Science
Physics, biology, space, nature, research findings outside psychology. 108 links, newest first. Page 1 of 3.
Links 1 to 50
Knowing what sounds right needs no rules
Short · instagram.com · Issue #246
He sets a couple of notes, then steps to a new spot without naming one
Summary
The caption describes Bobby McFerrin leading a crowd to sing pentatonic notes by instinct, showing you do not need rules to know what sounds right.
Bobby McFerrin, at the World Science Festival in New York, sets a couple of notes with the crowd, then moves to a new spot on stage without naming a note. The audience instinctively sings the expected notes of the pentatonic scale, with no sheet music, rehearsal or instruction. McFerrin then improvises over them. The point is that you do not need to know the rules to know what sounds right.
Key points- He sets a couple of notes, then steps to a new spot without naming one
- The audience lands on expected pentatonic notes, with no sheet music or rehearsal
- He moves across the stage like stepping on invisible piano keys while improvising
Look After Your Wrists Before They Hurt
Read · bbc.com · 7 min · Issue #246
David Cox of BBC Future looks at why an old wrist injury can return decades later, and the wrist as a 'sentinel joint'.
Summary
David Cox of BBC Future looks at why an old wrist injury can return decades later, and the wrist as a 'sentinel joint'. The article includes four simple exercises from wrist specialists.
What If We Got Nuclear Wrong?
Watch · youtube.com · 18 min · Issue #244
The video argues that the US stopped building nuclear plants after 1969 because of regulation, with delays of 9 to 20 years and standards rising from about 400 to 1,800 by 1978.
Summary
The video argues that the US stopped building nuclear plants after 1969 because of regulation, with delays of 9 to 20 years and standards rising from about 400 to 1,800 by 1978. It links this to the linear no-threshold radiation model, which it says the NRC questioned in 2021. It also argues that radiation risks are overstated, citing 54 direct Chernobyl deaths and none at Three Mile Island.
Key points- Build times grew from about five years in 1969 to 9 to 20 year delays
- Standards rose from 400 in 1970 to 1,800 by 1978, with 300 rules
- Notes flag advocacy framing, and the Chernobyl figure counts only direct deaths
How to Take Creatine
Watch · youtu.be · 21 min · Issue #238
Ben Azadi's video claims viewers take creatine incorrectly and that a particular approach shrinks fat cells by 30 percent.
Summary
Ben Azadi's video claims viewers take creatine incorrectly and that a particular approach shrinks fat cells by 30 percent. The description promotes a discounted creatine product and Azadi's book Metabolic Freedom, which includes a metabolism course.
Absurdly Optimized: Science-Based Reviews of Everyday Products
Tool · absurdlyoptimized.com · Issue #237
Absurdly Optimized publishes systematic, science-driven reviews and explainers of everyday things such as recipes, kitchen gear, health and tech.
Summary
Absurdly Optimized publishes systematic, science-driven reviews and explainers of everyday things such as recipes, kitchen gear, health and tech. Examples include a roast chicken method and calculator, a pancake ratio calculator, sous vide and reverse sear timing, and sunscreen UV spectroscopy. The site offers a monthly newsletter, an RSS feed and interactive calculators, and states that nothing on it is medical, legal, financial or safety advice.
Nitazenes: The Synthetic Opioid Wave Entering the Drug Supply
Watch · youtu.be · 18 min · Issue #237
fern's video covers nitazenes, which it describes as a highly potent but largely unknown class of synthetic opioids quietly entering the European drug supply.
Summary
fern's video covers nitazenes, which it describes as a highly potent but largely unknown class of synthetic opioids quietly entering the European drug supply. It credits research from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime and links a map of drug-testing locations across Europe. The description also lists support resources for substance use in Germany, the UK and the US.
Half of You Showed Up Pre-Written
Read · bbc.com · 11 min · Issue #237
Laurie Clarke looks at nature versus nurture in personality, comparing twin studies with DNA scans, the missing-heritability gap, and why a major adult trauma barely shapes personality.
