Curiosity December 2022

Curiosity December E38

The month of December Solstice 21st Dec., Makara Sankranthi in India

• 8 Billion humans on the planet
• Crime is lower when cities are greener, evidence from South African study
• UK weather prompts ‘second spring’ due to mild November weather
• Mauna Loa — the world’s largest active volcano — is erupting for the first time since 1984.
• Mauna Loa’s summit is 13,680ft (4,170m) above sea level, but its base is on the sea floor. From there to the summit is 30,085ft (9,170m), making it taller than Mount Everest.

This month’s Discoveries

1. Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab hailed as momentous breakthrough
2. Attractive female students no longer earned higher grades when classes moved online during COVID-19
3. Study shows when comparing students who have identical subject-specific competence, teachers are more likely to give higher grades to girls.
4. White South-African students who were randomly allocated to share a dorm room with black students were less likely to express negative stereotypes of Blacks and more likely to form interracial friendships, while the black students improved their GPA, passed more exams and had lower dropout rates.
5. 1 in 5 deaths of US adults 20 to 49 is from excessive drinking, study shows | CNN
6. Living alone increases the risk for depression by 42%, according to recent research (seven studies; 123,859 individuals)
7. Just one surface crack on a Teflon-coated pan can release about 9100 plastic particles, found researchers
8. Oldest evidence of the controlled use of fire to cook food. Hominins living at Gesher Benot Ya’akov 780,000 years ago were apparently capable of controlling fire to cook their meals, a skill once thought to be the sole province of modern humans who evolved hundreds of thousands of years later.
9. A new breed of rice that is a hybrid of an annual Asian rice and a perennial African rice could be a more sustainable option. The hybrid rice was able to produce grain for 8 consecutive harvests over four years at a yield comparable to the standard annual Asian rice, with much lower costs & labour.
10. Long COVID study suggests lost connections between neurons may explain cognitive symptoms
11. Plant-based diet can cut bowel cancer risk in men by 22%, says study | Nutrition
12. Overconfidencev in one’s reasoning abilities and distrust of science are linked to COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs
13. Evolution of Tree Roots Triggered Series of Devonian Mass Extinctions, Study Suggests.The evolution of tree roots likely flooded past oceans with excess nutrients, causing massive algae growth; these destructive algae blooms would have depleted most of the oceans’ oxygen, triggering mass extinctions. Root exudates solubalizes phospherous in volcanic rocks.
14. Cannabis oil failed to improve pain or quality of life in palliative care cancer patients, study shows | Australia news
15. People don’t mate randomly — but the flawed assumption that they do is an essential part of many studies linking genes to diseases and traits

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Observances: General

· 1 AIDS Day

· 2 National Pollution Prevention Day

· 3 Persons with disabilities

· 5 Soil

· 7 Civil Aviation

· 9 Anti-Genocide & Anti-Corruption

· 10 Human Rights

· 11 Mountain

· 12 Neutrality (like NAM), Universal Health Coverage

· 18 Migrants

· 27 Epidemic Preparedness

Observances: Astronomy (all binocular events) Sky View App

· 1 Mars at perigee

· Moon-Jupiter Conh

· Pheonicid Meteor shower

· 6 Cassiopeid meteor shower

· 7 Puppid Velid showers

· 8 The cold moon

· 9 Monocerotid showers

· 12 Alpha Hybrid showers

· 14 geminid showers

· 16 Comae-Berenicid showers

· 20 December leonis minored

· 22 December solstice

· 26 Moon-Saturn Conj

· 29 Moon-Jupiter conj

Opportunities

· Asean-India collaborative R&D Scheme DST, 31st dec

· Eiffel scholarship, 10th Jan

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