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September 16, 2024
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2 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree2 CQ
Word of the Day
: September 16, 2024\NEB-yuh-luh\ noun
What It Means
A nebula is a large cloud of interstellar gas or dust. In nontechnical u...
with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day
: September 16, 2024\NEB-yuh-luh\ noun
What It Means
A nebula is a large cloud of interstellar gas or dust. In nontechnical u...
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FREEArt Appreciation Art CurioFree1 CQ
There's nothing like home sweet homestead. With autumn just around the corner, we’re looking forward to changing leaves, apple cider, and pumpkin pies. The piece above, American Homestead, shows a family in 19th century attire in front of their house in the autumn. A man is on a ladder picking apples while a woman and three children are on the grass putting them in a basket. Idyllic scenes like this were the bread and butter of Currier & Ives, a printmaking company based in New York City. Founded in 1835 by lithographer Nathaniel Currier, James Merritt Ives joined later on as lithographer and bookkeeper. Currier & Ives considered themselves publishers of “cheap and popular pictures," and indeed, they produced over 7,500 unique images and over one million prints. They're even mentioned in the popular Christmas song Sleigh Ride, as they were practically synonymous with holiday cards. The company struggled financially in the early 20th century as lithographs fell out of fashion in favor of photography, and shuttered their doors in 1907. They couldn't keep up with the times, even if they could help you remember the good times.
American Homestead, Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) and James Merritt Ives (1824–1895), 1869, Lithograph, hand colored, 8.25 x 12.5 in. (21 x 31.7 cm.), The Cleveland Museum of Art
[Image credit & copyright: Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. S. Prentiss Baldwin on her 94th birthday 1946.448. Public domain, Creative Commons Zero (CC0) designation.There's nothing like home sweet homestead. With autumn just around the corner, we’re looking forward to changing leaves, apple cider, and pumpkin pies. The piece above, American Homestead, shows a family in 19th century attire in front of their house in the autumn. A man is on a ladder picking apples while a woman and three children are on the grass putting them in a basket. Idyllic scenes like this were the bread and butter of Currier & Ives, a printmaking company based in New York City. Founded in 1835 by lithographer Nathaniel Currier, James Merritt Ives joined later on as lithographer and bookkeeper. Currier & Ives considered themselves publishers of “cheap and popular pictures," and indeed, they produced over 7,500 unique images and over one million prints. They're even mentioned in the popular Christmas song Sleigh Ride, as they were practically synonymous with holiday cards. The company struggled financially in the early 20th century as lithographs fell out of fashion in favor of photography, and shuttered their doors in 1907. They couldn't keep up with the times, even if they could help you remember the good times.
American Homestead, Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) and James Merritt Ives (1824–1895), 1869, Lithograph, hand colored, 8.25 x 12.5 in. (21 x 31.7 cm.), The Cleveland Museum of Art
[Image credit & copyright: Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. S. Prentiss Baldwin on her 94th birthday 1946.448. Public domain, Creative Commons Zero (CC0) designation. -
FREEEngineering Daily Curio #2943Free1 CQ
A train that doesn’t pollute? That’s the holy grail of the rail! A new kind of train is debuting in Los Angeles County, California—one that runs on hydrogen and emits nothing more than water vapor. Designed by Stadler, a Switzerland-based company, the train is a zero-emissions multiple unit, or ZEMU. The first of its kind in the U.S., ZEMUs will begin carrying passengers commuting from San Bernandino and Redlands on Metrolink, the region’s rail-based transit system, starting in 2025. As part of Metrolink, commuters will be able to transfer to any of the other trains in the system. What sets ZEMU apart is that it uses a hybrid hydrogen-battery system. Instead of burning hydrogen gas, fuel cells split apart the hydrogen molecules and use the energy generated to charge the train’s batteries. In addition, the train is equipped with a regenerative braking system that charges the batteries. Currently, the trains have three passenger cars and need to refuel just once a day, but there’s a catch. Although the technology to produce “green” hydrogen (hydrogen produced with renewable energy) exists, California doesn’t have the means to manufacture enough of it for the trains. That means that ZEMUs will be relying on hydrogen produced from fossil fuels and will therefore contribute to carbon emissions somewhere along the line. However, the trains can start running on green hydrogen anytime that it becomes available, and there will be no emissions along its route, aside from water vapor. Another advantage of ZEMUs over electric trains is that they don't require any track modifications to carry electricity, meaning that only the trains themselves need to be replaced over time. And while trains that run on overhead lines can run all day without refueling, such systems prevent freight trains from sharing the tracks, which isn’t a problem with ZEMUs. It seems these new trains show rail promise.
