Abstracts: Sexism, Cave Writing, Graphene, and More
• 30 years after leaving physics because of harassment, Margaret Wertheim explores why sexism is so hard to get rid of in science. (Aeon)
• A miner gave up on his search for gold in pursuit of another treasure: graphite, which can be turned into graphene, the strongest material on Earth. (Bloomberg)
• The U.S. military is using cadavers and specially designed dummies to research how to protect soldiers. (New York Times)
• Along with bison and elk, early human cave drawings also included strange geometric shapes. Now one researcher thinks that they might be a precursor to writing. (National Geographic)
• The shooting of a gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo has fueled the debate over whether or not it’s wrong to keep certain animals in captivity. (Washington Post)
• New research suggests that taking opioids may actually make patients more sensitive to pain over time. (Science)
• It has long been thought that earthquakes exacerbate carbon emissions, but new research suggests that they might actually help capture carbon instead. (The Economist)
• Amazon’s Alexa is now for more than just the home. Hospitals are using the technology to allow patients to ask questions and pull up health records using only their voice. (STAT)
• During the ice age, Europe was full of elephants. Now, one zoo in Denmark wants to use rewilding to see them roam again. (BBC)
• And finally, toxin levels in crops like wheat and maize might be rising in the wake of recent climate conditions. (Scientific American)