The Washington Post, a formerly reliable newspaper, is owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos. For the first time in decades, the newspaper will not endorse a presidential candidate, because the rich man who owns it forbade them to endorse Kamala Harris. This is the kind of thing I mean when I say that America is not a democracy, but a plutocracy. It is ( Read more... )

This article talks about common types of exoplanets discovered, and why those are probably not the most common planets, just the easiest to find.

I'll throw in another reason not mentioned there: we're finding a lot of super-Earths, but it is more likely to have lots of little planets in a solar system.  That's because it takes less mass, so each ( Read more... )

Prehistoric inventions abound. Most of these are one-shot gizmos that one genius invented and other people copied, without modification, sometimes for millions of years.

It's not the occasional, isolated super-genius that uplifts a species.  It's the ability to produce multiple  genii close enough together that they can interact, which is how you ( Read more... )

Enjoy some newly freed materials:

All Sound Recordings Prior to 1923 Will Enter the US Public Domain in 2022

Music Sorted by Category

List of Classic Books Entering the Public Domain in 2022

Assorted Works

A complete ichthyosaur skeleton has been discovered in Britain. 

This article looks at immigrants as job creators.

I'll give you another reason that fits both immigrants and refugees: survival of the fittest.  These are people who left a marginally okay to downright dangerous situation in search of better opportunities elsewhere.  Earth has a LOT of displaced people, voluntary and involuntary.  Many of those don' ( Read more... )

These are some space missions in 2022 that you can look forward to.  :D  I'm particularly jazzed about the heavies, because colony plans require a LOT of raw materials.

Here's a review of physics from 2021.

I keep waiting for people to find gravitons, but honestly, I'm kind of glad they haven't.  As much damage as they've done with other scientific advances, they don't need graviton technology where fuckups can crack a planet's crust or fling a space station across the galaxy.

Canada has a possible settlement for First Nations children mistreated by the foster care system.  It's a big payout if it actually comes together.  However, looking at America's history, the system rarely does what the technical parameters say.  Still, it's better than nothing.

Some wild canids carry DNA from red wolves, generally considered extinct in the wild.  Apparently they also have DNA from domestic dogs and foxes.  I'm familiar with wolf/dog/coyote crosses, but foxes?  This is a whole new flavor of canis soup.