pvaldes

Just the green ones. If they found a link, they found a link

I'm sure that the comic wants to be sarcastic but is missing the mark here. This is how science works. Trying and failing every color except green, does not mean that the green experiment has an invalid result.

The author is not understanding that each experiment is independent.

The correct cartoon should show researchers trying green jellybeans 100 times, with 99 negative results and one positive result, and then the press keeping only the positive (Or in this comic, claiming that all jellybeans produce acne).

Mocking the scientific method, and showing scientists as lazy people that play video-games is funny, but is just a cartoon, not the reality. People should not take XKCD as god's speech without any critical thinking. This in your workplace says to me "I don't really understand statistics".

There is an effect that is statistically rare just by chance, AND is consistently absent within a huge control group of "non-green jellybeans" (the author seems to think that this weakens the result, but in fact is reinforcing it). And it needs further research. Not less, not more.

Also can stop ongoing epileptic attacks it seems. The secondary risk of suffocation makes it impractical in any case.

A more sophisticated version of breathing in a bag to stop anxiety attacks. It seems that more CO2 than normal resets our system and put us on calm mode to save oxygen.

If the mechanism is that the CO2 tells the body to get rid of some chemical substance by the blood, I wonder if all this things could have a similar trigger in form of some toxic, or if the origin is alive and it needs some oxygen supply.

The Gaza genocide is the ongoing, intentional, and systematic destruction of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip carried out by Israel during the Gaza war.

It encompasses mass killings, the targeted killing of children, deliberate starvation, infliction of serious bodily and mental harm, and prevention of births.

Other acts include blockading, destroying civilian infrastructure, destroying healthcare facilities, killing healthcare workers and aid-seekers, causing mass forced displacement, committing sexual violence, and destroying educational, religious, and cultural sites.

The Gaza genocide has been recognized by a United Nations special committee and commission of inquiry, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, multiple human rights groups, state governments, numerous genocide studies and international law scholars, and other experts.

The Gaza genocide has not been recognized by Jameshilliard.

As of 3 May 2026, at least 75,811 people have been reported killed in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including 270 journalists and media workers, 120 academics, and over 560 humanitarian aid workers including 391 employees of UNRWA. More than 171.000 people had been injured also.

With more than 21.000 children disabled by Israel, Gaza has the most child amputees per capita in the world.

Hum, I don't know really. We don't even know how many US soldiers died to date. The data centers for sure.

Most probably Asian. There are closer Hymalayan species, if I remember correctly

First of all, thanks for your interesting contribution.

Is a good taxonomic character if you are in Europe, as no European spider, big or small, has this eyes.

Also this is a fast way to discard other tropical spiders that could also appear on orders of imported fresh fruit and have a fearsome look but are harmless.

Tarantulas have small eyes arranged like a bowtie. Huntsmans have four eyes in a line. If you are bitten by a spider that is hairy, bigger than 10cm, and does have eyes arranged like those, is just a pinch, painful but safer than a mosquito bite. Just wash it with soap. Same if the eyes are arranged in a square but two are much bigger than the other two. Safe.

Otherwise.

If you are bitten by a cream hairy spider that has only "3 eyes", one central and two laterals (really 6 in 3 pairs) is a Sicariidae, go to a doctor.

If it has four eyes of the same size arranged in a square be cautious. If it has a middle groove in the rear part of the torax is a Ctenidae, so may be dangerous. As Phoneutria is the most common Ctenidae found in banana bunches, and as we can't discard still that every other genus on the family aren't poisonous, play safe and go to an hospital. If is a harmless related species only they can identify it, and if not you are in the correct place. They can evaluate if is a dry bite and can stabilize you and provide treatment if is not.

The other spiders that are really concerning, the Australian Atrax and Mouse spiders and the black widows are much smaller, 1-5cm, not really hairy and glossy black with red or white marks. They are mostly terrestrial.

If you have not crushed yet the spider, you may need to take a good photo from some distance. Is easier if you trap it before on a glass jar, as long as you can do it safely. If in doubt assure to bring the dead spider with you, so the doctor can see it under a microscope.

Graft a steam with a different variety and then you will need a lot of flies, or a brush and some artistic strokes in May.

Phoneutria are interesting animals. Needed to evolve defenses against the gluttony of monkeys. It must be a tasty spider. It happens that we are monkeys also, so the venom is carefully designed against us.

There is a registered case of a Phoneutria bite in UK at least, and the chef was sent directly to an hospital. To be fair, they dislike the cold so the spider had its reasons to be upset when he opened the fridge to grab a banana.

