April 29, 2024: Today we're covering marijuana strains that might induce less paranoia, solar superstorms, and pseudoscience behind unfounded links between purported Russian brain weapons and the "Havana syndrome." —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor | | | The threat of an intense solar storm is ramping up this year as the sun nears the peak of its magnetic activity cycle, which lasts approximately 11 years. During the peak, forecast to hit sometime in the next six months, solar weather yields more sunspots, flares and phenomena called coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The latter two, flares and CMEs, are "ridiculously powerful solar phenomena," writes astronomer and science communicator Phil Plait. Together they are called solar superstorms. Flares can damage satellites orbiting Earth, whereas CMEs can propel vast numbers of electrons toward Earth's poles, yielding auroras but also strong currents of electricity inside the planet that can overpower our electric grids. We are not as prepared for these phenomena as we should be, Plait writes.
How it works: Earth has a fairly strong and well-organized magnetic field, but the sun is dominated by countless locally generated fields. Tangled field lines that emerge from sunspots can interact, snap and reconnect, like a bag of mousetraps snapping and jostling one another to snap over and over again. The result is a cascade that releases energy in a single explosive event. How powerful is that? "Imagine each one of these mousetraps is the equivalent of, oh, say a few hundred million, thermonuclear bombs," writes Plait.
The takeaway: Governments should ensure that electricity grids are better reinforced and should consider decentralizing grids. | | | Powerful outbursts from the sun—like this bright, flashing solar flare and the adjacent eruption of hot glowing gas—can wreak havoc with Earth's power grids, computers and telecommunications. NASA/SDO | | | An aromatic compound found naturally in the cannabis plant may ease the acute anxiety commonly reported by people who show up at ERs for cannabis-induced intoxication, new research suggests. Cannabis strains rich in this citrusy compound, called d-limonene, could prove helpful to users who typically have anxious reactions to marijuana, reports Scientific American editor Allison Parshall. Such strains could allow these consumers to benefit more from the therapeutic effects that can ease anxiety and pain.
The data: Twenty study participants inhaled combinations of different levels of vaporized THC and d-limonene or a water-vapor placebo. Participants then were asked to rank the effects and their mood. As d-limonene concentrations increased, participants reported fewer bouts of anxiety.
What the experts say: Consumers should be cautious about making cannabis choices based on the new study. "Commercial interests may capitalize on this like they have with CBD [cannabidiol]," says Cyril D'Souza, a psychiatrist at Yale University, who is researching cannabis. | | | • Lethal AI weapons are on the rise. What's next? | 10 min read | | | • It is scientifically implausible that a secret Russian acoustic or radiological microwave weapon can explain the controversial medical condition, "Havana syndrome," reported initially in late 2016 by U.S. intelligence officials based in Cuba, writes journalist Keith Kloor. The highly unlikely notion stems from a long history of Soviet-era pseudoscience, which has had a sizable and lasting influence on the U.S. intelligence community. A recent 60 Minutes segment suggested that a Russian intelligence cell "zapped U.S. officials all over the globe, including inside the White House," Kloor writes. But the segment is full of leaps of logic and convenient omissions, he adds. For an entertaining spoof of U.S. military experts investigating "mind control," check out the 2009 movie The Men Who Stare at Goats, starring George Clooney. | 5 min read | | | On a break from recent business in Washington, D.C., a colleague suggested visiting an exhibition, "Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women," at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Each quilt, made by an unidentified individual in most cases, between 1880 and 1950, was not created to be seen as artwork, let alone hang in a museum. My colleague, who has done some quilting, explained to us some of the mathematical planning and complexity involved in creating the patterned fronts and backs as well as securing the batting between them. Quilting and other household arts have found their way into Scientific American as far back as 1858, when we published a piece, "Brown's quilting frame." It described an invention that allowed quilters to keep cloth tight while also providing resting spots for the elbow. The frame was meant to ease the hand and arm fatigue that comes with countless repeated stitches. Here's an image of the original published page with an illustration of the frame. | —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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