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WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California officials yesterday opened the newest stop in their network of hydrogen fueling stations and another chapter in the state’s long-running pursuit of hydrogen-fueled vehicles. The hydrogen station in West Sacramento, just across the Sacramento River from the state Capitol, is aimed at enabling the public to buy hydrogen-fueled cars, which policymakers say are essential to meeting lofty state emissions goals. Auto emissions constitute 40 percent of the Golden State’s greenhouse gas emissions, so replacing conventionally fueled vehicles with low- or zero-emission versions is a key part of the state’s plan to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 percent below that by 2050....

The age of consumer genomics has arrived. Nowadays you can send a vial of your spit in the mail and pay to see how your unique genetic code relates to all manner of human activity—from sports to certain diets to skin cream to a preference for fine wines, even to dating.The most widespread and popular companies in this market analyze ancestry, and the biggest of these are 23andMe and AncestryDNA, both with more than five million users in their databases....

Alison Preston, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Learning and Memory, recalls and offers an answer for this question. A short-term memory’s conversion to long-term memory requires the passage of time, which allows it to become resistant to interference from competing stimuli or disrupting factors such as injury or disease. This time-dependent process of stabilization, whereby our experiences achieve a permanent record in our memory, is referred to as “consolidation....

Matthew Lieberman is associate professor of social neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles. In recent weeks, he’s also rebutted the claims of a recent paper, “Voodoo Correlations in Social Neuroscience,” which explored the high correlations between measures of personality or emotionality in the individual—such as the experience of fear, or the willingness to trust another person—with the activity of certain brain areas as observed in an fMRI machine. Mind Matters editor Jonah Lehrer chats with Lieberman about why most fMRI correlations aren’t false, the “reward” of intense grief and why accepting unfair offers seems to activate brain areas involved with self-control....

The Indian monsoon season is in full swing, drenching the streets of Mumbai and flooding the plains of Bihar. But dark clouds of another kind—disease, hunger and death—are also gathering fast. India is now ahead of all other countries in terms of the number of new recorded COVID-19 cases per day—close to 70,000 in mid-August. That’s about one fourth of world-wide new cases. Only two countries are anywhere close: Brazil and the United States; and India has lagged behind those two countries in achieving a reduction in daily cases....

Scientific American presents Everyday Einstein by Quick & Dirty Tips. Scientific American and Quick & Dirty Tips are both Macmillan companies. People approach life from a large range of anxiety levels. You’ve probably even noticed this among your own friends. One person seems to take everything life throws at her in stride, while another sees the smallest of obstacles as huge stumbling blocks. So are less anxious people born with their ability to roll with the punches or have they just had the good fortune to not experience high stress environments?...

May 1964 Earlier Man “The British paleontologist L.S.B. Leakey has discovered in Africa the bones of creatures he regards as the earliest men, for whom he has proposed the name Homo habilis. Previously the first true man had been thought to be Pithecanthropus, a creature that lived about 500,000 years ago. The bones Leakey and his colleagues have found appear to date as far back as 1.8 million years. Leakey describes the creatures as walking erect on feet almost identical with modern man’s and as having hands of considerable dexterity....

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said on Wednesday his office sued five drug manufacturers, accusing them of misrepresenting the risks of prescription opioid painkillers, helping fuel a drug addiction epidemic. A growing number of state and local governments are suing drugmakers and distributors, seeking to hold them accountable for the opioid crisis. The five companies Ohio sued were Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc unit, a unit of Endo International Plc, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd’s Cephalon unit and Allergan Plc, DeWine said during a press conference in Columbus livestreamed online....

At first glance, the proposal looked like an easy climate win: cut carbon pollution by mandating New York City landlords to install energy-efficient upgrades in buildings larger than 25,000 square feet. The intent was to target a stubborn hurdle in the fight against global warming: building emissions, which account for 70% of New York City’s carbon footprint and 12% nationwide. There was a problem, however. The proposal before the New York City Council didn’t take into account how the measure would affect low-income renters....

Where’s the science? Scientific American, in an attempt to compensate for the deficit of important science issues discussed and debated so far in the presidential campaign, today offers its evaluation of Gov. Mitt Romney’s and Pres. Barack Obama’s answers to the 14 top science questions facing the U.S. A grassroots citizens’ initiative known as ScienceDebate.org formulated the questions with the input of such leading organizations as the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Council on Competitiveness....

