Rethinking insurance for floods, wildfires and other catastrophes
By Emily Underwood The industry is in crisis just when disaster coverage is most needed Read more
What will it take to recycle millions of worn-out EV batteries?
By Ula Chrobak In Nevada and other US states, entrepreneurs are anticipating the coming boom in retired lithium-ion batteries from electric cars and hoping to create a market for recycled minerals Read more
From the archives
Many food and beverage companies would like to embrace the CBD market, but the US Food and Drug Administration says, not so fast. Despite the proliferation of such products, they are illegal at the federal level and the agency cites risks to public health. But lawmakers are pushing back, Nicholas Florko reports for STAT News. Learn more on the challenges of researching and creating CBD-infused edibles in our story.
Building a better edible
By James Gaines Foods and beverages containing cannabis are popular, but probing their effects is difficult. Scientists are scouring existing studies and knowledge from nutrition research to learn how these products interact with the body. Read more
Coastal mangrove forests are widely valued for how much carbon they absorb, and a hardy grove off Kenya is providing locals with income from carbon credits and ecotourism — all while nurturing fishing grounds and shielding against storms, Geoffrey Kamadi writes in Science News. Alongside the successes of such efforts, many well-intended mangrove restorations flounder.
Many mangrove restorations fail. Is there a better way?
By Katarina Zimmer These carbon-hoarding, coastline-protecting forests are sponges for greenhouse gases. Doing plantings right and involving local communities are key to saving them. Read more
This week
Event: Insuring our uncertain future
Tuesday, September 27, 2022: 9AM Pacific / 12PM Eastern Is the disaster insurance industry hurtling toward a climate crisis? Learn how we can shore up disaster insurance programs and use them to help individuals and communities strengthen their climate resilience.
What we’re reading
Carrying a tune
When an underwater humpback whale assumes a head-down, tail-up position, it’s time to listen: The whale may be about to sing. The big gray mammals can belt it out for 30 minutes at a time, but not just any old ditty. All the males in a group sing the same song with specific, repeated phrases, which you can hear in a fascinating, eight-minute Royal Society video, hosted on Aeon. Occasionally, as biologist Ellen Garland explains, a new tune gets picked up. And a recent one was a hot hit: Scientists have found that it’s spreading across the oceans.
Powder keg
For decades, the cosmetics and pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson allegedly ignored evidence that a key ingredient in their baby powder, talc, may cause cancer. Then the lawsuits came. Now a new legal strategy known informally as the “Texas two-step” may allow the company — which earns billions of dollars a year in sales — to shed any further liability. For the New Yorker, Casey Cep relays the history of the company’s use of talc, the legal loopholes and lax regulatory standards that have enabled it to do so, and asks the question: If the two-step becomes popular, will we ever be able to hold companies accountable again?
Fourth rocks from the Sun
Astronauts have hauled lots of rocks back from the Moon; now it’s Mars’s turn. NASA’s Perseverance rover, which landed in the Red Planet’s Jezero Crater in February 2021, has drilled four rock samples from an ancient river delta. They’re among many samples that “Percy” is stashing on the planet for future pickup, and excitement is already running high, reports Alexandra Witze for Nature. Such sedimentary rock is the first to be gathered from another world, and preliminary data suggest that some cores may contain organic compounds — a potential signature of life.
Art & science
Quick draw
There’s still a week left in #SciArtSeptember, a monthlong art challenge that encourages science illustrators and budding artists to connect with one another and their audiences on Twitter. The challenge? Share a piece of work, new or not, every day. Illustrators Liz Butler and Glendon Mellow created and host the endeavor, which kicked off with a list of single-word prompts.
“Immature,” for example, has prompted a sketch of a young, fluffy eagle and an archival portrait of early-development crustaceans from the Zoological Society of London Library. “Heavenly” inspired a print of cloud types and a mini-cartoon about wind turbines. Above is a “mauve” dung beetle by science communicator and artist Kelly Stanford (mauve also inspired lilacs and zebrafish brain vasculature). A scroll through #SciArtSeptember will show you all that people have contributed this year — and if you have a hankering to share something yourself, here are those prompts.
