Sunspots 795

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

Finance: FiveThirtyEight has economists discuss what happens to the US economy if a vaccine is found. The consensus is that it would take months, maybe a year or more, for the economy to return to normal.

Health: Gizmodo tells us why using plasma from convalescent COVID patients may not be such a good idea.

NPR reports that the rationale for using such treatments seems to be more political than it should be -- the science isn't clear yet.

Humor: (or something - it is potentially not funny) Some researchers have figured out how to make a key to break in to a lock by using the sounds the keys make when they are inserted.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight discusses the history of how women have voted, since gaining the right to vote 100 years ago. At first, they voted just like men. No longer.

FiveThirtyEight also discusses the Republican party, which, it says, has been turning in a Trumpian direction even before Mr. Trump, and is almost certain to continue in that direction.

Science: An asteroid, as large as a car, came within 2,000 miles of the earth recently, says Gizmodo and other outlets.

Gizmodo also reports that the Tasmanian Tiger (which became extinct less than 100 years ago) was not as large as we thought it was.

Listverse tells us about some amazing mushrooms.

Sports: (And, maybe, Christianity) The WNBA teams are all living and playing at the same place, in Florida. But each game has a designated home and visitor team. The home teams are doing significantly better, and no one is sure why, according to FiveThirtyEight. That's hard to explain. One possible factor is the chapel meetings before the games.

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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 299

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

Science: (and The Arts) Vladimir Nabokov, author of Lolita, was also a butterfly expert. Carl Zimmer reports, in the New York Times, that the late Nabokov's once-dismissed speculation that some butterflies migrated across the Bering Strait, and ended up in South America, was correct.

Sports: A college basketball  player recently made 8 shots from half court in  a minute, setting a record with his achievement, according to Wired. The  report has video of the event.

Wired reports on a book about various myths in sports. One such, it turns out, is true. The home team has an advantage, in any sport checked.

The Arts: Spring, from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, accompanies an artist drawing with sand.

Christianity: An essay defending egalitarianism (between men and women) in church leadership, by John Stackhouse.

Image source (public domain)