Weekly Science Headlines

[Abbot Mythos]

This article caught my attention because is mentions one of the lesser celebrated escapades of Our Lady of Discord.

A hidden planet on the edge of our Solar System? Here's why scientists are closer than ever to finding it

"There could be a hidden 'planet 9' – or planet X – orbiting the Sun"

Yeah, yeah, that Planet 9 and Planet X stuff is interesting, but what really caught my attention was the following:

As per this article:

"The discovery of substantial Eris was the beginning of the end for Pluto.

It was now unavoidable: Pluto didn't appear to be the most massive object in that region of space, and certainly didn't appear to be special.

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the authority on the definitions, characteristics and naming of bodies in the Solar System, issued their ruling.

It decreed that Pluto was not a planet but a dwarf planet, just one of many such objects in that distant patch of space (a zone known as the Kuiper Belt)."

So, to start with, Pluto/Hades never made to cut and became one of the Twelve Olympian gods and goddesses. Then, after he finally gained some worldwide recognition in 1930 by having a planet named after him, Minor Planet Eris was discovered in 2005, named in 2006, and that led to Pluto/Hades' "planet" being demoted to "minor planet status." So, Pluto/Hades' big claim to worldwide fame didn't even last a century. That has to be pretty humiliating for an immortal god. But, it really does sound like something Our Lady of Discord would orchestrate, just for the hell of it, of course.

Hail Eris!

All Hail Discordia!

[Abbot Mythos]

A century of hair shows how lead exposure collapsed

"A century of human hair shows just how dramatically lead exposure fell after leaded gas was banned."

As per this article:

"Before the Environmental Protection Agency was formed in 1970, lead pollution was a routine part of daily life across the United States. It came from factories, lead-based paint, drinking water pipes, and most of all from vehicle exhaust. Lead is a toxic metal that builds up in the body over time and has been linked to learning and developmental problems in children. As environmental rules tightened in the decades that followed, lead in the environment dropped sharply, and human exposure declined with it."

And, here's the link to the original paper the above article is based upon:

Lead in archived hair documents a decline in lead exposure to humans since the establishment of the US Environmental Protection Agency

Getting lead additives out of gasoline was a major undertaking by the EPA, back in the day. And, I'm not 100% certain the current administration would have the will, yet alone the interest, in doing so today, if the problem were only recently identified. Anyway, in my state, the lead pollution from a single Exide Technologies lead-acid battery manufacturing plant in Laureldale/Reading, PA is so extensive that it has still not been completely remediated, even though cleanup work first started in 1988.

Last, the above article reminded me of what some historians believe excessive lead exposure did to the Roman Empire a couple of millennia ago. Here's a link to a summary of that theory, if anyone's interested:

Roman lead poisoning theory