A successful treatment for Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that affects 1 percent of the world’s population and (an estimated 500,000 people in the U.S.) aged 60 years and over, may be “in our sights now,” says Ronald McKay, a researcher at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). McKay’s optimism stems from new research that shows that a gene, known as forkhead box A2 (FOXA2), is responsible for the differentiation and spontaneous destruction of neurons that secrete the neurotransmitter dopamine, a cell population that is progressively lost in Parkinson’s disease, which is characterized by tremors, loss of muscle control and speech difficulties....

Two books and a podcast series explore how we can improve our minds. Music may inspire us to dance, but can the right melody help improve our mental health? Yes, it can, according to Don Campbell, author of The Mozart Effect, and Alex Doman, an expert in music therapy. In Healing at the Speed of Sound (Hudson Street Press, 2011), the authors explore how we can use different soundtracks and even silence to tap into our brain’s creative side and to make us more efficient, relaxed and healthy....

Prions, the maddening, infectious proteins, and the diseases they trigger, such as the fatal neurodegenerative disorder in humans, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease—as well as its bovine counterpart, mad cow disease—have baffled scientists for decades. Although researchers know what they are (abnormally folded proteins) and the illnesses that they cause, how they form and multiply has remained elusive. Today, a study appearing in an advance online publication of the journal Nature announces a first step in demystifying the mechanisms governing prion behavior....

By David Cyranoski of Nature magazineThree months after the Chinese health ministry ramped up its efforts to enforce a ban on the clinical use of unapproved stem-cell treatments, a Nature investigation reveals that businesses around the country are still charging patients thousands of dollars for these unproven therapies.The clinics operate openly, with websites promoting the treatments for serious disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, diabetes and autism, and attract thousands of medical tourists from overseas....

A new more secure technology for guarding against theft from nuclear reactors has passed its first test. Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif., successfully monitored the power output of a relatively small nuclear power reactor by measuring the number of antineutrinos—ghostly particles generated by nuclear fission—that struck a refrigerator-size tank of liquid. Although the technology still has hurdles to overcome, it could pave the way for a new tool in efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation....

The joy of an app phone (as opposed to a mere smartphone, which only gets e-mail) is that you can download and install your own little programs and operate them on a touch screen. If you haven’t checked out these apps, you’re missing a lot of joy. Dragon Dictate. Speech-to-text is built into Android phones—a huge time-saver on a phone with no physical keys. But on the iPhone, you need this free app....

Anxiety, it seems, varies widely from one person to the next. What leaves you in a knot of angst may not even faze your friend. But two new studies show that during a crisis, anxiety seems to be contagious; you and your friends will probably ultimately arrive at the same anxiety level. David Eilam of Tel Aviv University measured how groups of voles—a small, social rodent—responded to threats produced by barn owls, their main predator....

In 2009 the U.S. government launched a program to hunt for unknown viruses that can cross from animals to humans and cause pandemics. The project, called PREDICT, was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, and it worked with teams in 31 countries, including China. It was just one part of an emerging global network for infectious-disease surveillance. Despite this network and the efforts of thousands of scientists working to ward off dangerous new outbreaks, the coronavirus behind COVID-19 was unidentified when it launched into an unprepared world at the end of 2019....

In its relatively short history Pixar has achieved remarkable success, garnering 15 Academy Awards and an average international gross of more than $600 million per film. Pixar movies appeal to moviegoers of all ages, with their unconventional plots and emotional depth. Talking cars (Cars), a rat who wants to be a chef (Ratatouille), an elderly man whose house floats to South America on the strength of thousands of balloons (Up), are among the unusual stars of Pixar films....

Each year hundreds of the best and brightest researchers gather in Lindau, Germany, for the Nobel Laureate Meeting. There, the newest generation of scientists mingles with Nobel Prize winners and discusses their work and ideas. The 2013 meeting is dedicated to chemistry and will involve young researchers from 78 different countries. In anticipation of the event, which will take place from June 30 through July 5, we are highlighting a group of attendees under 30 who represent the future of chemistry....