The Most Important Crypto Bills in Front of Congress
A handful of bills currently in the halls of Congress might finally bring long-awaited regulatory clarity for Bitcoin and other cryptos. The crypto community has had a rough few years. With major collapses like Samuel Bankman-Fried’s FTX and Do Kwon’s Terraform Labs, the US Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC) suing Ripple, Coinbase, and Binance, and a seemingly never-ending slew of failed projects/outright scams like Logan Paul’s CryptoZoo, the future of crypto is on rocky footing. The price of Bitcoin hit its all-time high of $67,567 in November 2021, and today it languishes below $30,000. Though some predict prices far higher in the near future, many would-be investors are afraid to enter the market.
Read full storyWhy Uganda's New Anti-LGBTQ Bill Is a Crime Against Humanity
Uganda’s persecution of the LGBTQ community clearly meets the definition of crimes against humanity. Scholars can’t agree where the term “crimes against humanity” originated. It might come from the late 18th century when international abolitionists described the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, which was then at its height. Some believe it came from the missionaries and journalists who witnessed the wide-spread atrocities happening in the Belgian Congo around the same time, while others have suggested that it came from the 1915 official Allied declaration condemning the Armenian genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire.
Read full storyThe American Behind Uganda's New Anti-LGBTQ Bill
Scott Lively is one of many evangelical activists pushing hate against the LGBTQ community in Uganda and other African nations. Since the early 90s, Lively has been crusading against the LGBTQ community around the world, most notably in the US, Latvia, Russia, and Uganda, by spreading demonstrably false claims, founding and running extremist groups, and helping to author hate-based legislation. And now his influence is on full display in Uganda’s new anti-LGBTQ bill.
Read full storySending Energy With Quantum Entanglement
The Quantum World Is Weird, and Now It Seems Even Crazier Than We Thought. Our brains evolved to understand a narrow slice of the universe, and anything outside of this slice seems bizarre. We intuitively grasp the flight of a spear, a running gazelle, or about how long it should take to cross the mountains and return home. All of these were needed to survive in our particular environment and in our particular slice. But something like a galaxy warping spacetime, light behaving as both a particle and a wave, or the behavior of quarks might snap our brains in half if we think about it too long. We simply don’t interact with the universe on those scales.
Read full storyAre Nootropics aka “Smart Drugs” Legit?
Brain enhancement substances have exploded in popularity. But are they a scam? What does the science say?. The purported benefits of these supplements are extensive. Just to name a few, nootropics allegedly boost concentration, improve sleep quality, increase memory retention, reduce stress, and enhance creativity. Andrew Huberman, who is a neuroscience professor,claims they are essential when he wants “to push a workout hard, or a work session, a writing session, or data analysis session.”
Read full storyArtificial Sweeteners Damage Your Gut Flora
Aspartame, saccharin, stevia, and sucralose make concerning changes to your microbiome, according to new research. We all love sugar, but our excessive consumption of it is killing us. Global obesity has almost tripled since 1975, according to the WHO. They also claim 39% of adults (1.9 billion) are overweight, 13% of adults (650 million) are obese, and 340 million children over 5 years old are either obese or overweight. Even children under 5 are being affected, with 39 million being well beyond a healthy weight for their age. Our excessive sugar consumption is also directly linked with increased risk of hyperglycemia, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, among many other health problems shortening our lifespans. The main culprit is our sugar-laden diet.
Read full storyNegative Leap Second Could Break the Internet
Because days are inexplicably becoming longer, we might need the unprecedented negative leap second, but it could break the internet. Keeping our calendars in sync with the Earth has always been problematic. Any system we create, inevitably needs to be periodically adjusted to lineup with reality. The old Julian calendar needed an extra month added when Roman priests thought necessary. The Gregorian calendar, which is used today by most of the world, needs a day added every four years, though 3 of these leap days are omitted every 400 year leap cycle. The Islamic calendar depends on the lunar cycle and is tweaked as needed. Virtually all cultures have devised systems to ensure their calendars line up with the seasons, more specifically the equinoxes.
Read full storyInsects Might Be the Key to Detecting Cancer
Some insects can “smell” cancerous cells, possibly leading to new devices for early detection. Nothing beats a natural nose. Since the early 1980s, researchers have been trying to develop electronic noses, devices that can detect unique airborne chemical signatures, yet anything on the market or even in the lab can’t compete with evolution. Anything produced by humans just can’t match the complexity produced by billions of years of natural selection. So, researchers from Michigan State University have turned to insect noses in their attempt to create a device to detect cancer earlier than ever before.
