Non-Mainstream News

There is a lot of news which never makes it to the ordinary news media, that is why I like writing about the odd news. Believe me when I tell you there is plenty of it. I was just looking through some of it I have come across and decided to write about it again. Some of these things you just can’t ignore.

We may soon be seeing a new way to create the main ingredient in marijuana. Β Scientists have figured out how to take ordinary yeast and alter it to create this ingredient called THC. THC is the chemical in the plant which produces most of the effects of marijuana, so it probably won’t be long before this hits the illegal market. I am sure doing away with hot houses and such will please the cartels. I don’t believe making THC easier to create is in anyone’s interest. While it may make it easier to adjust the potency for medical marijuana, the ones who will benefit the most will be the cartels who will now be able to create this ingredient in their labs without needing to have large plots of land to guard while they grow the plant.

Some scientists are saying sperm whales have some similar traits to us of all things. Scientists have found over the years that sperm whales have a system of communication. No it is not words of course, but it is communication by a series of clicks. Now scientists are telling us something even stranger and that is sperm whales have dialects. These dialects are unique to each clan. Clans can be very large and include thousands of sperm whales. The scientists go on to say the whales are not born knowing this language like the dance of a honeybee, they have to learn it as they grow, just as humans learn a language. Scientists from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada followed these creature’s clans and came to these conclusions.

ZME science published an article stating there is an oil well which has been leaking into the Gulf of Mexico for ten years. It is amazing to me anything live can exist in the Gulf after what it has been through. There have been quite a few reports stating that even though the gulf looks clean the oil which was supposedly cleaned up has left a lot of residue at the bottom of the gulf. How can a well leak for that long and the leak not be detected? This seems too incredible. The company has agreed to give a $300,000 donation to a Louisiana marine research consortium. It also said it will fund $100,000 worth of research into long term effects of oil leaks. Talk about getting off easy.

We all know the US Navy has aircraft carriers, but how many of us know it had flying aircraft carriers? The last flying aircraft carrier was a rigid airship and was named the USS Macon. It was longer than 1,400 feet. The length is disputed and an entry on Wikipedia lists the length at 785 feet. It went down in 1935 when it got caught in a storm and held a crew of 83. Two crewmen died when it crashed into the sea. It is interesting to note how planes would land. A trapeze like device extended down from the bottom of the airship. A biplane had hooks on top and would hook on to the trapeze which was then raised into the ship and a crane inside would move the plane into position. It is said the trapeze was also used to launch the planes. The airship carried 5 aircraft. The wreckage is lying off the coast of California.

The Walt Disney Company is investing in mind reading technology. The idea is to find out what a viewer wants to see. Some say control is more like it. It is estimated that about 30% of those watching a video that they wanted to watch will return to watch more videos. A team has been created which is comprised of former Google employees and a Caltech neuro-economist and they have developed the Prizma video platform for this purpose. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a neuro-economist, well live and learn.

I think many of us might already know this, but I will repeat it just in case. A vast ocean has been found below the desert in China. The ironic thing about it is not even the find, it is the fact this is one of the driest places on earth. How big is this ocean? It has been estimated to be 10 times the size of the five Great Lakes in the United States. It is salt water. It would be interesting to see what type of life exists in this ocean if any. Perhaps since it has been sealed off there may still be primitive life in it.

An announcement was made by MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and when they talk everybody listens. They claim to have found a language universal. They stated they have found that, “all languages self-organize in such a way that related concepts stay as close together as possible within a sentence, making it easier to piece together the overall meaning.” This may be the first step in creating a Star Trek type universal translator.

It is being estimated that the rate of climate change (warming) will be responsible for the village of Kivalina, in northwestern Alaska, to be underwater by 2025, possibly making the residents the first victims of climate change. The sea is continuing to rise around the village which juts out into the ocean on a narrow strip of land. The residents said, “We were able to see the changes years ago.” The village has been there for hundreds of years. About 15 years ago the villagers noticed seasons were starting earlier and the ice around the village in the winter became too thin to safely set up camps on for hunting. Some scientists are saying the arctic is heating up twice as fast as the rest of the planet.

A drug trial was conducted which was said to be very successful. The trial was to see if someone could be vaccinated against Ebola and it is said it was 100% effective. Scientists are saying this will end the Ebola epidemic. I just hope there are no long range effects.