"Experimental studies have explored both hypotheses about ballooning spiders. For instance, one 2018 study in Current Biology found that spiders seem able to detect electric fields under natural atmospheric conditions. This triggers ballooning behavior, the study suggests, and the electric fields provide sufficient force to generate lift."
"After 10 years of careful analysis and scrutiny, scientists of the CDF collaboration at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory announced on April 7, 2022, that they have achieved the most precise measurement to date of the mass of the W boson, one of nature’s force-carrying particles. Using data collected by the Collider Detector at Fermilab, or CDF, scientists have now determined the particle’s mass with a precision of 0.01% — twice as precise as the previous best measurement… The new precision measurement, published in the journal Science, allows scientists to test the Standard Model of particle physics, the theoretical framework that describes nature at its most fundamental level. The result: The new mass value shows tension with the value scientists obtain using experimental and theoretical inputs in the context of the Standard Model."
"An I-Team investigation into a recall of Philips Respironics Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machines has many sleep apnea patients telling WBZ-TV they are now left with a difficult choice: leave their condition untreated or risk using a device that could potentially cause cancer." Still waiting, Philips.
"The overwork and short staffing of the pandemic has affected veterinarians as much as it has other doctors and nurses, and dealing with the constant moral dilemmas and emotional output is driving many to burn out. At the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' veterinary hospital in San Francisco, so many vets and technicians have left, the clinic has had to cut back its hours, says veterinarian Kathy Gervais."
"A fresh wave of Covid-19 cases swept through the nation's capital this week, striking officials at the highest levels of government and disrupting business just as President Joe Biden and other political leaders are urging a return to normalcy." Jazz hands.
"In a daylong virtual meeting, a panel of experts advising the Food and Drug Administration came out in general support of efforts to develop new COVID-19 vaccines tailored to variants."
"More people can now get second Covid-19 booster shots after federal health officials announced they are allowing a broader group to get fourth doses of the two messenger RNA Covid-19 vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna."
"It took until 20 October 2020 for the (WHO) to acknowledge that aerosols — tiny specks of fluid — can transmit (SARS-Cov2), but the WHO said this was a concern only in specific settings, such as indoor, crowded and inadequately ventilated spaces. Over the next six months, the agency gradually altered its advice to say that aerosols could carry the virus for more than a metre and remain in the air."
"Anderson is not alone. The payments from the child tax credit were closing the gaps on child hunger and poverty across America. And in the months since they ended, there's evidence that the families who needed the money the most have already slipped back into financial trouble."
"JetBlue Airways is offering flight attendants $1,000 bonuses if they don’t call out from work starting Friday through the end of May as the carrier tries to ensure adequate staffing during a surge in travel demand, according to a company message." See note above about surging COVID infections.
"The nation's largest retailer has launched a training program that gives employees who work in its distribution or fulfillment centers a chance to become certified Walmart truck drivers through a 12-week program taught by the company's established drivers." And while their pay looks great, I'm wondering if Walmart does what a lot of these schemes have done, sucker the drivers into buying their own rigs, and then working them as contractors so the debt servicing and cost of driving makes the job a net loss.
"Several new reports from real estate companies suggest buyers may be starting to get a break in this red-hot housing market. More listings are coming up for sale, and some sellers are lowering their asking prices."
"Anyone looking for affordable housing in central or southern Florida is in for a wild ride — and that's why two Florida theme parks are pledging to devote around 100 acres of land to ease the housing crunch… In places like Orlando and Tampa, rent has been rising faster than nearly every other part of the U.S. The average rent in Orlando jumped by 21% in just one year, from 2020 to 2021… Walt Disney World plans to build more than 1,300 housing units on nearly 80 acres of land in Orange County (which includes Orlando), but it adds that the plan is still in the early stages and needs regulatory approvals." I'm stuck between, "well, hello company town" and reminding people that Disney (and other major brand) Parks is not about the rides and attractions, it's about the shopping. And that both of these will be tied to shopping complexes (not necessarily malls), now you can live in the "amusement" park.
"The board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) is meeting on Friday to consider sanctions against Will Smith after the actor hit Chris Rock at the Oscars on 27 March."
NPR's Ukraine War "latest news" post (which makes it damn hard to link to anything specific) including a Russian official stating their losses are "significant", global food prices rising because of the war (were starting into the crucial planting season in Ukraine), satellite photos show Russian troops camping in Chernobyl's exclusion zone, and the missile attack on a Ukrainian train station. To my Russian friends, because I know you're still looking and reporting, to be direct, the mood is changing and your leadership's actions are making a moral case for the rest of the world to get involved. In case you don't see it, the calculus is changing, and it's not going your way.
"At least 50 people, including five children, were killed after Russian forces carried out a missile strike on a railway station in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, that was being used by civilians trying to flee the fighting, Ukrainian officials said Friday."
"In its latest round of punitive actions against the Kremlin, the State Department issued sanctions Thursday against a shipbuilding corporation - one of Russia's largest state-owned enterprises - and the world's largest diamond mining company."
"The U.N. General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from the world organization’s leading human rights body over allegations that Russian soldiers in Ukraine engaged in rights violations that the United States and Ukraine have called war crimes."
"Now, rock legends Pink Floyd have taken Khlyvnyuk's vocals and composed a charity single around it — the band's first new original music since 1994's 'Division Bell.'" Whelp, now ya done it. Ya've pissed off Pink Floyd.
"The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen attacked each other in media interviews and walkabouts as final polls showed the gap between them narrowing on the last day of campaigning before Sunday’s first-round vote."
"Investigators alleged Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 35, posed as various officers and employees of the U.S. government… and duped actual federal officers into believing their guise. They are each charged with one count of false impersonation of a federal officer and have yet to enter a plea… Law enforcement sources told CBS News that investigators are looking into the possibility that the two suspects have ties to Iranian intelligence including to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite component of the Iranian military that conducts special operations, or the Quds force."
"The Alabama House of Representatives voted 66-28 for legislation to make it a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for a doctor to prescribe puberty blockers or hormones or perform surgery to aid in the gender transition of people under age 19. The bill now goes to Republican Gov. Kay Ivey for her signature as Alabama becomes the latest red state to promote legislation and policies aimed at trans youth. Ivey has not indicated whether she will sign it."
"Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a bill this week that would mandate student athletes to participate in sports based on the sex written on their birth certificate… Senate Bill 83, known as the 'Fairness in Women's Sports Act,' passed the state Senate 26-9 and was sent to Beshear on March 25. Beshear's veto came on Wednesday." It'll most likely be overridden.
"To Ellis, Bundy gave ranchers — actual, working, public lands ranchers who follow the law and pay their fees — a bad name. Self-described moderate Republicans like her viewed the scofflaw rebellion as a precursor to today's right-wing politics of conspiracies and trolling becoming mainstreamed. Ellis is also alarmed by the meanness and threats directed at anyone with opposing viewpoints." Glad to see conservatives lash back at the direction their party is going, but fearing it's too late (and they will ultimately not be willing to pay the price to get the assholes out).
"Consider, for a minute, what the former President is saying there. When he thinks back on a day that left several people dead and more than a hundred police officers wounded, his big regret is that he didn't march with the mob to the Capitol building. Not that people lost their lives. Not that lawmakers feared for their well-being. Not that it took him several hours of watching the riot unfold on TV before issuing a lukewarm call for the rioters to go home."
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