(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Overnight News Digest - Science Saturday - Birds, attoseconds, tiny forests, bowel cancer remedy [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-14 Welcome to Overnight News Digest- Saturday Science. Since 2007 the OND has been a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00 AM Eastern Time. Topics in this edition include: How a scientist won a Nobel Prize Green bananas and other foods found to reduce cancers Making batteries with recycled materials What is an attosecond? Farmers are bearing the brunt of big food companies’ decarbonization efforts Space weather anomalies cause navigation problems in birds Tiny forests roughly the size of a basketball court are popping up in urban areas New roadmap for defeating bowel cancer Innovative building design keeps itself cool without AC Freethink by Sean Liddick and Katharina Domnanich and Artemis Spyrou How a scientist looking to prove his food wasn’t fresh discovered radioactive tracers and won a Nobel Prize ​​​​ Each October, the Nobel Prizes celebrate a handful of groundbreaking scientific achievements. And while many of the awarded discoveries revolutionize the field of science, some originate in unconventional places. For George de Hevesy, the 1943 Nobel Laureate in chemistry who discovered radioactive tracers, that place was a boarding house cafeteria in Manchester, U.K., in 1911. De Hevesey had the sneaking suspicion that the staff of the boarding house cafeteria where he ate at every day was reusing leftovers from the dinner plates – each day’s soup seemed to contain all of the prior day’s ingredients. So he came up with a plan to test his theory. The Brighter Side News Green bananas found to prevent and reduce cancers by more than 60% A groundbreaking trial has revealed that resistant starch, found in common foods like oats and slightly green bananas, can significantly reduce the risk of a wide range of cancers. The study, called CAPP2, involved nearly 1,000 participants with Lynch syndrome from around the world and was led by experts from the Universities of Newcastle and Leeds. According to Cancer Research UK, Lynch syndrome affects approximately one in 300 people in the UK and is caused by a genetic fault that increases the risk of bowel, womb, and ovarian cancer, as well as other cancers. People with Lynch syndrome have up to an 80% chance of developing bowel cancer in their lifetime and are also at risk of developing other cancers at a younger age than the general population. The study results showed that a regular dose of resistant starch, also known as fermentable fibre, taken for an average of two years, did not affect cancers in the bowel but did reduce cancers in other parts of the body by more than half. The Cooldown by Tina Daines GROUNDBREAKING PARTNERSHIP COULD REVOLUTIONIZE THE BATTERY INDUSTRY: ‘THIS IS A MAJOR MILESTONE’ North American consumers could soon see more lithium-ion batteries with recycled materials, thanks to a collaboration from four companies. The players are global battery maker BASF, Florida-based graphene energy storage maker Nanotech Energy, Nevada-based lithium-ion battery recycling company American Battery Technology Company (ABTC), and Ontario-based TODA Advanced Materials. The group is working together to create a domestic closed-loop system for lithium-ion battery cell production. To accomplish this feat, ABTC will first recycle battery scrap and off-spec material created at two Nanotech facilities. Salon by Aaron W. Harrison What is an attosecond? A physical chemist explains the tiny time scale that earned a Nobel prize A group of three researchers earned the 2023 Nobel Prize in physics for work that has revolutionized how scientists study the electron – by illuminating molecules with attosecond-long flashes of light. But how long is an attosecond, and what can these infinitesimally short pulses tell researchers about the nature of matter? I first learned of this area of research as a graduate student in physical chemistry. My doctoral adviser’s group had a project dedicated to studying chemical reactions with attosecond pulses. Before understanding why attosecond research resulted in the most prestigious award in the sciences, it helps to understand what an attosecond pulse of light is. “Atto” is the scientific notation prefix that represents 10-18, which is a decimal point followed by 17 zeroes and a 1. So a flash of light lasting an attosecond, or 0.000000000000000001 of a second, is an extremely short pulse of light. In fact, there are approximately as many attoseconds in one second as there are seconds in the age of the universe. Salon by Albert Boaity Farmers are bearing the brunt of big food companies’ decarbonization efforts — here’s why More than a third of the global greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human activity can be attributed to the way we produce, process and package food. So it comes as no surprise that many large companies involved in food production and retailing are under pressure from investors, politicians and environmental groups to clean up their operations. Having a carbon-neutral supply chain isn't just good for the environment, it's a smart business move too, especially at a time when the public is growing more concerned about the negative effects of climate change. Several leading fast-food chains are starting to take note. McDonald's, for example, has announced plans to achieve net zero emissions from its entire business operation by 2040. Yet the corporate rush to reduce the environmental footprint of their food supply chains