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Boat at River Thames  

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Giant two-atom molecules are the size of bacteria  
Rydberg macrodimer is a quantum-mechanical gold mine  
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Nuclear power's ups and downs  
A timely book on the history of the UK nuclear power industry, reviewed by Geoff Vaughan  
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Nuclear power's ups and downs  
A timely book on the history of the UK nuclear power industry, reviewed by Geoff Vaughan  
science  

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International Collaboration on Advanced Neutron Sources (ICANS XXII)  
Conference: 27 Mar 2017 - 31 Mar 2017, Saïd Business School, Park End Street, Oxford, OX1 1HP, United Kingdom. Organized by STFC ISIS.  
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Techniques for Talking to Strangers  

Connected communities are critical to the health of individuals and societies. Yet, even in New York City, which is crowded with over 8 million people, making new connections isn't always easy. In this episode of If Our Bodies Could Talk, senior editor James Hamblin seeks wisdom from Kio Stark, author of When Strangers Meet. Hamblin attempts to implement her advice in Brooklyn's Prospect Park.

 
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An Uncertain Future for Our National Parks? Not On Our Watch  


Today, the nation will celebrate one of our country's crowning achievements, the centennial of the National Park Service, and a model of conservation and preservation now used all over the world.

For myself and some of my colleagues, that celebration will take place at the Roosevelt Arch at the North Gate of Yellowstone National Park, our nation's first national park. Inscribed across the arch that greets visitors to Yellowstone is a quote from the law that created the park, stating the purpose of protecting this remarkable landscape was "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People."

Those words are the guiding principle of our National Park Service's mission, to protect the natural, historical and cultural sites that together help tell the American story. But even as record-breaking crowds visit American icons like Yosemite, the Great Smokies, and Gettysburg, our parks and the agency entrusted with their care have never been more challenged.

Many of these challenges may not occur to the average visitor who see these places as pinnacles of natural grandeur and windows into our past.

When visitors walk the wooded trails of Shenandoah or the stone steps of the Lincoln Memorial, they may not notice that there are far fewer rangers than in years past, meaning fewer rangers to protect wildlife, maintain our trails, and teach us about our history.

When visitors climb the peaks of Rocky Mountain or walk the Freedom Trail in Boston, they may not realize that shuttered building or closed trail is actually just one part of our park system's $12 billion repair backlog, a backlog that the Congress normally gives just half of the money the Park Service needs to keep that number growing every year.

When visitors step into our nation's beginnings at Jamestown or take in the majestic mountains of the Grand Tetons, they don't realize that destructive development may soon occur just outside those parks' borders that, if allowed to move forward, would forever mar these treasured places.

And when visitors are quick to snap a picture of a distant Grizzly bear in Glacier or dive into the sparkling blue waters of Biscayne, they may not think of the repeated attempts by many in Congress to weaken or remove the protections our parks' wildlife, water, and other resources depend on.

These are just some of the challenges our national parks face as they head into their second century, but it is also not the first time parks have faced these challenges. The difference is that when we have faced these challenges in the past, those across the political spectrum came together to overcome them.

When visitor centers and other park facilities were at the verge of collapse in the 1950s, we came together to pursue Mission 66, a 10-year infrastructure effort to modernize the visitor experience. When we saw the threats our country's air, water, and wildlife face both in and outside our parks, we passed protections such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. And for more than a century, presidents of both parties have used tools such as the Antiquities Act to protect important pieces of our shared heritage like the Grand Canyon and the Statue of Liberty.

Faced with the challenges before us today, the decisions we make now will have profound effects on our parks for decades to come. Now cannot be the time we decide to turn our backs on our parks. Not on our watch.

We need a renewed commitment as a country to our parks, a commitment that goes beyond a supportive tweet and a selfie. It must be a Congress that will preserve those protections our parks rely on and gets our Park Service the resources and funding it needs to tackle parks' challenges.

It must be a president who understands the vital role of parks in our society, and is committed to working with members of all parties to support our parks and ensure more pieces of the American story are added to our Park System.

And it must be members of the public who will not only continue visiting national parks, but the day after they visit commit to helping that park by volunteering, writing a letter to the editor, or calling their member of Congress demanding we do more for our parks.

Our parks face many challenges, but overcoming challenges is part of the American story, a story told through our national parks. In this, their centennial year, let's recommend to ensuring a brighter future for America's favorite places. They deserve no less.

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Rewinding memories may help us recall where the good stuff is  
When a place contains a lot of chocolate, rats replay their memories of how they got there both forwards and in reverse  
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One Professor's Quest To Collect Every Video Game Soda Machine  

From Sprunk and Grog to Nuka-Cola and Fountain View, soda machines are everywhere in video games. A researcher says they can serve a dose of nostalgia after the apocalypse.

 
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WATCH: Squishy 'Octobot' Moves Autonomously  

The robot designed by a team from Harvard University moves without the help of any rigid parts. Researchers say it is the first proof-of-concept design for an entirely soft, autonomous machine.

 
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Instagramming In Black And White? Could Be You're Depressed  

Researchers analyzed people's photo galleries on Instagram, then asked about their mental health. People who favored darker, grayer photos and filters were more likely to be depressed.

 
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Voice Recognition Software Finally Beats Humans At Typing, Study Finds  

In a face-off between voice entry and typing on a mobile device, voice recognition software performed significantly better. The results held true in both English and Mandarin Chinese.

 
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kneel and pray for a better world  

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Barack You Held My Grandson In Your Arms  
"Barack you held my grandson in your arms and felt the comfort and warmth of the baby. Let us feel the same from your kind act and words. Remember you promised to help us all." ~~M. Jay Cook Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe



Standing Rock Indian Reservation, Cannonball South Dakota--August clouds are stacked in three-dimensional layers over the Great Plains. Gentle slopes west of the Missouri River are interrupted by low ridges, buttes and a stray boulder here and there --all gifts left by the glaciers eons ago. A few miles south of Bismarck on the road to Cannonball, local authorities have erected another kind of stone, one not indigenous to this sacred area. Concrete barricades, capable of stopping an ISIS attack, block direct access to reservation land and more importantly, the peaceful gathering of up to 2000 (at one time) Native Americans and supporters trying to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline at the Sacred Stones Camp.

It seems that if you are a writer you can talk your way through. A polite warning was issued to be careful of "Indians all over the roads."



Within a few miles there were indeed people and flags; hundreds and hundred of flags representing Indian Nations from all over the continent. Pockets of people gathered along a fence with more flags, and prayers bundles were tied to the wire.

A man waved me over with great purpose in his demeanor. His name is M. Jay Cook of the Cheyenne River Sioux. A child was near, her name is Precious, and she is his granddaughter. Her mother died when she was 8 months old and Jay has been raising her ever since. He told me she "is the motivation of his life." Precious had been breast-feeding when her mother passed, and literally clung to her Grandfather for life itself.


