Men from Mars and Penguins from Venus?
Earlier this year we had the saga of phosphine gas indicating life on Venus. Possibly, perhaps and finally not even there. Now we have the Daily Star, that doyen of scientific journals, suggesting that penguins might be extra-terrestrials due to phosphine being detected in their guano. Never mind phosphine, perhaps we have a surfeit of nitrous oxide.

North and South 
Analysis of the backgrounds of over 1,000 authors involved in the 100 most cited climate change research papers from 2016-2020 found that 90% of these scientists were affiliated with academic institutions from North America, Europe or Australia. Fewer than 1% of the authors were based in Africa, while only 12 of the papers had a female lead researcher. The worry being that this lack of diversity creates blind spots to the needs of some of the most vulnerable people to climate change.

Do conversations end when people want them to?
A Harvard study earlier this year found conversations tend to go on for too long because people are too polite to end them. Adam Mastroianni, who led the study, explained there is generally a “coordination failure” about when to end conversations. “People feel like it’s a social rupture to say, ‘I’m ready to go’… Because of that, we are skilled at not broadcasting that information.”

Thought for the month
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit”.
Harry S. Truman, US President, Politician (1884-1972).