Sunspots 980

 

Some things I have spotted that may be of interest:

Earth.com reports on the estimated number of ants living on earth. Lots and lots of them!

Quanta tells us that mammal (including human) and bird brains are significantly different, but both support intelligence.

You may have heard of the supposed feat of bringing extinct dire wolves back to life from ancient DNA. Todd Wood says that they didn't produce dire wolves.

Popular Mechanics tells us that there is no purple color.

NPR reports on experiments that show that crows can distinguish geometric shapes.

Sunspots 958

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*

Health: (and Politics, to some extent) Gizmodo reports that the Centers for Disease Control tell us that more  parents are finding excuses for not having their kids vaccinated.

Science: Gizmodo reports that some viruses enter host cells, with the (unwitting) help of other kinds of viruses.

Quanta Magazine reports on how we perceive small numbers of objects (1-4), and it's not the same way we perceive greater numbers of objects.

IFLScience reports that a yeast organism with artificial DNA is functional and alive.

A Conversation writer discusses treatment for concussions and other brain injury.

Sports: (and Finance, and Education) The Guardian complains about our priorities -- Texas A&M's football coach has been fired, but is to get 77 million dollars for not coaching. Education in Texas (and elsewhere) is seriously underfunded.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 929

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

Christianity: An article in Christianity Today, which argues, with lots of evidence, that Christianity and Democracy are not inextricably linked.

Computing: Gizmodo on getting calls that fake the voice of a loved one, or a friend. Deepfaking.

Environment: Gizmodo reports that more electricity was produced from renewable sources than from coal, in the US in 2022.

Food: Gizmodo reports on using a 3'D printer to make cheesecake.

Health: NPR reports on a study that shows that life expectancy is shortening in the US, and many other countries are doing significantly better.

Politics: A Conversation writer discusses the importance of the protests in Israel.

Science: NPR reports on a girl with half a brain. Really.

Gizmodo reports on a newly discovered 13-sided tile.

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 922

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

Christianity (and Sports): According to KMBC News, Patrick Mahones, Kansas City quarterback, is not shy about his Christian faith.

Environment: Gizmodo reports that the court system might finally hold oil companies accountable for knowing that use increased climate temperature, but denying that.

Food: (and Science) A Conversation writer tells us a lot about the processing of chocolate.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight analyzes the current congressional  Republicans.

FiveThirtyEight also discusses the effectiveness of gun laws. We don't know much about this because government was forbidden to study some of these, until recently.

NPR on why we didn't hear about 4 other incursions by Chinese balloons.

Science: Gizmodo reports that Neanderthals hunted what would today be supersized elephants, several thousands of years ago, in Europe.

NPR reports that artificial intelligence programs are a dismal failure at planning for a rocket launch.

NPR also reports that commuting may make working life less stressful.

Gizmodo reports that Jupiter has 92 verified moons, which is more than Saturn has, but searches for more around Saturn are continuing.

The Scientist reports that structures made from human brain cells respond to visual stimuli when placed in rat brains.

Todd Wood on Neanderthal hunting of giant elephants.

Sports: (and Finances) FiveThirtyEight shows, graphically, how the NFL has captured the attention of the US over the past several years.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 907

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

Christianity: Heart, Mind, Soul and Strength has posted a word cloud, showing how often a word is used, based on use of words in Proverbs. There are (to me, anyway) some surprises.

Computing: Gizmodo reports that Russia is assessing fines on Internet companies, mostly for disagreeing with the Russian characterization of the war with Ukraine.

Environment: NPR reports that fires in California and elsewhere in the west make storms in other parts of the US worse.

Politics: A Conversation writer examines trends in crime in the US. Is crime rising? It's complicated.

Science: A Conversation writer discusses the presence of virus genes in the human genome. There are a lot of them.

The Scientist reports that scientists have been able to determine what words a subject is thinking of, by scanning the subject's brain, non-invasively, under experimental conditions.

The Scientist also reports that swarms of bees can produce a substantial electric charge.

Gizmodo says that if you live in Pennsylvania, or states near it, you have probably seen spotted lanternflies. They are easy to identify, and, as far as I'm concerned, rather pretty. They are also destructive pests, eating several kinds of trees. I have seen them in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Here's the Wikipedia article on the insect.

NPR reports on a study that indicates that a protective mutation helped people survive the black death. It is still found in human populations, and makes carriers more susceptible to auto-immune diseases.

Sports: A Conversation writer tells us that abuse by coaches, and people with similar positions, is not just individual bad behavior, but part of the whole atmosphere of sports.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 833

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

Computing: Gizmodo reports that Colonial Pipeline had posted a job opening for a cybersecurity manager, a week or so before the ransomware attack that cut gasoline supplies down.

NPR interviews a company that helps negotiate with criminals after a ransomware attack.

Environment: Gizmodo reports on how ineffective the Environmental Protection Agency has been, during the Trump administration, and before.

Health: NPR reports that a dozen people are responsible for most of the anti-vaccination disinformation available on social networks. These people have, and will, contribute to COVID (and other diseases) deaths.

