Motherhood is entirely possible at the age 74—for some birds at least. A Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) named Wisdom recently became the world’s oldest known breeding wild bird.

According to the Pacific Region of the US Fish & Wildlife Service,, she returned to the Midway Atoll–or Kuaihelani in Hawaiian–in December 2024 and began to interact with a new male partner. Wildlife officials then spotted what could be Wiscom’s 60th egg. 

The egg should hatch sometime in February and is a good sign for birds that have been hit hard by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) or bird flu. 

“Especially in the landscape of highly pathogenic avian influenza, it’s exciting to have a species that is still propagating this long when they’re facing some pretty incredible odds,” Jennifer M. Mullinax, a research ecologist from the University of Maryland tells Popular Science. 

Wisdom is also not alone in her longer reproductive window, which is shared by other species of wild birds. Humans are really more of the outliers as far as living longer than we can successfully reproduce, and there are several species that have a much longer runway for having their young. 

They may look like an alien organism or some kind of giant plant, but sea sponges are part of the animal kingdom. While scientists are still learning more about their life spans, these deep-sea dwelling creatures can live incredibly long.

“They’re colonial animals and some sponges are thought to have a lifespan as a colonial unit, in the order of thousands of years,” Anne Clark, an evolutionary biologist and behavioral ecologist from Binghamton University in New York, tells Popular Science. “And nobody says that they’re not reproducing in that time period.”

Sponges reproduce sexually to add to the colony and keep it going. Some deep-sea sponges can grow up to 12 feet long, all of it showing signs of life. With their biological drive in mind, Clark says it is entirely possible that some deep-sea sponges are reproducing for thousands of years.

[ Related: The tortoise, the myth, the legend: Jonathan turns 190. ]

Like deep-sea sponges, greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) live in very cold and dark waters and can live upwards of 200 years.

“Because they’re living in really cold water most of these species grow very slowly,” says Mullinax. “So they’re not really reaching sexual maturity for a very, very long time.”

Like some other shark species, they mate via internal fertilization and give live birth. However, unlike many other species that give live birth, their young is not attached to a placenta. Instead, their embryos survive off of a yolk sac. After reaching maturity, they potentially grow less than half an inch per year.

For carnivorous land mammals, bears have a fairly long reproductive window. Depending on the species, a female will have a little about every three or four years after turning between four and six years old. During breeding, their bodies also have a mechanism to encourage the offspring’s survival. They have a delayed implantation of the egg, where it is fertilized sometime during the summer months and will wait months to implant. 

“A bear can be sexually mature, breed, and get pregnant. But then, if the conditions aren’t right, they can reabsorb the implanted embryo, because they don’t have enough nutrients to bring them to term,” explains Mullinax.

[ Related: Wild chimpanzees show signs of potential menopause—a rarity in the animal kingdom. ]

While more rare, some animals other than humans can live long after their reproductive lives. These are often whales, elephants, or other matriarchal species where important knowledge is passed down to generations by females.

“The grandmother hypothesis is that somehow aged but non-reproductive animals are positively affecting the reproduction of a species just by their presence,” explains Clark.

Older members of a group could share information critical to the animals’ survival. Studies have shown that older elephants and baboons can help younger members find water during times of drought. 

“This is only open to certain kinds of animals that have long social lives, where their offspring are around and where dispersal doesn’t break up families completely,” says Clark.

On the other end of the spectrum are the various species that live by a classic R-Select. 

“In R-select species, they’re alive for maybe five days or five hours or five minutes,” says Mullinax. “They come into sexual maturity, they mate, they lay eggs, and they die.”

While mayflies in the larval stage can live for about a year, adult mayflies may only live for one day. Jellyfish and some rodents are also animals that have these short, reproductive driving lifecycles.

This story is part of Popular Science’s Ask Us Anything series, where we answer your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the ordinary to the off-the-wall. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.

The post Which animals reproduce at the oldest age? appeared first on Popular Science.

The Industrial Revolution was undeniably a major turning point in history. Beginning in the late 1700’s, human environmental impacts reached previously impossible new heights. Yet pollution wasn’t invented in the 18th century. Humans have been mucking up Earth for far longer, to our own detriment, as exemplified by new research linking lead air pollution to cognitive losses during the Pax Romana. People living during the golden age of the Roman Empire experienced an average 2.5 to 3 point reduction in IQ due to atmospheric lead, according to a study published January 6 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

The new research adds context to a long-standing debate about the role lead pollution and poisoning may have played in the collapse of the Roman Empire. Some historians have argued that Roman elites and emperors who purportedly displayed odd, often violent behavior like Caligula and Nero were actually suffering from lead poisoning, and thus that lead and the erratic actions it caused critically undermined societal stability. The study doesn’t prove, one way or the other, if or how the fall of Rome was linked to lead. However, it does demonstrate that environmental health and the effects of pollution on people has roots stretching back millenia.

