Science Times: Marine Labs on the Water’s Edge Are Threatened by Climate Change

Plus: Vera Rubin Gets a Telescope of Her Own —

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story January 14, 2020

Bryan Tarnowski for The New York Times   Marine Labs on the Water’s Edge Are Threatened by Climate Change A marine lab built to withstand hurricanes faces a slower menace: climate change. Problems arising wherever science operates at the shifting border of soil and sea. By John Schwartz and Bryan Tarnowski

via Carnegie Institution of Washington   Out There Vera Rubin Gets a Telescope of Her Own The astronomer missed her Nobel Prize. But she now has a whole new observatory to her name. By Dennis Overbye European Southern Observatory   Out There Just a Fainting Spell? Or Is Betelgeuse About to Blow? A familiar star in the constellation Orion has dimmed noticeably since October. Astronomers wonder if its explosive finale is imminent. By Dennis Overbye Peter Parks/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images   Matter Why Is Air Pollution So Harmful? DNA May Hold the Answer It’s not just a modern problem. Airborne toxins are so pernicious that they may have shaped human evolution. By Carl Zimmer

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Stacy Turpin Cheavens, University of Missouri   Trilobites Fossil Reveals Earth’s Oldest Known Animal Guts The find in a Nevada desert revealed an intestine inside a creature that looks like a worm made of a stack of ice cream cones. By Lucas Joel Juniors Bildarchiv/GmbH, via Alamy   Trilobites Parrots Show Off Selfless Behavior A series of experiments demonstrated that African grey parrots had something like social intelligence in addition to their cleverness. By Elizabeth Preston Venture Photographers   How’s Your Internship Going? This Teen Found a Planet Wolf Cukier, 17, was analyzing brightness of stars during an internship with NASA last year when he made the discovery. By Christine Hauser Craig Cutler for The New York Times   Feature The Gene Drive Dilemma: We Can Alter Entire Species, but Should We? A new genetic engineering technology could help eliminate malaria and stave off extinctions — if humanity decides to unleash it. By Jennifer Kahn EyeEm/Alamy   Trilobites How Insects Cope When Blood Rushes to Their Heads Grasshoppers have to deal with blood pressure issues when they are upside down. By James Gorman Wang et al., PNAS 2019   Trilobites The Secret That Helps Some Trees Live More Than 1,000 Years By comparing very old and young ginkgos in China, scientists found an explanation for their longevity. By JoAnna Klein

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Attacks by Urban Coyotes Are Rare, but Frightening Two people were injured in Chicago, a reminder that as more coyotes move to the cities, some conflicts are inevitable. by james gorman Trove of New Bird Species Found on Remote Indonesian Islands Researchers found 10 new species and subspecies of songbirds off the coast of Sulawesi, with distinct songs and genetics from known birds. by karen weintraub trilobites When the Cobra Bites, You’ll Be Glad Someone Sequenced Its Genome Some scientists hope genomic technologies will lead to improved antivenom. by nicholas bakalar trilobites Hints of Phantom Crater Found Under Volcanic Plateau in Laos Scientists knew a meteorite impact had flung debris all over the world, but where it struck has remained a mystery. by katherine kornei trilobites Yes, This Cuttlefish Is Wearing 3-D Glasses Scientists knew octopuses and squid didn’t have any depth perception, but they had a hunch their cuttlefish cousins might. by veronique greenwood

CLIMATE CHANGE Charles Mostoller/Reuters   News Analysis Trump’s Move Against Landmark Environmental Law Caps a Relentless Agenda The White House, hoping to speed infrastructure projects like pipelines, will formally introduce changes to a half century-old landmark environmental law. By Lisa Friedman Alexis Rosenfeld/Getty Images   2019 Was a Record Year for Ocean Temperatures, Data Show A new analysis found 2019 was the hottest for the world’s oceans. The five hottest years have also been in the past five years.  By Kendra Pierre-Louis

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HEALTH Benoit Tessier/Reuters   Alcohol Deaths Have Risen Sharply, Particularly Among Women An analysis of death certificates over nearly two decades contained several troubling findings. By Matt Richtel Yonhap/EPA, via Shutterstock   China Reports First Death From New Virus The coronavirus, which surfaced in the city of Wuhan, has put the region on alert, but there is no evidence that it can spread among humans. By Amy Qin and Javier C. Hernández Paul Sancya/Associated Press   Vaping Kills a 15-Year-Old in Texas The teenager was the youngest to die so far in the outbreak of lung illnesses that affected thousands of people. By Denise Grady iStock by Getty Images   The Checkup When Heavy Periods Disrupt a Teenager’s Life “Someone’s menstrual period should not be impairing them from leading a normal life, because we have really good treatments for pain and for heavy bleeding,” an expert says. By Perri Klass, M.D. Gracia Lam   Personal Health What to Say to Someone With Cancer Don’t tell bad-news stories or be falsely optimistic. Do offer to organize closets or send eight pints of ice cream. By Jane E. Brody

Cancer Death Rate in U.S. Sees Sharpest One-Year Drop Breakthrough treatments for lung cancer and melanoma have driven down cancer mortality overall — and from 2016 to 2017 spurred the largest-ever decline. by knvul sheikh Ronald Melzack, Cartographer of Pain, Is Dead at 90 The theory that he and a colleague devised deepened medicine’s understanding of pain and how it is best measured and treated. by benedict carey the new health care Race and Medicine: The Harm That Comes From Mistrust Racial bias still affects many aspects of health care. by austin frakt

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