Sunspots 965

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

Scientific American discusses tattoo ink. We don't really know what's in it. 

Scientific American also discusses the discovery of irrational numbers. We don't know that history very well.

Science Friday and other outlets report that elephants have names for other elephants.

NPR reports that some woodpeckers peck on metal to make a lot of noise, and explains why they do this.

Sunspots 953

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

Christianity: (and Politics) Joel Edmund Anderson is not happy with our habit of picking a verse that seems to back up our position, but ignoring the biblical and cultural context. He points out examples from both major positions -- conservative and progressive.

Computing: Gizmodo reports that children with mobile phones receive a mind-blowing number of notifications each day.

Gizmodo also reports that there's a deepfake, based on the appearance and sound of Tom Hanks, that's being used to sell on-line. Hanks has nothing to do with the fake.

Politics: The Conversation has a post on "conservative" and "liberal" Supreme Court justices -- they aren't easy to categorize.

CBS News tells us about the more than a dozen government shutdowns since 1980.

Science: ScienceAlert discusses dog-like animals in South America (there are four species there), and a new hybrid between a pampas fox (one of them) and a domestic dog.

Gizmodo reports on a study that indicates that, 250 million years from now, the present continents will have merged into one, and that land mass will not be suitable for mammalian life.

And Gizmodo gives us a guide to the solar eclipse coming soon to the western hemisphere.

Gizmodo also reports on a study that indicates that some elephants are considerably better than others at solving puzzles. Gizmodo also reports that some scientists claim that elephants, humans, and bonobos are self-domesticated -- they have become more social and less aggressive towards others of the same species.

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

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 950

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

Environment: A Conversation writer discusses making forests less susceptible to fires.

Health: (Or something) Gizmodo reports that the US is running low on laxatives, probably, in part, because of TikTok influencers. Really.

TheScientist discusses chronic itch -- lasting for months, maybe years.

NPR reports on populations that live for a long time, and why.

A Conversation article tells us why fevers are (usually) good for us.

Science: Gizmodo reports that some Italian scientists say that they have produced a human embryo, from stem cells, not from a normal fertilized egg. They say that this is an ethical procedure. No doubt there will be questions about that.

TheScientist reports on a study that describes what makes mouse hairs turn gray with age.

ScienceAlert reports that elephants may name each other with sound patterns.

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

Thanks for reading.

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 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 810

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

The Arts: Christianity Today reports that Walter Hooper, who spent most of his life editing and publishing the writing of C. S. Lewis, has died.

Christianity: Christianity Today on the most commonly read Bible verses of 2020.

Relevant points out nine myths about Christians that many Christians believe (such as that there were three wise men.

Computing: Relevant discusses a New York Times report on sexual exploitation of children, and other bad stuff, on the most widely used source of pornography on the Internet.

Environment: Gizmodo reports that all major US banks have indicated that they will not finance oil drilling in the Arctic.

Elephants are making a comeback in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to Gizmodo.

Gizmodo also reports that "The Old Arctic is Gone," for centuries, probably.

Food: (or something) NPR reports that service workers, such as those who make deliveries, are getting smaller tips, and are more likely to be sexually harassed, since the pandemic.

Health: Gizmodo reports that the Centers for Disease Control has updated its recommendations on length of quarantine stay, relative to COVID. The recommended lengths have been shortened.

The obituary of Marvin J. Farr, a veterinarian who died from COVID, as so many others have, has gone viral. With good reason.

Politics: A Trump election lawyer has called for the execution of Chris Krebs, who was fired for saying that the 2020 Presidential election was free from anything close to lost or changed ballots, according to Gizmodo.

Science: TheScientist discusses the use of messenger RNA vaccines. (The most promising COVID vaccines are mRNA injections.)

(or something) Gizmodo reports on how a capsized cargo ship, with a few thousand autos on it, is being cut up and removed.

(And Christianity) The Wikipedia has an article on the star of Bethlehem, which considers several possible explanations, including the purely miraculous, and some astronomical phenomena.