[Image description: Train tracks surrounded by trees at sunset. There are power line poles in the distance.] Credit & copyright: Krivec Ales, PexelsA train that doesn’t pollute? That’s the holy grail of the rail! A new kind of train is debuting in Los Angeles County, California—one that runs on hydrogen and emits nothing more than water vapor. Designed by Stadler, a Switzerland-based company, the train is a zero-emissions multiple unit, or ZEMU. The first of its kind in the U.S., ZEMUs will begin carrying passengers commuting from San Bernandino and Redlands on Metrolink, the region’s rail-based transit system, starting in 2025. As part of Metrolink, commuters will be able to transfer to any of the other trains in the system. What sets ZEMU apart is that it uses a hybrid hydrogen-battery system. Instead of burning hydrogen gas, fuel cells split apart the hydrogen molecules and use the energy generated to charge the train’s batteries. In addition, the train is equipped with a regenerative braking system that charges the batteries. Currently, the trains have three passenger cars and need to refuel just once a day, but there’s a catch. Although the technology to produce “green” hydrogen (hydrogen produced with renewable energy) exists, California doesn’t have the means to manufacture enough of it for the trains. That means that ZEMUs will be relying on hydrogen produced from fossil fuels and will therefore contribute to carbon emissions somewhere along the line. However, the trains can start running on green hydrogen anytime that it becomes available, and there will be no emissions along its route, aside from water vapor. Another advantage of ZEMUs over electric trains is that they don't require any track modifications to carry electricity, meaning that only the trains themselves need to be replaced over time. And while trains that run on overhead lines can run all day without refueling, such systems prevent freight trains from sharing the tracks, which isn’t a problem with ZEMUs. It seems these new trains show rail promise.
[Image description: Train tracks surrounded by trees at sunset. There are power line poles in the distance.] Credit & copyright: Krivec Ales, Pexels -
7 minFREEWork Business CurioFree4 CQ
Yesterday, we talked about surveys of farmers, which showed a growing economic pessimism in that sector. Today, survey data from the National Federation of I...
Yesterday, we talked about surveys of farmers, which showed a growing economic pessimism in that sector. Today, survey data from the National Federation of I...
September 15, 2024
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8 minFREEWork Business CurioFree5 CQ
From the BBC World Service: Afghanistan is facing a food crisis. Some 3.2 million children under the age of 5 are malnourished, and health services do not ha...
From the BBC World Service: Afghanistan is facing a food crisis. Some 3.2 million children under the age of 5 are malnourished, and health services do not ha...
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FREEPolitical Science PP&T CurioFree1 CQ
For as much as we hear about voter fraud today (especially during election years) it’s pretty rare in the modern United States; when it happens, it’s usually on a small scale. That wasn’t always the case, though. There was a time when lax regulations made it much easier for large groups to “fix” elections, especially local ones. Yet, it wasn’t Congress or even a state-level lawmaker who took the first step toward stopping such fraud. It was actually a suffragist from small-town Indiana named Stella Courtright Stimson.
Even before she could legally vote, Stimson was heavily involved in local politics in her home town of Terre Haute. In 1909, she was elected to serve on the school board in her town and was part of the Indiana Federation of Clubs, which promoted women’s suffrage. But aside from the greater national issue of the women’s right to vote, Stimson was also concerned with the economic and social development of Terre Haute, where laws were laxly enforced. At the time, Terre Haute had a reputation for being a “wide open city,” meaning that it was unregulated when it came to laws about drinking, gambling, and prostitution. Enabling and profiting from the city’s illicit industries were politicians like city-engineer-turned-mayor Donn Roberts. Roberts first made a name for himself in Terre Haute’s political circles by stuffing ballots and casting illegal votes with packs of men hired for the purpose. On election days, he would go from polling station to polling station to have his men cast fraudulent ballots under pseudonyms. In 1913, Roberts ran for the office of mayor and ensured his own victory using the same tactics. As mayor, Roberts turned a blind eye to the city’s illegal businesses in exchange for bribes.
Stimson was well aware of Roberts’s operation and tried to inform the governor to no avail. Nevertheless, she and other local women gathered at polling stations to hinder Roberts by calling out those who were casting multiple ballots in various disguises or under false identities. They eventually found an ally in Joseph Roach Jr., a special prosecutor appointed to serve in a trial against Roberts in 1914. Although the women had gathered plenty of evidence, Roberts was ultimately acquitted by the jury. Undeterred by the defeat, Roach turned to federal laws and found one based on the Enforcement Act of 1870, which forbade two or more people from conspiring to “injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any citizen in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States.” He then took the issue to U.S. District Attorney Frank C. Dailey, who convinced a federal judge to accept the case.
The trouble was, Dailey couldn’t use any of the evidence that had been used by Roach a second time, so Stimson and the other poll-watchers once again got to work. They found that thousands of fraudulent registrations had been made by Roberts using names of people from other parts of the state which he had tied to random addresses in Terre Haute. In December of 1914, using evidence gathered by Stimson’s volunteers, U.S. Marshals arrested 116 individuals, including Roberts. In United States v. Aczel, all of the defendants were charged with four counts of conspiracy, and 88 of them pled guilty. On March 8, 1915, Roberts and the remaining defendants were found guilty on all charges.
Roberts was sentenced to six years in prison and a fine of $2,000, though he was released early on parole. Although he retained control of the city by proxy via a loyal ally, his greater political ambitions of becoming governor were never realized. Meanwhile, his successful prosecution set an important precedent at the federal level in enforcing election laws, helping to pave the way for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Just a few years after helping to take down Roberts, Stimson and her fellow suffragists won the right to vote with the ratification of the 19th Amendment. She and Roach proved that participation in politics and elections weren’t just a right—they were a matter of dedication and civic duty.
[Image description: The Indiana state flag, which is dark blue with stars surrounding a torch and the word “INDIANA.”] Credit & copyright: HoosierMan1816, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.For as much as we hear about voter fraud today (especially during election years) it’s pretty rare in the modern United States; when it happens, it’s usually on a small scale. That wasn’t always the case, though. There was a time when lax regulations made it much easier for large groups to “fix” elections, especially local ones. Yet, it wasn’t Congress or even a state-level lawmaker who took the first step toward stopping such fraud. It was actually a suffragist from small-town Indiana named Stella Courtright Stimson.
