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CLIMATEWIRE | A huge computer simulation showing ocean circulation patterns has given scientists new hope that some coral reefs might escape the damaging effects of global warming. A new study — based on a long-term project called “Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean,” or ECCO — has shown that little-known underwater waves called “gravity waves” may be plentiful enough to help scientists preserve existing reefs and help the polyps create new ones....

The demands of parenthood are so considerable that it’s fair to wonder why any adult takes on the challenge. Mammalian babies are especially helpless—and among mammals, only humans can see beyond individual sacrifice to understand a species’s survival depends on caring for its young. Yet there is remarkable consistency in the way all mammals change their behavior upon becoming parents. Suddenly they are motivated to care for their young, and know how to feed and shelter, nurture and protect new babies....

A Western import. Unnatural. Contagious. Un-African. All of these arguments and more have been invoked to support the numerous laws criminalizing homosexuality in Africa. But now African academics have used scientific evidence to argue against such laws and to urge African nations to abandon them. In a report published on June 10 by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), the academics, most of whom are scientists, make the case that laws criminalizing homosexuality have no basis in science and hamper efforts to prevent and treat HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (see go....

In her teens, Leticia Sierra realized that the future she had envisioned was out of reach. Sierra, who lived in San Diego, fled her native Mexico after suffering multiple episodes of sexual abuse before her kindergarten year. But since Sierra was an undocumented immigrant, she was not eligible for military service, which she’d need to afford nursing school. “I was blocked from pursuing my dreams,” she says. Two decades later, Sierra’s future was inverted once again....

How does our brain learn new information? —David Graybill, New York City Heidi Johansen-Berg, a neuroscientist at the University of Oxford, responds: THE BRAIN is an enormously complex network of billions of neurons connected by more than 90,000 miles of fibers—long enough to traverse Russia’s coastline four times. This intricate architecture allows us to absorb information quickly and efficiently. Learning mainly takes place at synapses, the junctions between neurons where information is relayed....

A new method for creating artificial plant chromosomes may pave the way for engineering transgenic crops faster, along with more bells and whistles such as better drought resistance, easier refinement into biofuels or even the ability to manufacture human medicines. A team of researchers engineered a “maize mini-chromosome” (MMC) by stitching together a circular loop of DNA designed to fool a corn cell into treating it like one of its own chromosomes....

by Philip BallScientists have created ultra-light and ultra-heavy forms of the element hydrogen, and have investigated their chemical properties.Donald Fleming, a chemist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and his colleagues generated two artificial analogues of hydrogen: one with a mass a little over one-tenth that of ordinary hydrogen, and one four times heavier than hydrogen. These pseudo-hydrogens both contain short-lived subatomic particles called muons – super-heavy versions of the electron....

Space has been back on the radar lately for the White House—an uncharacteristic situation in an administration that has not been known for any full-throttle interest in the realm beyond Earth. In an October 11 CNN opinion piece, Pres. Barack Obama underscored his belief that the U.S. will take the giant leap to Mars. “We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of America’s story in space,” Obama wrote, “sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time....

Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Beyond by John Hargrove , with Howard Chua-Eoan Palgrave Macmillan*, 2015 ($26) Since his first visit to SeaWorld as a young boy, Hargrove dreamed of working with orcas. Eventually he got his wish and became a senior trainer there, caring for killer whales over 14 years. As Hargrove’s love for and knowledge of the creatures increased, however, he gradually concluded that the work he was part of at SeaWorld was harming them and was unacceptably dangerous to himself and the other human trainers....

A recent study published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism has some very exciting findings in the fight against memory loss and dementia. I probably don’t need to tell you how debilitating dementia can be if you’ve experienced it with someone you care about. If you haven’t, count yourself lucky. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that around 50 million people worldwide have dementia. Nearly 60 percent live in low- and middle-income countries....

We have all likely used music to help us relax, to distract us, or even to help pump us up at the gym. But how far does our mind’s connection to music go? Can it make us smarter or even heal faster after surgery? The Mozart Effect Popular lore tells us to listen to Mozart to help focus while studying. According to the so-called Mozart Effect, listening to Requiem or Eine kleine Nachtmusik will improve your memory and increase your IQ....

