Another week of economic chaos and another week of useless news…..ergo the Saturday News Dump.
Locally–Weather here has been typical Spring weather….highs in low 80s and lows around 65 with little rain….
Personally–Without the radiation treatments I was hoping my energy levels would return….so far that was a pipe dream….and still no evidence of superpowers either.
Let’s begin at the beginning….(tee hee)….
This is for all the cat lovers that come to IST….
Are cats afraid of cucumbers?
You’ve probably seen the videos as you scroll through your social media feed: It starts with a cat minding their own business, calmly eating kibble or wet food. Behind the feline, however, sits a cucumber. As the cat finishes their meal and turns, they spy the dark green, cylindrical object, and the calm scene turns to chaos. The cat skitters and jumps, sometimes reaching unnatural heights, rushing to escape … a cucumber?
The viral videos presume that cats are afraid of cucumbers, but cat experts aren’t so sure. While the experts we interviewed agree the videos do showcase terrified cats, they don’t believe cucumbers are the problem. It’s actually the owners, they say.
We don’t know much about cat behavior. As the New York Times recently reported, cats are vastly understudied. Some experts have theorized that the cucumber might look like a snake, which could cause cats harm in the wild, but Katenna Jones, a cat and dog behaviorist and owner of Jones Animal Behavior, isn’t so sure.
“It could be there’s some sort of evolutionary thing where they think it’s a snake because their primitive ancestors were eaten by snakes,” Jones said. But, in her long experience living with and working with cats, they generally could care less about cucumbers and other similarly shaped objects. In a YouTube video, she showed a cat barely sniffing a cucumber, as well as a carrot and Twix bar.
https://www.popsci.com/environment/are-cats-really-afraid-of-cucumbers-experts/
My favorite nut is the walnut…I eat a lot of them….and come to find out they are good for my memory…..
If you’re feeling a bit sluggish then have you thought about eating walnuts for breakfast?
A Hampshire academic designed the testing procedure for a study in which adults were asked to eat a walnut-rich breakfast or a calorie-matched meal.
Psychology lecturer Dr Adrian Whyte, who worked at the University of Reading when he did the work, contributed to the study which found 50g of walnuts mixed into muesli and yoghurt led to fast reaction times and better memory than the alternative.
Prof Claire Williams, from the University of Reading, who led the research, said it “helps strengthen the case for walnuts as brain food.”
The study, published in the Food & Function journal, used 32 adults between 18 and 30 who were tested four times a day over the course of the work.
They were asked to wear an EEG (electroencephalogram) cap fitted with electrodes to measure brain activity and were tested before breakfast and then two, four and six hours afterwards.
Dr Whyte, who now works at the University of Winchester, said walnuts offer a rare combination of chemicals to help boost brain function.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yr2405lp1o
I like my coffee as much as I like my walnuts….and just how to brew the perfect cup? This is my FYI for the weekend.
The latest advice on how to make a better cup of coffee comes from an unexpected place—not a food-related journal but one called the Physics of Fluids. There, researchers say they’ve figured out how to make better coffee when using the pour-over method, reports the Guardian. This method doesn’t use a traditional coffee-maker: Instead, you pour boiling water over grounds in a filter positioned over a cup. The trick is to pour the water slowly and steadily from the right height. Some trial and error might be required—because you don’t want to pour too slowly or from too high up—but generally:
- “Just slowly and steadily add water from a goose-neck kettle while increasing the pour height to about 11 inches,” per the Smithsonian.
- Yes, a goose-neck kettle, at least for optimal results, per USA Today. The key is its thin stream of water. “It’s possible to get a thin jet from a regular kettle but harder to do.”
- “Be reasonable,” Arnold Mathijssen, a physics professor at the University of Pennsylvania, tells New Scientist. “First, try to be slow. Then lift [the kettle] up and go as slow as you can, but don’t let [the flow of water] break up. That’s the strategy that I would follow.”
- The physics at play involves hydrodynamics, how the water interacts with the grounds to create what researchers call an “avalanche” effect in the mixing. “The increased height compensates for the slow pouring,” Mathijssen tells the Guardian. “You only get the avalanche if there is enough energy available.”
- Bonus: Researchers say you can use 10% less coffee with this technique.
Let’s move to sciencey stuff….
WH science adviser has stated that the “US can manipulate time and space”….it is not what you think.
The 13th director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Science Advisor to the President, Michael Kratsios, has sparked a number of conspiracy theories over on Reddit after appearing to claim that the US possessed technology that can “manipulate time and space”.
Kratsios was attending the “Endless Frontiers” retreat, an event “focused on rebuilding the foundations of American strength at a time of geopolitical and technological upheaval”, when he made the remarks. The speech was largely focused on celebrating past achievements of American science, and lamenting subsequent stagnation.