The spider is easily identified because it has four identical small frontal eyes arranged as a perfect square. Is big, bold and it warns before to attack [1] (most tarantulas are shy). And it jumps, of course. Can hide, once in a blue moon, in exported South American banana bunches (European breed bananas are spider free).

[1] If it raise the legs showing the yellow and black rings beneath is a clear warning saying "get lost right now, of I will land on your face"

Yep. The status has changed from 'untouchable' to 'could be next'. And it was almost too easy to destroy it so I bet that the protester action has been another startle more in a complicated week. Once the cat is out the bag you can't put it again.

I learnt that this companies will not pay for any of the borrowed items destroyed. A lot of sellers in UAE and Russia lost a lot of money this year.

Navel, This oranges have a "belly button"

Naval is for ships.

"Could bananas be common in British gardens soon?"

Unlikely

I saw a banana tree with green bananas in Switzerland

1) I believe you. This is not rare. Culturing a banana tree is super easy.

You can easily find one ornamental dwarf banana for your office in Zurich, put it outside in summer and enjoy the sight of the little green bananas. You just need lots of water, a decent sized pot (bananas can produce fruit in pots), some manure and a summer hot. All of this can be found in Switzerland.

Just don't expect fruit.

2) Growing bananas to their harvest time is the impossible part.

Flowers need to mature all winter long, and if they touch just a little chill, commercial banana fruits will stop growing, the stems will wither and collapse to the ground. They need more than 12 months of non-stop warm temperatures to became yellow and tasty. Your banana tree should be treated as an annual herb or kept indoors for many months each year.

But, there are more in this history.

There are around 50 species of banana trees. And lots of hybrids. There are yellow bananas, green bananas, lipstick pink bananas and steel blue bananas.

Some species evolved in mountains of tropical areas. Basically a temperate climate. The trunks that support the fruits can stand much more cold without dying. The problem is that they have small short bluish green bananas that don't worth the effort.

So far, those species are collector oddities or kept for hybridization purposes; but everybody in the field would salivate about breeding a seedless banana of decent quality that stands cold. This creatures are very productive.

An interesting context here is that this happens coupled with the destruction of a big Wildberries store near Moscow yesterday. Wildberries is the Amazon's Russian counterpart.

You have a point here. China vs USA is just a part of the whole thing.

If we discuss the problem of China doing industrial spying and applying subsides to destroy non-chinese companies, we should mention also that countries like Israel had been stealing tirelessly for decades every US army and US industrial secrets that they could grab. They had been caught later selling this secrets for money to third countries like Russia. And the cherry on top is that all was subsidized, but with US money this time.

Denying North Korean or Chinese people access to places with industrial secrets, while at the same time granting Israeli people free VIP access just because... "white people" (so they can sell it to Russia, and Russians can sell it later to China and NK) does not really make any sense.

Context matters.

July 6 2026 provoked wildfire in Dorsey UK.

July 7 2026 Prime Minister Carney announced military assistance for Ukraine, including $475 million for the purchase of ammunition, nearly $400 million to build 35 Canadian-made armoured vehicles, and $50 million to provide critical technology and engineering equipment.

July 10 2026 Several wildfires in UK that week. Arsonist woman detained later. Zelensky meets Graham and US implement sanctions against Russia.

July 11 2026. Lindsey Graham dies.

July 12 2026. Large wildfire starts in Ontario. One of the biggest recorded in the area. In two days there will be 180 wildfires active in Ontario.

July 13 2026. Macron meets Zelensky. A 19 Yo arsonist starts a wildfire in Fontainebleu forest near Paris the same day (It has reignited several times since that). July 14 2026. France will allow Ukraine to produce French-made cruise missiles, precision guided bombs and air defense interceptor missiles

July 15 2026. Norway will join the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine. Holding Russia accountable for crimes committed against Ukraine is a key priority for the Norwegian Government. Two days later: Largest Wildfire in the modern history of Norway starts near Oslo

July 16 2026. Starmer meets Zelensky. Wildfire in Scotland.

Wildfires starting or active in: California, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Texas and Florida between July 7 and July 18.

I was under the impression that a lot of wildfires occurred because too much brush had built up

1) People promoting the cattle invading natural areas as a solution, often omit that this means the slow death of the forest.

When the cattle is allowed to enter in a forest, from this point on, no tree sapling will survive. The ecological regeneration is permanently damaged and the forest recedes and turns into an open area with a few isolated trees. With the climate change accelerating, and each new tree counting, this is bad news for us.