Summary
Laurie Clarke looks at nature versus nurture in personality, comparing twin studies with DNA scans, the missing-heritability gap, and why a major adult trauma barely shapes personality.
Protocol Survival: Household Emergency Preparedness
Tool · protocolsurvival.com · Issue #235
Protocol: Survival is an emergency preparedness platform for families that tracks food, water and gear, and calculates how many days a household could last.
Summary
Protocol: Survival is an emergency preparedness platform for families that tracks food, water and gear, and calculates how many days a household could last. It also offers a blog, guides, scenario pages for outages and disasters, structured courses and a glossary. The site describes its survival calculators and planners as free.
You Don't Need to Train Harder, Just Smarter
Read · sciencedirect.com · 15 min · Issue #235
Nosaka argues that eccentric exercise, the lowering phase of a movement, builds strength at a fraction of the metabolic cost.
Summary
Nosaka argues that eccentric exercise, the lowering phase of a movement, builds strength at a fraction of the metabolic cost. He reframes delayed-onset muscle soreness, saying gradual progression delivers the adaptation without wrecking the body. The suggested routine is five minutes a day of heel drops, chair squats and wall push-ups.
Neuralink's VOICE Trial: Thought-to-Speech for ALS
Watch · youtu.be · 11 min · Issue #233
Neuralink's video profiles Kenneth, a man with ALS who joined the company's VOICE clinical trial.
Summary
Neuralink's video profiles Kenneth, a man with ALS who joined the company's VOICE clinical trial. The trial tests brain-computer interfaces meant to translate thought into speech, and the video describes how his speech had declined. The page notes that Neuralink's devices are investigational and not FDA approved or commercially available.
Your Yearly Dose of Good News (2025)
Watch · youtube.com · Issue #227
A 17-minute year-end recap of positive 2025 news from the Good News channel.
Summary
A 17-minute year-end recap of positive 2025 news from the Good News channel. It covers record renewable energy growth, European coal phase-outs, the world's largest marine protected area, forest protection wins, and the first malaria treatment for newborns. Climate TRACE is linked as a source for real-time emissions tracking.
The 50 Greatest Innovations of 2025
Read · popsci.com · 16 min · Issue #227
Popular Science's annual Best of What's New list, published December 10, 2025, picks the year's most significant innovations across ten categories, based on hands-on testing and expert debate.
Summary
Popular Science's annual Best of What's New list, published December 10, 2025, picks the year's most significant innovations across ten categories, based on hands-on testing and expert debate. Picks include the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's sky survey camera, named Innovation of the Year, Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander and Google's Willow quantum chip. Other categories cover health, home, auto and emergency services.
The Closest Thing We Have to Alien Technology
Watch · youtube.com · Issue #226
Veritasium's December 31, 2025 video covers the machines that make the most advanced computer chips, centered on ASML and its extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography.
Summary
Veritasium's December 31, 2025 video covers the machines that make the most advanced computer chips, centered on ASML and its extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. It describes how the technology was developed, including its use of light from nuclear fusion research, and how ASML became a key chipmaking supplier. The description cites interviews with ASML staff and outside experts.
Alzheimer's drugs work, but patients still get worse
Read · nintil.com · 11 min · Issue #226
Jose Luis Ricon argues that Alzheimer's has no single cause comparable to LDL in heart disease, and is multifactorial.
Summary
Jose Luis Ricon argues that Alzheimer's has no single cause comparable to LDL in heart disease, and is multifactorial. He says prevention is comparatively easy by addressing risk factors, while treatment requires intervening in underlying processes such as autophagy, inflammation and aging. Antibody therapies can clear amyloid, yet neurodegeneration continues, which he reads as evidence of an active underlying process.
Game Theory: A Simple Strategy That Will Change Your Life Forever
Watch · youtube.com · Issue #220
Pursuit of Wonder's October 8, 2025 video presents game theory as an applied mathematics field and claims that, through models and simulations, it reveals a simple strategy in life that wins most of the time.