Gizmodo has a slide show about the "most intriguing" archaeological discoveries of 2020.

Relevant and other outlets report that there will be a "Christmas Star" conjunction on December 21, and for a few days later.

Sports: FiveThirtyEight reports on findings that elite professional athletes are likely to be younger siblings.

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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 788

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to

someone else:

Christianity:A solid article in Christianity Today about racism and oppression in general.

Computing: Microsoft has instructions on how to disable OneDrive.


Environment: The Huffington Post points out that President Trump has destroyed far more monuments than all the protesters combined.

Democrats in a House Committee on Climate change are taking their subject seriously, but maybe too seriously, according to Gizmodo. Should we really block out part of the sunlight that falls on earth?

Health: The Scientist on whether COVID-19 is spread through the air more than we had thought.
Gizmo also has an article on spreading. There are questions.

Politics: (and education) NPR and Gizmodo report that foreign students in the US are being told that, if their college goes entirely on-line, they have to leave the country. Not exactly welcoming people who often end up as very productive members of society.

Science: From Gizmodo: The song of a common species of bird has quickly changed, apparently as the new song has been copied by other birds.

Gizmodo also reports on the discovery of a new "spot" on Jupiter.

Gizmodo also reports on the death of hundreds of elephants in Botswana.

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

Sunspots 696

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

Christianity: Relevant on Chris Pratt's faith.

A Relevant article asks if we have made the Bible into an idol.

A Christianity Today article discusses why so many of us don't read the Bible very much.


Computing: Google is forcing people to sign in to the Chrome browser. See here or here, if you are concerned about that.

Food: Laboratory-grown meat is getting closer to market.

Politics: Relevant reports on the current US Administration's shameful cutting of the number of refugees allowed into the US. Christianity Today also chimes in.

The Trump administration has rolled back rules on the emission of methane.

Amazing! The House and the Senate both passed a bill with no negative votes!


Newsweek and other sources report that prototypes of the proposed border wall are seriously defective, with at least one being even dangerous.

FiveThirtyEight examines the power of Republican political endorsements (in Republican primaries).

Science: ZME Science reports on the heaviest (and largest) organism in the world. It's really big.

(or something) Hurricane Florence hit North Carolina agriculture badly. About 1.7 million chickens have drowned, according to Earther.

Gizmodo reports that genetic analysis of elephant tusks and feces is being used to combat poachers, which are a serious problem. The article says that about 40,000 elephants are killed for their tusks each year.

A Japanese spacecraft has landed on a asteroid, and has sent back some photos, according to Gizmodo and other sources.

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 485

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

Christianity: A post in Relevant says that complaining is a spiritual problem.
Education: National Public Radio reports on Turnitin, a service that checks the papers submitted by college students, for plagiarism.
Health: An amazing 3-minute video on what we look like to an ultraviolet camera. The video also shows graphic evidence that we should use sun-screen, aka sunblock, and that glass blocks UV waves. See here for a report on the video, in Slate.
Humor: (Or something) Coffee is now being made from coffee beans eaten, then passed through the gut, of elephants. Really, says National Public Radio.
Science:  Wired reports that city spiders grow bigger than spiders not in urban areas.
NPR reports on using people with Down syndrome as subjects for research into Alzheimer's. It turns out that, if they live long enough, all people with Down syndrome develop Alzheimer's.
Wired also reports on fungi that control the behavior of ants.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 430

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

The Arts: (and Animal Behavior) National Public Radio reports on a Thai orchestra. The members are retired work elephants.

Christianity: Ken Schenck points out the flaws in both communism and capitalism.

Computing: You probably know (and do) all this, but just in case, Gizmo's Freeware has published "Twelve Things You Need to Know About Internet Privacy."

Education: The Pew Research Center has published a study of how modern digital tools impact the writing of high school students.

Health: Two reports on dieting, from National Public Radio:
Fasting for two days can help lose weight.

How to get off the diet plateau.



Image source (public domain)