Editor's note

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.

Jennifer Weeks

Environment + Energy Editor

Top stories

Trees have died in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colo., as climate change has intensified bark beetle infestations and drought. Patrick Gonzalez

Human-caused climate change severely exposes the U.S. national parks

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.

An activist in Pakistan takes part in a protest against Salman Rushdie in Karachi in 2007. Zahid Hussein

Thirty years on, why ‘The Satanic Verses’ remains so controversial

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.

A Mobius strip. cosma/shutterstock.com

The weird world of one-sided objects

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.

Science + Technology

Economy + Business

Politics + Society

Health + Medicine

  • As life expectancies rise, so are expectations for healthy aging

    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?

Environment + Energy

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