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Items tagged with: science
Biologist J. B. S. Haldane once quipped that if there's a God, the Creator seems to have “an inordinate fondness for beetles.”
Why? Well, 1/2 of species described in #science are insects (among eukaryotes). Of those, >1/3 are beetles, at ~400,000 known species.
I’m fond of these critters bc I began my career working with Plagiodera versicolora, a particularly cute beetle.
Now some entomologists suspect there may be just as many parasitic wasps but that’s a tale for another day.
“Man the Hunter has dominated the study of human evolution for nearly half a century & pervaded popular culture. [But] it was the arrival of agriculture that led to rigid gendered roles & economic inequality. Hunting belonged to everyone.”
The Theory That Men Evolved to Hunt & Women Evolved to Gather Is Wrong https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-theory-that-men-evolved-to-hunt-and-women-evolved-to-gather-is-wrong1/ #science #history
The Theory That Men Evolved to Hunt and Women Evolved to Gather Is Wrong
The influential idea that in the past men were hunters and women were not isn’t supported by the available evidenceSarah Lacy (Scientific American)
https://youtu.be/O5XssdVk0hQ?si=Mg4AHUc0EAGdjZNd
Sell By, Best By, or Just Bye-Bye? Decoding Food Expiration Dates | Serving Up Science
Support Serving Up Science: http://bit.ly/ScienceServe Uncover the secrets behind "sell by," "best by," and "use by" dates. Did you know these dates might be...YouTube
How does #ClimateChange threaten where you live?
This region-by-region “guide” isn’t based on new #science, but it does a good job illustrating how climate change is truly local for all of us.
https://grist.org/climate/national-climate-assessment-2023-us-regional-impacts-summary/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily
How does climate change threaten where you live? A region-by-region guide.
We broke down the National Climate Assessment's comprehensive report on the effects of climate change so you don't have to.Grist staff (Grist)
Mary Anning was born in 1799 in Great Britain. Her family lived in poverty, selling fossils to make ends meet.
Scientists of Anning’s day could not believe that a poor young woman could posses her knowledge & talent. She has been described as 'the greatest fossilist the world ever knew' yet many people are still unaware of her incredible contributions.
The majority of Anning’s discoveries ended up in museums & collections without credit. https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/anning.html #science #history
Hundreds of Ancient Roman Forts Found in Old CIA Spy Surveillance
So Something Good From An Unexpected Source
#Science #CIA #Archaeology #RomanHistory #Syria #Iraq #Dartmouth #ScienceAlert
Hundreds of Ancient Roman Forts Found in Old CIA Spy Surveillance : ScienceAlert
Declassified satellite images from an old CIA spy program in the Cold War have been used to discover 396 undocumented Roman forts and fort-like buildings.Carly Cassella (ScienceAlert)
Just 600 years ago, nine species of enormous, flightless birds called moas wandered around New Zealand. Some of these magnificent big birds grew up to 12 feet tall, which would tower over Sesame Street’s most famous resident.
Moas had thrived for millions of years. And suddenly - shortly after humans arrived on the islands - they went extinct.
Coincidence? #Science says no. https://www.science.org/content/article/why-did-new-zealands-moas-go-extinct #history
Educator, scientist & writer Ana Roqué de Duprey was born in Puerto Rico in 1853.
Known as the “Flower of the Valley” for her work in botany, Roqué wrote the Botany of the Antilles, the most comprehensive study of flora in the Caribbean & was instrumental in the fight for the Puerto Rican woman’s right to vote.
Roqué founded several girls-only schools & the College of Mayagüez, later the Mayagüez Campus of the University of Puerto Rico. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ana-roque-de-duprey #HistoryRemix #history #science
Ana Roqué de Duprey
Ana Roqué de Duprey, a prolific educator, writer, and scientist, founded the first woman’s suffrage organization in Puerto Rico in 1917.National Women's History Museum
My 1st cover story! For New Scientist about experiments that are close to telling us if spacetime is quantized. And a Q&A with a physicist who is simulating space-time from scratch!
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2399292-the-physicist-trying-to-create-space-time-from-scratch
The physicist trying to create space-time from scratch
Monika Schleier-Smith is testing the idea that space-time emerges, like a hologram, from quantum interactions by attempting to make it in the labLyndie Chiou (New Scientist)
A woman. An immigrant. A scientist.
A Nobel Prize winner. And thanks to her pioneering research, a #COVID19 vaccine.