Summary
Pursuit of Wonder's October 8, 2025 video presents game theory as an applied mathematics field and claims that, through models and simulations, it reveals a simple strategy in life that wins most of the time. It says most experts were caught off guard by the result.
Can you really reach anyone in 6 steps?
Watch · youtube.com · Issue #219
Veritasium's September 30, 2025 video examines the six degrees of separation idea and the network math behind it, the small-world effect.
Summary
Veritasium's September 30, 2025 video examines the six degrees of separation idea and the network math behind it, the small-world effect. It covers how short cross-network connections create shortcuts, why weak ties matter, how disease spreads through networks, and how hubs form through preferential attachment. It credits research by Duncan Watts, Steve Strogatz, Albert-László Barabási and Mark Buchanan, and includes simulations of disease spread and preferential attachment.
50 Geography Facts So Crazy They'll Change How You See the World
Watch · youtube.com · Issue #214
GeoMap Unveiled's June 24, 2025 video presents 50 geography facts, which the title says will change how you see the world.
Summary
GeoMap Unveiled's June 24, 2025 video presents 50 geography facts, which the title says will change how you see the world. The description highlights a river that boils animals alive, a hidden continent about twice the size of India, and a town where everyone lives in one building. It also mentions boiling lakes and backward waterfalls.
The origin of the 10,000 steps a day target
Read · self.com · 22 min · Issue #214
The article asks where the 10,000 steps a day target came from and whether research actually supports it.
Summary
The article asks where the 10,000 steps a day target came from and whether research actually supports it.
James Webb Telescope and possible objects beyond the universe
Watch · youtube.com · Issue #212
Cosmos Prodigy's June 2025 video says the James Webb Space Telescope has spotted unfamiliar objects beyond the observable edge of the universe.
Summary
Cosmos Prodigy's June 2025 video says the James Webb Space Telescope has spotted unfamiliar objects beyond the observable edge of the universe. The description attributes to unnamed Nobel-winning physicists the view that these could be a separate universe, possibly forcing a rewrite of Big Bang theory. It names no physicists, papers or specific observations, and raises possibilities such as a parallel universe or a spacetime glitch.
This Discovery in the Mariana Trench Will Transform Geopolitics
Watch · youtube.com · Issue #211
The New Nature video argues that China is racing to explore and claim the deepest parts of the ocean, including the Mariana Trench, while the US cuts ocean research.
Summary
The New Nature video argues that China is racing to explore and claim the deepest parts of the ocean, including the Mariana Trench, while the US cuts ocean research. It describes deep-sea robot fleets, underwater bases, seafloor cables, deep-sea mining and methane hydrate. Narration walks through the ocean's zones down to Challenger Deep, nearly 11,000 meters below the surface.
The science behind the smell of rain
Read · popsci.com · 28 min · Issue #211
Tom Hawking explains petrichor, the scent that rises when rain hits dry ground.
Summary
Tom Hawking explains petrichor, the scent that rises when rain hits dry ground. It comes mainly from geosmin and 2-MIB, compounds produced by soil bacteria and released when raindrops strike. The term was coined in 1964 by Australian scientists Isabel Bear and Dick Thomas. A 2020 Nature Microbiology study suggests the bacteria benefit when springtails eat them and spread their spores.
BioDigital: Google Earth for Anatomy
Tool · biodigital.com · Issue #210
BioDigital is a cloud-based 3D platform for visualizing the human body, diseases and treatments, on web, mobile and VR.
Summary
BioDigital is a cloud-based 3D platform for visualizing the human body, diseases and treatments, on web, mobile and VR. Its BioDigital Human model can be embedded in learning management systems and other platforms, and its Human Studio tool lets users build custom visualizations. The company targets medical educators, hospitals and pharma firms, and claims over 5 million users. Individuals can sign up for free, while business use requires contacting sales.
Everything You Wanted to Know About the World, in Charts
Tool · ourworldindata.org · Issue #206
Our World in Data is a research and data site that publishes charts, articles, and data explorers on large problems such as child mortality, poverty, life expectancy, CO2 emissions, and literacy.