Jay Cook and his Daughter Precious with a message for the Obama's

M. Jay Cook was eager to show me signs he had made. On two poster boards, there were photos of Michelle and Barack Obama, each holding his grandson, Wakiyan Topa, for a photo-op. In June of 2014 the President and his wife visited Standing Rock with promises of support and aid. 40 percent of the residents live in poverty and two-thirds are unemployed.

"My administration is determined to partner with tribes," Obama said in 2014. "It takes place every day on just about every issue that touches your lives."

In the space of two years, Standing Rock has gone from the promise of Presidential empathy to faded pictures of an Indian child used as a Presidential prop pasted to cardboard that threatened to rip in the stiff headwinds.

Make sure you write, "Lala (grandfather) Barack promised to help us, M. Jay said. "Kiksuye Wokiksuye (Remember we remember). "

"Barack you held my grandson in your arms and felt the comfort and warmth of the baby. Let us feel the same from your kind act and words. Remember you promised to help us all."

Barack, hear this man's words.

(DAPL) was literally foisted on tribal authorities shortly after activists led by Winona LaDuke, Honor the Earth and others forced Enbridge to seemingly abandon plans for the Sandpiper Pipeline. Everyone's guard was down. Coincidence? Sandpiper would have run Bakken crude in and around treaty lands and wild rice beds in Minnesota, but the Canadian company wants to wring every spare drop of oil out of what is left of the Bakken boom. With the current price of crude seeking bottom on world markets, production is low, wells are shut down, and there are significantly fewer "bomb trains" plying the tracks of the heartland. The Dakota Access Pipeline would effectively replace the Keystone XL, which was shut down by the Obama administration. Was there a quid pro quo? Who knows, but there seems to be quite a few quids and pros littering the American political landscape these days.

"Mni Wiconi" is Dakota/Lakota for "water is life." Water is the ultimate gift for the Creator for Native People. The proposed DAPL would move 570,000 barrels of crude across four states and crisscross the Missouri River on its way to southern Illinois. Safe? In 2012-2013 there were 300 spills in North Dakota and none were reported to the public.

The DAPL would cross treaty lands and ancestral burial grounds. Within site of the reservation boundary, the proposed route crosses the Missouri River and threatens water supplies for the reservation and local farming and ranching operations.

In an impassioned op-ed for the New York Times, tribal Chairman David Archambault addresses treaties and many broken promises; calling out the Army Corps of Engineers for lack of coordination and communication. Given the recent failures of the Corps in Louisiana and epic mismanagement and subterfuge during the great flood of Katrina, it is about time the Corps is removed from its responsibilities.

Our tribe has opposed the Dakota Access pipeline since we first learned about it in 2014. Although federal law requires the Corps of Engineers to consult with the tribe about its sovereign interests, permits for the project were approved and construction began without meaningful consultation. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior and the National Advisory Council on Historic Preservation supported more protection of the tribe's cultural heritage, but the Corps of Engineers and Energy Transfer Partners turned a blind eye to our rights. The first draft of the company's assessment of the planned route through our treaty and ancestral lands did not even mention our tribe.

On that note, no decision was made yesterday in federal court regarding the fate of the DAPL. Judge James E. Boarsberg will make a decision by September 9, while considering the lack of consultation between Tribes and the Army Corps of Engineers. An appeal is already set for September 14 if the Tribes or Corps of Engineers is unhappy with the decision.

M. Jay Cook sent me a text this morning. He is still holding his signs and thinks he might have to drive up to Bismarck to get some laminate for the vulnerable poster board. His message was for Barack and Michelle Obama.


Wakiyan Today

"Hihanni wasteyelo--good morning. Watch the sun come over the horizon and be thankful for a new day lala-grandpa and unci-grandma."

Let's hope that the Obama's get the message and guarantee that their poster child, Wakiyan Topa, who offered them the warmth of his body and the purity of his soul, gets to live a long life blessed with the spirit of clean water and air.

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The Night I Discovered Aquafaba  

On the way back from my volunteer trip to The Orkeewska School in Africa, someone had abandoned a copy of the New York Times and left it on my seat on the airplane. If you've been a reader of my blog, you already know that I prefer a plant-based diet and am always on the search for gourmet vegetarian food when I travel. My life is all about looking for the next green treasure. I simply look for the signs to lead me to where I need to go. In this case, it turned out to be in the Wednesday dining section restaurant reviews.

That particular issue featured Nix, a vegetarian restaurant that had opened in the West Village this past February with an unusual name derived from an 1893 Supreme Court decision declaring tomatoes to be a vegetable and not a fruit. It also just happened to be within walking distance of where I often stay when in town. The review had my mouth watering and ready to try these innovative vegetable dishes the reviewer had described the next time I was in New York.

A few weeks later when I was back in the city, I called up some good friends and suggested we all go and give Nix a try. They agreed. As often happens with hot New York restaurants the only reservation I could get for the night I wanted was at 9:45 PM. I took it with a request to move it up if anything were to open earlier. Miraculously I got a call later that they could move it up to 8:15 PM. When we arrived and checked in we were fortunate to run into one of the owners, James Truman, the former editorial director of Condé Nast.

It's very rare that one can find a vegetarian restaurant that is not only innovative and creative in its approach to the food served but also offered in a stylish setting. But as soon as we were escorted to a cozy corner table I was transfixed by the decor. The walls had been painted a careful clean white with simple but elegantly carved stone booths, covered with comfortable neutral cushions. This allowed the focus to be on the beautiful Joshua tree wooden lamps, which were strategically placed at regular intervals on a narrow ledge that runs behind the wall booths. That gave the whole restaurant the feeling of a being in the middle of an organic art installation from the 70s, chicly curated from a 21st-century culture master. I already felt I had been transported and had yet to taste John Frazier's food.

John Frazier is not only a partner in the restaurant and the genius behind Dovetail and Narcisse, but he is also a Michelin-starred chef with a personal passion for cooking with vegetables. He is doing at Nix what I long for more chefs to do - taking vegetables seriously and making even the carnivores in the room feel sated and happy.

With a delicious glass of biodynamic chilled white wine in hand, we started our feast with a yummy warm tandoor bread with two dips: house hummus and spiced eggplant with pine nuts followed by the ribbons of jicama with Fresno chili and blood oranges and baby carrots en papillote, cracked bulgar, almonds, spices. The carrots were my favorite - so far.

Even though we each ordered our own entree, it was hard not to want to share so we enjoyed the whole meal family style. Cauliflower tempura with steamed buns and house pickles, artichoke and broccoli rabe sauté with preserved tomatoes as well as the brown rice stir-fry, ramps, chanterelles and farm eggs.

For someone who doesn't eat sugar, the dénouement was the dessert. We ordered the cantaloupe sorbet with mezcal and lime and the tandoor roasted pineapple with tamarind glaze. They were a delicious duo, but it was the roasted macadamia nuts and toasted coconut flakes with whipped aquafaba, seared with vinegar that will keep me coming back to Nix every time I am in New York. I had never experienced aquafaba before, but one mouthful and I was hooked!