(and Computing) NPR reports on likely links between social media use and depression, among children and youth.

Science: The Scientist reports that children with severe combined immunodeficiency have been successfully treated with gene therapy, with a virus placing a normal gene in them. Treatment helps for at least a few years, and, we hope, for life.

Gizmodo reports that a system for generating characters by thought alone (in a paralyzed man) is quite effective, and surprisingly rapid. In other words, he's typing with his brain. See also report in The Scientist.

Gizmodo also reports on spectacular recently published photos of  Jupiter.

ScienceAlert reports that we would need several years to deflect an asteroid headed for earth.

Gizmodo seeks answers to the question of why birds and insects are often vividly colored, while mammals are not. (Did you ever see a blue one?)

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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 805

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

Christianity: Christianity Today examines the status of women, as shown by the Bible's text.

Christianity Today also has an article on "Why Evangelicals Disagree on the President"

Computing: Gizmodo reports that a camera, using artificial intelligence, confused a referee's bald head with the soccer ball that it was supposed to be tracking.

Ethics: (Or something) Relevant reports that Jerry Falwell, Jr., is suing Liberty University over his forced resignation.

Science: A new coral reef has been discovered, off of Australia, according to Gizmodo and other outlets.

NPR reports on cells, in our brains, that help us recall events in proper sequence.

Listverse has a photo essay on amazing happenings from long ago, captured by fossils.

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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 789

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

Christianity: Relevant interviews N. T. Wright about the pandemic.

The US, under the Trump administration, is admitting far fewer persecuted Christians from other countries than it has for the last 40 years, according to Christianity Today.

Environment: California condors are making a comeback, thanks to efforts to save them, according to Gizmodo.

Science: The Scientist reports that innovative species of birds are more likely to prosper. The article mentions some amazing examples of bird innovation.

The Scientist also tells us that social isolation can have a detrimental effect on the brain.

Gizmodo reports on studies of Andean condors, which can soar, without flapping their wings, for as much as 100 miles.


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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 568

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

The Arts: (Sort of) Listverse describes 10 bizarre musical instruments, and the people who play them (and usually invented them).

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware evaluates PDF file readers/annotators.

Wired reports that the Associated Press now (finally!) agrees that it's OK to not capitalize "internet," and "web."

Gizmo's also picks a new candidate for best free anti-virus program.

Education: FiveThirtyEight tells us why media presentations of various aspects of college, including competition for admission, are unrealistic.

Politics: The New York Times reports that people in the USA like members of the other political party considerably less than they used to.

Science: Wired reports that the connections to about 50 neurons in a mouse brain have been mapped. This sounds easy, but it wasn't -- it took several people a few years.

Wired also reports on the scientific basis for itching and scratching.

Wired also tells us how to make a bottle rocket.

An under-30 female Ukrainian mathematician has solved a problem that has been worked on for a long time.

(Sort of science) Listverse reports on how 10 different chemical elements have been used to kill people. (They didn't include lead.)

FiveThirtyEight tells us why the sun hurts our eyes.

Note: This post originally linked to a Christianity Today article on the religion of one of the major candidates for President of the US. A few days later, the same periodical published an article rebutting the first one, so I removed the link to the first article.


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 559

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

The Arts: The Piano Guys have fun, lots of it, with Pachelbel's Canon, here, and here (these are wildly different).
.
Christianity: BioLogos has a post on "Do Dinosaurs Go to Heaven?"

Christianity Today reports on the Morocco Declaration, the result of a meeting of many Muslim leaders, and some Christians, which Declaration ends thus: "it is unconscionable to employ religion for the purpose of aggressing upon the rights of religious minorities in Muslim countries."

Relevant asks why so many Christians are afraid of non-violence.

Ken Schenck has posted on what the Bible says about adultery.

Finance: ListVerse tells us how to launder money, or at least how criminals do it.

Health: (or Neurobiology) ListVerse told me 10 things that the brains of babies can do - I didn't know about them, and you probably don't, either.

Wired reports on the difficulty of replacing the lead-containing water pipes in Flint, Michigan.

History: Listverse discusses 10 important battles, where the winners were actually worse off after winning.

Politics: In Sojourners: Why Liberals win the Culture Wars (Most of them, anyway).

Science: ListVerse has listed the 10 most important medical breakthroughs of 2015. I surely learned some interesting things from that list.

Wired reports on an insect that eats toads, gruesomely.

 
Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 552

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

Christianity: Some interesting research on church attendance during the Christmas season, from Christianity Today.

Education: Adjunct professors don't get paid much, and may have to teach at more than one institution, to get enough to live on, according to an NPR report.

From Global Citizen Foundation: "50 Education Technology Tools Every Teacher Should Know About."

Food: NPR reports on how the food industry has been manipulating us, and not for our good.

Health: An article about the most common receiving blanket (for newborn babies).

NPR reports that surgeons had a saxophonist playing his instrument during brain surgery, and why.

