Numlock News: February 4, 2025 • Hominin, Ne Zha, Svarftsengi

Feb 04, 2025

By Walt Hickey

Internet

New research about using the physical manifestation of the internet (specifically, long fiber-optic cables) to measure earthquakes and volcanic activity is promising, according to a new paper published in Geophysical Journal International. Researchers applied a physics-based algorithm to fiber-optic data to corroborate and improve information collected from traditional seismometers. The researchers captured seismic data from a glacier using a 1.2 kilometer long fiber at Gornergletscher in the Swiss Alps, volcanic eruption data from an 8 kilometer long dark fiber near the Svarftsengi volcanic eruption in Iceland, and geothermal borehole data from a 1.2 kilometer long fiber cable cemented into a vertical monitoring borehole in Utah. The advantage is scale — there are a lot more internet cables out there than seismometers — and the distributed acoustic sensing (DAT) tech has a lot of promise for monitoring pipelines, railways and the subsurface as well.

Royal Astronomical Society

Whip-Its

Nitrous oxide is known for its under-the-table uses as an inhalant. Its ubiquity in gas stations and convenience stores has some people questioning how exactly a technically illegal drug can see such common availability, especially in places where culinary minds are not looking for the opportunity to replace an exhausted whipped cream fuel. Behind it is a pretty large industry. One particularly prominent company, Galaxy Gas, at one time made up 30 percent of all nitrous sales nationwide, according to an individual connected to the company. Documents revealed by a lawsuit against United Brands (which distributes the Whip-It! brand of products) indicated that over the course of seven years, they sold over a million charges to the It’s A Dream smoke shop alone.

Amogh Dimri, The Atlantic

Digital Cameras

Digital cameras — the ones not attached to phones, that is — have made a small comeback, with shipments of digital cameras reaching 8.49 million units last year. This was an increase of 10 percent, according to the Camera & Imaging Products Association. Some of the biggest demand increase comes from China. The country accounts for 28 percent of shipments, up from 15 percent in 2019, as young people there demand higher-quality imaging than is otherwise available on phone digital cameras.

Kohei Yamada, Yoshika Kaku and Norika Taguchi, Nikkei Asia

Lucy

The hominin fossil called Lucy dates to 3.2 million years ago and it is of an Australopithecus afarensis. Virtual reconstructions have allowed scientists to determine she was most likely three and a half feet tall and weighed between 29 and 93 pounds. A new analysis tried to figure out Lucy’s top speed, simulating her leg muscles, conducting a computerized gait simulation, and determined that she probably maxed out at around 11 miles per hour. This is much slower than modern humans who can hit 18 miles per hour at a sprint. At one point, Lucy catches a stray from a researcher who compared her top speed to that of Usain Bolt. I speak with experience here (as a person who with some notoriety was also physically assessed and converted into a computer simulation during a foolhardy scientific quest and found equally wanting when compared to professional athletes) I stand with Lucy to say that it’s messed up to use computers to make people run and I simply won’t stand for it.

Franz Lidz, The New York Times

Value

A new study from First Street estimates that climate change will cause a $1.47 trillion decline in home values in the United States by 2055, in no small part due to rising insurance costs and homeowners declining to move to risky neighborhoods. The estimate doesn’t account for inflation or other factors that might weigh on the value of a property and strictly looks at the aggregate shed value. Today home values are worth an aggregated $50 trillion, and if they were to continue to rise steadily, this is more a haircut than a decapitation. Then again, if the number of Americans who consider climate risks when moving will rise from 5.2 million to 55 million in 2055 as projected, let’s just say Aquaman is about to corner the market on some compelling real estate.

Nicole Friedman and Deborah Acosta, The Wall Street Journal

Forget It, Jake

In related news, State Farm has asked state regulators in California to allow an emergency rate hike in the state as the payouts from the Los Angeles wildfire threaten to destabilize the insurance market. They’re the largest home insurer in California and are seeking a 22 percent average rate hike, starting May 1. Specifically, they plan for a 15 percent hike for renters and condominium owners and insurance for rental dwellings needing to rise 38 percent. This follows a 6.9 percent increase the state allowed for State Farm in 2023, and a 20 percent increase allowed last year. There is a pending request for a 30 percent hike, but it’s not entirely clear if that’s still being pursued on top of the 22 percent hike.

Eliyahu Kamisher, Bloomberg

Lunar New Year

China’s five-day holiday weekend is a massive one for cinemas, with the overall weekend bringing in $536.9 million in a single weekend. This brings the total for the year up to $1.24 billion so far, which is up 234.1 percent compared to the same stretch of 2024. The leading film at the cinema was Ne Zha 2, a sequel to the 2019 animated movie Ne Zha, which made $434.2 million over the holiday weekend. With two days to go over the Lunar New Year holiday, it could very well be on pace to become the highest-grossing Chinese film ever. It seems pretty set to beat Inside Out 2’s $653 million to become the highest-grossing animated film in a single market. The current record for the highest-grossing Chinese film is $913 million, for The Battle at Lake Changjin.

Naman Ramachandran. Variety

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