Notices by Laura Helmuth (laurahelmuth@mastodon.social)

Have you encountered the idea that language is necessary for thought? It was pretty widely accepted for decades, but new research shows it's not so. This is a fun story about a new way of thinking about thinking https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/you-dont-need-words-to-think/

Marie Curie didn't necessarily aim to hire women in her lab, but she didn't have anything AGAINST women, and so ended up creating a network of more than 45 women trainees who changed (and are still changing) the course of science. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-marie-curie-helped-a-generation-of-women-break-into-science/

Early humans weren’t conquerors but wanderers who mingled with other human species. The new view of human migration is much friendlier, less vicious & competitive. It's important to update pop culture notions human of evolution https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/human-origins-look-ever-more-tangled-with-gene-and-fossil-discoveries/ by @dvergano

Milton was a terrible, terrible storm. Here's how it spun up so many tornadoes on its outer edge, in addition to the high winds and storm surge closer to the center https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-hurricane-milton-caused-so-many-tornadoes/

Asking AIs questions "is not going to lead us to correct information, because their goal during training is to sound correct and be probable, and there’s not really anything fundamentally tied back to real-world accuracy." Great conversation with a scholar of AI absurdity https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/has-generative-ai-lost-its-strange-charm/

Hurricane Helene is starting out big and is likely to be in the top 10% size-wise for hurricanes at this latitude. It's sucking up more moisture and heat over the Gulf of Mexico and will cause storm surges and flooding well inland. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hurricane-helene-will-bring-strong-winds-flash-flooding-and-storm-surge/

Happy Confusing Fall Warblers season, everybody

This is a nice testimonial about what it's like to write a piece for Scientific American https://ruthpearce.net/2024/08/07/out-now-in-scientific-american-the-u-k-s-cass-review-badly-fails-trans-children/

Scientific American is the oldest continuous publication in the U.S. and it's our birthday! We're 179 years old. Here's a gif showing how our logo has evolved from 1845 to today:

Amanda Gorman is coming up soon on the Democratic National Convention. If you haven't seen her spoken-word poem EARTHRISE (or haven't seen it in a while) oh you are in for a treat https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/amanda-gormans-climate-poem-says-act-now-now-now/

This is really important and I don't think it's widely enough known: kids with dyslexia, ADHD, autism or other differences can thrive when they understand how their brain works https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/neurodivergent-kids-flourish-when-theyre-taught-how-their-brains-work/

Tardigrades can enter a suspended state called cryptobiosis to survive extreme heat, cold, pressure or radiation. A new study of tardigrades preserved in amber suggests this ability evolved about 300 million years ago and let them survive the Permian extinction & isn't science fun?!?!?!?! https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tardigrade-fossils-reveal-when-water-bears-became-indestructible/

Four-foot-long giant clams are sparkly inside & scientists just discovered that their iridescence is part of the most efficient solar panels ever known https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/most-efficient-solar-panels-ever-have-been-found-in-giant-sparkly-clams/

Trump’s mass deportation plan draws on the same pseudoscience and bigotry that built support for concentration camps in the 20th century. Crucial history from @AndreaPitzer https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trumps-massive-deportation-plan-echoes-concentration-camp-history/

The Project 2025 plan for a second Trump term would sabotage science-based policies on climate change, the environment, abortion, health care access, technology and education & replace scientists with political appointees. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/project-2025-plan-for-trump-presidency-has-far-reaching-threats-to-science/

Project 2025 would sabotage science-based policies that address climate change, the environment, abortion, health care access, technology and education. It would impose religious and conservative ideology on the federal civil service. Read Scientific American's analysis of its threats: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/project-2025-plan-for-trump-presidency-has-far-reaching-threats-to-science/

This research has come up several times at a big climate conference: A huge majority of people are worried about climate change and want governments to do more to control the crisis. BUT they think they are in a tiny minority and nobody else cares. Everybody (almost) cares! You are not alone https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-actions-are-far-more-popular-than-people-in-u-s-realize/

The Supreme Court's conservative majority rejects science, history and reality itself. Editorial from Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-supreme-courts-contempt-for-facts-is-a-betrayal-of-justice/

There are “no links whatsoever between the offshore wind development activity and especially the humpback whale mortalities. None. Zero.” But oil & gas & shipping interests sure want you to think wind energy is what's killing whales https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/whales-are-dying-but-not-from-offshore-wind/

"all the monuments we’ve ever made with limestone are made of plankton and other ancient sea creatures" Fun conversation about how life transforms Earth & the growing appreciation of the Gaia hypothesis https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-earth-went-from-a-sterile-rock-to-a-lush-living-planet/ with @ferrisjabr