[ Related: Childhood leaded gasoline exposure damaged Americans’ mental health ]

Using Arctic ice cores, atmospheric modeling, epidemiological data, and previously published health and cognition studies, the scientists estimate fluctuating levels of lead air pollution over centuries, how that likely translated to blood lead levels in people, and how those blood lead levels might have impacted cognitive capacity in denizens of the Roman Empire. 

The research is not the first to find a notable peak of lead pollution and human lead exposure during Roman times, lots of previous work has established the prevalence of lead contamination in antiquity through analysis of ice and peat cores, skeletal remains, and ancient infrastructure. But the study is unique for quantifying the effects of that Roman-era pollution on blood lead levels and IQ losses. The authors estimate that children living during the 200-year Pax Romana (between about 27 BCE and 180 CE) would have had average blood lead levels of about 3.4 micrograms per deciliter (2.4 mcg/dl above Neolithic background levels), from air pollution alone, and that those levels would have translated to a 2.5-3 point drop in IQ levels, population-wide. 

Though IQ is a flawed metric, it’s one of the best scientific shorthands available for tracking the population-level consequences of something like lead. The metal is a well-established neurotoxin, known to be particularly harmful to infants and children. Even low and moderate levels of lead exposure can lead to lifelong health consequences, including developmental delays, learning disabilities, behavioral changes, immunosuppression, heart disease, organ damage, pregnancy complications, and more. There is no level of lead exposure considered safe, according to the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But when lead permeates the environment, avoiding it is impossible. 

There were many sources of potential lead exposure in the Roman Empire–from utensils and cookware to water pipes and wine. All likely contributed to the lead burden borne by the people of the day. Though none would have been as far reaching as air pollution, which would have exposed even those in isolated rural areas to the toxin. Mining and smelting metal ores, particularly the galena ore used as a source for the silver in Roman coins, produced lead emissions that spread far and wide across the Roman Empire.

“To my knowledge, it’s the first large-scale pollution event from industrial activities,” says Joe McConnell, lead study author and a research professor and hydrologist at the Desert Research Institute in Nevada. “Our objective here was to try to understand the potential health impacts resulting from [that],” he adds. 

To do so, he applied his expertise in ice core analysis to assess samples from three different Arctic sites. Ice cores serve as a frozen record of atmospheric conditions throughout history because particles that circulate in the air eventually fall–some onto glaciers and ice sheets, where they’re preserved in a literal timeline. Using these measurements of lead deposited in the Arctic throughout the Roman era, McConnell and his colleagues then applied atmospheric models (the same kind used by climate scientists) to reverse engineer estimates of how much lead must have been circulating in the air over the Roman Empire, thousands of kilometers away from Greenland and Russia where the samples were collected.

They ran two different model scenarios: one assuming most of the lead pollution originated from a known mining region in present-day southern Spain, and the second assuming more dispersed sources of lead emissions from across the empire. Both scenarios resulted in similar estimates of atmospheric lead. 

From there, the interdisciplinary research team turned to contemporary environmental health analyses that establish the relationship between levels of lead in the air and in peoples’ blood. Finally, they estimated how those levels may have impacted cognitive ability, using data on IQ loss from public health research. 

“The findings are that this lead pollution resulted in clear effects, not only for the air, but also for blood lead levels and cognitive deficits,” says McConnell. The levels of atmospheric lead pollution documented in the study are less than the peak of global lead pollution reached in the 20th century, when leaded gasoline use was widespread. But it’s still a notable and measurable effect, he says. 

“Our data suggests that lead pollution during the 180 years of the peak of the Roman Empire had about one-third as much of an impact on cognitive decline as during the height of 20th century exposure,” McConnell explains. “The idea that 2,000 years ago, humans were polluting the continent of Europe at a third the level of modern industry is pretty surprising. An awful lot of environmental research assumes that pre-industrial was a pristine world. It was not.”  

Lead exposure from air pollution, as calculated in the study, represents a lower limit of what people were realistically encountering, McConnell adds. In locations nearby mining or smelting operations, air pollution would have been much more intense. And through water, food, and household items, many people living in the Roman empire likely had higher blood lead levels and thus incurred even more harm. 

[ Related: Without humans, what would happen to Earth? ]

“It’s interesting work, I agree with what they’re trying to do,” says Sean Scott, a chemist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory who has previously studied lead levels in the Roman Era through skeletal remains. Though Scott points out that, by combining estimates and models the researchers have magnified the unreliability inherent in their methods. “I’m sure that these measurements are very good, but once you make a leap from ice core to human blood, and then to intelligence quotient, that’s going to have uncertainty,” he says. Granted, “that’s the best they can do,” he adds. 