Dr. Katalin Karikó. https://www.statnews.com/2020/11/10/the-story-of-mrna-how-a-once-dismissed-idea-became-a-leading-technology-in-the-covid-vaccine-race/ #HistoryRemix #science #history
The story of mRNA: From a loose idea to a tool that may help curb Covid
Scientists have dreamed about the possibilities of custom-made messenger RNA. The pandemic may turn those possibilities into realilty.Jonathan Saltzman — Boston Globe (STAT)
Persian mathematician Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī was born ~780. He not only revolutionized algebra, but his contributions in mathematics, astronomy & geography have been central to hundreds of years of scientific advances.
Known as the father of algebra, al-Khwārizmī became one of the most influential thinkers of all time. The terms algebra & algorithm are derived from his name & work. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021666184/ #HistoryRemix #history #science #math
Three articles published yesterday in #Science, Science Advances & Nature 🤔
Women remain underrepresented among faculty in nearly all academic fields https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adi2205
Toxic workplaces are the main reason women leave academic jobs https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03251-8
Women faculty feel ‘pushed’ from academia by poor workplace climate
https://www.science.org/content/article/women-faculty-feel-pushed-academia-poor-workplace-climate
For decades, astronomers have dreamed of setting up an observatory on the far side of the Moon. I read about it as a kid. Now it's happening!
The LuSEE-Night radio telescope is under construction, and is scheduled to land on the lunar farside in 2025. It's a pathfinder for a much bigger radio telescope that would follow. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2023/09/26/listening-to-the-radio-on-the-far-side-of-the-moon/ #space #nasa #science
Listening to the Radio on the Far Side of the Moon
Researchers can use the radio-quiet far side of the moon to listen for a never-before-heard signal from the “Dark Ages” of the universe.ssuh (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)
Sugar causes all sorts of health problems, but hyperactivity isn’t one of them.
My own 6yo sugar expert made his PBS debut in this episode of Serving Up Science where I break down the #science behind a popular myth about the sweet stuff. https://youtu.be/TlHOLk-tV7g?si=bj7N6yI8D7T56ziS
Sugar and Hyperactivity: What Does Research Say? | Serving Up Science
Support Serving Up Science: http://bit.ly/ScienceServeGet ready to reevaluate everything you thought you knew about sugar and hyperactivity. From birthday pa...YouTube
Now it would be a good time for journalists, politicians and *scientists* to set up and use an account on #Mastodon
#twittermigration #xmigration #chemistry #glycotime #science
Musk considers removing X platform from Europe over EU law - Insider
Elon Musk, owner of social media platform X, is considering removing the service formerly called Twitter from Europe in response to a new internet platform regulation in the region, news site Insider reported on Wednesday.Reuters
For a new week: I dug into the history of a definition I’ve used my entire career, and discovered… we may not need it?
Don’t ask “When is it coevolution?” — ask “How is it coevolution?”
https://www.molecularecologist.com/2023/10/13/when-coevolution-definition-history/
Don’t ask “When is it coevolution?” — ask “How is it coevolution?”
A rough-skinned newt, Taricha granulosa, somewhere on the Marin headlands of California. Rough-skinned newts’ geographically varying arms race with predatory garter snakes has made them a cla…The Molecular Ecologist
"One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our #science, measured against reality, is primitive & childlike - and yet it is the most precious thing we have."
- Albert Einstein
Source: Albert Einstein: Creator & Rebel by Banesh Hoffmann
Born in 1896, Ida Noddack was the first scientist to suggest the principle behind nuclear fission. But Otto Hahn demonstrated this (with Lise Meitner! & Fritz Strassmann) & he won the Nobel prize.
Noddack also discovered rhenium (atomic #75) & predicted #43, but couldn’t confirm it experimentally, so Segrè & Perrier were later credited.
She tried to speak up that the ideas for fission & #43 began with her, but it lost her credibility. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsnr.2014.0009 #HistoryRemix #history #science
Probing the permafrost that could release 50,000-year-old viruses
Discoveries by virologist Jean-Michel Claverie shine a light on a little-known risk of global warming as it thaws ground frozen for millenniumsLiza Tetley,Bhuma Shrivastava (The Japan Times)
#NASA has a nice website for the upcoming annular solar eclipse: https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2023/
This season on Serving Up Science, we covered edible insects which are surprisingly good, healthy & sustainable.
Tremendous thanks to Chef Junior Merino of M cantina for sharing outstanding Mexican cuisine. https://youtu.be/t-1q3fcOxJU?si=wHZwgT9zWtoXkkYl #science #food
Are Insects the next big foodie trend?
