Sunspots 829

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: NPR on a book claiming that evangelicals have distorted Biblical teaching on women's roles. For related matters, see my "Female Headship in the Family: Biblical Examples."

Environment: Gizmodo reports on a study that found that the ecology of about 97% of the land areas on earth has been damaged.

Gizmodo also reports on how the Colorado River water flow has been reduced so much that restrictions on water use are being put in place.

Food: (or finance) Gizmodo reports that ketchup packets are selling for premium prices.

Humor: (or something) ListVerse shows and tells us some interesting history of chess.

Politics: Relevant reminds us that we've known about racism in the US, and its consequences, for at least 70 years, and nothing much has changed.

FiveThirtyEight discusses so-called independents in US politics, and finds that there aren't really very many.

Science: Gizmodo reports on a study that indicates that ermine (aka stoats) are not one species, but at least three.

NPR reports on entities made from a combination of monkey and human cells. There are ethical concerns.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 740

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: A Relevant writer points out that worship isn't about church music.
Deborah Haarsma, of BioLogos, discusses the implications for Christians, if there is intelligent life elsewhere, or if there isn't.


Computing: Christianity Today reports on a study that indicates that we trust big technical companies less than we used to. And churches more. 

Education:  Grammarphobia discusses can not, cannot and can't.

Gizmo's Freeware tells about a phone app that uses your camera to solve math problems.

Environment: Gizmodo reports that climate change may have reached a tipping point for the Arctic.


Ethics: The Scientist tells us that a Chinese team is developing human-monkey chimeras.

Finance: Catherine Rampell is concerned about what President Trump might do to US fiscal policy.

Health: (and finance, and politics) Catherine Rampell points out that medicare-for-all plans have ignored how much we pay providers, particularly doctors. We pay about twice as much to these as Canada.

National Public Radio reports on the use of the CRISPR genetic engineering system to treat a woman with sickle-cell anemia.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight analyzes the second round of debates -- who spoke most, etc.

Relevant reports that over 50 people were shot in Chicago last weekend.

NPR has posted graphs, comparing gun death frequency in the US with that in many other countries.

FiveThirtyEight says that Republican politicians are much more resistant to gun control measures than GOP voters are.

Science: NPR reports on a study that indicates that children prefer men without beards, up until the child reaches puberty. (Note: I have a beard.)

Gizmodo reports that Japanese scientists may try to grow human pancreases, for transplant to people who need them, in pigs.

In 2006, there were 1411 tigers in India. NPR reports that the population was up to 2967 in 2018, a little more than doubling, thanks to serious steps taken by the Indian government.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.
Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 539

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:


Christianity: An orthodox Christian pastor says that many "conservative" Christians are not truly conservative enough.

Christianity Today reports that demographics, and male attitudes, prevent many single women from being able to find a suitable husband.

Education: Here's the difference between "whoever" and "whomever."

Health: National Public Radio says that research on fruit flies may help us treat insomnia.

NPR also reports that people on food stamps don't eat as healthily as other poor people, or the rest of us.

Politics: Two different essays, both brief, both good, and mostly different, giving 5 things Christians should remember during this election season.  Benjamin L. Corey wrote one, and here is Relevant Magazine's article.

Relevant also has a essay on reasons that Christians should welcome Muslim refugees.

Science: National Public Radio reports that an artificial sternum (breast bone) and parts of ribs, made of Titanium, have been produced by a 3-D printer (a very expensive one), and used in treatment.

The New York Times summarizes the evidence that autism is NOT caused by vaccination.

The New York Times reports on carnivorous plants -- the article includes a short video of a snail being caught by a Venus' Flytrap. One kind of pitcher plant has developed a mutually beneficial arrangement with a small bat.

The Times also reports that mothers retain fetal cells after giving birth, and that sometimes, maybe often, these cells remain throughout the mother's life. It is possible that they may influence her behavior.

Inside Climate News reports, here and here, that Exxon was well aware of climate change due to increased Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere as early as 1977.

Wired tells us that giraffes do make sounds, contrary to what we have believed.

Relevant reports that an invisibility cloak may be possible.

 

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 440

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: Wired has a report on some noted artworks, re-done as desserts. Why not?

Christianity: (And Science) An interesting (but long and scholarly) article on the ethics and morality of combining human and animal cells, in Answers Research Journal.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware recommends a free on-line desktop publishing site that lets you create brochures, flyers, etc., on-line, and save them as .PDF files, to your computer. I have tried it, and it works.

Gizmo's Freeware also recommends a free to-do list manager. It can be used on the web, or off-line, as I understand it.

Education: The Panda's Thumb on why more girls don't go into science and math.

Science: NPR reports on the science of kissing.



Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 409

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Health: An article on healthy snacking, and which says that snacking helps you lose weight, in AZSCentral.

Science: Fire ants can sting. I knew that, from experience. But NPR reports that there are people who are allergic to the bites, which can be life-threatening. There's also a link to a news report that a South Carolina high school football game was postponed because there were too many fire ant nests on the field. (See here for my own photo of a fire ant nest.)

NPR also reports on a very scary "superbug," a bacterial type that is resistant to almost everything, and can pass that resistance on to other types of bacteria.

Scientists have been able to get human glial cells (see Wikipedia article on those) to grow in mouse brains, according to a report by NPR. These mice acted normally, as far as could be determined, but were able to learn much more quickly.

NPR also reports that bees like caffeine, and that it helps their memory.

Image source (public domain)