“As the nation approached its bicentennial, Americans looked forward to electricity too cheap to meter. By the end of 1972, 30 nuclear plants were operational, 55 were under construction, and more than 80 were planned or ordered. That same year, the Apollo 17 astronauts became the 11th and 12th men to walk on the Moon. Five years before, the X-15 rocket plane had set a speed record for a crewed aircraft of Mach 6.7. America was flying higher, faster, and farther than ever before,” Kratsios said in the speech.
“Today, however, energy prices still burden producers and consumers alike, and the grid remains precarious. Over the past 30 years only three commercial nuclear reactors have been built and 10 have been closed. Despite spending almost twice as much on healthcare as peer nations, we have the lowest life expectancy. Apollo 17’s steps on the lunar surface have proved mankind’s last. The X-15’s record still stands, and the Concorde was decommissioned more than two decades ago. Our passenger planes are slower than they used to be. Our trains crawl compared to those in other parts of the world. Our cars do not fly.”
Yet another clueless boob serving in a government of clueless boobs…he should fit right in.
WE have a new ‘Earth 2″?
Researchers peering into the cosmos with help from the James Webb Space Telescope say they’ve uncovered the strongest sign yet of extraterrestrial life. It comes from K2-18b, a planet with about 2.5 times the radius of Earth that resides in the constellation Leo, some 120 light-years away. The planet was discovered in 2017 but drew attention in 2023 when researchers studying the planet’s atmosphere announced the possible detection of the molecule dimethyl sulphide, which on Earth is only produced by living organisms—”particularly by marine microbes,” per NPR. A second analysis has now turned up more evidence.
Using a different instrument on the Webb telescope to analyze K2-18b’s illuminated atmosphere as the planet passed in front of its host star, researchers detected even stronger signals of dimethyl sulfide—so strong as to suggest K2-18b’s level of the molecule is thousands of times higher than Earth’s, the New York Times reports. They also detected the similar molecule dimethyl disulfide, also produced through biological processes. “These are the first hints we are seeing of an alien world that is possibly inhabited,” University of Cambridge astronomer Nikku Madhusudhan, lead author of a study published Wednesday in Astrophysical Journal Letters, said at a Tuesday press conference, per NPR. “This is a revolutionary moment.”
Others are more cautious. “It’s a hint. But we cannot conclude it’s habitable yet,” Johns Hopkins University planetary scientist Stephen Schmidt says, per the Times. While Madhusudhan’s team believes K2-18b to be an as-yet hypothetical Hycean planet, with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere and oceans of liquid water, another paper argues K2-18b may instead be largely rock with a magma ocean under a thick hydrogen atmosphere. Even Madhusudhan acknowledges more study is needed to confirm the detection of these molecules and show they aren’t produced outside of biological processes. Still, “it’s the first time humanity has seen potential biosignatures on a habitable planet,” he tells the Times.
Finally a space question that I know many have asked silently but there is a need to know….where does poop go in space?
I thought this would fit in nicely into a post about a “Dump”….
As far as space challenges go, human waste management can be an especially sticky one. Lack of human waste containment can not only make a mess but can contaminate the air, and enter through the eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and cuts in the skin which can lead to illness or infection.
Initially, early human spaceflights were designed for brief durations, with little consideration given to the necessity of bodily functions like urination and defecation. Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space, managed to endure until his return to Earth without issue. However, Alan Shepard, the second human in space, faced a different challenge. Delays on the launchpad of the Mercury Redstone 3 forced him to urinate in his suit, resulting in a malfunction of his electronic biosensors. This incident prompted conversations about the need for solutions and innovative approaches to astronaut waste management in future missions.
As space exploration advanced, missions became longer and more complex. Through the early years of spaceflight, astronauts tested out belt accessories such as latex roll-on cuffs with a valve and baggie, toilet seats with straps, and adult diapers (a.k.a. maximum absorbency garments). During Gemini and Apollo missions, the human waste management plan consisted of astronauts taping a plastic bag to their buttocks to defecate, then they’d mix in a bactericide. On the Apollo 10 mission, this poorly conceived method resulted in several incidents of feces flying free in the capsule. Astronaut Tom Stafford was recorded saying to his crewmates, “Oh, who did it?” and “There’s a turd floating through the air.” To this day, they have yet to determine which of the three astronauts was responsible. During the Apollo program, fecal bags were kept in a waste compartment and brought back to Earth for disposal or left on the surface of the Moon. NASA kept a log of all poops on the Apollo missions. Six Apollo landings left 96 bags of waste on the surface of the Moon! Though this was not an environmentally friendly form of disposal, it does provide an unexpected practical experiment. What are the effects of 50 years of solar radiation on microbe-rich excrement? Scientists are hoping to find out.
That does it for this Saturday….tune in next week to see what you missed in the past week….
Enjoy your Easter weekend and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….
I Reade, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”