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Devastating Colorado fires cap a year of climate disasters in 2021, with one side of the country too wet, the other dangerously dry

  • Written by Shuang-Ye Wu, Professor of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, University of Dayton
imageWildfires that swept through Sequoia National Forest in California in September 2021 were so severe they killed ancient trees that had adapted to survive fires.AP Photo/Noah Berger

Alongside a lingering global pandemic, the year 2021 was filled with climate disasters, some so intense they surprised even the scientists who study them.

Extreme...

Read more: Devastating Colorado fires cap a year of climate disasters in 2021, with one side of the country...

Mechanical forces in a beating heart affect its cells' DNA, with implications for development and disease

  • Written by Corey Neu, Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder
imageContracting heart cells exert forces on their genetic material that affect how they develop.Benjamin Seelbinder, CC BY-ND

Sometimes cells can forget what type of cell they are and stop functioning correctly. This commonly happens in cancer, in which mature cells lose aspects of their identity and become more susceptible to begin dividing...

Read more: Mechanical forces in a beating heart affect its cells' DNA, with implications for development and...

How do fireworks work? A pyrotechnics chemist explains the science behind the brilliant colors and sounds

  • Written by Paul E. Smith, Lecture Demonstrator for Chemistry, Purdue University
imageColors, sparks, booms and whistles all require different pyrotechnic recipes.chensiyuan/WikimediaCommons, CC BY-SA

For many people around the world, the very first moments of the new year will be filled with the sounds and colorful light shows of fireworks. From loud bangs to long whistles, bright reds to pale blues, there are thousands of...

Read more: How do fireworks work? A pyrotechnics chemist explains the science behind the brilliant colors and...

The best way to follow through on your New Year's resolution? Make an 'old year's resolution'

  • Written by Mark Canada, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Indiana University Kokomo
imageMore often than not, the best-laid plans for the new year go awry.Nora Carol Photography/Getty Images

If you’ve made a New Year’s resolution, your plot for self-improvement probably kicks into gear sometime on Jan. 1, when the hangover wears off and the quest for the “new you” begins in earnest.

But if research on habit...

Read more: The best way to follow through on your New Year's resolution? Make an 'old year's resolution'

Manchin killed Build Back Better over inflation concerns – an economist explains why the $2 trillion bill would be unlikely to drive up prices

  • Written by Michael Klein, Professor of International Economic Affairs at The Fletcher School, Tufts University
imageManchin withdrew his support for Build Back Better. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

One of Sen. Joe Manchin’s main concerns in deciding to pull his support for President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan is that it would drive up inflation, which is currently rising at the fastest pace in four decades.

On Dec. 19, 2021, the West Virginia...

Read more: Manchin killed Build Back Better over inflation concerns – an economist explains why the $2...

Don't care about the Build Back Better Act? Hearing people's personal stories might change that

  • Written by Angela Bradbery, Frank Karel Endowed Chair in Public Interest Communications, University of Florida
imageReporters waiting outside a private meeting between advisers to President Biden and Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema about the Build Back Better Act on Capitol Hill, Sept. 30, 2021.AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

When U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said that he wouldn’t support President Joe Biden’s signature Build Back Better Act, he set...

Read more: Don't care about the Build Back Better Act? Hearing people's personal stories might change that

What's the point of holiday gifts?

  • Written by Dimitris Xygalatas, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut
imageIf you aren't a fan of holiday shopping, you aren't alone.Dave Einsel/Getty Images

Whether it’s the dread of a trip to an overcrowded shopping mall, the challenge of picking out the right gifts, the frustration over delivery delays or the hit to the wallet, shopping for holiday gifts can be stressful.

What’s the point of it all?...

Read more: What's the point of holiday gifts?

Genomic sequencing: Here's how researchers identify omicron and other COVID-19 variants

  • Written by Andre Hudson, Professor and Head of the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology
imageSequencing the genome of a virus gives researchers information on how mutations can affect its transmissibility and virulence.catalinr/iStock via Getty Images Plus

How do scientists detect new variants of the virus that causes COVID-19? The answer is a process called DNA sequencing.

Researchers sequence DNA to determine the order of the four...

Read more: Genomic sequencing: Here's how researchers identify omicron and other COVID-19 variants

Facebook became Meta – and the company's dangerous behavior came into sharp focus in 2021: 4 essential reads

  • Written by Eric Smalley, Science + Technology Editor
imageFacebook renamed itself Meta in 2021, but the year was more notable for revelations about the company's bad behavior.AP Photo/Tony Avelar

Meta, née Facebook, had a rough year in 2021, in public opinion if not financially. Revelations from whistleblower Frances Haugen, first detailed in a Wall Street Journal investigative series and then...

Read more: Facebook became Meta – and the company's dangerous behavior came into sharp focus in 2021: 4...

