Comments

1
The headline about plants doing math is too sensationalistic. It's fascinating how they ration their resources, but the mechanism does not require any calculation, merely heuristic.

2
oh please. 80 or 90 is not a big deal, this is what most of us call "summer."

so you sweat, welcome to your own body.

for once I don't have to wear a shirt sweater and a jacket the way I did last week going out to eat when some silly seattle restaurant had the a c on when it was only 65 degrees out. for once it's not chilly cool. enjoy. stop being a weather whiny baby.

3
With all of the recent revelations about plant behavior: communication, more sophisticated reaction to stimuli, etc. it kinda reinforces my feeling that eating plants is not more ethical than eating animals.
5
@4: Beat me to it!
6
@1 I agree, which it why it's in quotes—I think it's a reach, but it's interesting that so many science articles are using those terms. With new research continually adding to our knowledge about these kind of cell behaviors, it can be tough to find vocabulary that appropriately describes these phenomena, (in succinct layman's terms anyway), which is why I like that Scientific American post.

@2 I know, I know. And that overuse of AC makes me sad for the environment. But 90 feels pretty hot when you're working in direct sun for hours, and watching the wicked witch scream is quite cathartic.
7
@6#2

Air conditioners. An established technology. You'd think it would be easy to buy and install one...but...

I live in an apartment with casement windows that slide horizontally.

If I buy a regular window air conditioner, I have to mount it (by hanging out my window, I guess) and then I have to build a "spacer" to cover the other two-thirds left open.

I could buy a "casement air conditioner" which is the same a regular a/c but shaped more vertical, but those cost more than twice as much, and I still have to mount it and build a spacer.

Then there's portable a/c. I bought one of those years ago and it never worked. I would only keep the apartment the same temperature...as it was outside!

Split mini a/c. Modern technology. Compressor goes outside. But short of drilling holes in the wall I guess I would have to run it through sliding door...and build...yes, a spacer!

On top of all this, every a/c has user reviews that say either it doesn't work at all, or isn't worth the money.

Why? At this stage in the 21st century an air conditioner should be a 3" cube that I place on my kitchen table and that runs on gravity waves. How can it all be this primitive...still!!
8
@2

Amen, you beat me to it. Seattlelites are pussies. In case it wasn't already painfully obvious. The best part is how the enviro-friendly, earth-lovin' hippies are the first ones to switch on the A/C. Hypocrites.

9
"glymphatic" is a new term for me.

That article on Voyager 1 is really interesting. @4 and @5, I too thought Voyager had left the solar system years ago.

From the article:

Researchers know that Voyager 1 entered the edge of the solar wind in 2003, when the spacecraft’s instruments indicated that particles around it were moving subsonically, having slowed down after traveling far from the sun. Then, about a year ago, everything got really quiet around the probe. Voyager 1’s instruments indicated [th]at the solar wind suddenly dropped by a factor of 1,000, to the point where it was virtually undetectable. This transition happened extremely fast, taking roughly a few days.

At the same time, the measurements of galactic cosmic rays increased significantly [ ] It looked almost as if Voyager 1 had left the sun’s influence.



Why the confusion?

Well, if the solar wind was completely gone, galactic cosmic rays should be streaming in from all directions. Instead, Voyager found them coming preferentially from one direction. Furthermore, even though the solar particles had dropped off, the probe hasn’t measured any real change in the magnetic fields around it. That’s hard to explain because the galaxy’s magnetic field is thought to be inclined 60 degrees from the sun’s field.

No one is entirely sure what’s going on.



10
@8- partially true. But we also have housing that is adapted to our dominant weather- damp, cool, rainy.

I was amazed how cool most buildings in Tunisia stayed during the heat of the day. They always had stone/cement exteriors in light colors, stone or cement floors, 12-14 foot ceilings and lots of cross ventilation. even in the 100's it was not super uncomfortable, and absolutely no one has any AC. Our houses are dark, low ceiling,small closed off rooms, often lacking even a small attic fan.

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