Pyrolosis is the process of using high heat to break plastic down into small molecules, including diesel fuel. People have long pondered this as a solution to plastic waste, but it just hasn't been economically viable. Recent advances in the technology have people looking seriously again.
The strangeness of AI "personas," which this writer calls Parasitic AI. From Scott Siskind's monthly links post.
Tutivillus, the demon who punished mumblers.
An argument that one cause of the Baby Boom was declining risk to mothers; maternal mortality fell 93% in the Baby Boom years. (Paper, summary at Marginal Revolution)
Bill Gates against the climate "doomsday outlook" and in favor of reasonable strategies.
Researchers feed an AI tons of data on viruses that kill bacteria, ask the AI to design new ones, genetically engineer those new viruses, and find that they work. Summary on Twitter/X of a paywalled article. Note that multiple groups have already gotten AI to design new antibiotics. AI may end up having a huge impact via chemistry and creating customized microorganisms. Or by empowering bioterrorism.
New findings in the long-running debate over whether certain small Tyrannosaurs were young T. Rex or another species.
DNA pinpoints some of the bacteria that sickened Napoleon's soldiers on the retreat from Moscow. (Four different diseases from just thirteen skeletons.)
Amazing lava fountains at Kilauea, 5-minute video.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) goes after the literature on "microplastics," pretty much calls all the studies junk science. (Original paper, news article, summary on Twitter/X)
Cambrian Chronicles on the wolf people of medieval Welsh folklore, 25-minute video.
Cool Bronze Age artifacts from an Italian cave.
Scott Siskind on Grand Bahama, a nearly deserted island made into a gambling mecca by friends of the mob that might now be up for sale to a new group of investors.
Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain, German politicis in the 1920s, and American politics today.
Bringing back oysters to New York harbor, news story, project web site, 16-minute video.
This grave, of an Avar warrior, had been looted, but the grave robbers left lots of valuable stuff. This always makes me wonder what the looters were up to.
Modernity has unleashed a mass extinction event, but a new study says the extinction rate peaked a century ago and has declined quite a bit. Not clear how much of this improvement is due to ecological protection and how much to economic changes, e.g. lots of marginal farmland reverting to forest.
The economics of SNAP benefits.
A fairly grounded argument for "extending life beyond the earth."
Good NY Times article on disputes over coal mining and power generation within the Navajo nation; the Diné are no more unified on this question than other Americans.
Perun on NATO's Challenge Grants for new military technology, closely connected to Ukraine's recent experience, one-hour video.
Ukraine signs a deal to obtain more than 100 Gripen fighter jets from Sweden over the next 10 years. Many military guys have said for years that Gripen is the perfect plane for Ukraine, because they are specifically designed to fly rough, using roads or anything else for runways and needing less maintenance than US fighters. (Kyiv Post, NY Times, Breaking Defense)
Germany's arms-buying binge continues, with plans that include fifteen F-35s and 561 Syranger self-propelled anti-aircraft guns for drone defense. (Politico, Twitter/X) The F-35s will be particularly controversial because Germany is part of a European initiative to build their own 5th-gen fighters, but the Luftwaffe says they can't wait for that.
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