A quantum computer is a remarkable device. While, at current, it's still limited in its application, we now know that it can be faster than the fastest computers we currently have access to.

All proteins in a cell are assembled by complicated molecular machines. The cell nucleus is a kind of vault: It is located in the cell and guards the DNA, which contains the building instructions for all the cell's proteins. When the cell needs a protein for a specific task, it orders a transcript of the matching DNA segment in the nucleus. This copy leaves the nucleus and reaches the ribosomes, complex molecular machines. These then work through the instructions step by step to produce the desired protein.

Did french fries taste better when they were cooked in fat? How about Coca-Cola when it was made with cane sugar or Fritos when they were salty?

People will insist they can tell the difference and they probably can, but sales show that different is not worse. Today, adults are nostalgic about the stuff that older people say is no good.

What about the taste of coffee? It is entirely subjective. Dark roast or light, Arabica or Robusta, you like what you like. What if what you like changes?

A new paper seeks to sound the climate change around using coffee growing conditions. 

A tipping point in climate computer estimates is a threshold where large and perhaps irreversible changes occur. Some estimates are silly, 20 foot ocean rises, etc., but without data from recent times it is hard to make models more reliable. There was a period of high warming nearly 1,100 years ago and in 10,000 B.C. we were still in an ice age, but with only accurate temperature readings for the last 40 years, and formal observation at all only done for the last 150 years, the only way for climate models of the future to be calibrated is to 'predict the past.'

A research team is working to better define how the finger interacts with a device to create technology that goes beyond sensing and reacting to touch - they want the ability to mimic the feeling of physical objects.

Like virtual shopping experience that would let the user feel the texture of materials before purchasing them. And that's actually better for us in many ways.

In a horrendous accident, a cinematographer has died and a director has been injured after Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun while filming in New Mexico.

When shooting a film with guns, there are many choices to make: each prop needs to be appropriate for the character, and appropriate for the scene. There is also the choice of whether you will use replica weapons, real weapons, or a mix.

But most importantly, everyone on set needs to know how to work alongside guns.

From time to time we get larger solar storms. One of the last major ones was the one in March 1989 geomagnetic storm which caused a nine hour power cut in Quebec. That happened because they weren’t prepared for it. Modern power supplies are hardened against this, making such events much less likely.

There were earlier studies suggesting widespread damage to transformers which could cause months to years to repair, widespread power supply problems that would take a long time to resolve, and trillions of dollars of damage, so a large economic impact.

This is for people who worry that the Democrats in the USA will never come to agreement on their climate policies. It’s tough work for them, because they have to get agreement of 50 senators, even one abstention and they will lose the vote.

IMHO this is also a strength- the bill is getting intense scrutiny. Everyone’s concerns need to be listened to. Joe Manchin seems genuine and he represents centrist politicians in the USA - a bill is more likely to work if he is behind it too.

How to motivate your self, and others to act on climate change, biodiversity or anything else - tips from psychology

This talk may help you if you are thinking about how to motivate both yourself and others, and also governments, to act on climate change, biodiversity loss or indeed anything. The way you might do it instinctively, to focus on all the negatives that need to be fixed, is actually not the best approach. Psychologists call this negative framing.

Psychology says, in order to create engagement, we should present, on balance, three positive or supportive framings for each climate threat we mention.

Epsen Stokes, 8:49 into this video.

I’ve written in the past about the tendency of some researchers to compensate for weak study design or small sample size by over-hyping their research findings, particularly with the news media.