Even before she could legally vote, Stimson was heavily involved in local politics in her home town of Terre Haute. In 1909, she was elected to serve on the school board in her town and was part of the Indiana Federation of Clubs, which promoted women’s suffrage. But aside from the greater national issue of the women’s right to vote, Stimson was also concerned with the economic and social development of Terre Haute, where laws were laxly enforced. At the time, Terre Haute had a reputation for being a “wide open city,” meaning that it was unregulated when it came to laws about drinking, gambling, and prostitution. Enabling and profiting from the city’s illicit industries were politicians like city-engineer-turned-mayor Donn Roberts. Roberts first made a name for himself in Terre Haute’s political circles by stuffing ballots and casting illegal votes with packs of men hired for the purpose. On election days, he would go from polling station to polling station to have his men cast fraudulent ballots under pseudonyms. In 1913, Roberts ran for the office of mayor and ensured his own victory using the same tactics. As mayor, Roberts turned a blind eye to the city’s illegal businesses in exchange for bribes.
Stimson was well aware of Roberts’s operation and tried to inform the governor to no avail. Nevertheless, she and other local women gathered at polling stations to hinder Roberts by calling out those who were casting multiple ballots in various disguises or under false identities. They eventually found an ally in Joseph Roach Jr., a special prosecutor appointed to serve in a trial against Roberts in 1914. Although the women had gathered plenty of evidence, Roberts was ultimately acquitted by the jury. Undeterred by the defeat, Roach turned to federal laws and found one based on the Enforcement Act of 1870, which forbade two or more people from conspiring to “injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any citizen in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States.” He then took the issue to U.S. District Attorney Frank C. Dailey, who convinced a federal judge to accept the case.
The trouble was, Dailey couldn’t use any of the evidence that had been used by Roach a second time, so Stimson and the other poll-watchers once again got to work. They found that thousands of fraudulent registrations had been made by Roberts using names of people from other parts of the state which he had tied to random addresses in Terre Haute. In December of 1914, using evidence gathered by Stimson’s volunteers, U.S. Marshals arrested 116 individuals, including Roberts. In United States v. Aczel, all of the defendants were charged with four counts of conspiracy, and 88 of them pled guilty. On March 8, 1915, Roberts and the remaining defendants were found guilty on all charges.
Roberts was sentenced to six years in prison and a fine of $2,000, though he was released early on parole. Although he retained control of the city by proxy via a loyal ally, his greater political ambitions of becoming governor were never realized. Meanwhile, his successful prosecution set an important precedent at the federal level in enforcing election laws, helping to pave the way for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Just a few years after helping to take down Roberts, Stimson and her fellow suffragists won the right to vote with the ratification of the 19th Amendment. She and Roach proved that participation in politics and elections weren’t just a right—they were a matter of dedication and civic duty.
[Image description: The Indiana state flag, which is dark blue with stars surrounding a torch and the word “INDIANA.”] Credit & copyright: HoosierMan1816, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
September 14, 2024
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2 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree2 CQ
Word of the Day
: September 14, 2024\SUCK-er\ noun
What It Means
Succor is a literary term meaning "something that you do or give to help som...
with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day
: September 14, 2024\SUCK-er\ noun
What It Means
Succor is a literary term meaning "something that you do or give to help som...
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7 minFREEWork Business CurioFree4 CQ
Purdue’s Farmer Sentiment Index hit an 8-year low in August, and half of agricultural economists surveyed by the University of Missouri last month say the fa...
Purdue’s Farmer Sentiment Index hit an 8-year low in August, and half of agricultural economists surveyed by the University of Missouri last month say the fa...
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FREERunning Sporty CurioFree1 CQ
Is there anything more frustrating than losing on a technicality? Spanish Paralympian Elena Congost was stripped of her bronze for the T12 marathon after she momentarily let go of her tether to help her guide. Runners like Congost with a visual impairment of T12 (visual acuity restricted to less than five degrees or one meter) are required to run with a guide, and keeping them connected is a short tether that both participants are required to hold onto for the entire duration of the race. But just 10 meters away from the finish line, Congost’s guide, Mia Carol Bruguera, began struggling to stay upright due to cramps. Congost says she instinctively let go of her end of the tether for just a second to keep Bruguera from falling, and then went on to finish the race to what she believed would be a bronze medal. Unfortunately, she was disqualified by officials for the technicality, and the bronze medal went to Misato Michishita of Japan instead. Speaking to Spanish newspaper Marca, Congost said, “I would like everyone to know that I have not been disqualified for cheating, but rather I have been disqualified for being human and for an instinct that comes to you when someone is falling and to help or support them.” Medal or not, it’s clear that Congost has a heart of gold.
[Image description: An empty track-and-field race track with lanes marked 1-4 visible.] Credit & copyright: Lukas Hartmann, Pexels.