2) They also ignore that wild herbivores and insects also eat (a lot of) dry plants.

Biologists have discovered than, under some circumstances, the role of ants in that sense can be more relevant than the role of deer.

3) They forget also that brush is removed by fungus all the time, turning woody stuff into a spongy matter that accumulates water.

A healthy forest can sustain more Kg of soil roundworms than Kg of deer. Most people ignore this and follow only the loudest voices

TV programs invariably, each single time, will show somebody bitterly claiming that "the evil ecologists don't allow locals to remove dead wood". This programs are basically justifying the arsonists. They feed on drama, and never, ever, no way, will interview anybody calmly explaining that there is a good reason for that: After a while, dead wood means fertile soil (= CO2 storage) and water storage. This protects us from both wildfires and climate change.

Both problems should have priority over the desire of farmers to increase its patrimony in 50 sheep plus, by invading natural areas and stealing its plants.

About the fires starting to burn yearly, take in mind that the use of the soil has changed. This is not a forest anymore. Farmers are known to use fire routinely to "regenerate" pastures. When they earn rights to manage new place as they please, the frequency of wildfires will typically increase, even if they are less serious. Is a vicious circle.

do not have accurate records of forest fires that occurred 800+ years before

In fact we have incomplete, but detailed, records since 7000 years ago. The remains of 2000 Yo trunks can be found on swamps and peat bogs. Ancient wildfires left marks on the grow rings, that had been read for scientists since generations.

Dendrochronology and dendroclimatology, two entire science fields, had been created around this.

Norway also attacked today with a huge wildfire.

Same pattern as in France or Greece, with a wildfire starting at just 50 Km of Oslo, but with the smoke aiming directly to choke the capital, like in Paris, or Athens in recent years.

Meanwhile Russian is growing desperate after Ukraine has been targeting its oil tankers one by one in the last month. Germany, Finland, Swedden or Poland should be extra careful in the next weeks.

Are this areas burning?

Accidents are rare, and the fires in clusters and other common patterns are typical

One alleged arsonist detained in Galicia (Spain), with a bag full of stuff. After several wildfires stated to appear near his village in the last two weeks he was watched a morning moving into two locations that soon started to burn. Near houses of course. Why not?

Countries use a scale of wildfire risk

If there is a clear prohibition to use fire in some location today, because strong winds and low humidity create high risk of wildfires; and somebody still ignores the prohibition and start fire in five different locations in the worse conditions of the year, knowing well that every firefighter is busy yet on one of the other 800 wildfires active, would you still classify that as "accidental"?

Sometimes things are exactly what they seem to be. One barbecue that goes rogue with green level is an accident. With red level conditions, is a crime.

More hybrid war

Wildfires in Spain, France and Canada starting at the same time just days after the NATO summit. 60 arsonists detained in France this year for 11000 French wildfires.

Of the 67 new wildfires today in Canada 24 were known caused by man, 27 by natural causes and 16 undetermined. This means that even with this alert level, arsonists may be still provoking between a 36% and a 60% of the wildfires in Canada. This is wrong. It shouldn't be so easy.

Long-distance wispering to fools on social nets has become too easy and profitable.

While people keeps distracted by the "cleaning forest" myth, we can expect that it will turn worse the closer we go to the end of the Ukraine war.

This is still privatizing a service so the government does not need to pay for it.

Is the oldest trick in science. Do it for free. We are looking for: "enthusiastic", "volunteer","vocational", "young", "exploitable". We'll pay cancer research with this nice charity event...

Every single scientist has heard this crap thousands of times, and the independent climate council should bill those conservative politicians for their job. Each time they need something for them. If not they will never learn to not mess with science.

Why would you need attribution?

Many Bothans died, or even worse were fired, to bring us this information

A little appreciation to the people that were prosecuted just for being scientists, vomiting at the sea all day long, would be a nice detail.

Toxoglossa is even better

And they are delicious. Just don't chew it too much. Much tastier than spider silk probably.

I heard about a man that was finishing his work working in a greenhouse. He felt ill and dizzy and tried to go home. Sadly the car was parked in the sun. He entered in the car, fainted and died by heat stroke.

Hiring workers naturally adapted to the work conditions can help. Also providing a constant supply of water bottles

Trees and climbers are the best AC.

This people sadly, never received a name.

its anatomy

Just use the terrestrial gelatinous equivalent, Aloe vera. It works wonderfully creating a sort of jellyfish skin over your skin.