Positive Curiosities

YouTube video by California Governor Gavin Newsom The Golden State Recap

Positive News!

As a proud Californian (nothing wrong with anywhere else, just love the state I grew up in) I'm happy at the work that's been done in the state. Is there still work to be done? Absolutely. But it's also good to be proud of what you've accomplished.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwn3...

The initiative aims to make the grid more reliable, lower energy costs, and create jobs, while also supporting clean energy goals. Reminds me of the old joke: Why did the power line go back to school? To improve its current situation!

Source: www.cnn.com/2024/05/28/c...

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Positive news!

The Biden administration is launching a major initiative to modernize the U.S. power grid. This plan includes updating 100,000 miles of transmission lines and implementing new technologies to improve efficiency and resilience.

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Finally, the dream of drying your socks without taking them off seems one step closer to reality!

Source: news.mit.edu/2024/how-lig...

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which could impact climate models, explaining discrepancies in cloud absorption measurements. The discovery may also lead to advancements in solar-powered desalination and other industrial drying processes.

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Positive news!
MIT researchers have discovered that light can cause water to evaporate without heat, through a phenomenon called the "photomolecular effect." This process involves light photons knocking water molecules loose from the surface,

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Again, it's just one study so this may not be the exact way that it started but it's a great start and why we study science to begin with. Small incremental progress.

Source: eos.org/research-spo...

A new study shows that plate tectonics may have gotten started because of the impact that caused the formation of our moon. It has long been a geologic mystery as to why plate tectonics started up on our planet and this could be the answer we were looking for.

Positive News!
A new study shows that plate tectonics may have gotten started because of the impact that caused the formation of our moon. It has long been a geologic mystery as to why plate tectonics started up on our planet and this could be the answer we were looking for.

retaining permanent housing. Just another positive story of AI helping humanity instead of ending us.

Source: www.cnbc.com/2024/04/19/l...

to identify individuals at risk of homelessness. By analyzing these data points, the AI aims to predict future homelessness cases and help allocate resources more efficiently. The program has helped almost 800 people/families, with 86%...

Los Angeles is employing an AI pilot program to forecast homelessness. The program, developed in collaboration with researchers from the University of Southern California, utilizes data from various sources, including emergency calls, health records, and housing data...

Source: www.factcheck.org/2023/08/scic...
Source: www.chop.edu/vaccine-educ...
Source: www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-hea...

environmental factors, and advances in medical understanding. Basically, it’s time to stop worrying about the vaccine boogeyman and start focusing on actual facts.

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If anything, autism has become more recognized, especially in younger generations who are more likely to be diagnosed early. So, while RFK Jr. tries to blame vaccines, science has shown there’s a much more plausible explanation: genetics,

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The real reason we're seeing an increase in autism diagnoses is less conspiracy and more progress. Thanks to better diagnostic criteria, awareness, and more early childhood screenings, we’re simply catching more cases.

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A 20-year-old study that concluded there’s no link between thimerosal (a preservative once used in vaccines) and autism. But don’t expect him to acknowledge that; he insists the study was "watered down" to protect the vaccine industry, which—spoiler alert—has never been proven.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently went on a media tour, spreading some seriously outdated and scientifically unsupported claims about autism. He keeps recycling the discredited myth that vaccines cause autism, despite decades of research proving otherwise. His favorite evidence?

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While they might not seem "positive" these are things that everyone should know and in that light it's a positive thing to make us better informed humans in our community. When we learn it helps everyone. And lying sucks soooo, here we go!

Vaccines and autism.

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Fact check!
Hello everyone! Since America has decided that we apparently are going to live in something that has been dubbed a "post-truth era" (not something that is on Taylor Swift's Eras tour) I feel that we need to add regular fact checking to our positive science stories.

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Source: www.cnn.com/2024/10/14/s...

Image credit: NASA

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The mission aims to determine if conditions beneath Europa’s ice could harbor life, making it a major step in our search for extraterrestrial environments. We'll finally get to see if Jeff Goldblum was right and truly see if "Life, finds a way."

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Cool news:

NASA's Europa Clipper mission launched a bit ago to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa. The spacecraft will investigate the icy moon's potential to support life. Equipped with a range of scientific instruments, it will gather data on Europa’s surface, subsurface ocean, and atmosphere.

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Farmers can integrate this technology to automate a tough and time-intensive task, making it more eco-friendly and cost-effective. This thing’s zapping garden invaders like it’s playing an arcade game!

Source: www.freethink.com/robots-ai/fa...

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Positive news:

A new farming robot, the LaserWeeder, uses AI and lasers to target and eliminate up to 200,000 weeds per hour. This reduces the need for chemical herbicides and manual labor, improving crop health and lowering weeding costs by about 80%.

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Look at that, AI just found 70,000 reasons for us to keep our hand sanitizer handy—thanks, science!

Source: singularityhub.com/2024/10/23/s...

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This work not only expands our understanding of viral evolution but may also provide insights for future biotechnological and medical applications, potentially helping to prepare for future pandemics.

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Positive news:

Scientists used AI to identify over 70,000 previously unknown RNA viruses from environmental samples, shedding light on viral diversity. By analyzing genetic data with AI, they discovered these viruses in various habitats, some with unique features like unusually large genomes.

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