Editor's note
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Why do zebras have their distinctive stripes? Scientists have recently taken up this age-old question, with evidence accumulating that these stripes help protect zebras from biting flies and the dangerous diseases they can carry. To really test what’s going on, UC Davis biologist Tim Caro and his colleague Martin How headed to a livery where they draped horses in zebra-striped or plain-colored coats and started counting flies.
The proposed Green New Deal many Democrats back would do away with America’s net carbon emissions within a decade. Is that even possible? Penn State energy policy and economics scholar Seth Blumsack suggests that goal could perhaps be feasible, “as long as all three branches of the federal government were on board,” but only when it comes to electricity generation. He explains why getting the whole job done would take at
least 20 years.
More than 16 million Americans suffer bouts of severe depression in a year. For about a third of these cases current treatments aren’t effective. An FDA-convened committee recently voted esketamine safe to treat severe depression. But this new drug is almost identical to ketamine, which is sometimes sold as an illegal street drug. Medical anthropologist Lee Hoffer of Case Western Reserve University busts myths surrounding ketamine and explains why esketamine is a safe choice.
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Maggie Villiger
Senior Science + Technology Editor
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Top stories
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Scientific testing has zeroed in on the advantages of a zebra’s striped coat.
Tim Caro
Tim Caro, University of California, Davis; Martin How, University of Bristol
How the zebra got its stripes is not only a just-so story, but an object of scientific inquiry. New research suggests that stripes help zebras evade biting flies and the deadly diseases they carry.
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Most Norwegian road-worthy cars are conventional despite its EV boom.
Reuters/Alister Doyle
Seth Blumsack, Pennsylvania State University
There are precedents regarding power generation and ethanol but no nation has ever achieved as comprehensive and dramatic this fast.
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One in 3 people with severe depression do not respond to treatment.
TZIDO SUN/Shutterstock.com
Lee Hoffer, Case Western Reserve University
A safety committee convened by the FDA has declared esketamine safe for severe depression. But isn't this drug the same as ketamine, an illegal street drug? A medical anthropologist explains.
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Politics + Society
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Michael J. Socolow, University of Maine
CNN has just announced it has hired a former Trump administration official to help direct political coverage. A storm of criticism ensued. But political hacks have long found a home in journalism.
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Ronald Hall, Michigan State University
In the US, black children wait longer to be adopted and cost less to adopt than white children.
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Jennapher Lunde Seefeldt, Centre College
With ExxonMobil set to begin oil production in Guyana next year, this tiny South American country will soon become unthinkably rich. But neighboring Venezuela shows how an oil boom can go bust.
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Most read on site
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Nathan Jensen, University of Texas at Austin; Calvin Thrall, University of Texas at Austin
Amazon nixed plans to build a headquarters in Long Island City after some New Yorkers questioned the wisdom of offering billions in tax breaks in exchange for job promises. A Texas study suggests they had reason to worry.
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John Rennie Short, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
US cities were designed and engineered around cars. Now some are working to increase walking and biking, but the shift isn't easy.
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Stanley M. Brand, Pennsylvania State University
Will the public ever see a report from Robert Mueller's investigation of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia? Maybe not. There are big legal hurdles to making it public.
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