TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

See THIS report about using genetic material to resurrect the extinct Arctic Mammoth.
An expert said that it was possible but it would be very difficult.

[Tizer]

There ain't much point in attempting `to restore the woolly mammoth to the Arctic' when the Arctic will soon be too hot for such animals. Better to spend the money on controlling climate change first then think about woolly mammoths!

[Stanley]

True, but the people financing this work argue that there used to be a 'mammoth steppe' around the arctic that was maintained by the presence of the animals and their aim is to restore this situation and if the area warms it could help. They may have a point. (But somehow I doubt it....)

[Tizer]

What really caught my attention in this was the reference to `giant sea snakes up to 10 metres long.'. The Loch Ness monster fans will love that!
`Asteroid that wiped out dinosaurs shaped fortunes of snakes' LINK

[Tizer]

While looking for something unrelated I found this interesting paper in the journals Science. We already knew that in the past Polynesians had migrated across the Pacific Ocean but now a new way of using DNA data can track their course, island by island...
‘No one could have predicted.’ DNA offers surprises on how Polynesia was settled Science

[plaques]

In Hawaiian we say ‘I ka wā ma mua, ka wā ma hope,” says study co-author Keolu Fox, a Kānaka Maoli, or Native Hawaiian, and a geneticist at UC San Diego. “It means we’re ‘walking backwards into the future.’”

I wonder if they landed in the UK?

[Tripps]

I would recommend the book Hawaii by James A Michener for the full SP on the islands. I first read it in the 1960's. Still have a copy. Great book - I'd say.

Looks at the history from the point of view of each of the ethnic groups. Natives, Americans, Chinese, Japanese. You'll learn a lot.

Hefty tome.

PS - I see he did another book, which I'd forgotten about, called "Caravans" about Afghanistan. Might be good for background now.

[Stanley]

Do we need 'background' on Afghanistan David? I rather suspect that the West needs to be looking to its own knitting at the moment. There are one or two pressing matters that need attending to!

[Tizer]

Now there's new evidence of when humans reached America...
`Footprints in New Mexico are oldest evidence of humans in the Americas' LINK
`Humans reached the Americas at least 7,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to new findings. The topic of when the continent was first settled from Asia has been controversial for decades. Many researchers are sceptical of evidence for humans in the North American interior much earlier than 16,000 years ago. Now, a team working in New Mexico has found scores of human footprints dated to between 23,000 and 21,000 years old...'.

[Stanley]

I saw that report as well Peter. As I have said so often, particularly in the case of archaeology, the more we look, the more we find. Funny how something as seemingly ephemeral as footprints in mud can survive for so long.....

[Tizer]

This project is going to bring us useful and interesting information as we learn more about Mercury - much better than trying to send people into space. It's fascinating how they are going to gradually bring the probe into synchrony with Mercury's orbit around the Sun.
`BepiColombo: Europe's mission to Mercury returns first pictures' LINK

My attention was particularly caught by the bit in the video where it says they've found that Mercury's surface not only has craters as we knew but has a very wrinkled surface. The wrinkles are long, very high cliffs and they're formed because Mercury is shrinking, presumably due to the extreme conditions causing volatilisation and loss of material into space. This reminds me of how in the 1800s it was thought that Earth's mountain ranges were formed due to the Earth still cooling and shrinking from its early days as a ball of molten magma. This idea was thrown out when radioactivity was discovered and it was realised that the radioactive elements in the Earth kept the planet warm.

[Tizer]

Don't expect this to appear on farms soon - it's probably prohibitively expensive but it's an interesting approach and will draw other innovators into finding ways to make it cheaper...
`Artificial lightning zaps farm stink' LINK LINK

[Stanley]

Do you know Peter, in all my time working on farms and with cattle I never came across a smell that offended me. Some would say that was because I was a smoker but I actually liked the smell of cattle. The smells that repelled me emanated from humans mainly or rotting meat. The worst was the smell inside a large walk-in safe in Hannover where they stored old occupation paper money before incinerating it.

[Stanley]

I can't find anything on the web but a UN report has tagged the UK as the most ecologically damaged country in the world in terms of biodiversity. Due to building and intensive agriculture we have the lowest percentage of natural biodiversity in the world, about 50%.
Found it later. See THIS BBC report.

