Five Pacific Islands Are Victims of Global Warming

Five of the Solomon Islands are harbingers of the things to come as they vanish beneath the waves. Sadly, the rest of the world moves to do something about far too slowly. Will we be in time for the major cities along our coasts or will they share the same fate?

Japan activates underground ice wall at Fukushima

Finally, Tepco begins freezing the ground around Fukushima to stop the influx of ground water into the site. Link to article in Gizmag. Link to article in World Nuclear News. 

Mercedes Boots Robots From the Production Line

Bloomberg Business reports that Mercedes has found with the many options that go into today's automobiles, automation can't keep up. The flexibility of a well-trained human work force is going to reduce the time it takes to assemble a car from 60 days to 30. It seems possible that eventually a normal customer might be able to have a car built from the tires up to his unique specifications. 

What the 2016 elections mean to the Supreme Court.

Dahlia Lithwick has a cogent analysis.

Exxon's Amazing Hypocrisy

While denying climate science, Exxon took steps to cope with the coming climate change that they very well knew was coming. And this was back in the 80’s!

Exxon and its affiliates set about “raising the decks of offshore platforms, protecting pipelines from increasing coastal erosion, and designing helipads, pipelines, and roads in a warming and buckling Arctic.” In other words, the company started climate-proofing its facilities to head off a future its own scientists knew was inevitable.

The Ultimate in Clean Fuel

Researchers have successfully generated methanol from atmospheric CO2 at a fairly low temperature. Previous method have required high CO2 concentrations and high temperatures. They expect to be able to scale the demonstration up to industrial levels in 5 to 10 years. It can't compete with $30 per barrel oil, but it would be a way to produce a carbon-neutral fuel cycle.

Mama Dragons

Mothers of gay Mormons combat the institutional discrimination of the Church.  Not only are homosexuals not welcome in the Church, but neither are their families. It stuns me that the leadership could think that this is a good thing.

Gun Non-safety.

Some myths die hard.

...statistically, it's more likely that someone with a concealed carry permit will set out to commit mass murder than prevent it. 

a 2014 study from the University of California–San Francisco found that people who owned a gun were three times as likely to kill themselves as non-firearm owners; by comparison, the annual per capita risk of death during a home invasion is 0.0000002 percent. Hell, even toddlers killed more people than terrorists in 2015. Guns are used far more often for killing than for self-defense, despite the fact that some 63 percent of Americans think guns make them safer. 

Only seven of the 160 of the mass shootings that took place between 2000 and 2013 ended because of some would-be Rambo came to the rescue

More than half (56 percent) were terminated by the shooter who either took his or her own life, simply stopped shooting or fled the scene. Another 26 percent ended in the traditional Hollywood-like fashion with the shooter and law enforcement personnel exchanging gunfire and in nearly all of those situations the shooter ended up either wounded or dead. In 13 percent of the shooting situations, the shooter was successfully disarmed and restrained by unarmed civilians, and in 3 percent of the incidents the shooter was confronted by armed civilians, of whom four were on-duty security guards and one person was just your average "good guy" who happened to be carrying a gun.

Gun Deaths Are Now Outpacing Traffic Deaths In 21 States

I'm glad to know that driving a car is safer than having a firearm. Maybe we need to license gun owners and require them to have appropriate insurance and registration. Just a thought.

Anti-GMO Research and Data

In one's zeal to protect public health, one should be really careful about using bad science. The short-term publicity rarely outweighs the damage done to the credibility of one's position when one plays fast-and-loose with the data.

'BPA-free' plastic has problems

A common substitute for BPA has problems. Given the complex chemical reactions possible with long-chain polymers, we should be cautious about using plastics in our food processing equipment and packaging. Well-behaved things like stainless steel and glass seem so much more attractive.

Boost C-section Babies

It's long been said that C-section babies suffer because they lose out on a good inoculation of gut bacteria. It's amazing how long it's taken for someone to be serious about providing them what they miss. This seems like such an obvious solution.

The Key To Halting Alzheimer's?

Brain inflammation has been found to be an accompanying factor of Alzheimer's. A recent study seems to show that the inflammation may be causing the disease.

An overactive immune system can result in chronic inflammation, which previous research has linked to Alzheimer's. These new findings makes it increasingly apparent that inflammation is not a result of Alzheimer's s much as a key driver of the disease.

This could explain why non-medical changes can produce improvements in mental functioning.

The findings also suggest that a diet and lifestyle focused on fighting inflammation could be important in preventing Alzheimer's. The researchers noted, however, that it's too early to make recommendations.

Other members of the scientific community are buzzing about the research, calling it "an exciting discovery" and "encouraging."  

Clays and Bacteria

Certain naturally-occurring clays have antibiotic properties. Certain metallic compounds in them work together to open up the cell wall and then flood in an excess of nutrients that poisons the bacteria. They even work well against antibiotic-resistant strains. This is leading to research into new ways to attack germs that resist our current arsenal of treatments.

More Solar Jobs Than Oil Jobs

We like to think of oil as the job-making behemoth industry in the U.S. Recently,
solar passed oil as a job-making industry.   Note that solar is bigger than oil and gas extraction. When you add in processing and refining, solar is only 2/3 as big. Nonetheless, it is a major player in the energy job picture.

Air Travel and Nuclear Energy

This article compares the mysteries and track record of air travel and nuclear energy. It's an interesting demonstration of the risks we accept as normal and risks we hyperventilate about.

Practical Learning

This article lists 9 things that should be included in a good practical education.

1. How to file your taxes.
2. How to navigate the world of office politics. 

3. How to build credit. 
4. How to be confident in yourself. 
5. How to maintain your car. 

6. How to manage your money. 
7. How to cook. 
8. How to deal with breakups.
9. How to clean. 

SpaceX's Successful Landing

Earlier I reported on the success of Jeff Bezos' Blue Origins booster stage landing and said it was a pretty big deal. I want to make note that now Space-X has done it with a completed orbital launch. This is a bigger deal. In the not too distant future, such booster returns will be routine and the high cost of orbital missions will drop dramatically. Many opportunities and potential problems can be expected with the exponentially cheaper access to space.

Evidence That Strong Gun Laws Work

A new study finds that states with stricter regulations on firearms see a lower rate of shooting deaths. While the CDC is prohibited from studying gun violence statistics in terms of public health and safety, other organizations have been gathering data. States were scored on the strength of their gun laws and instances of accidental shooting, homicides, and suicides involving firearms were counted. This is just a correlation, not a causation. Other factors like poverty and education were not considered.

But the fact of it is that there are variations in the shooting death rates. It certainly makes sense to look into what work to reduce the rate and what can be eliminated that increases that rate.

Future Exploration

Perhaps my grandchildren will live to see a mission to this destination. It's a potential earth-like planet only 14 light-years away. Imagine the possibilities.