26th June 2021, 2 min read

Science and Technology links (June 26th 2021)

1. Reportedly, half of us own a smartphone.
2. It is often reported that women or visible minority earn less money. However, ugly people are doing comparatively even more poorly.
3. We have highly efficient and cheap solar panels. However, we must also quickly dispose of them after a few years which leads to trash. Handling an increasing volume of trash is not cheap:
   

The totality of these unforeseen costs could crush industry competitiveness. (…) By 2035, discarded panels would outweigh new units sold by 2.56 times. In turn, this would catapult the [cost] to four times the current projection. The economics of solar — so bright-seeming from the vantage point of 2021 — would darken quickly as the industry sinks under the weight of its own trash.

1. Ultrasounds may be a viable therapy against Alzheimer’s.
2. Axolotls regenerate any part of their body, including their spinal cord. Though they only weight between 60g and 110g, they may live 20 years.
3. Some dinosaurs once thrived in the Arctic.
4. It was once believed that hair greying was essentially an irreversible process. Researchers looked at actual hair samples and found that in many cases, a hair that once turned gray could regain its colour.
5. At least as far as your muscles go, you can remain fit up to an advanced age. As supportive evidence, researchers found that human muscle stem cells are refractory to aging:
   

We find no measurable difference in regeneration across the range of ages investigated up to 78 years of age.

Further work shows that you can promote muscle regeneration by reprogramming the cells in muscle fibers, thus potentially activating these muscle stem cells.

1. Many people who are overweight suffer from the metabolic syndrome which includes abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar. It affects about 25% of us worldwide. Researchers have found that a particular hormone, Asprosin, is elevated in people suffering for the metabolic syndrome. Suppressing asprosin in animal models reduced appetite and increased leanness, maybe curing the metabolic syndrome. We may hope that this work will quickly lead to human trials.
2. During the current decade, the share of Canadians that are 65 years and older will rise from 17.4 per cent to 22.5 per cent of the population.
3. The Internet probably use less energy than you think and most projections are pessimistic.