[Tizer]

The bar chart in the BBC article below shows how we're being left behind in R&D spending. At the same time as this is happening today's FT front page states: Rishi Sunak will slash a tax surcharge on bank profits by more than 60 per cent in next week’s Budget in an effort to keep the City of London competitive on a global scale in the wake of Brexit. More proof that this government supports the City swindlers more than the science, technology, engineering and maths sector...

`Possible science shortfall in Autumn budget threatens prosperity, says ex-minister' BBC
`A possible shortfall in government science spending threatens the UK's prosperity, a senior Tory MP has said. Former Business Secretary Greg Clark warns government plans to double the science budget by 2024 are in jeopardy. His concern is shared by scientific and business leaders who have been making representations to the Treasury ahead of next week's Autumn Budget. Mr Clark, who chairs the science select committee, is to hear of the impact of a possible shortfall from scientists. Mr Clark told BBC News: "As we prepare to compete as a country in the future, it is unquestionable that one of our strongest assets is our science and technology base. "The world is becoming scientifically more intensive. For us to go backwards would be to opt out of future prosperity."...

And talking of City swindlers the FT also has on its front page today: Credit Suisse pays $475m in fines to settle Mozambique ‘tuna bonds’ case FT

[Stanley]

You do right Peter to draw attention to the trajectory Sunak's autumn manoeuvres are going to take. As you know, I believe he is a spiv and don't trust him. Private Eye points out that nothing he does damages the profits that his blind trust is possibly making or the profits his wife's interests are certainly making. As I note so many times, why is nobody challenging PE on these news items. Could they possibly be true?
And yes, I have heard the misgivings being voiced about the Buffoon's promises to fund R&D. Even if he keeps those promises we are still investing less than our competitors.
As for slashing surcharges on the Lords of the Universe, of course they will. These people and the developers are where Tory Party Funding comes from. You don't bite the hand that feeds you.
(Let's see, who was it who predicted that party funding and lobbying was the next great scandal....?)

[Tizer]

`MPs say UK research frozen because of Brexit delay' LINK
`UK scientists are likely to be "frozen out" of EU research programmes because of delays in Brexit negotiations, according to MPs. Earlier this month, the EU indicated that the UK's participation in its £100bn research programme was tied to negotiations over Northern Ireland. The Commons European Scrutiny Select Committee says British science will not recover from "lost opportunities". Its chair, Sir Bill Cash, said that the delay was damaging UK businesses.'...

[Stanley]

Fairly obvious that the EU will use any levers it has in the 'negotiations' so that news doesn't surprise me but it does dismay me when I see how it will damage our progress. Take some money out of the HS2 budget and inject it into investment in our future seems to be too complicated for this lot.
What makes it worse Peter is that it was the Buffoon's own 'oven ready' solution that has put us in this position which is insoluble because of the clash of views over the EU court.

[Tizer]

More investigation of the `wood wide web'...
`Wood Wide Web: Scientists to map hotspots of fungal life' LINK

[Stanley]

It would have been nice if she had given a mention to Merlin Sheldrake whose book 'Entanglement' has won the £25,000 Royal Society Science Book Prize praised by judges for its "scientific rigour" and for "illuminating an important but little understood topic". If you haven't read it, grab a copy, you won't be disappointed.

[Tizer]

Anyone who has read Sheldrake's fascinating book won't be surprised at this story. Antibiotic-producing fungi have been around for a billion years, plenty of time for bacteria to develop resistance to them...
`Antibiotic-resistant superbug evolved on hedgehogs' LINK

[Stanley]

Fascinating Peter. Nothing surprises me any more in science and archaeology, the more we look the more we find. Nobody is surprised at that when it's a space telescope. Why should it be any different in any other field of study.

[Tizer]

`Australia scientists find 'spooky' spinning object in Milky Way' LINK
`Australian scientists say they have discovered an unknown spinning object in the Milky Way that they claim is unlike anything seen before. The object - first discovered by a university student - has been observed to release a huge burst of radio energy for a full minute every 18 minutes. Objects that pulse energy in the universe are often documented. But researchers say something that turns on for a minute is highly unusual.'...

[Stanley]

I saw that report Peter....