Science Times: Is cutting off your family good therapy?

Plus: Mammoth DNA, exploding supernovas and cannibalistic frogs —

View in browser|nytimes.com July 16, 2024 Lucy Jones Is Cutting Off Your Family Good Therapy? Encouraged on social media, many Americans are estranging themselves from their families as a therapeutic step. By Ellen Barry Dimitri Staszewski for The New York Times At Paint Rock, Centuries of Native American Artistry Glyphs and pictographs at a site in Texas represent generations of settlement by Indigenous peoples. By Dimitri Staszewski and Franz Lidz James Hagadorn, Graham Young, and Roy Plotnick A Fossil Mystery, Solved by a Spin Scientists could never explain how this fossil might have been a jellyfish. Then they flipped it on its head and discovered another animal. By Jack Tamisiea Volker Steger/Science Source Origins Early Humans Left Africa Much Earlier Than Previously Thought Scientists have found evidence of several waves of migration by looking at the genetic signatures of human interbreeding with Neanderthals. By Carl Zimmer Email us Let us know how we're doing at sciencenewsletter@nytimes.com. John Gould Trilobites She Didn't Like His Song, So She Tried to Eat Him It's not easy being green, golden and male, according to a researcher's observation of attempted frog cannibalism in Australia. By Joshua Rapp Learn NASA/SAO/CXC; Image Processing: NASA/SAO/CXC/J. Major Out There Watch These Supernovas Explode Across Time For the 25th anniversary of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, NASA produced ghostly time-lapse videos of two centuries-old stellar eruptions. By Dennis Overbye Love Dalén/Stockholm University A Mammoth First: 52,000-Year-Old DNA, in 3-D A "fossil chromosome" preserves the structure of a woolly mammoth's genome — and offers a better grasp of how it once worked. By Siobhan Roberts Zinyange Auntony for The New York Times A.I. Needs Copper. It Just Helped to Find Millions of Tons of It. The deposit, in Zambia, could make billions for Silicon Valley, provide minerals for the energy transition and help the United States in its rivalry with China. By Max Bearak Gica Tam Elon Musk's Plan to Put a Million Earthlings on Mars in 20 Years SpaceX employees are working on designs for a Martian city, including dome habitats and spacesuits, and researching whether humans can procreate off Earth. Mr. Musk has volunteered his sperm. By Kirsten Grind Frazer Harrison/Getty Images A Missy Elliott Song Travels to Venus at the Speed of Light NASA sent the song "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" from a radio dish in California last week. It took 14 minutes to travel the 158 million miles. By Mike Ives SpaceX Rocket Fails in Orbit The malfunction, the first since 2016, ended a streak of more than 300 successful launches for the Falcon 9 rocket. By Kenneth Chang NASA Mission to Europa Imperiled by Chips Aboard Spacecraft Transistors on the Europa Clipper spacecraft, scheduled to launch in October, may not be able to endure the harsh radiation around the planet Jupiter. By David W. Brown Bengt Samuelsson, Biochemist and Nobel Laureate, Is Dead at 90 He shared the 1982 Nobel Prize in medicine for breakthrough discoveries that led to drugs that treat inflammation, glaucoma and allergies. By Delthia Ricks Maxine Singer, Guiding Force at the Dawn of Biotechnology, Dies at 93 A leading biochemist, she helped shape guidelines in the 1970s for genetic-engineering while calming public fears of a spread of deadly lab-made microbes. By Denise Gellene Richard M. Goldstein, Who Helped Map the Cosmos, Dies at 97 Using ground-based radars, he pioneered measurement techniques that scientists now use to chart geographical changes on Earth. By Michael S. Rosenwald CLIMATE CHANGE Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times At the Republican National Convention, Climate Change Isn't a Problem As the event opens with a focus on energy, former President Trump and other leaders are calling for more oil, gas and coal development. By Lisa Friedman Scott McIntyre for The New York Times What Trump 2.0 Could Mean for the Environment If Donald Trump returns to the White House, he would likely face fewer legal and bureaucratic obstacles to dramatically remake the E.P.A. By Brad Plumer and Lisa Friedman Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times J.D. Vance Is an Oil Booster and Doubter of Human-Caused Climate Change He once said society had a climate problem but changed his position sharply while seeking Donald Trump's endorsement in his Senate race. By Lisa Friedman Philip Cheung for The New York Times By Burning Down Buildings, Insurers Want to Change How They're Built Property insurers are trying to force changes in construction standards that they say are necessary to protect against wildfires. By Emily Flitter HEALTH Hannah Yoon for The New York Times Promised Cures, Tainted Cells: How Cord Blood Banks Mislead Parents Families pay thousands of dollars to store their children's stem cells with the hope of a healthier future. But the cells are rarely useful, and sometimes contaminated. By Sarah Kliff and Azeen Ghorayshi iStock Why Does a Routine Test of Newborns Reward 'Pink' Skin? The Apgar test grades infants in five areas, including skin tone. Babies of color score lower, and may be subjected to unnecessary treatment. By Roni Caryn Rabin Josephine Sittenfeld for KFF Health News Why Nursing Home Residents Still Suffer Despite Tough State Laws The Biden administration set stringent new federal staffing rules. But for years, nursing homes have failed to meet the toughest standards set by states. By Jordan Rau Kristian Thacker for The New York Times How to Find a Good, Well-Staffed Nursing Home Here are the telltale signs to look for in nursing homes to avoid, and resources that can point to better places. By Jordan Rau In Constant Battle With Insurers, Doctors Reach for a Cudgel: A.I. As health plans increasingly rely on technology to deny treatment, physicians are fighting back with chatbots that synthesize research and make the case. By Teddy Rosenbluth Colorado Reports Three More Presumed Cases of Bird Flu The cases, which have yet to be confirmed, were identified in farmworkers culling infected birds. The risk to the public remains low, health officials said. By Isabella Kwai Second Patient to Receive a Genetically Modified Pig Kidney Has Died Lisa Pisano, 54, lived with the organ for 47 days. She was the first patient to receive both a heart pump and an organ transplant, doctors said. By Roni Caryn Rabin Ruth Westheimer, the Sex Guru Known as Dr. Ruth, Dies at 96 Frank and funny, the taboo-breaking psychologist said things on television and radio that would have been shocking coming from almost anyone else. By Daniel Lewis An Appraisal Richard Simmons's Radical Promise: Exercise Is for Everybody By preaching that you didn't have to already be slim to work out, Simmons reshaped the fitness industry — and ushered in the modern era of exercise. By Danielle Friedman Make a friend's day: Forward this email. Got this from a friend? Subscribe to the Science Times newsletter. Check out other New York Times newsletters (all free!) including: Climate Fwd: for climate coverage and expert analysis. The Upshot for a data-driven look at the news. Well for the latest on health, fitness and nutrition. Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for Science Times from The New York Times. To stop receiving Science Times, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018