If you have not heard of this delight, it's become a new wonder ingredient in vegan cooking for creating meringues and creams without any eggs. The liquid from legumes such as chickpeas can be reduced, thickened and whipped into a froth. The result at Nix was more delicious and more decadent than any meringue or whipped cream I have ever had!

For me personal environmental health is more than simply ridding my body of toxins, it's about nourishing my soul. It's about attention and artistry in my surroundings, savoring creatively prepared healthy foods and experiencing that with the people that are important to me. What James Truman and John Frazier have done with Nix is a miracle in Manhattan. With great friends and great food, the stars aligned for a most memorable evening.

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Spend Less, Do More: Corps Can Help Secure the Future of the National Park Service  

Corpsmembers with New Jersey Youth Corps of Phillipsburg restore a historic structure at Gateway National Recreation Area. The NPS site sustained extensive damage during Hurricane Sandy.


Mary Ellen Sprenkel
CEO, The Corps Network

Today the National Park Service celebrates its 100th birthday. The National Park Service embodies the best of what it means to be American. Since its founding, it has promoted the natural and cultural beauty of this country by protecting our national treasures and making them accessible to all citizens.

But after decades of use, our national parks are at a crossroads. Billions of dollars in backlogged maintenance projects threaten the accessibility of our parks. Additionally, despite changing national demographics, the average park visitor has become older and whiter. The most recent numbers show that just 22 percent of park goers are people of color.

To keep our parks relevant, the National Park Service is working to solve these two issues. Without comprehensive maintenance, we risk losing access to our parks. Without introducing new visitors to the park system, we risk not having dedicated advocates to conserve the parks for future generations.

There is a way we can solve both these issues at once: engage more Conservation Corps members in service at national parks. Corps train youth and returning veterans in conservation-related job skills and engage them in service projects on public lands. Trained Corpsmembers can help land and water managers with projects ranging from removing invasive plants to building trails and fighting wildfires.



Corpsmembers with LA Conservation Corps remove an invasive shrub, Spanish broom, from a roadside in the San Gabriel Mountains.


Part of why Corps are a solution for the National Park Service is that more than 50 percent of Corpsmembers are people of color, and many come from cities. They represent demographics less likely to visit national parks. Corps can also help agencies like the National Park Service reduce project labor costs by 50 - 80 percent, allowing for more work without increased spending.

The nearly $12 billion maintenance backlog represents how overburdened parks are on meeting basic upkeep needs. Each year we fail to address aging infrastructure, the backlog grows, and parks fall further into disrepair. Not to mention, this backlog doesn't include projects needed to bring our parks into the 21st century. We need to expand campsites and add modern conveniences, like Wi-Fi and charging stations, to make parks more appealing for a new generation of outdoor enthusiasts.

Some 15,000 Corpsmembers already serve at national parks every year. In addition to the National Park Service, agencies like the U.S. Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management have embraced Corps as valuable partners. By passing the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps Act, we can engage more young people in service on public lands. This bipartisan-supported legislation, which has been introduced in both the House and Senate, would facilitate partnerships between Corps and federal resource management agencies. It would also encourage agencies to collaborate and use only existing funding streams to utilize Corps. In other words, more work would get done on public lands without added cost to taxpayers.



Corpsmembers with Limitless Vistas test water samples at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in New Orleans, LA.


The 21st Century Conservation Service Corps (21CSC) initiative has been working for years to promote public-private partnerships that support Corps engagement in projects on public lands. During her tenure as Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell has helped raise millions of dollars from private donors and companies like REI, Coca Cola, American Eagle Outfitters and KEEN to help fund Corps working in parks and forests.

Engagement of youth at our national parks and forests pays dividends beyond better trails and cleaner rivers. It turns young people into conservationists while teaching them valuable and marketable job skills.

Young people can translate their Corps experience into careers in expanding fields like historic preservation, environmental remediation and green infrastructure. By having a tangible impact on parks, Corpsmembers become life-long advocates for public lands and the environment. They also share this appreciation with family and friends, introducing entire communities to the importance of conservation. Making parks and conservation relevant to more and different people is vital to preserving historic structures and healthy green spaces for generations to come.

When we look at our national parks, we need to ask one fundamental question: Who will take care of these places 100 years from now? Unless we address the maintenance backlog and diversify the population visiting and protecting parks, the future is less than certain.

This is not something we can leave to chance. Let's seize the momentum of the National Park Service's centennial to prepare our parks for the next century. These are the places that bind us as Americans. They speak to our shared ideals and values. They bring out the best in us. With Corps, we can bring out the best in our parks.

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In Italy's Earthquake Zone, Love of Place Trumps Safety  
An Italian engineer explains why, facing perpetual earthquake risk, many people in Italy's ancient vulnerable towns stay put.  
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Sandro Galea: The Case for Public Health, in 18 Charts  
The US has substantially worse health outcomes than all its peer nations. In a list of non-communicable disease mortality in 17 high-resource countrie...

Read more: Health, Public Health, Environment, Disease, Pollution, Cities, Smart Cities, Massachusetts, United States, Healthy Living News

 
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Keeping The Animal Welfare Act On The Job Of Animal Protection  

During these times of political conflict and division, one issue that draws bipartisan and nearly universal support is animal welfare. For decades, the efforts of animal welfare advocates to fight animal cruelty and suffering have been supported through the help of an enduring ally, but that ally isn't a person, agency, or organization — it's a law: The Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which turns 50 this month.

Though the AWA was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson back in 1966, it continues to evolve to protect more types of vulnerable animals and confront modern challenges to their lives and well-being. While considerable results have been achieved in the last half-century to continue that momentum, further progress is still needed to provide animals with the protections they deserve.

One of the most heinous forms of cruelty addressed by the AWA is animal fighting. In 2014, Congress amended the AWA to increase penalties for animal fighting, including making attendance at an animal fight a federal offense, and imposing additional penalties for bringing a child to an animal fight.

Elevating the seriousness of this cruel blood sport helped pave the way for the U.S. Sentencing Commission to strengthen federal sentencing guidelines for animal fighting earlier this year, including giving judges the tools they need to ensure criminal sentences for animal abusers reflect the depravity of their crimes.

While these and other AWA measures are helping eradicate illegal activities like animal fighting, the AWA still does not cover the vast majority of animals used in research, nor the billions of farm animals raised for food across the country. 

The loophole excluding farm animals used for agricultural research — including taxpayer-funded research conducted by the USDA — was highlighted when a 2015 New York Times investigation revealed abhorrent abuse and lax oversight at the USDA's Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC), a federally funded facility conducting experiments to benefit private industrialized agriculture.

To stop these cruel practices, a bipartisan team of lawmakers introduced the Animal Welfare in Agricultural Research Endeavors (AWARE) Act, which seeks to extend AWA protections and welfare standards to farm animals used in agricultural research at federal facilities such as USMARC.

