Ada Palmer

F&SF Novelist (Terra Ignota), historian (U Chicago), Renaissance, book history, censorship, classics, disability activism, FILK music Sassafrass, manga/anime Tezuka, chronic pain

blog: exurbe.com
homepage: adapalmer.com
Next nonfiction:: Inventing the Renaissance
Next fiction:: Norse Myth!

Last Notes

2025-07-26 17:02:01 UTC

Scientists have figured out how to turn Earth’s most abundant mineral into zero-waste battery metals. The most abundant mineral in earth’s crust is something called olivine: pretty in the gemstone peridot, but otherwise pretty useless. Now, New Zealand engineers have figured out how to dissolve olivine to yield silica (50%), magnesium (40%) and nickel-manganese-cobalt hydroxide (10%) for lithium-ion cathodes, leaving only brine. IEEE Spectrum https://spectrum.ieee.org/nmc-battery-aspiring-materials?ref=fixthenews.com
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2025-01-29 17:00:15 UTC

A decade-long transformation in Ethiopia's Gambella region has revolutionised water access for 235,000 refugees and host communities. The shift from emergency water trucking to a solar-powered utility system has slashed water costs more than ten-fold, while increasing daily water production from 700 to 4,000 cubic metres. The project demonstrates how humanitarian responses can evolve into sustainable solutions. UNICEF https://buff.ly/4hagqBa
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2025-01-20 20:34:11 UTC

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Florence’s republic didn’t fall to the Medici only once, it kicked them out in 1433, in 1494, in 1512, in 1530, it took many conquests. But even when it *was* the worst case, the final fall, resistance kept Florence a place that with noticeably more liberty than its neighbors. 24/?
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2025-01-20 20:34:07 UTC

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When Duke Cosimo wanted to build his elevated private commuter tunnel, those heads on pikes were fresh memories. Most neighbors yielded to his architectural conquest, but there in his way was one old tower nub, cramped, unfashionable, cold, but patrimony of the Mannelli family who 11/?
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