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“Crazy haywire”: Massive coral reef bleaching driven by climate change

May 21, 2024 |

“Crazy haywire” are not words one usually hears from an official at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), yet that is how Derek Manzello recently described the record-high temperatures threatening to decimate the world’s coral reefs. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, the coordinator of the NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch Program said that more than three-fifths of the world’s coral reefs (60.5%) had started bleaching due to high ocean temperatures....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Sociopaths and psychopaths are not necessarily monsters. Experts urge using these terms properly

May 20, 2024 |

To learn how to spot a psychopath and a sociopath, one must begin by dispelling a common myth about them: They are not all murderers.

This may come as a surprise to some readers. When we hear about psychopaths, it is usually in the context of true crime stories or horror movies, such as when the Michael Myers of the “Halloween” series is described as having “the eyes of a psychopath.”...

Originally posted on salon.com

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Cold-blooded killer: Study finds climate change is driving deadly cold waves, harming wildlife

May 15, 2024 |

Bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) are large, voracious predators. Measuring anywhere from 7 to 11 feet from tail to snout, with dark gray skin and a white underbelly, bull sharks eat everything from fishes and dolphins to other sharks and even the occasional human. It is for that last reason that it takes a lot of gumption to attach electronic tags to wild bull sharks — yet that is precisely what scientists did in a recent study for the journal Nature....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Magma world: A volcanic planet is “constantly exploding” with molten lava, astronomers announce

May 14, 2024 |

Like a giant exploding ember floating in space, a planet made of molten lava and covered in active volcanoes was recently described in The Astronomical Journal. Known as TOI-6713.01, the exoplanet was first spotted by UC Riverside astrophysicist Dr. Stephen R. Kane using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Scientists decode orangutan communication using machine learning

May 14, 2024 |

Wendy Erb has spent countless hours studying orangutans in Borneo’s tropical peatland forests in order to learn how male Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) communicate. While doing so, she discovered one undeniable advantage of understanding orangutan language: When the males decide to show off their strength by uprooting nearby trees, nearby scientists need to be careful to not get smooshed....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Who is most to blame for climate change? Regardless of the answer, global cooperation is critical

May 13, 2024 |

Climate change is one of the biggest existential threats to humanity, but in the ongoing struggle to fight it, a debate over which countries are most responsible for emitting the greenhouse gases accelerating the crisis. Indeed, China emits more CO2 than the U.S., but both countries are the world’s top producers of this heat-trapping gas....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Does healthy narcissism exist? Why experts say there are positives to this personality disorder

May 9, 2024 |

When most people picture a narcissist, we think of self-centered, awful people who lack empathy. But it’s a real mental disorder that is more than just an insufferable personality trait — and in some cases narcissism may even have some benefits.

Clinically speaking, narcissistic personality disorder is “a pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy,” according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders....

Originally posted on salon.com

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