Science News

Thursday, July 23, 2026

Satellite growth

---------- Forwarded message ---------

From: Larry

The number of active satellites in orbit has grown exponentially from about 1,400 in 2015 to about 15,000 currently. As many as 100,000 are expected to be in orbit within the decade

Where Did Ancient Humans Go to the Bathroom? The Surprising Truth!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-C-jNrmNYg

We know that roughly 60 thousand years ago, humans built the first permanent structures.*

However, farming wouldn't come along until the neolithic period, about 11 to 12 thousand years ago.

Either way, humans would have some sort of civilization to manage their affairs, even if it was primitive.

* I had previously read that a drought in Africa had nearly wiped out the human race, forcing a small population to live along the southern coast of Africa. They came out of this drought roughly 50,000 years ago, beginning the Upper Paleolithic period.

However, I keep reading different numbers as to when this occurred. Some sites say 60,000 to 70,000 years ago. However, Google AI is telling me that it started 190,000 years ago.

ChatGPT tells me the following...

The confusion comes from the fact that several different events are being conflated. They are not all referring to the same thing.

Here's a rough timeline based on the current evidence:

~300,000 years ago: Homo sapiens first appears in Africa.
~195,000–130,000 years ago: There is evidence that human populations went through one or more severe bottlenecks, although their causes and severity are still debated. Some researchers link these to long periods of climatic stress, while others argue they resulted from a combination of factors. This is likely what Google AI was referring to.
~74,000 years ago: The eruption of the volcano at Lake Toba occurred. It was once thought to have nearly wiped out humanity, but that hypothesis is no longer widely accepted.
~70,000–60,000 years ago: Southern Africa experienced periods of severe drought associated with changing climate. Archaeological sites such as Pinnacle Point and Blombos Cave show that coastal populations survived by exploiting seafood, shellfish, and other marine resources. These populations also developed sophisticated stone tools and symbolic behavior.
~70,000–50,000 years ago: Modern humans began expanding out of Africa, eventually reaching Asia, Europe, and Australia.
~50,000 years ago: The Upper Paleolithic began in Europe. This date marks the appearance of advanced stone-tool industries there, not the end of an African drought. Humans had already been behaving in "Upper Paleolithic" ways in parts of Africa for tens of thousands of years.

The statement that "only about 7,000 humans survived" also needs some qualification. Older studies often estimated an effective breeding population of only a few thousand individuals. More recent genetic studies usually estimate an effective population size of roughly 1,000–10,000 breeding individuals, which does not mean there were only that many people alive. The actual census population may have been several times larger.

So the dates you've seen correspond to different ideas:

190,000 years ago: An early proposed population bottleneck.
70,000–60,000 years ago: A later period of climatic stress in southern Africa and the expansion of coastal populations.
50,000 years ago: The beginning of the Upper Paleolithic in Europe.

The version you previously read—that a drought reduced humans to a relatively small coastal population in southern Africa that later expanded—is still a plausible summary of one influential hypothesis. However, archaeologists today tend to view the story as more complex, with multiple climate fluctuations and population bottlenecks rather than a single catastrophic event that almost exterminated humanity.

What’s the only country in all four hemispheres??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE_oLmpXpO8

@john2001plus 1 minute ago

Why are there 4 hemi-spheres?

I was guessing the United States, because we have 14 official territories in the world.

What about the British Empire? Does it still exist?

Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Only One English Word Has This Property

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EupTKqL3f1E

China Launches Nuclear Battery That Lasts 5000 Years

K2-18 b could have dimethyl sulfide in its air. But is it a sign of life?

https://www.astronomy.com/science/k2-18-b-could-have-dimethyl-sulfide-in-its-air-but-is-it-a-sign-of-life/

Sunday, July 19, 2026

Something Dark Is Spreading on Mars

Re: Cyclospora

On Sat, Jul 18, 2026 at 5:12 PM Grant wrote:

Here in Utah, Taco Bell is highly suspect because they get their lettuce from Mexico.

For a long time I liked to eat salads. But lettuce doesn't keep very long and now I am highly suspicious of things like that.

I eat Roma tomatoes for the higher lycopene content.

I have concluded that a moderate amount of chips with salsa is healthy, and a good substitute for salads. The high fiber is filling and helps with appetite.

Tortilla chips are high in resistant starch, which is linked to some health benefits.

Google AI says...

