What made you awestruck or astonished today?

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THE U.S. MILITARY IS REPORTEDLY TESTING UNDERWATER BULLETS
https://futurism.com/the-byte/us-underwater-bullets

Military contractor DSG Technologies created a bullet that has its tip coated in tungsten,
allowing it to create a small air bubble in front of it — a process called “supercavitation.

A .50 caliber CavX round can travel 60 meters underwater, according to Defense One.
 
Frogmen on both sides of the Cold War had a relatively expansive arsenal of underwater guns already. I wouldn't consider this too outlandish. There are definitely some easily-possible scenarios these things could come in handy with.
 
Adorno said:
But small projectiles? Obviously a submarine can fire torpedoes, but bullets just disintegrate when hitting water.

They disintegrate when they hit water, not when they're fired from within it. Same principle as the Gyrojet guns (and as I recall Gyrojet adapted their design for underwater combat at some point).
 
Adorno said:
Are you saying you can fire a regular firearm underwater? Water is pretty solid compared to air. The bullet wouldn't go more than 1-2 metres, I imagine.

Danath's example above is relevant, and that's only with normal ammunition. If you were to look up Gyrojet they specialized in self-propelled ammunition technology for space combat - essentially miniaturized rocket bullets. There were plans to adapt this for underwater combat before they went bankrupt.

I'll also point out that while a 9mm bullet might not break the surface, a .50 BMG cartridge will for a good distance.
 
I thought on MythBusters they proved that larger calibers actually break up faster when hitting the water, and smaller calibers go further.

 
https://henrich.fas.harvard.edu/publications/church-intensive-kinship-and-global-psychological-variation

Introduction said:
A growing body of research suggests that populations around the globe vary substantially along several important psychological dimensions and that populationscharacterized as Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) are particularly unusual. People from these societies tend to be more individualistic, independent, and impersonally prosocial (e.g., trusting of strangers) while revealing less conformity and in-group loyalty. Although these patterns are now well documented, few efforts have sought to explain them. Here, we propose that the Western Church (i.e., the branch of Christianity that evolved into the Roman Catholic Church) transformed European kinship structures during the Middle Ages and that this transformation was a key factor behind a shift towards a WEIRDer psychology.
Results said:
We test these predictions at three levels. Globally, we show that countries with longer historical exposure to the medieval Western Church or less intensive kinship (e.g., lower rates of cousin marriage) are more individualistic and independent, less conforming and obedient, and more inclined toward trust and cooperation with strangers (see figure). Focusing on Europe, where we compare regions within countries, we show that longer exposure to the Western Church is associated with less intensive kinship, greater individualism, less conformity, and more fairness and trust toward strangers. Finally, comparing only the adult children of immigrants in European countries, we show that those whose parents come from countries or ethnic groups that historically experienced more centuries under the Western Church or had less intensive kinship tend to be more individualistic, less conforming, and more inclined toward fairness and trust with strangers.
Conclusion said:
This research suggests that contemporary psychological patterns, ranging from individualism and trust to conformity and analytical thinking, have been influenced by deep cultural evolutionary processes, including the Church’s peculiar incest taboos, family policies, and enduring kin-based institutions.
 
Smoke from Australia fires reaches South America
https://www.dw.com/en/smoke-from-australia-fires-reaches-south-america/a-51923046

Smoke from bushfires in Australia has traveled some 11,000 kilometers (6,800 miles) to South America.
Last week, the highest levels of carbon monoxide in the world were measured over the "clean" South Pacific Ocean.
:shock:
 
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