Support Serving Up Science: http://bit.ly/ScienceServe Discover the Fascinating History of Insect Cuisine and Dive into the Protein-Rich World of Edible Bugs...YouTube
Shocking story about mRNA pioneer/Nobel winner Katalin Karikó, whose early advisor at Temple tried to have her deported & derailed her career because she dared to look for a better-paying job.
Later, UPenn demoted her, then forced her out, because her research wasn't bringing in enough funding. #NobelPrize #science [HT Paul Novosad]
Born in 1897, Janaki Ammal was a pioneering botanist who studied plant breeding, genetics & cytogenetics.
Ammal overcame both gender & caste discrimination & was the first Indian woman to obtain a Ph.D. in botany in the U.S.
Her research was crucial for developing high-yield varieties of sugarcane, eggplant & magnolias. Ammal also promoted conservation & was a pioneer of indigenous approaches to the environment. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/pioneering-female-botanist-who-sweetened-nation-and-saved-valley-180972765/ #HistoryRemix #science #history #plants
The Pioneering Female Botanist Who Sweetened a Nation and Saved a Valley
One of India’s finest plant scientists, Janaki Ammal spurred her country to protect its rich tropical diversityLeila McNeill (Smithsonian Magazine)
So true – it's nigh impossible to weigh the impact of research but years afterwards. Ask the microbiologists who were studying extremophile bacteria in a Yellowstone pond whether they thought their work would lead to the sequencing of the human genome and modern medicine as we know it. Or ask the zoologists who pulled out bioluminescent and fluorescent jelly fish out of the sea whether they thought scientific research in developmental biology, neuroscience and biology as a whole, remarkably even DNA sequencing, would be so thoroughly transformed. And these are just two examples in biology.
PCR: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymerase_chain_reaction#History
GFP: jellyfish Aequorea victoria https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_fluorescent_protein#Wild-type_GFP_(wtGFP)
The "Lost Women of Science" podcast just did a 2 part episode about her, part of their "Lost Women of the Manhattan Project" series.
(transcripts available)
Part 1: https://www.lostwomenofscience.org/season-6-episodes/lise-meitner
#Science #History #Women #Podcast #ManhattanProject
Why Did Lise Meitner Never Receive the Nobel Prize for Splitting the Atom?
New translations of Meitner’s letters show that antisemitism before and after World War II robbed Meitner of the 1944 Nobel Prize that went to her long-time collaborator chemist Otto Hahn.www.lostwomenofscience.org
Very pleased to see NYT acknowledge Lise Meitner.
Meitner developed the theory of nuclear fission & newly translated letters show she was barred from sharing credit for the Nobel Prize-winning discovery because she was Jewish & a woman. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/science/lise-meitner-fission-nobel.html?unlocked_article_code=JGbPgv1zYxrgU0vMDkmURf0UPTTjuLHgCJ7dTnWeFmWslaXwaWhZQ2CW6dr-HuF0MeGqXSfyQV0XyOgw7VTABLw9yJxUG8Jd9xQMrPqsNiNcVd3g1GwsxckwQMW5awE4g9aTqtT-TQbgs1PG5BpMDmUsqcAuapMB798_kyVYaEEXUwILTeojASGJ6ZvwXa5e-LpMvbl3o47_ZtX4JPzngzAvKys52S_L9v2O8h3vH0JYmLSlYmeokZCyl1NmKI_ZXmKyeExgLGB165ODtBkLtFvRRkCofN7uTN2imyfz20LJtbVEy1RdwZ6hqJZf8pvRMlD8yz-OjfYq7wLSbNw5k4zs0hAs&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare #science #history #HistoryRemix
Nobel Prize Awarded to #Covid Vaccine Pioneers Katalin Karikó & Drew Weissman
Their discovery “contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times.” https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/health/nobel-prize-medicine.html?unlocked_article_code=iUAj0_yZAUTdlXConGyZDD1BKUUbjLWd72fXp2lwr7CZNjJviOfsU4pnDJvidOBNqf19B284AyDwoFajkEt3akPvAkBRJyHqx6OZcLesY0ogZYqZ0MZylqwae36mmITQxMZFKyrcQm7GsGWF6s_0vWJ2hyUietTxtX8l2gJiRd8nX_eb33dWigtlpN-8SB-tscHDQtTP6eAniNGvpawBfDxxWVconeKmqUfIlsVKOpBXwSp8M8LfI1LjJhkwmd8WEzFTMByCY8t_bgQ_2bF2ruDmJE5WKF3aQH-pnw-FXEto2IENzXsmQgBL3q71R6gA0x9AFTVXffaiQ5DLCJ0&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare #science
"New data released Thursday by the National Science Foundation show the exodus of young life scientists from the Ivory Tower to industry has reached the highest level in nearly three decades, deepening concerns about the future of academic science in the U.S....Ph.D. graduates are now pursuing postdocs at the lowest rate since at least 1995, based on STAT’s review of NSF data available online."
