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SCIENCE VERSUS NATURE

Before science day, a couple of news items:
  • Nothing to seriously worry about, but our U.S. Congress has to act by 11:59PM Friday night before government funding runs out.  
    • First, there is an announced compromise, which is shaky, and there seems to be no way for the full Congress to act until next week.
    • Anyway, this stopgap measure is only until very early March, when they need to pass another stopgap bill.
    • But not to worry anyway, for since 1976 the Congress has had 22 funding gaps. Each time, the nation survived.
    • Congressional leaders met with President Joe Biden today in the White House, and tried to work out something to combine immigration with Israel/Ukraine war funding.
    • Easy to blame Republicans for what is happening.
    • Let's see if Speaker Mike Johnson survives this mini-crisis, for he committed the cardinal sin of actually working out a deal with Democrats, and will need them to actually pass the needed legislation in the House.
  • About that circus called the Republican primary.
    • January 23, New Hampshire:  Trump 44%, Haley 32%, DeSantis 5%.
    • February 24, South Carolina: Trump 55%. Haley 25%, DeSantis 12%.  This is where Haley was governor.
    • However, a just released American Research Group survey shows that Trump and Haley each at 40% in New Hampshire, with DeSantis at 4%!!!  How can polls be so different???
    • In any case, Haley will continue to run until she gets crushed by Trump in her home state, and probably still continue anyway,  hoping that Trump somehow will get disqualified.
    • DeSantis harbors the same feeling, and thinks he can do better against Haley in other states.  If he can retain some financial support, he might stick around until Super Tuesday on March 5.
    • However, they have to continue to say nice things about Trump, for if he can't run for president, these two need the MAGA vote against Biden.
    • Joe Biden is in a prime position, for the Supreme Court might well make things difficult for Trump, and more probably, all those court cases will only get worse for The Donald.
    • A bad case scenario for Republicans is for Trump to get nominated at the Republican Convention six months from now in mid-July.
    • A bad case scenario for Biden is if Trump gets disqualified as soon as possible, meaning the Republican candidate will likely be Nikki Haley, or maybe Ron DeSantis.  CBS News poll taken last week:
      • Biden 48%  Trump 50%
      • Biden 45%  Haley 53%
      • Biden 48%  DeSantis 51%
    • Already, Haley and DeSantis are ahead of Biden, and even more so than Trump.  But Republicans are stuck with this primary system that will only end with Trump as their candidate on November 5.  Ironically, the Supreme Court can help the Republicans by disqualifying Trump from running.
For me, the ultimate science magazine is Science.  I once subscribed to it, for a very long time, but got weekly overwhelmed by all the science.  First published in 1880--with financial support from Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell--estimated readership today is 400,000.  Only 7% of submitted articles are accepted for publication.  I forgot the cost, but received the journal when I was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

That title at the top has nothing to with comparing science with nature.  There is also Nature, a British weekly scientific journal, founded in 1869.  It is equivalent to Science, with more of a European view.  They claim that 3 million read their publication, and also accept around 7% of submitted papers.  Keep in mind, though, that for both, only the elitist of the elite even bother to try.  This publication costs around $200/year for subscribers. 

What I'm leading to is a Science article published on 3January2024 entitled:  Ten science stories poised to make headlines in 2024.

  • Climate Science:  El Niño may extend record heat.
    • An El Niño is growing stronger in the Pacific Ocean.
    • The most likely scenario is that this phenomenon will push the average global surface temperature 1.5C above pre-industrial levels for the first time.
  • Democracy:  Depends on who gets elected as president.
  • Policy.
    • Oversight of artificial intelligence.  The U.S. Congress has introduced 150 bills to ensure that AI is a boon and not threat. 
  • There has been pushback on the European Green Deal, where some of the intended courses of action are being reversed by politics and lobbying.
  • Infectious diseases.
    • Anti-dengue mosquitos modified to fight the disease is occurring in Columbia.
    • Demonstrations have shown that this can be 95% effective.
    • The world's largest production facility is being planned for Brazil.
  • Clinical Research:  Long COVID-19 research is progressing with promise of solutions.
  • Anthropology.
    • Centuries of colonial war and exploitation have made indigenous people wary of any research on them.
    • Reconciliation and collaboration seem to be occurring.

  • Particle Physics.
    • Two experiments are ongoing on neutrinos.
    • There are three types:  electron, muon and tau.
  • Energy:  ITER will announce a new completion date, which will be bad news.
  • Planetary Science.
    • NASA's $5 billion Europa Clipper to search for life on one of Jupiter's large Moons, Europa, is set to launch in October.
    • Arrival will be in 2030.

The following is for you to just enjoy.

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