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Portugal's Madeira Island Fire Raging  

NASA Goddard Photo and Video posted a photo:

Smoke from several large fires burning on Portugal's Madeira Island were seen blowing over the Atlantic Ocean on Aug. 10 when NASA's Terra satellite passed overhead.

Madeira is an archipelago of four islands located off the northwest coast of Africa. They are an autonomous region of Portugal.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite captured this natural-color image at 8:25 a.m. EDT (12:05 UTC). Places where MODIS detected active fire are located in red.

Image Credit: NASA Goddard's Rapid Response Team, Jeff Schmaltz

NASA image use policy.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA's mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA's accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency's mission.

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astronomy  

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NASA/Kepler-Mission Mystery: "Unknown Forces at Work" -- 'Alien-Megastructure' Star Decreasing in Brightness At Unprecedented Rate  
 
astronomy  

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Follow instructions  

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

The life of an astronaut in space consists of following many step-by-step procedures. We've all wished we had an extra arm when following the instructions to self-assembly furniture and for astronauts it is no different except their procedures, instructions and hardware are more complex as well as their lives often depending on following the instructions correctly.

ESA has developed a system that improves on the basic step-by-step procedures used on the International Space Station that are displayed on a computer. The current system requires constant floating back and forth from the computer to the workplace to check the next step, and mission control cannot easily follow progress.

The mobile procedure viewer or ‘mobiPV' is a wearable system that displays each step in a task, synchronises between the astronaut, ground control and third parties, automatically logs steps and communication and allows for video conferencing, note-taking and text chat.

In this image, ESA's Matthias Maurer is testing the system during a simulated space mission 20 m underwater off the coast of Florida, USA, during NASA's Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO).

The main part of the equipment is the smartphone and camera on a 3D-printed wrist-band. mobiPV can display the procedure on a separate tablet to see more information. Here Matthias has connected a third device for testing all three screens are synchronised.

Versions of mobiPV have been tested during NEEMO before and even in space during ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen's ‘iriss' mission last year. This version, branded mobiPV++, uses a redesigned system and tests the device without a head-mounted display.

The NEEMO crew used mobiPV to run a new way of sampling water that shows promise for use on the International Space Station, called Aquapad. The procedure was displayed on the tablet with ground control following from the coast and the mobiPV team watching from ESTEC, ESA's technical heart in the Netherlands. The astronauts and NEEMO crew were very positive with the results.

The mobiPV team is continuing to refine the system and hope to have a second test on the International Space Station with ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet during his six-month Proxima mission starting later this year.

Credit: NASA

 
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Black Holes Hiding in the Milky Way's Halo? --"Survivors from the Beginning of the Universe"  
 
astronomy  

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https://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/2016/aug/10/this-weeks-perseid-meteor-shower-could-be-best-in-years-for-northern-hemisphere-viewers  
This week's Perseid meteor shower could be best in years for northern hemisphere viewers  

Up to 200 Perseid meteors per hour could blaze across the northern hemisphere sky in the early hours of Friday morning. Here's what they are and how to see them

Night owls in the northern hemisphere could be in for a treat this Thursday night/Friday morning. The annual Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak on the night of 1112 August, and this year it is predicted to give double its usual rate of meteors.

Up to 200 shooting stars per hour could be seen under perfect conditions, according to Bill Cooke of Nasa's Meteoroid Environments Office in Huntsville, Alabama. The International Meteor Organization goes as far as wondering whether this week's spectacle is going to be “the best in years”. The optimism is being driven by two reasons.

Related: Perseid meteor shower in pictures

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astronomy  

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Dinosaur-surviving mammal endangered by stray dogs  

Research shows the solenodon evolved more than 70 million years ago in time to hang out with dinosaurs. But today these unique mammals face a barrage of threats including stray dogs, feral cats, invasive mongoose and deforestation.

If there was any justice in the animal kingdom any at all the solenodon would be as famous as the tiger. The solenodon is a rabbit-sized, shrew-like mammal that is only found on two Caribbean islands: Cuba and Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti).

There are a whole slew of reasons why the solenodon's star should rise, including the facts that it's one of the only venomous mammals and David Attenborough really likes it. But, most of all, the solenodon should be famous because it somehow survived the asteroid collision that killed off the dinosaurs, not to mention the next 66 million years of other catastrophes, from Ice Ages to the rise of bipedal destroyers named Homo Sapiens.

It's truly remarkable that the solenodons survived this direct hit, whilst global ecosystems collapsed around them.

I cannot explain what I felt the first time I touched it.

