Number 341
The analysis showed that short-term precipitation events lasting only a few hours have increased significantly in the last 30–40 years—by about 15%.
CRISPR-Cascade test detects bloodstream infections in minutes without amplification
CRISPR-Cascade, including sample preparation, requires about half an hour, making it the fastest available bloodstream infection diagnostic.
== not that I think they are suggesting people should take up drinking
Large Study Shows Drinking Alcohol Is Good For Your Cholesterol Levels
There are many risks from drinking, but high cholesterol doesn’t seem to be one.
NASA’s newest space telescope Spherex blasts off to map the entire sky and millions of galaxies
The Spherex mission aims to explain how galaxies formed and evolved over billions of years, and how the universe expanded so fast in its first moments.
Unnoticed for decades, dinosaur footprints at Australian school reveal ancient secrets
The rock went largely unnoticed for 20 years until the school asked paleontologist Anthony Romilio to examine a cluster of three-toed track marks.
The Road Map to Alien Life Passes Through the ‘Cosmic Shoreline’
Astronomers are ready to search for the fingerprints of life in faraway planetary atmospheres. But first, they need to know where to look — and that means figuring out which planets are likely to have atmospheres in the first place.
== yjc, I was about to look at trying Cursor
AI Coding Assistant Refuses To Write Code, Tells User To Learn Programming Instead
Cursor AI tells user, “I cannot generate code for you, as that would be completing your work.”
== yjc, my apologies if including this article disturbs any of our American readers
Will the US collapse like the Soviet Union did?
“You’re next,” said a Russian historian I interviewed in 1993 about the Soviet Union’s collapse in late 1991. I was an American student in St. Petersburg, and he was referring to the United States.
What’s so special about Ukraine’s minerals? A geologist explains
Beneath its surface lies one of the world’s most remarkable geological formations, the “Ukrainian Shield.”
Microplastics could be fueling antibiotic resistance
Scientists have been racing to uncover the unforeseen impacts of so much plastic in and around us.
The study shows that on decadal timescales, the loss of Arctic ice favors the climate of the south-west of the United States—and California in particular—becoming drier on average, especially in winter.
New test helps doctors predict a dangerous side effect of cancer treatment
The prediction equation using the ratio of two proteins showed a very high accuracy of 0.95 in a statistical test called the ROC curve analysis.
Hibernating lemurs can turn back the clock on cellular aging
A hamster-sized primate from Madagascar, the fat-tailed dwarf lemur is our closest genetic relative known to hibernate. They also tend to live longer than you’d expect given their size.
== paywall?
Saturn has 128 new moons – more than the rest of the planets combined
Saturn has dozens of new moons, bringing it to a total of 274. All of the new moons are between 2 and 4 kilometres wide, but at what point is a rock too small to be a moon?
== paywall?
This artificial leaf makes hydrocarbons out of carbon dioxide
The solar-powered device can make valuable energy-dense molecules from carbon dioxide and water.
== paywall?
Waabi says its virtual robotrucks are realistic enough to prove the real ones are safe
The startup says its super-realistic simulation is a better way to prove real-world safety—without the real-world miles.
== US perspective
Solar Adds More New Capacity To the US Grid In 2024 Than Any Energy Source In 20 Years
That’s enough to power 8.5 million households.
== US perspective
Geothermal Could Power Nearly All New Data Centers Through 2030
Advanced geothermal techniques could unlock 90 gigawatts of clean power in the U.S. alone.
How to prepare your phone for trade-in
Follow these same steps ahead of recycling or selling your old device.
NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope launched into orbit by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
It will create a comprehensive 3D map of the entire sky.
== yjc
Canadian brewery selling pack of 1,461 beers to cope with Trump’s presidency
Moosehead’s Presidential Pack includes 1 can a day for the next 4 years.
Why Extracting Data from PDFs Remains a Nightmare for Data Experts
Countless digital documents hold valuable info, and the AI industry is attempting to set it free.
Megalodon’s body size and form uncover why certain aquatic vertebrates can achieve gigantism
The length of 24.3 meters is currently the largest possible reasonable estimate for O. megalodon that can be justified based on science and the present fossil record.
Deadly mold strains highly likely to acquire resistance to new drugs
The mold, found in soil, composts, and decaying vegetation, is potentially deadly to people with a range of health conditions .
Webb reveals unexpected complex chemistry in primordial galaxy
The galaxy—designated JADES-GS-z14-0—is unexpectedly bright and chemically complex for an object that existed when the universe was just 300 million years old.