Another shortcoming of the AWA is its notoriously weak standards of care for dogs in commercial breeding facilities, including puppy mills. Under current AWA regulations enforced by the USDA, dogs in commercial breeding facilities can legally spend their entire lives in small wire-floored cages, stacked on top of one another. Female dogs can be bred at every heat cycle with no opportunities for their bodies to recover.

These conditions are inhumane and unacceptable, which is why a coalition of animal welfare groups filed a petition to urge the USDA to adopt stronger care standards that prioritize the health and well-being of dogs in commercial breeding facilities. We implore the USDA to swiftly grant this petition.

Recent natural disasters have also revealed the need for another key update to the law, dealing with animal considerations in disaster planning. The Animal Emergency Planning Act would amend the AWA to require regulated facilities — including commercial animal breeders, zoos, and research institutions — to create emergency response plans that protect animals in their care during disasters, such as the current flooding in Louisiana.

So much has changed for animals over the last 50 years, but the foundation of animal welfare embodied in the framework of the AWA will enable us to secure a more humane future. Our hope is that the pace of our progress will be accelerated by the actions and voices of principled lawmakers and passionate Americans who no longer tolerate animal abuse and cruelty in any corner of society.

Matthew Bershadker is President and CEO of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), which celebrates its 150th Birthday this year.

Former Senator Bob Dole was a Congressman in the House of Representatives when he supported the original Animal Welfare Act in 1966, and authored ground-breaking amendments to it while in the U.S. Senate.

Previously published in The Hill

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Colindale tube station, 1924, London NW9  

edk7 posted a photo:

P4190996 Anx2 1600h Q90

 
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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Fvideo%2Findex%2F497348%2Fethiopia-unrest%2F%3Futm_source%3Dfeed&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
What's Behind Ethiopia's Unrest?  

The marathon runner Feyisa Lilesa brought Ethiopia's tension to the world's attention when, upon passing the Olympic finish line, he crossed his wrists above his head. It was a gesture in solidarity with anti-government protesters among the Oromo people. Since November of 2015, hundreds have been killed during protests centering around the expansion of Addis Ababa and its impending effects on the Oromo. This documentary by the Thomson Reuters Foundation explores this recent hostility and profiles the young people who stand in opposition of the Ethiopian government's crackdown.

 
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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Fcathy-kangas%2Fhorse-soring-reflects-bad_b_11697162.html%3Futm_hp_ref%3Dgreen%26ir%3DGreen&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Horse Soring Reflects Badly on Tennessee  

Courtesy of the Humane Society of the United States

As anyone who has visited Tennessee will tell you, it is a beautiful state with many tourist attractions including the Smoky Mountains, Graceland, Beale Street, Dollywood and the Grand Ole Opry. Unfortunately, the actions of those who abuse Tennessee Walking Horses are also giving the state a black eye.

The decades-long practice of horse soring has been condemned by the horse industry, veterinary community, law enforcement and animal protection organizations. This cruel practice inflicts pain on the horse's feet and legs to produce an exaggerated gait known as the "Big Lick." Tennessee walking horses are bred for their smooth, natural gait and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) supports the many owners and trainers who use humane training methods to showcase this natural gait.

I serve on the board of HSUS and also own five horses. I can't bear the thought of a horse fitted with tall, heavy shoes, its legs covered with caustic chemicals and chains, and hard objects jammed into its tender soles all for the sake of the "Big Lick" and a ribbon in a competition. These practices are meant to cause pain and are unbearably cruel.

The people of Tennessee should stand up for their horses by supporting new regulations put forth by the USDA to close loopholes in the current system of enforcement - it's the right thing to do The proposed changes to upgrade the Horse Protection Act regulations include:

• The elimination of the use on show grounds of stacks, pads, chains, and hoof bands on Tennessee Walking Horses and related breeds, and
• The elimination of the current industry policy of self-policing to be replaced by the implementation of a new system of independent third party inspectors, who are trained, licensed and overseen by the USDA.

I urge the people of Tennessee to raise their voices in support of these new regulations by submitting favorable comments to the USDA immediately. Visit the government website at this link: http://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=APHIS-2011-0009 and show your support for the Tennessee Walking Horse. Then post a message on your Facebook page urging your friends to join you.

Tennessee does not want to be known as a state that abuses horses. Here is an opportunity for them to help achieve change and send a message to those who show Tennessee Walking Horses that the days of the "Big Lick" are over.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Floating lab drills 1.5km below sea floor to study megaquakes  
A research vessel is drilling deep under the seabed to find the recipe for disaster - clues to what triggered the Boxing Day tsunami quake  
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The Israeli public says NO to fracking  
In September 2014 an Israeli government planning committee delivered a remarkable decision: it rejected a pilot project for non-conventional oil exploration in the country's Adulam region located between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, a pastoral rural area rich in biblical archeology with a strong eco-tourism sector.

The company that had submitted the request, Israel Energy Initiatives (IEI), had planned to use an untested technology called "In Situ Thermal Recovery" to produce oil by heating shale rock to temperatures as high as 950 degrees Fahrenheit. This releases organic matter known as kerogen, a compound that eventually transforms organic matter into oil and gas.

The committee's decision was a major victory for Israel's environmentalists, and a fatal blow for the IEI. IEI had argued that the since the project would operate underground, it would leave a minimal ecological footprint, and water resources would not be endangered because of an impermeable rock layer protecting them. However, the committee remained unconvinced, and its final decision determined that the technology posed a critical environmental risk.

The real winners here were the local activists whose health, environment and communities had come under direct threat by the proposed IEI project. Their media-savvy campaign presence has compared the conflict to the biblical confrontation between David and Goliath; the project location was in the same area where the diminutive David emerged victorious over the giant Goliath.

The local community's victory was an empowering experience for other communities, as well, demonstrating that corporations intent on extracting natural resources in disregard of the impacts on the environment and health of local communities can be stopped by a well organized group of dedicated citizens.

But while the celebrations for the Adulam victory were at their height, another government planning committee, this time in the northern part of Israel, approved the request of IEI's sister corporation, Afek Oil & Gas, for exploratory drilling in the Golan Heights.

While Afek is officially promoting the project as conventional drilling, Afek officials have admitted that the project does entail non-conventional drilling. Moreover, community activists are convinced that the company intends to use fracking during the explorations, and that fracking has probably already taken place.

The presence of chemicals stored at the drilling sites (fracking requires extensive use of chemicals in order to clean, widen, and keep open cracks in the rock, releasing the hydrocarbons) coupled with the refusal of government officials and Afek to release information on these chemicals and the company's declared need to extend the drilling in order to reach what it claims is a rich layer of hydrocarbons, substantiate these claims by activists.

