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 687

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

The Arts: (and astronomy) Gizmodo has posted some stunning astronomical photos.

Computing: (and politics) Gizmodo writes about President Trump's charge that whoever broke into the Democratic National Committee's e-mail could be found, if the server involved was available, and his implication that, somehow, the server wasn't provided to the FBI.


Education: Grammarphobia on the use (and misuse) of "should" and "would," in Downton Abbey and elsewhere.

Ethics: A Council on Bioethics, in the UK, has concluded that allowing gene modification, even in germline cells (where the modification may be passed on to future generations, should not be completely prohibited.

Health: The new head of the Environmental Protection (?) Agency has presided over a rollback of coal ash requirements.

New Scientist reports that cell phones do not cause cancer.

(or something) A store to nap in has opened in New York City, according to Relevant.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight looks at the life expectancy of each of the current Supreme Court justices, including the recent nominee.

Gizmodo reports that a Microsoft official says that the Russians have targeted candidates running for office in the 2018 US elections.

Science: Scientific American reports on what we know about planets orbiting other stars. We know a lot more than we did a few years ago, and our solar system is rather odd.

Gizmodo reports that we really don't remember what happened when we were younger than 42 months old, or so, but we often think that we do.

(and politics, unfortunately) FiveThirtyEight tells us what global climate change is doing now. Too much.

Sports: Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks have agreed to a contract for Nowitzki's 21st year with the same team, a record for the National Basketball Association.

Thanks for looking!

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 536

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

The Arts: Wired discusses producing fine musical instruments with 3-D printers. (They use the term, 3dvarius!)

Rebecca Luella Miller on Christianity and beauty. (She brings in Tim Tebow, too, amazingly enough.)

Christianity: Benjamin L. Corey on the type of people you should associate with (hint: see Galatians 5:22-23).

Relevant on how to guard against infidelity, especially on-line infidelity. "Married people don’t just suddenly stumble into affairs ... It’s usually the inevitable result of thousands of questionable decisions, all of which slowly, sometimes imperceptibly, lead people astray."

Relevant also lists "7 Sins the Church Ignores."

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware tells about a database that lets you know, immediately, if your e-mail address has been hacked.

Health: National Public Radio has a report on six communities, on at least three continents, where people live much longer than others, and suggests reasons for this, including some things that you and I can do individually -- but community action is more important.

Literature: (or something) NPR reports on new words added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Science: Wired tells us why we don't know enough yet (and may never) to preserve most endangered species by artificial insemination.

National Public Radio lets us listen in on, and explains, mate-attracting sounds in treehoppers and crickets.



Image source (public domain)