Notices by Flipboard Science Desk (sciencedesk@flipboard.social), page 2

The house of the future could be built with dirty diapers. As strange as it might sound, discarded nappies can be sterilized and reused in concrete and mortar.

The Verge reports: https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/23/23733415/dirty-diapers-construction-material-building-house

#Recycling #Environment #Green #Architecture

DNA from prehistoric and modern-day people suggests that humans interbred with Neanderthals 47,000 years ago for a period lasting 6,800 years, Live Science reports:
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/neanderthals-and-humans-interbred-47000-years-ago-for-nearly-7000-years-research-suggests

#DNA #Anthropology #Prehistoric #Neanderthals

Mexico's first female president is also a scientist. Claudia Sheinbaum has a Ph.D. in energy engineering.

In an interview with the AP last year, she said, "I believe in science.”

https://flip.it/4oFyH3

#Mexico #Sheinbaum #Science

May has been an exciting month for our Sun. A barrage of solar storms and coronal mass ejections created the strongest solar storm to reach Earth in two decades — and possibly one of the strongest displays of auroras in the past 500 years. NASA.gov tells us how the agency tracked it, and the images and videos are astonishing, too. https://flip.it/VBUyCn
#Science #Space #SolarStorms #Aurora #NASA

A forest in Utah made of a single tree known as Pando has 47,000 stems and has amassed 6,000 metric tons of life in its thousands of years on Earth. It’s the largest living organism on the planet in terms of mass. Naturally, something that large and old has something to say, and recordings released this year let us “hear” it like never before. More from Science Alert: https://flip.it/PSwxIA
#Science #Biology #Trees #Horticulture #Utah #Forest

Astronomers have found a magnetic star for the first time beyond the Milky Way after an incredibly brief, ultrabright explosion in the so-called Cigar Galaxy. Will this be the first of many other extragalactic magnetar discoveries? Live Science has more. https://flip.it/iHsynr
#Science #Space #Stars #MilkyWay #Astronomy

Can wind and solar solve climate change? Foreign Policy magazine reviews a new book that "unwittingly makes the case that they can’t."

Here's their review of Brett Christophers’s "The Price Is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won’t Save the Planet."

(Subscription may be required) https://flip.it/LT82MB

#ClimateChange #Solar #Wind #Climate #Capitalism

In honor of Earth Day, Vox launched a special Home Planet package. Here's the entire collection, which includes fascinating stories on giving up meat, fostering pigeons and the "Squirrel Census."

https://flip.it/IQd-yq

#EarthDay #ClimateChange #Climate #Green #GreenLiving

Drugs like Ozempic are very effective at helping people lose weight. But will the weight come back after they stop taking them? Yes, for most people, it will. Science Alert looks into whether these medications are just another (expensive) form of yo-yo dieting. https://flip.it/.7L1q2
#Science #Health #Dieting #WeightLoss #Ozempic

The “Flying Spaghetti Monster” is one of an “astonishing” array of deep-sea creatures scientists have discovered living near an underwater mountain range off the coast of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, in the Pacific Ocean. Live Science has more: https://flip.it/wIHd76
#Science #PacificOcean #EasterIsland #MarineBiology #Animals #SeaLife

Invaders from underground are coming in cicada-geddon. It’s the biggest bug emergence for North America in centuries.

AP reports: "Crawling out from underground every 13 or 17 years, with a collective song as loud as jet engines, the periodical cicadas are nature’s kings of the calendar."

https://flip.it/lKUaqf

#Insects #Cicadas #Entomology #Science

Leprosy cases are rising in the U.S. What is the ancient disease and why is it spreading now?

@TheConversationUS spoke to Robert A. Schwartz, professor and head of dermatology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.

https://flip.it/9f_VqF

#Leprosy #Disease #PublicHealth #Health #Medicine

The mysterious "star dune" in the Sahara desert is on the move.

@popsci reports: "Morocco's Lala Lallia — one of the world's oldest known 'star dunes' — is slowly inching west."

https://flip.it/oggjI1

#Sahara #Desert #Morocco #Geology #Science

Looking for more science coverage on Mastodon? Check out these new @Flipboard Magazines that you can follow:

"Science News" by The Verge: @science-news-theverge

"Green" by Euronews: @green-euronews

"Innovation" by Smithsonian Magazine: @innovation-Smithsonianmag

"Climate Change Science" by Bloomberg Green: @climate-change-science-BloombergGreen

"Space" by Science Alert: @space-ScienceAlert

"Ancient History" by The Collector: @ancient-history-thecollector

"Animals, Animals, Animals" by Mashable: @animals-animals-animals-Mashable

"Environment" by The Christian Science Monitor: @environment-csmonitor

#Science #ClimateChange #FollowFriday

Three students have won a $700,000 prize after using AI to read a 2,000-year-old scroll burnt during the Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79AD, BBC News reports:
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68221243

#ai #romanempire #juliuscaesar #mountvesuvius

Japan became the fifth country to land on the moon with JAXA’s SLIM lunar lander Friday.

CNBC reports: "Engineers were checking the status of the spacecraft shortly after its landing."

https://flip.it/KWAAz9

#Japan #Moon #Lunar #Space

Plants are surrounded by a fine mist of airborne compounds that they use for communication and protection. A team of Japanese researchers has deployed real-time imaging techniques to reveal how plants receive and respond to these aerial alarms. Science Alert has more, including footage showing a plant “talking” to its neighbor. https://flip.it/lAl00b
#Science #Plants #Biology #Botany

The remains of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, "Star Trek" actor James Doohan, and a bunch of other dead people are floating in space after Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lander failed to land on the moon.

Futurism has the latest: https://flip.it/o-rXa7

#Astrobotic #Moon #Space #StarTrek

An ancient species of great ape was likely driven to extinction hundreds of thousands of years ago. The species Gigantopithecus blacki, which once lived in southern China, represents the largest great ape known to scientists — standing 10 feet tall and weighing up to 650 pounds, APN News reports:
https://apnews.com/article/extinct-great-apes-china-8b801514b7e58d08c54c0bbcfbc2f27f

#apes #china #extinction #ClimateChange #evolution

Scientists find about a quarter million invisible nanoplastic particles in a liter of bottled water.

AP reports: "Much of the plastic seems to be coming from the bottle itself and the reverse osmosis membrane filter used to keep out other contaminants."

https://flip.it/zJw_vQ

#Plastic #Water #Health #Environment #Science