This has raised an alarm among local communities determined to ward off what they are convinced will be an ecological and health disaster. They are particularly concerned over contamination of the area's water resources: the Golan Heights is marked by extreme water sensitivity with high quality aquifers as well as biodiversity-rich streams that feed into the Sea of Galilee, Israel's main surface drinking water source and only fresh water lake. Another source of worry beyond the impact of Afek's project on water quality is the massive quantities of water needed for fracking.

Moreover, local communities do not want oil pipelines running through or near their communities, nor do they wish for oil and gas trucks traversing their narrow, winding, country roads, already congested by much-wanted tourists.

Then there is the threat of earthquakes: the oil drilling license area is located on the rim of the great Syria-African Rift and is crossed by geologic faults and cracks. These faults and cracks provide potential pathways for pollutants. Coupled with normally occurring tectonic activity, this increases the potential for great intensification of earthquakes due to drilling and fracking activities, as experienced in Alberta, Canada, and in Oklahoma and Texas in the United States.

And all this leads to climate change. Environmentalists vehemently oppose these projects since they increase Israel's dependence on fossil fuels and deflect from government policy on decreasing Israel's greenhouse gas emissions.

IEI and Afek Oil & Gas are subsidiaries of Genie Oil & Gas Ltd. (GOGAS), a New Jersey corporation with headquarters in Newark that operates in Israel through these two subsidiaries.

Genie Oil & Gas is a subsidiary of Genie Energy Ltd., which was spun off in 2001 by IDT, the telecommunications company founded by Howard Jonas in 1990. Genie Energy Ltd. is a holding company for energy related businesses including Genie Oil & Gas, which is developing oil and shales reserves in Colorado, Israel and Mongolia.

In Israel, IEI and Afek have built their PR campaigns on making the country energy-independent, hyping what they define as Israel's huge reserves of oil shale and gleefully declaring that extracting oil and gas from these reserves could transform the country into a world energy power. But as pointed by Afek's CEO himself, while approximately 530 wells have been drilled since the country's establishment in 1948, commercial production of fossil fuels remains elusive.

Although the company reports finding evidence of hydrocarbons and/or gas in all the sites drilled so far (some in the form of liquid oil), the presence of water and the low permeability in the hydrocarbon and gas carrying strata made it difficult to extract viable amounts of liquid oil and gas under current permit restrictions. Reviewing its data, Afek has already announced that it does not plan to resume actual drilling before the Q4 2016, Q1 2017.

The burning question is: do people have the right to say no to these corporations that come into their communities creating these environmental and health risks? In Israel, communities are proving that they do have the right to decide. As documented in Josh Fox's epic documentary, Gaslands, fracking is tearing apart communities across the United States, contaminating well water, polluting the air, and making people sick.

The oil and gas companies retort that there is no evidence to support the claims of the anti-fracking forces. But the Israeli public isn't buying their excuses and is fighting tooth and nail to prevent these companies from operating in their communities. Communities together with environmental organizations are fending off attempts by US companies to copy and paste the US paradigm of non-conventional fossil fuel drilling in Israel.

So investors beware: this current venture for oil and gas exploration in the Golan Heights will in all likelihood go the way of its sister corporation, IEI, in losing its battle for unconventional drilling in Israel.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Over the next few days, thousands of people from around the...  

Over the next few days, thousands of people from around the world will head to the desert in Nevada, USA to construct Black Rock City. Laid out in a grid plan with radiating avenues named after the numbers on a clock, the city serves as home to roughly 60,000 people for Burning Man, an annual week-long event. Burning Man is described as an experiment in community, art, self-expression, and radical self-reliance. Additionally residents in Black Rock City practice one of the event's key principles of ‘Leave No Trace' meaning significant efforts are taken to make sure as the city is disassembled in the days following the festival, the desert returns to its original state.

40°47′13″N 119°12′16″W

Instagram: http://bit.ly/2biXVw2

 
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© chicheri for ducati xdiavel by raquel lopez-chicheri  

© chicheri for ducati xdiavel by raquel lopez-chicheri

photography for DUCATI XDIAVEL international adv campaign http://xdiavel.ducati.com www.515.com agency blackboard berlin

raquel lopez-chicheri: Photos

 
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"Hey....take me travel with you!!!" :) by Yeow Chin Liang (Yeow8)  

"Hey....take me travel with you!!!" :) by Yeow Chin Liang (Yeow8)

A street vendor with her playful daughter at flea market, Petaling Street, China Town, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Yeow Chin Liang (Yeow8): Photos

 
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Philippe van Lansberge Scientist of the Day Philippe...  

http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/emblematic/id/28


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Philippe van Lansberge Scientist of the Day

Philippe van Lansberge, a Dutch astronomer, was born Aug. 25, 1561.  

read more…

 
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View of St. Paul Cathedral from Millennium Bridge at sunset  

Igor Sorokin posted a photo:

London, UK

 
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Arthur C Clarke award won by Andrew Tchaikovsky  

Children of Time features talking space spiders

The book Children of Time by British sci-fi author Andrew Tchaikovsky has been announced as the winner of this year's Arthur C Clarke award.…

 
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World Risk Index: The Human Factor in Natural Disasters  
How vulnerable is your country to natural disasters? The 2016 World Risk Index is now out and it shows that infrastructure is a key factor in the ability to withstand events like hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis.  
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As the National Park Service Turns 100, We Celebrate Its Contributions to Wildlife  
One hundred years ago, leaders within the U.S government decided that the patchwork system of national parks created over the preceding 44 years needed a unifying structure. Over the years, Presidents and the Congress had set aside 14 national parks, including Yellowstone, Yosemite, and other familiar natural wonders, along with 21 national monuments.

But they were not uniformly managed in a way that would best preserve them for future generations. Different parks were managed by different agencies, including the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Army, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the General Land Office. Each agency had different priorities regarding the best way to utilize park resources.


Glacier National Park. Photo credit: Cristián Samper/WCS.


Thankfully, today we are celebrating the centennial of the signing of the Organic Act in 1916 that created National Park Service (NPS), the agency that has so ably served as steward of America's most treasured landscapes, seascapes, historical sites, and other special places.

Upon the NPS's insignia is the image of a bison, which is altogether fitting. The national parks conserve habitat for many of America's most iconic and important species, including the American bison - just adopted as the U.S. national mammal. National parks played a large role in the return of bison to the American prairie, which is acknowledged as the first conservation success story. They now live in nine different national park units.

The national parks were originally set aside for the enjoyment of people, but wildlife conservation has become an important mission for the NPS. Park biologists work to maintain the ecological health of a multitude of habitats within the parks, and that includes conserving many endangered species.


American bison in Yellowstone National Park. Photo credit: Julie Larsen Maher/WCS.



For example, through the work of the NPS in Channel Islands National Park, off the coast of California, the critically endangered island fox has nearly recovered thanks to a program of captive breeding and threat mitigation. Out of the more than 400 units of the NPS, about half are home to at least one endangered species.