Related: How humans are driving the sixth mass extinction

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gaia  

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Breakthrough in combating malaria with odor-baited trap for mosquitoes  
The use of a newly-developed mosquito trap incorporating human odor has resulted in a 70 percent decline in the population of the most significant malaria mosquito on the Kenyan island of Rusinga. After the introduction of the odor-baited traps on the island the proportion of people with malaria was 30 percent lower among those living in houses with a trap compared to people living in houses who were yet to receive a trap.  
gaia  

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Stress bites! Researchers study mosquito/bird interactions  
When researchers investigated how the stress hormone, corticosterone, affects how birds cope with West Nile virus, they found that birds with higher levels of stress hormone were twice as likely to be bitten by mosquitoes that transmit the virus. Their studies have implications for the transmission of other viruses such Eastern Equine Encephalitis, and perhaps even Zika, both known to be carried by the kind of mosquitoes used in this study.  
gaia  

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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160809145123.htm  
1967 solar storm nearly took US to brink of war  
A solar storm that jammed radar and radio communications at the height of the Cold War could have led to a disastrous military conflict if not for the US Air Force's budding efforts to monitor the sun's activity, a new study finds.  
technology  

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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160810104412.htm  
Discovery of a time-resolved supernova signal in Earth's microfossils  
Physicists have succeeded in detecting a time-resolved supernova signal in the Earth's microfossil record. As the group shows, the supernova signal was first detectable at a time starting about 2.7 million years ago. According to the researcher's analyses, our solar system spent one million years to transit trough the remnants of a supernova.  
astronomy  

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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160810084622.htm  
Stellar lab in Sagittarius  
The small smattering of bright blue stars in a new ESO image is the perfect cosmic laboratory in which to study the life and death of stars. Known as Messier 18 this star cluster contains stars that formed together from the same massive cloud of gas and dust.  
astronomy  

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http://insider.si.edu/2016/08/17-objects-170-years-happy-birthday-us/  
Seventeen Objects for 170 Years (Happy Birthday to us!)  

With over 138 million collection objects, 2.1 million library volumes, and 137,000 cubic feet of archives, the stories of how our collections have made their way to the Smithsonian are almost as varied as the collections themselves. From a tiny mosquito to a space shuttle, we've seen, and moved, it all. This is an ode to all the collectors and movers that have made the Smithsonian what it is today.

1. Finding Buddha

Due to China's political unrest in the 1920s-30s, the Freer Gallery's associate curator of archaeology, Carl Whiting Bishop, had to stop his excavations on archaeological sites in the Shanxi Province. Instead, he kept busy improving his Chinese and searching for artifacts to add the Freer's new building. One such addition was a headless stone Buddha purchased for 4,800 Mexican silver dollars that continues to tell stories today.

2. Atomic Ark

In 1946 under the name Operation Crossroads, the U.S. government exploded two atomic bombs at the Bikini Atoll. Two Smithsonian scientists were assigned to the mission to evaluate the environmental impact of the atomic bombs. To assess the risk of radiation to humans, government employees placed several animals on ships near the island. The lone survivor, Pig 311, was found swimming for shore. In 1949, the Smithsonian was once again reminded of Operation Crossroads when Pig 311 was sent to the National Zoo to live out the rest of her days.

3, 4. Mysterious brown-paper packages

On November 8, 1958, one of the most famous gems in the world was mailed by U.S. Postal Service, in a plain brown paper package, for $145.29 to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History: the Hope Diamond. An instant star, the 45.52 carat diamond has only left the Smithsonian four times since its arrival. And we love the story so much, the package became part of the collections of our National Postal Museum!  (Bonus: learn more about the curse of the Hope Diamond from Smithsonian Provost Richard Kurin!)

5. Moving day for George

On September 6, 1962, the Horatio Greenough statue of George Washington was moved from the Smithsonian's Castle to the partially complete Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History) in order to fit it inside before finishing the walls.  While the distance between the two buildings is less than a half-mile, it took a lot of workso much so that it remains there today!

6. A rocket ruckus

Perhaps alarming to some visitors, the Smithsonian displayed rockets outside its Arts & Industries Building (1950s-1974) before our National Air and Space Museum (NASM) was built. The rockets came down in November 1974 and into the new museum, but many people have fond memories of this eye-catching attraction on the National Mall.

