All posts tagged: year

Scientists kill 192 million lab mice each year. Is there a better way?

Published by skeptic

Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people Notice: JavaScript is required for this content. Scientists stress out lab mice, a lot. Inducing chronic stress and anxiety in these furry critters is how scientists explore the bodily and cognitive effects of stress and discover anti-anxiety medications for humans. There are two primary ways researchers stress out a lab mouse: immobilization and restraint. As described in the Encyclopedia of Stress (Second Edition), immobilization involves “taping the four limbs of a rat or mouse to mounts secured to a metal frame using hypoallergenic tape. A pair of metal loops attached to the frame limits the range of motion of the animal’s head…The duration of a single episode of immobilization usually varies from 5 to 120 min or more. In addition, animals in chronic stress protocols may be immobilized each day for many weeks even months.” Psychologist Richard McCarty described the effects in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. “The struggling that is typical of the first several minutes of an …

The world made historic pledge to transition away from fossil fuels – one year on, has it? | Science, Climate & Tech News

Published by skeptic

It’s 13 December 2023. Excited reports of a “landmark” global climate agreement reverberate around the world from the COP28 climate summit in Dubai. At around 11am, weary diplomats with circles under their eyes from fierce, all-night negotiations cheer, cry and hug. The US’s climate envoy John Kerry throws his arms around German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock. There’s a round of applause for Tina Stege, a fierce representative from the Marshall Islands who had fought among the hardest for the pledge. They and more than 190 other countries have just agreed to “transition away from fossil fuels” – the culmination of a fraught two weeks of talks at the UN conference. This may not sound very “historic”, given burning fossil fuels is the number one cause of climate change, and these annual talks had been going on for almost 30 years. Image: German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock congratulates a tearful Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Marshall Islands. Pic: AP Image: COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber and UN climate chief Simon Stiell applaud the final outcome. …

These are the Finalists for the Barnes & Noble Book of the Year

Published by skeptic

Every year, Barnes and Noble selects a list of the best books of the year in various categories as well as their overall best book of the year. The lists are out now, but the Book of the Year won’t be announced until November 15th. Until then, they’ve shared their finalists for you to peruse. The shortlist includes nonfiction, fiction, middle grade novels, and picture books. There are bird watching essays, thrillers, literary fiction, a book about UFOs, a guide to Taylor Swift’s fashion, and more. Source link

£1.4bn for school rebuilding next year

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles The government has vowed to “protect” education priorities at next week’s budget, including by committing £1.4 billion to funding the existing school rebuilding programme next year. The announcement represents a £550 million increase in funding for the rebuilding programme compared to last year. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has also said she will triple investment in school breakfast clubs to “over £30 million” next year. But there is no word yet on whether school revenue funding will rise, or whether much-needed extra funding for SEND will materialise. A Treasury press release said today that “improving opportunities” for children and young people would be a “key feature” of the chancellor’s first budget this coming Wednesday. It repeated the new Labour government’s line that the party is having to make “tough decisions” in the face of a £22 billion blackhole in public finances inherited from the Conservatives. More money, but for existing rebuilds The 10-year school rebuilding programme was first announced by Boris Johnson in 2021. At the time, government said it would …

The Best Queer Books of the Year, According to Barnes & Noble

Published by skeptic

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Barnes & Noble has released its Best Books of the Year 2024 lists, which I think we can all agree is a little early in the year for that. Regardless, it’s an interesting look at the biggest and buzziest books of 2024, especially from a bookselling perspective. There isn’t a separate Best LGBTQ Books of 2024 section, but I’ve browsed through all the lists and pulled out the ones I recognized as queer. Unfortunately, I still don’t have 100% accurate queerdar for books, so let me know in the comments if you spot any I missed. Also, if you think, “Is that book queer? I didn’t know it was queer,” it probably has a bisexual main character. Bisexual invisibility strikes again! I could have subtitled this list “Horror is Queer,” because that’s the category that has the most queer books in it. Still, there is at least one queer book in the Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult, Audiobooks, Entertainment …

