Dave Almandsmith
1 December 2024
Hello again fans of science,
Dumelang hape barati ba mahlale, (Lesotho Peace Corps memories)
I trust you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving, avoided coming to blows with contrary cousins, and survived Black Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
ARCHAEOLOGY
¿Have you been to the Mayan ruins of Copán, Chichen Itza, Palenque, Tikal, Uxmal, or others in Mexico or Central America? Well another ancient Mayan city of 30,000 to 50,000 people has been found using lidar. Given the name ‘Valeriana’, the site has over 5,000 structures dating to the 1st century C.E.
Roughly six thousand years before Valeriana, people were painting on cave walls in what now is modern day Argentina.
BIOLOGY / ETHOLOGY
Texas turtles in Northern Europe?? Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles and Loggerhead Sea Turtles are denizens of the Gulf of Mexico, but warmer waters have apparently enticed some to venture into the Atlantic where currents have taken them to New England and some as far as Europe. Survivors have been found in Wales, The Netherlands, and Sweden where they have been well taken care of. One that was treated in Rotterdam was flown to Galveston Bay in Texas for release.
Twenty-four years ago, marine biologists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute – MBARI – found a living blob at a depth of 1,500 meters. They have now determined that the creature is a type of nudibranch. Outwardly it looks nothing like nudibranchs which are typically colorful sea slugs. Because it is so different, they propose it be classified in a new family, Bathydeviidae, which roughly translates to ‘devious ones from deep in the ocean.’
Old Man’s War is a science fiction novel by John Scalzi where soldiers had chloroplasts in their skin so they could survive without food using photosynthesis. Leave it up to some biologists to attempt doing just that – but into hamster ovary cells, not into soldiers.
Whale Sharks are the world’s largest fish – some reaching the size of Humpback Whales. A pod of Orcas has figured out how to dine on them. They head-butt a Whale Shark until it is stunned, flip it onto its back, and calmly munch on it.
¿Which do you think we should name ‘nightmare monsters of the week’? Deep sea blobs or Orcas?
RAFFLE
Again we are offering this coffee mug because so many people like this prize. It is disguised as a 450ml laboratory beaker displaying the chemical structure of caffeine. Just send an email before noon Friday to david.almandsmith [at] gmail.com with your guess of an integer between 0 and 1,000. Last time, Edward guessed closest to the randomly generated 506 to win a Solar System jig-saw puzzle.
CLIMATE
The latest international meeting on the climate crisis adjourned with much disagreement over the urgency of transitioning away from fossil fuels. COP 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan did, however, result in a non-binding monetary pledge to assist poorer nations make the transition.
Our planet may have passed the tipping point for a feedback loop of methane release. This is bad. Methane is 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. Huge amounts of methane are stored in arctic permafrost and extensive areas of permafrost are melting and releasing methane due to warmer weather in the arctic. Also methane escapes from oil wells and industrial processes. Fortunately, there are now satellites for detecting escaping methane so that authorities can enforce environmental laws.
MY PICKS of the WEEK (Hint: save dates & times to your mobile phone)
Exploring the Milky Way: Galaxy Formation Mon 7:30 PM Morrison Planetarium, S.F., $
Life-Cycle Carbon Intensity of Natural Gas Production Tue Noon, Stanford
Climate Change, Environmental Degradation, & Worker Health – Livestream Wed Noon
Living with Mountain Lions Livestream, Thurs Noon – 1 PM
NightLife: Santa Claude’s Workshop Thurs 6 – 10 PM, Cal Academy, S.F., $
The Future of Mars Helicopters Fri 8 – 9:30 PM, San Mateo
Jazz under the Stars Sat 5:30 – 7:30 PM, San Mateo
52nd Annual Fungus Fair Sun 10 AM – 5 PM, South San Francisco, $
MEDICINE / HEALTH
Fluoridation. Robert Kennedy Jr.’s “ideas about vaccination, raw milk, hyperbaric oxygen, HIV, Wi-Fi and COVID fly in the face of evidence-based science. But once in a while, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn, so not all of Kennedy’s ideas are outrageous.” [McGill Office for Science and Society] It is known that adding one part per million fluoride to drinking water supplies reduces dental caries (cavities) in the population. There is also some evidence that more than 4 parts per million could be deleterious. In addition, many toothpastes contain fluoride. It is quite likely there is a ‘sweet spot’ of fluoride ingestion that is perfectly safe and renders effective resistance to the formation of dental caries. Further research will indeed be helpful.
BBP [benzyl butyl phthalate] makes plastics more durable and flexible, but it also interferes with the human hormonal reproductive system. Also – if you are a nematode – BBP causes chromosome damage in sex cells. More research is needed, but since microplastics are found in human testes, BBP might be responsible for declining sperm counts in men. [However, it is possible that the evidence of declining sperm counts is suspect.]
I wrote a sci-fi story where everybody has an implant that monitors health, synthesizes medications, and releases them into the body as needed. Except for the synthesis of medications, implants are already being used for a variety of health issues – especially diabetes. ¿How about drug overdoses? An implant is being developed that releases naloxone to prevent overdose deaths. It goes by the name Naloximeter.
FUN (?) NERDY VIDEOS
Fennec: World’s Smallest Wild Dog – BBC Earth – 4 mins
Dr. Oz’s Descent into Quackery – The Right Chemistry – Joe Schwarcz – 5 mins
Entanglement, Dark Matter, Dark Energy, Gravity – Sabine Hossenfelder – 6 mins
Clean Green Energy in the U.S. – Just Have a Think – Dave Borlace – 10 mins
Video Pair:
The Paradox of an Infinite Universe – Kurzgesagt – 10 mins
¿Is the Universe Finite or Infinite? – Sabine Hossenfelder – 11 mins
¿Can Space Time Remember? – PBS SpaceTime – Matt O’Dowd = 11 mins
How Animals Got Butt Holes – PBS Eons – Kallie Moore – 12 mins
Animals that Give Each Other Names – SciShow – Jaida Elcock – 12 mins
NASA’s Search for Life: Europa Clipper – Veritaseum – Derek Muller – 16 mins
¿Do Black Holes Create Dark Matter & Dark Energy? – Dr. Becky – Becky Smethurst – 16 mins
Climate Change & Ocean Shipping – Bloomberg Originals – Haslinda Amin – 23 mins
Finding the First Stars in the Universe – Dr. Becky – Becky Smethurst – 24 mins
Water: Crises, Conflicts, & Answers – The Future with Hannah Fry – 24 mins
Solar System: Strange Worlds – PBS NOVA – 52 mins
Trust in the inestimable value of empathy — and have a great week,
Dave Almandsmith, Bay Area Skeptics
“But however mysterious is nature, however ignorant the doctor, however imperfect the present state of physical science, the patronage and the success of quacks and quackeries are infinitely more wonderful than those of honest and laborious men of science and their careful experiments.”
P. T. Barnum (1810 – 1891) American showman, businessman, and politician
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