https://www.statnews.com/2023/09/28/scientists-exodus-from-academia-historic-levels/
#science #research #academia #industry
Data show record exodus of life scientists from academia - STAT
Ph.D. graduates are pursuing postdocs at the lowest rate since at least 1995; conversely, 47% of 2022 life science grads had a job lined up.Jonathan Wosen (STAT)
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.”
- Albert Einstein, 1919
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/einstein-famous-quote-misunderstood/ #science #history
Einstein’s most famous quote is totally misunderstood
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" is often taken to mean that your conceptions outweigh what's real. That's not what he said.Ethan Siegel (Big Think)
Is mammals’ time on Earth half over?
A new model suggests that in 250 million years, all land will collide into a supercontinent that boosts warming & pushes mammals to extinction. @Carl_Zimmer has the details.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/25/science/future-earth-warming-mammal-extinction.html?unlocked_article_code=VuDSM7PIFbX1WwTvJFJf4D4CT3If1tMXw44QLcVN_z_ZUZkSB-aBK4T2idjVHzAEXB5xWrbRdZpVaog-jbUpBHZZGQO6tl6V-tB6U6BL9KMnY3KmakhEDteT38KbIKoXex5hVWwSbodGEuns5Uvaq5YWaicv7o07VL-BnLt3BegqYIhg5fugV-tzkAPwE4Lf0NDXkPINzJJDUXev5jgsslC6APVVy95EnpO4mxFVzOYYsHcreGcXxWTRV0cNaNdkwueevy_uNJoC8yp6afXFBeJ-ZTQ5CivBi90D3EyxGXBao2xl-XEyADaUHghdj4zKSudM9SJZB8X7V6mfz6KA6dybMCBH54MO_2UMSKPvVHRI&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare #science
Physicist John Tyndall is often credited w discovering the greenhouse effect, which he wrote about in 1859.
But Eunice Foote published a paper - 3yrs earlier - demonstrating how atmospheric water vapor & CO2 affected solar heating. She theorized that heat trapping gases in Earth’s atmosphere warm its climate.
Tyndall was widely read. And Foote, being a woman, wasn't even permitted to present her own work. http://www.climate.gov/news-features/features/happy-200th-birthday-eunice-foote-hidden-climate-science-pioneer #history #science #ClimateChange
Born in 1910, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin perfected X-ray crystallography, a type of imaging using X-rays to determine a molecule’s three-dimensional structure.
She determined the structures of insulin, penicillin & vitamin B12, leading to tremendous advances in medicine.
Hodgkin was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964. She also advocated for world peace, campaigning against both the Vietnam War & nuclear weapons. https://www.nobelprize.org/womenwhochangedscience/stories/dorothy-hodgkin #HistoryRemix #science #history
The Nobel Prize | Women who changed science | Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
“Captured for life by chemistry and by crystals,” as she described it, Dorothy Hodgkin turned a childhood interest in crystals into the ground-breaking use of X-ray crystallography to “see” the molecules of penicillin, vitamin B12 and insulin.www.nobelprize.org
Disrupting palm oil’s dominance? Scientists develop eco-friendly alternative targeting bakery applications
PALM-ALT is a palm fat replacer that scientists claim can reduce industry’s dependence on #palmOil, which is often linked to #deforestation and for many consumers is considered an ingredient to avoid.
#PalmOilKills
#science #scotland
Disrupting palm oil’s dominance? Scientists develop eco-friendly alternative targeting bakery applications
21 Sep 2023 --- A team of scientists in Scotland have discovered what they are hailing as a high-class alternative to the popular yet controversial palm oil which is abundantly used throughout the F&B industry..foodingredientsfirst.com/
Does it really matter what eggs you buy?
https://youtu.be/jG5RnW_yPCU?si=-RcFONZY5JU4sS9x
Season 4 of Serving Up Science is out today & this episode covers what terminology like "cage-free," "pasture-raised," "organic" & more really means. #food #science
Does it really matter what eggs you buy?
Support Serving Up Science: http://bit.ly/ScienceServe Decode the diverse world of egg labels, from conventional to cage-free, free-range, organic, and pastu...YouTube
