Numlock News: July 19, 2024 • Viper, Guyana, Dead & Company

Jul 19, 2024

By Walt Hickey

Have a great weekend!

VIPER

NASA has cancelled the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover project, which would have explored the south pole of the moon and looked for ice and resources ahead of crewed missions planned for later this decade. Originally intended to launch in 2023, the launch was delayed to 2024 to allow more time for testing, and then again to 2025, with projected costs of $609.6 million. NASA has already spent $450 million on a rover that does in fact exist but had yet to undergo some tests. It’s possible that the rover could be used in future missions, or raided for parts.

Agence France-Presse

Crocodiles

In thrilling news, conservationists found a clutch of 106 eggs of the rare Siamese crocodile species in Cambodia, the largest such discovery in decades. After the May discovery, 60 of the eggs were successfully hatched, which is deeply exciting given that the species is critically endangered and only 1,000 of them remain in the wild, with just 300 of them in Cambodia. This is even more encouraging because it indicated that Cardamom National Park, where they were found, is in fact a safe and viable habitat for the species.

The Associated Press

Dead & Co.

Dead & Company is coming to the end of its 2024 run of shows at the Las Vegas Sphere, a massive venue that puts on an immersive and all-encompassing spectacle on a 160,000-square-foot wraparound screen during shows. Those visuals need to be made by someone, and in Dead & Company’s case that was Treatment Studio. While the show itself is a clean three hours in length, they produced 5.5 hours of visual in the end, allowing them to change up the visual display night to night. It’s a massive effort, especially given that Sphere is 273 million pixels per frame.

Chris Willman, Variety

De Beers

Anglo American is selling its 85 percent stake in De Beers, the diamond company, with plans to focus on copper, iron and fertilizer. Diamond production was down 15 percent year over year in the second quarter, and full-year production will come in between 26 million and 29 million carats. De Beers has had some rough spots lately, making $72 million last year, a bad year for a business where profits are reliably between $500 million and $1.5 billion depending on the state of the diamond industry.

Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.com

Are You Gonna Get That

A stereotype about young and older people is that in general, young people don’t answer their door anymore, while older people do. This is, in fact, correct: A new poll found that 43 percent of people in Gen Z or millennial generations said they would answer the front door if a stranger knocked at it, compared to 55 percent among baby boomers and 68 percent among the Silent Generation above them.

Bryn Healy, YouGov

Duckweed

Duckweed is an aquatic plant that’s seen as a promising source of protein for humans and animals alike. Duckweed grows in freshwater, and under optimal conditions is 45 percent protein, with a hectare of duckweed producing 10 to 18 tonnes of protein per year. By comparison, the same area of soybeans would produce 0.6 to 1.2 tonnes of protein. Duckweed grows fast — the quantity can double in less than 48 hours — and now the challenge is finding out ways to extract rubisco, the main enzyme present in the leaves and the single most abundant protein on Earth.

Tristan Muller and Laurent Bazinet, The Conversation

Guyana

Chevron and Exxon Mobile are locked in a high-stakes legal battle over Chevron’s attempt to acquire Hess, at the center of which is the nation of Guyana. Oil was found offshore, and over the next decade Guyana will produce 1.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, double the output of Venezuela and almost as much as the entire Gulf of Mexico. It’s a massive, lucrative prize, and a key reason Chevron wants to buy Hess anyway. Exxon operates all output in Guyana and has a 45 percent stake in a consortium that includes Hess, which has a 30 percent stake. The Guyana business makes up somewhere between 60 percent and 80 percent of the $53 billion offered for Hess. Exxon argues that Hess needs to give it the option to purchase its stake in Guyana because of a right of first refusal baked into their arrangement, but that the manner in which Chevron is acquiring Hess is specifically designed to bypass it.

Sabrina Valle, Reuters

This week in the Sunday Edition, I spoke to Joy Mazur, who wrote “‘We should have a sense of urgency’: Drainage tile drives nutrient pollution” for The Lens. This story was fascinating, highlighting a somewhat obscure-to-many agricultural practice and the unintended side effect it can have thousands of miles away. It’s a fascinating look at how complex water systems can be, and how a clever drainage solution can have deeply unexpected consequences. We spoke about the pros and cons of drainage tile systems, some conservation drainage alternatives, and the current lack of regulation. Mazur can be found on X and LinkedIn.

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