Sunspots 1002

 

Some things that I have spotted that may be of interest to others:

SpaceDaily reports on an extensive study of the genetics of anxiety. We're a long was from understanding it, but this is a serious first step.

A summary of the evidence for fraud in US elections.

It's been 30 years since Dolly, the sheep, was developed from a cloned cell. Nature reflects on what has happen ed since. (Hint: we don't seem close to cloning a numan.)

You've heard of Leap Years. There are also (or have been) Leap seconds, and now those in charge of such things are considering a leap hour.

MSN and other sources discuss China's attempt to grow a Great Green Wall -- trees: billions of them,  planted in the desert, and whether or not it can help us fight global climate change. 

SpaceDaily reports that zebta stripes may have evolved to cut down on bites from flying insects

Sunspots 808

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

Christianity: Robert Hawes has posted excerpts from a forthcoming book (I think). Here is his discussion about the flood of Genesis. It's thorough, and presents some interesting ideas, for sure.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware describes web sites that identify fonts that you don't have, but may want to use.

Gizmo's Freeware also considers web sites or apps that add color to grayscale photos.

Environment: Gizmodo reports that climate change appears to have caused an increase in the number of winter drownings.

Health: (and politics, unfortunately) NPR compares two rural states with Republican governors. Their different responses to COVID, and the results, tell a dramatic story.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight analyzes post-election trust, and finds that a lot of Republicans do not believe the election was conducted fairly.

The same source compares the common right-wing belief that Trump won the election to the belief, birtherism, that President Obama was not a natural-born citizen. That belief hasn't really died, even though Trump, himself, eventually repudiated it.

Science: I'm guessing that you have never heard of the African crested rat. I hadn't. But it exists, and it's strange.

Gizmodo asks experts about the biggest scientific fraud of the last 50 years. They came up with two such frauds, serious ones.

Gizmodo also discusses the Arecibo radio telescope, in Puerto Rico, which has been demolished after over 50 years of doing good science.

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

Thanks for looking!

Excerpts from Orthodoxy, by G. K. Chesterton, 68

The sceptic always takes one of the two positions; either an ordinary man need not be believed, or an extraordinary event must not be believed. For I hope we may dismiss the argument against wonders attempted in the mere recapitulation of frauds, of swindling mediums or trick miracles. That is not an argument at all, good or bad. A false ghost disproves the reality of ghosts exactly as much as a forged banknote disproves the existence of the Bank of England—if anything, it proves its existence.

Orthodoxy, by G. K. Chesterton, is in the public domain, and available from Project Gutenberg. The previous post in this series is here. Thanks for reading! Read Chesterton.