Season 21 of American Idol has two weekends to go.  Last night three contestants were eliminated and now 5 remain.  The show also had a scoop of a lifetime, for on walk in King Charles III and Queen Camilla.  He was only crowned Saturday.    Lionel Richie and Katy Perry   had joined Nicole Scherzinger, Andrea Bocelli and others in just entertaining them.    Watch this all here .   One of the five finalists is Iam Tongi, a Kahuku High student from  Hawaii.  The next show will be on May 14 to whittle the number down to three for the final on Sunday, May 21. About the topic of today, here is a headline you might have missed...from the  United Nations : UN DESA Policy Brief No. 153:  India overtakes  China as the world’s most populous country Some time last month--can't find the exact day--both their population reached 1,427,775,850.  But India is growing, while China is declining. Both countries had close to 6 ...

From  Worldometer  (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):           DAY    USA    WORLD      Brazil      India      South Africa 2020 June     9     1093     4732         1185        246       82 July    22      1205     7128         1293      1120     572 Aug    12      1504     6556        1242        835     130 Sept     9      1208      6222       1136       1168       82 Oct     21      1225      6849         571        70...

There are  very few places in the world where you can breathe air clean enough to meet WHO standards . The focus is on a type of air pollution called PM2.5, which is smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, and mostly comes from auto emission and burning of biomass and fossil fuels.  This fine particulate matter is associated with a wide range of heart and lung disorders, plus cancers. In the  study,  scientists examined pollution data from monitoring stations in 6,475 cities in 117 countries and territories.   Only 3.4% got an acceptable grade. 93 cities had PM2.5 concentrations  10 times higher  than WHO standards. Central and South Asia had 46 of the world's most polluted cities. In Africa only one of 65 cities examined met WHO air quality standards. Asia?  Only 4 of 1887 cities. Europe should be okay, right?  Nope.  Only 55 of 1588 cities achieve this. What about the USA? This report  said:  not a pretty picture. 2408...

This week will feature a lot more science, with a nostalgic entry tomorrow, but focusing on the latest issue of  Scientific American  from Wednesday: What was the worst day ever for Planet Earth?  Which could well have been the best for us, as mammals began to develop. What was the worst event for Humanity? World War II? 70,000 years ago when  Homo sapiens  almost became extinct . Our biggest killer, heart disease, explained. First contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. A cosmic mystery is a fast radio burst.  The brand new Chinese 500-meter Tianyan "Eye of Heaven" detected 1,652 independent bursts from just one source over a period of 47 days.  So what?  Well, in a few thousandths of a second ( this is a tiny period of time much shorter than one second ), one burst produces as much energy as our Sun does in a whole month. The Ukraine War, if we survive, will spur more serious talks about total nuclear disarmament. On to the stories of the da...

   We have suffered  five COVID-19 waves .  Will there be a 6th? Initially, cases were dominated by large cities, which are mostly Democratic.  Thus, the first wave experience a lot fewer Republican deaths.  Later waves gravitated towards fewer Democratic deaths. A higher percentage of Biden-voters get vaccinated.   Over 91% of Democrats have had at least one shot, and only 60% of Republicans . The primary reason is  vaccination , as per million population, 250 deaths occurred in Trump counties, compared to 78 in Biden counties. About that possible 6th wave?  Most likely, when the Omicron Stealth B2 subvariant creates a mild bump in April.  Then, WHO can pretty much declare the end of this pandemic.  But I've now said this at least three times. Incidentally, just about 25% of Americans have been infected with COVID-19.  World?  Only 6%.   Of course, this is where asymptomaticity and under reporting come into...