Notices by Kathmandu (kathmandu@stranger.social)

Good news - researchers in the UK found that potato stems contain fibers similar to cotton fibers. This could become a new source of material for textiles. Since the stems are currently treated as a waste by-product of potatoes, we wouldn't need to use any new land or water for this new source of fiber! We might be able to reduce the resources used to grow cotton.
A team is working on making thread from 75% cotton / 25% potato, to use in existing machinery.

https://www.fibe.uk/media
#hopepunk

@trendless
Interesting. I'm still catching up from "the brain has immune privilege" to "the brain just has different immune regulation"*, but several lines of research seem to be converging on "Alzheimer's is related to infection and/or a result of problems fighting infection".

And that could be wonderful, if we find ways to prevent it or treat it.

*https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2633103/

@zakalwe
The great economist John Kenneth Galbraith backs you up. He pointed out that if CEOs were so crucial to the performance of the company, when a CEO retired, the company would crash while the CEO would show great success on a new project. But in fact the company keeps going as it was, and the CEO produces nothing on his own. Conclusion: CEOs don't usually make a difference to the company's performance.

@gemelliz @KimberlyN @Snowshadow

@mcnado
It's been clear to me for months now that Israel's plan of campaign is "Drive them all into the sea". Or into Egypt, they don't care. Drive everyone into a tiny space, and slaughter everyone who doesn't leave.

This is supported by their public statements. They've said repeatedly that they believe *everyone* in Gaza is part of Hamas. So when they say "We won't stop until we have wiped out Hamas" ...that means wiping out everyone.

@HopePunkFTW This seems like your kind of thing:
"To save their soil, Kansas tribe shifts to regenerative agriculture—and transforms their farms."

Crop rotation, adding flower strips along the edges to sustain pollinators, stopping the neonicotinoids, and they get better results!

https://phys.org/news/2024-05-soil-kansas-tribe-shifts-regenerative.html #science #hopepunk