Have you ever woke up in the morning and contemplated the life of Niels Ryberg Finsen?

[NNadir]

Me neither.

Niels Ryberg Finsen

If you worry though, that this might happen to you, I advise you not to read the paper in this week's issue of Nature, on the exploration genetic signatures of the Vikings, Population genomics of the Viking world.

You might end up thinking about Niels Ryberg Finsen, and I'm sure you have better things to do.

I probably did too, but this is how my day ended up, finding out who Niels Ryberg Finsen was, and I'm worried that tomorrow might begin in a similar way, contemplating something or another about the Faroe Islands. (I haven't eaten a sheep since I was a child.))

Life is fun and then you die.

[Kali]

1. no, but the paper sounds interesting

I used to get Nature but alas I grasp so little scientific writing anymore...

[NNadir]

2. Reading broadly in scientific literature is getting harder because of abbreviations and jargon.

The internet helps, of course, but the increased specialization - one might call it "Balkanization" of science - works against real apprehension.

I always try to spend a part of the week trying to dig through some concept about which I know nothing at all...this weekend it's Viking genomics, where I came across UMAPs and MDS, but was able to learn, from the internet, that a UMAP is better than a tSNE.

Um...um...um...

Yesterday I was reading a paper all about HOCs in microplastics: Accumulation of HOCs via Precontaminated Microplastics by Earthworm Eisenia fetida in Soil.

I just had to look to see, exactly what the hell an "HOC" was.

It proves to be "hydrophobic organic contaminants." Neither the title nor the abstract tells you what an "HOC" is.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. The paper looked pretty interesting if you could make sense of the jargon.