Notices by Ada Palmer (adapalmer@wandering.shop)

Researchers in Texas have developed a system that transforms common biomass—food scraps, branches, seashells—into water-harvesting materials. The system requires minimal energy while being scalable for off-grid communities, and produces 14.19 litres of water daily per kilogram of material, triple the output of conventional methods. Advanced Materials https://cockrell.utexas.edu/news/archive/10158-from-scraps-to-sips-everyday-biomass-produces-drinking-water-from-thin-air?ref=fixthenews.com
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Europe’s wild predators stage a stunning comeback. Since 2016, golden jackal numbers have surged by 46% to 150,000, wolves have increased by 35% to 23,000, brown bears by 17% to 20,500, and Eurasian lynx and wolverine populations expanded by 12% and 16% to 9,400 and 1,300 animals respectively. The best recovery? Iberian lynx numbers are up from 100 at the turn of the century to over 2,000 today. Guardian https://buff.ly/KBxDcd9
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So easy getting a measles booster!

Went in for my spring COVID booster & it was trivial asking for a Measles (MMR) jab too! Places like Walgreens & CVS keep it on hand, & the vaccine is cheaper to make than the test to see if you’re still resistant so Doc recommends just getting it, no down side!

Coming soon: the world's 'most colourful' map of the cosmos.
NASA's SPHEREx telescope, launching today, will create an unprecedented multi-coloured map of the entire sky by dividing light into 96 distinct spectral bands. Unlike Webb and Hubble, which examine tiny portions of space in high detail, this compact but powerful instrument will survey the full sky every six months, cataloging over 450 million galaxies and 100 million stars. The Conversation https://buff.ly/3EZCqRi
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Roman concrete's 2,000-year durability secret finally decoded
The exceptional strength comes from 'hot mixing' quicklime directly with volcanic ash at high temperatures. This creates distinctive lime clasts that grant remarkable self-healing properties - when cracks form, water reacts with these clasts to form calcium carbonate that naturally repairs damage. Science Alert https://buff.ly/3EQOcxi
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German farmers are transforming peatlands into carbon-capturing marshes. A series of new initiatives in Germany are not only 'rewetting' peatlands but also creating markets for the native grasses, reeds, and sedges they support. Following a successful pilot project on a ten hectare site, they've teamed up with German retailer Otto Group, to promote a form of marsh farming called “paludiculture.” Yale360 https://buff.ly/41oPUyK
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It’s from this edition of ZWAAN, a piece of what’s basically sixteenth-century borderline-pornographic fanfic featuring Sir Lancelot having sex with a swan, a much-reprinted pamphlet, transformed every time with infinite additions & fake authors. 2/?

BOOK BURNING!

Challenge: you will NEVER guess what book this woodcut illustration of a book burning is from, *or* why it's there! 1/?

(A little thread for the countdown to the release of Inventing the Renaissance)

Scientists have reconstructed the insane weather of Tylos, a world so hot, and so close to its sun that the clouds are made of vaporised metal, and where it rains liquid sapphires and rubies. Using the European Space Observatory's telescopes in Chile to look into the exoplanet's atmosphere, they've discovered the fastest atmospheric jet stream ever recorded, made of 'iron winds' that blow faster than the planet rotates. Science Alert https://buff.ly/41a3GnB
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United States achieves historic 95% clean energy milestone
America has reached an unprecedented clean energy tipping point, with carbon-free sources providing 95% of all new power capacity in 2024. The nation added 48.2GW of clean energy—enough to power 36 million homes—a 47% jump from the previous year. Traditionally fossil fuel-dependent states like Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana are now leading the solar surge. Distilled https://buff.ly/3EFJ3bh
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No more 40 hours: Spanish government reduces workweek
The Spanish government has taken the first legislative steps towards reducing the working week from 40 to 37.5 hours, without loss of pay. The reduction, agreed after more than a year of political wrangling, would affect around 12 million workers, and would make Spain one of the world's first major economies to implement such a policy. Euractive https://buff.ly/3EAIfUS
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Clothing recycling takes a giant leap forward in Sweden
A Swedish company has developed technology to produce a material from old textiles that can be used to manufacture brand new clothing - as compared to simple products such as upholstery fillings - and can help reduce the huge amounts of water and other resources used by the fashion industry, which also generates 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. RTBC https://buff.ly/3CKxHSB
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UK stops landlords from evicting without cause
Labour's Renters' Rights Bill has been passed, abolishing landlords' power to evict tenants without cause and capping upfront payments to one month's rent. The landmark reform ends a 35-year era of housing insecurity dating to Thatcher's 1988 deregulation, providing stability for nearly five million British households. The Lead https://buff.ly/3Q98VP6
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Solar overtakes coal in Europe for the first time in 2024
Renewables—including hydropower and bioenergy—supplied 47% of the bloc’s power in 2024, while fossil fuels accounted for 29%. That’s a significant shift from five years ago, when renewables made up 34% and fossil fuels supplied 39%. The EU has halved emissions since their peak in 2007. Ember https://buff.ly/40O0Iov
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We have a visitor’s account of visiting Palazzo Medici in the days of Cosimo the elder (1440s) and meeting Cosimo and both his sons lying side-by-side three in a bed in pain “each as cranky as the last” using their sickroom as their office as they directed staff in running the republic. 4/?

Most texts call the condition “gout” a word with the stigma of the “rich man’s disease” caused by gluttony—a reputation less borne out by modern science. Diet does affect it, mostly alcohol which *everyone drank all the time* and avoiding seafood and organ meat. It isn’t caused by overeating etc 5/?

In my earlier post on Clarice Orsini’s *extremely illegal* hat, I stressed how vital it was for Medici men like her husband Lorenzo to perform humility. Florence had killed/expelled its nobles, it was a merchant republic and demanded merchant dress & merchant comportment. https://buff.ly/3EeZ2N8 7/?

Now, gout in the modern sense is an agonizing joint pain condition caused by buildup of uric acid in the joints, but when a period source says “gout” they could mean any condition that cause swelling, inflammation, and/or pain, from basic arthritis through coeliac to rarer things. 6/?

Add the fact that Europe’s diplomatic class at the time was all nobles, so every envoy is at least the son of a baron and must be greeted with obsequious bowing and scraping, and walking along beside his horse leading it to where he’ll be staying as an act of symbolic servant-like humility. Ow! 9/?

One had to be seen in the city always walking (riding or being carried was too princely), greeting peers in the street, bowing to each other—are you wincing by now? Imagining walking those stone cobbles while every joint in your body feels like it’s on fire? And going up tall stone staircases? 8/?