World, Writing, Wealth discussion

I saw that article this morning. I wonder if they will start to glow in the dark. It is also interesting to see if they thrive or just barely survive.

The Chernobyl exclusion zone is unique in that its denizens are exposed to elevated levels of radiation over long periods. There have been definite genetic mutations throughout the biome. But on the whole, the absence of humanity seems to have been a far greater boon to the wild than the radioactive contamination was a detriment. For instance, the exclusion zone has become one of the westernmost outposts for thriving populations of Eurasian boars, bears, and wolves.

The other major nuclear events for which we have long term data were singular massive events. Their impact seems to be mostly limited to generation zero.

Genetic effects of radiation in atomic-bomb survivors and their children: past, present and future
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17019...

The Hiroshima/Nagasaki Survivor Studies: Discrepancies Between Results and General Perception
https://academic.oup.com/genetics/art...

Are you looking for something new to plant in your flower garden?

Glow-In-the-Dark Flowers Are Coming This Spring: Meet the Firefly Petunia
https://www.bhg.com/glowing-firefly-p...

‘I slept with my half-sibling’: Woman’s horror story reflects loosely regulated nature of US fertility industry
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/14/us/fer...

Scientists Confirm the Incredible Existence of ‘Second Sound’
https://www.popularmechanics.com/scie...

Imagine the grant request interview.

After 140 years, researchers finally learn how giant sea spiders in Antarctica reproduce
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/w...

Ha-ha, a warp speed deciphering :)

It seems that Australians have invaded Hawaii.
https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/blog/2020/06/...

New anaconda species said to be largest ever found during filming of Will Smith docuseries
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/w...

By accident, scientists found an underwater 'megastructure' from the Stone Age
https://www.npr.org/2024/02/19/123252...

They're already in Georgia and will soon be coming to a city near you.

How Urban-Tolerant Are They? Testing Prey–Capture Behavior of Introduced Jorō Spiders (Trichonephila clavata) Next to Busy Roads
https://www.mdpi.com/2813-3323/2/1/4

That's really bad news for an arachnophobe like me who lives in Georgia!

Scout wrote: "That's really bad news for an arachnophobe like me who lives in Georgia!"

I hope on "weaponry" thread J. will advise how to protect yourself best :)

Nik wrote: "Scout wrote: "That's really bad news for an arachnophobe like me who lives in Georgia!"

I hope on "weaponry" thread J. will advise how to protect yourself best :)"

Bug spray???

The only bug spray that has ever been that effective was DDT.

Given the recent increase of mentions of Nemesis by one of our resident Australians, this caught my attention.

Mystery ship that vanished with 32 crew members finally found after 120 years
https://nypost.com/2024/02/26/world-n...

Shame they weren’t found alive :)

Texas Discovery Could Unlock Secrets of 'City of Gold' Expedition
https://www.newsweek.com/texas-discov....

Man, 67, with ALS becomes 10th person in the world to get brain chip that lets him work computers with his MIND - as Elon Musk's Neuralink just implanted first human last month
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...

Helping dudes is fine, but ultimately it’s an experiment that would enable the company to learn to read thoughts 💭

And to think of how many complaints have been made about ads on YouTube.

Nik wrote: "Helping dudes is fine, but ultimately it’s an experiment that would enable the company to learn to read thoughts 💭"

While I normally would say this is conspiracy, I do worry about this in the future.

If you can read a thought, how readily could you write a thought?

Once you start writing thoughts into people's minds, what is reality?

If your mind is regularly rewritten with other people's thoughts, is there anything which you can truly call your own?

This mind-computer link is being touted as a medical miracle. But, like you guys, I see the other uses, and I'm skeeered! Is any smart person not scared?

J. wrote: "If you can read a thought, how readily could you write a thought?

Once you start writing thoughts into people's minds, what is reality?

If your mind is regularly rewritten with other people's tho..."

Yes, once you recognize a brainwave, you can replicate it.
"The Stentrode works by identifying what each electrical signature is, working like a dictionary, to decipher the person's intent so it can carry out the function."
Some time in the future the dictionary will be complete. They also work on wireless application. Thought scanner will be born:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Mysterious 10-foot-tall monolith that "looks like some sort of a UFO" pops up on Welsh hill
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/monolith...

