The Daily Populous

Saturday October 31st, 2020 day edition

image for Without us, pumpkins may have gone extinct

But it turns out that pumpkins—along with the rest of Cucurbita, the plant genus that includes gourds and squash, have us to thank, too.

More than 10,000 years ago, the extremely bitter-tasting wild ancestors of Cucurbita plants were thriving across the New World, along with the large mammals such as giant sloths and mammoths that grazed on them.

Today those wild plants are rare, whereas the sweet-tasting domesticated species are extremely common—in our gardens, that is.

One finding is that the plants weren't domesticated once but several times by the native people of the New World.

Those giant mammals that ate the bitter Cucurbita fruit and dispersed their seeds all went extinct.

Without the seed dispersal service of giant mammal poop, those plants got crowded out of the landscape.

There is much to be thankful for, even if you're on the menu this Thanksgiving. »

Trump Is Losing Ground With Some — But Not All — White Christians

Authored by fivethirtyeight.com

Despite Biden’s claims that he can appeal to white evangelical Protestants, there really aren’t any signs that Trump is losing support among this group.

But Trump may have reason to worry about his level of support among white Catholics.

Trump won white Catholics handily in 2016, but there are signs that his hold on this group is slipping. »

‘The new generation of nuclear energy is as clean as solar, wind and hydro’

Authored by telegraph.co.uk

A new generation of nuclear power plant that can be used alongside renewable energy sources will help the fight against climate change.

Our vision has always been to reduce the cost of clean energy for the whole world by eliminating the need for fossil fuels Simon Newton.

We need to keep educating people – because nuclear energy generates zero greenhouse gas emissions during generation, and very few over its entire lifecycle. »

Mitchell Miller no longer a part of UND hockey team

Authored by grandforksherald.com

"I have been closely monitoring the situation concerning Men’s Hockey student-athlete Mitchell Miller, who was involved in a situation as a youth in 2016," Armacost wrote.

"After much consideration and discussions with Mitchell, the Miller family, our Athletics Director, Bill Chaves, and Coach Brad Berry, I have decided that the best course of action for Mitchell and the University is that he no longer be a member of the UND Men’s Hockey program.

Mitchell may remain a student at UND and we will continue to support his future intellectual and interpersonal growth. »

Covid nurse death toll now as high as the number of nurses who died during World War One

Authored by independent.co.uk
image for

The latest figures collated by the federation of 130 national nurses’ associations show that 1,500 nurses have lost their lives since the pandemic began around the world.

This is the same as the number of nurses believed to have been killed during the four years of World War One.

“The fact that as many nurses have died during this pandemic as died during World War I is shocking”, the federation’s chief executive Howard Catton said during an online conference earlier this week. »