McConnell acknowledges this limitation. “It would be great if going forward the linkages between background air pollution, childhood blood lead levels, and health were better quantified,” he says. It would also be ideal to have ways of quantifying the other health impacts of lead and industrial pollutants, he notes. 

Still, the new research stands as a sketch of “unprecedented environmental change” during an endlessly fascinating time in human history, says Scott. It may be impossible to know exactly what precipitated the fall of the Roman Empire (most probably it was not any single thing, say both Scott and McConnell). But perhaps studying the pollution of the era could get people considering the parallels between history and our present-day. “When you study the Roman population and the historic environmental science of that, and then you look around at modern times, it changes the way you see the world,” Scott says. Likely, Romans didn’t fully grasp the consequences of their silver smelting. “It makes you wonder what we are doing currently that we don’t understand.”

The post Ancient lead pollution may have lowered IQs across the Roman Empire appeared first on Popular Science.

In a piece for Mother Jones, Julia Métraux explains how accessibility is being used as a “political football” to push back against car-free zones and other pedestrian infrastructure that some say harms mobility for disabled people. “Opponents of such initiatives have called them ‘exclusionary,’ ‘not progressive or inclusive,’ and bound to ‘hurt people with disabilities,’ pointing out that many disabled people simply need cars to get around.”

Yet disabled people are more likely not to drive, and car-heavy cities are more dangerous to disabled people, says expert Anna Zivarts. “A 2015 study by Georgetown University researchers found that the rate of vehicle-pedestrian deaths among wheelchair users was 36% higher than that of the overall population.”

Even when accessibility is an issue, it’s often easily solved. “In 2022, when San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park permanently closed a major boulevard to cars, opponents, including city Supervisor Connie Chan, said it was disabled and aging folks who would pay the price. But free shuttles, ­accessible to anyone, now bridge the gap.”

San Francisco also maintains a dialogue with disabled residents to ensure its programs serve them. When the city was evaluating its scooter sharing program, feedback from a group of students with disabilities helped the city opt for scooters with backrests and larger wheels for stability to ensure more people can ride them.

• Accessibility
• car-free zones
• Pedestrian infrastructure
• Walkability
• Driving
• People With Disabilities
• disability rights

In a piece for Mother Jones, Julia Métraux explains how accessibility is being used as a “political football” to push back against car-free zones and other pedestrian infrastructure that some say harms mobility for disabled people. “Opponents of such initiatives have called them ‘exclusionary,’ ‘not progressive or inclusive,’ and bound to ‘hurt people with disabilities,’ pointing out that many disabled people simply need cars to get around.”

Yet disabled people are more likely not to drive, and car-heavy cities are more dangerous to disabled people, says expert Anna Zivarts. “A 2015 study by Georgetown University researchers found that the rate of vehicle-pedestrian deaths among wheelchair users was 36% higher than that of the overall population.”

Even when accessibility is an issue, it’s often easily solved. “In 2022, when San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park permanently closed a major boulevard to cars, opponents, including city Supervisor Connie Chan, said it was disabled and aging folks who would pay the price. But free shuttles, ­accessible to anyone, now bridge the gap.”

San Francisco also maintains a dialogue with disabled residents to ensure its programs serve them. When the city was evaluating its scooter sharing program, feedback from a group of students with disabilities helped the city opt for scooters with backrests and larger wheels for stability to ensure more people can ride them.

• Accessibility
• car-free zones
• Pedestrian infrastructure
• Walkability
• Driving
• People With Disabilities
• disability rights

A Berkeley pilot program offers amnesty to homeowners with illegal accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in an effort to bring more housing units online and bring unpermitted units up to code, reports J.K. Dineen in the San Francisco Chronicle.

“During a four-year pilot program that started Jan. 1 and extends through 2028, Berkeley homeowners can approach city planners about getting unpermitted accessory units inspected for safety, and legalized, while being assured that the process will be confidential and no penalties will be assessed on the previously undocumented apartment.”

Owners can opt for a certificate of occupancy for units that need upgrades or a certificate of compliance for units that already meet minimum building and safety standards.

Former City Councilmember Susan Wengraf, who supported the program, “stressed that units need to be safe in order to be legalized: Amnesty doesn’t mean that squalid hovels with shoddy wiring or leaky pipes will be given the city’s blessing.” The city estimates there are as many as 4,000 unpermitted units in Berkeley.

