Scientific American 2021 12.pdf

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December 2021
ScIeNTIFIcAmerIcAN.cOm
Top 10 Emerging
Technologies of 2021
The Threat of
Solar Superflares
Software That Spies
on Your Emotions
THE FATE
OF OUR
GALAXY
New research on cosmic
collisions is revealing
the Milky Way’s future
December 2021
VO LU M E 3 2 5 , N U M B E R 6
60
00
A S T R O N O MY
S PAC E W E AT H E R
32 Cosmic Crashes
New revelations about how galaxies
collide offer a preview
of the Milky Way’s future.
By Aaron S. Evans and Lee Armus
T E C H N O LO G Y
60 The Threat of Solar Superflares
Geomagnetic storms may occur more
often than scientists thought, with omi­
nous implications for a wired global society.
By Jonathan O’Callaghan
SPECIAL REPORT
ON THe c OVe r
In billions of years the Milky
Way and its nearest spiral
neighbor, Andromeda, will
crash together, eventually
combining to form a single
galaxy. Astronomers are
studying galaxy mergers
across the universe to
foretell our own future
and understand how these
events have shaped
cosmic history.
Illustration by ron miller
40 Spying on Your Emotions
Tech companies now use AI to analyze
your feelings in job interviews and
public spaces. But the software is prone
to racial, cultural and gender bias.
By John McQuaid
NASA, SDO and Goddard Space Flight Center
S1
S3
S7
Innovations in Cancer Early Detection
The Equity Equation
By Melba Newsome
The COVID Cancer Effect
By Usha Lee McFarling
SPECIAL REPORT
48 Top 10
Emerging Technologies
for 2021
Innovations to help tackle societal
challenges—especially climate change.
A collaboration between
Scientific
American
and the World Economic Forum.
S10
Graphic: Cancer Diagnoses
before and during COVID in the U.S.
S12
The Colon Cancer Conundrum
By Cassandra Willyard
S14
Graphic: Concerning Trends
in Colorectal Cancer Incidence in the U.S.
December 2021, ScientificAmerican.com
1
4 From the Editor
6 Letters
10 Science Agenda
The pandemic revealed—and exacerbated—the need
for stronger systems of mental health care.
By the Editors
12 Forum
COVID’s lessons could help stop AIDS.
By Emily Rymland
14 Advances
12
What new spy tech can learn from a blank wall. A satellite
programmable from afar. Bacteria­produced proteins
that snag nuclear waste. An ultra rare tiger fur mutation.
28 Meter
The binary code of snow in verse.
By Glenn R. McLaughlin
30 The Science of Health
Black children have worse outcomes
in common surgeries than do white kids.
By Claudia Wallis
70 Recommended
14
Rachel Carson’s poetic observations of the sea.
Tracing humans’ relationship with elephants.
A novel that braids technology and mysticism.
Celebrating a forgotten botanist.
By Amy Brady
72 Observatory
Women were once shunned by Antarctic science
but now are doing crucial research.
By Naomi Oreskes
74 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago
By Mark Fischetti
76 Graphic Science
72
An ancient tusk reveals the extensive travels
of a mammoth.
By Tess Joosse, Beth Zaiken and Jen Christiansen
Scientific American (ISSN 0036-8733), Volume 325, Number 6, December 2021, published monthly by Scientific American, a division of Springer Nature America, Inc., 1 New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, N.Y. 10004-1562.
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Scientific American, December 2021

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