CAUTION IS WISEST “Don’t get too far out from your data” has always been our motto. So despite many hopeful stories about alien life being found at last, this article from the Conversation is a useful reality check about where we really are:
NO FREE LUNCH Given the raging obesity epidemic, we are on the whole positive about the new wave of GLP-1 based drugs and similar types of slimming medications, But as with everything that there has ever been, there are always side effects and other consequences, And this Guardian article is a sober conscientious reminder of some of them, basically.
THE LION THAT WASN’T QUITE A LION Giving something a familiar name can help; but can also disguise its real identity. Recent genomic studies suggest the Cave Lion was not just a subspecies of the modern lion(Panthera leo), but may have to recognised as a distinct species, (Panthera spelaea ) El País takes up the story (in Spanish)
KRUGMAN ON IDENTITY AND AMERICAN DECLINE (the Alternet via MSN feed) Here’s a nod to the great Paul Krugman, who argues that MAGA politics now treats “toughness” as identity, and anything future‑facing — like green energy — gets dismissed as “softness”. We found this piece particularly fascinating because it touches on a favourite mystery of ours: the way unconscious psychological forces drive the way people think and vote.
IS FUSION POWER FINALLY HERE? asks Nature Briefing. Don’t get us wrong: we applaud every heroic company and institution which tries to develop sustainable nuclear fusion reactions (with which we have been accosting people since at least 1973) But we applaud their cautious spirit, the leitmotif of this blog.
Private fusion company Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has published five papers that it says “confirm” that, if built as intended, its ARC power plant will produce more electricity than it consumes. But some researchers say that the claim might be premature. Results from an operational fusion reactor are needed to validate CFS’s predictions, and the company hasn’t demonstrated that they can generate tritium, a scarce isotope fuel that the reactor will need to run, experts say.
Quote of the week Have all the flowerpots in your garden just blown down and smashed, as some of ours just have? If so present this bon mot to your local neighbourhood climate change denier.
“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.” Proverbs 12:15
#extra-terrestial life #mars #climate change #nuclear fusion #paleontology #big cats #obesity
Learning, Science and Society 