Lake Mead

Abstracts: Water Scarcity, Beer, Asteroids, and More

• A reservoir that provides water to 25 million people in the western United States just hit (another) record low. (Vox)

NASA has estimated the sizes of almost 160,000 asteroids, but one man says that they're likely way off. (Visual by NASA/JPL-Caltech)

NASA has estimated the sizes of almost 160,000 asteroids, but one man says that they’re likely way off. (Visual by NASA/JPL-Caltech)

• Many industries are still in the early phases of planning for climate change, but those that are already feeling its effects, like agriculture and manufacturing, are starting to adapt. (MIT Tech Review)

• NASA has estimated the size of almost 160,000 asteroids, but according to the former chief technologist at Microsoft, those estimates could be very wrong. (New York Times)

• The deaths of two newborns in one California family led researchers to discover they had the same genetic mutation. (STAT)

• A 5,000 year-old brewery was found in China, making it one of the oldest in the world. (National Geographic)

• 10 years later, former vice president Al Gore looks back on his climate change documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. (Wired)

• While not officially a recognized disorder in the United States, for many people internet addiction is a real problem. (Washington Post)

• Scientists consider genetic changes within the virus and contact with larger populations as possible reasons for the rapid spread of Zika. (Scientific American)

• A new U.S. labor law will increase pay for postdocs, but it could have a big effect on research budgets. (Science)

• And finally, NASA and Microsoft teamed up to create a way to explore Mars through virtual reality. (Popular Science)

Ian Evans is a science and nature writer living in the Boston area. He earned a bachelors in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and recently completed a master's degree in Science Journalism at Boston University. Ian is an intern at Undark Magazine for the summer of 2016, where his primary focus will be on nature, environmental science and ecology.