Environmental News

Yasuní National Park is a nifty place which has the very bad luck of sitting on a petroleum deposit. One could say that Ecuadorian government has not done enough to protect it. But better-protected ecological reserves elsewhere do not share this geological blessing/curse.

There is also a mix of legal and illegal gold extraction nearby which adds to the stress, froth, whatever you want to call it.

 

The matter of newly hatched male chickens being put into the grinder (I do not know the exact process) may not be a major concern here. It's 6 or 7 billion per year, but anyway...

It is probable that CRISPR (genetic editing) could be used to make (~all) laid eggs female:

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/using-crispr-for-sex-selection/

And even if the grinder thing does not raise interest, the feed and effort of producing fertile chicken eggs could be made twice as efficient. That might raise interest.

 

Gloom alert - skip this post if you are having a dreary day.












I did not know of this tiger thing before and it is perfectly awful.
Tigers end their days in high-pressure cooker | EurekAlert!

 

A interesting thing being constructed in Australia:

Earth Black Box

Its goal is to store all news and some environmental parameters for potential read back by survivors of a future ecological catastrophe. Which might or might not happen. So, a mix of providing information and laying on some current guilt I guess.

In that light, I suppose they ought to archive PriusChat posts. Just kidding

But seriously, if they presume that current information storage systems will fail, they really ought to be storing humankind's collective knowledge. Whether that features ecological journals is a decision for others to make. To do this thing fully would require a much bigger box.

 

Asteroid 4660 Nereus will pass Earth on Dec 11.

What You Really Need to Know About That Asteroid Flying 'Towards' Earth Next Week

About 10 lunar distances away, in case you don't click. For several reasons it appears to be the most 'mine-able' among asteroids. Which would still require dismissing a lot of relative velocity. Redirecting it for a moon crash may be possible, although not clearly wise. That could (?) happen on a subsequent pass - they are unusually frequent.

 

So many fast-moving rocks incoming! So little praise for all this thing knowing!

(Er Um) so little concern for other rocks coming from the (invisible) sun side. A fella might say we need another satellite looking from L4 or L5.

 

Work towards HIV vaccine

Experimental mRNA HIV vaccine safe, shows promise in animals -- ScienceDaily

mRNA based. Wave of the future.

One of the authors' names is widely known.

 

I dun know what that means @ChapmanF

mRNA vaccines were in development against SARS or MERS (I forgot which) but withered. Against COVID they look pretty sharp, and are rapidly re configurable with sufficient funding. mRNA vaccine-makers will seek to monetize all future responses to all future novel human - heath threats. Doubt that at your own risk.

Because they know how mRNA works, and you don't, and JUST TRY to enter the factories and take some photos.

 

I don't know the record for maximum author count, but @fuzzy1 may have selected it for that reason. Anyway it is amusing that 'multi-messenger' is part of the title.

In my experience the longest authors' lists do not give the worst trouble. That happens when one author is, oh, a particular sort of person, but cannot simply be 'written out'.

 

I just downloaded an ecology article with 729 authors, which may be a record for that publishing field. Did not even have to count them, the journal included it. I think they are proud

If you're curious, it describes a database of plant traits hosted at Max Planck.

 

As you have all probably read, US has had a very severe tornado outbreak. December is not a common month for any such, but this was big.

Appeals for blood and financial donations could be linked by someone closer by.

 

The latest Blue Origin 60-mile ride was actually delayed for a few days until that weather system exited eastward.