Bitchin Dave's Newsletter - December 9th

I recently listened to a podcast from Radio Lab called "the creation story" ... it was an interesting half hour (or thereabouts).

Latif (the host) interviewed Ella al-Shamahi, who is described as a real-life Indiana Jones.  She is quite interesting and explores anthropology and history through her work, and several shows she hosts.  

But this podcast was about her story, and how she got here.  She was born Muslim (in England) and followed all the traditions and beliefs growing up.  When she went to school, she decided that she was going to prove Charles Darwin wrong because evolution couldn't be a thing.

And as you might guess, she couldn't.  Because evolution is demonstrably true and try as she might to poke holes, the evidence didn't support her point of view.

So....she made some pretty major changes in her life, and now tries to elucidate and educate others, but not in a confrontational way.  I found that most interesting, and wanted to share.

A few things are worth noting: it's okay to question the world around you, but you should keep an open mind.  Trust science and look at the body of evidence that's presented to you (rather than something "your crazy uncle" posted).  And realize that some people need time to get to a sort of enlightened thinking (and some may never get there), but you can take an approach where you share ideas and try and explain what you know while listening to why they believe in something that may not be reality.


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World's First Wirelessly Charging Highway Is Here — More Powerful Than Tesla Superchargers - Autoblog


This is pretty cool, in principle. Though I do wonder about its practicality on a large scale. 

In any case, a company has embedded the technology on a stretch of highway in France, and the results are good, with an inductive charge that is faster than a supercharger, and doesn't require the driver to stop. 
 


Almond production



Almonds are very particular plants.  They require a fair amount of attention, and very large amounts of water to grow.  One might argue that their overproduction in places like California is to the detriment of the environment.  

But I recently learned about tropical almonds, which grow throughout the Caribbean.  They are a different species of plant, but produce a nut that is very similar to an almond in size and taste.  They grow along the beaches, without much care, and need almost no water, other than natural rainfall.

Given that they taste similar, it certainly seems to me that this version of the almond could be grown and harvested for use in almond butter and almond milk - at a much lower cost to the environment.  Maybe these couldn't replace almonds that are sold whole, but maybe they could be introduced as an alternative product.

Just my thoughts on the matter.  But what do I know?  There's money and power at play with the large conglomerates that currently grow almond trees.  




Walt Disney Imagineering Brings 'Frozen' Olaf Robotic Character to Life | The Walt Disney Company


Imagineers have developed a fully autonomous robot that has a shell that looks like Olaf from Frozen. 

You can read more about the technology involved in the attached article. But man, what a cool technology leap forward. 




Residents forced to abandon homes as coastal community faces worsening crisis — here's what's happening


The net of the story is that it's *related to* climate change….however, the biggest contributing factor is that the government put in a dam that caused the environment in this community to be altered. 

But yes, they did put the dam in place in order to protect agriculture from a changing climate. 

So it's sort of an indirect effect. But the article does note that there has been some amount of sea level rise that was also affecting them.



Scientist develops game-changing new compound that solves major issue with plastics: 'People told me I was wasting my time'


Sometimes you just have to ignore the voices that tell you no, or that you are wasting your time. 

Enter a professor at Boise State who had never worked with polymers before, but who decided that plastic waste was a problem he could help with in some way. 

So over the course of several years, he self taught about polymers and their reactions. 

And he came up with a human engineered form of a polymer that's stable under most conditions, but can be easily broken down into its base elements for re-use. 

Sure, it's nowhere close to becoming a commercial product, but it could (and probably will) be at some point. 

It's pretty cool what a little ingenuity and some commitment can do. 




A new set of eight spacecraft images reveals the interstellar comet 3I ATLAS in astonishing clarity


Here's a more detailed look at what the 3I/Atlas turned out to be, and how scientists came to these conclusions, based on what they saw. 

It's amazing how little we know about our universe, and how not everything fits neatly into what we have learned to this point. 

And for what it's worth, I enjoy reading fact-based articles that show how we apply science and keep an open mind. (and yeah, I'm repeating myself *smirk*)



Bonus: This is pretty cool. Astronauts caught comets dashing through the aurora. Space is kind of incredible. 




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