Summary
Our World in Data is a research and data site that publishes charts, articles, and data explorers on large problems such as child mortality, poverty, life expectancy, CO2 emissions, and literacy. It holds over 13,000 charts across 126 topics. Content is free and openly licensed, with charts and articles under CC BY unless stated otherwise. It is run by the Global Change Data Lab, a UK nonprofit.
Got It in Your Genes? Maybe It's Time to Pass It On
Tool · dkms.pl · Issue #205
Visitors are invited to register as potential bone marrow donors.
Summary
Visitors are invited to register as potential bone marrow donors. Registration is done online by ordering a kit, filling it out, and sending it back. The message frames joining as a simple step that could give a blood cancer patient a stem cell transplant from a stranger.
A ridiculously deep dive into the fruit we all pretend is a vegetable
Read · worksinprogress.news · 16 min · Issue #205
Evan DeTurk traces the tomato's roughly 80,000-year history, from small wild Central and South American plants to the modern crop.
Summary
Evan DeTurk traces the tomato's roughly 80,000-year history, from small wild Central and South American plants to the modern crop. Breeding for uniform ripening and yield made tomatoes redder and easier to harvest but reduced their sugar content. CRISPR has produced sweeter tomatoes with up to 30% more sugar, and a purple, antioxidant-rich tomato was FDA-approved in 2023. He suggests restoring genetic diversity could help.
What if we hit superintelligence by 2027?
Read · ai-2027.com · 8 min · Issue #204
AI 2027 is a dated scenario forecast of superhuman AI from mid-2025 through late 2027, by Daniel Kokotajlo, Scott Alexander, Thomas Larsen, Eli Lifland, and Romeo Dean.
Summary
AI 2027 is a dated scenario forecast of superhuman AI from mid-2025 through late 2027, by Daniel Kokotajlo, Scott Alexander, Thomas Larsen, Eli Lifland, and Romeo Dean. It follows a fictional lab, OpenBrain, and its Chinese rival, DeepCent, through milestones such as AI speeding up its own research. Two endings, a slowdown and a race, are presented. An update says the authors' later median estimates fall after 2027.
Breathing and meditation loosen reactive stories
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #203
A conscious breath lights up the frontal lobe, where choices are made
Summary
Conscious breathing and meditation help you move from reactive stories to deliberate choices, the speaker argues.
The speaker says breath links the conscious and subconscious mind, and that a deliberate pause lights up the frontal lobe, where conscious choices are made. The speaker cites a study in which non-meditators did 20 minutes of meditation a day for eight weeks, and brain scans showed a smaller amygdala and more gray matter in the frontal lobe.
Key points- A conscious breath lights up the frontal lobe, where choices are made
- The speaker cites a Harvard study: 20 minutes a day for eight weeks
- The study reportedly shrank the amygdala and grew gray matter
How Many Plants: Houseplant Care for Beginners
Tool · howmanyplants.com · Issue #202
How Many Plants is a houseplant care resource with guides on watering, lighting, propagation, and troubleshooting, sorted into Plant Care 101, Beyond the Basics, and Troubleshooting.
Summary
How Many Plants is a houseplant care resource with guides on watering, lighting, propagation, and troubleshooting, sorted into Plant Care 101, Beyond the Basics, and Troubleshooting. A section called The Dirt covers plant shops, planter finds, and design tips. A design tool for illustrated plant collections is listed as coming soon, and a Plant Club membership is on a waitlist.
Star Walk 2: Stargazing App
Tool · starwalk.space · Issue #199
Star Walk 2, built by Vito Technology, Inc., works as a portable planetarium.
Summary
Star Walk 2, built by Vito Technology, Inc., works as a portable planetarium. A real-time sky map identifies stars, planets, and constellations, and an observing list shows what is visible from your location. It also includes an encyclopedia with 3D models, satellite and comet content, and a Travel Through Time feature for past and future skies. Store listings refer to a free version.
AskNature: Biomimicry Strategies Library
Tool · asknature.org · Issue #199
AskNature is a biomimicry website that presents nature's strategies as solutions to human design problems.
