SPONSORED BY  | | | | March 15, 2024: The enormity of space, false promises of carbon capture and a successful SpaceX Starship test flight. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | Sorry to Break Your Brain | The scale of the cosmos is truly mind-bending. Even astronomers who study and contemplate deep space can't really grasp the size of it. Humans seem to outpace the cognitive capacity of all other known life-forms on the planet–though we don't have the biggest brains or the most neurons in the neocortex, we have complex languages, art and culture. But the laws of physics place tough constraints on our mental faculties, and therefore how much about the universe we could comprehend. - Thirty Earths could fit into the distance between our planet and the moon.
- It would take 170 years to drive to the sun from Earth on an imaginary highway.
- Pluto is 30 times farther; it took the New Horizons spacecraft more than nine years to get there, traveling at 31,000 mph.
- The distance light can travel in a year is called a light-year, and is about 10 trillion kilometers.
- The nearest star system to the sun is Alpha Centauri, which is 41 trillion km away (about four light-years).
- The universe is expanding ever faster and might be 90 or so billion light-years across!
What the experts say: If things grew increasingly fuzzy and abstract as the above list went on, you're not alone. "Our ape brain still struggles to comprehend even the distance to the moon," writes Plait. "And the universe is 2 million trillion times bigger than that." | | | In the U.S., the oil and gas industries have been pushing the idea that we can still use fossil fuels as long as the carbon dioxide emitted is captured and stored in the ground. They say that this is a key solution to the climate crisis. This is a false promise, writes Naomi Oreskes, historian of science at Harvard University, in this month's issue of Scientific American.
The details: Many carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects at oil well sites inject CO2 into the ground to flush out every bit of oil. Fuel companies say this is fruitful carbon storage (since the CO2 gets stored in the ground and not in the atmosphere). But, not only is the stability of that carbon questionable, in actuality such projects mostly serve to keep the oil and gas flowing. There may be places to safely–and permanently–store CO2, but finding them would take years of research (and billions of dollars).
What the experts say: "Our focus—and our tax dollars," writes Oreskes, "should be trained on scaling up production of cost-competitive renewable energy, grid-scale batteries for storing that energy and efficiency measures to conserve it as fast as we possibly can. | | | • Pregnancy causes changes in brain circuits that may be involved in empathy and bonding, according to a new study. | 4 min read | | | • Researchers have sequenced the mitochondrial genome of the deadliest form of malaria from an ancient Roman skeleton. | 3 min read | | | • SpaceX's Starship megarocket, the world's largest and most powerful rocket, reached orbital speed for the first time yesterday in a historic third test flight. | 3 min read | | | The SpaceX Starship spacecraft lifts off from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on March 14, 2024. Credit: Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images | | | SPONSORED CONTENT BY BAYER | A woman's ovaries slow production of estradiol, the most powerful form of estrogen, as menopause approaches. Credit: theasis/Getty | Many women suffer from untreated menopause symptoms, which have been poorly understood. New science on the biological drivers of hot flashes, disturbed sleep, mood disorders and more could lead to novel therapies that make mid-life easier. Learn More | | | • In February, the House Intelligence Committee launched a hearing into how its spies handled "Havana syndrome"—an array of health complaints first reported by U.S. diplomats and covert agents working in Cuba since late 2016. Instead of questioning the intelligence community, writes Robert Bartholomew, a senior lecturer at Auckland University, "the congressional committee should unearth the role of credulous lawmakers and the Trump administration's State Department in cooking up a dubious syndrome that somehow merited millions in compensation while hobbling diplomatic relations with Cuba." | 6 min read | | | Welcome to Friday, and thanks for all your notes and feedback this week! Many of you were particularly alarmed by the amount of plastics in our bodies and environments, which we reported on this week. Something tells me scientists will be learning a lot more about this ubiquitous material as this year progresses, so I'll do my best to keep you in the loop.
Have a great weekend! | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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