Is there anything more frustrating than losing on a technicality? Spanish Paralympian Elena Congost was stripped of her bronze for the T12 marathon after she momentarily let go of her tether to help her guide. Runners like Congost with a visual impairment of T12 (visual acuity restricted to less than five degrees or one meter) are required to run with a guide, and keeping them connected is a short tether that both participants are required to hold onto for the entire duration of the race. But just 10 meters away from the finish line, Congost’s guide, Mia Carol Bruguera, began struggling to stay upright due to cramps. Congost says she instinctively let go of her end of the tether for just a second to keep Bruguera from falling, and then went on to finish the race to what she believed would be a bronze medal. Unfortunately, she was disqualified by officials for the technicality, and the bronze medal went to Misato Michishita of Japan instead. Speaking to Spanish newspaper Marca, Congost said, “I would like everyone to know that I have not been disqualified for cheating, but rather I have been disqualified for being human and for an instinct that comes to you when someone is falling and to help or support them.” Medal or not, it’s clear that Congost has a heart of gold.
[Image description: An empty track-and-field race track with lanes marked 1-4 visible.] Credit & copyright: Lukas Hartmann, Pexels.
September 13, 2024
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8 minFREEWork Business CurioFree5 CQ
From the BBC World Service: Boeing factory workers have voted to go on strike, a move which may threaten the delivery of some aircrafts and delay the product...
From the BBC World Service: Boeing factory workers have voted to go on strike, a move which may threaten the delivery of some aircrafts and delay the product...
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FREEMind + Body Daily CurioFree1 CQ
Some would say they’re the most important part of a campout, but where did they come from? It’s officially s’more season, and while these ooey, gooey treats are ubiquitous in both the U.S. and the U.K., their origin is surprisingly mysterious.
A s’more is a campfire treat made by sandwiching a toasted marshmallow and a piece of chocolate between graham crackers. Since s’mores are so easy to make, it’s equally easy to change their flavor simply by cooking the marshmallow longer, which adds smokiness, or simply by using different types of chocolate (dark chocolate, for example, is more bitter and doesn’t melt as easily as traditionally-used milk chocolate). The word “s’more” comes from a combination of the words “some” and “more”, and dates back to the 1930s.
S’mores individual ingredients were invented at wildly different times. Chocolate, for example, has been around for most of human history, while the roots of the marshmallow plant were used for medicinal purposes long before they gave rise to marshmallows. Graham crackers, on the other hand, have only been around since 1829, when they were created by Reverend Sylvester Graham. The mystery lies in how and when these ingredients first came together to create s’mores. While the first known s’more recipe comes from a 1920s campfire cookbook, the recipe itself states that such “graham cracker sandwiches” were already popular with scouting groups, like Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Does this mean that one of these scouting groups invented s’mores? It’s likely, but we’ll never know for sure. What we do know is that Girl Scouts helped give s’mores their modern name. A 1927 Girl Scout cookbook called them “some mores”, which must have caught on since the first written instance of the word “s’mores” appeared not long after, in 1938. It seems that cookies aren’t the only iconic snacks we have to thank Girl Scouts for.
[Image description: A s’mores against a white background.] Credit & copyright: Evan-Amos, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.Some would say they’re the most important part of a campout, but where did they come from? It’s officially s’more season, and while these ooey, gooey treats are ubiquitous in both the U.S. and the U.K., their origin is surprisingly mysterious.
A s’more is a campfire treat made by sandwiching a toasted marshmallow and a piece of chocolate between graham crackers. Since s’mores are so easy to make, it’s equally easy to change their flavor simply by cooking the marshmallow longer, which adds smokiness, or simply by using different types of chocolate (dark chocolate, for example, is more bitter and doesn’t melt as easily as traditionally-used milk chocolate). The word “s’more” comes from a combination of the words “some” and “more”, and dates back to the 1930s.
S’mores individual ingredients were invented at wildly different times. Chocolate, for example, has been around for most of human history, while the roots of the marshmallow plant were used for medicinal purposes long before they gave rise to marshmallows. Graham crackers, on the other hand, have only been around since 1829, when they were created by Reverend Sylvester Graham. The mystery lies in how and when these ingredients first came together to create s’mores. While the first known s’more recipe comes from a 1920s campfire cookbook, the recipe itself states that such “graham cracker sandwiches” were already popular with scouting groups, like Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Does this mean that one of these scouting groups invented s’mores? It’s likely, but we’ll never know for sure. What we do know is that Girl Scouts helped give s’mores their modern name. A 1927 Girl Scout cookbook called them “some mores”, which must have caught on since the first written instance of the word “s’mores” appeared not long after, in 1938. It seems that cookies aren’t the only iconic snacks we have to thank Girl Scouts for.
[Image description: A s’mores against a white background.] Credit & copyright: Evan-Amos, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
September 12, 2024
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8 minFREEWork Business CurioFree5 CQ
From the BBC World Service: A European consumer rights group has lodged a formal complaint accusing game developers behind popular titles like Fortnite and M...
From the BBC World Service: A European consumer rights group has lodged a formal complaint accusing game developers behind popular titles like Fortnite and M...
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2 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree2 CQ
Word of the Day
: September 12, 2024\FRAT-er-nyze\ verb
What It Means
To fraternize with someone is to be friendly with them or to spend time...
with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day
: September 12, 2024\FRAT-er-nyze\ verb
What It Means
To fraternize with someone is to be friendly with them or to spend time...