Apple Discontinued These Four Products This Year, But One Will Return

Published by skeptic

As we get into the final months of 2024, now is a good opportunity to look back at devices and accessories that Apple discontinued throughout the year. Apple products discontinued this year include the iPad 9, SuperDrive, FineWoven cases for the iPhone, and the Powerbeats Pro earbuds. This list excludes most previous-generation devices that were discontinued this year as part of annual updates to Apple’s product lineup, such as the iPhone 15 Pro and Apple Watch Series 9. The one exception to this rule is the iPad 9, as that device was discontinued in May, over a year and a half after the iPad 10 launched. Check out our previous lists of Apple products discontinued in 2023, 2022, and 2021 as well. iPad 9 On the same day that it unveiled new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in May, Apple discontinued the ninth-generation, entry-level iPad. In addition, Apple lowered the price of the tenth-generation iPad, which now starts at $349 in the U.S., down from $449. SuperDrive In August, the SuperDrive went out of …

12 breathtaking images from the 2024 Astrophotography Prize Photographer of the Year awards

Published by skeptic

Striking. Vibrant. Dazzling. The adjectives to describe our universe are nearly infinite. And nowhere is that on display more than in the images from this year’s Astrophotography Prize Photographer of the Year awards. Australian photographer Phil Hart took the top honors for his incredible image (below) of the 2023 solar eclipse over Exmouth, Western Australia. Hart’s photo is one of the highest-resolution (white light) images of the solar corona ever documented, and its details are staggering. He created the image using multiple telescopes, video frames, and RAW exposures. “This year’s competition featured some of the most impressive astrophotography we’ve ever seen,” said judge Dr. Tanya Hill. “Phil Hart’s image was a masterclass in technique, creativity, and dedication, showcasing faint lunar details alongside the petal-like streams of the solar corona.” Category Winners: Solar System  Winner: Phil Hart – Sunflower in the Exmouth Sky Hart’s detailed image of the solar eclipse over Exmouth earned first place in this category, showcasing his mastery in capturing the solar corona. Runner-Up: Gerald Rhemann – Comet C/2021 A1 Leonard Rhemann’s shot from Namibia …

Plants and Forests Absorbed Almost No Carbon Last Year, Shocking Climate Scientists

Published by José

“We are lulled into a comfort zone — we cannot really see the crisis.” Sink Collapse The Earth’s natural defenses against carbon emissions could be breaking down. Our planet has historically been home to natural “carbon sinks,” or sites like forests and oceans that naturally remove potentially atmosphere-damaging carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But as The Guardian reports, preliminary data from an international team of researchers shows that 2023 — the hottest year on record — saw an alarming lapse in the Earth’s innate ability to swallow and neutralize carbon, with trees, soil, and plants together absorbing next to no carbon. In other words: in 2023, it seems that some of Earth’s natural carbon sinks stopped working. As The Guardian notes, the study’s findings echo other research, such as a 2023 study on zooplankton, which found that fast-melting ocean glaciers could hinder the ocean’s ability to capture and repurpose carbon. Humankind’s still-overwhelming reliance on fossil fuels has put a huge amount of stress on natural carbon sinks to clean up after us. And while the …

Gaza, Israel, and the American Left: October 7 One Year Later | Ben Rhodes

Published by skeptic

On the anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Ben Rhodes, Suzy Hansen, and Pankaj Mishra discussed the devastating violence of the year since, and America’s role in the conflagration. Watch the first conversation of The New York Review of Books’s series on the 2024 Elections below. You may view all available recordings in this series on this page. Source link

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All posts tagged: year

Scientists kill 192 million lab mice each year. Is there a better way?

The world made historic pledge to transition away from fossil fuels – one year on, has it? | Science, Climate & Tech News

These are the Finalists for the Barnes & Noble Book of the Year

£1.4bn for school rebuilding next year

The Best Queer Books of the Year, According to Barnes & Noble

Apple Discontinued These Four Products This Year, But One Will Return

12 breathtaking images from the 2024 Astrophotography Prize Photographer of the Year awards

Plants and Forests Absorbed Almost No Carbon Last Year, Shocking Climate Scientists

Gaza, Israel, and the American Left: October 7 One Year Later | Ben Rhodes

Popular video game Football Manager delayed until next year | Science & Tech News