Fewer babies are born in the months following hot days
The effect is small but consistent
THE HOTTEST year on record, 2023, may not retain its title for long; 2024 already looks as though it may overtake it. As temperatures continue to rise, countries will scramble to prevent heat deaths and tackle extreme weather. But global warming also has much subtler effects—including, researchers suggest, on fertility.
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This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Too darn hot”
From the September 7th 2024 edition
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AI researchers receive the Nobel prize for physics
The award, to Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield, stretches the definition of the field
A Nobel prize for the discovery of micro-RNA
These tiny molecules regulate genes and control how cells develop and behave
AI offers an intriguing new way to diagnose mental-health conditions
Models look for sound patterns undetectable by the human ear
Why it’s so hard to tell which climate policies actually work
Better tools are needed to analyse their effects
Isolated communities are more at risk of rare genetic diseases
The isolation can be geographic or cultural
An adult fruit fly brain has been mapped—human brains could follow
For now, it is the most sophisticated connectome ever made