Telepathic communication might be one step closer to reality thanks to new research from the University of Washington. A team created a method that allows three people to work together to solve a problem using only their minds.

In BrainNet, three people play a Tetris-like game using a brain-to-brain interface. This is the first demonstration of two things: a brain-to-brain network of more than two people, and a person being able to both receive and send information to others using only their brain. The team published its results in Scientific Reports after being posted on arXiv last year.

The term "fake news" has been popularized by media due to President Donald Trump using it about corporate news outlets in recent years, it was even the plot of the recent Marvel move "Spider-Man: Far From Home" and while its precise meaning has been hotly debated, the spreading of false information to fulfill a political agenda is now a new concept. And it's not just an American thing.

As France has drifted away from agricultural progress, it has become more reliant on imported food. What was once Europe's greatest ag engine has become the sick old man of of the continent. A new paper says it needs to get even worse if the EU is going to honor its other commitments to environmentalists.

People are rushing to buy supplements because of (correct) claims that the microbiome is important. While the science on helpful microbes is correct it does not mean yogurt or any other food - even organic, try as their trade groups try to claim that - is helping any more than that redox science in mitochondria means you should spend your money on antioxidant supplements.

There is no compelling evidence any of that has an impact and if it did, that it would be beneficial.

A new paper in JAMA Network Open takes using epidemiological statistics to support ideological goals to the next level. It suggests that since it seems to have happened in 2016, if a Republican even campaigns for President in 2020 Latina women will have more preterm births. 

Since the first use of electric lamps in the 19th century, society hasn’t looked back. Homes and streets are lit at all hours so that people can go about their business when they’d once have been asleep. Besides the obvious benefits to societies and the economy, there’s growing awareness of the negative impact of artificial light.

Light pollution has been blamed for wasting energy, disrupting wildlife behavior and harming mental health. One aspect has avoided the spotlight though. Namely, that light not only allows one to see, but also to be seen. This could well attract unwelcome attention – and not just from moths.

The first potentially habitable world outside of our own solar system is only about 31 light-years away and a new paper models the conditions under which the planet GJ 357 d, discovered a few months ago, could sustain life.

With a thick atmosphere, the planet GJ 357 d could maintain liquid water on its surface like Earth and that means it could be habitable. It is nearby a diminutive M-type dwarf sun, about one-third the size of our own sun,(it is unclear if the planet transits) which harbors three planets, with GJ 357 in that system's habitable zone.

This is surely going to be one of the 93% of bills that never make it to law. First there is his op. ed. and surely this is not serious:

First his “maybe we’d be better off if Facebook disappeared.” is part of an argument. He is saying we need to be tough on social media and not let ourselves be shoved around by them.

Confront the industry, we’re told, and you might accidentally kill it — and with it, all the innovation it has (supposedly) brought to our society.

Maybe. But maybe social media’s innovations do our country more harm than good. Maybe social media is best understood as a parasite on productive investment, on meaningful relationships, on a healthy society.

Short summary - the Arctic is always on fire in summer, and it’s a natural part of the ecosystem, to the extent that moose, bears, bison, voles, foxes, owls, birds of prey, …, they are all dependent on the fires directly or indirectly. It would be a very different ecosystem without them. Part of the Arctic burns every year but other areas recently burned grow new growth such as birches, berries, herbs, willow, grassland, others then are turning into mature forests of spruce, which burn when they become very dry, others are peat banks that again burn when they are very dry and it cycles round and round.

Articles that warn about the effects on global warming are a bit premature. You need to look at all the effects over multi-year periods.

Another paper has disqualified claims by organic industry trade groups, sympathetic academic journalists, and trial lawyer organizations that the weedkiller glyphosate, which acts on plants, somehow causes human cancer

Thee researchers evaluated as yet unpublished data from the Agricultural Health Study (AHS) in the USA, the observation period of which had been extended by eleven years. Through the extended follow-up of the AHS, they come to the conclusion that no connections could be established between applications of plant protection products containing glyphosate and the occurrence of cancer among the examined population group.