Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Maths, Mathematics Education, History of Science, Miscellaneous
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Q&A With Mathematician Claire Voisin
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Lake Superor's Lake Trout
Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Behavior, Biodiversity, Biological Evolution, Global Change, Climate Change
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
A Day of Science
Playing With Time *
Monday, March 25, 2024
Athena: Great Horned Owl Bird Cam - Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology
Sunday, March 24, 2024
World Meteorological Day + Weather Forecasting
Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Earth & Space Science, Earth Systems, Models, Science & Society, Children
Ed Hessler
Three-day forecasts have been pretty accurate since the 1980s, and have still gotten a lot better over time. Today the accuracy is around 97%. The biggest improvements...are for longer time frames. By the early 2000s, 5-day forecasts were “highly accurate” and 7-day forecasts are reaching that threshold today. 10-day forecasts aren’t quite there yet."
The improvements have happened because "the data has improved, computers have gotten much faster, and improvements made in how these data are communicated."
It should not be surprising that "low income countries have much worse forecasts, and often no early warning system. In a world where climate change is having impacts "making (improvements) available to everyone (will be even more important as climate change increases the risks of weather-related disasters. It is ultimately the poorest, who are the more vulnerable, who will suffer the worst consequences. Better forecasts are key to good climate change adaptation.
Ritchie closes with comments on emerging technologies that may accelerate this noting that closing the gaps will require "proper investment and financial will be essential." Unfortunately, she says nothing about what she means by "proper investment."
These items are discussed in the essay, providing necessary details and information I've not included. The essay is also well-linked to further your digging in. and there are many useful links. Read the essay.
Saturday, March 23, 2024
Another Week Highlighting Science From the UK's Journal Nature
Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Science & Society, Nature of Science, History of Science, Miscellaneous
Skyrmions are tiny whirlpools of magnetic spin that some researchers believe have useful properties that could unlock new kinds of computing. However getting skyrmions to perform useful computational tasks has been tricky. Now researchers have developed a method to create and manipulate skyrmions in a way that is compatible with existing computing technology, allowing them to read and write data at a fraction of the energy cost of conventional systems. The team think this shows that skyrmions could be a viable part of the next generation of computers.
07:51 Research Highlights
How robotically-enhanced, live jellyfish could make ocean monitoring cheap and easy, and how collective saliva tests could be a cost-effective way of testing for a serious infant infection.
10:01 AI identifies X factor hidden within zebra finch songs
Male songbirds often develop elaborate songs to demonstrate their fitness, but many birds only learn a single song and stick with it their entire lives. How female birds judge the fitness between these males has been a long-standing puzzle. Now, using an AI-based system a team has analysed the songs of male zebra finches and shown that some songs have a hidden factor that is imperceptible to humans. Although it’s not clear exactly what this factor is, songs containing it were shown to be harder to learn and more attractive to females. The researchers hope that this AI-based method will allow them to better understand what makes some birdsong more attractive than others.
20:04 Briefing Chat
How H5N1 avian influenza is threatening penguins on Antarctica, and why farmed snake-meat could be a more environmentally-friendly way to produce protein for food.
Friday, March 22, 2024
Friday Poem
Environmental & Science Education, Poetry, Art & Environment, Society, Culture
Thursday, March 21, 2024
A Science Podcast with Bob MacDonald, CBC
Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Biodiversity, Astrophysics, Cosmology, Extinction, Behavior
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Bumblebees and Complex Tasks
Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Behavior, Nature, Wildlife, Nature of Science, Culture