Flashing Palely in the Margins
Things I learned these past few months
Below, a quick roundup of a few of the things I learned over the past few months.
There could be billions more people living on Earth than currently thought, according to a new study which claims rural figures worldwide could be vastly underestimated. (The Independent)
Women tend to outlive men around the world. In 2021, this difference amounted to a 5-year gap in global life expectancy: the average life expectancy was 73.8 years for women versus 68.4 years for men. (Our World In Data)
Researcher Thomas Vilgis, as well as researchers from Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research and the University of Southern Denmark, have created a process to replicate foie gras without force-feeding, using the bird’s own lipases. (Physics of Fluids)
A major review of over 67,000 animal species by the University of Cambridge has found that targeted conservation measures like habitat protection, captive breeding and reintroductions are successfully restoring populations of endangered animals. (Phys.org)
Renewables accounted for 93% of new power capacity and reached 46% of global generating capacity last year. (IEA)
In a world-first trial, two of four paralyzed men regained significant mobility after receiving injections of neural stem cells. (Nature)
Blocking mobile internet on smartphones improves sustained attention, mental health, and subjective well-being. (PNAS Nexus)
Researchers successfully made miso on the International Space Station (ISS) and found that the miso smelled and tasted similar to miso fermented on Earth — just with a slightly nuttier, more roasted flavor. The team hopes this research will help broaden the culinary options available to astronauts, improving the quality of life for long-term space travelers. (iScience)
A new analysis of a vaccination program in Wales found that the shingles vaccine appeared to lower new dementia diagnoses by 20% — more than any other known intervention. (Stanford)
McMaster researchers have identified lariocidin, the first new class of antibiotics in nearly three decades, effective against drug-resistant bacteria. (Phys.org)
Since 2000, the global under-five mortality rate has fallen by 52 per cent, reflecting decades of investment and collaboration by governments, communities and partners. (UNICEF)
The world used clean power to meet more than 40% of its electricity demand last year. (Guardian)
A rare and large summertime phytoplankton bloom in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre in the summer of 2018 was prompted by ash from Kilauea falling on the ocean surface approximately 1,200 miles west of the volcano. (UHawaii)
Forbes’ 39th annual billionaires list revealed that there are now 3,028 billionaires around the world, with a staggering estimated collective wealth of $16.1 trillion. (Forbes)
A strain of flu appears to have disappeared from Earth. No confirmed cases of B Yamagata have been reported worldwide in the last five years, with experts attributing this to COVID-19 measures like social distancing and travel restrictions that likely caused the virus to die out. (Our World in Data)
Bricks haven’t gotten cheaper since [the mid-19th century, despite massive improvements in brickmaking technology. (Construction Physics)
Storms and flooding across Europe last year affected a total of 413,000 people, led to the loss of at least 335 lives and are estimated to have cost at least €18 billion in damages. Last year was the hottest year on record for Europe, with record-high annual temperatures in almost half of the continent. (Euronews)
Around 40 million acres of lawn, an area almost as large as the state of Georgia, carpets the United States. Lawn grass occupies more area than corn. (NOEMA)
People who are given a vaccine for shingles have a 23% lower risk of cardiovascular events, including stroke, heart failure, and coronary heart disease. (European Society of Cardiology)
Your fingers wrinkle in the same pattern every time you’re in the water for too long. (Binghamton)
Scientists have turned lead into gold using the Large Hadron Collider. The ALICE scientists calculate that, while they are colliding beams of lead nuclei, they produce about 89,000 gold nuclei per second — by accident. (The Conversation)
By 2027, almost all new homes in England will be legally required to have solar panels installed during construction, under new government plans. (Guardian)
Clownfish have been shown to shrink in order to survive heat stress and avoid social conflict (Newcastle University)
Since 2015, the African Development Bank has facilitated access to drinking water and sanitation for 96.2 million people, largely through the African Water Facility accelerator fund. The fund has improved access to sanitation for 11.3 million people, provided drinking water for 23.2 million, equipped two million hectares for irrigation, and will undertake at least 14 new projects in 2025. (African Development Bank)
The semicolon seems to be in terminal decline, with its usage in English books plummeting by almost half in two decades — from one appearing in every 205 words in 2000 to one use in every 390 words today. (Guardian)
The use and prevalence of hummingbird feeders has changed the size and shape of the Anna’s hummingbird’s beaks: bills get longer and they become more slender, and that helps to have a larger tongue inside that can get more nectar from the feeder at a time. The range of the hummingbird also spread from the southern part of California all the way up the West coast into Canada. (NPR)
People who have been taking antidepressants for more than two years are substantially more likely to experience withdrawal symptoms compared to short-term users when they come off the medication. (UCL)
Ibn al-Shatir was the first astronomer to have successfully challenged the Ptolemaic cosmological system of planets revolving around Earth and corrected the theory’s inaccuracies about two centuries before Copernicus. (Medievalists)
In 2023, seagoing vessels — from oil tankers to container ships — carried more than 12 billion tons of goods: roughly 1.5 tons for every person on Earth. (MIT)
Scientists have discovered a giant planet orbiting a tiny red dwarf star, something they believed wasn t even possible. The planet, TOI-6894b, is about the size of Saturn but orbits a star just a fifth the mass of our Sun. This challenges long-standing ideas about how big planets form, especially around small stars. (UCL/UofWarwick)
Scientists discovered a unique sugar in sea cucumbers that can block Sulf-2, an enzyme that cancer cells use to spread. (UMississippi)