‘LED of Heating’: Cheap Geothermal Energy System Making US Comeback

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‘LED of Heating’: Cheap Geothermal Energy System Making US Comeback (Maria)

The author writes, “Nearly half a century ago, the Department of Energy launched a clean energy experiment beneath the University of Minnesota. Its simple goal: Store hot water for months in an aquifer more than 100 meters underground. The idea was to store excess heat produced in the summer to use in the winter. Now, 45 years after the first test wells were drilled under the university’s St. Paul campus, one of the first large-scale aquifer thermal energy systems in the country is being built — less than 10 miles from the original test site.”

FBI Seizure of Georgia Ballots Reflects Pursuit of Trump’s 2020 Election Grievance (Sean)

The author writes, “In an extraordinary scene this week, FBI agents pulled box trucks up to a warehouse south of Atlanta and drove away with hundreds of boxes containing ballots and other documents related to the 2020 election in Georgia’s most populous county. Fulton County, which votes overwhelmingly Democratic, has been a target of President Donald Trump and his allies since he narrowly lost the presidential election in Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump has long insisted without evidence that widespread voter fraud in the county cost him victory in the state. The purpose of Wednesday’s search and seizure at the Fulton County elections hub has not been revealed. The warrant itself, which should include a sworn statement from law enforcement agent justifying the operation, is under seal and federal authorities have yet to offer an explanation.”

I Grew Up With Alex Pretti (Laura)

From The Verge: “The day Alex Pretti was shot 10 times in the street by federal agents, I was delivering a eulogy for my grandfather, who died the way we’re supposed to: old, asleep, surrounded by family. Because it’s my job to coordinate visuals for this website, I locked myself in a bathroom stall, watched a video of the shooting twice, and emailed a photographer, asking if he could get onto the streets and start documenting what was happening in Minneapolis. As I reviewed photos of protesters and tear gas in the wake of his death, I didn’t realize, in the hours before his name was released to the public, that the man millions of people had seen lying facedown on the pavement from multiple angles of eyewitness video was my childhood best friend.”

Science Shows Very Different Psychiatric Disorders Might Have the Same Cause (Russ)

The author writes, “A sweeping new study of psychiatric and genetic records has the potential to change treatment for millions of psychiatric patients, finding that many conditions involve similar genes and may not need to be treated as distinct illnesses. In essence, the study suggests that bolstering the traditional emphasis on patient behavior with a deeper understanding of the biology of mental illness could lead to better treatment. Published in Nature, the paper addresses the boundaries psychiatry uses to separate similar conditions like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The research also suggests that linking genes to the brain processes they influence will provide psychiatrists with greater insight into their patients, and guide researchers toward new therapies. The findings could also spare patients the burden of carrying multiple different diagnoses that require an assortment of different pills.”

Why Did Trump Pardon the Former Honduran President? Follow the Tech Bros (Dana)

From Mother Jones: “Why would an administration hell bent on punishing drug traffickers pardon a kingpin like [former President of Honduras Juan Orlando] Hernandez? Some have argued that this could simply be a way to make trouble for the left- wing successor to Hernández, the current Honduran president Xiomara Castro, who has been a strong critic of Trump’s mass deportations. … In helping to unseat Castro, [Roger] Stone and [Shane] Trejo wrote, Trump could both ‘crush socialism and save a freedom city in Honduras.’ The ‘freedom city’ in question, they explained, was Próspera, a special economic zone founded in Honduras by a cadre of American tech titans including Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen — both friends and fans of the Trump family.”

How Scientists Are Making the Power of Invisibility a Reality (MIli)

From National Geographic: “For thousands of years, people have told tales of magical beings capable of moving through the world unseen — literally. From the wish-granting jinn of Arabian folklore to the shadow people of Inuit mythology, creatures possessing the fantastical power of invisibility have long captivated the human imagination. More recently, science fiction and fantasy series have popularized the idea that ordinary humans could become invisible. … But is there a science-backed way to produce this most fantastical of illusions? Physicists around the world are working on it. Researchers have shown that it is at least theoretically possible to create a cloak that can make ordinary objects vanish.”

Coyote Makes Astonishing Swim to Alcatraz — the Start of a Prison-Island Pack? (Reader Steve)

From the Los Angeles Times: “When Aidan Moore heard a guest had spotted a coyote on Alcatraz Island, he figured they were mistaken. Then the visitor showed video proof to the 43-year-old, who drives a tram and helps people board tour boats on the island off San Francisco. The footage, taken Jan. 11, shows the coyote paddling to the southern shore and then climbing up onto some rocks, hunched and shivering. … The video, originally reported by SFGate, is the first documented instance of a coyote swimming to Alcatraz, scientists say. It came months after a coyote was filmed swimming in the San Francisco Bay a couple of miles to the north, near Angel Island, where a lone coyote first traveled in 2017 before possibly being joined by another, resulting in a pack that now numbers at least 14. In a storyline that may be recognizable to some human inhabitants, the coyotes probably are leaving the mainland in search of new territory because the Bay Area is becoming too crowded.”