The Hubble constant may not be that constant after all. Something is wrong with the expansion of the universe. Nearby galaxies seem to be moving away from one another too fast, we don’t know why, and every new set of data just seems to make the problem worse. We have two basic ways to measure …
Continue reading ‘Our understanding of the cosmos is wrong?’ »
One survey of Amazon facilities showed that74% of Amazon workers skip going to the bathroom to avoid having their pay cut, and over 80% said they would never apply for another Amazon job again. I once worked for an American company doing contract document copying . The hours of work were 6 a.m to 6 …
Posted by rhanrott on 18 July 2019, 1:51 am Excess weight causes about 1,900 more cases of bowel cancer than smoking in the UK each year. There are also 1,400 more cases of kidney cancer caused by excess weight than by smoking each year, 460 more ovarian cancers and 180 more cases of liver cancer. …
The shoddy, shabby treatment of the. British Ambassador to Washington raises the immediate question: who leaked his very accurate assessment of Trump? My favourite explanation is that the Foreign Office computer system was hacked by an insider with a view of getting Darroch replaced – by Nigel Farrage. Who would want this and why? Principally, Boris Johnson (an …
Continue reading ‘Ambassador Darroch’s unresolved resignation’ »
1. Report by The Guardian A study released last week suggests that planting one trillion trees would be one of the most effective – and cheapest – ways to tackle the climate crisis. As ever, the question is whether mankind can organise itself enough to actually start planting. In view of the surge in Amazonian …
Continue reading ‘Three expert comments on fighting the climate crisis: who is right?’ »
With a personal fortune worth just shy of $20 billion, Susanne Klatten ranks as Germany’s richest woman. She and her billionaire younger brother Stefan own a huge stake in BMW and a host of other enterprises. But Klatten these days is feeling annoyed. She doesn’t feel her family is getting the appropriate respect. As the …
From Tony Dale, Oxford, UK, in reply to a letter in New Scientist dated May 25 Contrary to what Graham Lawton seems to suggest, population isn’t a fringe or a taboo issue, at least not in schools in England. Geography deals with it in depth. It is discussed as “population change” rather than “population growth”. …
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If you know where to look in academic journals, it turns out there is indeed lots of good evidence to suggest that some organically grown crops can be higher in certain vitamins and minerals. The tricky thing is, there are also lots of studies that suggest the exact opposite is the case. The more you …
Trump has told all agencies to cut at least a third of their advisory committees by September, thus weakening the science-based regulations process that the administration has pushed back against since Trump took office. 462 committees are potentially on the chopping block, excluding agencies that are mandated by law. The exclusion of scientists from health …
Continue reading ‘Scientists fired from Environmental Protection Agency’ »
“Jesters and satirists have always been valued for speaking truth to power. But now they’re winning office themselves. When comedian Beppe Grillo joked his way into Italian politics a decade ago, he seemed a one-off. Turns out, he was a “harbinger of things to come”. Since then, Tiririca – an actual clown – has become …
“We are more than ever obsessed with individual identity, our personal brand, putting our stamp on the world. But we bow to the plain text of the smartphone, bland and unblotted. A WhatsApp message will never have the personality of a sibling’s spider-scribble. Digital communication can never match the intimacy of a handwritten letter. If …
For days I was wrestling with a recalcitrant email system. Emails refused to depart from my computer, and I could find no one who understood even how the system works, let alone correct it. I paid a silly amount to someone purporting to be an expert, but it turned out he wasn’t . So let …
“In Britain and the US a deep crisis of conservatism has been building since the end of the Reagan and Thatcher governments. It is a crisis of competence, of intellectual energy and coherence, of electoral effectiveness, and – perhaps most serious of all – of social relevance.”. (The Guardian, 28 May 2019). If this is …
My wife and I went mackerel fishing off the coast of Dorset, in Southern England. There were about 15 people on the boat, the weather was glorious and the catch quite good, enough for everyone. We had fresh, baked mackerel for dinner that evening, caught on the end of a line. I got talking to …
Hundreds of thousands of older people who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s may, in fact, be suffering from a different disease. According to new research, the condition, known as Late, affects a fifth of people over 85. Like Alzheimer’s, Late leads to memory loss, cognitive decline and mood disorders (although its progress tends to …
I did it all myself. For sure, I did it all myself. I never used networks or old college friends On whom the success of so many depends. I went out to work at the age of eighteen Thin as a rake, but determined and lean, And I laid rows of bricks and mixed tons …
Continue reading ‘”I Did it All Myself” – the cry of the very rich’ »
Extreme weather is commonly seen as a product of climate change. But it is also becoming a significant driver of the crisis, a new report suggests. In its annual review of global energy trends, BP calculates that global demand for energy grew by 2.9% last year – the biggest rise since 2010 – and that …
Iger: too much reward for too little risk? “Something is rotten in the magic kingdom.” That’s how Abigail Disney, great-niece of Walt, viewed the pay award of $65.6m (£50m) to Disney’s boss, Bob Iger. “Naked indecency”, she called it. Not that she felt he didn’t merit a bonus for his management skill; it was the …
A new non-invasive MRI scan for prostate cancer could “revolutionise” diagnosis of the disease, scientists have claimed. Men in the UK aren’t screened for prostate cancer because the existing blood test – which looks for raised levels of the protein PSA – is unreliable. Most men with raised PSA levels don’t have cancer, but must …
Continue reading ‘Good news – A quick scan for prostate cancer’ »
Manaus, Brazil The Vatican has opened the door to the possibility of married men becoming priests in remote parts of the Amazon basin. There is currently a drastic shortage of priests in the region – which extends across the borders of nine South American countries – and ministering to such a far-flung flock poses severe …