Yes, lycopene is highly beneficial. It is a potent antioxidant found in red foods like tomatoes, watermelon, and pink grapefruit. It protects your cells from oxidative stress and is associated with a lower risk of heart disease, prostate cancer, and strokes. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

For maximum benefit, consider these key details:

Better with fat: Lycopene is fat-soluble. Eating lycopene-rich foods with healthy fats (like cooking tomatoes in olive oil or eating them with avocado) boosts your body's absorption by up to 4.4 times. [1, 2, 3]

Better when cooked: Heating and processing tomatoes (e.g., in tomato paste, sauce, or salsa) actually makes lycopene more bioavailable than eating them raw. [1]

Yes, salsa contains lycopene. Because tomatoes are the primary ingredient in traditional red salsa, the condiment is packed with this powerful antioxidant. Lycopene is linked to reduced inflammation, better heart health, and a lower risk of certain cancers. [1, 2, 3, 4]

The bioavailability of lycopene actually improves when tomatoes are cooked, processed, or mixed with a little fat (like avocado), making this flavorful condiment an excellent way to boost your daily nutrient intake. [1, 2, 3]

Yes, resistant starch is highly beneficial. It bypasses small intestine digestion, reaching the colon intact to feed beneficial gut bacteria. This produces short-chain fatty acids (like butyrate) that improve gut health, stabilize blood sugar, increase satiety, and support heart health. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Key benefits of resistant starch include:

Blood Sugar Control: Because it resists digestion, it does not cause blood sugar spikes. Some research indicates it can also increase insulin sensitivity. [1, 2]

Gut Health & Digestion: It acts as a prebiotic, nourishing your microbiome and protecting the lining of the colon, which may lower the risk of colorectal cancer. [1, 2]

Weight Management: By fueling the production of satiety hormones like GLP-1, it helps you feel full longer. [1]

You can naturally incorporate resistant starch into your diet by eating legumes, seeds, unripe (green) bananas, and whole grains. Additionally, cooking and subsequently cooling starchy carbohydrates (like rice, pasta, and potatoes) turns them into resistant starches. [1, 2]

Yes, corn tortillas contain resistant starch. The traditional process of making them—called nixtamalization, where corn is soaked in an alkaline lime solution—alters the starch and naturally increases resistant starch. [1, 2, 3]

You can boost the resistant starch content even further by cooking and cooling them (e.g., storing them in the fridge), which causes the starches to crystallize and become more resistant to digestion. For example, fresh corn tortillas might contain roughly 2.6 g of resistant starch, but this can increase to over 3.5 g after being chilled in the refrigerator. [1, 2, 3]

Google Is Training a New A.I. Model to Decode Dolphin Chatter—and Potentially Talk Back

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/google-is-training-a-new-ai-model-to-decode-dolphin-chatter-and-potentially-talk-back-180986434/

Saturday, July 18, 2026

Cyclospora

“You can and should continue to eat fruits and vegetables, but you might want to take additional precautions depending on where you live,” says James E. Rogers, PhD, director of food safety at Consumer Reports, who notes that so far, the majority of infections have been reported in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, and Kentucky. “If you’re in one of those states, I recommend avoiding eating lettuce and salad greens until we know more, but currently, there is no data to support avoiding fruits and vegetables generally.”

https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/you-shouldnt-avoid-fruits-and-vegetables-due-to-cyclospora-a9570579349/

"Doom Runs on Everything" Just Went Way Too Far

Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Photographer recounts how bison attack in Yellowstone unfolded

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Or_SWgVXM

Sunday, July 12, 2026

Human vs Computer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsY6iChNzf0

What Climate Science Actually Says vs. What You've Been Told

It’s never too late to exercise

https://www.thegoan.net/global-goenkar/it%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%84%A2s-never-too-late-to-exercise/53125.html

Why Can't We Eat Predator Meat ?

turning CO2 and water vapor into ready-to-burn methane in a single step

You Have to Poop in the Eiffel Tower

Why Are We the Only Human Species Left? What happened to others...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCr6NteWSQ8

Roughly 70,000 years ago, an ice age in Europe caused a massive drought in Africa. Most of the human population died off, with roughly 7,000 individuals surviving along the southern coast of Africa. However, these people built the first permanent dwellings, invented many new tools, and learned to fish.

Once the drought receded, these more technologically advanced humans began spreading out. In a couple of thousand years, they would reach other continents. They likely outcompeted, if not killed, other species of humans.

People of European descent still have a small amount of Neanderthal DNA. Decades ago, there was a report of a skull found in Israel that was half Neanderthal and half Homo sapiens.