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FREEScience Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
Bat deaths are an ecological disaster; infant deaths are tragedies. But how can these two things be related? A researcher at the University of Chicago recently published a paper in Science linking the continuing decline of the bat population in New England to a rise in infant mortality rates in the region. It sounds almost like a non sequitur, but environmental economist Eyal Frank, the author of the paper, believes there’s a compelling link. For decades, bat colonies have been succumbing en masse to a deadly fungal disease called white nose syndrome. Since bats can consume about 40 percent of their own body per night in insects, their presence serves as a natural form of pest control. However, with lower bat populations, farmers in areas affected by white nose syndrome have been using 31 percent more pesticides on average to compensate. Frank found that these areas also began to see an increase in the infant mortality rate by eight percent, or about 1,300 deaths so far. While the numbers have a correlation (a statistical relationship) to each other, it doesn’t yet prove causation (that one event caused the other).
According to Tracey Woodruff, an environmental health scientist at the University of California San Francisco who was not involved with the study, there are a number of other factors that may have led to the increase in infant mortality, such as air pollution. Also, Frank’s paper didn’t find a correlation between the pesticide use and birth weight, which is often correlated with infant mortality. On the other hand, Frank has factored in issues like opioid use, unemployment, and GMOs, and found nothing else that could explain the rise in infant deaths. They say that numbers don’t lie, but this is one instance where you’d almost hope they do.[Image description: A little brown bat hanging upside down, with white fungus growing on its nose and mouth.] Credit & copyright: Marvin Moriarty/USFWS, Wikimedia Commons. This image or recording is the work of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.
Bat deaths are an ecological disaster; infant deaths are tragedies. But how can these two things be related? A researcher at the University of Chicago recently published a paper in Science linking the continuing decline of the bat population in New England to a rise in infant mortality rates in the region. It sounds almost like a non sequitur, but environmental economist Eyal Frank, the author of the paper, believes there’s a compelling link. For decades, bat colonies have been succumbing en masse to a deadly fungal disease called white nose syndrome. Since bats can consume about 40 percent of their own body per night in insects, their presence serves as a natural form of pest control. However, with lower bat populations, farmers in areas affected by white nose syndrome have been using 31 percent more pesticides on average to compensate. Frank found that these areas also began to see an increase in the infant mortality rate by eight percent, or about 1,300 deaths so far. While the numbers have a correlation (a statistical relationship) to each other, it doesn’t yet prove causation (that one event caused the other).
According to Tracey Woodruff, an environmental health scientist at the University of California San Francisco who was not involved with the study, there are a number of other factors that may have led to the increase in infant mortality, such as air pollution. Also, Frank’s paper didn’t find a correlation between the pesticide use and birth weight, which is often correlated with infant mortality. On the other hand, Frank has factored in issues like opioid use, unemployment, and GMOs, and found nothing else that could explain the rise in infant deaths. They say that numbers don’t lie, but this is one instance where you’d almost hope they do.[Image description: A little brown bat hanging upside down, with white fungus growing on its nose and mouth.] Credit & copyright: Marvin Moriarty/USFWS, Wikimedia Commons. This image or recording is the work of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.
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FREEPhysics Daily Curio #2942Free1 CQ
Dye is used to make things colorful, not see-through. Yet, researchers at Stanford University have found that a certain dye used in snack foods can make the skin of mice translucent. As horrifying as that sounds at first, it might actually be a good thing. Tartrazine, also known as Yellow Dye #5, is used in many processed foods to lend them an appetizing yellow tone. It’s also used in everything from cosmetics to medications to make them look distinct. But this seemingly innocuous yellow powder has been hiding a secret: when mixed with water, it can make skin translucent. Researchers initially tested the dye mixture on mice tissue samples and chicken breasts before moving on to live mice. When applied on the skin of live mice, the dye allowed researchers to see the deeper layers of skin, muscles, and even connective tissue. Once the dye is washed off, the skin returns to normal, and any dye that was systemically absorbed is apparently excreted harmlessly through the urine.
The science behind this mind-bending effect is actually pretty simple. The dye is simply good at absorbing blue and ultraviolet light, allowing more light to pass through skin. Of course, researchers aren’t just interested in looking at mice innards for fun. They hope that the dye might one day be used to perform noninvasive exams for conditions under the skin, but there are obstacles to making that happen. For one, human skin is around ten times thicker than that of mice, and it’s not known whether the amount of dye needed to recreate the translucent effect in humans would be as safe. Second, it’s not clear what the best route for administration would even be. If it is used for medical purposes, the good news is that tartrazine is cheap and already widely produced. At the same time, researchers are still planning to look for other substances that can do the same thing. According to one of the Zihao Ou, one of the researchers working with Yellow Dye #5, even if the dye can’t be used on live subjects, it can be used with microscopes and tissue samples. In a statement from the university, Ou said, “It will completely revolutionize existing optical research in biology.” You can really see the possibilities.
[Image description: A close-up photo of a brown mouse’s face.] Credit & copyright: kcthetc1, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.Dye is used to make things colorful, not see-through. Yet, researchers at Stanford University have found that a certain dye used in snack foods can make the skin of mice translucent. As horrifying as that sounds at first, it might actually be a good thing. Tartrazine, also known as Yellow Dye #5, is used in many processed foods to lend them an appetizing yellow tone. It’s also used in everything from cosmetics to medications to make them look distinct. But this seemingly innocuous yellow powder has been hiding a secret: when mixed with water, it can make skin translucent. Researchers initially tested the dye mixture on mice tissue samples and chicken breasts before moving on to live mice. When applied on the skin of live mice, the dye allowed researchers to see the deeper layers of skin, muscles, and even connective tissue. Once the dye is washed off, the skin returns to normal, and any dye that was systemically absorbed is apparently excreted harmlessly through the urine.
