Sunspots 896

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

Christianity: Ken Schenck writes about what the Bible says about gender and sex.

Education: A Conversation post on why there is a teacher shortage.

Food: (and Science) Gizmodo reports on developments in lab-grown fish sticks.

Health: (or something) Gizmodo reports that a surgery-performing robot is about to be tested in the International Space Station.

Gizmodo reports that UPS drivers are enduring dangerous heat. There's no A/C  in the trucks, and the rear part of the trucks (where most of the packages are) can get really hot.

Science: A Conversation writer tells us about coyotes in urban environments.

SciTechDaily reports that human genes have been transferred to yeast cells, and apparently work just fine.

Sports: C. Vivian Stringer, first African-American college coach to win 1000 games, has retired.

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

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 700

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

 
Computing: National Public Radio on the question of whether self-driving cars should have ethics built in.

Food: National Public Radio reports on the likely effect of climate change on five important crops. All five will be impacted negatively.

Health: (or something) Gizmodo reports that families have been scattering the ashes of their loved ones at Disney theme parks.

Politics: Gizmodo discusses a case, from the 19th Century (!) on the question of whether people can use photographs of individuals without their permission.

National Public Radio discusses the meaning of "nationalism," and the history of the use of that word.

Earther reports that the newly elected President of Brazil wants to turn the rain forest into a soybean field.

Earther also reports that President Trump has designated a new national monument, with significance for African-American history.

Science: Science Magazine reports that there is considerable variety in the shape of women's birth canals, which means that fetuses have different challenges when being born, depending on their mother's anatomy.

New Scientist has posted winners of an astronomy photo contest.

Scientific American reports that tiny bits of plastic are commonly found in people's poop.

Scientific American discusses the determination of sex, which is complicated and difficult to predict, and may even change as the individual matures.


The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, I believe, it is public domain.

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 535

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


Christianity: Relevant tells us that private communion shouldn't be a chore, and makes some suggestions to make it more interesting. They suggest communion through food, among other things.

Stephen L. Corey points out that God created, or at least allowed, people who are not exactly male or female.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware on privacy (or not -- some leaks can be fixed) in Windows 10.

Education: National Public Radio reports on how public schools in the US are neglecting the smartest kids.

Science: National Public Radio reports on research linking our leanness, or lack thereof, to our gut bacteria.

NPR also reports on very low-frequency communication sounds made by elephants.

Wired reports that Pluto's atmosphere seems to be being renewed. Its gravity is too weak to hold it as well as the earth holds ours.

Wired also explains why water gets stale when left out overnight.

Wired also reports on an on-line database of mathematical sequences, and the man who has maintained this database for 50 years. (Examples: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 . . ., the Fibonacci sequence, or 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29 . . ., the prime numbers.) There are many, many more of these sequences in the database.


Image source (public domain)