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Carl Sagan's irrefutable 1990 argument for using all U.S. resources to fight climate change

He was way ahead of his time and his logic stands now.

via IslandPalm14/YouTube

Carl Sagan's keynote address at the 5th Emerging Issues Forum at NCSU.

Carl Sagan, the legendary astrophysicist and science communicator, was best known for his incredible ability to express complicated concepts in a way that the everyday person could understand. He did so most notably as host of PBS’s groundbreaking “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage" from 1980 to 1981.

Sagan was also a brilliant futurist who was way ahead of his time. In 1961, he predicted that the clouds of Venus might be home to life, an idea that has gained traction over the past few years. He also predicted many of America's current problems in 1995 and correctly claimed that one day AI would be used for psychotherapy back in the '70s.

He was also ahead of his time when sounding the alarm about Climate Change, evidenced by a 1990 speech he gave at the 5th Emerging Issues Forum. In the keynote address, he said that America should treat the climate crisis as seriously as it did the Cold War. Sagan’s speech was delivered a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which concluded the icy, 5-decade conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

For some context, in 1990, only 30% of Americans were worried about global warming or the greenhouse effect. Today, 54% describe climate change as a “major threat” to the country’s well-being.

- YouTubeyoutu.be

“The amount of money that the United States has spent on the Cold War since 1945 is approximately 10 trillion dollars,” Sagan says, adding that with that amount of money, one could own everything in the country, minus the land.

“How certain was it that the Russians were going to invade? Was it 100% certain? Guess not since they never invaded. What if it was only, let’s say 10% certain? What would advocates of big military buildup have said? We must be prudent. It’s not enough to count on only the most likely circumstance," Sagan continues.

“I ask my friends who are comfortable with that argument, including the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, why doesn’t that same argument apply to Global Warming? You don’t think it’s 100% likely? Fine. You are entitled to think that. If it’s only a small probability of it happening since the consequences are so serious, don’t you have to make some serious investment to prevent it or mitigate it? I think there’s a double standard of argument working and I don’t think we should permit it.”



Sagan would then list the steps we can take to mitigate the effects of climate change, including eliminating CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), increasing fuel efficiency in cars and trucks, seeking out new alternative energy sources, dealing with the global population crisis and planting trees. "A tree is an engine for taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and it does it. It’s not the only thing a tree does, but that is one of the things that trees are good for and it's especially relevant to this issue,” Sagan says.

Sagan’s solutions are the same ones we discuss today, although fears of a global population crisis have waned over the years.

Sagan concluded his address by comparing the dangers of global warming to those faced by the U.S. during the Cold War and making an argument that many support today: fighting climate change is also good economic policy.

"So, what I say to those who complain that it is too uncertain–beyond pointing out the standards that were applied to the Cold War ought to be applied here–I say look, every one of these steps makes good sense, makes good economic sense,” Sagan says. “And think of all of the industries that are implied by what I have just said, especially alternative energy sources. There is money to be made in developing a technology which will appropriately address greenhouse warming."

You can watch the entire address here:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

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Innovation

A student accidentally created a rechargeable battery that could last 400 years

"This thing has been cycling 10,000 cycles and it’s still going." ⚡️⚡️

Steve Zylius/University of California, Irvine.

There's an old saying that luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.

There's no better example of that than a 2016 discovery at the University of California, Irvine, by doctoral student Mya Le Thai. After playing around in the lab, she made a discovery that could lead to a rechargeable battery that could last up to 400 years. That means longer-lasting laptops and smartphones and fewer lithium ion batteries piling up in landfills.

A team of researchers at UCI had been experimenting with nanowires for potential use in batteries, but found that over time the thin, fragile wires would break down and crack after too many charging cycles. A charge cycle is when a battery goes from completely full to completely empty and back to full again.

But one day, on a whim, Thai coated a set of gold nanowires in manganese dioxide and a Plexiglas-like electrolyte gel.

"She started to cycle these gel capacitors, and that's when we got the surprise," said Reginald Penner, chair of the university's chemistry department. "She said, 'this thing has been cycling 10,000 cycles and it's still going.' She came back a few days later and said 'it's been cycling for 30,000 cycles.' That kept going on for a month."

This discovery is mind-blowing because the average laptop battery lasts 300 to 500 charge cycles. The nanobattery developed at UCI made it though 200,000 cycles in three months. That would extend the life of the average laptop battery by about 400 years. The rest of the device would have probably gone kaput decades before the battery, but the implications for a battery that that lasts hundreds of years are pretty startling.

Batteries being recycled at WRWA, London. Nov ‘21Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash

"The big picture is that there may be a very simple way to stabilize nanowires of the type that we studied," Penner said. "If this turns out to be generally true, it would be a great advance for the community." Not bad for just fooling around in the laboratory.


This article originally appeared two years ago.

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Physicist demonstrates how to break a ruler with a newspaper and it's utterly delightful

Her enthusiasm is everything.

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

A simple sheet of newspaper can produce an enormous amount of force.

