Some interesting weekend reading

By Jeff Moore

In case my boss is reading, the following are interesting tidbits I’ve come across while researching for JobTrac listings:

Mysterious electrical bursts warn of material collapse

Inexplicable flashes of electricity burst out of powdery materials seconds before they form cracks and fail. If better understood, the flashes could be monitored to forewarn of earthquakes, concrete bridge collapses or failures in the ceramic components of engines, such as turbine blades. …

Renewable energy’s growing pains

Renewable energy received record investment in 2011 and expanded massively, but it also struggled with dwindling political support and plummeting prices. The industry faces several more years of growing pains before it can properly compete with fossil fuels. …

Geoengineering would turn blue skies whiter

Blue skies would fade to hazy white if geoengineers inject light-scattering aerosols into the upper atmosphere to offset global warming. Critics have already warned that this might happen, but now the effect has been quantified. …

Neon light left on for 77 years discovered during renovation of landmark restaurant

Neon light from around 1935 found behind wall in bathroom at historic Clifton’s Cafeteria in Los Angeles.

Centralia, Pennsylvania Fire Still Burns Underneath Town, 50 Years On

Cars keep safe distance on Spanish highway without driver intervention.

Spanish drivers were treated to an amusing sight over the weekend — a truck electronically towing a chain of cars behind it.

Mystery of the one-in-a-million ‘Frankenstein fish

An angler has claimed to have caught a one-in-a-million “Frankenstein fish,” which appears to be up of three different species.

Diesel exhausts do cause cancer, says WHO

Exhaust fumes from diesel engines do cause cancer, a panel of experts working for the World Health Organization says.

It concluded that the exhausts were definitely a cause of lung cancer and may also cause tumors in the bladder.

Wombat causes a storm in water pipe

There are many things that could block a stormwater drain.

But a wombat?

Jeff Moore is a data reporter at The Daily Reporter. He sometimes always works 9-5.