How Can We Stop the CO2 That Plants Store from Leaking Back Into the Air?

One question for engineering physicist Eli Yablonovich. Plus: the top science news—sexy and rough languages; nuclear power’s environmental friendliness; gravity creates light; and more. [View in browser]( | [Become a member]( Newsletter brought to you by: April 18, 2023   Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here](. Good Morning! Here’s the top science news—plus this week’s One Question with engineering physicist [Eli Yablonovich]( [READ NAUTILUS](   DISCOVERIES The Top Science News This Week   [Do Some Languages Sound More Beautiful Than Others?]( “Italian is sexy, German is rough—but how about Páez or Tamil?” [PNAS→](   [Spatial Energy Density of Large-Scale Electricity Generation from Power Sources Worldwide]( Nuclear power could supply the entire world with emission-free energy in an area half the size of Vermont. [Scientific Reports→](   [Graviton to Photon Conversion via Parametric Resonance]( Gravitational waves may have shaken spacetime so hard that light fell out. [arXiv→](   [Effect of Nature Prescriptions on Cardiometabolic and Mental Health, and Physical Activity: A Systematic Review]( Getting prescribed some time in nature can improve blood pressure, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and physical activity. [The Lancet→](   [How Octopuses Taste with Their Arms]( The tentacle suckers are able to sense flavors so the mouth doesn’t have to. [Nature News→](   [Does Language Rule Perception? Testing a Radical View of Linguistic Relativity]( The idea that the words we use to describe reality end up affecting how we see it can have a strange allure. [Journal of Experimental Psychology: General→](   [Can Intelligence Be Separated From the Body?]( The only way toward safe AIs might be letting them grow up in a robot. [The New York Times→](   [Strange, Glowing Spiral in the Sky Over Alaska Baffles Locals]( The oddity had a satisfyingly simple explanation. [New York Post→]( Experience the endless possibilities and deep human connections that science offers [SUBSCRIBE TODAY](   [Stopped Being Followed Online]( The [Brave Browser]( has everything you need to stay safe online. It blocks all creepy ads and trackers, on every website—even YouTube—and features private search, offline video playlists, and more. It’s faster than Chrome, more private than Safari, and works with all your favorite extensions. [Available across Android, iOS, and desktop](, Brave is the new privacy super app. If you’re tired of being targeted by creepy ads, Brave can help. Brave blocks phishing & malware, fingerprinting and cookies…and even those annoying requests to accept cookies. [Get Brave]( for your phone and laptop today. [Learn More](   [ONE QUESTION]( [How Can We Stop the CO2 That Plants Store from Leaking Back Into the Air?]( INTERVIEW BY BRIAN GALLAGHER One question for [Eli Yablonovich](, an applied physicist and professor emeritus of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is the director emeritus of the NSF Center for Energy Efficient Electronics Science.   We’re putting a lot of carbon dioxide in the air. It’s very worrisome. We need to solve the problem. Some people think there is no solution, but in engineering, everything can be solved. To say there is no solution is to say it costs too much. So, this will get solved at a cost, which we show in our [new paper](. We can actually remove the old carbon dioxide that we put into the atmosphere 10, 20, 30 years ago. How do we do that? [Read the interview](   Related Nautilus Stories   [GEOSCIENCE]( [How Seawater Might Soak Up More Carbon]( Giving Earth an antacid could help slow climate change—but it’s complicated BY WARREN CORNWALL [Continue reading →]( [ENVIRONMENT]( [How to Bury Carbon? Let Plants Do the Dirty Work]( Carbon sequestration could slow or reverse human emissions—and nothing is better at sequestration than a green plant. BY COREY S. POWELL [Continue reading →](   More in Environment [What Nuclear War Means for the Ocean]( Nuclear winter is just the beginning. BY HALEY WEISS [Continue reading →]( [What Plants Are Saying About Us]( Your brain is not the root of cognition. BY AMANDA GEFTER [Continue reading →](   P.S. Albert Einstein died on this day in 1955. Amanda Gefter wrote about how, in developing his ideas of special relativity, Einstein was aiming to [vindicate]( a philosopher, Ernst Mach. Mach realized that “if we could rewrite science solely in terms of what can measured, then the world could be rendered entirely relational—entirely relative—and the mind and universe could be unified at last.”   Today’s newsletter was written by Brian Gallagher   CAST YOUR VOTE Cast Your Vote for Nautilus’ “The Great Forgetting” Nautilus was nominated for a [Webby Award]( for Best Writing (Editorial) for paleoclimatologist Summer Praetorius’ article “[The Great Forgetting.](” This profoundly moving piece juxtaposes the arc of the author’s science with her brother’s life, inspiring us to think about climate change in the realm of emotion and reflection. [Please vote]( for us below! [Vote Now](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2023 NautilusNext, All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from nautil.us. Our mailing address is: NautilusNext 360 W 36th Street, 7S, New York, NY 10018 Don't want to hear from us anymore? Click here to [unsubscribe](.