7. Patience breeds a National Gallery of Art…

In 1887, our third Secretary Samuel Pierpont Langley declared that the Smithsonian “should act for the nation in the matter of Art.” He retrieved some of the paintings our first Secretary and physicist, Joseph Henry (who was generally uninterested in building an art collection or museum), loaned to our neighbors, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Library of Congress. Langley also took interest in the art collection of Harriet Lane Johnston, niece of President James Buchanan, who died in 1903.  Unfortunately, Johnston bequeathed the collection to the Corcoran, but a clause in her will stipulated that the collection would ultimately go to a national art gallery in the Nation's Capitol. Fortunately, the Corcoran turned it down and the collection became ours in 1906 to found the National Gallery of Art, now the Smithsonian American Art Museum

8. Collecting voices

The Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum resides in Washington D.C.'s historic African American neighborhood, and seeks to enhance understanding of contemporary urban issues both locally and across the country. Their Community Documentation Initiative makes historic data and materials available to the community, and it includes a large trove of oral histories that bring this important neighborhood to life. There are descriptions for over 160 of them online.

9. Make it two Renwicks!

Not satisfied with just one Renwick building (our Castle), we acquired our second in 1966. Originally built to show Europe that America was sophisticated enough to have art (and to house the art collection of native-Washingtonian and banker William Wilson Corcoran), it was the first building built in America expressly for the display of art. In the 1950s, as it became increasingly dilapidated, Congress recommended razing it. Despite calling it a “Victorian horror,” First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy launched a successful campaign to save it. In 1965, we asked to take over the building and Smithsonian American Art Gallery's Renwick Gallery of contemporary craft and decorative art was born.

10. The sky is falling! Wait, is that a statue?

When Joseph Hirshhorn gave in to the persistent wooing of President Lyndon Johnston and his wife, Lady Bird, and Smithsonian's then Secretary, S. Dillon Ripley, he agreed to donate his collection in 1966 to found a national museum of contemporary art. The question then became how to move the over 12,000 artworks, including rather large sculptures, from his home in Greenwich, Connecticut, to the National Mall in Washington D.C.? One word: helicopter.

11. It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a space shuttle?!

Not to be outdone by the Hirshhorn sculpture helicopter drop, NASM's Udvar Hazy Center near Dulles Airport received the Space Shuttle Discovery in 2012 after it flew across the National Mall in Washington D.C., delighting government workers and tourists alike.

12. Portraits of U.S. Presidents (…and people who play them on TV)

In a stupendous blurring of fact and fiction, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery's Director, Kim Sajet, played herself on the the Netflix show, House of Cards, to receive the “presidential” portrait of Francis J. Underwood into the collection. Painted by notable portrait artist, Jonathan Yeo, the painting is 6 feet by 6 feet and looms as large as Kevin Spacey's depiction of the conniving and sinister Underwood. To complete the storyline, Underwood himself is quoted in the press release as saying, “I'm pleased that the Smithsonian continues to prove itself as a worthwhile institution. I'm one step closer to convincing the rest of the country that I am the President.” It give me shivers.

13. It takes a community

How do you preserve African American history? One neighborhood at a time. The National Museum of African American History and Culture is visiting major cities around the country to help preserve family photographs and documents, military uniforms, quilts, and more with their Save Our African American Treasures program.

14. Not your average moving day

The Smithsonian Institution Archives keeps collections related to the history of the Smithsonian; its people, buildings, and events. One such collection is the papers of Warren M. Robbins, the man behind the Museum of African Art that was transferred to the Smithsonian by Congress in 1978 (now the National Museum of African Art). The 109 boxes of correspondence, photos, and memorabilia were picked up from a Capitol Hill row house in 2011, and are a testament to Robbins' passion for the African cultures that inspired him to found the museum.

15. “Collecting Bytes” or “Taking a Byte”

How does one collect an iPad app written for iOS 4.3? It was a challenge fitting to our National Design Museum, the Cooper Hewitt, who in 2013 added its first piece of software code to the collection. Learn more about how they are using open source methodologies to preserve this alternative music browser, Planetary, for generations to come.

16. Drumming to eternity

During the Iraq War, on September 17 and 18, 2004, American Indian members of the U.S. Army's 120th Engineer Combat Battalion held an Inter-Tribal Powwow at Al Taqaddum Air Base in Iraq. For the Powwow, the soldiers fashioned a ceremonial drum from a 55-gallon oil drum that was cut in half and covered with canvas from a sleeping cot. The drum was donated to our National Museum of American Indian by battalion members and their chaplain, Sergeant Debra K. Mooney (Choctaw), in 2005.

