Paul Sutton @zleap@qoto.org

Some of Earth’s most ancient lifeforms can live on hydrogen – and we can learn from their chemical powers:
https://theconversation.com/some-of-earths-most-ancient-lifeforms-can-live-on-hydrogen-and-we-can-learn-from-their-chemical-powers-231382

@evan What's the Fediverse feed? Searching isn't finding anything

“Children at the top 250 English private schools have access to more than 10 times as much outdoor space as those who go to state schools, an exclusive Guardian analysis can reveal.

A schoolboy at fee-charging Eton has access to 140 times more green space than the average English state school pupil, the analysis found. Experts condemned the ‘staggering’ and ‘gross’”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/16/revealed-private-schools-have-10-times-more-green-space-than-state-schools

Damn, you’d think it was a monarchy or something.

#England #inequality

The last time a big galaxy crashed into ours was between 8 and 11 billion years ago. It added about 50 billion solar masses to our galaxy. And its remains, still visible today, are called the Sausage.

Why the funny name? It's the red thing in the picture! This picture shows orbits of various typical stars in the Milky Way. The z direction is at right angles to the galactic disk. There are 3 quite different kinds of stars:

• The green orbit is a star in the galactic disk, like our Sun.

• The blue orbit is a star in the galactic halo. These stars tend to be very old: over 12 billion years old.

• The red orbit is a star in the Sausage. It moves back and forth in a very narrow orbit!

We learned about the Sausage only after 2014, when an EU-run satellite called Gaia began carefully measuring the velocities of many stars in the Milky Way. Many dwarf galaxies that collided with the Milky Way were already known. But the Sausage was hard to detect until we got good at watching stars move by repeatedly measuring their position!

Redshifts are only good for telling if something is moving toward or away from you. Stars in the Sausage are moving back and forth from our point of view. Gaia accurately measured the position of a billion astronomical objects, measuring each 70 times in its five-year life.

For more on the Sausage:

https://people.ast.cam.ac.uk/~vasily/gaia_sausage/info.html

@COVID19_DISEASE

This will wipe out the anti-mask crowd pretty quick.

"the mortality is “probably somewhere between 25 and 50 percent mortality.”

“I really do think it’s very likely that we will, at some time it’s not a question of if it’s more of a question of when we will have a bird flu pandemic,”

#covid #CovidIsNotOver #birdflu

I wish people would read more about Long COVID. People think it's rare; it's not. Or they think the healthy and the young can't get it; they can.

"I want people to know that I'm not lying, [long COVID] is real and can happen to anyone. I want people to know I'm not just trying to get out of doing school or sport — I wish I could do sport … I wish they understood I am just trying to save myself from being stuck in bed in pain for days afterwards."

- 12-year-old girl

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-16/children-with-long-covid-dismissed-doctors-myth-virus-harmless/103959078

🧵 4/4 Thoughts on the UK 2024 general election

Even though I am happy to see Reform take enough votes away from the Tories to let Labour, Green, or Lib Dem candidates win, I am praying that they fail to win any seat in the Commons. I don't want them given any more opportunities to spout their poisonous rhetoric.

I am particularly hoping to see Farage lose in Clacton. If he does, then maybe the BBC will at last recognise that there is no reason whatsoever to give this man a platform week after week.

Image: Wikimedia commons

I used to write jokes on pieces of paper but no one else ever saw them. Now I put them on Mastodon to save paper. #humor #jokes

"I would like to see us do more as a national to support the freeing up of pharmaceutical IP rights to allow more equitable access to essential medicines such as vaccines across the globe. Too often NZ seems to take a position on the world stage of bolstering corporate rights over the rights of people to access medicine, and the common wealth of the body of scientific knowledge."

#NandorTanczos, 2024

https://nandor.net.nz/2024/03/24/my-submission-to-the-covid-inquiry/

100% For more on this see;

https://mastodon.nzoss.nz/@strypey/112302407722458061

I feel like you've got it made when you live in a place where you can take your son to a birthday dinner and gelato and get practically a private concert from a world-class jazz guitarist, who will then recognize you when you randomly show up to his next gig.

So, if you're in the Pasadena area and you want to hear great jazz guitar, check this guy out.

https://benthomasmusic.com/home

On Twitter, the right-wing bots and trolls are terrible. On Mastodon, the leftist purity tests and attacks are awful and may yet drive me off the platform.

If you think attacking people on your side of issues for not being supportive enough is a smart tactic, can I recommend taking a social media break?

We're all doing our best to balance many conflicting life priorities. No one is perfect. Not you; not me. Save your ire for the uninformed and hurtful, not people who want what you do!

Down Tor (or Hingston Hill), Dartmoor. A megalithic ring-cairn attached to a stone row.

#StandingStoneSunday

Are you listening #Labour !?
The electorate are not children.
14years of #ToryIncompetence & austerity.
We all know what's needed.
Sort it out, FFS

#UkPolitics #ge2024

Six out of 10 support more NHS spending even if it means paying more tax - poll

https://ground.news/article/six-in-10-back-more-nhs-spending-even-if-it-means-higher-taxes-poll?utm_source=mobile-app&utm_medium=newsroom-share

🚨 #BREAKING

Former CDC director predicts bird flu pandemic

📌 He also noted that bird flu has a “significant mortality” when it enters humans compared to COVID-19.

Redfield predicts the mortality is “probably somewhere between 25 and 50 percent mortality.”

“I really do think it’s very likely that we will, at some time it’s not a question of if it’s more of a question of when we will have a bird flu pandemic,” Redfield said.

Cancer’s Molecular Achilles Heel: Key to Improving Cancer Treatments Discovered https://scitechdaily.com/cancers-molecular-achilles-heel-key-to-improving-cancer-treatments-discovered/ #science