However, the conservation legacy of the National Park Service goes far beyond America's borders. Nearly every country on Earth has its own system of national parks, and many have benefited from the NPS's direct assistance. NPS's Office of International Affairs was established in 1961 and today continues to provide expertise in park and protected area management across the globe.

When the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) World Conservation Congress convenes in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi next month, some of the conservation methods discussed will have been pioneered by the National Park Service.


Moose in Denali National Park. Photo credit: Chip Weiskotten/WCS.


The National Park Service has contributed much to conservation, but most importantly it has made it easier for millions of Americans and visitors from abroad to see and experience the world around them.

At a time when it is needed the most, when kids are beginning to spend less and less time outdoors, nature has never been more accessible. So on this very special centennial, I salute the National Park Service for everything it has done for our citizens, for our natural environment, and for our future.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Mind-controlled nanobots could release drugs inside your brain  
DNA origami bots have been triggered to release drugs inside cockroaches, prompted by changes in a person's brain activity  
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Darwin and DNA: How genetics spurred the evolution of a theory  
Mendel and Darwin lived at the same time but never met - yet their ideas about of the natural world would unite into a single revolutionary discovery    
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http://twitter.com/FunnybunnyQ/status/768783778038841344 
CITES is an org for trade in endangered species, not conservation. Selling baby #rhinos for profit is immoral https://t.co/ZtXv2GLM8u 
https://t.co/ZtXv2GLM8u 

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What wedding cake would an engineer make? A LEGO one  

A reader's tale of life, love and programmable robotics

Romance isn't dead. Just ask a Reg-reading engineer who made his own wedding cake... from Lego.…

 
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Pizza delivery by drone 'trialled' in New Zealand  

Not quite autonomous food-flinging, mind

Multinational pizza megacorp Domino's claims it is trialling pizza delivery drones in New Zealand.…

 
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The Pink City...  

JH Images.co.uk posted a photo:

This is overlooking the City of London from the Shard on a summers evening,

I'm a little annoyed as there are some reflections in the image that were hard to get out. I need to get myself a lens skirt or remember to pack a black t shirt the next time the go.

I am please with the result even with the reflections.

 
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The Photogenic Duck  

Kieran Williams Photography posted a photo:

 
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Illustris  

Full Text:

The Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) is the most advanced, powerful and robust collection of integrated advanced digital resources and services in the world. It is a single virtual system that scientists can use to interactively share computing resources, data and expertise. An international team of researchers used resources from XSEDE to develop components that would serve as the basis for "Illustris," the most ambitious simulation of galaxy formation ever done. Here, a large-scale view of the simulation volume, centered on the most massive galaxy cluster in the simulation at the present cosmic time. Dark matter density is shown in blue and purple, and the velocity of normal matter (gas) is shown in red and orange.

Image credit: Illustris Collaboration

 
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New microchip demonstrates efficiency, scalable design  

Full Text:

Princeton University researchers have built a new computer chip that promises to boost performance of data centers that lie at the core of online services from email to social media. Data centers -- essentially giant warehouses packed with computer servers - enable cloud-based services, such as Gmail and Facebook, as well as store the staggeringly voluminous content available via the internet. Surprisingly, the computer chips at the hearts of the biggest servers that route and process information often differ little from the chips in smaller servers or everyday personal computers. By designing their chip specifically for massive computing systems, the researchers say they can substantially increase processing speed while slashing energy needs.

Image credit: Princeton University

 
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The Internet of Cows is moo-ving fast … no bull!  

'Connected Cow' kit, including 'managed mating', will fatten tenfold to $10bn market

If you worry the Internet of Things is bollocks and that the industry's just milking an old idea, think again: research outfit Arcluster has declared that the “Connected Cow and Farm” market will become a US$10.75 billion concern in 2021, a rather nice jump from today's $1.27 billion.…

 
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Patient HM review a botched lobotomy that changed science  

When Henry Molaison had his hippocampus removed, it left him with a profound memory deficit. Does Luke Dittrich, the surgeon's grandson, have other secrets to reveal?

Poor Henry Molaison! In 1953, when he was in his 20s and suffering from devastating and seemingly intractable epilepsy, he was the subject of a piece of bravura experimental surgery which removed a large region of his brain. The treatment mitigated the epilepsy but also left him with a profound memory deficit. Although he could remember much about his life before the surgery, he could remember nothing after it for more than a few minutes. For Molaison, “every day is alone in itself”, wrote Brenda Milner, the psychologist who first studied him.

Related: Henry Molaison: the amnesiac we'll never forget

Dittrich is not so much eulogising as digging a grave for his grandfather's reputation

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New NASA Record Holder For Cumulative Days in Space  
On Aug. 24, 2016, Station Commander Jeff Williams passed astronaut Scott Kelly, also a former station commander, for most cumulative days living and working in space by a NASA astronaut (520 days and counting). Williams is scheduled to land Sept. 6, 2016, for a record total of 534 days in space.  
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Bore da! Good morning! Buenas dias! Maidin mhaith! Guten morgen! Egun on!  

Owen Llewellyn posted a photo:

 
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The Cyrstal  

Kev_Barrett posted a photo:

 
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Mars to get Chinese delivery. Estimated time of arrival: 2020  

NASA, China traffic jam on fourth rock from the sun

The Chinese space program has taken a massive step forward as the country unveiled its design for a rover to scoot across the surface of Mars.…

 
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Rocky planet found in habitable zone around Sun's nearest neighbour  
Earth-mass planet which could have liquid water on its surface orbits Proxima Centauri  
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http://www.designboom.com/art/flower-carpet-brussels-grand-place-08-25-2016/  
600,000 blooms form japanese-themed flower carpet at brussels' grand place  

the ephemeral tapestry draws inspiration from japanese representations of flowers, which symbolize the changing of seasons and the passage of time.

The post 600,000 blooms form japanese-themed flower carpet at brussels' grand place appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

 
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sometimes-now: Matias Faldbakken, from Portrait Portrait Of...  

sometimes-now:

Matias Faldbakken, from Portrait Portrait Of Of A A Generation Generation, 2012, Installation view, Office for Contemporary Art Norway, Oslo, SOMF/IV 2012-001/8

 
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pasthello: Studiopepe - Ossimori  

pasthello:

Studiopepe - Ossimori

 
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http://www.designboom.com/art/solar-electric-sculptures-michael-jantzen-designboom-08-24-2016/  
solar electric sculptures concept by michael jantzen  

jantzen's efforts attempt to increase the appeal of basic solar technology by incorporating function into a single, sculptural unit.

The post solar electric sculptures concept by michael jantzen appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

 
art  

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http://www.designboom.com/art/teresa-freitas-animated-pantone-swatches-summertime-08-24-2016/  
animated pantone swatches channel coastal colorways and summertime vibes  

teresa freitas captures the spirit of summer while reflecting on the ever-popular pantone theme.