Antifreeze Core sediments retrieved by three icebreaker and drill ships revise what is known about the Arctic since about 55 million years ago. For a few million years, the North Pole felt downright Floridian thanks to the presence of greenhouse gases released by some unknown geologic process. The warmth as recorded by the core data is 10 degrees Celsius higher than climate models had predicted. They suggest that heat–trapping gases may exert a more potent climatic influence than previously thought....

In a narrowly decided vote, an advisory panel to federal nuclear science agencies has recommended closing a particle collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y., rather than eliminating other costly facilities. The reason: federal budget woes are hitting all types of government funding from classroom education to highway repair. At a meeting this week of the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee, which provides guidance to the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, physicist Robert Tribble of Texas A&M University in College Station unveiled the findings of an effort he led to identify priorities for an increasingly frugal U....

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Lifestyle, establish Fairness, ensure blood pressure Tranquility, provide for the common Text Messager, promote less Outrage and secure Cell phone Service that’s anywhere near as good as it is in Other Countries, do ordain and establish this Cellular Bill of Rights. Article 1. The Subsidy Repayment must end Sometime. The carriers (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint) provide to us very inexpensive phones....

Prolonged dry conditions from the Midwest to the mid-Atlantic this summer has some farmers concerned about how it will impact their crops. The corn crop, an important staple along the parched agricultural zone extending from Iowa to Pennsylvania, is already being affected. According to some farmers, the timing couldn’t be worse. “Right now is a very critical time for corn,” said Elizabeth A. Hinkel, district manager of the Schuylkill Conservation District to the Republican Herald of Pottsville, Pa....

Paleontologists unearthed a strange sight in Newfoundland in the early 2000s: an ancient fossil bed of giant, frond-shaped marine organisms. Researchers had discovered these mysterious extinct creatures—called rangeomorphs—before, but they continue to defy categorization. Now scientists believe the Newfoundland fossils and their brethren could help answer key questions about life on Earth. Rangeomorphs date back to the Ediacaran period, which lasted from about 635 million to 541 million years ago. They had stemlike bodies that sprouted fractal-like branches and were soft like jellyfish....

Scientific American presents Nutrition Diva by Quick & Dirty Tips. Scientific American and Quick & Dirty Tips are both Macmillan companies. We hear a lot about the microbiome these days—the trillions of probiotic bacteria that live on and in us. As we are learning, these microbes contribute to our health in myriad and previously unimagined ways. The beneficial bacteria in your intestines, for example, aid digestion, manufacture nutrients, protect against food-borne pathogens, and even appear to play a role in regulating your body weight....

Dear EarthTalk: If the ice caps are melting, what is happening to the salt content of the oceans? And might this contribute to weather patterns or cause other environmental problems? —George Boyer, via e-mail It’s true that the melting of the polar ice caps as a result of global warming is sending large amounts of freshwater into the world’s oceans. Environmentalists and many climate scientists fear that if the climate heats up fast enough and melts off the remaining polar ice rapidly, the influx of freshwater could disturb ocean currents enough to drastically change the weather on the land as well....

Mike S. (not his real name) was 13 years old when one of us (Lilienfeld) met him on an inpatient psychiatric ward, where Lilienfeld was a clinical psychology intern. Mike was articulate and charming, and he radiated warmth. Yet this initial impression belied a disturbing truth. For several years Mike had been in serious trouble at school for lying, cheating and assaulting classmates. He was verbally abusive toward his biological mother, who lived alone with him....

IRVINE, Calif.—Mary Voytek, NASA’s senior scientist for astrobiology, likes to tell other researchers that “everyone is an astrobiologist; they just don’t know it yet.” What she means is that answering the question currently at the heart of astrobiology—Does life exist beyond Earth?—requires input from an incredibly wide range of disciplines, including astrophysics, geology, exoplanet science, planetary science, chemistry and various subfields of biology. On the plus side, that means astrobiologists have a lot of resources to draw on....