• Berkeley
• Accessory Dwelling Units
• ADUs
• Housing Crisis
• Backyard Cottages
• Granny Flats
• Housing Supply
• Missing Middle Housing

The Kindle Scribe lends itself well to a ton of New Years resolutions. Maybe you’re trying to journal or stay organized. Or perhaps you’re trying to read more on an e-reader instead of scrolling through Tik Tik videos for three hours every night. Amazon’s write-able Kindle can help with all of them and it’s cheaper than ever right now. It typically sells for $449, but it’s $364 right now, which is roughly a 20 percent discount. This is the version with the redesigned and vastly superior screen, so you won’t have to worry about a new model coming along in a month and inspiring buyer’s remorse.

Amazon

This is the Kindle you can write on. It has a 10.2-inch glare-free display that literally feels like paper as you write on it with the included Premium Pen (Amazon’s fancy name for its stylus). The hardware works just like a typical Kindle when you want to read a book, but it also allows you to take notes. Once you go into the drawing and writing-specific apps, you can keep searchable digital notes for later reference. The digital notebook offers lines, grids, or plain sheets, so it’s just like having an endless stationary store at your fingertips. 

This is a great option for people who are getting into bullet journaling or any other kind of productivity tracking. 

The post Get the Kindle Scribe e-reader/digital notebook for its lowest price ever during Amazon’s winter sale appeared first on Popular Science.

Cleveland will reveal plans for its first protected downtown bike lane in the coming months as it opens the proposal for a three-mile bike loop for public comment, reports Mark Oprea in Cleveland Scene.

“In its current rendition, the Loop would allow bike riders to pedal from Progressive Field along the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge to the West Side Market, up north to the future Irishtown Bend Park, then over the Detroit-Superior Bridge to Huron and Ontario,” Oprea explains.

The city has not indicated whether the proposed six-mile CLELink multiuse trail would be part of the plan. “Whether CLELink comes to fruition this year or not, a Loop trail would advance the overall goals of the Midway network, which includes the upcoming Superior Midway and the planned Lorain Midway, along with the Mandel Community Trail set to break ground this year.”

• Cleveland
• Bike Lanes
• Bike Infrastructure
• Protected Bike Lanes
• Bike Safety
• Road Safety

The Friends of the National Asian Pacific American Museum (FRIENDS) are championing efforts to establish a National Asian Pacific American Museum on the National Mall, addressing the absence of a Smithsonian institution dedicated to the histories and cultures of Asian Pacific Americans (APAs). With Congress passing H.R. 3525 in June 2022 to create a bipartisan commission for drafting a feasibility report, FRIENDS is mobilizing public and organizational support to ensure the museum becomes a reality. Their mission includes engaging with decision-makers, facilitating community input, and advocating for a museum that comprehensively represents APA histories while utilizing innovative, immersive exhibition methods.

To overcome significant challenges, FRIENDS is focused on two immediate priorities: assisting the commission in delivering a compelling report to Congress that justifies the museum's creation and garnering public and congressional support for its authorization. The report must address feasibility, financial sustainability, and Congressional concerns while reflecting the voices of APA communities. FRIENDS will also lead a broad advocacy campaign, building a coalition of support among key constituencies and elected officials to sustain momentum until Congressional authorization is achieved.

Funding poses a critical challenge, as Congress has prohibited federal funding for the commission, requiring private fundraising efforts. These funds are essential to hire consultants, support research, and execute public awareness campaigns. FRIENDS is committed to providing data, reports, and strategic insights to the commission while spearheading programs to ensure a robust and inclusive museum that honors the rich and diverse histories of Asian Pacific Americans, fostering greater visibility and appreciation for their contributions to America’s narrative.

• Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

New research from the University of Utah reveals that sprawl can have a measurable, negative economic impact on low-income American households.

According to a piece in Science Blog, “A series of studies from the University of Utah has found that children from low-income families who grow up in areas characterized by urban sprawl face significantly reduced earning potential compared to those raised in denser neighborhoods. The research provides the most detailed evidence yet of how city planning decisions could be reinforcing cycles of poverty across generations.”

The researchers used data from more than 71,000 U.S. census tracts, defining sprawl as “urban environments with poor pedestrian access, heavy car dependency, and sharp separation between residential, commercial and business areas.” According to the study, the annual expected income of a person growing up in a very low sprawl tract is, on average, roughly 10 percent higher than that of people brought up in high-sprawl neighborhoods.

Perhaps most striking is how sprawl affects families differently based on income level. While children from low-income families see reduced earning potential in sprawling areas, the opposite appears true for wealthy families.

The researchers note that while their study does link sprawl and lowered social and economic mobility, the causation is not entirely clear. However, “local city planners and officials need to consider the broader social implications and choose zoning patterns and regulations that are best for all residents, particularly trying to reduce sprawl and increase infill development may have a long-lasting positive impact on children’s economic possibilities.”

• Sprawl
• Poverty
• Access to Opportunity
• Public Transit
• Mobility
• Walkability