poses several challenges for farmers. These supply chains — from providing ingredients, to processing and retailing — are mainly controlled by a handful of large companies. In the US, Walmart holds a quarter of the grocery market share, while Tesco commands 27% of the UK's food retail sector. This level of concentration means that initiatives for decarbonizing the food supply system are spearheaded by large companies. This is a problem because the proposed measures are often impractical for smaller farms, expensive or lack buy-in from farmers. Salon by Matthew Rozsa Funky space weather causes navigation problems in birds, study finds Space weather is exactly what it sounds like: variations in the environment between Earth and the Sun, influenced by factors like solar wind and the ionosphere, the buzzing layer of the atmosphere that is ionized by solar radiation. Birds rely on the Earth's magnetic field to navigate, yet until recently it was unclear whether space weather could make it more difficult for these same birds to fly. Now a recent study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests the answer is yes. "Our results suggest that fewer birds migrate during strong geomagnetic disturbances and that migrating birds may experience more difficulty navigating, especially under overcast conditions in autumn," the authors explain. To learn this, the authors analyzed an unprecedented quantity of data about how birds migrate, drawing from visual information gleaned by 37 NEXRAD Doppler weather radar stations over a period of 23 years. They then cross referenced that data with information about geomagnetic disturbances within those same regions. By doing this, the scientists learned whether events like severe space weather events that disrupt the magnetic field — most notably solar flares — had a measurable effect on those birds who migrated across a 1,000 mile swatch of the Great Plains from North Dakota to Texas. They learned that the number of migrating birds in the Great Plains region decreases on average from 9 percent to 17 percent during periods of severe space weather. Additionally, there were more examples of birds getting lost while migrating, a phenomenon known as migratory bird vagrancy. Birds were also less likely to fly against the wind "under both overcast conditions and high geomagnetic disturbance," due to "a combination of obscured celestial cues and magnetic disturbance." The Cooldown by Lee Colis THESE ‘TINY FORESTS’ ARE POPPING UP IN CITIES AROUND THE COUNTRY — AND THEY’RE HAVING A SHOCKING EFFECT ON COMMUNITIES Some say the best things come in small packages, and that might be true when it comes to these tiny forests. Around the world, many nations are creating small forests of native plants to encourage biodiversity and to bring a number of benefits to local residents and the planet at large. Some say the best things come in small packages, and that might be true when it comes to these tiny forests. Around the world, many nations are creating small forests of native plants to encourage biodiversity and to bring a number of benefits to local residents and the planet at large. New Atlas by Bronwyn Thompson In a world first, scientists discover 'roadmap' to beating bowel cancer According to the American Cancer Society, around 150,000 new cases of rectal and colon cancer are diagnosed each year. And while the number is slowly trending downward, thanks to an increase in pre-emptive age-related screening, it’s still the third biggest cancer in the US, affecting around one in 23 men and one in 26 women. It’s also difficult to treat, with just 10% of patients responding to current immunotherapies. This means that treatment is more often than not surgery, removing all the cancerous tissue. As such, while it might improve survival rate, it can have a huge impact on quality of life outcomes for patients. Now, researchers at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute at La Trobe University in Australia have found that how a patient responds to cancer comes down to how effective a group of immune cells in the large bowel are. The Cooldown by Wes Stengel REVOLUTIONARY DESIGN ALLOWS BUILDING TO KEEP ITSELF COOL WITHOUT AIR CONDITIONING: ‘WE’RE IN TRIPLE-DIGIT HEAT’ In Conroe, a suburb of Houston, architecture company Modu and climate-focused engineering company Transsolar have teamed up to create an innovative building design that keeps itself cool without air conditioning. The 14,000-square-foot building, which was recently completed and will be home to stores and medical spaces in the near future, features concrete walls with deep grooves that move heat away from the building by providing more surface area for the building, according to Fast Company. Tests showed that the ridged pattern kept the wall 18 degrees cooler than a comparable traditional flat wall in the same location. The walls also use a dirt-repelling white paint that reflects sunlight to further enhance their cooling capabilities. Finding ways to keep buildings and their occupants cool is a vital practice as the planet continues to dangerously overheat. Though air conditioning offers tempting — and often crucial — short-term comforts, it does more harm than good in the long run, as AC units are designed to pump hot air from indoors to outdoors, thus increasing the external temperature, according to Euronews. This is an open thread where everyone is welcome, especially night owls and early birds, to share and discuss the science news of the day. Please share your articles and stories in the comments. 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