The post animated pantone swatches channel coastal colorways and summertime vibes appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

 
art  

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http://heptagram.co/post/149392390344  
Photo  


 
art  

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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fvoices.nationalgeographic.com%2F2016%2F08%2F25%2Fcitizen-scientists-give-nps-100000-biodiversity-records-for-100th-birthday%2F&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Citizen scientists give NPS 100,000+ biodiversity records for 100th birthday  

Today, the U.S. National Park Service turns 100 years old. The National Park Service has been celebrating all year by organizing over 100 BioBlitzes to document the species living in our national parks, recreation areas, monuments, and historic sites. In addition to the BioBlitzes, NPS has been working with iNaturalist to keep track of biodiversity records for the entire year in a servicewide project. Four days ago, the project passed the 100,000 records mark just in time for the centennial anniversary.

At least five thousand citizen scientists have contributed observations this year from NPS lands to iNaturalist. The records were uploaded by 5,092 user accounts, some of which represent many individuals, such as students who contributed to a class account during a BioBlitz (note: children under 13 cannot create their own account).

Collectively, they have recorded more than 10,600 species including common and easily photographed species such as the Western Fence Lizard and American Robin as well as more than 600 threatened species (note: the locations of threatened species are automatically obscured).

“Citizen scientists are contributing so much more information about biodiversity than the NPS could possibly hope to collect on its own, especially when it comes to under-studied creatures, like insects. There is tremendous power in a citizen armed with a smartphone and a curiosity about nature working together with an online community of naturalists to explore our national parks,” said Simon Kingston, a Data Ranger with the National Park Service.

Anyone visiting national park lands with a digital camera can turn their photos of plants, animals, and fungi into useful data. Even if you don't know exactly which species you saw, members of the iNaturalist community work together to crowdsource identifications. The National Park Service will use the verified records from iNaturalist to update NPSpecies, its internal database that tracks all of the species recorded in each park.

National Geographic Society has partnered with the National Park Service for the last 10 years to do BioBlitzes in different national parks. You can read more about the history of NPS/NatGeo BioBlitzes here and the BioBlitz origin story here.

Explore more:
Explore all of the records on iNaturalist (not just the National Parks)
Join the NPS Servicewide project once you've created an account with iNaturalist.
Download the iNaturalist app for Android or iOS.
Getting started with iNaturalist

Carrie Seltzer is a Program Manager for BioBlitz at the National Geographic Society.

 
gaia  

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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedaily.com%2Freleases%2F2016%2F08%2F160824110907.htm&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Progress in vaccination against vespid venom  
Especially in late summer, apprehension about wasp stings increases among allergy sufferers. So-called hyposensibilization therapy can help, but it is linked to a heavy burden on patients and health insurers. Researchers have now presented a new method which facilitates a personalized procedure.  
gaia  

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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedaily.com%2Freleases%2F2016%2F08%2F160824110856.htm&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Forest and watercourse interplay important for restorations  
Humans utilize forests and watercourses in a way that depletes ecosystem habitats, biodiversity and ecosystem services. Many areas are restored to break the trend, but to succeed you need to consider not only the ecosystem in mind, but also surrounding ecosystems.  
gaia  

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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedaily.com%2Freleases%2F2016%2F08%2F160824110853.htm&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
A brain circuit to push past nutritional stress  
Nutritional stress is a normal part of life; going hungry on a short-term basis generally does not impair important functions. The brain coordinates the response to nutritional stress but how it does this was, until now, not well understood. Researchers have now discovered a brain circuit that allows fruit flies to take a major developmental step in their lives despite nutritional stress.  
gaia  

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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedaily.com%2Freleases%2F2016%2F08%2F160824084303.htm&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Nutrition matters: Stress from migratory beekeeping may be eased by access to food  
In the first large-scale and comprehensive study on the impacts of transporting honey bees to pollinate various crops, research shows that travel can adversely affect bee health and lifespan. Some of these negative impacts may be reduced by moving bee colonies into patches with readily available food or by providing supplemental nutrition when there are few flowers for honey bees to visit.  
gaia  

%feed  
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/354095589436067378/  
Weevil (Steremnius t  

Weevil (Steremnius tuberosus) collected in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, British Columbia, Canada, and photographed at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (sample ID: BIOUG22155-B12; specimen record: http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_RecordView?processid=SSPRB1272-15; BIN: http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_BarcodeCluster?clusteruri=BOLD:ACD0255)

 
pin-gaia  

%feed  
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/281543706504865/  
The Temple of Jupite  
The Temple of Jupiter and Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii, Italy (© Design Pics Inc/REX/Shutterstock) 2016-08-24 [www.bing.com/search]  
pin-images  

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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/513199320021011183/  
@imogenb19  
Imogen Bird  
pin-images  

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/24/art-experts-earthquake-damage-historic-italian-buildings-amatrice  
Art experts fear serious earthquake damage to historic Italian buildings  

Some of the greatest destruction to Italy's artistic heritage has been in Amatrice, voted one of its most beautiful towns

• Dozens dead after quake in Italy live

Art experts fear numerous historic Italian buildings and their contents were damaged in Wednesday's earthquake, across a region where almost every hilltop town and village has beautiful churches and monuments.

The Dutch classicist David Rijser, an expert on the culture of Abruzzo, said there had been damage to the central region's many churches, funeral monuments and museums. “It has been a true drama, there is a lot that has been lost,” he told Dutch radio.

Related: Italy quake toll rises as rescuers struggle to free people from rubble

Continue reading...  
design  

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https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/aug/24/radical-alternative-reyner-banham-man-changed-perception-los-angeles  
A 'radical alternative': how one man changed the perception of Los Angeles  

In the 1960s, British architectural critic Reyner Banham declared his love for the city that his fellow intellectuals hated. What Banham wrote about Los Angeles redefined how the world perceived it but what would he think of LA today?

“Now I know subjective opinions can vary,” the journalist Adam Raphael wrote in the Guardian in 1968, “but personally I reckon LA as the noisiest, the smelliest, the most uncomfortable and most uncivilised major city in the United States. In short, a stinking sewer ...”

Three years later, Raphael's words appeared in print again as an epigraph of Reyner Banham's Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies the most exuberantly pro-Los Angeles book ever written. Ever since publication, it has shown up on lists of great books about modern cities even those drawn up by people who consider Los Angeles anything but a great American city.

Los Angeles offers radical alternatives to almost every urban concept in unquestioned currency.

