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Interview w/ The Director of the Maryland STEM Festival, Thinking Machines, Planet X Influence, Tool Making Monkeys?, Generous Magpies, Visual Fish, Higgs Bison, Soothing Lithium, Genes With Altitude, And Much More…
Disclaimer, Disclaimer, Disclaimer!!!
We live in the modern world…
The newest age humanity has ever known…
Which is always the case really, whenever people are describing the present…
The dark ages in Europe were a major setback in knowledge,
but most folks living through it probably had no idea there had been a more modern world behind them…
And, as progress pushes forward through every aspect of our lives…
As we automate more processes,
speeding up production…
As we compute larger data sets faster…
As our population grows and the need for a workforce shrinks…
As we fill every open stretch of land with paved roads, carbon copy houses, and coffee franchises…
As we push nature further from our daily lives, and alter the climate upon which nature thrives…
We see the results of our efforts…
Planet-wide warming…
Depleted fishing, hunting, and farming grounds…
Diminished fresh water reserves…
Increased wild fires…
Intense storms and hurricane seasons…
and over one hundred species of plant, insect and animal going extinct every day…
What for? To what end?
Why are we so set on this path, so dedicated to a goal that we cannot even envision how it ends?
…
and what a vision.
No wonder we don’t ask…
how the world will look when we are done destroying it.
The answer of course is that we don’t care because we won’t be here to see it…
Because we can’t imagine that change taking place in our own lifetime…
And our children?
We obviously don’t love them enough to ensure that it doesn’t happen in theirs…
Thankfully, there are some people left who do love this planet enough to protect it…
Unfortunately they aren’t running the country…
But they are here with us now,
listening to This Week in Science…
Coming Up Next.
An interview!!!
With Phil Rogofsky, Chair of STEMulating Minds and Director of the Maryland STEM Festival about creating a statewide festival from scratch, and all the things you have to look forward to at this year’s events.
You can catch all sorts of STEM fun at the Maryland STEM Festival! And, don’t forget that you will be able to come join TWIS LIVE at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD on Nov. 4th!
Now, onto more science!
Thinking Machines
Google’s DeepMind AI has taken a small step forward by learning and reasoning using memory rather than programming.
Planet X Influence
The sun’s tilted axis might be due to Planet X or 9 or whatever we are calling it these days.
Tool making monkeys?
Monkeys banging rocks together provide interesting evidence for the Hominin past.
“Human-like” generosity found in magpies
Magpies will exhibit prosocial behavior, something that until recently has been considered uniquely human. So, they’re not just out to steal my jewelry!
Triggerfish may also be arguing about the color of that darned dress
If triggerfish had the internet, they would have had similar trouble deciding if that dress was blue and black or gold and white, because they are susceptible to the same visual illusions as humans.
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Anti-hypoxia gene in Tibetans has Denisovian roots…
Perhaps the adaptation evolved much, much earlier.
Lithium For Brains
New research points the way to explaining why lithium works as a wonderful anti-psychotic medication for some and not others.
Higgs Bison has been rediscovered
And, that’s bIson, not bOson.
Mars Landing?
With one part of the ExoMars mission a success, questions roll in about the fate of the lander.
New Horizons
Going, going, still going… New Horizons has its sights set on a red rock in the Kuiper Belt.
Minding Self Control
Do you have a strong self-control muscle?
Stop talking smack about that spider in the corner – it can hear you!
Completely by accident, researchers discovered this week that spiders can hear sound waves far better than previously thought.
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