Hello again Science Fans!
Salut encore les amateurs de science ! (Canadian French)
Bonjour à nouveau, fans de science ! (France French)
Bonjou ankò Fanatik Syans! (Haitian Creole)
I guess we could be considered fans, amateurs, and/or fanatiks.
2025
Thanks to Phil Plait, The Bad Astronomer, 2025 is mathematically unusual.
2025 = 452
2025 = 92 x 52
2025 = 402 + 202 + 52
2025 = (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9)2 [square of the sum of the first 9 integers]
2025 = 13 + 23 + 33 + 43 + 53 + 63 + 73 + 83 + 93 [sum of the first 9 integers cubed]
We’ve made it to 2025, but let us raise a glass of non-alcoholic beverage to honor those who are no longer here. ¿Non-alcoholic? The Surgeon General wants all of us to be aware of the dangers of alcohol consumption. One of every thousand deaths in the U.S. is attributable to alcohol-induced cancers and drunk-driving. When alcohol-induced health problems – like liver cirrhosis – are included, nearly 500 people die per day from alcohol-related causes.
I’ve been drinking non-alcoholic beers for many months. Quite a few breweries are competing in the zero alcohol market to make the best tasting beer. I plan to have a non-alcoholic beer tasting party — double-blind of course. Also on my list: non-alcoholic wines.
Weirdness: Non-alcoholic beers cannot go through self-checkout lines in California as they are considered “alcoholic beverages.”
BIOLOGY
Microfossils of cyanobacteria dating back 1.75 billion years show clear signs of containing chloroplasts – the organelles that use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create oxygen and glucose. Putatively, cyanobacteria were photosynthesizing far earlier since the Great Oxygenation Event dates to 2.4 billion years ago. But the very first chloroplasts were likely independent organisms before a cyanobacterium engulfed one and the two started a partnership dynasty that continues today. That process is known as endosymbiosis. Similarly, the ingestion of – and partnership with – mitochondria resulted in cells that did not need to consume others for energy, allowing the development of multicellular organisms. (That’s what we are: big multicellular organisms!)
A team of biologists recently succeeded in creating a symbiotic pair by injecting a bacterium, Mycetohabitans rhizoxinica, into a fungus, Rhizopus microsporus. The two organisms adjusted to each other and after several generations the fungus cannot reproduce without its bacterium tenant.
Some extremophile bacteria live in complete darkness and feed on minerals. ¿Could there be bacteria-like organisms living on Mars that evolved when the planet was more hospitable?
One of Earth’s most evolved mammals is the Southern Marsupial Mole (which is not a mole). Recent DNA analysis (of a long-dead museum specimen) indicates Its closest relatives are the bandicoots, and the two diverged about 60 million years ago. It is so highly adapted for living underground that it has no eyes and the male’s testes are internal – no scrotum scraping tunnel floors. (Ouch!)
CLIMATE
Radar and Lidar measurements from satellites reveal that Greenland has lost over 2,300 cubic kilometers of ice in the last 14 years. Watch a video representation of that melting in this article.
A Montana law made it illegal to consider climate impacts when reviewing new construction projects – like fossil-fueled power plants. A suit brought by youth repealed that law in a lower court. The fossil fuel industry appealed. The Montana Supreme Court just ruled in favor of the youth, Yay!
As was done in Washington D.C. and Denver, California recently began subsidizing the purchase of e-bikes. Subsidies are based on the type of e-bike and income of the applicant. The system maxed out almost immediately and is currently on hold.
California again. The California Energy Commission approved $1.4 billion for EV charging stations and hydrogen fueling stations. Badly needed. On a trip to SoCal in our EV, we had to wait over an hour in line to use one of only 5 charging stations within 60 kilometers. Starting in March, however, we will be able to use Tesla charging stations.
Half of Alaska’s 8 million Murres (Uria aalga, a seabird) died as a result of an ocean warming event. (I grew quite fond of these birds – which are also found locally – during my 7 years at International Bird Rescue.)
Dr. Katharine Hayhoe is my favorite warrior in the fight against climate change. Here is a recent newsletter of hers laying out the human cost of climate change and what we as individuals can do about it.
MEDICINE / HEALTH
Here’s a surprise: Internet use coincides with mental health in 50+ year olds. But remember, correlation does not imply causation. (As i bounce around the World Wide Web, i consider that i may be a counterexample.)
People living in the United States are experiencing more years of ill-health than elsewhere, but they are living longer than before. The article distinguishes ‘lifespan’ from ‘healthspan’. Residents of England and Wales live 2.7 years longer than us on average due to heart disease, overdoses, firearm violence, and motor vehicle crashes – in that order.
If you are a middle-aged mouse, you should consider reducing your intake of isoleucine. You might healthily live a few months longer. ¿Is this related to a calorie-restricted diet for longevity? Dunno.
PALEONTOLOGY
The featured photo from Oxfordshire gives us some perspective as to the size of Cetiosaurus: 15 meters long from nose to tail tip; 3 meters tall at the hips; weighing up to 11 tonnes; and honking huge feet. Of the 200 dinosaur footprints found in this quarry, some belong to Megalosaurus, which tipped the scales at a mere 3 tonnes or so.
Across the Channel in France, a Titanosaur fossil was found by a man and his dog. Titanosaurs tipped the scales around 13 tonnes.
Uncover and identify a dinosaur fossil in a mere 7 steps!
SCIENCE-BASED SKEPTICISM
Four “Flat-Earthers” were treated to a trip to the Antarctic. Why? Because flat Earth ‘theories’ have difficulty accounting for 24-hours of daylight in the far south of the planet. They experienced around-the-clock daylight and responded variously. From ‘maybe i could be wrong’ to ‘a need to refine the flat earth construct’ to ‘makes no difference, the Earth is flat’. The article includes a 52-minute video.
Chatting with the Debunkbot was fun. I asserted that Lee Harvey Oswald was tasked with assassinating President Kennedy by representatives of the Cuban government. Debunkbot and i had a fascinating exchange. I recommend you present some conspiracy with Debunkbot and see where it takes you. Fun.
You could earn a Schrödinger’s diploma from Quantum University that will be in the dual state of being both real and not real. Ms. Jody Toor did exactly that. She is a current member of the Legislative Assembly for the British Columbia electoral district of Langley-Willowbrook in Canada.
FUN (?) NERDY VIDEOS
First “hand-held” calculator: $6,000 – Show & Tell – Joe Schwarcz – 2 mins
Biggest Physics News of 2024 – Sabine Hossenfelder – 8 mins
Searching for the Source of a Common “Fact” – Kurzgesagt – 10.5 mins
Rationality and the Political Divide – Veritaseum – Derek Muller – 12 mins
Gravitational Memory – SciShow – Niba Audrey Nirmal – 13 mins
Mystery of a 300-year-old Megaquake – PBS Terra – Joe Hanson – 13 mins
The Year in Computer Science – Quanta magazine – 11 Mins
Phase Transitions, Ising Model, Scale Invariance, Universality Classes – Up & Atom – Jade Tan-Holmes – 17 mins
¿What If The Universe DID NOT Start With The Big Bang? – PBS SpaceTime – Matt O’Dowd – 19 mins
JWST and Dark Matter Controversy – Dr. Becky – Becky Smethurst – 24 mins
Quantum Computing & Communications – The Future with Hannah Fry – 24 mins
Mercola: Know the Risks – McGill University – Jonathan Jarry – 55 mins
Practice compassion where needed and empathy everywhere,
Dave Almandsmith
Bay Area Skeptics
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
14th Dalai Lama (1935 – ) Highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism