the Stuff That's Just Really Cool thread

[Valkyrie]

One of the coolest things I've seen lately....

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/light-infinite-lifetime/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

Edit: We learned this stuff in physics class, but it's something else to see it.

 

[moocow]

Bird flu genetic parts detected in US pasteurized milk. Not sure if the pasteurization processed killed the virus or not but then again I'm not dumb enough to consume raw milk.

The Bird Flu Situation Is Not Looking Great

FDA lab tests detected traces of H5N1 avian influenza in store-bought milk, suggesting it's spread further than currently documented.

gizmodo.com

 

[sswilson]

Not mind blowingly cool, but I've recently been seeing the Nix Mini in my feeds and it's all I can do to not rush out to buy one.

Nix Mini 2: The best smart accessory you didn't know about | Digital Trends

The Nix Mini 2 is a smart, portable color wizard that scans colors in the real world and transposes them to digital formats. It syncs with your mobile devices.

www.digitaltrends.com

It's essentially a portable colour match device like they'd use when you brought a paint chip into the hardware store.

 

[LaughingCrow]

Bird flu genetic parts detected in US pasteurized milk. Not sure if the pasteurization processed killed the virus or not but then again I'm not dumb enough to consume raw milk.

The Bird Flu Situation Is Not Looking Great

FDA lab tests detected traces of H5N1 avian influenza in store-bought milk, suggesting it's spread further than currently documented.

gizmodo.com

Pasteurizing will kill it. The worrying thing is that it shows H5N1 has been in cattle for a lot longer than expected. In a related note, Alberta (and probably elsewhere) has seen an increase in the sale of uninspected meat. If it's passed to cattle in larger numbers, then it has the potential to pass/mutate to other animals.

The bigger worry is that H5N1, an avian influenza has jumped to animals. H5N1 in poultry factory farms has resulted in having to cull a lot of poultry in recent years including Canada. Given the state of factory farming, transportation of animals, corporate cutbacks, etc. along with how the COVID pandemic was mishandled, isn't very assuring to me.

H5N1 in humans is the one that worries medicine and science the most - it has a human mortality rate of over 50%,

Avian Influenza

 

[LaughingCrow]

H5N1 in humans is the one that worries medicine and science the most - it has a human mortality rate of over 50%,

Here's more. H5N1 has been found in polar bears, coyotes, elephant seals and is found in many american birds, including migratory birds.

CBC News - 20 minute Podcast on H5N1

 

[moocow]

Here's an brief history from US CDC. Since I'm originally from Hong Kong, I still kind of keep tabs of what happens there. It was a pretty scary thing when it was detected since they basically had to gassed all the farmed birds whenever bird flu was detected. I remember one news coverage of some duck farmers in China had to bury their birds alive because the government didn't have or ran out of CO2.

Emergence and Evolution of H5N1 Bird Flu | Avian Influenza (Flu)

How current H5N1 bird flu viruses emerged and evolved

www.cdc.gov

 

[Marzipan]

spiders discovered on Mars!!!

but it's not quite what you think...

Hundreds of black 'spiders' spotted in mysterious 'Inca City' on Mars in new satellite photos

Every spring, creepy black 'spiders' sprout up on Mars as buried carbon dioxide ice releases dusty geysers of gas. New ESA images show the phenomenon has begun in the strange Inca City formation.

www.livescience.com

 

[Marzipan]

a very cool demonstrator aircraft that's in the works.

This Bonkers New X-Plane Uses Holes in Its Wings to Hit Mach Speeds

The X-65 experimental jet has fourteen aerodynamic control effectors are embedded into the wings and fuselage to control speed and direction.

robbreport.com

 

[moocow]

If you're commit a crime already, may be don't do other stuff that draw attention to yourself.

This Carpool Passenger Dummy Was Good Enough to Fool the Cops Until it Wasn’t

"The appearance is next level modeling but at the end of the day… plastic is plastic."

www.thedrive.com

 

[LaughingCrow]

Here's an brief history from US CDC. Since I'm originally from Hong Kong, I still kind of keep tabs of what happens there. It was a pretty scary thing when it was detected since they basically had to gassed all the farmed birds whenever bird flu was detected. I remember one news coverage of some duck farmers in China had to bury their birds alive because the government didn't have or ran out of CO2.

Emergence and Evolution of H5N1 Bird Flu | Avian Influenza (Flu)

How current H5N1 bird flu viruses emerged and evolved

www.cdc.gov

More scary, startling news from Texas in the US. Cats (probably) consuming unpasteurized cow milk have been dying.

Since 2022, the USDA has found H5N1 in over 200 mammals, from big cats in zoos to harbor seals, mountain lions, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, polar bears, black bears, foxes, and bottlenose dolphins.

https://arstechnica.com/science/202...ird-flu-from-cows-to-cats-suspected-in-texas/