Today in Science: The quiet hurricane season is freaking meteorologists out

Today's top science stories                     SPONSORED BY September 9, 2024: Delicate deep-sea jellies withstand crushing pressure, black hole detector technology is advancing exponentially, and where is all the usual September hurricane action? —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor TOP STORIES Jacob Winnikoff/Harvard University Strong Under Pressure Ctenophores are see-through, gelatinous creatures that live in the deep sea and withstand crushing water pressures. And yet, on land so-called comb jellies quickly melt away and dissolve. Researchers collected ctenophores from a range of sea depths from around the world. They analyzed the various body tissues of the creatures and found that the deeper a ctenophore lived, the higher its level of PPE, short for plasmenyl phosphatidylethanolamine, a type of cone-shaped phospholipid, or fatty molecule, found in cell membranes. How it works: At high pressures fatty molecules are typically "squeezed" from cone-shaped to cylinder-shaped. Combinations of cone- and cylinder-­shaped lipids balance a cell membrane's stability and flexibility, and keep the cell operational. PPE fatty molecules showed exaggerated cone shapes and remained cone-shaped even at crushing pressures, keeping cell functions intact.  What the experts say: PPEs are part of the human nervous system too and conditions such as Alzheimer's disease are accompanied by losses of the molecule. Learning how to manipulate levels of PPE could reveal new treatments for brain disease, says co-author Itay Budin, a biophysicist at the University of California, San Diego.  Exponential Wave Detections In 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) recorded a collision of two black holes that occurred 1.3 billion years ago. Since that discovery, black hole detector technology has been advancing rapidly, at an ever-increasing rate, and today about 100 confirmed black hole collisions have been reported.   Why this is interesting: Researchers Imre Bartos, an astrophysicist at the University of Florida and a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, and Szabolcs Márka, professor of physics at Columbia University, measured the rate of black hole collision detections since 2015 and showed it to be doubling every two years. This pace of advancement closely follows Moore's law, which states that the number of transistors on microchips doubles about every two years. What the experts say: "While microchips and black hole detectors rely on vastly different technology, their similar, exponential improvement over time may hint at more general technology trends and the nature of human progress," write Bartos and Márka. "Just as exponential technological advancement has revolutionized computing and now transforms gravitational wave astronomy, in coming years we'll see similar radical progress unfold in other domains, such as biotechnology and communications." Zane Wolf The above graph shows the number of possible black hole merger detections by year, over time. Initial LIGO data collection is in blue, followed by Advanced LIGO after the first detection of a black hole merger in 2015. After future renovations of LIGO, it will be called LIGO A#. Cosmic Explorer will be an entirely new detector. In LIGO's early phases, it detected less than one black hole merger per year. Researchers calculated the number of probable detections per year by multiplying the volume of space each detector can probe by the expected number of black hole mergers in that volume, as well as by each detector's observing time. TODAY'S NEWS • The typical peak of hurricane season arrives in early September, but the Atlantic has been eerily quiet. Where are all the storms? | 5 min read • For years, research has focused on the harms of gossiping. But scientists now say that gossip has some surprising social benefits. | 6 min read • Researchers used the highly absorbent dye tartrazine, also known as the common food coloring Yellow No. 5, to turn tissues in living mice transparent. | 5 min read Skin normally scatters light, a phenomenon represented by white lines in the beginning of this clip. When the food, drug and cosmetic dye Yellow No. 5 is absorbed by skin, however, it reduces scattering and allows light to penetrate deeper, making the tissue transparent. Keyi "Onyx" Li/U.S. National Science Foundation More News SPONSORED CONTENT BY HOWTHELIGHTGETSIN Roger Penrose, Sam Harris, Sabine Hossenfelder, Yoshua Bengio and more at HowTheLightGetsIn The world's largest ideas and music festival HowTheLightGetsIn returns to London this 21-22 September for its biggest venture in the capital yet. Featuring Nobel Prize winners, pioneering scientists and cutting-edge thinkers, check out the festival's line-up and get 30% off tickets with code SCIAML30. Get your discounted tickets here. EXPERT PERSPECTIVES • Some forms of logical reasoning develop naturally in people. But certain aspects of logical thought must be taught explicitly using symbolic logic, a topic no longer taught in modern high schools. It is time that we start offering symbolic logic courses in high schools across the country, writes Vinay K. Chaudhry, an AI researcher and former instructor at Stanford University. Symbolic logic is vital to careers in computation and engineering, Chaudhry says, but computational thinking also helps people become critical thinkers who can quickly see through conspiracy theories. "Logically literate people will know how to ask the right questions of their leaders, how to spot fallacies, and, crucially, how to make decisions that truly align with their values," he says.  | 6 min read More Opinion MOST POPULAR STORIES OF THE WEEK • Can a Telescope See Astronauts' Boot Prints on the Moon? | 5 min read • Earthquakes May Forge Large Gold Nuggets | 4 min read • Scientists Make 'Cyborg Worms' with a Brain Guided by AI | 2 min read FEEL-GOOD SCIENCE Wrapping up the week with an uplifting article • Construction of the world's largest wildlife bridge is underway in Liberty Canyon, Calif., across U.S. Route 101, the biggest highway in Los Angeles. When completed, the 165-foot-wide bridge will connect populations of mountain lions in Santa Monica so that males can find mates and hopefully reduce inbreeding in the animals. | 15 min read PLAY NOW How many correct answers can you get on today's news quiz? Next, test your word-search skills with today's Spellements. This week, readers Bruce and Heide found the science words "phthalate," and Mitch C., Louisa T., and Alan all found "dyad." Scientific American readers are the sharpest around. Send any missing Spellements words to games@sciam.com and check out all our games here.  It has been a stressful week for many people, I imagine, with kids' school schedules back in full swing, the end of carefree summer days, and busy fall calendars looming in the near future. I hope Today in Science offers you a daily respite from the worry and a chance to feel some wonder and awe.  Thanks for being a part of our circle of science-lovers. Email me anytime: newsletters@sciam.com. And have a great weekend. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters here. Scientific American One New York Plaza, New York, NY, 10004   Support our mission, subscribe to Scientific American here   Unsubscribe Email Preferences View in browser