Topics in this edition include:
- Building homes to withstand natural disasters
- New health threat in US — candida auris
- The Neolithic temples of Malta
- Highly toxic material found in human urine
- Why the price of chocolate exploded
- Before-and-after photos of yard transformation
- Hidden cause of Alzheimer’s may have been discovered a century ago
- Earth’s rotation is slowing down
- Population tipping point could arrive by 2030
- Transforming plastic waste into a climate solution
The Cool Down
by Jeremiah Budin
Homeowners across America are building futuristic, nearly indestructible homes to withstand natural disasters — here's how
Homeowners across the country are unfortunately being forced to worry more than ever about extreme weather events caused by the changing weather patterns. And some of those homeowners are taking action by buying a type of disaster-resistant domicile called a Q Cabin.
The Q Cabin, created by an architect and entrepreneur named Vern Sneed, consists of a frame made out of a half-circle of non-combustible steel. As Sneed explained to the East Bay Times, the part of a traditional house that is most vulnerable to fire is the roof — with Q Cabins, the curved, non-combustible roof gives a fire nowhere to be sucked into.
While the end result may look a little strange to some — the New York Times described it as "a little like a small, smartly designed airplane hangar" — one person's airplane hangar could be another person's futuristic, modern home.
The Cool Down
by Tina Deines
Scientists identify concerning reason behind sudden explosion of new health threat in US: 'Kind of our nightmare scenario'
Candida auris, a potentially fatal pathogen, has adapted to "cross" the human temperature barrier, Grist reports. Presenting as a fungal infection, C. auris started appearing in New York hospitals in 2016, but researchers found that it had been in the country since 2013.
Since 2017, cases in the U.S. have jumped by 1,200%, and some scientists think the growth is linked to a warming planet. As Grist explains, fungi can develop a tolerance for warmer environments as temperatures rise. This can help them invade the bodies of humans and other mammals, whose naturally high temperatures generally protect them from fungal pathogens. Eventually, humans can lose resistance to these fungi, becoming more vulnerable to infection.
While New York remains a hotspot for the fungus, it has been identified in 29 states and most 2023 cases were in Nevada and California, per the news outlet. Washington state recently faced its first outbreak, as four people tested positive in January. Meanwhile, it's also spreading across the globe — cases in Europe nearly doubled from 2020 to 2021.
Discover Magazine
by Emile Le Beau Lucchesi
Neolithic Ġgantija Temples Contain Carvings Similar to the Venus Of Willendorf
When people think of ancient structures, they often think of the Egyptian pyramids or the standing stones of Stonehenge. They might think of the Olmec colossal heads in Mexico or the hundreds of statues on Easter Island.
The Neolithic temples of Malta, however, are older than all of these famed sites and were constructed between 5,600 and 4,500 B.C.E. Despite their ancient age, many have survived.
Although the buildings have endured, an understanding of how the structures were once used has been lost to history. Were they even temples? Or did people use them otherwise?
The Cool Down
by Mike Taylor
Scientists discover highly toxic material in human urine: 'Raises important new questions'
Scientists detected all kinds of the tiny particles in the urine samples of healthy participants and those with endometriosis, a chronic disease in which endometrial tissue grows outside the uterus. The research was published Apr. 1 in the journal Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety.
The levels of microplastics in each group were not much different, but the types of microplastics were.
Healthy participant samples featured mostly polyethylene at 27%, while samples from participants with endometriosis had predominantly polytetrafluoroethylene (59%). Healthy samples also included polystyrene (16%), resin (12%), and polypropylene (12%). Polyethylene made up 16% of the microplastics found in samples from endometriosis participants, according to the study.
Salon
by Matthew Rozsa
Why the price of chocolate exploded: How climate change drives inflation
When you blend raw cocoa with sugar, it yields one of the most universally desired products on the planet, whether as part of a candy bar at the corner store or a high-end artisanal chocolate at a price point many times higher. But there's a problem: The cocoa beans indispensable to making real chocolate have become increasingly expensive, with the price rising by 136% between July 2022 and February 2024.
