Sweaty, remarkable humans; ocean level rise projections; closeup of a star in another galaxy

Since we last spoke, researchers at the University of Birmingham have defined the precise shape of a single photon (spoiler: roundish). Economists worry that Trump’s grandiose deportation plans could lead to a recession. And astronomers report that the Milky Way may not be truly representative of other galaxies in the universe. We also reported on supercharged human metabolism, projections of sea level rise over the next 75 years and a remarkable photo of a dying star in another galaxy:

Humans unique, sweaty

I read about a guy back in the 2000s who got tired of sourcing and preparing food every day and as a kind of life hack, bought a whole pallet of gorilla kibble manufactured for zoos. Obviously, this man was a giant nerd. I may even have read about it on Slashdot—I can’t remember, exactly. After several weeks, and with an incipient case of malnutrition, he abandoned this project as insufficiently nutrient dense.

And there are good reasons for that—scientists have known for a long time that human diets are significantly more nutrient dense than those of other primates, but a new study from Harvard researchers may offer a new understanding about how we manage all those calories from a metabolic standpoint. Study co-author and paleoanthropologist Daniel Lieberman says, “Humans are off-the-charts different from any creature that we know of so far in terms of how we use energy.”

Previously, researchers believed that human and non-human primates have a lower metabolic rate than predicted by body size. But in the new study, the biology team developed a comparison method that better corrects for body size, environmental temperature and body fat, finding that humans do not have to make the same tradeoffs between resting and active metabolic rates as other primates.

The researchers cite chimpanzees, which have high metabolism but also live in a warm, tropical climate—because they generate so much body heat, they have low activity levels during daylight hours. By contrast, the human resting metabolic rate remains high even in hot climates because of what co-author Andrew Yegian calls “our unique ability to dump heat by sweating—we’ve also been able to increase our physical activity levels without lowering our resting metabolic rates. The result is that we are an energetically unique species.”

Future irrigorous

By 2100, residents of the U.S. Southeast Atlantic coast will struggle with a constellation of climate-driven impacts. Researchers at Virginia Tech estimate that up to 14 million people and $1 trillion in property will be affected by events including shallow groundwater hazards, storm-driven flooding and beach erosion and loss.

“The risk of flooding, compounded by sinking land and beach loss, could displace millions and damage critical infrastructure unless robust adaptation strategies are implemented,” says co-author Manoochehr Shirzaei.

In their study, which employed the Coastal Storm Modeling System and other recent modeling tools, the researchers assumed 1 meter of sea level rise. Seventy percent of coastal residents will be affected by emerging groundwater 15 times higher than daily flooding. The study projects that 80% of beaches along the Southeast Atlantic coast will be lost to rising sea levels, exacerbating flooding and groundwater hazards. Additionally, the study projects that multiple hazard exposures will disproportionately impact lower-income communities.

Photo notable

Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer released an astonishing image of a dying star located in another galaxy. The red giant WOH G64, located within the Large Magellanic Cloud, was discovered decades ago, and earned the nickname “behemoth star.” The image shows an egg-shaped veil of gas and dust the star is pumping out in the last stages before it becomes a supernova.

The Large Magellanic Cloud, visible in the Southern Hemisphere, is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The new imagery reveals that the star has become dimmer in the last decade, an indication that it is experiencing rapid changes as it sheds mass. The astronomers believe that its shroud of gas is responsible for dimming light from the star. Additionally, they were surprised by the egg shape of the dust cocoon; modeling and previous observations had suggested that it would have a different configuration.

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