February 29, 2024: Rethinking car culture, our senior graphics editor's journey to discover the origin of a pulsar image on an iconic album cover, and giant crabs. —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor | | | More than a decade ago on New Zealand's North Island, an amateur fossil collector found the remnants of a male crab, whole and perfectly preserved, with a massive pincer that could have taken your finger off. The specimen's carapace measured 20 centimeters (eight inches) and it sported a claw of the same length, making it the largest fossil claw of any crab ever recorded, reports science writer Kate Evans. The specimen, recently dubbed Pseudocarcinus karlraubenheimeri after the teen who discovered it, turned out to be a brand-new species of giant crab that sidled around in the Miocene epoch, about nine million years ago. The only living descendants of the newly described species are even more spectacular. Called southern giant crabs ( Pseudoocarcinus gigas), the males are endowed with one oversized pincer that can approach half a meter (20 inches) long. And they can weigh as much as a small child—12 kilograms, or 25 pounds.
Why this matters: The marine fossil record primarily contains information about the shallows, but the giant crab Pseudocarcinus karlraubenheimeri lived several hundred meters below the surface, where it might have been prey for early whales, dolphins and seals. And it was an important predator in its own right.
What the experts say: "Gigantic or not, crabs are a spectacular example of the complexities of evolution," says crustacean expert Javier Luque, who was not involved in new research describing the fossil crab species. "They have an astonishing diversity of form and function…It is really exciting to see more fossils of this group coming to light." | | | Illustration of a modern-day southern giant crab, Pseudocarcinus gigas, which can reach the weight of a small child. Credit: The Picture Art Collection/Alamy Stock Photo | | | Commonly held assumptions about who gets an abortion in the U.S. do not align with reality, according to new research reported by Scientific American's Meghan Bartels. In-depth, freeform interviews analyzed by sociologist Tricia Bruce and colleagues show that the imagined person getting an abortion is often a young white woman who wants to establish financial stability before having a child. But most people getting an abortion are in their 20s, and they're disproportionately likely to be Black or Hispanic or Latinx. More than half have already given birth at least once. Older data suggest that more than half of abortion seekers identify as religious. Financial concerns may drive their decisions, but these tend to be concerns about making ends meet rather than long-term earning potential.
Why the disconnect?: Public narratives about abortion have been shaped by the stigmatization and silencing of people who have one, says sociologist Rachel Jones, who was not involved in Bruce's study.
Why it matters: Study participants who either had an abortion or knew someone who had were more likely to oppose abortion restrictions and to instead favor letting individuals choose for themselves. So, connecting people with the true narrative of abortion in the U.S. may result in policy changes, Bruce says. | | | • Coast-to-coast, the cars and trucks we drive cause about 16 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Motor vehicles cause significant air pollution, worsening asthma and heart disease rates, write the editors of Scientific American in a recent essay. And motor vehicle collisions are a leading cause of death in people ages one to 44. After a century of America's car culture claiming a central place in our lives, we need to rethink our world into one not hitched to the automobile. Recommendations for this rethink include the following: giving sidewalks and bike trails the same priority as roads in our cities and suburbs; incentives for e-bikes and other financial breaks to eschew second cars and the congestion they cause; on-street parking pricing to incentivize public transit; and public service announcements that extol biking short distances and note the time saved on public transport spent reading or answering e-mails. | 5 min read | | | Happy Leap Day! Why do we do this, again? We add an extra day to February every four years to keep our calendar in sync with the cosmos. Mostly. To learn about the exceptions, check out this recent essay by astronomer and science communicator Phil Plait. | If you have any feedback, suggestions, or spot any errors while reading these newsletters, please reach out to us. | —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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