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Why Great Plains rivers depend on wetlands as well as climate

When a prairie river carries more water in one year than another, the obvious place to look for an explanation is the sky. A year with more snow and rain should have more water in rivers. That was also how I initially thought about year-to-year changes in river flow. But while

Pollen study reveals the hidden history of grasses

Scientists used machine learning and super-resolution microscopy to overcome a challenge that has stymied research into the natural history of grasses for decades. Their method allowed them to detect subtle differences among grass pollen grains and trace changes in grass

Space radiation sparks: A biological cascade of cancer

Deep space travel comes with a huge potential downside—radiation exposure that can kill an astronaut either quickly or slowly over time if not managed correctly. But what exactly does that mean, and is there any way to handle it other than sticking more and more protective

Tiny ancient black holes may live in a five-dimensional world

Primordial black holes (PBHs) don't exist as far as we know. But if they did, these hypothetical objects would have formed in the early universe rather than from dying stars, and they may even make up dark matter. That's not the end of the weirdness. Their formation could have

Is AI the End of Math As We Know It?

Mathematicians are facing the sudden shift with grief, anger, and a desperate search for fresh ideas: “If we don’t adapt, there’s just no more math in 50 years.” The post Is AI the End of Math As We Know It? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Misophonia: When everyday sounds become unbearable

Most people find some sounds unpleasant, such as a baby crying or a siren, because of features such as their pitch, frequency or loudness. However, for some people, very ordinary sounds, such as chewing, sniffing, breathing, swallowing, finger tapping or clicking a pen, can