Abstract:

Groups that argue for postponing the necessary action and groups that deny climate science altogether come from different traditions, but can also co-exist and arguably even strengthen each other. This chapter investigates the case of Norway, where the dominant view on oil and gas production – which acknowledges that climate change is primarily caused by humans, but says that Norway can both produce more oil and gas and contribute to saving the planet – exists side by side with a more classical denialist position. The chapter shows how these views co-exist even within the Norwegian far-right Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet), which comes from a classical denialist position but needed to officially accept the Norwegian fossil ideology of delay in order to be accepted by the Conservative Party as a governing coalition partner. When in government, between 2013 and 2020, denialism nonetheless remained a strong tendency within the party. It is argued that these two positions can so easily co-exist in a government and within a party because they share a common view on business friendliness and nationalism, and even more important: the two positions are in Norway grounded on more or less the exact same policy for oil and gas extraction.

This point, for example, highlights a phenomenon that few have on the radar:

One international poll published in 2019 compared denialism in 28 countries, and put Norway at the top, together with Saudi Arabia (Smith, 2019).

Perhaps also interesting is this 2024 doctoral thesis by another researcher about the situation in Sweden: Fuelling Denial The climate change reactionary movement and Swedish far-right media Fuelling Denial.

[Article]

Synchron shows a man navigating an iPad using only his brain, made possible by a BCI implant and Apple’s new native brain input support.

To keep solar power stations from getting lazy, Sandia National Laboratories scientist John Sandusky is looking to give heliostat mirrors a side hustle. At the National Solar Thermal Test Facility he's experimenting with getting them to hunt for asteroids at night.

According to Forbes, as of early March, 2023 there were 2,640 billionaires worldwide, 735 in the U.S. alone. These billionaires have each amassed at least one billion dollars worth of assets, including stocks, real estate, and cash — many of them much more than that.

But just how big is one billion? A number that large is hard to conceive of. Well, it's 1,000,000,000; ten to the ninth power; one-thousand millions. That might help some…but not much. How big is a million? Hard to say when we're just imagining it in our head or looking at figures on a page.

Wealth is also fairly abstract. What can one dollar buy? And how is a dollar earned? And what about one billion dollars…

[Video]

I found the real Spotify accounts of celebrities, politicians, and journalists. Many use their real names. With a little sleuthing, I could say with near-certainty: yep, this is them.

We’ve been scraping their accounts since summer 2024. Playlists, live listening feed, everything. I know what songs they played, when, and how many times.

Heard of the Panama Papers? That exposed offshore bank accounts. This is about onshore vibes.

Something fundamental has shifted in how power works, and most of our institutions haven't noticed. ... a growing gap between how fast some actors can change the world and how fast others can respond to those changes.

short read, very interesting observations and aspects about current power dynamics.

Researchers reconstruct ancient diets by studying stable nitrogen isotope ratios.

There's a lot of (admittedly interesting) fluff in this video. If you just want to get to the point in the title, it starts around 13:30 and wraps up at 18:00.

The dream of the ancient alchemists may come true as Marathon Fusion announces that its tokamak fusion reactor technology can turn common mercury into gold as a byproduct of fusion operations in quantities that would make Auric Goldfinger blush.

From Buenos Aires to Bangkok, Montreal to Moscow, the languages may differ, but nearly every taxi driver or street vendor in the world understands one word made famous during a raucous U.S. presidential campaign nearly 200 years ago.

It's "OK": a tiny word that punches well above its weight. It means both "yes" and "I understand." It's a noun: I got the OK for this story from my editor; a verb: She OK'd it and an adjective: The story turned out OK.

It's even a simple interjection: OK! Enough with the grammar lesson!

[Article]

Bed sharing tends to be unpopular and contentious in the United States. But in many Asian countries, the question is often not whether to do it, but when to stop.

Duration: 01:08.

"For the first time, we have identified the earliest moment when planet formation is initiated around a star other than our sun."

They just use whatever organic matter in their immediate surroundings. So if there are sticks, they’ll build a cabin😆

Also, only male bagworms become moths. Females stay as a bagworm and never leave their bag/case.

More Bagworm Moth Caterpillar Facts here!
https://a-z-animals.com/animals/bagworm-moth-caterpillar/

The users of AI companion app Replika found themselves falling for their digital friends. Until – explains a new podcast – the bots went dark, a user was encouraged to kill Queen Elizabeth II and an update changed everything …

As the Trump administration's “big, beautiful bill” eliminates many clean-energy incentives in the U.S., China continues huge investments in wind and solar power, reportedly accounting for 74 percent of all projects now under construction worldwide.

Too much to unpack in a quick comment, but I think it's very important that we all give this a view. Well worth your 20-minutes, or I'll pay you back. Somehow.

Had always thought of Vonnegut as far before my time, like, my mother's time. Guess he sorta was, but his last book came out in 2005!

Anyway, my 12-yo daughter was looking at some "special" stuff at the thrift store today. "Is this like really old? Like, from the 90s?" Shoot me now. At least she recognized an IBM XT as one if the first personal computers. (I think she heard me lecturing my wife on the subject.) So it goes.

(no my OC, I am attempting to help spread this that I saw first on https://programming.dev/post/33666663 because I think it helps to know that it is not too late to make changes even for major things like smoking and our health!)

Many factors must interact perfectly to disperse the seeds efficiently without destroying the plant too early.

Researchers in New Zealand have demonstrated a minimally invasive technology that has effectively aided in restoring movement in paralyzed rats. This breakthrough could mean we're a big step closer to treating spinal cord injuries in humans and pets – which are presently incurable and often lead to a loss of motor function.

Edible sensors made of glowing droplets could improve food and drug monitoring

The vertical movement of the mantle is one of the driving forces that brings about large-scale geological changes to the surface of our planet. These mantle upwellings, sometimes referred to as mantle plumes, are hypothesized to play a role in some major geological shifts such as continental drifting. A similar, subtle yet significant phenomenon has been found to be currently taking place beneath the African continent.

A new study investigates the link between processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, and trans fatty acids, to diseases such as cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.