Gov. Ron DeSantis calls it a crackdown on “radical climate policies.” A new state law limits Florida communities’ aims to offset greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the global climate and intensifying disasters such as hurricanes. Specifically, HB 1217 prohibits local governments from pursuing net-zero emissions goals. At least 10…
Small-scale solar helped renewables hit nearly triple coal’s generation in the US. When last we looked at the state of the US grid, the ongoing explosion in solar energy had turned it into a major contributor, but one that still lagged well behind fossil-fuel-powered generation. So it was a…
With today’s scientific tools, the problem could have been spotted in the 1950s. The ban on ozone-depleting substances that successfully reversed the growth of the hole in the ozone layer isn’t seen as a missed opportunity. On the contrary, the quick global response is one of the best cases…
But the system would require a massive leap from any of its existing hardware. A short time back, we covered an announcement by Amazon that it would be hosting a useful quantum computer from its partner QuEra as soon as sometime in 2028. The system promised some eye-popping numbers…
“Where does the threshold live that an action necessitates some proportional reaction?” Imagine this: The US military begins tracking a mysterious spacecraft maneuvering near one of the Space Force’s missile-warning satellites more than 22,000 miles over the equator. This US satellite cost several billion dollars to build and launch.…
Clicking on the links now reveals blank pages and empty PDFs. “Intellectually, it’s not acceptable.” German physicist Max Planck was one of the pioneers of quantum mechanics in the early 20th century, earning the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of quanta. There has never been a…
It’s “an exciting advance in efforts to restock the antibiotic arsenal.” Antibiotic resistance has loomed over humans since the moment we started using antibiotics. In the 20th century, the drugs downgraded potentially life-threatening bacterial infections to mere inconveniences—a miracle of modern medicine, it seemed. But the drugs aren’t really…
Rock weathering may release or draw down carbon dioxide—it depends on the rock. Since the early 1980s, Earth scientists have understood that erosion and weathering of rock slowly removes CO2 from the atmosphere, regulating Earth’s climate on geological timescales. But recent studies have shown that erosion can also emit…
At the right point of the orbit and stellar cycle, the star’s chromosphere brightens. For most of human history, our view of “close to the Sun” was defined by the orbit of Mercury, with its 88-day orbit and barren, baking surface. But from the moment we started discovering exoplanets,…
Europeans are baking under their second heat wave of the summer. Europe is in the midst of its second big heat wave of the year, and it’s breaking more records. France just recorded its hottest day ever, with temperatures exceeding 44° Celsius in some places. Around 40 people have…
