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Why we’re listening to climate kids
Youth climate activists are making an unprecedented impact because they are seen by adults as immune to conflicts of interest — and they remind us that our descendants will reap what we sow, say communications experts. Young climate protestors are also speaking to an audience that is increasingly receptive to their message: surveys show that adults have been growing increasingly concerned about the environment for years.
Neutron star is a whisper away from being a black hole
The most-massive neutron star ever observed might be the most massive one we’ll ever see, because it’s close to the upper limit for such a star. The ultra-dense star packs more than twice the mass of our own Sun into a 30-kilometre diameter, all spinning at the breathless speed of 347 times a second. Its mass is very close to the 2.16 solar masses that theory tells us is the upper limit before a neutron star collapses into a black hole.
Bad Astronomy blog | 9 min read
Fewer children are dying before the age of 5
The world’s population has increased by more than one billion people since 2000, but the number of children who die before the age of 5 has been cut almost in half. In 2000, almost 69 children in 1,000 died before that age — by 2017, that rate had been cut to 39 in 1,000. However, the inequality between nations remains enormous. “More children die every single day in Chad than die in Finland in an entire year,” notes a report from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The New York Times | 6 min read
Reference: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Goalkeepers 2019 report
FEATURES & OPINION
Why I welcome a climate emergency
“I’ve been waiting for a ‘full-on climate crisis’ for 30 years,” writes environmentalist Paul Gilding, a former head of Greenpeace. “I can’t welcome the destructive burning of the Amazon, the melting of the ice caps or the devastating impacts already affecting many people around the globe,” he says. “But I see their role in motivating greater action.” Gilding points to the peaceful aspects of the large-scale mobilization that took place in the United Kingdom in response to the Second World War as a model for what’s possible.
Climate scientists face the cost of flying
It’s a bitter irony: the field of climate-change adaptation tends to involve a lot of air travel. The effects of climate change are being felt most painfully in the global south, yet much of the expertise needed to solve them resides in the Northern Hemisphere. Climate-adaptation researcher David Williams takes a hard look at how researchers in the field can do their best to cut the Gordian knot.
Why female soccer stars are donating their brains
A group of the world’s greatest female soccer players have pledged their brains to science. Some, like US World Cup champion Megan Rapinoe, are at the peak of their powers. Others have faced pain, depression and suicidal thoughts following brain injuries acquired on the field. They have entrusted their neural matter to neuropathologist Ann McKee, who was lead author on a pioneering 2017 study showing the prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in professional American-football players. Brain trauma among sportswomen is “a major unaddressed issue”, McKee says. “I think they are even less likely to come forward than a man because they don't want to be marginalized.”