Cocaine Sharks and the Hottest Days on Record (So Far)

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2024

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s a scorching summer, with record-breaking temperatures last Monday. Rain really is harder to predict, and greenhouse gasses are probably to blame. Polio is circulating in Gaza’s wastewater and could spread as conflict leads to crowding, poor sanitation and missing routine vaccinations. Plus, we discuss a shocking price for a promising HIV vaccine, cocaine sharks and komodo dragons with iron-tipped teeth. Recommended reading: Sharks in Brazil Test Positive for a Surprising Contaminant: Cocaine Komodo Dragons’ Nightmare Iron-Tipped Teeth Are a Reptilian First Why Extreme Heat Is So Deadly E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. This show was edited by Jeff DelViscio, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Shopify.
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0:26.7	Happy Monday listeners.
0:31.3	Let's kick off the week by catching up on the latest science news.
0:34.9	For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Rachel Feltman.
0:41.1	Monday, July 22nd topped the charts as the hottest day ever recorded on the planet.
0:46.5	But that's not actually the worst part. The worst part is that Sunday, July 21st,
0:51.3	had actually just broken the same record. Monday. Monday,
0:55.0	Monday turned out to be even hotter.
0:58.0	Speaking of hellish weather, that's all our fault,
1:02.0	have you noticed how wacky rain has gotten
1:04.1	like speaking personally it feels like we're seeing way more torrential
1:08.2	downpours and unpredictable forecast than we used to and scientists say they've found proof that suggests this really is the case and that climate change is to blame. I know shocking. What a plot twist. A study published last Thursday in science found that the daily global rainfall variability has been increasing since the 1900s to the tune of about 1.2% per decade.
1:30.0	Rainfall variability is a measurement that basically tells you how uneven the quantity and pacing of our precipitation is. So for example, if you have higher variability, you might get droughts and downpours instead of a more chill
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