Summary
AskNature is a biomimicry website that presents nature's strategies as solutions to human design problems. It holds more than 1,700 biological strategies and hundreds of products inspired by them. Collections include a Ray of Hope gallery of 40 nature-inspired solutions to environmental and social problems, plus classroom materials credited to the Biomimicry Institute.
Crowding turns grasshoppers into locusts
Short · youtu.be · Issue #197
Rains expand grasslands, and rising density then triggers an epigenetic change
Summary
One grasshopper species becomes locusts when crowding triggers a dormant gene, with the same DNA responding to conditions.
The speaker describes a North African grasshopper species whose individuals change when rains expand grasslands and then stop, crowding the insects together. Crowding triggers a dormant epigenetic response, and the front legs shorten, the back legs lengthen, the head and coloring change, and behavior shifts from solitary to aggressive and swarming. He concludes that locusts and these grasshoppers are the same species responding to different conditions.
Key points- Rains expand grasslands, and rising density then triggers an epigenetic change
- Within individuals, front legs shorten, back legs lengthen, and head shape and color change
- The solitary grasshoppers turn cannibalistic and swarm, the speaker explains
How tea also cleans water
Read · news.northwestern.edu · 36 min · Issue #197
A Northwestern News story from February 2025 reports that brewing tea also removes lead from water.
Summary
A Northwestern News story from February 2025 reports that brewing tea also removes lead from water.
Why Do We Sleep?
Watch · youtube.com · Issue #195
Circadian neuroscientist Russell Foster's TED talk argues that scientists still know little about sleep, although we spend a third of our lives doing it.
Summary
Circadian neuroscientist Russell Foster's TED talk argues that scientists still know little about sleep, although we spend a third of our lives doing it. It covers three theories about why we sleep, myths about how much sleep people need at different ages, and whether sleep can predict mental health. TED published it in 2013.
Dopamine and serotonin may oppose each other
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #195
Mice showed a dopamine spike and a serotonin dip when drinking sugar water
Summary
A Stanford mouse study suggests dopamine and serotonin work against each other to produce a sense of reward.
The speaker reports a Stanford study in mice showing that dopamine and serotonin interact in the nucleus accumbens. Dopamine rose and serotonin fell during reward, and stimulating both changes together produced a stronger sense of reward than changing either alone. He suggests serotonin acts as a brake on dopamine, which he uses to explain why cocaine is more addictive than MDMA.
Key points- Mice showed a dopamine spike and a serotonin dip when drinking sugar water
- Raising dopamine while lowering serotonin increased the mice's sense of reward
- Both signals operate in the nucleus accumbens, a reward-processing area
Physicists, not traders, often beat markets
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #193
Jim Simons' Medallion Fund reportedly returned 66% a year for 30 years
Summary
Physicists and mathematicians, not veteran traders, were among the best at beating the stock market.
The video traces how mathematics and physics shaped derivatives and quantitative investing. It describes Jim Simons, a mathematician whose Medallion fund, set up in 1988, is said to have returned about 66 percent a year. It also covers Louis Bachelier, an early modeler of markets, and Thales of Miletus, credited with the first known call option.
Key points- Jim Simons' Medallion Fund reportedly returned 66% a year for 30 years
- The speaker says $100 invested in 1988 would be worth $8.4 billion today
- Louis Bachelier pioneered using math to model financial markets
AlphaFold: The Most Useful Thing AI Has Ever Done
Watch · youtube.com · Issue #192
Veritasium's video explains how AlphaFold predicts protein structures, a problem that long stumped biologists.
Summary
Veritasium's video explains how AlphaFold predicts protein structures, a problem that long stumped biologists. Its chapters cover the CASP competition, how AlphaFold works, its Nobel Prize, and designing new proteins with RF Diffusion. It features John Jumper, David Baker and the Institute for Protein Design, and argues that AI-designed molecules could help with major problems.