17. Ready for an 1850 close-up

Finally, it's only fitting to end with a unique look at one of the Smithsonian's first treasures—our Castle. Though the Castle (which has housed exhibits, collections, and even our first Secretary!) was not completely finished until 1855, this photo was taken in the summer of 1850, while building was still underway. It is the earliest photo ever taken of the Smithsonian Castle, and the only photo of it under construction. And where did this rare photo come from? It was uncovered at a Washington D.C. Antique Photo and Postcard Show in the spring of 2015!

Want an extra birthday surprise?

Head over to the Smithsonian Transcription Center, where you can see firsthand how museums like the National Air and Space Museum and the Smithsonian American Art Museum were organized (plus a look at the development of the Hope Diamond exhibition), and help transcribe!

 

The post Seventeen Objects for 170 Years (Happy Birthday to us!) appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

 
culture  

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French grande for LA KERMESSE ROUGE aka THE SCARLET BAZAAR (Paul...  

French grande for LA KERMESSE ROUGE aka THE SCARLET BAZAAR (Paul Mesnier, France, 1947)

Designer: Bernard Lancy

Poster source: Eat Brie

“Agnès Bonnardet leaves her parents to marry Claude Sironi, a painter who becomes famous but loses his talent. Meanwhile Agnes acquires a style of her own as an artist, which makes Claude jealous of his young wife. One day, he sends one of his own paintings to the Bazar de la Charité, a very trendy Paris department store, instead of one of his wife's works as ordered. Afraid of her being mad at him, he locks her up in the cloak room. A dreadful fire suddenly breaks out and sets the building ablaze.” IMDb

 
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CITES: list the WHITE RHINO, AFRICAN ELEPHANT and LION as ENDANGERED SPECIES UNDER APPENDIX I in 2016 https://t.co/0Ti0Z96aK6 
https://t.co/0Ti0Z96aK6 

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Many endangered species face long waits for protection  
The Endangered Species Act was enacted by Congress in 1973 to protect species threatened with extinction. To receive protection, a species must first be listed as endangered or threatened. A two-year timeline for the process was established in 1982 by a Congressional amendment to the ESA. Researchers found that many species are encountering much longer wait times. They believe that delays could lead to less global biodiversity.  
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Managing climate change refugia to protect wildlife  
Natural and cultural areas that will remain similar to what they are today -- despite climate change -- need to be identified, managed and conserved as 'refugia' for at-risk species, according to a new study. The study sets out, for the first time, specific steps to help identify and manage these more resilient and climate-stable havens for plants, animals and fishes.  
gaia  

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New analysis shows threats to 8,000 Red List species  
Less than a month away from the kick-off the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii, a team of scientists reports that three quarters of the world's threatened species are imperiled because people are converting their habitat into agricultural lands and over-harvesting their populations.  
gaia  

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How climate change will hurt humanity's closest cousins  
The consequences of climate change are an increasing concern for humans around the world. How will we cope with rising sea levels and climbing temperatures? But it's not just humans who will be affected by these worldwide shifts -- it's our closest cousins, too: monkeys, apes and lemurs.  
gaia  

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Unraveling the jaw-dropping goblin shark  
Scientists have revealed goblin sharks' 'slingshot feeding' mechanism, which involves high-speed protrusion of their jaws. Goblin sharks have revealed a remarkable biting mechanism, named 'slingshot feeding,' which involves high-speed manipulation of the species' highly protrusible jaws.  
gaia  

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Galápagos faces first-ever bird extinction  
Scientists have discovered a new species of colorful songbird in the Galápagos Islands, with one catch: it's extinct. Researchers used molecular data from samples of museum specimens to determine that a subspecies of Vermilion Flycatcher should be elevated to full species status, but this newly recognized species hasn't been seen since 1987, and is considered to be the first modern extinction of a Galápagos bird species.  
gaia  

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Tracing the evolution of bird reproduction  
What really came first -- the chicken or the egg? Birds' reproductive biology is dramatically different from that of any other living vertebrates, and scientists have long wondered how and when the unique features of bird reproduction originated. A new review examines answers from three sources--modern birds, fossils of primitive birds, and fossils of the dinosaurs from which birds are descended -- to shed new light on the subject.  
gaia  

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Police Investigating Whether A Wimbledon Contestant Was Poisoned  
Gabriella Taylor, 18, was forced to withdraw from the junior women's tournament midway through her quarter final match, after being struck down with a mystery illness. And police think she may have been poisoned.  
gaia  

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View from Greenwich  

www.javierayala-photography.com posted a photo:

© All rights reserved .
© Todos derechos reservados.
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London - England

 
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Paint the sky with clouds (Big Ben&Westminster Bridge , London)  

primulmeusarut posted a photo:

And in the middle of my chaos , there was the sky...

 
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