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Solar is now ‘cheapest electricity in history’, confirms IEA
The International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook 2020 report has found that, in most major countries, solar power is now cheaper than coal and gas.
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Science & Space
The most popular blog posts about science & space on Hacker News. 4,455 posts.
1652
Unsteady income in young adulthood linked to thinking problems in middle age
MINNEAPOLIS – Young adults who experience annual income drops of 25 percent or more may be more at risk of having thinking problems and reduced brain health in middle age, according to a study published in the October 2, 2019, online issue of Neurology ® , the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology …
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Shutting down nuclear power could increase air pollution: study
An MIT study shows that if U.S. nuclear power plants are retired, the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas to fill the energy gap could cause more than 5,000 premature deaths.
1654
Carl Sagan's Rules for Bullshit-Busting and Critical Thinking
Necessary cognitive fortification against propaganda, pseudoscience, and general falsehood.
1655
Coffee grounds make concrete 30% stronger
Engineers in Australia have found a way of making stronger concrete with roasted used-coffee grounds, to give the drink-additive a “double shot” at life.
1656
Student discovers fungus predicted by Albert Hoffman
Making a discovery with the potential for innovative applications in pharmaceutical development, a West Virginia University microbiology student has found a long sought-after fungus that produces effects similar to the semisynthetic drug LSD, which is used to treat conditions like depression, post-traumatic stress…
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The unnecessary decline of U.S. numerical weather prediction
This blog provides updated forecasts and comments on current weather or other topics
1659
Scientists Discover Ways of Making Old Blood New Again
University of Colorado School of Medicine researchers joined a study that restored the blood-making process in old mice, making their blood look new again.
1660
Noted study in psychology fails to replicate, crumbles with evidence of fraud
About 80 people pointed me to this post by Uri Simonsohn, Joe Simmons, and Leif Nelson about a 2012 article, “Signing at the beginning makes ethics salient and decreases dishonest self-reports in comparison to signing at the end.” Apparently some of the data in that paper were faked; see for example here:
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New antibiotic targets IBD and AI predicted how it would work
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Planets evenly spaced on log scale
The distances to the planets are fairly evenly distributed on a logarithmic scale, not only in our solar system but in extrasolar systems as well.
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New mRNA cancer vaccine triggers immune response to malignant brain tumor
In a first-ever human clinical trial of four adult patients, an mRNA cancer vaccine developed at the University of Florida quickly reprogrammed the immune…
1665
Wyvern's Open Satellite Feed
Benchmarks & Tips for Big Data, Hadoop, AWS, Google Cloud, PostgreSQL, Spark, Python & More...
1666
USDA ignoring the science on low-carb diets
Since 2014, the US Dept. of Agriculture has a record of "burying" the science
1667
Gore-TEX, a lightweight, waterproof fabric made from the expanded form of PTFE
By literally stretching materials science to the limit, Gore invented Gore-Tex, a lightweight, waterproof fabric made from the expanded form of the polymer PTFE.
1668
I've said it all before but here we go again
Science News, Physics, Science, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
1669
Why Do DMT Users See Insects from a Parallel Universe?
The molecule DMT (N,N-Dimethyltryptamine) is a psychoactive chemical that causes intense visions and can induce its users to quickly enter a completely different "environment" that some have likened to an alien or parallel universe. The transition from our world to theirs occurs with no cessation of consciousness or…
1670
Whatever Happened to Fire Escapes
[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.] The idea is simple: If there’s a fire in a tall building that blocks the main stairwell, people need an alternative way to evacuate, preferably one that is somewhat protected or at least far away from where the fire is happening
1671
Farms that create habitat key to food security and biodiversity
Diversified farming is an important complement to forest protections for reversing tropical biodiversity declines.
1672
Why Do Nigerian Scammers Say They Are from Nigeria? (2012)
Explore research at Microsoft, a site featuring the impact of research along with publications, products, downloads, and research careers.
1673
Coffee linked to slower biological ageing among those with severe mental illness
New research from King’s College London finds that coffee consumption within the NHS recommended limit is linked to longer telomere lengths – a marker of biological ageing – among people with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The effect is comparable to roughly five years younger biological age.
1674
Closest Temperate World Orbiting Quiet Star Discovered
A temperate Earth-sized planet has been discovered only 11 light-years from the Solar System by a team using ESO’s unique planet-hunting HARPS instrument. The new world has the designation Ross 128 b and is now the second-closest temperate planet to be detected after Proxima b. It is also the closest planet to be…
1675
Migratory monarch butterfly now endangered
Gland, Switzerland, 21 July 2022 (IUCN) – The migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus plexippus), known for its spectacular annual journey of up to 4,000 kilometres across the Americas, has entered the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM as Endangered, threatened by habitat destruction and climate change. All…
1676
Why Are Sloths So Slow?
What does it really mean to be a sloth? Why are they so slow? And why does it work?
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The Achilles Heel of the Coronavirus
SARS-CoV-2 is critically dependent on a special mechanism for the production of its proteins. A collaborative team led by a research group at ETH Zurich obtained molecular insights into this process and demonstrated that it can be inhibited by chemical compounds, thereby significantly reducing viral replication in…
1679
The theory of infectious origin of the Alzheimer’s disease
The theory of infectious origin of the Alzheimer's disease The hypothesis that Alzheimer's disease has an infectious origin, has a long and
1680
Feynman's wobbling plate: how to recover from burnout
So I got this new attitude. Now that I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything, I've got this nice position at the university teaching classes which I rather enjoy, and just like I read the Arabian Nights for pleasure, I'm going to play with physics, whenever I want to, without worrying about any importance…