Sunspots 931

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

Environment: A Conversation writer says that there is a giant mass of Sargassum seaweed hitting the beaches of Florida and nearby areas.

Science: Gizmodo reports that an elephant has learned to be selective in which banana parts to discard, and which to eat. (includes video)

A Conversation writer discusses the question of why trees die.

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

Thanks for reading.

 

Sunspots 742

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

Christianity: Christianity Today reports that Bibles which are mostly printed in China and exported to the US, will not be subject to tariffs.
Relevant points out four Bible verses that are too often used out of context.
He Lives on why it makes no sense to bear arms in church to protect against gun violence there.


Computing: National Public Radio reports that lots of people, especially teens, are addicted to the Internet in South Korea, and what the government is doiong about it.

Education: Listverse explains why 10 common objects have the shape that they do. (Why airplane windows are rounded, for example.)

Environment: (and Christianity) Christianity Today considers the matter of whether Christian businesspeople should be concerned about the environment.


Food: NPR discusses the pros and cons of grass-fed versus feed lot fed beef.

NPR reports that our banana supply is at risk.

Politics: Michael Gerson doesn't like many of the words used in the President's discourse, but thinks objecting to his language, but ignoring his attacks on human dignity, is hypocritical and short-sighted.

NPR discusses the remarkable power of the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell.

Internet watchdog Snopes has discussed a study on how people believe in the truth of satire.

Science: Gizmodo reports that a young woman had a "twin" growing inside her body.

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

Sunspots 618

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

Christianity: (And Politics) Christianity Today on how Hispanics, including some legally in the US, are now afraid to attend church (and for some valid reasons.)

Christianity Today also reports that recent executive orders are cutting off efforts to evangelize Muslims in the U. S. So is the attitude of white evangelical Christians, who are far more likely to fear Muslims and support the attempted travel bans than is the population at large.

Christianity Today discusses the importance of contemporary worship, and even defines it.


Finance: Listverse reports on 10 typos that led to some really awful consequences.

Health: The New York Times reports that, in Canada, people with cystic fibrosis live, on average, 10 years longer than they do in the US. The difference is mostly due to better insurance in Canada. The same report indicates that Canadians live about 2 years longer than Americans do.

Politics: (And Science) General Mattis, the newly installed US Secretary of Defense, believes that climate change is a real threat that our military needs to take seriously.

Shepard Smith, of Fox News, stated that that network had "no evidence of any kind that the now president of the United States was surveilled at any time in any way, full stop.”

Science: (And politics, unfortunately) The Weather Channel on why scientists believe that humans are contributing to climate change.

Wired warns us that the bananas many of us like to eat may soon be gone, because of the way we concentrate large agriculture on just "the best" types of plant.

FiveThirtyEight assesses the possibility of reproduction while in space, and finds that it's probably difficult or impossible for higher animals, based on very little research.

Wired has posted an amazing 4+ minute video of the surface of Mars. A longer video covers much the same material, but with on-screen captioning, so you can tell what you are seeing.



Image source (public domain)