Sci-News Roundup November 20 - November 26, 2021
General Interest  Cosmos   Innovation   Health  Nature  Environment  Climate

SftPublic programs are presently zoom-recorded until December, when in-studio recording will resume. Programs are broadcast and distributed by Belmont Media Center Community TV. The videos are also uploaded to WGBH Forum Network and to the SftPublic website.and online channels.

Sept 14 Galileo and the Science Deniers (video available)
Sept 20 The Real Key to Feeding the World (video available)
Oct 18 The Menace of Agrochemicals (video available)
Dec 09 Human Earth


Notice: In December we will resume recording in the studio (Belmont Media Center Community TV), and we're looking for volunteer crew for TV cameras and switcher. Recordings will be in daytime. Please contact us if you are interested. scienceforthepublic@gmail.com



STAT News, November 16, 2021
“How do you change a mindset in a country that is completely antithetical to a response to an outbreak?” Fauci said Tuesday at the STAT Summit.

New York Times, November 25, 2021
Ahead of Thanksgiving, the country was averaging about 95,000 new cases a day, an increase of about 25 percent over two weeks.


GENERAL INTEREST

Mental Floss, April 20, 2021
Scientists and historians have made incredible finds—from the oldest human-made art to long-lost shipwrecks—in the 20 years since Mental Floss began.

Atlas Obscura, November 16, 2021
Humans were once united by the belief that you should never, ever point at one.

New Scientist, November 18, 2021
Pauli blocking, a quantum phenomenon that makes a dense quantum gas suddenly turn transparent, has now been observed in three independent experiments

Cosmos, November 20, 2021
A clandestine gravesite recovery expert explains.

Knowable, November 18, 2021
Featuring ingots, shipwrecks, pharaohs and an international trade in colors, the material’s rich history is being traced using modern archaeology and materials science.

Quanta, November 18, 2021
The Chinese remainder theorem is an ancient and powerful extension of the simple math of least common multiples.


COSMOS

LiveScience, November 15, 2021
The new theory contradicts earlier predictions that these 'shortcuts' would instantly collapse.

Universe Today, November 22, 2021
No article about false indications of life on Mars would be complete without mentioning the Allan Hills 84001 meteorite that was discovered in Antarctica in 1984.  

Nature, November 24, 2021
DART mission aims to try out a strategy for shielding Earth from killer asteroids.

Sci News, November 08, 2021
those minerals closely match the composition of material returned to Earth by NASA’s Stardust mission, which sampled the particles from a comet called Wild 2.

Phys.Org, November 19, 2021
The mission is providing hard data for future missions that hope to employ solar sails to explore the cosmos.


INNOVATION

Anthropocene (scroll down to article)
Yeast-derived “animal products” may soon be part of an environmentally balanced diet

Cosmos, November 24, 2021
Over the past few years, researchers around the world have used origami and kirigami to inspire new devices and materials, both at the molecular level and on larger scales.

EOS, November 22, 2021
Deep coastal seabeds, glacial erratics, and other geophysical hurdles stand in the way of offshore wind farm proliferation. Researchers, engineers, and organizations are adapting and inventing ways to harness the breeze.

Live Science, November 23, 2021
Though Thomas Edison is credited as the man who invented the lightbulb, this revolutionary technology was in fact developed by several inventor

Clean Technica, November 19, 2021
Today the least expensive source of renewable power need not be large. Solar panels operate at the same efficiency whether they be in utility-scale arrays or on a residential roof-top. Significant amounts of electricity can be generated by solitary wind turbines.


HEALTH

The Guardian, November 19, 2021
The answer is “more complex than a simple yes or no”.

CNN Health, November 19, 2021
According to research, to remove as much plaque as possible more is better -- with the best results at three to four minutes. Does that mean we should double our brushing time?

Prevention, November 18, 2021
It was a truly groundbreaking year. Here, eight new tests, laws, and treatments that have the power to change lives.

Healthline, September 16, 2021
Everyone carries unprocessed emotions from experiences to some degree. However, emotions that aren’t dealt with don’t just go away.

Science Daily, November 17, 2021
Exercise increases the body's own cannabis-like substances, which in turn helps reduce inflammation and could potentially help treat certain conditions such as arthritis, cancer and heart disease. 

NIH News In Health, November 2021
Usually, a disruption in balance is temporary. But some things can cause long-term balance problems. So how do you know when to be concerned?


NATURE

Undark, November 19, 2021
In “Getting Under Our Skin,” Lisa T. Sarasohn explores our fraught relationship with bed bugs, lice, fleas, and rats.

Aeon, November 25, 2021
Far from being hardwired to flee fire, some animals use it to their own ends, helping us understand our own pyro cognition.

Science Alert, November 23, 2021
Although pregnant people can't feel this movement, research suggests that babies do seem to start practicing for this big birth milestone before they've taken their first gulp of air.

BioGraphic, October 28, 2021
By sinking a wide array of carcasses into the deep ocean and studying what turns up when they fall, scientists are learning about some of the world’s most exotic scavengers and the roles they play in the darkness.

The Guardian, November 21, 2021
The North American species is seeing an exponential increase in California, but the population is far short of normal.


ENVIRONMENT 

Eco, November 16, 2021
Ancient Indigenous fishing practices can be used to inform sustainable management and conservation today, according to a new study from Simon Fraser University.

Cosmos, November 17, 2021
It’s part of the federal government’s net-zero plan, but does it really live up to the hype?

Treehugger, November 22, 2021
Once the most commonly spotted bee in the United States, the American bumblebee has nearly disappeared from 16 states. But thanks to some law students and their professor, the important pollinator may earn protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Environmental Health News, November 22, 2021
"For a few precious moments on this day in September, it was just us in the canyon, bathing in the silence and the saturated redness."

BBC News, November 19, 2021
The Amazon is home to about three million species of plants and animals, and one million indigenous people. It is a vital carbon store that slows down the pace of global warming.


CLIMATE

Reuters, November 18, 2021
Facebook advertisers promoted false and misleading claims about climate change on the platform in recent weeks, just as the COP26 conference was getting under way.

The Guardian, November 18, 2021
Tiny proportion of world’s land surface hosts carbon-rich forests and peatlands that would not recover before 2050 if lost.

Real Climate, November, 2021
Some activists have (rightly) pointed out that large-scale CO2 removals are as yet untested, and so reliance on them to any significant extent to balance out emissions is akin not really committing to net zero at all. Their point is that “net-zero” is not zero and hence will serve as a smokescreen for insufficient climate action.

Grist, November 19, 2021
A new book exposes systemic shortcomings in the way global warming is taught in America.

Science News, November 19, 2021
As 2100 looms closer, climate projections should look farther into the future, scientists say