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This summer, the Bureau of Land Management approved seven herbicides to fight invasive plants in the West. Also, when scientists analyzed the swirls in the famous painting, they found Van Gogh depicted forces of nature with startling accuracy.What Newly Approved Herbicides Could Mean For Federal LandInvasive plants are a big problem across the western US.Cunning interlopers like cheatgrass, leafy spurge and red brome can outcompete native vegetation, crowd habitats and steal water and other vital soil nutrients.Of the 245 million acres controlled by the Bureau of Land Management, harmful non-native plants have already infested 79 million acres—an area larger than the states of Pennsylvania, Virginia and South Carolina combined. That’s why the federal agency felt the urgency to approve seven new herbicides to kill invasives on its land nationwide, said Seth Flanigan, a BLM senior invasive species specialist based in Idaho.“If we don’t remove this now, what is it going to look like 10 years from now?” he said.Read the rest of this article on sciencefriday.com.The Hidden Physics In Van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’One of Vincent Van Gogh’s most famous creations is “The Starry Night,” an oil painting of a quaint French village at night with a blue night sky that dramatically swirls around the yellow stars and moon.It’s easy to admire this painting as a casual viewer, but if you research fluid dynamics, one thing in particular stands out: those iconic swirls in the sky. To a physicist, they look an awful lot like the swirls that atmospheric turbulence produces. And some researchers have been wondering if Van Gogh’s swirls actually match the mathematical models of turbulence theory.Well, a team of researchers from China and France set out to analyze all the swirls in “The Starry Night,” and it turns out that Van Gogh had a knack for depicting the forces of nature. Their results were published in the journal Physics Of Fluid.Guest host Anna Rothschild sits down with Dr. Francois Schmitt, research professor in physics at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and co-author of the recent study, to talk about the hidden physics in this famous painting.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

This conversation discusses suicide and suicidal ideation in young people. Please take care while listening. If you or a loved one is thinking about suicide or self-harm, text TALK to 741-741 or call 9-8-8 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.In the United States, suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people aged 10 to 24. One in five high school students seriously considered attempting suicide in 2023, according to the latest data from the CDC.Doctors, researchers, and mental health professionals have been looking for solutions to support our country’s struggling youth. One place to start is in hospital emergency departments.How can emergency departments be better equipped to help struggling teens, and potentially save lives?Guest host Anna Rothschild is joined by Dr. Samaa Kemal, an emergency medicine physician at the Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago to discuss her research on the subject.The following resources are available if you or someone close to you is in need of mental health support:Call 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Or text TALK to 741-741.Call 1-800-662-HELP for the SAMHSA National Helpline; they can provide referral and information services for mental health and/or substance use disorder treatment.Locate additional resources through the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Emissions from anesthesia are one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases from hospitals. This anesthesiologist wants to change that. And, a cultural anthropologist discusses the Mariana Islands’ long history of colonization and why demilitarization matters for climate progress.A Major Source Of Greenhouse Gases In Hospitals? AnesthesiaDid you know that some of the gases used in anesthesia are strong greenhouse gases? A few years ago, Seattle Children’s Hospital analyzed its carbon footprint and found that the gases used in anesthesia made up about 7% of the hospital’s total emissions, right behind emissions from heating and power and those from commuting.Faced with this problem, Dr. Elizabeth Hansen, a pediatric anesthesiologist at Seattle Children’s, took matters into her own hands and slashed the operating room’s emissions. She now helps other hospitals do the same with Project Spruce.Guest host Anna Rothschild talks with Dr. Hansen about how and why she took on the problem.Militarization And Environmental Injustice In The Mariana IslandsLet’s take a trip to the Northern Mariana Islands, a string of islands in the Pacific just north of Guam. The islands were sites of major battles during World War II and were captured by the United States in 1944. The US established a military presence across the territory—including building the world’s largest air force base at the time, on an island called Tinian.The US military never left, and in the 1980s, the Northern Mariana Islands became a US territory. A few years ago, the Pentagon proposed building a bombing range on an island called Pagan, but residents of the islands pushed back.Dr. Isa Arriola is a cultural anthropologist at Concordia University in Montreal and co-founder of the organization Our Common Wealth 670, based in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands. She’s fought back against the militarization of her home islands, and she talks with guest host Anna Rothschild about how the military presence has affected the people and environment of the Marianas, and why demilitarization needs to be part of climate action.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.