Covid-19’s Delta variant is proliferating world-wide threatening unvaccinated populations and economic recovery. WSJ breaks down events in key countries to explain why Delta spreads faster than previously detected strains. Composite: Sharon Shi
Tag Archives: Reviews
Science: Blood Tests For Alzheimer’s Treatment, Seismic Events on Mars
Books: ‘The Tiny Bee That Hovers At The Center Of The World’ – David Searcy
An ethereal meditation on longing, loss, and time, sweeping from the highways of Texas to the canals of Mars–by the acclaimed essayist and author of Shame and Wonder
David Searcy’s writing is enchanting and peculiar, obsessed with plumbing the mysteries and wonders of our everyday world, the beauty and cruelty of time, and nothing less than what he calls “the whole idea of meaning.” In The Tiny Bee That Hovers at the Center of the World, he leads the reader across the landscapes of his extraordinary mind, moving from the decaying architectural wonder that is the town of Arcosanti, Arizona, to driving the vast, open Texas highway in his much-abused college VW Beetle, to the mysterious, canal-riddled Martian landscape that famed astronomer Percival Lowell first set eyes on, via his telescope, in 1894. Searcy does not come at his ideas directly, but rather digresses and meditates and analyzes until some essential truth has been illuminated–and it is in that journey that the beauty is found.
Journal Views: Science Magazine – July 23, 2021
Zoology: The Evolution Of Seahorses (Video)
Sea horses are amazing animals because of many of their strange features like male pregnancy but also due to their beautifully unique body shape. However, this may be the reason why seahorses are famous but it actually makes them very bad swimmers so why did they evolve to have this unique body shape?
A seahorse is any of 46 species of small marine fish in the genus Hippocampus. “Hippocampus” comes from the Ancient Greek hippókampos, itself from híppos meaning “horse” and kámpos meaning “sea monster”.
Ocean Science: Can Kelp Forests Survive Climate Change, Trawler Fishing
Kelp locks up millions of tonnes of carbon globally, provides a nursery for fish and is a buffer against coastal flooding. But climate change, weather and fishing are taking their toll. Now, Mika Peck and his team at the University of Sussex are monitoring kelp off the south coast of the UK, to see if it can recover from the damage done to it by trawling and help improve biodiversity in the area.
Literary Views: London Review Of Books (July29)
Science: Gun Violence Research Returns, Pikas In Winter & Glass Sponges
Funding for gun violence research in the US returns after a 20-year federal hiatus, and the glass sponges that can manipulate ocean currents.
In this episode:
00:45 Gun violence research is rebooted
For 20 years there has been no federally-funded research on gun violence in the US. In 2019, $25 million a year was allocated for this work. We speak to some of the researchers that are using these funds, and the questions they are trying to answer about gun violence.
News Feature: Gun violence is surging — researchers finally have the money to ask why
Podcast: Stick to the science
09:21 Research Highlights
Strategic laziness and yak dung help pikas survive harsh winters, and how food gets wasted in China’s supply chains.
Research Highlight: Pikas in high places have a winter-time treat: yak poo
Research Highlight: China wastes almost 30% of its food
11:40 How a sea sponge controls ocean currents
Venus’ flower baskets are marine sponges that live at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. These sponges have an unusual glass skeleton that helps them gather food, and even appears to control ocean currents.
Research Article: Falcucci et al.
News and Views: Fluid flow through a deep-sea sponge could inspire engineering designs
18:55 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, investment in non-human primate facilities, and the European Union’s latest climate plan.
Nature News: The US is boosting funding for research monkeys in the wake of COVID
BBC News: EU unveils sweeping climate change plan
Review: A German Flood Warning System Failure?
00:00 The death toll from Germany’s devastating flood disaster has risen to more than 160, as emergency workers continue to search for dozens of people still unaccounted for. German authorities insist their flood warnings worked, even though there was massive loss of life. Some experts say Germany’s flood warning system failed and has led to such widespread devastation. They say authorities knew what was coming, but failed to prepare.
02:28 DW reporter Giulia Saudelli is on the ground covering the latest developments. She joins us from the town of Altenahr, in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, which was especially hard hit by the flooding.
05:19 DW reporter Emily Gordine is covering the latest developments in Schönau, in the southern German state of Bavaria. 09:40 Jeff Da Costa, he’s a researcher focusing on flood warning systems at the University of Reading and has been personally affected by events as his family’s home in Luxembourg was flooded.
Views: How Louisiana Rice Farmers Produce Millions Of Pounds Of Crawfish
Rice farmers like Mike Frugé of Cajun Crawfish in Louisiana figured out that the two year growing cycle of crawfish synced perfectly with the two year cycle of the rice crop. He shows us how his rice fields are seeded with baby crawfish every other year, creating a new source of food and income for farmers in the area.
Credits: Host: Daniel Geneen Producer/Director: Connor Reid Camera: Connor Reid, Matthew Koesy Editor: Mike Imhoff
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