科学新知

Impacts of Green New Deal Energy Plans on Grid Stability, Costs, Jobs, Health, and Climate in 143 Countries: a transition to 100% Wind-Water-Solar energy should reduce private and social costs substantially without the need for nuclear power, fossil fuels with carbon capture, or bioenergy. Read Full Article

Light pollution can suppress melatonin production in humans and animals.Melatonin synchronizes the day-night-rhythm in animals and humans. It adjusts the circadian clocks of cells, tissues and organs, and regulates other seasonal processes like reproduction. Read Full Article

Stronger 2005 U.S. air quality standards resulted in large health returns, study finds. Researchers compared, over time, health outcomes in counties complying with the standards to outcomes in counties that were not. This new approach builds upon past research, providing new evidence of causality. Read Full Article

Healthy Diet Could Save $50B in Health Care Costs. Study examining 10 dietary factors finds that unhealthy diets account for almost 20 percent of heart disease, stroke and diabetes costs in the U.S. Read Full Article

A USC analysis of tens of thousands of cannabis-related posts on Twitter found that social bots regularly perpetuated bogus health claims on the platform, illustrating how false statements may drown out solid science on social media. Read Full Article

Scientists present an approach to encode medical history on a patient using quantum dots in the skin, which are invisible to the naked eye yet detectable when exposed to near-infrared light, with success on rats and synthetic human skin. This may lead to decentralized data storage and biosensing. Read Full Article

Regular cannabis use is linked to enlarged left ventricles and early signs of impaired heart function. Research is preliminary but suggests frequent cannabis use causes structural and functional changes in the heart. Read Full Article

An vaccine against Zika virus protected the fetus in pregnant rhesus monkeys. The trials could support approval of the vaccine, currently in phase II clinical trials in humans. Read Full Article

A chemical compound in essential oils improves the healing process in mice when topically applied to a skin wound; a finding that could lead to improved treatments for skin injuries in humans. The chemical compound, beta-carophyllene, is found in lavender, rosemary, ylang ylang, and other spices. Read Full Article

NASA's 'Treasure Map' of Water Ice on Mars Shows Where Humans Should Land Read Full Article

Using human blood cells, researchers successfully 3D bioprinted “mini-livers” that perform all liver’s typical functions (producing vital proteins, storing vitamins, and secreting bile). Liver tissue can be made in the lab in only 90 days and may in future become an alternative to organ transplants. Read Full Article

Dogs may be able to count, suggests a new fMRI brain scan study, which found that when dogs compute basic numbers, a specific part of the brain activated, and it’s the same part that humans use to do their own basic counting. The ability to process basic number quantities is spontaneous. Read Full Article

Pervasive human-driven decline of life on Earth points to the need for transformative change Read Full Article

Societies with distinct social classes are usually kissers; societies with fewer or no social classes, like hunter-gatherer communities, are usually not. For some, kissing seems unpleasant, unclean, or just plain weird. Kissing is clearly a culturally variable display of affection. https://telegra.ph/The-Half-of-the-World-That-Doesnt-Make-Out-12-18