Sunspots 830

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

Environment: An environmental activist, writing in Gizmodo, says that it's time to "kill Earth Day."

Food: (and drink) The Scientist reports that a different species of coffee may be useful as a substitute for the species now commonly grown, which is susceptible to global warming. So susceptible that there's a coffee shortage coming.

Science: NPR reports on an experiment that has been going on for over 140 years.

Gizmodo reports on an Oxygen-generating device that NASA included in a recent Mars landing. The device, or something like it, may make it possible to return to earth from Mars (plus giving Mars scientists Oxygen to breathe.)

Gizmodo also reports that sponges can move.

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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 576

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

Christianity: Heart, Mind, Soul and Strength asks what we really want to see.

Ken Schenck on four different ways God may interact with us when it seems we should fight something or somebody.

A contributor to BioLogos discusses what the Bible says about whether God intended death to be part of creation.

A commentator in Baptist News Global writes about some things he has learned about transgender people.

Computing: The US Government's information technology is, in at least some areas, woefully out of date. National Public Radio reports that our nuclear weapons personnel use systems with floppy disks. Some of you don't even know what those are, or were.

The Environment: (sort of) Listverse reports (with photos) on 10 places that look like they aren't real, but come from fantasy novels. But they are real.

History: Listverse reports, with interesting facts about the Romani, aka Gypsies.

The Asahi Shinbun (Japanese newspaper, in English) reports on the significance of origami cranes, including four that were apparently made by President Obama, probably with some help from others.

The New York Times has a pictorial report on walls built to keep people out (or in). They haven't stopped lots of people.

Science: NPR reports on the discovery of a really large sponge, which is, presumably, very old.

Wired reports on Tide's stain-erasing pens -- what chemicals are in them.



Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 477

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

My usual categories don't exactly hold several of the things I've spotted this week.

Computing: (sort of) More than you want to know, but you should know, about sex trafficking.
Health: (and, unfortunately, rape) The BBC on the difficulties Indian woman experience in going to the toilet, or in getting along without such a facility.
Politics: (sort of) "What gives a dollar bill its value?" a YouTube video, less than 4 minutes in length.
(sort of) A Fox News commentator on the sudden influx of children from Central America. Public Radio International reports on the same matter.
National Public Radio reports on how much it takes to finance a terrorist attack. Not very much.
NPR also reports on how government grants to local police have made it more likely that SWAT teams will be used inappropriately, and they have been so used, unfortunately.
Science: Wired reports on harp sponges, a really strange primitive animal.
  Image source (public domain)

The best science of 2012, from Nature

One can make a good argument that Nature is the most important science periodical in the world. Among the articles published in it was the famous less than two-page article by James Watson and Francis Crick, announcing the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. That article includes this priority establishing sentence: "It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material."

Nature has done us a service, by selecting from the developments in 2012. The journal has published several items, as follows:

The most scientifically interesting photos of 2012, including the crystal structure of caffeine, the smallest reptile ever known, and others.

Reports, in Nature, of work reported in other periodicals, but interesting, including:

A study indicating that birds line their nests with cigarette butts as a means of repelling parasites.

The construction of a jellyfish-like entity from rat muscle cells, complete with a video of the entity swimming.

The discovery of some unusual sponges in the Mediterranean, with a video.

A study, indicating that dark matter actually exists. See here for the Wikipedia's article on the subject.

How it has proved possible to communicate with people in a vegetative state.

Articles in Nature, itself, on interesting subjects, such as:

What we have learned from 50 years of studying people with the two halves of their brains separated. (Lots!)

There's a lot more. Thanks for reading. Read Nature!