In “On the Move,” Abrahm Lustgarten explores the profound demographic impact that global warming will have on Americans as millions become displaced and in search of more habitable places to settle, which models show will shift to the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest, and into Canada.

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2024/03/29/book-review-on-the-move/

Some people who get Covid-19 experience symptoms long after the initial illness, developing what’s known as long Covid. But a lack of consensus over the diagnostic criteria for the condition has impeded research progress and could lead to stigma for patients, says DePaul University psychologist Leonard A. Jason.

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2024/03/28/opinion-define-long-covid/

As supporters lobby for regulatory acceptance, a group of large consulting companies and eDNA specialists see the tool as a promising way to monitor corporate sustainability. Experts say eDNA has limitations and drawbacks.

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2024/03/27/edna-commercial-marketplace/

A new report highlights the risk that 120,000 abandoned oil and gas wells pose to underground carbon dioxide storage in Louisiana, home to more proposals to pump the greenhouse gas underground than any other state.

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2024/03/26/carbon-storage-abandoned-wells/

Surging interest in xenotransplantation, the implanting of non-human animal parts into human bodies, has cast a spotlight on the use of brain-dead subjects in medical research. Such studies fall into a regulatory gap marked by few ethical guidelines and little, if any, oversight.

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2024/03/25/experimenting-with-brain-dead-bodies/

Despite what we see in science fiction movies, intelligent machines cannot perform surgeries alone. But highly trained human surgeons are using an emerging generation of cutting-edge robots as another tool to help them do their jobs with higher precision and smaller incisions.

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2024/03/22/book-excerpt-robot-surgery/

Scientific collections housed in museums, archives, and libraries are part of a country’s cultural heritage. During its invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army targeted cultural properties for destruction. Scientist and curator Pavel Gol’din says rescuing such collections is necessary for a society to survive.

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2024/03/21/opinion-ukraine-collections-protection-war/

A complex mission to retrieve samples from the red planet is in the works. But while it’s been a long-time priority for the planetary science community, the project’s ballooning budget — which has led to funding cuts for other NASA projects — has some experts wondering: Will the mission be worth it?

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2024/03/20/nasa-mars-sample-return/

A group of scientists are analyzing satellite images to teach computers to recognize when farmers butter the land with livestock poop in winter, a largely restricted but suspectedly pervasive practice in America’s Dairyland. Some advocates want the state to use their data as it regulates livestock manure.

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2024/03/19/satellites-illegal-manure-spreading/

In the rapidly growing field of eDNA, technological innovation has been key to surveying biodiversity. And while some scientists continue to use traditional methods, others are also banking on tools such as robots to help collect samples, as well as advanced lab analyses.

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2024/03/18/edna-conservation/