Heat and Humidity Are Already Reaching the Limits of Human Tolerance

Trouble viewing? View in your browser. View all Scientific American publications.

             

May 08, 2020

Dear Reader, As heat waves grow hotter and more frequent, research suggests that some places will see events that reach the limit of human tolerance in the coming decades. But now a new study shows they already have. In our main story, sustainability editor Andrea Thompson provides the details. In other climate news, some scientists believe that as temperatures rise more carbon may exit soil and move into the atmosphere, which could hasten the pace of global warming. Another story featured today focuses on a new method that can predict the formation of massive rogue waves. And lastly, there is a deep freeze descending on the U.S. Northeast that's being supplied by the polar vortex. Read our explainer about the phenomenon in an article from our archive.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Climate Heat and Humidity Are Already Reaching the Limits of Human Tolerance Events with extreme temperatures and humidity are occurring twice as often now as they were 40 years ago By Andrea Thompson

Environment Soils Store Huge Amounts of Carbon, Warming May Unleash It Higher temperatures and wetter weather may spur soil microbes to release more carbon into the atmosphere By Chelsea Harvey,E&E News

Physics New Model Predicts Sudden Rogue Waves Unified theory describes formation of huge, mysterious waves By Rachel Berkowitz

Behavior & Society Flamingos Can Be Picky About Company They don't just stand on one-leg around anybody, but often prefer certain members of the flock. By Jason G. Goldman | 03:00

Policy & Ethics The Geosciences Community Needs to Be More Diverse and Inclusive It's essential if we're going to protect our planet

Math Discovering Joyful Math Away from the Classroom Here are resources for students, parents and other learners By Evelyn Lamb

Medicine Early Detection: A New Front in the War on Cancer Blood tests that find malignancies before they spread could transform our approach to treatment By Dana P. Goldman

Public Health Coronavirus Roundup for May 2-May 8 Pandemic news highlights of the week

FROM THE STORE Scientific American Digital & Full Archive For $69 per year, your Digital & Full Archive subscription includes 12 digital issues with full digital archive access back to 1845 and Android and iOS app access.

ADVERTISEMENT

FROM THE ARCHIVE What Is This Polar Vortex That Is Freezing the U.S.? Why frigid air, normally bottled up at the North Pole, sometimes pours down as far south as Florida By Mark Fischetti

QUOTE OF THE DAY "These are very, very nasty conditions." Elfatih Eltahir, climate scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

LATEST ISSUES

Questions?   Comments?

Download the Scientific American App

To view this email as a web page, go here. You received this email because you opted-in to receive email from Scientific American. To ensure delivery please add news@email.scientificamerican.com to your address book. Unsubscribe     Manage Email Preferences     Privacy Policy     Contact Us