The first weekend of Spring….flowers are blooming, birds are singing, pollen is flowing and I am cussing at my garden.

Enough mundane crap!

Space has been in the news this past week….so I thought about a CSI type of thing if and when a crime is committed in space…..

The emerging field of astroforensics will be called upon whenever humanity faces its first murder in space. Until that time, Zack Kowalske, a crime scene investigator in Atlanta, says “broadening the understanding of all forensic sciences in nonterrestrial environments is critical as we expand into a space-faring species.” So how do researchers study crime in space while remaining on Earth? With a little creativity. Opting to study bloodstain pattern analysis in zero or reduced gravity, Kowalske, a PhD candidate at Staffordshire University in the UK, took to the skies for a weightless flight aboard the Zero Gravity Corporation’s specially modified Boeing 727, then watched to see how a bloodlike substance spewed, per Interesting Engineering.

The substance made from 40% glycerin and 60% red food coloring, meant to simulate the density and viscosity of human blood, was ejected from a hydraulic syringe toward paper targets during periods of reduced gravity between 0g and 0.05g (compared to 1g on Earth). Looking to reconstruct the angle of impact, researchers had expected “certain mathematical calculations would be more accurate” in reduced gravity, as “gravity and air drag have a noticeable influence on skewing the calculated angle” of blood splatter, Graham Williams, a professor of forensic science at the University of Hull, says in a release. Yet they found new issues arose with the lack of gravitational pull that “caused the calculation to have greater variance.”

asically, “surface tension and cohesion of blood droplets are amplified,” meaning “blood in space has a higher tendency to stick to surfaces until a greater force causes detachment” and “blood drops exhibit a slower spread rate and, therefore, have shapes and sizes that would not be reflective on Earth,” says Williams, co-author of the study published in Forensic Science International: Reports. Kowalske notes astroforensics is still “in its infancy,” but future findings could factor into forensic investigations used to reconstruct “a critical accident on board a space station or shuttle” or a violent crime. “Where humanity goes, so, too, does violence,” Kowalske tells the Telegraph. “In a confined environment, tempers can fray and people can snap,” adds Williams.

I will float the idea to SyFy.

On the medical front….an old disease is making a comeback….

Leprosy is caused by two different but similar bacteria – Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis – the latter having just been identified in 2008. Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, is avoidable. Transmission among the most vulnerable in society, including migrant and impoverished populations, remains a pressing issue.

This age-old neglected tropical disease, which is still present in more than 120 countries, is now a growing challenge in parts of North America.

Leprosy is beginning to occur regularly within parts of the southeastern United States. Most recently, Florida has seen a heightened incidence of leprosy, accounting for many of the newly diagnosed cases in the US.

The surge in new cases in central Florida highlights the urgent need for health care providers to report them immediately. Contact tracing is critical to identifying sources and reducing transmission.

https://www.sciencealert.com/experts-warn-leprosy-isnt-ancient-history-as-cases-surge-in-the-us

Yet another reason to stir clear of Florida.

Let’s venture into world of food…..

We are always finding new sources of food….from plants to insects and now we have snake…..

Scientists are learning more about what sources of meat could serve as more sustainable alternatives to beef, pork and chicken.

Python meat could offer a form of meat much less carbon intensive than the current options, according to researchers who studied farms in Southeast Asia for two species of pythons — reticulated and Burmese — for 12 months.

Farmed python meat may offer a more sustainable alternative to other farmed meat because they can reproduce rapidly, even when food is not abundantly available, according to a study published in Scientific Reports on Thursday.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/python-farming-offer-sustainable-sources-meat-world-new/story

Now the best story of the week….

Beware of a guy with a trench coat….

England’s first convicted cyberflasher was sentenced Tuesday to 5 1/2 years in prison. Nicholas Hawkes, 39, a convicted sex offender who sent unsolicited photos of his genitals to a girl and a woman, was the first person in England and Wales convicted of violating the Online Safety Act, per the AP. Hawkes admitted at an earlier hearing that in February he sent a photograph or video of genitals with intent to cause alarm, distress, or humiliation.

The woman who received the photos in February took screenshots and reported him to police. Hawkes was on the sex offenders registry after being convicted last year of exposure and sexual activity with a child under 16. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to breaching both a community order and suspended sentence he’d received for the earlier offense. The cyberflashing law that went into effect on Jan. 31 makes it an offense to send unsolicited sexual images by social media, dating apps, or technologies such as Bluetooth or AirDrop.

Finally, this story also from the UK….redefining ‘extremism”……

Coming weeks after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claimed the United Kingdom is in danger of “mob rule… replacing democratic rule,” a new definition of “extremism” published by the government on Thursday was viewed by one rights advocate as a “smash and grab” on the right to protest, among other freedoms.

The Conservative government updated the definition of the word under its anti-extremism agenda, known as Prevent. The government will now treat as extremism “vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.”

“The government will undertake a robust process to assess groups for extremism against the definition, which will then inform decisions around government engagement and funding,” said a public notice from Michael Gove, Sunak’s secretary of state for leveling up, housing, and communities.

The government is expected to release a list in the coming weeks of groups it deems as in violation of the new definition of extremism.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/uk-extremism-definition

So to all my radical friends in the UK….please be careful what you say or the shadow warriors will come for you.

Finally, the World Happiness Report….

The latest World Happiness Report is out and it doesn’t paint a happy picture for young people in the West. The US, ranked No. 15 for happiness last year, has dropped eight places to fall out of the top 20, largely due to a drop in wellbeing among under-30s. The report found that young people are now the unhappiest group in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and the trend is headed the same way in Western Europe.

• Big age differences. According to the report’s researchers, who rely on self-reported evaluation, the US ranks 62nd in happiness among young people from 2021 to 2023—but if only the over-60s were included, the US would be in 10th place. Lithuania had the happiest young people, according to the report, while Finland, which was first for the seventh year in a row, followed by Denmark and Iceland, came in seventh when only the under-30s were included.
• Comparing generations. “In comparing generations, those born before 1965 are, on average, happier than those born since 1980,” researchers said. “Among millennials, evaluation of one’s own life drops with each year of age, while among boomers life satisfaction increases with age.”
• A “red flag.” Dr. Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general, tells the Guardian that the findings are “a red flag that young people are really struggling in the US and now increasingly around the world.” He notes that American adolescents spent an average of nearly five hours a day on social media and says governments’ failure to better regulate social media is “insane.”
• More reasons. Dr. Lara Aknin, editor of the report, tells the BBC that unhappiness among under-30s in the US and Canada “is linked with lower levels of satisfaction in social support, lower satisfaction with living conditions, greater stress and anxiety, lower trust in government, and higher perceptions in corruption.”
• Brighter spots. While happiness levels fell significantly in countries including the US, they rose in Central and Eastern Europe and in East Asia, especially among older people, according to the report. Costa Rica and Kuwait were new entries in the top 20.
• A “well-established notion” contradicted. The report is coordinated by Oxford University’s Wellbeing Research Center, Gallup, and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, director of the Oxford center, said the report contradicts the “well-established notion” that young people start out happy before experiencing midlife crises and become happier again in old age, the Guardian reports. “To think that in some parts of the world children are already experiencing the equivalent of a midlife crisis, demands immediate policy action,” he said.

That is all I have for this Saturday….please enjoy Spring if you can for Summer is not far behind.

I must dash for now….gardening chores….and set my grill up for some bison burgers….

Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”