As natural disasters get even more extreme and even more common, we need to toss out the old ways of thinking about, talking about, and preparing for dangerous weather. This December, Scientists at the Society for Risk Analysis meeting in New Orleans made a case for writing a new playbook to deal with an increasingly uncertain world. Wildfires Wildfires in the United States are getting bigger, more abundant, and raging farther and wider....

A new study, published in the journal PLOS Water on March 9, adds to a growing body of research pointing to an unfortunate problem. When a building sits vacant for a long time, metals and microorganisms build up in its plumbing. Fortunately, scientists and environmental engineers have pinpointed a few easy things building management can do to eliminate possible contamination. There are other more involved steps that might make better buildings in the future, too....

Let’s talk about you and me. We are humans, and as humans, we’re mostly born as one of two biological sexes. Most of us are born with either a penis or a vagina, which usually corresponds to having either an X and a Y chromosome or two X’s. Some of us, though, have just one sex chromosome or kick it with three (XXX, XYY, or XXY). A few people are even born XX with just a teensy bit of a Y chromosome that makes them, for the most part, present as outwardly male....

Behind us, a black backpack drifts toward the ceiling. The airplane’s seat belts bob up and down, up and down, as though they were underwater. A NASA photographer lets go of his camera, and it hovers in front of his face. I’m floating a couple of inches above the floor in a seated position (and feeling very much like a genie) when a crew member shouts over the engine noise that we’re about to go from weightlessness to two times the force of gravity....

Scientists still don’t know, for example, why its magnetic activity fluctuates in an 11-year solar cycle. Or how powerful solar flares can knock out satellites, disrupt GPS systems, and fry electrical grids here on Earth. What they do know is that sunspots—those randomly-spaced dark blotches on the sun’s surface—are a critical part of that puzzle. In September, an international team of scientists was able to show, for the first time, how magnetic activity in the sun’s interior leads a sunspot to form....

In just the past year, countries around the world have continued rolling out high-speed trains. France revealed its next generation high-speed train, TGV M, which is larger, more carbon efficient, and travels up to 220 mph. Italy unveiled direct high-speed rail links from Rome’s airport to Naples and Florence. China opened 140 new miles of high-speed rail, while also showcasing a line dedicated for the 2022 Winter Olympics. And Japan, which debuted the bullet train in 1964, will be opening a new 41-mile high-speed rail line from Takeo Onsen to Nagasaki....

While the problem has reportedly been fixed, the software glitch affected airlines to different extents on Monday morning. Southwest, for example, put an internal ground stop into effect, according to an airline representative. The stop lasted about 40 minutes until the airline lifted it at 7:05 this morning, Eastern time. United said that about 150 of its United Express flights were affected and thus delayed, and Delta says the problem affected its Delta Connection flights....

Where To Watch Microsoft will livestream their #Windows10devices event here. Those who aren’t on the ground in New York City can tune in and watch the video. As mentioned before, the event will begin at 10am EST/1pm PST. To see when the Microsoft Windows 10 event kicks off in your time zone you’ll want to check here. Along with desktop users, those on Microsoft’s Xbox can tune into the event as well....

Tooth enamel is the hardest known biological tissue in the human body (and also looks beautiful under a microscope). Dental scientists have long explored ways to replicate this super thin, but strong structure for longer lasting protection to keep teeth healthy. Now a team of engineers have taken a step closer. Materials scientists and chemical engineers from Beihang University, Peking University, and the University of Michigan have created a synthetic tooth enamel that’s even stronger than what’s found in our teeth....

Researchers found 109 people to look at pictures of animals — cute, funny and “neutral” photos of fluffy, fluffy puppies. The lucky participants then rated how they felt about the pictures: whether they agreed with the statement like “I just can’t handle it!” (or perhaps “It’s so fluffy I want to die!”), whether they made them want to squeeze something, or whether they were suddenly seized with the impulse to say something like “grr!...

This story originally featured on The Conversation. On January 3, the American Dialect Society held its 30th annual “Word of the Year” vote, which this year also included a vote for “Word of the Decade.” It was the year—and the decade—of the pronoun. In a nod to shifting attitudes about gender identities that are nonbinary—meaning they don’t neatly fit in the category of man or woman—more than 200 voters, including me, selected “(my) pronouns” as the word of the year and “they” as word of the decade....

So after four failed attempts at space launches stretching back to 1998, North Korea is finally in space. But what does that really mean? Taking the temperature of the Intenet today, it seems that it could mean anything from immediate doom to nothing at all. It certainly has implications for the future of geopolitics, but does this launch significantly shift the balance of power? And is there really anything to worry about?...

Generally speaking, the Element has grown in popularity in recent years thanks largely to its solid reliability and versatility. Van-lifers have latched on to it, and if you get your hands on one of these vehicles, you can easily convert it for life on the road. While the Element was discontinued in 2011, its renewed popularity has fueled speculation about a reintroduction of the model. So far, this is only a rumor, so the only place you can expect to find one for sale is in the used section of the paper....

On March 24, the prime minister of Japan and the president of the International Olympic Committee announced that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which were supposed to begin on July 24, must be postponed until 2021. “The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present,” the IOC and the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee said in a joint statement....

What most people don’t know is that a little know-how, the right equipment, and simply wearing multiple layers can help with the challenges of camping in the winter. With some planning, you’ll easily stave off frostbite, sleepless nights, and never-ending shivers, all while enjoying beautiful natural sights. Don’t fear the cold “Winter is one of the best times to be outdoors,” says Tayson Whittaker, winter camping enthusiast, and founder of outdoor gear and clothing company Outdoor Vitals....

I must confess that being a southern hemisphere transplant, I am not a big fan of the cold. But what I hate most about winter in the U.S.—I’m looking at you, East Coast—is definitely the way my skin, especially my lips, feels when exposed to low temperatures and freezing wind. The word “dry” here really doesn’t cut it—my skin feels uncomfortably tight all the time, and my lips just stay in a permanent and unglamorous state of chapped....

The five notable objectives stated in the plan start with constructing and operating the World Cup sites to limit environmental impacts, while building locally. It also includes offsetting all greenhouse gas emissions produced for and during the tournament, as well as minimizing air pollution, landfill rubbish, and water use. This involves advancing low-carbon solutions, promoting waste management, and access to cleaner technologies in Qatar. The strategy further elaborates how FIFA aims to make the four-week competition carbon neutral....

A facility like this, which cost $912 million to build, is expected to work for decades and to host scientists from all over the world. Scientists will apply to use the synchrotron for a set amount of time and stay on the synchrotron campus to perform their experiments. The facility isn’t quite ready for applications yet, however. It’s undergoing some final tests. Engineers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, which runs the synchrotron, expects it to perform its first experiments at the end of the year....

EVE Online is what’s known as a MMORPG … a massive multiplayer online roleplaying game. In progress now for more than a decade, the game is science fiction’s answer to World of Warcraft. Set some 21,000 years into the future, the game backstory suggests that humans have branched out to colonize space, and being humans, immediately started competing with each other for resources. You can play as an explorer, skirmisher, industrialist, or colonizer....

Environmentally conscious consumers often ask me whether a real Christmas tree or an artificial one is the more sustainable choice. As a horticulture and forestry researcher, I know this question is also a concern for the Christmas tree industry, which is wary of losing market share to artificial trees. And they have good reason: Of the 48.5 million Christmas trees Americans purchased in 2017, 45 percent were artificial, and that share is growing....