Water had always been a big problem in the past especially in desert areas. Recently it has become even a bigger problem because besides from being scarce much of it has become polluted. There have been all sorts or experiments tried including at least one which collected water from the air. Now that experiment may become reality since there has been a new material discovered which actually attracts water from the air and one kilogram of the material can gather 7 ounces of water from the air in 24 hours from air even in the desert. A kilogram is about 2.2 pounds. Imagine a structure made from this material and how much water it could gather. The material is a metal-organic framework and needs no energy at all to operate. Once the device to gather water is built it operates for free. The material was developed by the University of California, Berkley.

If I asked an ancient Romans to explain what zero means they would have had a hard time since they had no zero in their Roman numeral system. I am telling you this because scientists are now saying, well at least some of them, bees can understand the concept. It is said even today humans can’t usually understand it until they reach kindergarten. The brain of a bee is about the size of a tiny seed yet they are able to not only find flowers, they remember where they are, can take shortcuts to their location and tell other bees through dance where the flowers are located. If we compare a bee’s brain to a human we find the bee has about one million neurons while ours has about one hundred trillion. The bee does have one advantage and it is their brains are ten times denser than a typical mammal. Bees have excellent eye sight, can see in ultraviolet and polarized light and have a very good sense of touch, smell and taste. It is also being said a bee can count and have a concept of time. It is often said the discovery of zero is the greatest accomplishment of humanity.

The length of a day today is not the same as the length of a day in the past. If we track the length of a day all the way back to 1.4 billion years ago we find the day only lasted about 18 hours. This made me wonder about the length of a day affecting our distant ancestors. Did they have different sleep patterns? Today we say eight hours sleep is the ideal amount, but what if a day was only 22 hours long, would we say the ideal amount was seven hours and a fraction? The other thing I wonder about is how long a day will get before finally the earth ends. Along with this there are changes in earth’s orbit over time and even in its rotation. The moon is slowly moving away from the earth.

I wonder if there is anyone on the planet who hasn’t heard about the Loch Ness Monster. Ever since a photo was taken years ago which purported to show the monster people have shown a great interest in it. More recently the photographer admitted it was a hoax but this didn’t seem to quell peoples’ interest. Maybe the reason was there have been so many other supposed sightings. Anyway, DNA samples of the loch, which is Scottish for lake, will be taken and scientists hope to determine what species live in the loch. Many believe the monster might be a plesiosaur which survived. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

It is being said gene editing will soon be applied to the food we eat. GM or genetically modified food has upset a lot of people and rightfully so for many reasons. One is many crops no longer produce seeds so farmers have to buy seeds every year enriching the companies selling the stuff. Another reason is people don’t feel the food is safe. The idea of food producing a pesticide in the same plant we eat part of is no doubt disturbing. Then there is the way GM food has been handled by the government. Food producers no longer have to tell us if food in their product is GM. Things are going to change even more soon and scientists are modifying plants using gene editing. We are being told this time profit is not the motive, making healthier plants is. What do you think?

The first robotic flying insect has taken to the air. It is known as RoboFly.  It contains a solar cell but needs a laser beam aimed at the cell to fly. Obviously a more efficient power source will be required which will give the fly the ability to go anywhere. The fly weighs about the same as a toothpick. Once these robots have sufficient power supplies they will have many uses such as surveying crops. I am sure they will also be used to spy on people because this is the kind of thing agencies like the FBI and CIA would want.