Sunspots 922

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

Christianity (and Sports): According to KMBC News, Patrick Mahones, Kansas City quarterback, is not shy about his Christian faith.

Environment: Gizmodo reports that the court system might finally hold oil companies accountable for knowing that use increased climate temperature, but denying that.

Food: (and Science) A Conversation writer tells us a lot about the processing of chocolate.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight analyzes the current congressional  Republicans.

FiveThirtyEight also discusses the effectiveness of gun laws. We don't know much about this because government was forbidden to study some of these, until recently.

NPR on why we didn't hear about 4 other incursions by Chinese balloons.

Science: Gizmodo reports that Neanderthals hunted what would today be supersized elephants, several thousands of years ago, in Europe.

NPR reports that artificial intelligence programs are a dismal failure at planning for a rocket launch.

NPR also reports that commuting may make working life less stressful.

Gizmodo reports that Jupiter has 92 verified moons, which is more than Saturn has, but searches for more around Saturn are continuing.

The Scientist reports that structures made from human brain cells respond to visual stimuli when placed in rat brains.

Todd Wood on Neanderthal hunting of giant elephants.

Sports: (and Finances) FiveThirtyEight shows, graphically, how the NFL has captured the attention of the US over the past several years.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 843

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

Christianity: (and computing) Gizmodo reports on initiatives by

Facebook to introduce features for the use of Christian churches and denominations. Gizmodo is wary of such initiatives. Relevant also reports on this, with similar concerns.

A Relevant writer on lusting after women because of what they are wearing.

Education: Grammarphobia tells us about the origin of the phrase "the coast is clear."

Environment: Gizmodo reports that the Great Salt Lake is at its lowest recorded level.

Politics: (or something) Relevant reports that sending behavior specialists, rather than armed police, to certain kinds of calls is a successful strategy.

Science: Gizmodo on what Neanderthals looked like.

Sports: Some Gizmodo contributors give their takes on which Olympic sport is most difficult. They do not agree, because, at that level, they are all difficult.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading. 

Using your DNA to explore your ancestry -- beware

I've recently read a great book entitled A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes, by Adam Rutherford. It's about using DNA for anthropological purposes, such as finding the relationship between humans and Neanderthals. (You and I have Neanderthal DNA.) Rutherford says that the companies who tell people that they are 24% Cherokee, or whatever, are on a par with the horoscopes in the newspaper.

There are many reasons for this. One of them is that humans are all related. One evidence for that is  that many pieces of DNA are shared between various ethnic groups.

Another lesson, repeatedly told, is that the concept of race has no genetic basis. Again, we are all related. By this, Rutherford means that two people from different locations in Africa are likely to have less common DNA than either one of them and someone from, say, Belgium, have in common.

It's impossible to do justice to the book in this brief post. It is readable by people without strong backgrounds in science.

Note this passage from the Bible: Acts 17:26 He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 604

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: Benjamin L. Corey tells us that Christmas is not a pagan holiday, nor was it based on one.


Health: (or something) Listverse reports on how hair color influences various aspects of our health.

National Public Radio reports on volunteer (almost always family members) caregivers. They need training, and at least some of them are getting it.

History: Listverse describes 10 mysterious libraries of the past.

Politics: Scientific American has published an open letter to President-elect Trump, urging him to take six actions relative to climate change (none of which are to deny its existence! -- which he may, or may not, have done) from over 800 scientists in climatology and related fields.

Science: (or something) National Public Radio muses on the topic of whether the Neanderthals had a religion.

Todd Wood, a young-earth creationist with impeccable scientific credentials. discusses a fossil of a dinosaur with feathers. (The fossil was preserved in amber, meaning that it's better preserved than most fossils. The feather structure is clearly visible.)

Scientific American discusses the intelligence of octopi.

FiveThirtyEight on the Waffle House index for natural disasters.


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 456

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: A fine article by a historian of science, on the question of whether God had any choices when He made the world, based on the thoughts of Galileo and Boyle, two of the greatest scientists of the past.
Computing: Gizmo's Freeware reports on a web page that helps you send out a newsletter, free.
If you are a Facebook member, Facebook automatically puts together a short video of your most popular posts.
Science: Nature says that the Lacks family, and the National Institutes of Health, have reached an agreement over the question of publishing the DNA sequence of HeLa cells, the most important human cell culture. These cells were taken, without the consent or knowledge of Henrietta Lacks, decades ago. Oprah Winfrey's film company is making a file of the story of Mrs. Lacks, and her cells.
National Public Radio reports that modern humans (many of them, anyway) are carrying genes from Neanderthals.
NPR also reports on what happens to our actual achievement when our self-esteem is artificially boosted, or lowered. Perhaps not what you'd expect.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 372

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

 

Science:  National Public Radio reports that some of the most ancient cave paintings might have been done by Neanderthals, rather than by early humans.

The Arts: (or something) McDonald's has released a video showing how they prepare a burger for use in advertising.

Computing: Wired reports on the best Android tablet computer for kids.

Wired also reports that Apple is no longer claiming that Mac computers are not susceptible to viruses, and for good reasons. (To be fair, there are more viruses that attack Windows computers, mostly because there are more Windows computers to attack.)

(or The Arts, or something) The New York Times reviews a book about the project to create an android version of the late Philip K. Dick, who wrote, among things, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

Image source (public domain).

Sunspots 277

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Humor:  NPR tells us that the original Kermit the Frog has been donated to the Smithsonian.

Science: Humans and Neanderthals apparently interbred at one time, according to a report in The Guardian.

An article in the Huffington Post on why "Social Darwinism" should be called something else.

Wired reports that a huge crater on Mars is not round in shape. (Photo included.)

The Arts: An unusual wedding photo, from Flickr.




Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 199

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Science:
(or something) Slate reports that testing embryos for hair color, and other superficial traits, is becoming more common. "This is how revolutions happen: Technology matures, trends converge, and cultural changes pave the way. By the time Steinberg opens his trait-selection business . . . it'll be too late to stop him. In fact, before you know it, we'll be used to it."

There has been some work done on the Neanderthal genome. Really.

Politics:
(or something) Jan points out that the real cause of our current financial problems is that there are no women in charge of things on Wall Street. None of the big bankers in front of a congressional committee last week were women. (I saw a bit of it on C-SPAN.) (Actually, the chair of the FDIC is a woman.)

Computing:
A recent court case may affect our ability to link freely to web sites that are available to the public at large, says Slate. Let's hope not

Christianity:
Cody says that he is not defined by his paycheck, but by what he does for nothing.

Bonnie on questioning authority.

Image source (public domain)