Science Monthly

Will an Asteroid Impact the Earth in 2032?

Earlier last month, you may have seen on social media that an asteroid was inbound on a collision course with Earth in 2032. If this asteroid, with an estimated 180 feet diameter, impacted Earth, it would release an estimated energy equivalent of 500 Little Boys (the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima).  

Unsurprisingly, this initial panic was slightly misleading. At its peak, the asteroid had a 3.1% chance of collision. However, the latest data and calculations from NASA have slashed the threat of collision to 0.004%. 

Although we are no longer at risk of collision, this was a stark awakening to the potential dangers of our cosmic world and reaffirmed NASA’s role as the Earth’s protector through missions such as the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). 

Birds and Quantum Entanglement: How Do Birds Navigate?

For the longest time, a biological mystery has puzzled scientists: how do birds know what direction to migrate? It has been shown that birds can orient themselves using the position of the sun and stars in the sky. But what happens when it’s a cloudy day? 

Scientists know that birds can hear incredibly low frequencies like the rumble of ocean waves or winds blowing over mountain ranges thousands of miles away. 

But even once these sounds are taken away (perhaps due to the interference of artificial sound), birds can still somehow navigate.

Scientists then uncovered one more clue: magnetoreception, the ability to see Earth’s magnetic field. However, according to conventional physics, this seems impossible. Earth’s magnetic field is extremely weak—millions of times too weak to break the bonds between atoms in molecules. 

But by entering the world of quantum physics, a solution appears. In a bird’s eye, there are cryptochrome proteins. If you think back to chemistry, atoms inside these cryptochrome proteins have electron pairs with either an up or a down spin. And, as it was uncovered recently, the proportion of time spent spinning in the same directions (both up or both down) versus the same direction is highly influenced by minute changes in the magnetic field. This may enable birds to see the Earth’s magnetic fields, providing a nearly-complete theory of how birds know where to migrate.

Universities Panic After NIH Funding Cuts

In February, universities were hit hard after sweeping budget cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were announced. The NIH, the main funder of biomedical research, awarded $34.9 billion in grants to universities and research groups last year, sponsoring research from  Alzheimer’s to the rarest cancers. 

This grant money is split between two categories: direct and indirect. Direct costs include everything directly attributable to that research project, while indirect costs are harder to attribute to individual projects. They could include money to cover new equipment, facility costs, and administrative fees.

Historically, research groups have been able to negotiate indirect prices with the NIH. For example, Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the largest recipient of NIH funding, received $1.022 billion in 2024 at an average indirect cost share of 27.5%. This means for every $1 of grant money, an additional $0.27 was added to cover indirect costs.

In a cost-saving effort, the newest administration set a hard cap at 15% for indirect costs, slashing JHU’s research budget by $128 million per year. Consequently, universities can no longer employ as many researchers, professors, and graduate/postdoc students. 

In response, thousands of universities across the country, including JHU, have banded together to file a lawsuit against the NIH in order to challenge the legality of the funding cuts, asking: since Congress holds the power to control federal spending, is it legal for President Trump to use executive power to slash funding to the NIH?