Read full storyOpinion: Was Newton Wrong About Gravity?
After standing strong for more than 300 years, Newton’s law of universal gravitation might need an update. Newton published the law of universal gravitation in his 1687 Naturalis Principia Mathematica, and it quickly became one of the most important stones on which physics is built. It explains just about everything we can see, from the flight of a ball through the air to the movement of planets. However, some modern physicists have a good reason to question it.
Read full storyDark Matter Fools Us Yet Again
We just can’t figure out dark matter. It solvesa lotof cosmological mysteries, yet it continues to elude some of our best predictions. Dark matter continues to be one of the universe's biggest mysteries.Greg Rakozy.
Read full storyThe Guy Who Sued God to Prove a Point
Ernie Chambers isn’t crazy. He just had something to say about religion and the court system. Ernie Chambers has spent most of his life fighting for disenfranchised groups. In 1980, he played a role in ending South African apartheid by pushing American organizations to divest from South Africa, namely by selling their Kruggerrands; in 1986, he promoted the idea of making university athletes state employees to protect them against exploitation; in 1993, he helped introduce a bill to stop LBGT discrimination. These are just a few among many other examples from a life filled with both activism and controversy.
Read full storyLead Exposure Destroyed 824,000,000 American IQ Points
Lead is a known neurotoxin and can cause severe mental damage(Alchemist-hp) In the last century, nearly half the American population has been exposed to toxic levels of lead, collectively reducing our IQ by 824 million points.
Read full storyDetecting Mental Illness on Social Media with AI
Researchers from Dartmouth can now use AI to analyze a person’s social media history to determine the likelihood of having a mental illness. All of our insightful, angry, funny and/or pointless social media comments are public information, easily obtained, and in the hands of artificial intelligence, can paint a sorely needed picture of our mental health. 3 researchers from Dartmouth College developed a new AI model that can aggregate, label, analyze, and find trends in our post history. The researchers believe their model can discern the emotion of a post and then use this to chart how our emotions fluctuate over time. The unique pattern that emerges can then be compared to the well-known patterns for bipolar, major depressive, and various anxiety disorders, providing a new tool for a world in desperate need of mental health solutions.
Read full storyOpinion: How Trump Buried the National Debate With Logical Fallacies
Donald Trump is an expert at making people’s heads spin by employing several well-known logical fallacies. Because of him, debate with the other side of the aisle is near impossible.
Read full storyNew Atomic Clocks Can Measure Quantum Gravity
Scientists can now measure gravity’s effect on quantum particles, helping to reconcile Einstein’s Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. (User 2092512 from Pixabay) *This post include affiliate links, if you purchase anything through these affiliated links, the author/website may earn a commission*
Read full storyCatching Sunlight in a Bottle, a Big Step for Renewables
German scientists can now store the Sun’s energy in a jar and release it when needed as clean-burning hydrogen gas. (Thomas Kinto from Unsplash) Solar energy has a big problem: we can’t control the Sun. It obviously doesn’t shine at night and the amount of its energy reaching the Earth’s surface is affected by the weather and time of year. So energy generated through solar farms, residential solar installations, etc. is unable to provide a consistent, reliable stream of electricity to power the grid. The solution is to store excess solar energy and release it as needed, but current battery technology is woefully inadequate to do so on a meaningful scale.
Read full storyIsaac Asimov Was Dead Right About Our Cult of Ignorance
“The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’” ― Isaac Asimov.
Read full storyThe Sun Isn’t Hot Enough to Shine
Nuclear fusion requires 100 million degrees Kelvin, yet the Sun’s core can only reach15 million. How then does it create light? A quantum phenomena known as quantum tunneling is the answer.
Read full storyWhy the James Webb Space Telescope is Awesome
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is set to radically change our understanding of the universe. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Public Domain) It's expected to supercharge the hunt for exoplanets, the study of the birth and death of stars, the study of the early universe, and even the exploration of Mars.
Read full storyGravity is the Universe’s Problem Child
“You dig deeper and it gets more and more complicated, and you get confused, and it’s tricky and it’s hard, but it is beautiful.” -Brian Cox. (AlexAntropov86 from Pixabay)
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