La ricerca di Claudio Ottoni et al. “The palaeogenetics of cat dispersal in the ancient world” sulla genealogia e la distribuzione delle cinque sotto-specie di Felix silvestris è uscita ieri su Nature Ecology & Evolution e ha conquistato internet come il Felix s. lybica il pianeta, meno l’Antartide. Grazie anche al delizioso video “Cat domestication from farms to sofas“. Sunto:
A new study reveals that tamed cats swept through Eurasia and Africa carried by early farmers, ancient mariners and even Vikings. The researchers analysed DNA from over 200 cat remains and found that farmers in the Near East were probably the first people to successfully tame wild cats 9,000 years ago, before a second wave of cat domestication a few thousand years later in ancient Egypt.
Mini rassegna della conquista:
- BBC, “How cats conquered the ancient world”
- Nat. Geographic, “Cats domesticated themselves“
- The Atlantic, “How cats used humans to conquer the world“
- Science, “Ancient Egyptians may have given cats the personality to conquer the world“
- Discover, Ancient DNA unravels cat domestication like ball of yarn“
- The Guardian, “Africats to the Purry-mids” nooo:
Aggiungo solo “Crazy-faced cats don’t win the adoption game“, su Science della settimana scorsa:
Silly cat faces might entrance you online, but how do they engage you in real life? Not so well, it seems. That’s the conclusion of researchers who recently developed an intricate index of every feline facial expression possible. They found that—no matter the doe-eyed demeanor or grumpy grimace—a cat’s countenance didn’t make any difference in whether it got adopted from a shelter. Instead, fur babies boosted their chances of finding a home by rubbing on toys and furniture.
***
Climate One at The Commonwealth Club announced today that Dr. Michael Mann will be awarded the seventh annual Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication. The $15,000 award is given to a natural or social scientist who has made extraordinary scientific contributions and communicated that knowledge to a broad public in a clear and compelling fashion. The award was established in honor of Stephen Henry Schneider, one of the founding fathers of climatology who died suddenly in 2010.
*
Il BOM dice che l’ENSO è neutrale, e non prevede un Niño entro quest’anno:
While models have steadily eased back the likelihood of El Niño, most still indicate an increased chance of warmer and drier than average conditions for Australia over winter…
*
Da far leggere a quelli che “ne uccide di più il freddo”, questo paper di Camilo Mora et al. su Nature Climate Change e l’editoriale di Nature:
From extreme rainfall to rising sea levels, global warming is expected to wreak havoc on human lives. Sometimes, the most straightforward impact — the warming itself — is overlooked. Yet heat kills. […]
The analysis also reveals that even aggressive reductions in emissions will lead the number of deadly heatwaves to soar in the coming decades. Cities including London, New York, Tokyo and Sydney have all seen citizens die from the effects of excessive heat. By 2100, people in the tropics could be living in these death zones for entire summers. It’s true that warmer winters will save lives further north. And those living in urban environments may find ways to adapt to the new norm of extreme heat.
Per via di un’ondata di calore, btw, alcuni voli da Phoenix, Arizona, sono cancellati:
According to a statement from American Airlines, the American Eagle regional flights use the Bombardier CRJ aircraft, which has a maximum operating temperature of 118 degrees [47,7 °C]. Tuesday’s forecast for Phoenix included a high of 120 degrees [48,8], and the flights that are affected were to take off between 3 and 6 p.m.
***
Due modi di presentare i dati
Sovvenzioni (dirette e agevolazioni fiscale, non sono incluse le esternalità) per MWh:
e per fonte di energia
Nel 2016 il governo federale “decarbonizzava” la produzione di elettricità e solo con “Other RE”, cioè i sussidi per il mais da etanolo, i carburanti per il trasporto. h/t Zeke Hausfather
***
Neuro-rimmel del giorno
“Chiedi le prove!” voleva sapere su quali studi si basa il corso per il miglioramento delle “Capacità cognitive”, in offerta speciale a 19,90 euro al posto di 280. Purtroppo il docente si è risentito e non ha voluto indicarli: bastava usare google scholar.
“Chiedi le prove!” non rivela che il docente è il Dott. Alberto Corcos, lo psicologo titolare della Corcos Consulting. Stando proprio a scholar lo “studio”, oltre a una réclame per i servizi aziendale, è un libro del 1999
Affiancare i venditori sul campo, in negozio, in ufficio. Il segreto della leadership in azione
h/t radioprozac
***
In India, il Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy del ministero per la medicina tradizionale distribuisce “Mother and Child Care”. Raccomandazioni: non mangiare né carne né uova, non avere sentimenti negativi, praticare la castità, appendere belle immagini in casa, leggere la vita di uomini illustri.
48 per cent of children under the age of five, are stunted due to chronic undernutrition, with 70 per cent being anemic. The nutrition situation of children is largely due to the situation of women… 36 per cent of Indian women are chronically undernourished and 55 per cent are anemic.
Experts ridiculed the suggestions and said they have no basis. “In fact, eggs and non-vegetarian food is highly recommended during pregnancy as they are rich in protein,” a doctor with a leading hospital in Delhi said.
Around 44,000 women die of pregnancy-related causes in India each year, official data show. The country’s maternal mortality rate – defined as deaths per 100,000 live births – is 167
*
Non che sia molto meglio il ginecologo olistico, nel senso di omeopata antivax seguace di Hamer, Giovanni Alvino che insegna all’università di Salerno…
alt med europeo>, in tribunale la prova scientifica non è necessaria.
Riccardo,
andiamo bene, bastano tre indizi: eccellenti condizioni di salute pregresse, mancanza di precedenti familiari e collegamento temporale tra la vaccinazione e la comparsa della malattia. Il primo e il terzo sono correlati e, in questo caso, la sclerosi multipla sembra ereditaria in un caso su mille.