The science behind this mind-bending effect is actually pretty simple. The dye is simply good at absorbing blue and ultraviolet light, allowing more light to pass through skin. Of course, researchers aren’t just interested in looking at mice innards for fun. They hope that the dye might one day be used to perform noninvasive exams for conditions under the skin, but there are obstacles to making that happen. For one, human skin is around ten times thicker than that of mice, and it’s not known whether the amount of dye needed to recreate the translucent effect in humans would be as safe. Second, it’s not clear what the best route for administration would even be. If it is used for medical purposes, the good news is that tartrazine is cheap and already widely produced. At the same time, researchers are still planning to look for other substances that can do the same thing. According to one of the Zihao Ou, one of the researchers working with Yellow Dye #5, even if the dye can’t be used on live subjects, it can be used with microscopes and tissue samples. In a statement from the university, Ou said, “It will completely revolutionize existing optical research in biology.” You can really see the possibilities.
[Image description: A close-up photo of a brown mouse’s face.] Credit & copyright: kcthetc1, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
September 11, 2024
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8 minFREEWork Business CurioFree5 CQ
From the BBC World Service: Like the U.S., the European Union recently slapped import duties on Chinese electric vehicles. It says it’s protecting European a...
From the BBC World Service: Like the U.S., the European Union recently slapped import duties on Chinese electric vehicles. It says it’s protecting European a...
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2 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree2 CQ
Word of the Day
: September 11, 2024\CHAH-kuh-blahk\ adjective
What It Means
Something described as chockablock is very full or tightly packe...
with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day
: September 11, 2024\CHAH-kuh-blahk\ adjective
What It Means
Something described as chockablock is very full or tightly packe...
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FREEEngineering Daily Curio #2941Free1 CQ
Fungus-powered robots might not sound that cool at first, but they’ll grow on you. Scientists have found a way to use live fungi to drive small, robotic machines called “biohybrid” robots. This type of machine could represent a big leap forward for robotic engineering. After all, biology has already figured out how to detect and send a variety of stimuli through self-replicating cellular structures, whereas today’s robots still rely on things as crude as circuit boards and copper wires. Scientists at Cornell University decided to switch things up by building a biohybrid robot that uses mycelium (the root-like parts of fungus) to control its movements.
Previously, biohybrid robots have been made using cells and parts from vertebrates, insects, and even sea slugs, but the Cornell team is the first to use fungus. For their robot, they grew mycelium directly on an electrical interface which converts electrophysiological activity from the fungus into signals that are sent to actuators. That’s not too far off from what fungus already does in nature, where expansive mycelium networks intertwined with root systems can transport nutrients between plants and communicate using chemical signals. So far, they’ve made a robot with wheels and another with legs. Both versions are quite capable of moving around based on the mycelium’s responses to stimuli. For now, the researchers are experimenting with using light to control the movement of the robots, but they are planning to use chemical signals in the future. Since mycelium are already capable of responding to different stimuli, there’s no need to have different sensors for light, chemicals, and pressure; the fungus acts as an all-in-one sensor unit. In the future, scientists believe that this technology could be used to create mostly autonomous robots, with applications in fields like agriculture, where they could freely roam about to dispense fertilizer or pesticides based on the chemical composition of the soil. Fungal farmers? Funny, but feasible!
[Image description: A cluster of white oyster mushrooms surrounded by grass.] Credit & copyright: Teknad, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.Fungus-powered robots might not sound that cool at first, but they’ll grow on you. Scientists have found a way to use live fungi to drive small, robotic machines called “biohybrid” robots. This type of machine could represent a big leap forward for robotic engineering. After all, biology has already figured out how to detect and send a variety of stimuli through self-replicating cellular structures, whereas today’s robots still rely on things as crude as circuit boards and copper wires. Scientists at Cornell University decided to switch things up by building a biohybrid robot that uses mycelium (the root-like parts of fungus) to control its movements.
Previously, biohybrid robots have been made using cells and parts from vertebrates, insects, and even sea slugs, but the Cornell team is the first to use fungus. For their robot, they grew mycelium directly on an electrical interface which converts electrophysiological activity from the fungus into signals that are sent to actuators. That’s not too far off from what fungus already does in nature, where expansive mycelium networks intertwined with root systems can transport nutrients between plants and communicate using chemical signals. So far, they’ve made a robot with wheels and another with legs. Both versions are quite capable of moving around based on the mycelium’s responses to stimuli. For now, the researchers are experimenting with using light to control the movement of the robots, but they are planning to use chemical signals in the future. Since mycelium are already capable of responding to different stimuli, there’s no need to have different sensors for light, chemicals, and pressure; the fungus acts as an all-in-one sensor unit. In the future, scientists believe that this technology could be used to create mostly autonomous robots, with applications in fields like agriculture, where they could freely roam about to dispense fertilizer or pesticides based on the chemical composition of the soil. Fungal farmers? Funny, but feasible!
