Category Archives: Science News

Seeking truth, learning how things work, using that knowledge to make new tools

Earth Overshoot Day and Pollinators

Australia’s Earth Overshoot Day happened earlier this week. It used to be called Ecological Debt Day, involves a lot of math, and assumes that Earth’s glaciers, deserts, and oceans, are pretty much all the same thing. The basic idea, that … Continue reading

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Bulldogs, Transgenics, and a Robot

English Bulldogs aren’t what they used to be: which is a problem for folks who want the breed to survive. A team of scientists says that the British mascot’s bloodline is more than a bit too pure. Other scientists developed … Continue reading

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Studying Thousands of New Worlds

Scientists studied the atmospheres of two exoplanets, planets orbiting another star, earlier this year. Both planets are roughly Earth-sized, with atmospheres a bit like the Solar System’s terrestrial planets. Juno arrived at Jupiter last month, and will start its science … Continue reading

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Early Agriculture, New Tech

‘Genetics news’ caught my eye this week. DNA from barley that’s been sitting in a cave for six millennia is helping scientists learn about agriculture’s origins. A fits-in-your-hand Biomolecule Sequencer is at the International Space Station. If it works, folks … Continue reading

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Sandra and Tommy: Apes and Ethics

A court in Argentina said that Sandra the orangutan is “una persona no humana (non-human person)” in 2014.1 Or maybe 2015. I’ll get back to that. Instead of going ape over that news, I learned a little about Sandra, the … Continue reading

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