Nov 13, 2024 | Salon.com
When molecular biologist Francis Crick tripped on the psychedelic drug LSD in 1953, his mind famously pulled together all of his previous research on human DNA to conceive of the image of a double helix. More than seven decades later, mathematician Robert Monjo believes he has discovered a similarly significant double helix — but this time not as the structure of human DNA, but as the structure of spacetime itself....
Originally posted on salon.com
Nov 13, 2024 | Salon.com
President-elect Donald Trump tapped New York Republican Lee Zeldin Monday to be his new head of the Environmental Protection Agency, further signaling his intention to oppose government action to address climate change.
Zeldin, who served as a United States Representative from 2015 to 2023 and ran against Gov. Kathy Hochul in the 2022 New York gubernatorial election, is being touted by Trump for policies that will “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses.”...
Originally posted on salon.com
Nov 12, 2024 | Salon.com
The following contains spoilers through “Arcane” Season 2, Episode 3
On Election Day, millions of Americans elected a Republican national ticket whose vice presidential candidate, JD Vance, regularly denounced women who avoid traditional lifestyles as “childless cat ladies.” At the top of that ticket, President-elect Donald Trump is notorious for pandering to prejudices against women, racial minorities and the LGBTQ+ community....
Originally posted on salon.com
Nov 10, 2024 | Salon.com
In 1641, French philosopher René Descartes, writing his famous “Meditations on First Philosophy,” observed that a mind is fundamentally different from the body which contains it. He reasoned that, while physical objects like flesh and bone can be divided or merged together, consciousness is intrinsically different because it cannot be quantified....
Originally posted on salon.com
Nov 9, 2024 | Salon.com
The Copernicus Climate Change Service, a European Union organization that monitors global heating, announced on Thursday that the year 2024 will be 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial levels. That means humanity has passed a critical threshold established in 2015 in the Paris climate accord.
“After 10 months of 2024 it is now virtually certain that 2024 will be the warmest year on record and the first year of more than 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels according to the ERA5 dataset,” Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), said in a statement....
Originally posted on salon.com
Nov 8, 2024 | Salon.com
When the science journal Nature surveyed more than 2,000 scientists last month about the 2024 presidential election, 86 percent said they preferred Vice President Kamala Harris over former president Donald Trump. Because of Trump’s anti-scientific views on issues like climate change and public health, these experts worried that a second Trump term would put millions of innocent lives at risk....
Originally posted on salon.com
Nov 7, 2024 | Salon.com
Donald Trump’s shocking Election Day victory wasn’t the only comeback on Election Day. The polling industry, which suffered serious black eyes after drastically understating Trump’s support in both the 2016 and 2020 contests, came through in 2024 by correctly gauging the extent to which voters would cast their ballots for the president elect....
Originally posted on salon.com
Nov 5, 2024 | Abortion, Salon.com
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on Monday that he believes climate change is caused by abortions, not burning fossil fuels.
Speaking on a podcast with former Trump campaign strategist and fellow Trump ally Stephen Bannon, who was just released from prison, Carlson denied the scientific consensus that fossil fuel use is behind global heating, and that this in turn fuels hurricanes like those which recently struck the American Southeast....
Originally posted on salon.com
Nov 4, 2024 | Salon.com
Unexpected flash floods overwhelmed residents of eastern Spain on late Tuesday and early Wednesday last week, with more than 217 bodies having been recovered so far, the majority from the eastern Valencia region. As Spain staggers from the recent natural disaster, scientists point to climate change as the culprit — and locals vent their frustration at government authorities....
Originally posted on salon.com
Nov 3, 2024 | Salon.com
For millions of Americans in the Southwest, the extreme heat from climate change is a literal life-and-death matter. Just ask Amy Dishion, whose 32-year-old husband Evan unexpectedly died from the heat while hiking six miles with friends in Phoenix. Dishion was left to raise their three-month-old baby.
“I lost my partner in life and my favorite person and the father of my child to extreme heat because he went on a hike during hot weather,” Dishion told Salon....
Originally posted on salon.com