#43: Where The Only Thing Lower Than the Arctic Sea Ice is Trump's Approval Rating

Not a ton of CNN-style Breaking News this week, aside from "February was 2nd warmest February on record, after only last year, despite months of La Nina cooling". 

On the other hand, over here at IMNIM HQ, we're getting "cooler" all the time, and now we're on Instagram! Follow us here for cool infographics and other quick-hit bits.


On to the news!


1. The NYTimes built a killer interactive feature on climate change. Definitely worth checking out. Here's two maps that make me want to scream. - NYTimes



+ MY NOTES: This explains, well, fucking everything. Please keep up the good work and help change this result by sharing our little newsletter with someone in the blue area on the right. So -- anyone.



2. Instead, here's a map showing exactly how each area of the country is being affected by climate change. - LiveScience

+ MY NOTES: Choose your destructor.



3. Here's a Nobel prize winner/former director of the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute on why Trump's health science cuts are no bueno. - NYTimes

"In sharp contrast, over 80 percent of its resources are devoted to competitively reviewed biomedical research projects, training programs and science centers, affecting nearly every district in the country.

The N.I.H. awards multiyear grants and contracts, but receives annual appropriations that must be spent that year. This means that at the start of each year most of its dollars are already committed to recipients of awards from prior years. A budget cut of the size that is proposed would effectively prevent the awarding of new grants or the renewal of any that have reached the end of a multiyear commitment. 

A substantial N.I.H. budget cut would undermine the fiscal stability of universities and medical schools, many of which depend on N.I.H. funding; it would erode America’s leadership in medical research; and it would diminish opportunities to discover new ways to prevent and treat diseases."

+ MY NOTES: Just a reminder, from last week, that despite the thoughts above: a president's budget isn't law, and that you can fight it by either running for Congress yourself, or contacting your current representative.



4. It's possible that 2/3 of all cancer mutations are unavoidable, say Johns Hopkins researchers. - Gizmodo

"As the authors conclude in the new paper—published today in Science—random mutations appear to be responsible for nearly two-thirds of all cancers. The researchers informally refer to these cancers as “bad luck” cancers because there’s evidently nothing we can do to avoid them. But as the scientists go to great pains to point out, that’s not an excuse to live one’s life with reckless abandon. As this new paper and pre-existing studies show, approximately 40 percent of cancers can still be prevented.

“It is well-known that we must avoid environmental factors such as smoking to decrease our risk of getting cancer. But it is not as well-known that each time a normal cell divides and copies its DNA to produce two new cells, it makes multiple mistakes,” explained Tomasetti. “These copying mistakes are a potent source of cancer mutations that historically have been scientifically undervalued, and this new work provides the first estimate of the fraction of mutations caused by these mistakes.”

Tomasetti, along with his colleague Bert Vogelstein, reached this conclusion by using a new mathematical model to evaluate DNA-sequencing data and epidemiological findings from around the world. Among the 32 cancer types studied, the researchers found that approximately 66 percent of cancer mutations are the result of DNA copying errors, 29 percent are caused by environmental factors, and just five percent are hereditary."

+ MY NOTES: Read the article to see the counter-argument -- the science isn't quite as settled as it appears. The important things to take away are:
        A. Advances in early-detection are vital
        B. Stop fucking smoking



5. On the question of whether we're going to evolve as a species, should we survive the current shitshow: Sapiens and Homo Deus author Yuval Harari says definitely. - The Guardian

"I think that Homo sapiens as we know them will probably disappear within a century or so, not destroyed by killer robots or things like that, but changed and upgraded with biotechnology and artificial intelligence into something else, into something different. The timescale for that kind of change is maybe a century. "

+ MY NOTES: And also, this quote, because: 

"At present, because of the enormous power of humankind, maybe the biggest concern of all is human blindness and stupidity. We’re an extremely wise species in so many ways but when it comes to making important decisions we have this tendency sometimes to make these terrible mistakes, and we are now in a situation when we just don’t have much room for error. As we gain more and more power, the consequences of making a stupid choice are catastrophic for us and for the entire ecological system. So this is a great cause for concern."



Instead of a sixth link, here's:

5 STORIES ABOUT WHY FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE IS GOOD BUSINESS (I recommend bookmarking them for e-fighting with annoying relatives)

900 examples of how climate change affects business

The carbon bubble is about to pop

How US science spending pays off with real math

The smokestacks come tumbling down

One more because why not



DO ONE THING RIGHT NOW

DONATE just $5 to former NASA rocket scientist turned Congressional contender Tracy Van Houten and we will match it, up to $2000. Tweet us an image of your confirmation after you donate with the hashtag #electscienceitsimportant. The election is just TWO WEEKS AWAY - April 4. DONATE HERE.



SHIT I DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO GET INTO BUT YOU SHOULD STILL READ

Are we gonna have to upgrade our bodies to live on Mars? Should I go to the gym today?

Japanese co develops solar cell with record breaking 26% efficiency

More strange signals from sky might be aliens, or not, but I mean this is coming from The Economist!

This is about the other LA earthquake fault line that might take down the west side

Trump's defense chief says climate change is national security issue which is SO WEIRD

AI can now multitask, sort of