James' World 2

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This has the potential to be the biggest day in terms of impact and the number of incidents ranging from tornadoes to damaging winds and hail, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.

The number of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes will increase over the central United States with dangerous conditions to focus on portions of the Ohio, Tennessee, and mid-Mississippi valleys on Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday night, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.

This has the potential to be the biggest day in terms of impact and the number of incidents, ranging from tornadoes to damaging winds and hail.

“There could easily be over a dozen tornadoes produced at midweek alone,” AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno warned.

The high-risk zone extends from southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas through southern Illinois, western and central Kentucky, and northwestern and middle Tennessee.

One key aspect affecting impact is that the severe weather and tornado potential will focus on more densely populated areas than the Great Plains. At least 75 million people are at risk of experiencing severe weather on Wednesday, from the Central states to parts of the East. 

Major cities at risk of severe weather on Wednesday include Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee; Louisville and Paducah, Kentucky; Cincinnati; Indianapolis and Evansville, Indiana; St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Little Rock and Texarkana, Arkansas; Springfield, Illinois; and Dallas.

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The number of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes will increase

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It’s springtime in the Northern Hemisphere, and one of nature’s greatest spectacles is unfolding: the migration of billions of birds to their breeding grounds. They’ve spent the winter in balmier locales to the south, getting fat on insects, seeds, fruits, and aquatic plants and prey. Now they’re winging their way north to establish territories, find mates, and raise their young. In my corner of New England, the migrants have been trickling in—Tree Swallows, Ospreys, Greater Yellowlegs, Chipping Sparrows, and Hermit Thrushes, among others. Just the other day I heard my first Louisiana Waterthrush of the season, its song ringing throughout the forest. In a couple of weeks, we’ll hit peak migration, with loads of gorgeous warblers, vireos, thrushes, flycatchers, and sandpipers arriving on southerly winds.

For those people who enjoy watching birds, this is the most wonderful time of the year. Not only are these birds returning from their winter hiatus, but they are also decked out in their colorful breeding plumage, singing lovely songs, showing off their best courtship moves to prospective mates, and building nests for their babies. There’s so much to observe if you know what to look and listen for—and where to find it.

Before 2020 I had no interest whatsoever in this avian extravaganza. I barely registered its existence. I knew only a few of the birds that show up regularly in my yard—Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee. Gulls were just “seagulls”; terns were just terns. I was completely unaware that each of these groups encompassed numerous species, each one distinctive in its appearance, voice, and habits. But then the pandemic hit. There was nowhere to go, nothing to do. I started watching the birds in my yard out of sheer boredom, using the Merlin bird identification app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to figure out which species were visiting my feeder and recording my observations in the eBird online database, which helps me keep track of the species I’ve seen and supports scientific research.

Four years on, I have a full-fledged case of birding fever. I’ve driven to Maine at 2 A.M. on New Year’s Day to see a Steller’s Sea-Eagle, sat in mud and chiggers for three days waiting for a Fan-tailed Warbler in Texas (and missed it), sustained legions of bloodsucking mosquitoes and sand flies while searching for a Crescent-chested Puffbird in Brazil and logged countless hours prowling an urban cemetery near the town where I live that I suspect has the potential to attract some great birds.

A number of factors led me to this hobby (read: fixation). But I think a big one is the availability of the amazing technology that makes it easier than ever to find birds, identify them by their field marks, learn their songs and calls, and be part of a community of people who love to share their knowledge of these creatures. We’re living in the golden age of birding, and like any good cult member, I’m recruiting people to the cause.

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The most common fraud in the U.S. over the past year was the impostor scam. More than 856,000 instances, collectively draining $2.7 billion nationwide, were reported to the Federal Trade Commission in 2023. First, swindlers fake familiarity or authority—maybe by stealing the identity of a friend or relative or claiming to be a bank representative or a federal agent. Then, in that guise, they call, text or e-mail you and attempt to take your money.

And now artificial intelligence has larded these scams with an additional layer of duplicity: inexpensive voice-cloning services that an impersonator can easily abuse to make deceptive—and astonishingly convincing—phone calls in another person’s voice. These AI tools digest speech samples (perhaps snatched from videos posted online or from a supposedly “wrong number” phone call) and generate audio replicas of the stolen voice that can be manipulated to say basically anything.

If there were a golden rule to thwart AI-infused phone scams, it might be something like this: Online or on the phone, treat your family members and friends as though they were an e-mail log-in page. Make up a passcode—a safe word or private phrase—and share it with them in person. Memorize it. If they call you in alarm or under unusual pressure, especially if those concerns are connected to requests for money, ask for the code to verify who is on the other end of the line.

Adopting a computerlike countermeasure for a problem enabled by computer algorithms is admittedly an unnatural practice. It is a human impulse to trust a family member’s voice, said Jennifer DeStefano, a target of an attempted scam, to a Senate judiciary subcommittee last June. Perpetrators had called her phone, claimed her then 15-year-old daughter was kidnapped and demanded a ransom. The plot fell apart when DeStefano learned her child was safe on a ski trip—but only after DeStefano had at first been thoroughly deceived by an AI mimic of her daughter’s voice. “How many times has a loved one reached out to you in despair and you stopped them to validate their identity?” she wrote in her testimony. “The answer is, more than likely, never.”

