SPONSORED BY  | | | | February 1, 2024: Equanimity boosts resilience in challenging times, how you can participate in science research on this year's total eclipse and an explainer on atmospheric rivers. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | Yesterday I wrote that research on meditation has shown benefits in reducing anxiety, stress, and depression. New studies show that a feeling of equanimity, the mental calmness and evenness which is often promoted by frequent meditation, can help people confront and accept even their most challenging circumstances. Such psychological balance (rather than extreme swings of reacting to everything that happens) make people resilient to discomfort and even loneliness, one study showed.
Why this matters: "Many people are hurting and looking for ways to cope," writes J. David Creswell, a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon, in February's issue of Scientific American. "Our social lives are suffering, too, which prompted the U.S. surgeon general to declare a national advisory last year about our surging epidemic of loneliness."
What they found: Creswell's group found that after just 14 days of so-called equanimity training, participants had significantly lower stress levels when asked to complete an uncomfortable task, plus their overall blood pressure and hormonal stress levels were lower. The researchers developed an app to help people develop their equanimity. | | |
SunSketcher: This app will automatically snap two photos during the eclipse to help scientists get measurements of the sun down to a few kilometers of accuracy.
Eclipse soundscape: Volunteer data collectors will use recording devices called AudioMoths to capture sound wherever they are during the eclipse. One of the goals is to monitor how animals and insects react to eclipses.
HamSCI: Radio frequencies bounce off the Earth's ionosphere, and changes in that part of the atmosphere can change the radio frequency measurements. During the eclipse, participants can tune into a shortwave station out of Fort Collins, Colorado. Using special equipment they can record changes in the frequency measurement from the radio station. Those changes can be attributed to variations in the ionosphere during the eclipse.
Eclipse megamovie: Participants in this project will use digital single-lens-reflex (DSLR) cameras with a zoom lens and a tripod and point it in a specific direction at a specific time to snap images of the eclipse. Researchers will use artificial intelligence to help analyze the images and identify solar storms, sun spots and plasma outbursts. | | | • Injections of no-longer-used growth hormone derived from cadavers may have "seeded" Alzheimer's in some people, a small study suggests. | 4 min read | | | • New liquified natural gas infrastructure projects are on hold while the Department of Energy reexamines claims that exporting the fuel contributes little to global warming. | 6 min read | | | • Atmospheric rivers brought heavy downpours and the threat of flooding, mudslides and avalanches to the Pacific Northwest and California this week. Here's an explainer on the phenomenon. | 4 min read (For more: This feature story on how emergency planners have learned to forecast the dangers of atmospheric rivers. | 13 min read) | | | • A chilly 40 degrees F feels like the end of the world to some Florida residents. But it's just a mild Tuesday in Wisconsin. How can the same temp feel so differently to people? | 4 min read | | | The Science Behind RSV and Vaccination | For 60+ years, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) prevention evaded scientists. But now that's changed. Dr. Temi Folaranmi, Vice President and Head, US Medical and Clinical Affairs, Vaccines, GSK, sheds light on innovations that led to scientific advances in the prevention of RSV. Read more. | | | • The U.S., by far, produces the most heat-trapping gasses in the atmosphere, but poorer countries pay some of the steepest costs that result from a warmer climate. It's time that wealthy nations compensate poorer ones for their climate damages, write the editors of Scientific American: "We call on those who have become rich at the expense of a less livable world to prioritize the needs of developing countries and others bearing the brunt of the climate crisis." | 4 min read | | | Credit: Jinseok Park, Piotr Jablonski | | | Caudipteryx was a three-foot-long dinosaur that lived about 125 million years ago in what's now China. To the modern eye, Caudipteryx looks like a miniature ostrich but with a longer, fan-tipped tail and, remarkably, even dinkier wings. To try to understand the use of such wings, researchers built a robotic dino model and tried out the wing movement to see if it scared modern grasshopper species (grasshopper indicated by white arrow). | 3 min read | | | Do you live in the path of April's total solar eclipse? Here in New York City we're about a four-hour drive to get under the path of the total eclipse but should see a great partial view. Lots of websites like this one will show you what kind of eclipse viewing you'll get in your city or area on April 8. This will be the last complete eclipse viewable in the U.S. for 20 years, so try to make a plan to see it! | Let me know how you're liking this newsletter, or send any feedback to: newsletters@sciam.com. See you tomorrow! | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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