Get real on climate
Deny global warming and you don鈥檛 get your money. That鈥檚 the message from the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, which from next March will only give funds to states whose governors approve hazard-mitigation plans that address climate change.
Name that crater
Fancy naming part of Pluto? NASA鈥檚 New Horizons probe will start mapping the dwarf planet in July, and the mission team want your help. They are inviting the public to submit suggestions for newfound craters and other features, and then vote on the most popular. Leading the pack so far are 鈥淪tar Wars鈥�, 鈥淭ardis鈥� and 鈥淛. R. R. Tolkien鈥�.
100 per cent green
Costa Rica did not use a drop of fossil fuel to power itself during the first 75 days of 2015. The country gets most of its energy from hydropower, which has been going strong since January thanks to heavy rains.
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Spray with care
Mind that weedkiller. Glyphosate, the world鈥檚 most widely used herbicide, has been classed as 鈥減robably carcinogenic鈥� by the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France. The agency cites links to various rare cancers including non-Hodgkin lymphoma (The Lancet Oncology, )70134-8).
Up in a flash
Hit the light. Male rats have been engineered to develop erections when their genitals are illuminated with a blue lamp, often used to treat seasonal affective disorder. The lamp even made some rats ejaculate (Angewandte Chemie, ). The team hopes the method will provide an alternative treatment for men with erectile dysfunction who don鈥檛 respond to drugs like Viagra.