Today’s top news
The world’s climate is most out of balance in recorded history, the United Nations meteorological agency issued a dire warning today.
We already know that human carbon emissions blanket the Earth’s atmosphere, increasingly trapping more solar radiation than can be released back into space, creating an imbalance and heating the planet. But a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reveals that this process is happening faster than at any other time in history, with 2025 set to surpass the previous record set the previous year.
Much of the excess heat, approximately 91%, was absorbed by the ocean. An additional 5% heated the land. 3% fell into the ice and 1% into the air. The ripple effects of global warming are also becoming more pronounced. This month alone, there was snow in Alabama, a record heat wave in the West, and flooding that forced evacuations in Hawaii.
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NASA’s Artemis II moon rocket has returned to the launch pad as the space agency makes final bids to launch the spacecraft by an April deadline.
This is the second time this year that the 322-foot-tall (98-meter) Space Launch System and Orion capsule stack has been launched onto the pad, the first being on January 17. However, after two wet dress rehearsals and two leaks, NASA decided to return the rocket to the vehicle assembly building for repairs.
NASA is expected to announce further tests this week, including a wet dress rehearsal. If the modifications work as planned, the rocket could be launched as early as April 1.
3 books to read
Putting a new twist on things? Strange ‘half-Möbius’ molecule has unusual properties chemists have never seen before [Live Science]China could become the world’s largest public funder of science within two years [Nature]Analysis reveals 5 million tons of CO2 emitted in just 14 days of US war against Iran [The Guardian]
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word of the day
Stereopsis — Greek for “steady vision” and used to describe the forward-looking eyes of predators, such as cats, snakes, and humans, that judge distance by comparing small differences between two points of view.
quote of the day
“Our ability to adapt to different environments and cultural adaptations, our biological ability, is our superpower. That’s why there are 9 billion of us and not 9 billion of other primates.”
Herman Pontzer, a professor of evolutionary anthropology and global health at Duke University, tells the story of how humans used their adaptability to take over the planet.
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You are reading this on some kind of computer. But how much do you know about the history of this now ubiquitous technology? Test your knowledge with this quiz.
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