[Image description: A cluster of white oyster mushrooms surrounded by grass.] Credit & copyright: Teknad, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. -
FREEBiology Nerdy CurioFree1 CQ
Do dinosaurs still walk among us? It may sound like a question for bigfoot hunters and Nessie enthusiasts, but scientifically speaking, the answer is (sort of) yes. Birds, after all, are direct, living descendants of dinosaurs, and no bird illustrates this fact more plainly than the cassowary. These massive, flightless birds, with their head crests and bright coloring, look like something straight out of Jurassic Park. Rather than running from them in terror, though, people all over the world are doing their best to save this endangered creature. In fact, a bird park in England’s Cotswolds region, called Birdland, recently made international headlines when a cassowary chick was born there. Cassowaries rarely breed in captivity—in fact, it took 25 years for a chick to be born at Birdland, and it’s only the fourth cassowary to ever be hatched in Europe. It goes to show the importance of saving cassowaries’ native habitat, the rainforests of Australia, New Guinea, and their surrounding islands.
Cassowaries are the third largest birds in the world, standing up to six feet tall and weighing as much as 175 pounds. Their bodies and wings are covered in shaggy, black feathers, while distinctive, bright blue heads and necks are bare. Both males and females have head crests, known as casques, which are thought to help them shed excess heat. While cassowaries’ ancient ancestors were velociraptor-like dinosaurs, around 60 million years ago these evolved into birds in the order Struthioniformes, the only living member of which is the ostrich. It was just 10 million years ago that cassowaries broke away from the Struthioniformes order and began changing into the colorful birds they are today. The three living species of cassowary are now members of the order Casuariiformes, along with emus.
Despite their fearful appearance, strong legs, and wickedly sharp talons, cassowaries primarily eat fruit, including black palm berries and figs. While cassowaries are omnivores and do hunt, their prey consists mostly of small rodents and reptiles. While cassowary breeding habits remain somewhat mysterious, they are typically thought to mate between June and October. They lay clutches of three to five eggs, which hatch into fuzzy, yellow-and-brown-striped chicks. The chicks may look drab compared to adult cassowaries, but they do hatch from bright green eggs. It seems these birds can’t help but live colorful lives, right from the beginning.
[Image description: A cassowary standing in thick, green brush. It is a large, flightless bird with a blue neck and head, a black body, and a brown head crest.] Credit & copyright: Dave Kimble, Wikimedia Commons. The copyright holder of this work has released this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide.Do dinosaurs still walk among us? It may sound like a question for bigfoot hunters and Nessie enthusiasts, but scientifically speaking, the answer is (sort of) yes. Birds, after all, are direct, living descendants of dinosaurs, and no bird illustrates this fact more plainly than the cassowary. These massive, flightless birds, with their head crests and bright coloring, look like something straight out of Jurassic Park. Rather than running from them in terror, though, people all over the world are doing their best to save this endangered creature. In fact, a bird park in England’s Cotswolds region, called Birdland, recently made international headlines when a cassowary chick was born there. Cassowaries rarely breed in captivity—in fact, it took 25 years for a chick to be born at Birdland, and it’s only the fourth cassowary to ever be hatched in Europe. It goes to show the importance of saving cassowaries’ native habitat, the rainforests of Australia, New Guinea, and their surrounding islands.
Cassowaries are the third largest birds in the world, standing up to six feet tall and weighing as much as 175 pounds. Their bodies and wings are covered in shaggy, black feathers, while distinctive, bright blue heads and necks are bare. Both males and females have head crests, known as casques, which are thought to help them shed excess heat. While cassowaries’ ancient ancestors were velociraptor-like dinosaurs, around 60 million years ago these evolved into birds in the order Struthioniformes, the only living member of which is the ostrich. It was just 10 million years ago that cassowaries broke away from the Struthioniformes order and began changing into the colorful birds they are today. The three living species of cassowary are now members of the order Casuariiformes, along with emus.
Despite their fearful appearance, strong legs, and wickedly sharp talons, cassowaries primarily eat fruit, including black palm berries and figs. While cassowaries are omnivores and do hunt, their prey consists mostly of small rodents and reptiles. While cassowary breeding habits remain somewhat mysterious, they are typically thought to mate between June and October. They lay clutches of three to five eggs, which hatch into fuzzy, yellow-and-brown-striped chicks. The chicks may look drab compared to adult cassowaries, but they do hatch from bright green eggs. It seems these birds can’t help but live colorful lives, right from the beginning.
[Image description: A cassowary standing in thick, green brush. It is a large, flightless bird with a blue neck and head, a black body, and a brown head crest.] Credit & copyright: Dave Kimble, Wikimedia Commons. The copyright holder of this work has released this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide.
September 10, 2024
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8 minFREEWork Business CurioFree5 CQ
The restaurant industry has been through a lot in recent years — hemorrhaging workers during the pandemic and struggling to bring them back; grappling with i...
The restaurant industry has been through a lot in recent years — hemorrhaging workers during the pandemic and struggling to bring them back; grappling with i...
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2 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree2 CQ
Word of the Day
: September 10, 2024\EE-thahss\ noun
What It Means
Ethos refers to the guiding beliefs of a person, group, or organization.
...
with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day
: September 10, 2024\EE-thahss\ noun
What It Means
Ethos refers to the guiding beliefs of a person, group, or organization.
...
