Category: Science and Stuff,

Breakthrough Discovery Recycles Plastic From the Inside Out

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

Scientists from Berkeley Lab have made a next-generation plastic that can be recycled again and again into new materials of any color, shape, or form.

Breakthrough Discovery Recycles Plastic From the Inside Out

….A development which does nothing create markets for recycled plastic, increases recycling of plastic, or cleans up the plastic already in our environment.

Just saying.

Jury returns $2 billion verdict against Monsanto for couple with cancer

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

He said the jury was shown a “mountain of evidence showing Monsanto’s manipulation of science, the media and regulatory agencies to forward their own agenda.”

Wisner said Monday that this evidence included emails and text messages between Monsanto and EPA officials.
Jury returns $2 billion verdict against Monsanto for couple with cancer – CNN

hmmmm

Amazon Tribe Wins Lawsuit Against Big Oil, Saving Millions Of Acres Of Rainforest

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, The Americas,Leave a comment

After a long legal battle with a number of organizations, the Waorani people successfully protected half a million acres of their ancestral territory in the Amazon rainforest from being mined for oil drilling by huge oil corporations. The auctioning off of Waorani lands to the oil companies was suspended indefinitely by a three-judge panel of the Pastaza Provincial Court. The panel simply trashed the consultation process the Ecuadorian government had undertaken with the tribe in 2012, which rendered the attempt at land purchase null and void.

This win for the indigenous tribe has now set an invaluable legal precedent for other indigenous nations across the Ecuadorian Amazon. After accepting a Waorani bid for court protection to stop an oil bidding process, the court also halted the potential auctioning off of 16 oil blocks that cover over 7 million acres of indigenous territory.

Amazon Tribe Wins Lawsuit Against Big Oil, Saving Millions Of Acres Of Rainforest | Disclose.tv

nice

CO2 levels in atmosphere higher than any point since evolution of humans

On By peanutgallerynhIn Money, Class, and Poverty,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

According to data from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is over 415 parts per million (ppm), far higher than any point in the last 800,000 years. 

That’s the highest level since homo sapiens came onto the planet, meteorologist Eric Holthaus tweeted, and represents an increase of 15 ppm over just the past three years. 

CO2 levels in atmosphere higher than any point since evolution of humans | abc7chicago.com

agggghhhhhhhhhhhh

 

San Francisco becomes the first US city to BAN government use of facial recognition

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Local Interest,, Privacy,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

San Francisco supervisors approved a ban on police using facial recognition technology, making it the first city in the U.S. with such a restriction.

…Departments will need to get board approval to continue using or acquiring technology.

…The legislation bans municipal use but not personal, business or federal government use of face ID technology.

San Francisco becomes the first US city to BAN government use of facial recognition | Daily Mail Online

hmmm

Bones of mysterious extinct Denosivan human found in the Himalayas

On By peanutgallerynhIn Science and Stuff,, Southern Central Asia,Leave a comment

A 160,000-year-old Denisovan jawbone unearthed in a cave in Xiahe, China, is the oldest hominin fossil ever found in the vast Himalayan region that has an average altitude of 4,500 metres (14,800ft).

…Modern day humans are not thought to have arrived on the Tibetan plateau until around 40,000 years ago.

…Both Denisovans and their sister human sub-species, the Neanderthals, are known to have interbred with the ancestors of people living today. Most intriguingly, modern Sherpas and Tibetans appear to have inherited Denisovan genetic variants that help them cope with high altitudes.

…Their muscles get more mileage out of less oxygen than those of the average person. S

herpas have mitochondria – tiny rod-like power plants in cells – that are extra-efficient at using oxygen.

While their red blood cell count is increased in thin mountain air, it remains below the point at which the blood thickens and strains the heart, causing altitude sickness.

…Sherpas have lived in the Himalayas for at least 6,000 years.

Bones of mysterious extinct Denosivan human found in the Himalayas | Metro News

huh

Crusader skull used to spread disease and slash morale discovered by archaeologists

On By peanutgallerynhIn Middle East,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

Crusader skull used to spread disease and slash morale discovered by archaeologists

Ok, it’s a wild story and all but how do they come up with the theory that the skull was catapulted to spread disease?

How did the archaeologists decide it was used as a projectile in the first place?

How did they rule out the possibility of someone being decapitated during the conflict and either in the chaos of the battle or the following seven centuries the bones were separated from the body?

What is the difference between bodies which “had been disposed of in the pit and burned” and what happened to the bodies of soldiers that died on the battlefield and were buried by their own side?

At least the way it is presented it seems like a lot to get from some 700-or so year old bones.