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As mayor of Kansas City, Kan., Joe Reardon is justifiably proud of the University of Kansas Medical Center, which has trained several generations of physicians and nurses for more than 100 years. After all, the medical center is consistently rated as the best hospital and treatment center in the state, according to a popular ranking of health institutions. So when Mayor Reardon—who heads the government of both the city and Wyandotte County, in which it sits—first learned that Wyandotte had come in dead last among the state’s counties in a rigorous analysis of health measurements in 2009, he was shocked....

The explosion of a “hibernating” star is revealing insight into how these star eruptions evolve, according to a new study. A team of astronomers has found evidence of additional mini outbursts leading up to the so-called classical nova—or final explosion of a white dwarf star, the planet-size remains of a star that has burned up its nuclear fuel. Their data provide the first direct evidence for the nova hibernation hypothesis, a theory that suggests a cyclical evolution of such stars....

A leading HIV researcher and at least five other delegates to a major AIDS conference are reported to be among the 298 people who died on board the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which crashed yesterday. The Boeing 777 airliner was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down by a surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine, killing all of those on board. The 20th International AIDS Conference is being held from July 20 to 25 in Melbourne, Australia....

On the outskirts of Beijing, a small limestone mountain named Dragon Bone Hill rises above the surrounding sprawl. Along the northern side, a path leads up to some fenced-off caves that draw 150,000 visitors each year, from schoolchildren to grey-haired pensioners. It was here, in 1929, that researchers discovered a nearly complete ancient skull that they determined was roughly half a million years old. Dubbed Peking Man, it was among the earliest human remains ever uncovered, and it helped to convince many researchers that humanity first evolved in Asia....

SAN FRANCISCO – Could a network of cell phones improve air pollution monitoring? That’s the hope of Nithya Ramanathan, an assistant research professor of computer science at the University of California, Los Angeles. She’s part of a team that has developed a system that relies on cell phones to report concentrations of black carbon, a particle produced by burning fossil fuels and biofuels like wood and dung. Tiny particles of black carbon are potent warmers....

By Nina ChestneyWARSAW (Reuters) - Global economic losses caused by extreme weather events have risen to nearly $200 billion a year over the last decade and look set to increase further as climate change worsens, a report by the World Bank showed on Monday.A United Nations’ panel of scientists has warned that floods, droughts and storms are likely to become more severe over the next century as greenhouse gas emissions warm the world’s climate....

By Emma Farge DAKAR, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Mali’s elephants, one of just two remaining desert herds in the world, will be gone in three years unless the government does more to protect them, a conservation group said on Thursday. Poachers have taken advantage of the chaos from a growing Islamist insurgency and other unrest in the lawless north to step up ivory trafficking - a trade that the United Nations says funds militants....

According to recent data, American doctors routinely misdiagnose migraines as “sinus headaches”—as if pressure from clogged sinuses is causing the pain. Then they prescribe antibiotics, which do nothing, notes Mark Green, director of the Columbia University Headache Center in New York City. “Medically,” he says, “there is no such thing” as a sinus headache. Migraines are an inherited form of recurring headaches, in some cases accompanied by auras: perceived noises or flashing lights....

People have long marveled at the majestic and mysterious northern lights that light up the skies over the polar regions of countries like Canada and in Scandinavia. Scientists have known for years that these undulating auroras are caused by a storm of charged particles high above Earth. And although a sight to behold, the forces triggering these lights can endanger satellites and air travelers near the poles. But researchers were in the dark about just what forces acted on these so-called magnetic substorms to produce the shimmering lightshows that dazzle us—until now....

A new map of the early Universe has reinforced a long-running conundrum in astronomy over how fast the cosmos is expanding. The data—collected using a telescope in Chile’s Atacama Desert—back up previous estimates of the Universe’s age, geometry and evolution. But the findings clash with measurements of how fast galaxies are flying apart from each other, and predict that the Universe should be expanding at a significantly slower pace than is currently observed....

