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On A Biden Presidency As A Trans Astrophysicist. Bright Sides For The Ambivalent. A Fact Backed Opinion.

On A Biden Presidency As A Trans Astrophysicist. Bright Sides For The Ambivalent. A Fact Backed Opinion.

Nov 07 2020 | comment(s)

Democrats favor LGBT people in the culture war but seem to favor only certain kinds of science, not including space exploration or high energy physics.   Two areas where fundamental physics expertise is of value. Too often science priorities are viewed as another front in the culture war.  Joe Biden is likely above that, but the rest of his party has historically had a habit of cutting funding to major science projects.  First let me present evidence for this fact both past and current, then I will reflect.

Follow A Workshop On Artificial Intelligence - Sunday, November 8th, 8AM - 10AM GMT

Follow A Workshop On Artificial Intelligence - Sunday, November 8th, 8AM - 10AM GMT

Nov 07 2020 | comment(s)

Tomorrow - that is, November 8th, at 8AM GMT - I am chairing a session titled "Artificial Intelligence for Physics Research, and Physics Research for Artificial Intelligence" at the Vth USERN Congress. The event takes place in Tehran, and is broadcast via zoom. If you are interested in the talks, of which I give some detail below, you will be able to connect through this link.
The agenda of the workshop is as follows (those shown are are Tehran times):

11.30-11.55 Tommaso Dorigo, “Artificial intelligence and fundamental physics research”
Activists Hope The Biden Administration Will Eliminate A Science Requirement For Endangered Species Act Rulings

Activists Hope The Biden Administration Will Eliminate A Science Requirement For Endangered Species Act Rulings

Nov 06 2020 | comment(s)

In its 47 year history, the Endangered Species Act went from an essential law to protect actual endangered species to a hammer with which to pummel companies and landowners. What started with an American bald eagle became holding housing development projects hostage by getting an obscure endangered designation for some creature and then demanding huge settlements and fees to 'protect' it.
President Trump, How About Those Aliens? Conspiracy Debunked.

President Trump, How About Those Aliens? Conspiracy Debunked.

Nov 06 2020 | comment(s)

If there is some government conspiracy to hide the existence of extra-terrestrial life then the current president would be the man to declassify all of it.  So, in the unlikely hope the president sees this I ask, in all seriousness, with some humor thrown in… how about it?   What can anyone do to you that hasn’t already been done? The thing about loosing a presidential election would be after it… you can’t really ever loose again.  So, if in the end, once all the court cases are over, and the recounts, and the shenanigans you loose why not draw a bright line under it?

It's Time To Stop Pretending Polls Are Scientific

It's Time To Stop Pretending Polls Are Scientific

Nov 05 2020 | comment(s)

If there is one lesson that political experts may have finally gotten in 2020, it's that polls are shockingly inaccurate.
How Dinosaurs Crossed The Oceans

How Dinosaurs Crossed The Oceans

Nov 05 2020 | comment(s)

The first fossils of a duckbilled dinosaur have been discovered in Africa, which means dinosaurs must have crossed miles of open water to get there.

Ajnabia odysseus was found in Morocco and dates to the end of the Cretaceous, 66 million years ago. Ajnabia was a member of the duckbill dinosaurs, diverse plant-eating dinosaurs that grew up to 15 meters long. But the new dinosaur was tiny compared to its kin - at just 3 meters long, it was as big as a pony.

Microgaster Godzilla: New Species Of Wasp Dives Underwater To Attack A Caterpillar Host (Video)

Microgaster Godzilla: New Species Of Wasp Dives Underwater To Attack A Caterpillar Host (Video)

Nov 04 2020 | comment(s)

Only a few species, less than 0.1 percent, of parasitoid wasps enter water at all but now one in the family Braconidae, subfamily Microgastrinae, has been found to not only enter water but actually dive in order to attack and pull out caterpillar hosts, so that it can lay its eggs inside them before releasing them back in the water.

During research work in Japan, Dr. Jose Fernandez-Triana of the Canadian National Collection of Insects and colleagues found and filmed the first microgastrine parasitoid wasp to do so.
Fossil Fuel Divestment Has Been An Environmental Placebo - Low Carbon Investment Could Take Its Place

Fossil Fuel Divestment Has Been An Environmental Placebo - Low Carbon Investment Could Take Its Place

Nov 03 2020 | comment(s)

Since 2012, there have been increased calls for fossil fuel "divestment" - getting money out of fossil fuel companies. Despite an effort that peaked in 2015, spurred on by paid protesters from groups run by activists like Bill McKibben, they haven't made much difference.

Some schools and companies say they have done it, but like "sustainability" divestment has so many subjective meanings it is meaningless. 
Get Chills When You Hear Music You Like? Thank Your Orbitofrontal Cortex

Get Chills When You Hear Music You Like? Thank Your Orbitofrontal Cortex

Nov 03 2020 | comment(s)

If you're a music lover, you've likely had that feeling where a favorite song floods your system with pleasurable emotions, joyful memories, makes your hair stand on edge, or even sends a shiver or "chill" down your spine.

About half of people report that they get such chills when listening to music. 
Death Rates For Hospitalized COVID–19 Patients Fall 18%

Death Rates For Hospitalized COVID–19 Patients Fall 18%

Nov 03 2020 | comment(s)

Two large recent studies show that people hospitalized for COVID-19 in March were more than three times as likely to die as people hospitalized for COVID–19 in August.

