This week was a bit much in the news. I needed lighthearted reading.

Comics: First – Previous – Next – Last

Flow Reactor Created that Will Be Able to Mass Produce Amino Acids – NextBigFuture.com

This makes me think of electric lab meat. We could make some of the building blocks truly from scratch without needing plants. Plants are not actually very efficient chemists. Going from light to amino acids might actually be more energy efficient with photovoltaics and electrochemistry some day.

Your most pressing questions about the new coronavirus, answered | Science News

I’ve played Plague Inc. I know the drill. This one (coronavirus 2019nCoV) looks scary. But the powers that be seem to be on top of it. That’s nice.

I’ve followed Three Panel Soul from the beginning (even back to the Mac Hall days). The worldbuilding is subtle and great. Like a mage hides a datacenter in an ice dimension because cooling bills are so high. Anyway, this is a poop joke.

Self-care is important, too.

How to Convince Someone When Facts Fail – Scientific American

“1. Keep emotions out of the exchange, 2. discuss, don’t attack (no ad hominem and no ad Hitlerum), 3. listen carefully and try to articulate the other position accurately, 4. show respect, 5. acknowledge that you understand why someone might hold that opinion, and 6. try to show how [acknowledging] facts does not necessarily mean changing worldviews.”

Also, there’s a bit of a test to be done at step 3. People who are not arguing in good faith will not want their position to be understood. They want their position to be unknown. They want the goalposts hidden, so they can move them if they want.

A squid fossil offers a rare record of pterosaur feeding behavior | Science News

There’s so much to be learned from a tooth embedded in a squid from millions of years ago.

YOU’RE ALL JUST JEALOUS OF MY JETPACK | A recent cartoon for @newscientist…

Budgeting is a surprisingly large part of science. This is sad. I wish I could afford octagonal blast doors. Someday.

The night Tom Noddy forever changed the world of bubble entertainment. January 5 1983.

Is there a world of bubble entertainment? Also, I feel like people who vape (vapers? vapists?) are missing a real opportunity here.

SciShow Tangents Animatic : Darwin – YouTube

Darwin was trying to figure out if a bean could cross an ocean. He tried to feed the beans to fish, who spat them out, and he got mad at them.

30th birthday? Wishes? Not so much.

Broad interests reap benefits for science | Science

Just in case you are wondering why I post so may comics, this is my excuse.