To get people the help they need from the government, postcards may be the answer

  • Written by Katerina Linos, Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley
imageCould postcards help reach people who need social services?Image Source/Digital Vision via Getty Images

President Joe Biden’s comprehensive social safety net bill faces a tough road to passage. But if Democrats succeed in getting it through the Senate and Biden signs it, there’s another challenge ahead for the legislation: How to get its...

Read more: To get people the help they need from the government, postcards may be the answer

More Articles ...

  1. Family rifts affect millions of Americans – research shows possible paths from estrangement toward reconciliation
  2. Are parents criminally responsible for the actions of their child? In the Oxford shooting case, prosecutors say yes
  3. What's the record for how long it's ever rained without stopping?
  4. UN fails to agree on 'killer robot' ban as nations pour billions into autonomous weapons research
  5. People who are bad with numbers often find it harder to make ends meet – even if they are not poor
  6. The magnificent history of the maligned and misunderstood fruitcake
  7. Kim Jong Un’s decade in power: Starvation, repression and brutal rule – just like his father and grandfather
  8. bell hooks will never leave us – she lives on through the truth of her words
  9. The US is making plans to replace all of its lead water pipes from coast to coast
  10. A Persian festival, Yalda, celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, with pomegranates, poetry and sacred rituals
  11. Taking out a student loan for your child can hurt your own financial well-being
  12. Convenient but susceptible to fraud: Why it makes sense to regulate charitable crowdfunding
  13. The 'runner's high' may result from molecules called cannabinoids – the body's own version of THC and CBD
  14. How to help those who have lost loved ones to suicide cope with grief during the holidays
  15. Sold-out supplies, serving a public need and other adventures of doing science during a pandemic – 4 researchers share their experiences
  16. 'Twas the night before Christmas' helped make the modern Santa – and led to a literary whodunit
  17. Why spending $2 trillion on child care, health care and fighting climate change won't make inflation any worse than it already is
  18. Mistletoe – famous for stolen holiday kisses – is a parasite that steals water and nutrients from other plants
  19. Surveys of scientists show women and young academics suffered most during pandemic and may face long-term career consequences
  20. It's all in the flag: Bussa's Rebellion and the 200-year fight to end British rule in Barbados
  21. Latest trials confirm the benefits of MDMA – the drug in ecstasy – for treating PTSD
  22. The best way to protect personal biomedical data from hackers could be to treat the problem like a game
  23. Brain wrinkles and folds matter – researchers are studying the mechanics of how they form
  24. Hurricane-force wind gusts in Colorado, dust storms in Kansas, tornadoes in Iowa in December – here's what fueled a day of extreme storms
  25. How effective are vaccines against omicron? An epidemiologist answers 6 questions
  26. What is the Fed taper? An economist explains
  27. What is the Fed taper? An economist explains how the Federal Reserve withdraws stimulus from the economy
  28. COVID-19 vaccines for children: How parents are influenced by misinformation, and how they can counter it
  29. How the Native American population in the US increased 87% says more about whiteness than about demographics
  30. I'm a Black woman and the metaverse scares me – here’s how to make the next iteration of the internet inclusive
  31. Cellphone bans in the workplace are legal and more common among blue-collar jobs – they also might be a safety risk
  32. To tree, or not to tree? How Jewish-Christian families navigate the 'December Dilemma'
  33. How Mrs. Claus embodied 19th-century debates about women's rights
  34. Mourning after mass shootings isn't enough – a sociologist argues that society's messages about masculinity need to change
  35. Pandemic, war and environmental disaster push scientists to deliver quick answers – here's what it takes to do good science under pressure
  36. 2021 Arctic Report Card reveals a (human) story of cascading disruptions, extreme events and global connections
  37. Vast majority of American workers like their jobs – even as a record number quit them
  38. Smoke, heat and stress: A snapshot from Southern California of life in an altered climate
  39. US prep schools held student exchanges with elite Nazi academies
  40. 'Strangers in their own land': Iraqi Yazidis and their plight, 7 years on from genocide
  41. What partnership looks like in Mormon marriages is shifting – slowly
  42. Orthodox Jewish women's leadership is growing – and it's not all about rabbis
  43. Comic book introduces kids to key concepts and careers in cybersecurity
  44. Blocking an immune system molecule in mice may help prevent long-term disabilities after traumatic brain injury
  45. Tornadoes and climate change: What a warming world means for deadly twisters and the type of storms that spawn them
  46. Here's how Southern Baptist women found ways to lead outside the denomination
  47. In polygamous communities, deep roots of distrust shape vaccine hesitancy
  48. The US doesn't have enough faculty to train the next generation of nurses
  49. Why is my poop brown?
  50. Why the southern US is prone to December tornadoes