Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society. The scientists, who are members of the Social Cognitive Networks Academic Research Center (SCNARC) at Rensselaer, used computational and analytical methods to discover the tipping point where a minority belief becomes the majority opinion. The finding has implications for the study and influence of societal interactions ranging from the spread of innovations to the movement of political ideals.

“When the number of committed opinion holders is below 10 percent, there is no visible progress in the spread of ideas. It would literally take the amount of time comparable to the age of the universe for this size group to reach the majority,” said SCNARC Director Boleslaw Szymanski, the Claire and Roland Schmitt Distinguished Professor at Rensselaer. “Once that number grows above 10 percent, the idea spreads like flame.”

As an example, the ongoing events in Tunisia and Egypt appear to exhibit a similar process, according to Szymanski. “In those countries, dictators who were in power for decades were suddenly overthrown in just a few weeks.”

The findings were published in the July 22, […]

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Even as the North Pole soared above freezing, much of Europe—including Moscow, above—shivered.
Credit: Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

In December, a team of U.S. government scientists released a “report card” on the Arctic. Their top conclusion was pithy, comprehensive, and bleak. The Arctic, they said, “shows no sign of returning to [the] reliably frozen region of recent past decades.”

Now, it’s almost like the environment is trying to prove them right.

Though the sun hasn’t shone on the central Arctic for more than four months, the region is currently gripped by historic, record-breaking warmth. On Sunday, the temperature at the North Pole rose to about the melting point, and parts of the Arctic were more than 50 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal.

A handful of Arctic scientists spent the weekend on Twitter, trying to put the episode into context.

To understand how strange the recent Arctic weather is, it’s worth looking at a place called Cape Morris Jesup.

Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, has announced that the Trump Administration will repeal the Clean Power Plan.
Credit: Saul Loeb / AFP

Environmental Protection Chief Scott Pruitt believes the “most grievous threat” facing America are the courts, which he called the “imperialistic judiciary” and the “judicial monarchy,” claiming their objective is to create “religious sterility.”

Pruitt made those staggering remarks and many others in a series of interviews with an Oklahoma talk radio station in 2005, according to Politico which obtained the tapes from an anonymous source.

In the interviews Pruitt also condemned evolution as an unproven “theory” that is at the base of humanism.

The world’s first plastic-free supermarket aisle in Amsterdam.
Credit: Ewout Huibers/PA

Shoppers in the Netherlands will get the chance to visit Europe’s first plastic-free supermarket aisle on Wednesday in what campaigners claim is a turning point in the war on plastic pollution.

The store in Amsterdam will open its doors at 11am when shoppers will be able to choose from more than 700 plastic-free products, all available in one aisle.

The move comes amid growing global concern about the damage plastic waste is having on oceans, habitats and food chains. Scientists warn plastic pollution is now so widespread it risks permanent contamination of the natural world.

Earlier this year, a Guardian investigation revealed that UK supermarkets were a major source of plastic waste, producing 1m tonnes a year. And for the past 12 months, campaigners have been calling for all supermarkets to offer a plastic-free aisle.

Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet, the group behind the campaign, said the opening represented “a landmark moment for the global fight against […]

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Doctoral student Mohammad Taha with a sample of coated glass Credit: RMIT

There are already energy-saving “smart glass” windows that can be electronically tinted to block the sun’s hot rays, thus reducing the need to run air-conditioning systems. Such systems still require electricity to operate, however. Now, scientists from Australia’s RMIT University have developed a coating that allows existing glass to become smart … no power required.