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The U.S. may be on the cusp of a stark turning point in energy and climate policy with the election of Donald Trump, who has stocked his cabinet with a majority of people who doubt or reject established climate science. Top priorities of the Trump transition team and cabinet nominees — many who disregard the connection between global warming and fossil fuel energy use — include rolling back eight years of Obama administration climate regulations and restrictions on coal, oil and gas development....

April 1961 Tiling “The Dutch artist Maurits C. Escher, now living in Baarn [near Amsterdam], has applied many of the 17 symmetry groups to mosaics in which animal shapes are used for the fundamental regions. One of Escher’s amazing mosaics is reproduced on the cover of this issue of Scientific American. Escher is a painter who enjoys playing with mathematical structure. There is a respectable school of aesthetics that views all art as a form of play, and an equally respectable school of mathematics that looks upon all mathematical systems as meaningless games played with symbols according to agreed-upon rules....

For better or worse, genetic testing of embryos offers a potential gateway into a new era of human control over reproduction. Couples at risk of having a child with a severe or life-limiting disease such as cystic fibrosis or Duchenne muscular dystrophy have used preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) for decades to select among embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) for those that do not carry the disease-causing gene. But what new iteration of genetic testing could tempt healthy, fertile couples to reject our traditional time-tested and wildly popular process of baby making in favor of hormone shots, egg extractions and DNA analysis?...

Tweaking the human genome with current and future gene-editing tools could lead to sophisticated treatments and prevention strategies for disease. The promise of those applications is reason enough to move forward with such work in the lab and clinic, albeit cautiously, the dozen scientists and bioethicists who organized the International Summit on Human Gene Editing said today after three days of deliberation and presentations in Washington, D.C. Altering the human germ line, such as eggs, sperm and embryos—considered more controversial than altering somatic cells to treat diseases like cancer—should for now proceed only in the laboratory, they said....

During the dark hours of August 23, 2015—while many New Yorkers were fast asleep—Asha Stringfield was fighting for her life against a man intent on brutalizing her. The man, a former boyfriend, had a history of abuse and had previously been ordered to stay away from the young woman. According to court records and media reports, while Asha lay on her bed in Brooklyn, the man beat her in the head and face with his fists and tried to strangle her....

In May 2020, as the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic chewed through Texas, I went to an Austin nature store and bought several bird feeders. The birds, drawn by seed and suet slabs, came soon afterward. They flitted down from the pecan trees and telephone wires: bold Tufted Titmice, bouncing Northern Cardinals and bullying crowds of White-winged Doves, House Sparrows and European Starlings. I wasn’t alone. Feeders have long been a popular way to connect with nature and draw in native species and passing migrants for our edification....

By Laila Kearney SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California’s record drought has left the Sacramento River so low that wildlife officials say they may have to carry all 30 million young salmon from the state’s largest man-made hatcheries to the Pacific Ocean in trucks to avoid depleting the stock. That is roughly three times the amount of salmon that are trucked out of the biggest hatcheries in a typical year, reflecting the severity of a drought that has prompted the governor to declare an emergency and warn of possible water shortages....

By Edith Honan NAIROBI, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Kenya has rejected a request to bring two young chimpanzees rescued in Ebola-hit Liberia to a Kenyan wildlife sanctuary due to fears about the deadly virus, the country’s top veterinarian said on Wednesday. Ebola has killed more than 11,200 people in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea since late 2013. Liberia was declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organisation in May, but there have been some new cases since then....

The very big idea that would transform Toms River and reshape the global economy was born in 1856 in the attic laboratory of a precocious eighteen-year-old chemistry student named William Henry Perkin, who lived with his family in London’s East End. It was Easter vacation, and Perkin was using the time off to work on some coal tar experiments suggested by his mentor at the Royal College of Chemistry, August Wilhelm von Hofmann....

Just about a week after releasing its fourth iOS 7 beta, Apple has rolled out another version of the upcoming operating system to developers. iOS 7 beta 5 went out to developers Tuesday morning, with Apple only saying to expect the usual handful of “bug fixes and improvements.” In its last beta, such tweaks included reworked call buttons, along with updates to its Spotlight search and lock-screen interface, and support for photo filters on older iPhone models....

