Watch "Chinese factories build fire trucks for $400,000 in six weeks. In the US it's $2 million in 4 years" on YouTube

This is an intriguing look at fire trucks. They're expensive and take a long time to deliver.

Yet in China, that's not the case.

It's the general problem with manufacturing in this country. 

https://youtu.be/78nZ-JJNmzQ?si=rZrgPUD6xZZtzyXd

A continent is splitting in two, the rift is already visible, and a new ocean is set to form.

"The African continent is experiencing a remarkable geological transformation right before our eyes. Scientists have confirmed that East Africa is gradually splitting apart, with visible evidence of this continental fracture already appearing. This extraordinary process could eventually create a new ocean, forever changing the map of Africa as we know it."

https://farmingdale-observer.com/2025/04/24/a-continent-is-splitting-in-two-the-rift-is-already-visible-and-a-new-ocean-is-set-to-form/

Three teens in NY came up with a plastic free packing material

Zhi Han (Anthony) Yao, Flint Mueller, and James Clare created a geometric, cardboard invention they call Kiriboard; it's inspired by Japanese kirigami, which is the art of cutting and folding paper.

Their plan is to sell their products to big retailers like amazon and home depot. 

How very cool!

https://www.businessinsider.com/teens-invent-packaging-plastic-replacement-amazon-fedex-home-depot-2025-4

Gender studies

In the context of my previous post about Mendel's genetics, we should consider that these principles of genetic inheritance and how the human body develops is subject to genetic changes too. 

There's a topic that gets debated a lot: gender. As the attached article points out:

So how sensible is it to determine sex after birth, as is mostly done at the moment, solely on the basis of externally visible sexual characteristics?

We assume there are only two sexes, based on the somewhat obvious difference in the human body. And use the Bible as a sort of proof that this must be right. 

But the genetics suggests otherwise, and these X and Y chromosomes that help us develop are more complicated than it may seem. 

This article is from a German publication (it's in English) and points to some studies that take away a lot of the rhetoric and focus on the science. 

If we as people would just take the time to study and learn, rather than just rallying around some ideal, maybe we could see that there are some variations in our genetics and therefore there are more than two sexes. 

I can accept that not everyone looks like me. Some people are taller. Some have more hair. Some have different colored skin.  I would think they might have different genetic sexes too. 

https://www.dw.com/en/even-the-science-agrees-there-are-more-than-two-genders/a-57062033

Understanding genetics

As you likely learned somewhere along the way, Gregor Mendel wanted to better understand the world around him. So using simple gardening tools, he took somewhere around 28,000 samples of peas and cross bred them. 

He documented his findings, and was the first to understand genetic inheritance. Pea color, shape, size, and so on, were studied and it became a model for genetics. 

That understanding has held up to generations of scrutiny, more sophisticated testing, and has allowed us to really appreciate this evolutionary cycle. And keep in mind he was an Augustinian friar. Which meant that he was religious person who believed in science (though understandably he thought there was a hand of god playing a part in it). 

Researches continue to be fascinated by what he accomplished, and are working toward closing any remaining items in the work that still need to be proved. 

And this group thinks they have completed that proof. It's really cool. 

But the best part of all of it is that one of them showed tremendous humility. A hallmark of great scientists. He said. 

"The most important and beautiful part of this research is the collaboration." 

We can learn a lot from that. 

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01269-8

Students launch a hypersonic rocket 93 miles up

The article is short on details, but 8 students from the US Military Academy's Space Engineering and Applied Research (SPEAR) program created a two-stage rocket that was launched at a speed greater than that of sound, to achieve an objective of reaching the highest point ever from a non-commercial rocket. 

And they successfully recovered it once it returned to earth. Which means that payloads can be sent into high orbits at relatively low cost, and those payloads can be recovered. 

Think of it as any of the commercial ventures, but with other purposes in mind, as it is a military application after all. 

https://www.sustainability-times.com/in-depth/these-american-students-just-rewrote-aerospace-history-this-93-mile-hypersonic-rocket-launch-stunned-nasa-and-the-pentagon/

China invents a nuclear battery

The idea is that by using isotopes from carbon 14, a small battery could be a power source indefinitely. 

These scientists are starting with devices that need occasional battery exchanges, but that require an effort, like pacemakers. 

Love the notion. 

https://interestingengineering.com/energy/nuclear-battery-radioactive-carbon-china