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In the last hour, tornadoes have been reported in Bison, Oklahoma; Covington, Oklahoma; and Ogden, KS. Tornado watches remain in effect from Texas to Nebraska until 11 p.m. CDT, while a new Tornado Watch for parts of Iowa extends until 3 a.m. CDT.

“We have a new tornado warning that includes Pottawattamie County, Kansas, as well as Riley County, Kansas. This is an area near where severe weather unfolded during the last severe weather outbreak in Westmoreland, Kansas. If you recall, unfortunately, Westmoreland got an EF3 tornado last week. Now, they’re not far away from this upcoming tornado warning, which is currently over Manhattan, Kansas, at this point in time.”

AccuWeather meteorologists say that, despite only a handful of tornado reports through 6:30 p.m. CDT, the tornado risk will increase through midnight. The greatest risk for tornadoes in the Oklahoma City area will be from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. CDT.

Three severe thunderstorms have lined up across northwestern Oklahoma, and AccuWeather Meteorologist and Storm Chaser Tony Launch recently spotted a wall cloud near the town of Cherokee. A wall cloud hangs down below the base of a thunderstorm and is indicative that a tornado may soon develop. The storm to the south of Laubach is also potent, capable of spinning up a tornado, and has already produced a wind gust of 82 mph. All three storms are currently tracking eastward toward Interstate 35 between Wichita, Kansas, and Oklahoma City.

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Tornadoes have been reported

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CLIMATEWIRE | A move by the world’s wealthy, developed economies to end the use of coal-fired power by 2035 could further cement U.S. efforts to put an end to the most polluting form of energy and encourage other countries to follow.

G7 climate and energy officials reached an agreement to phase out coal in the first half of the 2030s during talks that started Sunday in Turin, Italy.

Under that decision, they committed to phase out “existing unabated coal power generation,” while reducing the use of coal power for energy up to 2035. They also pledged to work with other countries and the financial sector to end the approval of new coal-fired power plants “as soon as possible,” according to a communique ministers issued at the end of their meeting Tuesday.

That communique is more a statement of intent than a binding agreement, but it would mark the first time a group of advanced economies have set a common date for a coal phase-out, sending a strong political signal that could accelerate the shift to clean energy in growing economies in Asia, analysts say.

It also signals steps those countries are planning to take to meet a landmark agreement reached at COP28 climate talks last November to transition away from fossil fuels.

“To have the G7 nations come around the table and send that signal to the world that we, the advanced economies of the world are committing to phasing out coal by the early 2030s is quite incredible,” Andrew Bowie, the United Kingdom’s minister for energy security and net zero, told Class CNBC on Monday when previewing the decision.

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Crows, chimps, and elephants: these and many other birds and mammals behave in ways that suggest they might be conscious. And the list does not end with vertebrates. Researchers are expanding their investigations of consciousness to a wider range of animals, including octopuses and even bees and flies.

Armed with such research, a coalition of scientists is calling for a rethink in the animal–human relationship. If there’s “a realistic possibility” of “conscious experience in an animal, it is irresponsible to ignore that possibility in decisions affecting that animal”, the researchers write in a document they call The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness. Issued today during a meeting in New York City, the declaration also says that there is a “realistic possibility of conscious experience” in reptiles, fish, insects, and other animals that have not always been considered to have inner lives, and “strong scientific support” for aspects of consciousness in birds and mammals.

As the evidence has accumulated, scientists are “taking the topic seriously, not dismissing it out of hand as a crazy idea in the way they might have in the past”, says Jonathan Birch, a philosopher at the London School of Economics and Political Science and one of the authors of the declaration.

The document, which had around 40 signatories early today, doesn’t state that there are definitive answers about which species are conscious. “What it says is there is sufficient evidence out there such that there’s a realistic possibility of some kinds of conscious experiences in species even quite distinct from humans,” says Anil Seth, director of the Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex near Brighton, UK, and one of the signatories. The authors hope that others will sign the declaration and that it will stimulate both more research into animal consciousness and more funding for the field.

Blurry line

The definition of consciousness is complex, but the group focuses on an aspect of consciousness called sentience, often defined as the capacity to have subjective experiences, says Birch. For an animal, such experiences would include smelling, tasting, hearing, or touching the world around itself, as well as feeling fear, pleasure, or pain — in essence, what it is like to be that animal. But subjective experience does not require the capacity to think about one’s experiences.

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I’ve tried a lot of strange workouts in the name of science, but there was no experience quite like seeing myself in an EMS suit for the first time. It’s all black, with straps and buckles everywhere. A long wire is about to connect me to a computer. I feel like I’m suiting up to operate a spaceship or a giant robot. Instead, I’m about to do lunges and pushups while being told that I’m getting a much better workout than those suckers who just go to a regular gym.