Mysterious phenomenon at center of galaxy could reveal new kind of dark matter
At the center of our galaxy sit huge clouds of positively charged hydrogen, a mystery to scientists for decades because normally the gas is neutral.
In quest to construct a better flu shot
Scientists zero in on tiny flu protein shaped like a mushroom.
Mariana Trench expedition discovers new lifeforms flourishing in deep-sea environment
The data confirm that environmental selection, rather than random drift, is the key determinant of microbial community assembly in the deep ocean.
== yjc, nothing like a little humour in life
Bluesky CEO Jay Graber pokes fun at Mark Zuckerberg with Latin phrase T-shirt
Mundus sine caesaribus.
AI Isn’t Creating New Knowledge, Hugging Face Co-Founder Says
AI isn’t creating new knowledge. Instead, it’s just filling in the blanks between existing facts.
Unburied treasure: Rover researchers find unexpected minerals on Mars
Sometimes scientists must dig and work and sweat to make scientific discoveries. And sometimes a robot rolls over a rock that turns out to be a revelation.
New fossil discovery of an early human relative reveals that it walked upright, just like humans
The fossil not only demonstrates that the species was a habitual upright walker, but also confirms it was also extremely small.
Can Ants Teach Us How to Program Self-Driving Cars?
Ants’ tactics to avoid traffic jams could be applied to future self-driving cars.
== yjc, thoughtful read
I Used to Teach Students. Now I Catch ChatGPT Cheats
I once believed university was a shared intellectual pursuit. That faith has been obliterated.
== have had article on something similar before, paywall?
Mice Give First Aid
Rodents cleared airways and licked the ‘casualty’ in the first scientific evidence of an emergency-like response.
How Your Gut Influences Your Brain
Our brains and our digestive tracts are in constant communication. And when that communication goes off the rails, diseases and disorders can result.
Mistral Adds a New API That Turns Any PDF Document Into an AI-Ready Markdown File
Unlike most OCR APIs, Mistral OCR is a multimodal API, meaning that it can detect when there are illustrations and photos intertwined with blocks of text.
You knew it was coming: Google begins testing AI-only search results
AI Mode could be the future of Google, but it’s currently just an experiment.
Could New Clocks Keep Airplanes Safe From GPS Jamming?
As a Ryanair flight from London approached Vilnius, Lithuania, on 17 January, its descent was suddenly aborted. Just minutes from touching down, the aircraft’s essential Global Positioning System (GPS) suffered an unexplained interference, triggering an emergency diversion.
Half of World’s CO2 Emissions Come From 36 Fossil Fuel Firms, Study Shows
Researchers say data strengthens case for holding firms to account for their contribution to climate crisis.
== repeat??, video, youtube (not preference, but…)
Aerospace company Firefly released fantastic POV footage of Blue Ghost landing on the Moon
The mission could eventually bring more commercial landers to the lunar surface.
Snack Makers Are Removing Fake Colors From Processed Foods
If a potato chip isn’t bright red, will people know it’s spicy?
Undocumented ‘Backdoor’ Found In Chinese Bluetooth Chip Used By a Billion Devices
Espressif has not publicly documented these commands, so either they weren’t meant to be accessible, or they were left in by mistake.
== yjc, amazed me what this guy had to go through to enter US illegally
Migrant deported in chains: ‘No-one will go to US illegally now’
From Guyana he travelled through Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, mostly by buses and cars, partly by boat, and briefly on a plane - handed from one people-smuggler to another, detained and released by authorities a few times along the way.
Gene-Edited Non-Browning Banana Could Cut Food Waste, Scientists Say
Bananas are the fourth biggest crop globally, but also one where the perishability is very high. Some estimates say that 50% of the bananas grown are never eaten.
Antarctica belongs to no one. But many countries are angling for a piece
Antarctica has been governed by a treaty of nations since 1959, but with rising geopolitical tensions and a shifting world order, that governance system is under pressure.
A play-by-play of how measles outbreaks can spiral out of control
Measles infections are ticking up and up across multiple provinces, with more cases already this year than all of 2024.
Music Labels Will Regret Coming For the Internet Archive, Sound Historian Says
Labels push to spike cost of Internet Archive fight over old 78s.
Burial site revealed to be older than Stonehenge
It has been redated to about 3,200BC, or about two centuries earlier than previously thought.
Like the shoreline that divides the sea and sand
I'm a surface ever-changing
I get burdened by the things I just don't understand
And all the mountains left to climb