Short Takes – 1-4-24 – Geek Edition

Evolution might stop humans from solving climate change, says new study. NewsWise.com article. Pull quote: “The global human expansion was facilitated by the process of cultural adaptation to the environment. This leads to the accumulation of adaptive cultural traits — social systems and technology to help exploit and control environmental resources such as agricultural practices, fishing methods, irrigation infrastructure, energy technology and social systems for managing each of these.”

SpaceX soars into 2024 with a burst of color and six special satellites. Phys.org article. Pull quote: “The Falcon 9 rocket carried 21 low-orbit satellites for its sister company, Starlink, including six that—for the first time—feature direct-to-cell communications. The satellites are designed to eliminate cellphone service "dead zones" with expanding access to text, voice and data messages for all LTE cellular devices, according to the company.”

Missions to the moon, Mars, Jupiter and more: These are the coolest space missions in 2024. LiveScience.com article. Pull quote: “In the first half of the year, there will be four attempts to land on the moon — two from the U.S. and one each from Japan and China — and each successful mission would make history. The second half of the year will feature the debut of Europe's Ariane 6 rocket, another trip to the asteroid Dimorphos, a mission to assess the habitability of Jupiter's icy moon Europa, and more.”

First step towards synthetic CO2 fixation in living cells. NewsWise.com article. Pull quote: ““Bringing parts of the THETA cycle into living cells is an important proof-of-principle for synthetic biology”, adds Tobias Erb. “Such modular implementation of this cycle in E. coli paves the way to the realization of highly complex, orthogonal new-to-nature CO2-fixation pathways in cell factories. We are learning to completely reprogram the cellular metabolism to create a synthetic autotrophic operating system for the cell."”

Study: From NYC to D.C. and beyond, cities on the East Coast are sinking. NewsWise.com article. Pull quote: “The new findings appear in the open access journal PNAS Nexus. In the work “Slowly but surely: Exposure of communities and infrastructure to subsidence on the US east coast,” Virginia Tech and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists measured how much the land along the East Coast has sunk and which areas, populations, and critical infrastructure within 100 km of the coast are at risk of land subsidence. Subsidence can undermine building foundations; damage roads, gas, and water lines; cause building collapse; and exacerbate coastal flooding – especially when paired with sea level rise caused by climate change.”