Have you ever had a teacher whose enthusiasm for their subject piqued your interest more than the subject itself? I had a biology professor in college who would talk in a low almost-whisper most of the time, but when she got excited about mitochondria or cellular respiration or the stages of mitosis, her voice would rise into a loud, high-pitched shriek. While her exuberance didn't make me fall in love with cellular biology, it did capture my attention and provide some chuckle-worthy entertainment while I was learning.

For people who don't have a natural inclination toward certain subjects, a passionate teacher can make all the difference. That's one reason a video of Texas A&M University (TAMU) physicist Dr. Tatiana Erukhimova explaining how atmospheric pressure works is so delightful.

Dr. Erukhimova has been teaching at TAMU for more than 20 years and is the co-author of an undergraduate textbook, "Atmospheric Thermodynamics: Elementary Physics and Chemistry." She is an award-winning educator, and when you see her physics demonstrations shared on TAMU Physics & Astronomy's YouTube channel, it's not hard to see why.

When most of us think of atmospheric pressure, we think about the weather. But Erukhimova demonstrates how atmospheric pressure can give a newspaper the power to break a ruler. (Sort of—the person actually breaks the ruler, but the newspaper is the key to enabling it to happen.) This demonstration would be cool on its own, but Erukhimova's energy is what truly makes the lesson.

Watch and enjoy:

(I may or may not be adding "Did I impress you? NO!" to my regular sayings.)

"Dr. Tatiana" has many similar videos, all of which have the same passion and enthusiasm. Watch her delight in making balloons shrink in liquid nitrogen and then come back to life.

And watch how she describes the "confidence and courage" you need to do a tablecloth inertia demonstration:

So much fun. Three cheers for teachers who make learning fun simply by enthusiastically sharing their wonder at how things work.

And if you want to see more from Dr. Erukhimova, check out her TEDx talk on Physics as a Street Art:

This article originally appeared two years ago.

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Science

Turns out, "for better or for worse" is real, your spouse's moods can be contagious

From finances to daily routines, couples in different cultures share “emotional interdependence.”

via Unsplash
A married couple going to sleep.

The old adage, "Happy wife, happy life" is now backed by science, and though the rhyme doesn't work, the opposite is also true. According to new research published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the well-being of married couples is deeply intertwined, with spouses influencing each other’s happiness, life satisfaction, and even emotional states over time. Intriguingly, this phenomenon seems to be universal across different cultures. Whether you’re in the United States or Japan, your partner’s mood shapes your own.

via GIPHY

Researchers led by Ryosuke Asano from Kurume University explored how couples in both the U.S. and Japan affect each other’s well-being through two main pathways: mutual influence (how one partner’s mood directly impacts the other) and shared environments (like household responsibilities, finances, and social circles). In other words, the ups and downs in one spouse’s life can reflect in their partner’s well-being, making married life a shared emotional roller coaster.

Well-being and “spousal interdependencies”

The concept of “spousal interdependencies” was first explored in American studies, but Asano and his team wanted to see if this pattern held in Japan as well. “I have been interested in close relationships and well-being throughout my career,” Asano shared. Inspired by a 2018 study on American couples, he wanted to find out if these “spousal interdependencies” transcended cultural boundaries.

via GIPHY

To investigate, the researchers gathered data from over 3,000 American couples aged 26 to 96 and more than 2,300 Japanese couples aged 24 to 76, surveying them at several points over time. They measured each person’s life satisfaction, emotional ups and downs, and even symptoms of depression, tracking how these factors played out in their relationships. Their goal? To see if the emotional link between partners in the U.S. would hold true in Japan, where marriage traditions and social norms differ.

Cultural similarities in the ups and downs of marriage

The study revealed something surprising: although American and Japanese cultures have different views on marriage, their couples still experienced similar “well-being interdependence.” Whether it’s financial pressures or day-to-day joys, couples in both countries showed nearly identical levels of mutual influence and shared environmental effects.

via GIPHY

One aspect that might seem surprising is just how similar the results were for couples in such different cultural contexts. Asano noted, “Estimates for spousal interdependencies in well-being…are of very similar magnitude for Americans and Japanese.” This means that while cultural nuances around marriage vary, the way spouses impact each other emotionally is nearly universal.

Boost your partner's mood and feel the benefits together

Since you're emotionally tied to your better half, making them happier can often be the quickest path to boosting your own mood. Consider these small but impactful gestures to lift your partner’s spirits and, by extension, brighten your own. Consider them tips for a bit of selfish selflessness.

Incorporating these practices into your daily life can enhance your partner’s happiness, fostering a more joyful and fulfilling relationship for both of you.

Takeaway: marriage really does mean "for better or worse"

While we often think of marriage as a partnership, this study shows just how intertwined partners’ emotional lives can become. When you’re married, it’s not just your own highs and lows you’re riding—it’s your spouse’s too. This research affirms that in both the U.S. and Japan, when one spouse feels a positive (or negative) shift in well-being, it’s likely to ripple across to their partner.

via GIPHY

In the end, the old saying might be truer than we realized. Marriage really does mean sticking together through thick and thin—literally sharing not just a life, but a mindset and mood. For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, it turns out you’re in this together in more ways than one.

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