Across a vast swath of Europe and Asia, rain is increasingly falling in the short, localized bursts associated with thunderstorms, seemingly at the expense of events where a steady rain falls over many hours, a new study finds. The study, detailed Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, directly links this trend to the warming and moistening of the atmosphere caused by rising greenhouse gas levels. The results fit with rainfall trends already observed in the U....

When all the votes are cast and counted in this year’s momentous November 3 election, the results will have deep and potentially long-lasting impacts on numerous areas of society, including science. President Donald Trump and his challenger, former vice president Joe Biden, have presented vastly different visions for handling crucial issues—ranging from the deadly coronavirus pandemic to the damaging impacts of climate change and immigration policies. The election’s outcome—not just who wins the White House but who controls Congress—will determine what laws get passed, how budgets are allocated and what direction key science-related agencies (such as NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) will take....

Behind a thin white veil separating his makeshift lab from joggers at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology indoor track, aerospace engineer Steven Barrett recently test-flew the first-ever airplane powered with ionic wind thrusters—electric engines that generate momentum by creating and firing off charged particles. Using this principle to fly an aircraft has long been, according even to Barrett, a “far-fetched idea” and the stuff of science fiction. But he still wanted to try....

Rejection of the patent sought for the Policeman’s Club Decision of the Commissioner of Patents. United States Patent Office, November 14, 1857 On appeal to the Commissioner from the decision of the Examiner, rejecting the application of John McLarty for Letters Patent for an improved “policeman’s club.” The model of the “club” on file is twelve inches long, is round, and about an inch and a quarter in diameter. It has a smooth and polished surface, and resembles the baton generally borne by police and other officers....

In 1909 five men converged on Clark University in Massachusetts to conquer the New World with an idea. At the head of this little troupe was psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Ten years earlier Freud had introduced a new treatment for what was called “hysteria” in his book The Interpretation of Dreams. This work also introduced a scandalous view of the human psyche: underneath the surface of consciousness roils a largely inaccessible cauldron of deeply rooted drives, especially of sexual energy (the libido)....

Groups of engineers at Volkswagen, working on cars sold between 2008 and 2015, faked engine emissions levels during laboratory tests so the cars could meet low pollution standards. But when the cars hit the road, their real emissions were much higher. The scam, dubbed “Dieselgate,” had severe consequences. The additional pollution in the U.S. alone could contribute to dozens of premature deaths. Dieselgate is one example of what researchers call collaborative dishonesty....

It feels like we are lurching from one disaster to another: as wildfires blaze across part of the country, a hurricane swamps a different area—and all this happens as a pandemic continues to rage. Costs are steadily mounting, making action to stem the release of greenhouse gases ever more urgent. Hopes on that front remained unfulfilled in 2021, but the year did hold some bright spots—including Washington, D.C.’s U-turn on climate policy after President Joe Biden took office in January....

At one time or another, we have all been frustrated by trying to set a password, only to have it rejected as too weak. We are also told to change our choices regularly. Obviously such measures add safety, but how exactly? I will explain the mathematical rationale for some standard advice, including clarifying why six characters are not enough for a good password and why you should never use only lowercase letters....

A development company controlled by osama bin laden’s half brother once advanced the idea that it wanted to build a bridge that would span the Bab el Mandeb, the outlet of the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. If this ambitious project is ever realized, the throngs of African pilgrims who traverse one of the longest bridges in the world on a journey to Mecca will pass hundreds of feet above the route of the most memorable journey in human history....

How do you know that your cute five-month-old infant is truly aware, that she is fully sentient, capable of having a phenomenal conscious experience of her mother’s face or voice? Let me hasten to add that the question here is not whether or not normal, healthy babies can selectively identify their mom’s face or voice; of course, they can turn their head and fixate with their eyes onto the face and eyes of their mother even very soon after birth....