Curiosity February 2024
E52, recorded from GSFK (Global Science Festival Kerala), Trivandrum, Kerala
The monthly roundup of the latest science stories.
February comes from februum (L), purification. Ritual purification by pagans on February full moon day- the snow moon (24th of this month). 2024 is the leap year; with 29 days in Feb. last was 2020 and the next will be 2028
Month of Violet (Viola) Florigraphy: Language of flowers
The Science Month in India | 28th Feb National Science Day.
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Last month’s science news
- 2023 had been the warmest year on record by a huge margin, according to World Meteorological Organization
- Lifespan gap between sexes shrinking across the world
- Pooled procurement by National Cancer Grid a private firm lead to 82% cost reduction in cancer drugs
- NASA finally opens up the stuck Bennu sampler
- Uranus and Neptune reveal their true colors! Pale green because of methane, not blue. | Uranus’ ring revealed in a stunning photo by JWST last month
This month’s Discoveries
- Bottled water contains hundreds of thousands of plastic bits: study
- Endocrine-disrupting chemicals found in menstrual products including tampons, pads, and liners. Vaginal and vulvar tissue is highly permeable, and chemicals are absorbed without being metabolized, which makes endocrine-disrupting chemicals potentially dangerous when found in menstrual products.
- Gut microbiome may play a role in social anxiety disorder
- Violent video games decrease stress hormones, study finds: Playing violent video games might actually decrease stress hormones in some players.
- More green and blue spaces may boost older adult health
- Psychopathic men (but not women) have more children
- Reindeers are the only mammals whose eyes change colour depending on the season, from golden-orange in summer to a blue hue in winter. A new study found that while the colour shift may help them see better in winter when snowfall is heavy, it also allows their eyes to transmit ultraviolet light.
- Bipolar disorder linked to early death more than smoking
- Study finds bigfoot (sasquatch) sightings correlate with black bear populations
- A new study of more than 400,000 UK adults found that frequently adding salt to foods was associated with an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes: participants who “sometimes,” “usually,” or “always” added salt had a respective 13%, 20%, and 39% higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes
- Third major study finds that multivitamin supplements improve memory and slow cognitive aging in older adults, confirming consistent and statistically significant benefits of a daily multivitamin versus placebo for both memory and global cognition, according to the authors.
- We now know why urine is yellow. The reason is bilirubin reductase, an enzyme in the gut bacterium that converts bilirubin to urobilinogen, that gets degraded into urobilin-the reason for yellow color
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Observances
- 2 Feb World Wetlands Day
- 8 Moon-Venus conjunction
- 10 Pulses Day
- 11 Women and Girls in Science
- 13 World Radio Day
- 15 Moon-Jupiter Conjunction
- 24 The Snow Moon
Opportunities
- ThinkSwiss research scholarship 16th Feb
- SRI2024 Scholarships for Early Career Scientists
- Call for grants for the International Union of Soil Science Congress and Centennial Celebration for early-career scientists (deadline: 15 February)
- ICGEB Aturo Falaschi PhD fellowship, 31st Mar 24
- TWAS-DBT Post Doc, 19 Mar 24
- Call for applicants for IUPAC-SOLVAY International Award for Young Chemists for most outstanding Ph.D. theses in chemical sciences (deadline: 15 February)
- Several JRF/Project position calls shared in Facebook group
My latest book “Antarctican Paryatanam” in Malayalam just got published by Kerala Bhasha Institute. Also “Biostatistics and Mathematical Biology” and Life Skills” are now available on sale, Rs. 435 only. Order here. YAI Fb page lists more exciting curiosity-driven research news every day, do subscribe.
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