Hacker News Reader

wollstonecrafton A variety of corn has evolved a way to make its own nitrogen (2018)

This seems like it would lose an appreciable amount of water, but perhaps not nearly as much as transpiration. But in most places water is a cheaper input than nitrogen.

wollstonecrafton Perchlorate, used in rocket fuels, may be more hazardous than previously thought

But how is this possible? Water has a vapor pressure of 23 millibars at 20 C, meaning water would boil from the leaves.

wollstonecrafton TSMC Announces Intention to Build and Operate Advanced Semiconductor Fab in U.S.

Is Sweden using an unsustainable amount of heaters to fight against deadly winter temperatures? Air conditioning is much more efficient than a heater. Arizona will usually only get more than 15 degrees warmer than a comfortable indoor temperature. In places with cold winters, sometimes temperatures will get more than 25 degrees cooler than a comfortable indoor temperature.

wollstonecrafton Elon Musk reopening Tesla factory despite Alameda County order

It turned out that ventilators kill coronavirus patients at a much higher rate than CPAP machines.

wollstonecrafton How does the coronavirus kill?

Short term, calorie deficit will deplete the immune system. But long term getting to a healthy weight and less diabetic will make you less susceptible to SARS2.

wollstonecrafton Tracking Coronavirus by Smell Test

Olfactory neurons are somewhat notable for their ability to regenerate.

wollstonecrafton Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December?

cf Marburgvirus

wollstonecrafton Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

Every PI at a major research university who does something related to genetics should have one. There are probably some logistics challenges in getting them all into facilities with the right biosafety level and competent technicians to run them.

wollstonecrafton Jack Ma to send 500K coronavirus test kits, 1M face masks to US

"Test kits" are just for sample collection. You still need throughput on a qPCR machine to get results.

wollstonecrafton A single wild tree on a New Zealand island could soon get some neighbors

It is pretty common to induce flowering of plants with gibberellin, for example cannabis.

wollstonecrafton Artificial blood developed for patients of any blood type, researchers say

It looks like we know about 36 different blood group systems, including the well-known ABO and Rh. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_blood_group_systems

wollstonecrafton Long Live Microbiomes

Municipal wastewater treatment does not use expensive treatment or chemicals. It is a huge bioreactor where the only input is aeration and stirring.

wollstonecrafton Hydrophilic disc uses solar power to separate salt from water

Hydrophilic anything in the environment quickly fouls to hydrophobic.

wollstonecrafton YInMn Blue

Why do people get to patent the products of federal grants?

wollstonecrafton Planting 1.2T Trees Could Cancel Out a Decade of CO2 Emissions

We have been genetically modifying plants to maximize CO2 utilization for millenia.

wollstonecrafton China harvested organs from political prisoners, says tribunal

Uyghurs are probably not a tissue match for Han.

wollstonecrafton Mars Colony Prize

How do you reject MWs of waste heat in a near vacuum?

wollstonecrafton Are we alone? Tiny spacecraft will head to Alpha Centauri to find out

A normal tank gun is 30,000 g and electronic fuzes work just fine for those.

wollstonecrafton UBC researchers may have found a way to make donated blood universal

Change headline to type O- they have not managed to make it Rh-negative.

wollstonecrafton Friendly Foxes’ Genes Offer Hints to How Dogs Became Domesticated

This is not just the same perennial article about the fox domestication experiment, they did some new sequencing https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0611-6.

wollstonecrafton Methane leaks from US gas fields dwarf government estimates

What is the detection limit?

wollstonecrafton Ugandan wins Africa prize for bloodless malaria test

This is a pulse oximeter.

wollstonecrafton Scientists find 'friendliness' genes that distinguish dogs from wolves

Simply delete 27 genes from part of chromosome 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_syndrome

wollstonecrafton Plastic Bag Found at the Bottom of World's Deepest Ocean Trench

China is not a developing country. This meme needs to die.

wollstonecrafton Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

Bromoform kills methanogens.

wollstonecrafton California to become first U.S. state mandating solar on new homes

Do you want housing shortage? Because that's how you get housing shortage

wollstonecrafton The Difficulty of Untraining Drug Dogs How to Smell Marijuana

Dogs are actually trained to always "signal" the handler. You can't swear a dog in under oath- instant probable cause.

wollstonecrafton An MSG Convert Visits the High Church of Umami

Ajinomoto vs Morton's salt as the control, milled to the same consistency in gelcaps.

How did they find the subjects? Was it a general call for college students, or did they attempt to drill down to find rare sensitive individuals?

wollstonecrafton An MSG Convert Visits the High Church of Umami

I've done a double blind experiment with myself, and msg reliably triggers migraines.

wollstonecrafton China, India grapple with the consequences too many men

Ultrasound is widely available in China, but it is illegal for a doctor to tell the parents the likely gender.