Check out these map-themed procrastination enablers and cool visualizations:
First: random.earth, where you can view, capture, upvote, and downvote random screenshots from Google Earth around the world. There are so many beautiful places on our planet.
Second: Land Lines, where you can draw a line and see a place in the world with a matching shape.
Another fascinating map to explore: a data visualization (and audio-ization?) of noise pollution in Belgium
Look!!
Which of Nature’s top ten science images from August most piqued your interest? My favorites were the panda cubs, the new Greenlandic island (which we learned about in the last edition of Maya’s Musings!), and the AI-generated depth map of the School of Athens.
Evidence that the non-human biosphere is important & valuable:
Marine medicine is making moves! A derived from deep sea microbes (so alliterative!) had some efficacy against glioblastoma, and this article does a wonderful job at weaving together the narrative threads the oceanography and oncology that made this discovery possible.
Some wombats poop cubes. Not only does this turns out to be a result of their GI system’s highly-efficient nutrient extraction, but it offers “an entirely new way of manufacturing cubes,” with applications across industries.
… which brings us to some news on the sustainability front:
Cautiously optimistic about the new initiative launched Amazon (the company) and The Nature Conservancy to enact a carbon removal program in the Amazon (the rainforest) by supporting small farmers in sustainable reforestation and regenerative agroforestry in exchange for carbon credits for Amazon (the company). They hope, too, that this model will bolster standards for carbon offsets, which are sorely lacking.
Looking forward to trying out some of the options on this guide to liquid hand soaps that are sustainable, cost-effective, and actually effective. Have you used any of their suggested products? Have other go-tos?
Take a peek into the world’s first underwater vegetable garden. Nemo’s Garden comprises six air-filled pods off the coast of Noli, Italy, with most plants grown hydroponically and requiring no pesticides. The visuals of the “farm” are uncanny, and idea itself is quite intriguing!
Helpful: The website untools.co provides a “collection of thinking tools and frameworks to help you solve problems, make decisions and understand systems,” including prompting questions to guide you to the best tool. Seems cool, and excited to remember to try this out the next time (hmm… later this hour?) I’m in a crisis!