“:Brood X, made up of billions of individuals, is expected to appear in 18 states in the next few weeks . . . . “
Category: Curious things
Researchers study how lifelong environmentalists want their remains handled after death
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Research News LAWRENCE — Traditional burial in a graveyard has environmental costs. Graves can take up valuable land, leak embalming chemicals and involve nonbiodegradable materials like concrete,…
Stargate Atlantis and “The Cause”
But here is the interesting part. In the introduction to this episode, Tunney (Dave Foley), has a conversation with his funder about the safety of the project and its goal,…
A True Shaggy Dog Story
The brilliant zoologist and “bone whisperer” Susan J. Crockford has a new paper just published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology.
Ladybug Lost
This is the time of year that ladybugs start to look for places to spend the winter. They don’t migrate like songbirds, but hibernate, more like bears or turtles. Many…
Digital content on track to equal half Earth’s mass by 2245
If verified, the mass-energy-information equivalence principle will show that information is a physical, dominant, fifth state of matter, and digital bits will outnumber atoms on Earth — it’s just a…
Uncovering the Mystery of Auroral Beads
A special type of aurora, draped east-west across the night sky like a glowing pearl necklace, is helping scientists better understand the science of auroras and their powerful drivers out…
A brief tale of wind and steam
About a year ago I read in a Dutch national newspaper an article which elaborately and somewhat aggressively argued that if you had the choice between, say, a 1000MW gas-fired…
The Deadliest Animal in the World
“What makes mosquitoes so dangerous? Despite their innocuous-sounding name—Spanish for “little fly”—they carry devastating diseases. The worst is malaria, which kills more than 600,000 people every year….”
One Fish, Two Fish, Sturddlefish
What is a struddlefish when it wakes up in the morning? A creature created by a mistake in a Hungarian fish breeding lab.
When a bird changes its song . . .
I like birds – big birds, small birds, common birds, rare birds – all kinds of birds. I have fed them in my backyard for years and watched then wherever…
Diamond Princess Mysteries
Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach OK, here are my questions. We had a perfect petri-dish coronavirus disease (COVID-19) experiment with the cruise ship “Diamond Princess”. That’s the cruise ship that…
The Math Of Epidemics
Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach Watts Up With That is about more than just the climate. It’s also about interesting things in the world. So if you’re looking for just…
The Hot And Cold Of Space
Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach For those who enjoy mathematical puzzles, I’m putting this one out there for your pleasure. Suppose we have a 1 metre by 1 metre by…
Fun With Lunar Temperatures
Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach A while ago, I wrote a post called “The Moon Is A Cold Mistress”. In that post I discussed how the average temperature is not…
Rutan, Lovelock & Branson
Guest post by David Archibald, Burt Rutan is one of the most interesting men on the planet. He has designed 46 aircraft, six of which are included in the collection…
Self-Driving Uber Killed Pedestrian for Jaywalking
Guest “don’t you just?” by David Middleton Before we get to self-driving vehicular manslaughter, don’t you just love futurists? Sep 13, 2018Driverless Cars Will Dramatically Change Where And How We…
The “climate doom” timeline
Have you ever wanted a nice, compact image you could share on social media whenever you need to put some eco-worrier in his/her/its place? Well, one showed up in my…
Washington Winery releases wine called "The Denier"
I received this submission, which is interesting as well as business promoting. I have no objections, and check out their page on climate.~ctm Guest post informercial by Tom Davis and…
How’d They Calculate That?
News Brief by Kip Hansen There are two recent stories in the NY Times that bring up a curious seemingly inconsequential oddity of mathematical computing. They are both written…
Forcing and Burning in Coal Country.
Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach A 2015 paper by Xiaochun Zhang and Ken Caldeira has come to my attention. Inter alia, the abstract says: For example, the global and time‐integrated…
California Super Bloom
This winter’s exceptional rain season is leading to stunning sites sights in California.~ctm From Space.com California’s ‘Superbloom’ of Wildflowers Looks Spectacular from Space! By Elizabeth Howell 3 days ago Science…
Heat “waves” detected moving through pencil lead
At relatively balmy temperatures, heat behaves like sound when moving through graphite, study reports From MIT: Exotic ‘second sound’ phenomenon observed in pencil lead The next time you set a…
