Archive for volcanoes

Nature tidbits [28 Aug 25]

Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Travel, University life with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 24, 2025 by xi'an

A nice cover (and a used pun) on the cover of this issue of Nature. That (reminded of trees from the Guadeloupean rainforest and) which refers to the rich microbiomes found in trees, with a partition between sapwood and heartwood. Along

  • an editorial call for “hazardous” research, namely the relevance of studies on urban gullies that endanger surrounding populations and have unpredictable dynamics, albeit scientists alone cannot provide solutions.
  • a Columbian study on how the microbial communities acting during the fermentation of cocoa and could be controlled towards finer chocolat).
  • the alas now usual articles on the impacts of Trump.2.0 on science and academia, with US Minister of Health Kennedy launching a call for finding the environmental cause of autism. When most researchers blame primarily genetics and associate the rise in cases with a rise in detection and awareness. And pointed out at the earlier drop in NIH funds for autism research, the overall balance being negative.
  • plus a useful debunking of five quantum theory myths! Along with the story of a 2020 Science paper by Vaitiekėnas et al. on Majoranas that raised enough questions for Science to publish an expression of concern, now lifted after the publication of a long correction.
  • (a video of) rappelling robots diving into a lava tube!!
  • a Verne-esque proposal to create a lunar biodepository, a (dubious imho) mix between Noah’s Ark and the (unscientific) faith in cryogeny
  • a more sobering call for more frequent data inputs (forcing datasets) to calibrate climate models, with no mention made of statistics or machine learning…
  • an operative “mind-reading” device… with a protection password (and a 74% efficiency)!
  • two research articles on AI unification of cognitive theories.
  • Another one on the (revolutionary) construction of an optical encoder-decoder network towards generating images.

Fuji [and back]

Posted in Mountains, Running, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , on September 19, 2025 by xi'an

Following my enjoying a lease of Hoka shoes during a half-marathon last year, with some noticeable improvement during the race but a highly specialised design preventing its use in other circumstances, I took again advantage of a running brand offer for free trial of one of their shows. Indeed, Asics offers a 90 day trial period on their gear, provided a registration, and I tested their (top model) MetaFuji Trail shoes during our trip to Guadeloupe, both on coastal paths and hiking trails. They proved rather light, well-fitted to my feet, pretty (with a picture of Fuji-san!) and sturdy enough for a month of daily runs (with no noticeable wear), but not particularly reactive on road (where was the carbon plate!) and both unstable and slippery on rocky trails as those around Basse-Terre. In fact, I ended up the vacations with a sharp return of my hamstring pain, possibly connected with relying on that shoe the whole time (and possibly due to heavy volumes since May!) I thus cleaned the pair and sent it back when I returned home (under the 90 day limit)…

falls [jatp]

Posted in Kids, Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 6, 2025 by xi'an





from the volcano [jatp]

Posted in Kids, Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 28, 2025 by xi'an

50 shades of green [jatp]

Posted in Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 19, 2024 by xi'an