of Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity—moving objects perturb spacetime, generating waves like a boat moving across a lake. But the waves tend to be subtle, and only celestial heavyweights are expected to produce detectable effects....

Key concepts Chemistry Solutions Miscibility Polarity Solubility Introduction You probably know some liquids, such as oil and water, do not mix together. If you pour them into the same container, they will form separate liquid layers, one on top of the other. Other liquids, for example rubbing alcohol and water, can be mixed with each other. But did you know that once both of these liquids have mixed you can separate them again into two different layers?...

Excerpted with permission from The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution, by Walter Isaacson. Published by Simon & Schuster, Inc. Printed by permission. Copyright © 2014, by Walter Isaacson. Sometimes innovation is a matter of timing. A big idea comes along at just the moment when the technology exists to implement it. For example, the idea of sending a man to the moon was proposed right when the progress of microchips made it possible to put computer guidance systems into the nose cone of a rocket....

You might expect that your earliest recollection would be dramatic—yet for most of us, it is fairly mundane. Only about a quarter of people report a first memory that involves a trauma, according to a 2005 study. Scientific American Mind’s online survey of readers’ first memories uncovered the same pattern. Young children are more likely to recall an event if they are prompted to talk about it and probed for details....

Editor’s Note (12/21/21): This article is being showcased in a special collection about equity in health care that was made possible by the support of Takeda Pharmaceuticals. The article was published independently and without sponsorship. COVID-19 has cut a jarring and unequal path across the U.S. The disease has disproportionately harmed and killed people of color. Compared with non-Hispanic white people, American Indian, Black and Latinx individuals, respectively, faced 3.5, 2....

Snow crabs have arrived off the Arctic coast of Norway, around the islands of Svalbard—foot soldiers in the world’s newest territorial battle. The crabs were not seen there at the start of this century, but today multitudes have migrated to the chilly waters. Models project that the snow crab catch could soon reach 170,000 metric tons a year—potentially bringing in about $1 billion and making it, with Arctic cod, one of the region’s most lucrative resources....

In 2006 Salman Khan logged on to YouTube and uploaded a handful of videos he had made to help his cousins with their homework. Three years later Khan’s videos had so many users that he quit his finance job to focus full-time on his free, nonprofit online education project. Bill Gates and Google soon got involved, and the media spread Khan’s story far and wide. Today six million students visit the Khan Academy each month where they watch lectures on subjects ranging from arithmetic to differential equations....

The more scientists learn about “Tabby’s Star,” the more mysterious the bizarre object gets. Newly analyzed observations by NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler space telescope show that the star KIC 8462852—whose occasional, dramatic dips in brightness still have astronomers scratching their heads — has also dimmed overall during the last few years. “The steady brightness change in KIC 8462852 is pretty astounding,” study lead authorBen Montet, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, said in a statement....

Large Losses Researchers collect and examine a dead northern brown howler monkey (Alouatta guariba ssp. guariba). Credit: Danilo Simonini The latest outbreak in the southeast, which started in 2016, has been far more widespread and deadly to primates. Brazil’s Ministry of Health reported 4,575 suspected monkey deaths from yellow fever since May 2017, with 732 confirmed cases. Mendes estimates, though, that only 5 percent of all monkeys that perish from yellow fever are collected and registered (as most die out of sight in the forests) and suggests the official numbers are a major undercount....

Identification and treatment issues surrounding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are challenging enough. Now research is shedding light on long-term outcomes for people with ADHD. A May 20 study in Pediatrics reports that men who had ADHD in childhood are twice as likely to be obese in middle age, even if they no longer exhibit symptoms of the disorder. ADHD is a mental disorder characterized by hyperactivity, impulsivity, inattention and inability to focus....

On June 5 in the Americas and June 6 in the rest of the world, people will be able to see one of the rarest predictable events in astronomy: a solar transit of the planet Venus. Over a six-hour period the disk of Venus will be silhouetted against the sun. Seeing it safely requires a special eye-protection filter, available for a dollar or so—alternately, a telescope or binoculars can safely project an image onto a wall or sheet of paper....

By Jatindra Dash VISAKHAPATNAM India (Reuters) - Cyclone Hudhud blasted India’s eastern seaboard on Sunday with gusts of up to 195 km per hour (over 120 mph), uprooting trees, damaging buildings and killing at least five people despite a major evacuation effort. The port city of Visakhapatnam, home to two million people and a major naval base, was hammered as the cyclone made landfall, unleashing the huge destructive force it had sucked up from the warm waters of the Bay of Bengal....

Can a psychiatric disorder be diagnosed with a blood test? That may be the future if two recent studies pan out. Researchers are figuring out how to differentiate the blood of a depressed person from that of someone without depression. In the latest study, published today (April 17) in the journal Translational Psychiatry, researchers identified 11 new markers, or chemicals in the blood, for early-onset depression. These markers were found in different levels in teens with depression compared with their levels in teens who didn’t have the condition....

If you’re a true dog lover, you take it as one of life’s simple truths that all dogs are good, and you have no patience for scientific debate over whether dogs really love people. Of course they do. What else could explain the fact that your dog runs wildly in circles when you get home from work, and, as your neighbors report, howls inconsolably for hours on end when you leave?...

By now, the legal battle over irritating odors wafting from a Sriracha chili sauce factory in Irwindale, Calif., has hit the mainstream media, and the possibility of an impending “#srirachapocalypse” strikes terror into the hearts of zealous Sriracha fans everywhere. Last October townspeople started to complain about a foul odor emanating from the Huy Fong Foods factory in town. The effusion occurred during the chili-grinding phase of its Sriracha chili sauce production....

The climate 25,000 years ago was cold, very cold. It was the height of the last ice age, and survival required desperate measures – especially from those in Eurasia, where food and wood fuel ran low. Some chose to migrate, but distances and directions among groups varied. One faction ended up on the now-submerged Bering land bridge, a place where they would live in isolation for 10,000 years. They were the first Native Americans, according to a recent column in the journal Science....

Dear EarthTalk: I’m thinking about starting an environmental club in my middle school. Can you give me some ideas about how to start? Can you connect me with other school clubs? – Rosemary, Andover Township, NJ Starting an environmental club at school is a great way to get students energized about taking care of the Earth and helping their community while learning about some of the most important issues facing the world in the 21st century....

Public opinion towards science has made headlines over the past several years for a variety of reasons — mostly negative. High profile cases of academic dishonesty and disputes over funding have left many questioning the integrity and societal value of basic science, while accusations of politically motivated research fly from left and right. There is little doubt that science is value-laden. Allegiances to theories and ideologies can skew the kinds of hypotheses tested and the methods used to test them....

Despite airtight double doors, disposable laboratory clothing, frequent decontamination and other precautions, accidental infections can happen at U.S. biological laboratories. Perhaps worse, though, is that accidents are going unreported. Although the U.S. has not confirmed any cases of sick scientists spreading their lab-derived infections to the public in the past 40 years, the case of the tuberculosis-carrying traveler Andrew Speaker shows that modern jet transportation could quickly spread deadly infections globally....

Smoking marijuana may stoke a yearning for crisps, but understanding how it affects hunger is relevant not just to those who indulge in it. The drug has yielded a ripe target for scientists who seek to stimulate or suppress appetite: the receptor CB1, found in cells throughout the body. When activated by the anti-nausea drug dronabinol—which is also a component of marijuana (Cannabis sativa)—CB1 prompts the release of hunger-promoting hormones. And suppressing its activity is thought to aid in weight loss....