Editor's note
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Climate change is making the United States hotter and much of it drier, but these trends aren’t uniform across the nation. In a new study, forest ecologist Patrick Gonzalez of the University of California, Berkeley reports that national parks are warming and drying faster than the country as a whole. He explains how because many of them are in extreme environments like the Arctic or the Southwest, the effects of climate change are
particularly intense.
This week marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of Salman Rushdie’s controversial book “The Satanic Verses,” which set off angry demonstrations around the world. Rushdie had to go into hiding after Iran’s religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a religious ruling commanding Muslims to kill him. Scholar Myriam Renaud explains what was behind the rage and why the anger persists.
One hundred years ago this week, mathematician August Möbius passed away. He’s best remembered for the Möbius strip – a mind-bending geometric invention that only has one side. Ever since, the Möbius strip has inspired artists and mathematicians alike to see the world in totally new ways.
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Jennifer Weeks
Environment + Energy Editor
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Top stories
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Trees have died in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colo., as climate change has intensified bark beetle infestations and drought.
Patrick Gonzalez
Patrick Gonzalez, University of California, Berkeley
As climate change alters temperature and precipitation patterns across the US, it is having especially severe impacts on national parks. These changes could happen faster than many plants and animals can adapt.
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An activist in Pakistan takes part in a protest against Salman Rushdie in Karachi in 2007.
Zahid Hussein
Myriam Renaud, University of Chicago
Author Salman Rushdie's book goes to the heart of Muslim religious beliefs and challenges some of the most sensitive tenets.
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A Mobius strip.
cosma/shutterstock.com
David Gunderman, University of Colorado; Richard Gunderman, Indiana University
The inventor of the brain-teasing Möbius strip died 150 years ago, but his creation continues to spawn new ideas in mathematics.
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Science + Technology
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Jacek Debiec, University of Michigan
Two neural systems record traumatic memories, meaning they can be remembered in both conscious and unconscious ways.
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Yury Gogotsi, Drexel University; Asia Sarycheva, Drexel University; Babak Anasori, Drexel University
A new type of material can make it easy to put antennas almost anywhere – no matter how thin the space, or even on surfaces people need to be able to see through.
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Health + Medicine
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Marcia G. Ory, Texas A&M University ; Basia Belza, University of Washington; Matthew Lee Smith, Texas A&M University
The age of the US is increasing, and with it, new expectations of health and happiness. Is the US prepared for the wave of baby boomers who will live long and want to be as healthy as they do?
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Trending on site
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Margaret Hagerman, Mississippi State University
Over the course of two years, a sociologist studied a group of affluent, white kids to see how they made sense of sensitive racial issues like privilege, unequal opportunity and police violence.
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Pelin Gül, Iowa State University; Tom R. Kupfer, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Social psychologists have been busy documenting the harmful effects that this brand of chivalry has on women. But are they missing something?
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Joshua Woods, West Virginia University
A disc-golf boom is coinciding with a ball-golf bust.
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Today’s chart
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Carol Barford
University of Wisconsin-Madison
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