The first study used data from three hospitals in New York City. The chance of death for someone hospitalized for the coronavirus in those hospitals dropped from an adjusted 25.6% in March to 7.6% in August. The second study, which looked at survival rates in England, found a similar improvement.

Paper Posits That Daily Solar Radiation Is A Key Factor In Epidemics

Paper Posits That Daily Solar Radiation Is A Key Factor In Epidemics

Nov 03 2020 | comment(s)

Viral respiratory epidemics like the flu spike cyclically during autumn and winter - but only in the temperate regions of the globe's northern and southern hemispheres.

In the equatorial belt, they happen all year round, at lower levels.

A new numerical model hopes to provide insight. The authors find that both the prevalence and evolution of epidemics are strongly correlated with the amount of daily solar irradiation that hits a given location on the Earth at a given time of the year. 
Get Rich Quick By Going On A Nature Hike

Get Rich Quick By Going On A Nature Hike

Nov 03 2020 | comment(s)

Finance and nature have an interesting mathematical connection.
Grades, And Artificial Intelligence

Grades, And Artificial Intelligence

Oct 29 2020 | comment(s)

Dear students,
If you ask about your grade, I’ll gladly tell you that you’re doing well in the course, or that you really need to do better, as the case may be. More specifically than that I will not say.
The main reason for this is that if I were a hiring manager at a company, the very last thing I would ever think to ask you about would be your grades. When you interview for a job, you should show that you understand the company’s situation, that you have knowledge, skills and experiences that prepare you to do the job, and that your personality and way of working fit the company’s vibe (okay, their “culture”). And that you can clearly articulate these things. All this is so much more important than grades.
It's The Greatest Pumpkin In The Universe, Charlie Brown

It's The Greatest Pumpkin In The Universe, Charlie Brown

Oct 29 2020 | comment(s)

In a classic "Charlie Brown" Halloween tale, one character believes in the pumpkin equivalent of an Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy, but NGC  2292 and NGC  2293 are real. At 109,000 light-years across, the diameter of our Milky Way, they don't just form a Great Pumpkin, they form the greatest pumpkin of all.

What looks like two glowing eyes and a crooked carved smile is a snapshot of the early stages of a collision between the two galaxies. The "pumpkin’s" glowing "eyes" are the bright, star-filled cores of each galaxy that contain supermassive black holes. 
The Ethical Reasons For Staying Home, And The Need To Explain Exponential Growth

The Ethical Reasons For Staying Home, And The Need To Explain Exponential Growth

Oct 29 2020 | comment(s)

The sanitary emergency presently affecting most countries across the World is highlighting the duties that each of us, as a member of a collectivity of individuals who share commodities, services and infrastructure, is called at times to attend to. In a well-functioning society paying taxes should not be enough to earn the right to be a citizen. Indeed, the "social contract" also demands us to, e.g., abide to laws. 
Swiss Fatalism Is So Endemic They're Not Feeling Worse About The World During The Pandemic

Swiss Fatalism Is So Endemic They're Not Feeling Worse About The World During The Pandemic

Oct 28 2020 | comment(s)

The Swiss are famously negative about everything. The anti-science attack site Swiss Public Eye, for example, routinely undermines the science community and claim the world is doomed unless people switch to products made by their funding sources.

It's a pretty bleak existence but they've bee surrounded by militant Germany, France, and Italy for much of their history. They have forts built into nearly every mountain, compulsory military service and almost as many guns as America. They have been expecting to be overrun for centuries.
By Donating To Sourcewatch, The National Education Association Is Using Teacher Dues To Smear Teachers

By Donating To Sourcewatch, The National Education Association Is Using Teacher Dues To Smear Teachers

Oct 27 2020 | comment(s)

Internal documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request show that the two largest teacher unions, the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers (AFL–CIO), have donated to a Democratic political advocacy organization named "Center for Media and Democracy" which produces numerous products for its base. One of them, Sourcewatch, is a wiki written by progressives to attack conservatives and they are also unsurprisingly opposed to most science. Because they think science is a vast right-wing conspiracy.
Chaos, Chaos Everywhere

Chaos, Chaos Everywhere

Oct 27 2020 | comment(s)

In 1996 (or thereabouts) the new Meteorology building was opened at the University of Reading. The inaugural lecture was given by Ed Lorenz, widely regarded as the father of modern Chaos Theory. In this biography from the National Academy of Sciences, Edward Norton Lorenz, one reads
At one point, in 1961, Ed had wanted to examine one of the solutions in greater detail, so he stopped the computer and typed in the 12 numbers from a row that the computer had printed earlier in the integration. He started the machine again and stepped out for a cup of coffee.
Mixed Messaging On COVID-19 Can Erode Trust In Institutions

Mixed Messaging On COVID-19 Can Erode Trust In Institutions

Oct 26 2020 | comment(s)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently revised its guidance to acknowledge that COVID-19 can be spread through tiny airborne particles, known as aerosols. It had earlier removed a similar guidance from its website, saying it was “posted in error.”

Confirmed: New York City's Rampant Coronavirus Outbreak From Not Restricting European Travel

Confirmed: New York City's Rampant Coronavirus Outbreak From Not Restricting European Travel

Oct 26 2020 | comment(s)

In February of 2020 there was a lot of confusion about how to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the 2019 form of coronavirus that erupted in Wuhan, China. Much of the confusion was caused by political operatives and allied journalists. The federal government said we needed to restrict travel and that was deemed xenophobic, even racist, and epidemiologists were trotted out claiming that it would not work.