I feel a strange urge.
https://youtu.be/cHWs3c3YNs4?si=iVPlW...

Wow!

Montana Man Pleads Guilty to Creating Massive Franken-Sheep With Cloned Animal Parts
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/montana-ma...

50 killed in anti-sorcery rituals after being forced to drink "mysterious liquid," Angola officials say
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/50-dead-...

A weakly structured stem for human origins in Africa
https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158...

New Orleans police evidence room overrun by rodents, officials say: "The rats are eating our marijuana"
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-orle...

Evidence of a continent spanning trade network, which was running 9000 years ago, has been found beneath Lake Huron.
https://youtu.be/b2eGkCIErFY?si=65LpV...

Pentagon UFO chief says alien mothership in our solar system possible
https://www.militarytimes.com/off-dut...

Vampire Threat Terrorizes Serbian Village
https://abcnews.go.com/International/...

Where the hell do you get this stuff? And do you believe any of it?

Scout wrote: "Where the hell do you get this stuff? And do you believe any of it?"

It's on the internet - it must be true!

I link sources. You can see from where it came.

Curiosity is a better summation of my position.

Belief is for religions, like those folk who believe Fauci.

:-)

Uncanny Valley: What is it and why do we experience it?
https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/unc...

My personal guess is that it's an evolutionary adaptation to either prevent crossbreeding or to generate a fear response in the presence of a now extinct hominid predator.

If it is to prevent production of sterile hybrids, then there must be some subtle triggers at work because we have genetic evidence that Homo sapiens interbred with at least two other specie.

My second venture raised the spectre of a hominid species which actively preyed on our ancestors. Chimpanzees have been observed hunting and feeding upon other primates including their cousins, bonobos. Is it a great leap to hypothesize that a member of the genus Homo may have evolved similar behaviors? Could the wild men and children of Lilith be muddled memories of an ancient hominid which hunted us? Is that why we get creeped out by things that almost look like us?

Mysterious Underwater Anomaly Resurfaces off Antarctica
https://www.newsweek.com/mysterious-u....

The deep ocean photographer that captured a 'living fossil'
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20...

The chinese are splicing ebola onto other viruses with lethal effects for lab animals.

How long before they (or anyone else) splices ebola onto a highly contagious coronavirus?

REF: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...

I rarely read the Fringe Science or Fun Stuff threads (yes, I know I'm missing out) but I thought I was on Fun Stuff, looked at Graeme's post, and thought WTF!

Reassured to see I was mistaken about the thread :)

The fringe, weird and horrifying are all melding together.

Graeme wrote: "The fringe, weird and horrifying are all melding together."

I live in a country where you can be labeled a "phobe" for saying that a burlesque performance called "Drag Queen Story Time" is probably inappropriate for small children. In comparison, debating whether octopi are alien visitors is pretty normal.

I read somewhere that we have more genes in common with trees then we do with octopi.

Graeme wrote: "I read somewhere that we have more genes in common with trees then we do with octopi."

Neither is closely related to us. But octopuses are a lot closer than trees.

Plant and animal life diverged about 1.6 billion years ago, before the rise of multicellular life. The anatomy of plant cells is fundamentally different from the anatomy of animal cells.

The last common ancestor between us and octopuses would have been a worm like creature with eye spots around 750 million years ago.

I've seen rough estimates of DNA commonality as 50% with trees and 70% with mollusks (slugs which are octopus relatives). Those estimates are rarely clear on how they're comparing genomes. In truth, it probably doesn't matter because of convergent evolution. For instance, the evolution of our eyes was almost completely separate from the evolution of octopus eyes. Yet we both have eyes of similar construction far more derived than those of our last common ancestor. This has become a bit of epigenetic fringe.
http://m.genome.cshlp.org/content/14/...

Beau, there is a way to combine the two. It lies in a mind-flaying Fortean creature called Florida Man.

Can you survive the Curse of the Florida Man?
https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/top...

Scientists Discover a ‘Phonetic Alphabet’ Used by Sperm Whales, Moving One Step Closer to Decoding Their Chatter
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-...

Oh, Graeme, I have enough to worry about already.