Selected Sci-News Items  November 23 - November 29,  2019
 
General Interest    Cosmos    Innovation    Health    Nature    Environment    Climate

 
SftPublic Nov 25 (video) Designing Sustainable Urban Development
SftPublic (the first in our new video series) They Didn't Believe It! The Atom




GENERAL INTEREST

Turkeys Can Swim-and Other Fun Facts for Thanksgiving Table Talk
National Geographic, November 21, 2018
On this Thanksgiving, take a moment to appreciate the turkey's story with these remarkable facts and anecdotes gathered from across the centuries.

New York Times, November 22, 2019  (incredible designs!)
Precision is key, whether folding a humble crane or an interlocking modular structure. So is enthusiasm.

The Conversation, November 25, 2019
Scientists are still learning about the domestication of microbes, and as a result, society fails to appreciate their pivotal contributions to the foods and drinks that we enjoy all year long

Cosmos, November 26, 2019  
...and appear to have changed our thinking on how they did it.

Nature, November 22, 2019
Meteorologists say international standards for wireless technology could degrade crucial satellite measurements of water vapor.


COSMOS 

Cosmos, November 27, 2019
Jupiter's famous storm not on the way out yet, expert suggests.

Quanta, November 19, 2019
Calculations involving a higher dimension are guiding physicists toward a misstep in Stephen Hawking's legendary black hole analysis.

New York Times, November 20, 2019
After a perplexing methane burst was measured by NASA's Curiosity rover earlier this year, scientists were surprised again by variations in atmospheric oxygen.  

Time Crystal Without a Driver
Physics, November 20, 2019
A calculation shows that an elusive, isolated quantum time crystal may not be far from reality.  
 
Science Daily, November 26, 2019
Researchers have taken a new and significant step toward detecting a signal from the period in cosmic history when the first stars lit up the universe.  

Science News, November 25, 2019
The newly found outliers defy ideas of how these star systems evolve.


INNOVATION

NPR, November 24, 2019 (w/animation)
Climate change presents many challenges to coastal communities and to those trying to prepare for its impacts, but one of the most basic is also one of the most vexing: How do you show people - and convince them - of a possible future?

Phys.Org, November 26, 2019
Now, thousands of original medieval manuscript and early modern images are available for free online, for scholars and aficionados to search, download and study.

New York Times, November 21, 2019 (Tim Berners-Lee)
I wanted the web to serve humanity. It's not too late to live up to that promise.

Indoor Farming Looks Like It Could Be the Answer to Feeding a Hot and Hungry Planet. It's Not That Easy.
Washington Post, November 19,2019
The next big thing may be stymied in the United States by high start-up costs, high urban rents and lack of a safety net in a food system that is highly dependent on subsidies and bailouts for a few commodity crops.

The Conversation, November 25, 2019
While we are seeing rapid development in the engineering of sports equipment, these steps are often incremental improvements rather than massive strides of change.


HEALTH  
 
The Best Health Foods? Soup, Garlic and Cake
The Guardian, November 21, 20`19
When you're ill, food can be a powerful force for recovery - even if scientists can't always explain why.

Some Brain-Boosting Supplements Contain an Unapproved Drug That Could Harm Users
STAT, November 25, 2019
Promising to lift brain fog or improve memory, brain-boosting supplements have joined sexual-enhancement and weight-loss remedies in the lightly regulated world of dietary supplements.

Scientific American, November 25, 2019
Residents near renovation sites claim noxious emissions from pipe inserts are making them sick.

New York Times, November 20, 2019
Walking, jogging, yoga or any type of exercise may help to ward off depression, even in those with a genetic susceptibility.

"There's Something Terribly Wrong": Americans Are Dying Young at Alarming Rates
Washington Post, November 26, 2019
Death rates from suicide, drug overdoses, liver disease and dozens of other causes have been rising over the past decade for young and middle-aged adults, driving down overall life expectancy in the United States for three consecutive years.


NATURE

Science News, November 25, 2019
The tiny particles may point to early universe processes that favor matter over antimatter.

New York Times, November 22, 2019
One researcher argues that a dog's ability to bond has more to do with forming emotional attachments than being smart about what humans want.

Washington Post, November 25, 2019
To help you understand just what you're getting when you buy organic, this article takes a close look at the five top-selling organic foods.

Science Daily, November 21, 2019
The secret recipe nature uses to make the diverse leaf shapes we see everywhere around us has been revealed in research. 

Cosmos, November 25, 2019
Extinction of ice age giants likely drove surviving species apart.


ENVIRONMENT 

Climate News Network, November 26, 2019
We are leaving our children a radioactive legacy, the lethal waste that current governments still cannot make safe.

Americans Like Green New Deal's Goals, But They Reject Paying Trillions to Reach Them
Washington Post, November 27, 2019
More than 3 in 4 Americans had heard little or nothing about the plan, according to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll.

BBC News, November 21, 2019
Much of western Africa, Ethiopia, and parts of Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are the hardest hit regions,  standing to lose more than 40% of their richness of plants.

The Guardian, November 19, 2019
Global heating is "supercharging" an increasingly dangerous climate mechanism in the Indian Ocean that has played a role in disasters this year including bushfires in Australia and floods in Africa.

Deutsche Welle, November 20, 2019
Officials in Japan have claimed that water exposed to radiation in the Fukushima nuclear disaster is now safe to dump into the Pacific.  Environmentalists say the water is too contaminated. Julian Ryall reports.


CLIMATE

The Guardian, November 27, 2019
Warning of 'existential threat to civilization' as impacts lead to cascade of unstoppable events.

Science News, November 25, 2019
A majority of people surveyed said the U.S. government isn't doing enough to counter the trend.

A Wet Year Causes Farm Woes Far Beyond the Floodplains
New York Times, November 21, 2019
The damage from the destructive spring flooding in the Midwest has been followed in parts of the country by a miserable autumn that is making a bad farming year worse, with effects that could be felt into next spring.

Wired, November 27, 2019
While the rest of the world turns away from the fossil fuel, China is investing big in coal-powered electricity.

The Guardian, November 25, 2019
Four decades of near-uninterrupted growth stoked global climate crisis.

 
 
 
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