May 9, 2024: A brown dwarf star glowing with methane, more bad gas stove news, and XPRIZE finalists announced. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | An artist's concept of the cold brown dwarf W1935. NASA, ESA, CSA, Leah Hustak (STScI) | | | Astronomers recently trained the James Webb Space Telescope on a brown dwarf star located in the constellation Sagittarius. When they split the light emitted from the star, called W1935 for short, into its various components, they were surprised to see that methane in the star's atmosphere was emitting light.
Why this is interesting: Usually gaseous atmospheric methane in a brown dwarf absorbs infrared light and isn't visible on a light spectrum. So something must be pumping energy into the methane molecules in W1935's atmosphere to make them glow. One likely explanation is that some cosmic body (a moon? A planet?) is orbiting W1935 and spewing particles into space that get captured by the brown dwarf's magnetic field. The particles flow down into the star's atmosphere, exciting the methane molecules and causing them to glow.
What the experts say: "Brown dwarfs may be the most ubiquitous substellar objects in the universe," writes astronomer and Scientific American columnist Phil Plait. "We've had nearly 30 years of observations showing just how interesting they are, and still they manage to surprise us." | | | Gas and propane stoves spew nitrogen dioxide (NO2) into your living space, which can linger for hours at unhealthy levels even beyond the kitchen. Researchers used measurements from real homes, plus a computer model, to determine NO2 levels in the kitchen as well as in the bedroom farthest from the kitchen. They found that exposure depends on the size of the home, airflow and whether residents use the stove's ventilation hood. In many homes, NO2 levels shot far above recommended limits during and for hours following gas stove use. And gas stoves release other pollutants, too, such as benzene and particulates.
Why this matters: Decades of research has linked NO2 exposure to childhood asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, among other respiratory health conditions. The WHO and EPA both say that inhaling it at levels above 100 parts per billion by volume for an hour can be dangerous to health.
What the experts say: The best way to protect your health is to get an electric or induction cooktop and oven. But if you are stuck with a gas stove, you should open windows and use the range hood (provided that it vents outdoors) every time you cook, says Laura Paulin, a pulmonologist at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. HEPA air purifiers with a carbon filter have also been shown to decrease NO2 levels in the kitchen by 20 percent. –Allison Parshall, associate news editor | | | • The $100 million XPRIZE competition to develop carbon-removal technology has announced 20 finalists. | 3 min read | | | • Archaeologists in England discovered a 12-sided object called a dodecahedron from the Roman Empire. | 4 min read | | | • The James Webb Space Telescope spotted signs of an atmosphere on the inhospitably hot super-Earth 55 Cancri e. | 3 min read | | | • The FDA is proposing a new rule that would require agency approval prior to the implementation of any laboratory developed test (LDT), likely in response to the disastrous collapse of medical testing startup Theranos, writes J. Wesley Boyd, director of education in the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School. A cumbersome and expensive FDA approval process would "impede the ability of labs to be agile in responding to novel disease outbreaks or make it financially prohibitive to create LDTs for niche markets or minority populations," he says. | 4 min read | | | On days of unseasonal sweltering weather, or when the air is choked with wildfire smoke, I allow my mind to fantasize that science will be the thing that solves our current climate crisis (and the sooner the better). That a carbon-removal technology could rapidly remove sufficient CO2 from the atmosphere to slow warming feels too good to be true. And yet, scientific history is full of revolutionary progress like this--for example, the discovery and development of penicillin, and the advent of the Internet. If (when?) science saves us, I will be the least surprised, but most pleased. | How are you enjoying Today in Science? Drop me a line and let me know: newsletters@sciam.com. Until tomorrow! | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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