Today’s quick hits July 31, 2024

Rural cardiologists are scarce: Some 86 percent of rural counties have no cardiologist, almost twice the national average of 46 percent, said research in a medical journal. (Washington Post)

Agrivoltaic research on a large scale: A 1,900-acre solar farm in central Ohio will become one of the country’s largest testing grounds for agrivoltaics, the combination of energy and agricultural production on the same land; hay and soybeans are potential crops. (Ohio Capital Journal)

Recruiting rural college students: The University of Arizona is joining a network of colleges that has the goal of giving students from rural and small-town America “the information and support they need to enroll and graduate” from college. (Arizona Daily Star)

Two more weeks to comment: The USDA extended to Sept. 11 the comment period on its proposed livestock marketing regulation, which would make it easier for producers to claim that a processor used unfair practices against them. (Agricultural Marketing Service)

Super-black wood: Canadian researchers experimenting with high-energy plasma discovered by accident a way to create super-black wood that absorbs more than 99 percent of light that strikes it, a product that could be used in astronomy, solar cells, and jewelry. (University of British Columbia)