To try it out for myself, I accepted an offer of a free session at BODY20, a growing chain of EMS fitness studios. Its workouts are pricey, at $40 to $100 per session, depending on where the studio is located and what kind of membership you sign up for.

So, is an EMS workout any better than the regular thing? Probably not. (We’ll get into the details in a minute.) But after seeing myself in the mirror, I kind of get the appeal.

What is EMS? 

Electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) workouts are having a moment—not for the first time, and probably not for the last—based on their futuristic vibes and the fitness industry’s constant quest to sell you newer, cooler workouts than what everyone else is doing. 

Electrical muscle stimulation is a family of techniques and technologies that trigger your muscles to contract by passing a mild electric current through your body. You may be familiar with some of the other uses of passing electric current through your body for health and fitness purposes, so I’ll describe them for comparison.

If you’ve used a TENS machine for pain relief, you know one type. You’ll put sticky electrodes on your skin, and turn on a handheld machine that’s connected to them by wires. TENS uses a mild current that feels like tingling, but it doesn’t make your muscles twitch or contract. The idea is that the tingling feeling interferes with pain signals. TENS stands for transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, meaning that the electrical current crosses the skin and the sensation is picked up by your nerves, but it’s not designed to contract muscles. 

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Credit: Shendelle Gleim

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The best meteor shower of the spring will kick off a month featuring a variety of astronomical sights, none of which will require a telescope to see.

Warming weather across North America will provide more comfortable conditions for spending time under the stars with summer right around the corner, although there may still be a few chilly nights across the northern tier of the United States.

May 4-5: Eta Aquarid meteor shower

The first weekend of the month will bring the peak of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower, the second event of its kind in less than two weeks following the Lyrids in late April. And experts say 2024 will be a particularly good year for viewing the event.

“Most observers in the northern hemisphere usually see a maximum of 15-20 eta Aquariid meteors per hour under ideal conditions. Those rates could be doubled this year,” the American Meteor Society explained on its website.

The peak falls on the night of Saturday, May 4, into the early hours of Sunday, May 5. The best time to view the event is between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., local time, on Sunday.

May 9: Mercury in the morning sky

Mercury is one of the most challenging planets to spot in the sky due to its proximity to the sun, but early risers will have the opportunity to see the planet during the first full week of the month.

On May 9, Mercury will be visible low in the eastern sky before sunrise. If cloudy conditions obscure the sky, stargazers should be able to see the planet on the mornings that follow if the cloud conditions improve, although Mercury may not appear quite as high in the sky compared to May 9.

No telescope is required to see Mercury, but it will be dim and low in the sky, so onlookers will need a clear view of the eastern horizon and to look for it about an hour before sunrise.

May 23: Full Flower Moon

The last full moon of spring will rise on Thursday, May 23, a moon that has many nicknames due to the flora and fauna on full display during the month.

The most common nickname for May’s full moon is the Flower Moon, as it is the time when blooming and blossoming flowers are on full display across North America, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Other nicknames for May’s full moon include the Budding Moon, the Egg Laying Moon, the Fog Moon, and the Planting Moon.

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Silhouette of countryside landscape under the starry skies and meteor shower. (Getty Images)

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The stereotype of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is someone, often a young boy, who can’t focus and can’t sit still. And there are certainly people who fit that description. But the condition often presents very differently—for instance, some people with ADHD have a tendency to sit for hours and focus on a project to the point that they forget to eat and ignore the world around them. In that case, ADHD can be more about an overabundance of focus rather than a deficit. And many with ADHD—especially girls, who tend to go undiagnosed—aren’t hyperactive at all.

A new book, ADHD Is Awesome: A Guide to (Mostly) Thriving with ADHD (Harper Horizon, 2024), by Penn and Kim Holderness, aims to update the conversation about ADHD and point out the benefits along with the challenges. “ADHD is a superpower,” says Penn Holderness, who sees many benefits of his own ADHD diagnosis, including a special ability to concentrate on things he’s interested in, solve problems, and be creative. He and his wife, Kim Holderness, have gained fame for creating popular online videos about family life, many of which showcase aspects of ADHD. Penn struggles with remembering daily tasks—and sometimes leaves his keys in the refrigerator. But he and Kim also credit his ADHD superfocus for their 2022 win in the CBS reality competition The Amazing Race, which required them to solve puzzles, assemble musical instruments, and complete detailed memory tests, among other challenges, during a trip around the world.

Scientific American spoke to the Holdernesses about ADHD perception versus reality, ways to support loved ones with the condition, and how ADHD helped them win $1 million.

What do you hope people get out of the book?

PENN HOLDERNESS: I hope people get that they’re not alone, and they’re not broken. There’s nothing inherently wrong with them. If they have ADHD, they actually have a pretty fantastic brain—a very unique brain—and the world would be very boring without all of us.

They didn’t have this book when I was a kid. I can’t go back in time and give this book to myself, the kid who struggled and wondered why he was so weird. We’ve gone on a journey to discover what ADHD really is because even those who have it don’t always really understand it unless they take a deep dive into it. Once you realize what it is, you can quickly discover that there are some wonderful traits to this, as long as you put systems in place to manage the rough stuff.

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