Clams with sensors guard Warsaw's water
Short · instagram.com · Issue #191
Triggers on the clams' shells shut off the city's water supply when they close
Summary
Eight clams with sensors guard Warsaw's water supply, closing the intake automatically when the water turns toxic.
The speaker describes a water monitoring system in which clams with sensor triggers on their shells sit at the main pump. If the water becomes too toxic, the clams close, and the trigger shuts off the supply. After about three months of acclimation, the clams return to the water. The speaker says a Minneapolis water official reports they live about 50 years.
Key points- Triggers on the clams' shells shut off the city's water supply when they close
- Clams work three-month shifts, then return to the water marked so they never serve again
- The speaker says Minneapolis is the only US city doing this and its clams live about 50 years
Disliked work grows a willpower brain area
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #189
The area grows when people add unwanted exercise or resist eating
Summary
Doing work you do not want to do grows a brain area linked to willpower, according to recent data the speaker cites.
The speaker describes neuroscience data on the anterior mid-cingulate cortex. It appears to grow when people repeatedly do things they do not want to do, such as extra exercise or resisting food while dieting. It is larger in athletes and in people who see themselves as having overcome challenges. Scientists are beginning to see it as the seat of the will to live.
Key points- The area grows when people add unwanted exercise or resist eating
- It is larger in athletes and in people who overcame challenges
- Scientists may see it as the seat of the will to live
The body resists statements the mind rejects
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #189
Arm strength drops when saying a false phrase, the speaker demonstrates
Summary
A simple arm-strength test suggests the body resists statements the mind does not believe.
The speaker demonstrates a simple muscle test. A person holds an arm out while saying a true statement, "I love fresh air", and a false one, "I love to vomit". The arm is easier to push down with the false statement, which he uses to explain how polygraph tests work. He argues that the body is honest, while the verbal mind can believe things that are not true.
Key points- Arm strength drops when saying a false phrase, the speaker demonstrates
- He says the body is honest and only the verbal mind lies
- Polygraph machines work on the same principle, the speaker argues
Air Fryers Release Fewer Indoor Pollutants Than Other Cooking Methods
Read · sciencealert.com · 18 min · Issue #182
ScienceAlert reports that air fryers release far fewer indoor pollutants than stir frying, deep frying, boiling or pan frying.
Summary
ScienceAlert reports that air fryers release far fewer indoor pollutants than stir frying, deep frying, boiling or pan frying. In a 2024 Indoor Air study, researchers cooked chicken breast in a lab kitchen and measured particulate matter and volatile organic compounds. Pan frying produced about 13 times as many VOCs as air frying. Pollution lingered for up to an hour, so the researchers recommend ventilation.
Simple rules can yield endlessly varied phenomena
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #181
The speaker says the final variety of phenomena comes from very simple rules
Summary
Simple rules can produce endlessly varied phenomena, but finding them took a complex scaffolding built over 400 years.
A scientist explains that simple fundamental rules of nature can produce a huge variety of phenomena, and that finding them required elaborate experiments. He says it is not complicated, just extensive. He notes that interviewers ask about the latest discoveries, not everyday phenomena like colours or butterfly wings, and that results look complex after about 400 years of scientific method.
Key points- The speaker says the final variety of phenomena comes from very simple rules
- He would rather be asked about an ordinary phenomenon, like the colours of butterfly wings
- He describes science as a 400-year method for finding things out about the world
Why It Sucks to Be Born as a Giant Anaconda
Watch · youtube.com · Issue #180
Dinzo tells a brief story about a giant anaconda's life in this 8-minute video from November 2024.
Summary
Dinzo tells a brief story about a giant anaconda's life in this 8-minute video from November 2024. The title frames the video around the hardships of being born as a giant anaconda. The video is free to watch on YouTube.
The Most Misunderstood Concept in Physics
Watch · youtube.com · Issue #179
A July 2023 Veritasium video, credited to Derek Muller and others, presents what it calls one of the most important yet least understood concepts in physics.