Politics: (and Christianity) Michael Gerson, of the Washington Post, on how un-evangelical Donald Trump is.

Science: Wired reports that you have tiny mites on your face. So do I. Scientists can trace the connections between racial groups by studying these mites.

Sports:

Image source (public domain)

God's sense of smell, and yours

A post on BioLogos discusses how smell should be important in worship, and points out that the Bible talks as if God has a sense of smell, and likes some of the things he smells, and doesn't like others. I'd never thought much about these subjects. Due to a medical procedure, I have very little sense of smell, or so I'm told, but you probably have a normal ability to distinguish smells, and haven't thought much, or any, about how that sense may affect worship.

Thanks for reading. Smell good.

Sunspots 492

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:
Christianity: A post in Relevant magazine, on how many Christians do not accept the End Times view that the Left Behind movie is based on.
Also in Relevant, a post on why Christians should have Muslim friends, real ones.
And, also from Relevant, a great post on the uses and misuses of anger.
In Christianity Today, an article about the first Protestant missionary to India (you've never heard of him).
Computing: Gizmo's Freeware has a free anti-virus utility that they rate highly.
Science:  In Wired, video of an Icelandic volcano, erupting, taken with a drone.
From the BBC, a good article on keeping very accurate time. (A second is no longer a fraction of a day, by the way.) Thanks to one of my brothers for the link.
NPR interviews an expert on teenage brain development, who has some radical suggestions for high school (and later) education.


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 487

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:
Christianity: R. L. Copple tells us why we are all agnostics.
Computing: Relevant gives some telltale signs that you are on Facebook too much.
Health: Another report, from National Public Radio, on how eating fat isn't as bad for us as we often think it is.
NPR reports that double mastectomies don't really protect against breast cancer any better than other treatments.
Humor: (Not exactly, but I don't have a category for this one) Wired reports on the Crayola Crayon factory.
Science: Wired on what watching movies tells us about how the brain works. The report also mentions experiments on movie watching.
Sports: A two minute, 47 second video of some amazing acrobatic basketball dunks (and juggling).


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 435

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

Christianity: "The point of faith-filled education is not to indoctrinate but to bring faith into dialog with evidence and the flow of the discussion in humility. Education may not change your positions but hopefully frees you to take the positions you do with greater awareness of the evidence and options." - Ken Schenck, Dean of Wesley Seminary. Unfortunately, some believe that the point of education, faith-filled or not, is exactly to indoctrinate.

Science: National Public Radio reports on the discovery of the world's largest volcano, by far. It's inactive!

NPR also reports on the discovery of a region of the brain that enables us to quickly sense quantities, without having to manually count them. This works for small quantities. Few, if any, people can sense a hundred or so objects correctly.

Wired reports on the Bobbit worm, a really ghastly looking predator, which can grow to 10 feet in length.

Wired also reports on a huge storm circling Saturn.



Image source (public domain)  

The soul and split-brain experiments

Many Christians (and others) believe that the soul and the body are separate entities, and, for example, that the soul will go to heaven, but the body will not. See here for a Wikipedia article on such belief, which may be called substance dualism.

On the other hand, many Christians believe that the body and the soul are inseparable in this life, and that they will continue to be so after the resurrection. Let's not get into what happens between death and the resurrection -- there are enough controversial subjects in this post already!

An author in The Skeptical Zone blog has posted about the results of split-brain operations in humans. When that has been done (for therapeutic purposes, such as to stop dangerous epilepsy) the individual generally exhibits two distinct personalities.(See here for the Wikipedia article about such surgery.) As the author says: "Surely the immaterial mind doesn’t split in two at the moment the corpus callosum is cut, does it?"

For an example of a Christian writer who doubts substance dualism, and gives good reasons for doing so.

Thanks for reading.

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)

A good, but short, look at the brain: Edge question

Every year, Edge publishes responses to what it calls a "World Question." This year's question is "2012 : WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL EXPLANATION?"

I confess that I haven't read all of the many responses, from various prominent people, but I did read the one from David Eagleman, a neuroscientist.

Here's part of his excellent brief essay: "The . . . brain . . . possesses multiple, overlapping ways of dealing with the world. It is a machine built of conflicting parts. It is a representative democracy that functions by competition among parties who all believe they know the right way to solve the problem."

Thanks for reading. Read Eagleman.

You can't imagine your future without a functional memory

Carl Zimmer is one of today's best science writers. In a recent column in Discover, he reports on research that indicates that some parts of the brain function in both memory and projecting into the future -- what will I be doing in 20 minutes? What happens tomorrow? Of course, no one knows the future for sure, but normal people have ideas about what's going to happen. Fascinating reading.

Thanks for reading this.

IBM versus humans: Lessons from "Jeopardy"

I watched the final episode of the contest between IBM's Watson, a computer system, and two great human players, on Jeopardy. Watson won. But, as a Wired commentator says, the real lessons from this match are how good, and how efficient, the human brain is. I was thinking the same thoughts, but he published first, and probably said it better.

Thanks for reading. Use your brain!