This is primarily about the large plantations of cocoa trees in West Africa that provide most of the global supply. As climate change causes increasingly erratic and extreme weather — especially heat waves, shifting rainfall patterns and other climate-related risks — becomes more common, the trees suffer and the harvest becomes unpredictable. The 2023-2024 season is expected to yield 374,000 tons less cocoa than usual, a big drop from the previous season, which was 74,000 tons below normal levels.
The Cool Down
by Jennifer Kodros
Homeowner impresses with before-and-after photos of yard transformation: 'Didn't think it was that much of a difference'
One homeowner realized small changes make a huge difference when it comes to landscaping.
In a post on r/OrganicGardening, one Redditor shared before and after pictures of their garden.
The difference is drastically beautiful. A once sparse and weed-filled dirt yard that looked dull and barren was given a magical makeover. The space is now a lush plant, flower, and veggie-packed garden with a woodchip walkway and stone path.
Science Alert
by David Nield
The Hidden Cause of Alzheimer's May Have Been Identified a Century Ago
Alzheimer's disease is commonly associated with clumps and tangles of proteins building up in brain cells. Yet for more than a century, accumulations of a completely different material have also been linked with the neurodegenerative condition.
A study led by researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine returned to observations of large fat drops made by Alois Alzheimer when he made critical descriptions of the pathology at the turn of the 20th century.
Over the years, those lipid deposits haven't received as much attention as other biological changes linked to Alzheimer's – such as the bundles of amyloid beta and tau proteins in the brains of people with the disease. The new study was looking to change that.
Popular Mechanics
by Darren Orf
Earth’s Rotation Is Alarmingly Slowing Down
- In recent years, the Earth’s rotation has been speeding up due to dynamics in the planet’s liquid outer core.
- This increase presented the possibility that scientists might soon have delete a leap second.
- However, a new study says that global warming’s impact on the polar ice caps is counteracting that speed up, and will likely delay the need for a deleted leap second until 2028 or 2029.
Science
by Tyler Santora
Population tipping point could arrive by 2030
Two point one: That’s how many children everyone able to give birth must have to keep the human population from beginning to fall. Demographers have long expected the world will dip below this magic number—known as the replacement level—in the coming decades. A new study published last month in The Lancet, however, puts the tipping point startlingly near: as soon as 2030.
It’s no surprise that fertility is dropping in many countries, which demographers attribute to factors such as higher education levels among people who give birth, rising incomes, and expanded access to contraceptives. The United States is at 1.6 instead of the requisite 2.1, for example, and China and Taiwan are hovering at about 1.2 and one, respectively. But other predictions have estimated more time before the human population reaches the critical juncture. The United Nations Population Division, in a 2022 report, put this tipping point at 2056, and earlier this year, the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, a multidisciplinary research organization dedicated to studying population dynamics, forecasted 2040.
Christopher Murray, co-author of the new study and director of the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), suspects his study’s forecast is conservative. “With each passing year … it’s becoming clearer that fertility is dropping faster than we expect,” he says. Because the 2030 figure is already a hastening of IHME’s previous estimate of 2034, “I would not be surprised at all if things unfold at an even faster rate,” he says.
The Cool Down
by Wes Stenzel
Scientists develop method to transform plastic waste into a powerful climate solution: 'It's a game-changer'
Scientists have developed a method that will allow plastic waste to be used in chemical reactions that make toxic compounds safer — and the process involves smashing plastic bags with a metal ball.
Plastic bags — like the kind you find in grocery stores — have long been detrimental to human, animal, and environmental health because of choking hazards and the fact that they take hundreds of years to break down.
Now, researchers at the Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery (ICReDD) at Hokkaido University have discovered that when plastic bags are thrown into a ball mill (which rapidly mixes solids using a steel ball), their chemical bonds break apart, creating radicals, which are agents that set off chemical reactions that lead to dehalogenation, according to Interesting Engineering.
This is an open thread where everyone is welcome, especially night owls and early birds, to share and discuss the science news of the day. Please share your articles and stories in the comments.
I’m publishing this on Thursday because on Saturday, I’ll be attending Allentown Symphony’s performance of Beethoven’s 9th. I expect to be here on Sunday morning.