justing.net

New to me Facts and Ideas in April 2024

By Justin G. on 24MAY06MON

If I had to say a theme here, it would be some combination of health, history, and space.

Week 14

Began on 24APR01MON .

• The magnet field lines in these galactic black hole images are beautiful! Via and hosted by Kottke.
• The human body has 30 trillion cells, because a friend said a number and I had to check.
• The US has tried not changing time before, and it wasn’t fun. Probably because the picked the more unnatural time. Via Astral Codex X.
• There are only 80,000 Giant Redwood trees in California. Is this right? Via Slime Mold Time Mold.

Week 15

Began on 24APR08MON .

• Blaze Star may burst to brightness in the next 5 months, in T Coronae Borealis. Via Damn Interesting.
• There is a oral spray vaccine for UTIs and it is preventative for up to 9 years. Via News Minimalist
• Cavities are contagious. I definitely didn’t know this. Via Damn Interesting.
• There are 5 new National Monuments in the US. Indirectly via WTFJHT
• More frescoes in Pompeii (alt, alt’, discussion, more). Via Damn Interesting, MeFi, Ancient Pages, History Blog.
• Next generation Solar Sail is ready for launch.

Week 16

Began on 24APR15MON .

• Lottery ticket sales are super messed up: the poorest spend almost 5% of their income on them! Via Zvi Mowshowitz
• McDonald’s is brining some freaky future to the Netherlands. Via Damn Interesting.
• Email forwarding is going away?
• Homicides are down this year, but some cities have more and some have less. Via Kottke.
• Halifax has the cutest ferries.
• A cave in Saudi Arabia was used (on and off?) by humans for 7000 years. Imagine it; I suggest that you cannot. It would be just a place that had always been used if you thought about it at all. Via Damn Interesting.

Week 17

Began on 24APR22MON .

• NASA reports that it has restored communication with Voyager 1. It’s a story I followed for the last couple of months and I’m happy to hear that we got it working again. Both via DamnInteresting.
• More Herculuneum document decipherment, this time it reveals more precise details of Plato’s burial. See also Vesuvius Prize which is different.
• The world of chip flavors is waay larger than I thought, not having thought about it very much before. Via Robb Knight’s Links feed

Week 18

Began on 24APR29MON .

• Maybe Augustus’s house in Vesuvius has been discovered? Via DamnInteresting.
• Atomic nucleus excited by laser, and preprint verification by an independent team. Via Damn Interesting, and Hacker News.
• Very cool video of building seismic isolators in action on X/Twitter¹, sorry. Via Oakland Geology Blog.
• The US DEA may soon reclassify marijuana from schedule 1 to 3. Via Hacker News.
• The largest bacterium is about 1 cm across and was discovered in 2022. Via Experimental History.
• 100 new near Earth asteroids discovered. Via NewsMinimalist.

Email me the cool facts you've learned lately. Or a correction.