Notices by Flipboard Science Desk (sciencedesk@flipboard.social), page 57

When and where to see the Quadrantids, 2024's first meteor shower.

CBS News reports: "The Quadrantids, which are visible across the night sky, are best viewed in the Northern Hemisphere during the night and pre-dawn hours, according to NASA."

#Quadrantids #Meteor #MeteorShower #Astronomy #Space #NASA

A message from the plants: The U.S. is getting a lot warmer, new analysis says.

USA Today reports: "A recent analysis by federal scientists shows that half of the country has seen its average lowest winter temperature rise by as much as 5 degrees in some areas over the past 30 years, altering what can grow where, particularly in areas normally prone to frost or freezing temperatures."

https://flip.it/nkqHTV

#ClimateChange #Climate #GlobalWarming #Agriculture

"A scientific squabble over how to define self-control draws from an unlikely source: A story from Greek mythology."

If you're working on your New Year's resolutions, Science News has an interesting article: "Most people say self-control is the same as willpower. Researchers disagree."

https://flip.it/9mrigL

#Psychology #NewYearsResolution #Science

Why big numbers break our brains.

NPR quotes a neuroscientist: "Our brains are evolutionarily very old and we are pushing them to do things that we've only just recently conceptualized."

https://flip.it/-34ex8

#Numbers #Math #Mathematics #Neuroscience #Brain #Science

Radiation therapy takes advantage of cancer’s poor DNA repair abilities. An oncologist and physicist explain how for @TheConversationUS

https://flip.it/4oSkrq

#Cancer #Medicine #Health #Science

The Great Lakes of North America — known for ice fishing and frozen winter waves — rang in the New Year almost naked.

NBC News reports "that unseasonably warm air temperatures this season have prevented ice from forming on the lakes' surface."

https://flip.it/GN5mq4

#GreatLakes #ClimateChange #Climate #Weather #Lake

Alcohol overuse causes 140,000 American deaths annually. Why is it so undertreated in the U.S.?

@Vox reports: "Medications can help the 1 in 12 people who suffer from alcohol use disorder. But most will never be treated."

https://flip.it/CCu9yp

#Alcohol #Health #Addiction #Medicine

Many people make New Year's resolutions about exercise, but which form of activity is best?

When it comes to physical activity, every bit counts, according to a report in Science News. "There’s no such thing as 'the best exercise.' Rather lots of things — big and small — can help."

https://flip.it/M4gjqg

#Exercise #NewYears #NewYearsResolution #Science #Health

Stoked that Stat included my story on climate change and infectious disease in their list of favourite stories from 2023. It was the last story I finished before taking a break from writing to focus on my KSJ fellowship at MIT.
You can find the story here (and it's part of a package of great stories on climate and health):
https://www.science.org/content/article/malaria-cases-could-ebb-even-hotter-world-other-diseases-will-get-worse

See the most volcanic world in our solar system in new NASA images.

@popsci reports: "The Juno spacecraft ended 2023 with a close flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io, which could be 100 times more volcanic than Earth."

https://flip.it/g-qx6_

#Space #NASA #Jupiter #Volcano #Science

Here are seven scientific discoveries from 2023 that could lead to new inventions, from Smithsonian Magazine.

https://flip.it/wL4oC6

#Science #Innovation #Research #Invention

Familiar astronomical object may be two galaxies, not one.

Science Journal reports: "New perspective on Small Magellanic Cloud may boost odds its name, offensive to some astronomers, will be changed."

https://flip.it/.s95g5

#Space #Stars #Galaxy #Astronomy #Science

2023 was a wild year for killer whales, from sinking boats off southwestern Europe to hunting great white sharks near South Africa. NBC News explores what drove their headline-making behavior. https://flip.it/K0t-0j
#Science #Ocean #Orca #2023

Houston, we have an anomaly. Salon presents eight mind-bending stories that made us question reality in 2023, from dark stars to new laws of evolution. https://flip.it/M74ofs
#Science #2023 #Space #SpaceExploration #JWST

According to an analysis of data from the James Webb Space Telescope, a galaxy named HFLS3 is not a galaxy at all. It’s six galaxies undergoing a giant collision at the dawn of time. Science Alert explains: https://flip.it/wJugoM
#Science #Space #JWST #Galaxy #SpaceExploration

From Big Think: For the first time, scientists have mapped the process of limb development in human embryos down to the individual cell — and the stunning result could help prevent a common type of birth defect in the future. https://flip.it/Ma.XU7
#Science #Health #Medicine #Research #Biology

With everything we know about the world, it's astonishing (to us at least) that new species are still being discovered.

The Messenger has chosen the most interesting new species found in 2023: https://flip.it/.wFtlC

#Species #Animals #Taxonomy #Earth #Science

We post often about the existential problem of climate change. 🌎 Here are some of our favorite climate voices on Mastodon:

@davidho

@Ruth_Mottram

@petergleick

@kathhayhoe

@gwagner

@andrewdessler

@MichaelEMann

@kim_harding

@breadandcircuses

@gerrymcgovern

@Brad_Rosenheim

@insideclimatenews

Please suggest other climate accounts to follow!

#FollowFriday #ClimateChange #Climate #Environment

Human weather control is possible, but limited. Should it be deployed to stop climate change?

Salon reports: "Weather control is real, but not what some people think. Here's what we can do and why it's not a climate panacea."

https://flip.it/lRba.k

#ClimateChange #Climate #Weather #Environment #Science

7 of the biggest medical breakthroughs in 2023, as chosen by ABC News.

https://flip.it/GN8fog

#Science #Medicine #Health #Research #Vaccines