Second in a three-part series. SUMMIT STATION, Greenland – At first glance, this research station on the highest point of Greenland’s vast ice sheet doesn’t look like much. A scattering of trailers perch on stilts high above the snow, with a neat grid of small yellow tents off to one side. There’s a tall metal tower, a few outhouses. A pile of fuel bladders stands in stark contrast next to the carefully groomed ice runway....

The Obama administration last week gave the green light to corn ethanol as a low-carbon renewable fuel – in apparent contradiction to California’s declaration last summer that the biofuel’s carbon footprint was too big to help the state mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Regulators and policy experts insist there’s no conflict: Both rules match the science; it’s simply a matter of what year you start counting emissions. Indeed, timing is everything: California looked at current emissions associated with corn-based ethanol and concluded they were too steep....

When words fail us, we curse. At least this is what the “poverty-of-vocabulary” (POV) hypothesis would have us believe. On this account, swearing is the “sign of a weak vocabulary”, a result of a lack of education, laziness or impulsiveness. In line with this idea, we tend to judge vulgarians quite harshly, rating them as lower on socio-intellectual status, less effective at their jobs and less friendly. But this view of the crass does not square with recent research in linguistics....

“The in-space separation of the crew capsule from the propulsion module was perfect,” Bezos wrote in a statement. “Any astronauts on board would have had a very nice journey into space and a smooth return.” [Blue Origin’s Spaceship Tests in Photos] A longer, 6-minute video of the New Shepard’s launch shows the vehicle rising into the blue Texas sky, with the passenger capsule separating from its booster and parachuting back to Earth....

Editor’s Note (06/11/18): Scientific American is re-posting the following article, originally published January 8, 2018, now that the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of net neutrality rules has gone into effect. Many fear the Trump administration’s December decision to kill the Open Internet Order could embolden broadband providers to manipulate how their customers access and use the internet, although it remains to be seen whether that will happen. The Trump administration’s recent decision to kill the Open Internet Order has a lot of net neutrality advocates fearing the worst....

The Planck space telescope has delivered the most detailed picture yet of the cosmic microwave background, the residual glow of the Big Bang. Scientists unveiling the results from the €600 million European Space Agency (ESA) probe said that they shed fresh light on the first instants of our Universe’s birth. They also peg the age of the Universe at 13.81 billion years — slightly older than previously estimated. “For cosmologists, this map is a goldmine of information,” says George Efstathiou, director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmology at the University of Cambridge, UK, one of Planck’s lead researchers....

A virus that lives in the human gut has just been discovered, and to the surprise of scientists, it can be found in about half the world’s population, according to a new study. While it’s not yet clear exactly what the virus does, scientists are eager to find out whether it promotes health or influences susceptibility to certain conditions, said Robert Edwards, a bioinformatics professor at San Diego State University and one of the researchers who worked on the study....

On an ordinary afternoon at Copenhagen Central Station, a performer sets up a drum in the center of a large hall. A cellist joins him. A woman approaches with her flute. They strike up a melody that seems familiar. A clarinet and bassoon and other instruments start playing. People pull out their cell phones and record video. Within minutes an entire symphony orchestra has assembled in the middle of the station, and suddenly it’s clear that this isn’t just your typical street performance; it’s the Copenhagen Philharmonic, and the tune is Ravel’s Boléro....

It’s great that your smartphone allows you to dial a cell number or adjust the volume on your favorite song just by tapping the screen, but it’s something of a one-sided relationship. No matter where you tap, it feels the same; no tactile feedback whatsoever. Don’t you ever hanker for something more? A proposed interface from Verizon would change the smartphone experience. The idea, described in patent No. 7,952,498, is to create a mechanical apparatus below the screen that could elevate discrete portions of the surface in the shape of any graphic displayed in the pixel grid....

Key concepts Fat Nutrition Food Snacks Introduction Do you enjoy eating potato chips? If you do, you are not alone. Potato chips are a very popular snack food. In fact, many people eat the equivalent of more than one bag of chips per month. When eating potato chips, have you ever noticed that your hands get greasy? Maybe you have heard people explaining that potato chips are bad for you because they contain too much fat—some of it unhealthful....