Cannon Points and Christmas Bells

Written by Dr Klaus L E Kaiser

Historical Landmark Cannons Around San Francisico Bay

Cannon Points are typically geographic promontories on lakes, rivers, and ocean fronts that were useful for locating cannons that might be a formidable deterrence to any invaders.

Cannons — Not only for Defense

In times of peace and in remote communities, they were more or less critical points from where cannon shots could be heard throughout the area, to alert the community to important events and news.

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Is Arctic Sea Ice really declining?

Written by Ian Wylie, M.Sc Chemistry & Physics, Carleton University (1984)

image source: carbonbrief.org

There has been a 4–6% decline in Arctic Sea Ice over the satellite era (see graphs below). Antarctic sea ice increased almost the same amount in 2016–2018, but it is now down slightly (1–3%) as well. It is hard to be sure that this change is significant as the longer term records required to be certain do not exist.

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The Politicization Of Veganism

Written by Duggan Flanakin

How to Avoid Deficiencies on a Vegan Diet - Forth Life

image source: forthwithlife.co.uk

The average American ate some 220 pounds of red meat and poultry in 2018, according to the US Department of Agriculture, surpassing a record set in 2004.

But some politicians have joined anti-meat and climate change activists in a massive effort to restructure the American diet – and to ensure … and mandate … that the rest of the world will be stuck with a mostly plant-based diet.

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Researchers Explore A Drug-Free Idea To Relieve Chronic Pain

Written by Will Stone, NPR

Ann Jones has been spending two hours each day in front of a green LED light — an experimental treatment aimed at alleviating migraines and other forms of chronic pain.

Ann Jones tried everything short of surgery for her chronic migraines, which have plagued her since she was a child.

“They’ve actually gotten worse in my old age,” says Jones, who is 70 years old and lives in Tucson, Ariz.

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A neutron star with an unusual magnetic field structure

Written by Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

Russian astrophysicists discovered a neutron star with an unusual magnetic field structure
Credit: @tsarcyanide, MIPT

Scientists from Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology, Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI), and Pulkovo Observatory discovered a unique neutron star, the magnetic field of which is apparent only when the star is seen under a certain angle relative to the observer.

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Genetic Engineering In China Is Exploding

Written by Kristine Servando

This means that genetic  research will be a complete free for all.  It probably will have to be.  I know that this does not make anyone comfortable. It does mean that  ethical niceties will be mostly ignored.  Those may come as the technology matures and it is all better understood.
Think in terms of Frankenstein unleashed.  This is no longer an impossibility.
Genetic Engineering In China Is Exploding 

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Experts: Ice-Sheet Melt Estimates Still Highly Uncertain

Written by Alistair Berry

antarctica ice sheet

Estimates used by climate scientists to predict the rate at which the world’s ice sheets will melt are still uncertain despite advancements in technology, new research shows.

These ice sheet estimates feed directly into projections of sea-level rise resulting from climate change.

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Video: The Secret Life Of Chaos Theory

Written by Reel Truth Science Documentaries

Chaos theory has a bad name, conjuring up images of unpredictable weather, economic crashes and science gone wrong. But there is a fascinating and hidden side to Chaos, one that scientists are only now beginning to understand.

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New Lyme Disease Study: Ticks harbour pathogens associated with Lyme disease

Written by John D. Scott, Kerry L. Clark, Nikki M. Coble & Taylor R. Ballantyne

Lyme disease and human babesiosis are the most common tick-borne zoonoses in the Temperate Zone of North America. The number of infected patients has continued to rise globally, and these zoonoses pose a major healthcare threat. A new study provides fresh insights to better inform health care providers.

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Stone Age chewing gum reveals life of a 5,700 year old young girl

Written by Ashley Strickland

This is an artistic reconstruction of Lola, a young girl who lived 5,700 years ago.

Lola, a young girl who lived in Denmark 5,700 years ago, had blue eyes, dark skin and dark hair. Her last meal included hazelnuts and mallard duck but no milk — she couldn’t stomach dairy.

And the reason we know any of this is because she chewed on birch pitch, a material that functioned a bit like an ancient chewing gum.

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Venus may have been habitable until 700 million years ago

Written by Faisal Khan

Artist’s representation of how Venus may have appeared with water — NASA

Despite Mercury being the closest to the Sun, Venus is the hottest planet in our Solar System due to the transformation that changed its atmosphere radically somewhere in the past. The average surface temperature of 462° C (864° F) of Venus can melt Lead.

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