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FREEScience Daily Curio #2940Free1 CQ
Oof, that must have hurt! Our solar system’s many moons and planets have, throughout their long history, dealt with plenty of asteroid impacts. These destructive collisions left many scars still visible today, but scientists at Kobe University in Japan have found one case that stands out from the rest. Jupiter is no stranger to asteroid impacts, as its immense gravity attracts drifting space rocks. But when Jupiter casts its gravitational net, not all of the asteroids reach the planet’s surface. Instead, they often collide with one of Jupiter’s many moons, like Ganymede. The largest of Jupiter’s moons, Ganymede bears innumerable craters on its surface from eons of such asteroid impacts, but there’s one that left more than just a scar. The largest crater visible on its surface features a circular furrow that seems to spread out from a single point—the site of impact. This four-billion-year-old crater is so large that much of its visible detail has been obscured by a smattering of smaller craters from other asteroids. Naoyuki Hirata, a planetologist at Kobe University, knew that whatever left the crater must have been massive.
Figuring out exactly how massive was tricky. One of the clues to the size of the asteroid was the location of the crater that the furrow system emanates from, almost directly on the other side of the tidally-locked moon. That, along with the angle of impact, indicates that the asteroid was large enough to shift the rotational axis of the moon significantly, enough that the impact site, which faced Jupiter, now faced away. It’s not an event without precedent, as discoveries made through the New Horizons space probe indicate that Pluto once experienced something similar. Hirata estimates that the Ganymede asteroid must have been around 186 miles wide, or 20 times larger than the asteroid that created the Chicxulub crater 66 million years ago on Earth. That asteroid famously caused the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs. If the Ganymede asteroid had hit the Earth, it’s safe to say we’d be missing a lot more than dinosaurs.
[Image description: A dark night sky with stars visible.] Credit & copyright: Kai Pilger, PexelsOof, that must have hurt! Our solar system’s many moons and planets have, throughout their long history, dealt with plenty of asteroid impacts. These destructive collisions left many scars still visible today, but scientists at Kobe University in Japan have found one case that stands out from the rest. Jupiter is no stranger to asteroid impacts, as its immense gravity attracts drifting space rocks. But when Jupiter casts its gravitational net, not all of the asteroids reach the planet’s surface. Instead, they often collide with one of Jupiter’s many moons, like Ganymede. The largest of Jupiter’s moons, Ganymede bears innumerable craters on its surface from eons of such asteroid impacts, but there’s one that left more than just a scar. The largest crater visible on its surface features a circular furrow that seems to spread out from a single point—the site of impact. This four-billion-year-old crater is so large that much of its visible detail has been obscured by a smattering of smaller craters from other asteroids. Naoyuki Hirata, a planetologist at Kobe University, knew that whatever left the crater must have been massive.
Figuring out exactly how massive was tricky. One of the clues to the size of the asteroid was the location of the crater that the furrow system emanates from, almost directly on the other side of the tidally-locked moon. That, along with the angle of impact, indicates that the asteroid was large enough to shift the rotational axis of the moon significantly, enough that the impact site, which faced Jupiter, now faced away. It’s not an event without precedent, as discoveries made through the New Horizons space probe indicate that Pluto once experienced something similar. Hirata estimates that the Ganymede asteroid must have been around 186 miles wide, or 20 times larger than the asteroid that created the Chicxulub crater 66 million years ago on Earth. That asteroid famously caused the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs. If the Ganymede asteroid had hit the Earth, it’s safe to say we’d be missing a lot more than dinosaurs.
[Image description: A dark night sky with stars visible.] Credit & copyright: Kai Pilger, Pexels -
FREEMusic Appreciation Song CurioFree2 CQ
Jeremiah might be a bullfrog…but who is he? That question is still asked by fans of American rock band Three Dog Night, whose co-lead vocalist, Danny Hutton, was born on this day in 1942. The band’s best-remembered hit, 1970’s Joy to the World, features cryptic lyrics, opening with the shouted declaration, “Jeremiah was a bullfrog!” The song’s overall messaging is clear: the upbeat rock romp is about humans and animals coming together in peace and—yes—joy. Yet, even those closest to the song have different stories for how its famous opening line came to be. Chuck Negron, another of the band’s vocalists, told Goldmine that Jeremiah was a frog character in the kid’s TV special for which the song was originally written. Joy to the World was, indeed, written for an unaired children’s program. Yet, according to the song’s writer, Hoyt Axton, Jeremiah wasn’t actually a bullfrog. He told Oregon News-Review that the lyrics were meant to be placeholders. “It was meaningless. It was a temporary lyric. Before I could rewrite it, they cut it and it was a hit,” he said. Meaningful or not, there’s no doubt that Jeremiah remains one of the most famous figures—er—frogs in rock history.
Jeremiah might be a bullfrog…but who is he? That question is still asked by fans of American rock band Three Dog Night, whose co-lead vocalist, Danny Hutton, was born on this day in 1942. The band’s best-remembered hit, 1970’s Joy to the World, features cryptic lyrics, opening with the shouted declaration, “Jeremiah was a bullfrog!” The song’s overall messaging is clear: the upbeat rock romp is about humans and animals coming together in peace and—yes—joy. Yet, even those closest to the song have different stories for how its famous opening line came to be. Chuck Negron, another of the band’s vocalists, told Goldmine that Jeremiah was a frog character in the kid’s TV special for which the song was originally written. Joy to the World was, indeed, written for an unaired children’s program. Yet, according to the song’s writer, Hoyt Axton, Jeremiah wasn’t actually a bullfrog. He told Oregon News-Review that the lyrics were meant to be placeholders. “It was meaningless. It was a temporary lyric. Before I could rewrite it, they cut it and it was a hit,” he said. Meaningful or not, there’s no doubt that Jeremiah remains one of the most famous figures—er—frogs in rock history.