Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Science Times: One Day There May Be a Drug to Turbocharge the Brain. Who Should Get It?

Plus: The Lost History of One of the World's Strangest Science Experiments —
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Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Benedicte Muller
By CARL ZIMMER
A study found that a hormone meant to protect animals' brains actually enhanced them. Ethicists are wondering what happens if it becomes viable for humans.
A new species of tarantula, Birupes simoroxigorum, was described from specimens alleged to have been taken illegally from Malaysia.
Lars Fehlandt
By RACHEL NUWER
Controversy over a new spider species has resurrected thorny ethical questions about scientists and their specimens.
A tangled mass of articulated fish fossils uncovered in North Dakota. The site appears to date to the day 66 million years ago when a meteor hit Earth, killing nearly all life on the planet.
Robert DePalma/University of Kansas
By WILLIAM J. BROAD AND KENNETH CHANG
A jumble of entombed plants and creatures offers a vivid glimpse of the apocalypse that all but ended life 66 million years ago.
The Biosphere 2 complex in 1991.
John Miller/Associated Press
By CARL ZIMMER
The hummingbirds were dying. Cockroaches were everywhere. And then Steve Bannon showed up.
The mossy red-eyed frog is one of hundreds of species threatened by a virulent fungus that may be responsible for 90 extinctions in the past 50 years.
Jonathan E. Kolby
By CARL ZIMMER
As a threat to wildlife, an amphibian fungus has become "the most deadly pathogen known to science."
• Romeo and Juliet's First Date Marks New Hope for Endangered Frog
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Yoshua Bengio, an A.I. pioneer who won the 2018 A.M. Turing Award with two others, supports a proposed ban of robots that could use A.I. to target humans without human oversight.
Renaud Philippe for The New York Times
By DAN BILEFSKY
Still, Yoshua Bengio, an artificial intelligence pioneer and co-winner of this year's prestigious A.M. Turing prize, says A.I. will prove to be a boon, if regulated.
• Turing Award Won by 3 Pioneers in Artificial Intelligence
An eruption of the Calbuco volcano in April 2015.
Martin Bernetti/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
By ROBIN GEORGE ANDREWS
Studying radon's role in the electrification of plumes above volcanoes could help people anticipate the damage resulting from eruptions, scientists say.
A female yellow fever mosquito.
Alex Wild
By VERONIQUE GREENWOOD
Scientists have isolated a receptor that helps the bloodthirsty insects find you.
Because science.
Amy Metheny
By JOANNA KLEIN
A mycologist hopes to show how a simple, silly experiment can illuminate fungal biology.
The paleontologist W. Scott Persons looking at the skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus rex named Scotty at the T. rex Discovery Center in Eastend, Saskatchewan.
Amanda Kelley/Agence France–Getty Images
By LAURA M. HOLSON
The dinosaur was excavated in the Saskatchewan province of Canada in the 1990s. A recent study shows that it is the heaviest and oldest specimen of its kind.
Vice President Mike Pence, with NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine and the astronaut Suni Williams, talked with astronaut candidates on at the Johnson Space Center in Houston in August.
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
By KENNETH CHANG
The vice president called for greater urgency at NASA, but how the Trump administration intends to accomplish an ambitious moon landing was not clear.
 
Climate Change
Cam Cottrill
By IVAN PENN AND THOMAS KAPLAN
Andrew Beal, a poker-playing billionaire and major Trump backer, could upend California's carbon-free power goals with a case before federal regulators.
Brandon Thibodeaux for The New York Times
By JOHN SCHWARTZ AND BRANDON THIBODEAUX
These are portraits of seven people working in wind and solar, industries their families hardly imagined they'd go into. But as one of them put it: "It's not ideology. It's just math."
 
By JUGAL K. PATEL
Scientists say the break could trigger further retreat of the Brunt ice shelf.
A levee breached by the Missouri River near Fortescue, Mo.
Tim Gruber
By MITCH SMITH, JOHN SCHWARTZ AND TIM GRUBER
Hundreds of miles of levees in the Midwest have been overwhelmed by the floods, leaving "Swiss cheese" infrastructure and reigniting a flood control debate.
• Deadly Floods Across Iran Leave Broad Paths of Destruction

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We welcome comments and suggestions at sciencenewsletter@nytimes.com.

Health
After undergoing a double lung transplant in 2008, Claudia McGinness developed an intolerance to one of her anti-rejection drugs. Doctors prescribed Sirolimus to replace it, but her Medicare plan will not pay for the drug.
Leah Klafczynski for The New York Times
By GINA KOLATA
Drugs to prevent organ rejection are not always covered for patients who had transplants before they enrolled in Medicare.
Gracia Lam
Personal Health
By JANE E. BRODY
To support brain health as you age, start with the same foods that can help to keep your heart healthy.
A patient checking in at a community health center in Burton, W.Va. Millions of people could lose their insurance if the Affordable Care Act were struck down, and millions more could face higher medical bills.
Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
By REED ABELSON, ABBY GOODNOUGH AND ROBERT PEAR
The Affordable Care Act touches the lives of most Americans. Some 21 million could lose health insurance if the Trump administration were to succeed in having the law ruled unconstitutional.
Jo Cameron has a rare disorder in which she experiences no pain or anxiety, raising questions about the links between physical and psychological pain.
Mary Turner for The New York Times
By HEATHER MURPHY
An article about the case of a woman who feels little pain or anxiety raised many questions, such as: Do low-anxiety people seem to feel less pain?
Dr. Rayomand Bengali takes the vital signs of Jean Morgan, 91, at her assisted living facility, Brookdale Chapel Hill, in North Carolina.
Madeline Gray for The New York Times
By PAULA SPAN
As residents become older and more frail, some facilities are bringing in doctors and nurses instead of relying on 911.
Getty Images
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS
If people start to exercise in midlife, even if they have not worked out for years, they can rapidly gain most of the longevity benefits of working out.
 
Ask Well
Are my allergies all in my head?
By RICHARD KLASCO, M.D.

Lawsuits Lay Bare Sackler Family's Role in Opioid Crisis
By DANNY HAKIM, RONI CARYN RABIN AND WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM

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