A Revelation About Trees Is Messing With Climate Calculations

PLUS: An Epic Fight Over What Really Killed the Dinosaurs, and more.

View this email in your browser  |  Manage newsletter preferences 10.04.23 Your weekly roundup of the best stories on health care, the climate crisis, genetic engineering, robotics, space, and more. For all our science coverage, visit WIRED Science.   A Revelation About Trees Is Messing With Climate Calculations CLOUDSOURCE | 5-MINUTE READ  Trees make clouds by releasing small quantities of vapors called "sesquiterpenes." Scientists are learning more—and it's making climate models hazy. By Max G. Levy   An Epic Fight Over What Really Killed the Dinosaurs HOT TOPIC | 6-MINUTE READ  A machine learning model has joined a vigorous debate over whether volcanoes began dinosaur doomsday well before the asteroid hit. By Matt Simon   A Lab Just 3D-Printed a Neural Network of Living Brain Cells BIOTECH | 5-MINUTE READ  Mini-brains that work and grow like their full-size counterparts could offer an alternative to animal testing and advance the quest for personalized medicine. By Celia Ford   Katalin Karikó's Nobel Prize Marks the Beginning of an mRNA Vaccine Revolution MRNA | 15-MINUTE READ  Nobel Prize winners Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman pioneered the technology that produced a Covid-19 vaccine in record time. Next, mRNA could tackle flu, malaria, and HIV. By Stephen Buranyi   How Insect Brains Melt and Rewire During Metamorphosis FLEETING MEMORIES | 8-MINUTE READ  Do fruit flies remember their larval lives? To find out, scientists made the neurons inside larvae glow, then tracked how they reshuffled as they formed adult brains. By Yasemin Saplakoglu   Which Spider-Man Is Stronger: Tobey Maguire or Tom Holland? DOT PHYSICS | 7-MINUTE READ  To figure it out, you'll need two similar feats of superhero strength and a little bit of physics. By Rhett Allain ADVERTISEMENT More from WIRED Science September's Record-Shattering Heat Was 'Absolutely Gobsmackingly Bananas' Last month was so hot, scientists are struggling to find words for it. The 'Green' Future of Furniture Is a Sofa Stuffed With Seaweed Foam rubber—like the filling inside your couch—produces an enormous amount of CO2. A Norwegian company called Agoprene thinks seaweed could be the solution. Sweat Is Helping You Survive Climate Change It's gross. It's sticky. Here's the science of how it has already saved your life. What Will Plants Be Like on Alien Worlds? Scientists know enough about exoplanets to speculate about how simple plants might arise on them. But don't count on them being green. Shopping season is just around the corner and WIRED is here to help. Sign up for our Deals newsletter to make sure you know about the best deals, sales, and WIRED-tested recommendations. SIGN ME UP Trending on WIRED THE BIG INTERVIEW | 10-MINUTE READ Patrick Stewart Boldly Explores His Own Final Frontier By Gideon Lichfield Everyone's favorite starship captain is back in the hot seat—this time as the author of a revealing, open-hearted memoir, Making It So. GET WIRED Get WIRED for just $29.99 $5. That includes subscriber-only content like Steven Levy's Plaintext column, plus free stickers! Subscribe now. ADVERTISEMENT Have questions or comments? Reply to this email.   This email was sent to you by WIRED. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our email address, wired@newsletters.wired.com, to your address book.   View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe or Manage your newsletter subscriptions   Copyright © Condé Nast 2023. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.