David Almandsmith Hello again science fans! Xin chào một lần nữa những người hâm mộ khoa học! (2% of Bay Area residents speak Vietnamese at home) I keep humming to myself, “Oh Lord, stuck in orbit a-again.” (With props to John Fogerty.) Not only is the Starliner crew – Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore – stuck in … Read more
Hello again science fans! 科学迷们，大家好！(7 out of 100 Bay Area residents speak Chinese at home.) ENVIRONMENT The photo of a Bali beach covered in plastic waste (photo above) is in stark contrast to my mind’s eye image of the renowned Indonesian vacation paradise. If you watch TV with advertisements, you’ve probably seen colorless squashed … Read more
Hello again science fans! Kumusta muli mga tagahanga ng agham! [Three out of every 100 people in the Bay Area speak Tagalog/Filipino at home.] BIOLOGY / ETHOLOGY In 1967, Roger Payne and Scott McVay discovered that sounds made by male humpback whales were complex arrangements that lasted as long as 30 minutes before being repeated. Multiple males … Read more
Face of a Denisovan based on DNA alone. Credit: Maayan Harel/Hebrew University 科学迷们，大家好！(Hello again science fans!) Neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis) and Denisovans (H. denisova ??) interbred at various times and places. (The “??” following H. denisova refers to the current situation where insufficient Denisovan fossils exist to firmly classify them.) Modern humans interbred with Neanderthals so today we H. sapiens have … Read more
Hola, fans de la ciencia, “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Hurricanes and tornadoes and floods, oh my! ¿Tornadoes in California? Yes. Nine tornadoes were documented in California during 2023 with Los Angeles County getting three of those. A friend’s house in SoCal had part of her roof torn off during … Read more
Hello again science fans! I hope your new year is off to a pleasant start and i trust the new year will bring joy along with a few minor unavoidable travails and challenges. And if learning new things brings you joy – read on! ¿If an advanced species of vertebrate arose hundreds of millions of … Read more
Big Basin Redwoods State Park Dear science aficionado, Another journey around the Sun is at its end. It is safe for me to say that each of us experienced delights and suffered hardships in this latest orbit, but unlike rocks and boulders we undoubtedly learned a little during our year. Hopefully during the journey you … Read more
Dear reader,Welcome aboard for a flight on this week’s SciSchmooze. {Snacks optional.} CLIMATE ¿Why is the climate conference taking place called “COP28”? Because it’s easier than calling it the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference Of the Parties #28. ¿And why is it being held in Dubai, a country where fossil fuels account … Read more
Dear science fans, Storm Ciarán bashed England and left many thousands without power across Western Europe last week. The Panama Canal is restricting shipping since a drought left the region without enough fresh water to operate the locks for normal ship traffic. Some container ships had to off-load enough containers to meet weight restrictions. The containers … Read more
Dear science fan, The above Quantum Squeeze Apparatus made me laugh. It looks like a far more complex version of one of my goofy grammar school inventions that i assembled from bottles, cans, defunct car parts, light bulbs, wires, and batteries. My inventions didn’t ever do anything – but i always hoped they would lead to some … Read more