Summary
A July 2023 Veritasium video, credited to Derek Muller and others, presents what it calls one of the most important yet least understood concepts in physics. Its explanation draws on work by Carnot, Clausius and England on self-replication and dissipative adaptation, and seven physicists and researchers helped with the topic.
Counting in other bases follows one rule
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #179
Base 10 runs out of single numerals after nine, so ten uses a 1 and a 0
Summary
Counting in other bases follows the same rule: when you run out of numerals, you start again and double up digits.
Two speakers work through counting in bases other than ten. Base ten reuses its digits by adding a leading digit once it runs out of symbols, and the same logic applies to base five (digits 0 to 4) and base sixteen (0 to 9, then A to F). The exchange shows how the count rolls over in each base, with the sequence reaching 1A in base sixteen.
Key points- Base 10 runs out of single numerals after nine, so ten uses a 1 and a 0
- Base 5 has only 0 to 4, so the count doubles up digits after 4
- Base 16 adds A to F as six extra numerals, then doubles up digits too
The One-Page Calendar
Read · bigthink.com · 10 min · Issue #178
Astrophysicist Ethan Siegel explains a one-page calendar that shows a whole year at once, so any date can be matched to its weekday by tracing a month along the top and a date down the side.
Summary
Astrophysicist Ethan Siegel explains a one-page calendar that shows a whole year at once, so any date can be matched to its weekday by tracing a month along the top and a date down the side. The author says the layout reuses from year to year, and the month placement follows a predictable pattern with only 14 possible configurations.
The True Scale of Modern Nuclear Weapons
Watch · youtube.com · Issue #177
Science Time explains that modern nuclear weapons are more powerful than those used in World War II, and even a few could cause catastrophic damage.
Summary
Science Time explains that modern nuclear weapons are more powerful than those used in World War II, and even a few could cause catastrophic damage. The video compares US, Russian and Chinese systems, including the B83, which it calls 80 times the Hiroshima bomb, and the Russian RS-28 Sarmat, which it says can carry up to 15 warheads. It concludes that in a nuclear war there are no winners.
RANDOM.ORG: True Random Numbers Online
Tool · random.org · Issue #176
RANDOM.ORG provides true random numbers generated from atmospheric noise, which the site argues suits many uses better than pseudo-random algorithms.
Summary
RANDOM.ORG provides true random numbers generated from atmospheric noise, which the site argues suits many uses better than pseudo-random algorithms. Its free tools include number and list randomizers, password and string generators, game and lottery tools, widgets and an API. Prof. Mads Haahr of Trinity College Dublin built the service in 1998. Hosted draw and giveaway services are paid.
Craziest Scientific Discoveries You Missed in 2023
Watch · youtube.com · Issue #174
Sideprojects presents a roundup of scientific discoveries from 2023 that the video frames as ones viewers may have missed.
Summary
Sideprojects presents a roundup of scientific discoveries from 2023 that the video frames as ones viewers may have missed. The video, published in August 2023, is sponsored by Foreo, which promotes a discount on its BEAR product. The description also lists about ten other channels, including Biographics, Geographics and Today I Found Out.
Cutting glucose and glutamine may starve tumours
Short · tiktok.com · Issue #172
Mice and patients get calorie restriction, plus specific drugs that target glutamine
Summary
Restricting glucose and glutamine while moving the body into ketosis starves tumor cells, the speaker argues.
The speaker describes a cancer approach that restricts glucose and glutamine, the two fuels tumors depend on, while shifting the body to ketone bodies. Calorie restriction lowers blood sugar, and specific drugs target glutamine. The speaker says normal cells burn ketones effectively, while tumor cells with poor mitochondria cannot, so the tumors slowly die.
Key points- Mice and patients get calorie restriction, plus specific drugs that target glutamine
- Normal cells burn ketone bodies well, but tumor cells with bad mitochondria cannot
- The speaker says tumors slowly die as their blood vessels disappear and the body clears them
What peacocks and Ferraris share
Short · youtube.com · Issue #172
A YouTube video on what peacocks and Ferraris have in common.
Summary
A YouTube video on what peacocks and Ferraris have in common.
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