Once again I look for news that may not have been high on the media’s important list…..it is all news but this is the stuff that no one gives a crap about for any reason…..

This first story is for my European readers and I will like their take on it….

We here ion the US know about the drought and weather shortage in our West….but what about Europe?

Europe is on the verge of a catastrophe as groundwater reserves dry up, scientists have warned.

During the summer months of 2018 and 2019, there was a severe water shortage in Central Europe.

Since then, there has been no significant rise in groundwater levels, which have remained constantly low.

The severe drought is damaging natural habitats, affecting agriculture and creating major energy shortages, a new study reveals.

The effects of this prolonged drought were evident in Europe during the summer of 2022.

Dry riverbeds and the slow disappearance of stagnant waters severely impacted both nature and people.

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/water-drought-climate-change-b2271366.html

Some good space news….astro mining is close to reality…..

A startup with plans to mine asteroids for metals says it will launch its first two missions this year, including one that will fly by a near Earth asteroid.

AstroForge announced Jan. 24 that it will launch a cubesat into low Earth orbit in April to test its refinery technologies. That will be followed in October by a larger spacecraft that will go by a near Earth asteroid, collecting data about its composition, including the presence of platinum-group metals, or PGMs.

The 6U cubesat, called Brokkr-1, was built by U.K. company OrbAstro and is scheduled to launch on SpaceX’s Transporter-7 rideshare mission. Matt Gialich, co-founder and chief executive of AstroForge, said in an interview that the spacecraft “is essentially ready to be put on the rocket.”

Asteroid mining startup AstroForge to launch first missions this year

Then more scientific news….could the woolly mammoth make a return after million years?

The long-dead woolly mammoth will make its return from extinction by 2027, says Colossal, the biotech company actively working to reincarnate the ancient beast.

Last year, the Dallas-based firm scored an additional $60 million in funding to continue the, well, mammoth gene-editing work it started in 2021. If successful, not only will Colossal bring back an extinct species—one the company dubs a cold-resistant elephant—but it will also reintroduce the woolly mammoth to the same ecosystem in which it once lived in an effort to fight climate change, according to a recent Medium post.

Colossal calls the woolly mammoth’s vast migration patterns an active part of preserving the health of the Arctic, and so bringing the animal back to life can have a beneficial impact on the health of the world’s ecosystem. While Colossal originally hoped to reintroduce the woolly mammoth into Siberia, the company may explore other options based on the current political framework of the world.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a42708517/scientists-reincarnating-woolly-mammoth/

Does your state have an official scent?

New Mexico may be the first to do so….

Every fall, the air in New Mexico is infused with the sweet, smoky scent of roasted chile peppers, a tradition that follows chile harvesting season. Now, a bunch of fifth-graders have spearheaded a campaign to deem that salivation-inducing bouquet as the scent of the Land of Enchantment, making it the first state to claim its own official aroma. On Tuesday, legislation passed in a state Senate committee that would do just that for the chile, already one of the state’s official vegetables, reports the AP. The news agency notes that New Mexico produced upward of 60% of the nation’s chile peppers in 2021.

Source NM delves into the bill’s origin story out of a fifth-grade classroom at Monte Vista Elementary School in Las Cruces, where students were having a sit-down with state Sen. William Soules to learn about the legislative process, and about other laws tied to the state’s cultural heritage. As they talked about the state bird and even state cookie, the students wondered why there was no official state aroma, considering how important roasted chiles are to the region. And so they pushed Soules to help them put the roasted chile aroma on the books, even appearing over Zoom as the state Senate Indian, Rural, and Cultural Affairs Committee met earlier this week.

Having the roasted chile as the state aroma “could increase tourism,” one student testified. “It’ll help local farmers and … make lifestyle [in New Mexico] a lot better.” A legislative analysis of the bill has shown that that student may be onto something regarding a benefit to tourism. Other grown-ups in New Mexico government besides Soules agree. “The aroma of New Mexico green chile being roasted is unmistakable and is recognized throughout the nation,” New Mexico Department of Agriculture Secretary Jeff Witte said late last year, per the Las Cruces Bulletin. “I have tried to think of any other state that has a smell or aroma that is that distinctive statewide, and I can’t think of any,” Soules adds, per the AP.

Cool!

My best friend and constant companion is a canine and we have our conversations….but does MoMo understand what I am saying….of course she does.

According to a study published in the journal Science, our dogs understand more of what we’re saying than we ever realized before.

The researchers studied a group of dogs that were trained to stay completely still while inside an fMRI machine. While inside, their brains were scanned as the scientists spoke a series of words in different intonations.

(Let us pause here to acknowledge how impossible it would be to make your dogs just chill out in an MRI. I know that I, for one, would have to stuff mine with Milkbones until he probably wouldn’t even fit in the tube anymore.)

The researchers performing the study monitored the dog’s brain activity and found that they process the meaning of the words in a manner similar to the way humans do.

https://www.yourtango.com/self/dogs-actually-understand-words-we-say

This revelation is no surprise, at least to me…..

Any thoughts on this revelation?

That is the news dump for this Saturday…I hope everyone has a pleasant day.

Peace out!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”