Related: Story of cities #29: Los Angeles and the 'great American streetcar scandal'

Continue reading...  
design  

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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ozy.com%2Ftrue-story%2Fevel-knievels-son-a-return-to-the-rocket-ride-to-hell%2F70944&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Evel Knievel's Son + a Return to The Rocket Ride to Hell!  
"You'd have to be drinking to even consider it."  
general  

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheDailyGalaxyNewsFromPlanetEarthBeyond/~3/VoU-87_TQ9s/news-alert-eso-unveils-clear-evidence-of-habitable-earth-like-planet-orbiting-proxima-centauri-only-.html  
NEWS ALERT! ESO Unveils 'Clear Evidence' of Earth-Like Planet in Habitable Zone Orbiting Proxima Centauri --"Only 4.25 Light-Years Away"  
 
astronomy  

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheDailyGalaxyNewsFromPlanetEarthBeyond/~3/XRZHqZSEri0/china-unveils-plans-for-a-manned-radar-station-on-the-moon-leading-space-scientists-have-joined-the-.html  
China Unveils Plans for a Manned Radar Station on the Moon --"Leading Space Scientists Have Joined the Project"  
 
astronomy  

%feed  
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheDailyGalaxyNewsFromPlanetEarthBeyond/~3/YKMkvlaCBAc/scientists-reprogram-brain-with-a-beam-of-light-human-brain-is-plastic-not-hardwired.html  
Scientists Reprogram Brain With a Beam of Light --"Human Brain is Plastic, Not Hardwired"  
 
astronomy  

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/europeanspaceagency/29092455112/  
The real thing  

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

The European Service Module that will power NASA's Orion spacecraft to the Moon and beyond is taking shape in the assembly hall at Airbus Defence and Space, Bremen, Germany. The spacecraft module will provide propulsion, electricity, water, oxygen and nitrogen and thermal control.

Seen here is the primary structure that provides rigidity to the European Service Module much like the chassis of a car. It absorbs the vibrations and energy from launch while a secondary structure protects the module from micrometeoroids and space debris.

Assembly of the thousands of components needed to build the advanced spacecraft started on 19 May with the arrival of the primary structure that was shipped from Turin, Italy, by Thales Alenia Space. In 2018 this structure will be an element of the European Service Module that will be launched into space, as part of the Orion spacecraft, on its first mission to fly more than 64 000 km beyond the Moon and back.

In the background is a poster of ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) that was also assembled in this hall in Bremen. Five ATVs flew to the International Space Station to deliver supplies and raise its orbit. Developing ATV provided the experience necessary to develop the European Service Module in Europe.

Credit: Airbus DS

 
astronomy  

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheDailyGalaxyNewsFromPlanetEarthBeyond/~3/4hnUsHV8c7I/join-startalk-radio-water-in-the-universe-from-earth-to-the-ocean-of-jupiters-europa-beyond-listen.html  
Today's StarTalk Radio --"Water in the Universe from Earth to the Ocean of Jupiter's Europa & Beyond" (LISTEN)  
 
astronomy  

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http://movieposteroftheday.tumblr.com/post/149427125667  
Russian poster for STEPS THROUGH MIST (Zorz Skrigin, Yugoslavia,...  

Russian poster for STEPS THROUGH MIST (Zorz Skrigin, Yugoslavia, 1967)

Artist: unknown

Poster source: Posteritati

 
culture  

%feed  
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nybooks/~3/UwNAUoHqfsQ/  
In the Attic of Early Islam  
One of the most memorable moments in The Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition, by Shihab al-Din al-Nuwayri, comes in the section on lions, which were still indigenous to the Middle East in Nuwayri's time. He could scarcely have imagined that his book, written with such confidence from the heart of a mighty empire, would one day appear to us like that lion: a vanished, near-mythical creature at the desert's edge.  
culture  

%feed  
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nybooks/~3/ggHJVoI-iM4/  
Who Is Kim Jong-un?  
North Korea's young ruler has surprised the skeptics. In five years he has turned a most unpromising situation into a certain kind of success. He has refuted those at home and abroad who doubted his vigilance and ruthlessness, fostered a mild economic recovery, and advanced his country's position as a nuclear power.  
culture  

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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/24/proxima-b-will-be-our-prime-laboratory-in-the-search-for-extraterrestrial-life  
Proxima b will be our prime laboratory in the search for extraterrestrial life  

The discovery of a rocky planet in the habitable zone around our sun's nearest star is just the beginning of decades of intense research and exploration

Has life gained a foothold on a planet that orbits our nearest star? The question, a variation on one of the greatest mysteries humans have pondered, is now front and centre in astronomers' minds. The short answer, of course, is nobody knows. But over the coming months, years and decades, scientists will throw every instrument and clever technique they have at Proxima b, an Earth-sized planet warmed by a small, cool star in Centaurus, to find out.

Related: Discovery of potentially Earth-like planet Proxima b raises hopes for life

Related: Proxima Centauri planet could tell us about alien life in the universe

Continue reading...  
astronomy  

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https://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/2016/aug/24/proxima-centauri-planet-could-tell-us-about-alien-life-in-the-universe-exoplanet-proxima-b  
Proxima Centauri planet could tell us about alien life in the universe  

The newly discovered exoplanet Proxima b could hold the answer to the perennial question: is there life elsewhere in the universe?

Nature could hardly have been kinder to us. The discovery of a potentially habitable planet on our astronomical doorstep is nothing short of astronomers' wildest dreams coming true.

In a world where discoveries seem to be coming thick and fast (think water on Mars, gravitational waves, Higgs boson) it is vitally important that we now focus our efforts on learning all we can about this tantalising world because of its potential to tell us something about life elsewhere in the universe.

Related: One thousand exoplanets but still no twin for Earth | Stuart Clark

Related: ‘Alien megastructure' could explain mysterious new Kepler results

Related: Proxima b will be our prime laboratory in the search for extraterrestrial life

Continue reading...  
astronomy  

%feed  
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/24/earth-like-planet-found-orbiting-our-suns-nearest-star-raises-hopes-for-life-proxima-b  
Discovery of potentially Earth-like planet Proxima b raises hopes for life  

Thought to be at least 1.3 times mass of Earth, planet lies within ‘habitable' zone of Proxima Centauri, raising hopes for life outside our solar system

The search for life outside our solar system has been brought to our cosmic doorstep with the discovery of an apparently rocky planet orbiting the nearest star to our sun.

Thought to be at least 1.3 times the mass of the Earth, the planet lies within the so-called “habitable zone” of the star Proxima Centauri, meaning that liquid water could potentially exist on the newly discovered world.

Related: Proxima b will be our prime laboratory in the search for extraterrestrial life

Related: Proxima Centauri planet could tell us about alien life in the universe

Continue reading...  
astronomy  

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http://borrachas.tumblr.com/post/149425102793  
362  

362

 
gifs  

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http://borrachas.tumblr.com/post/149395057989  
4 days to go! What are you going to do?????  

I'm gonna keep going. 

This project started out as a way for me to learn how to use new software and create new things, and it's gonna keep going in that same direction. 

I don't think I'm done with this project.

So, here's what you can expect out of me and this blog, 3d stuff, Iv'e been postponing this because… well… laziness. Generative art, I'm gonna get a massive amount of tea herbs so the massive headache I'm gonna get, doesn't seem so bad, when I try and do some coding stuff.

I am preparing a small surprise for you guys, hopefully you'll like the idea.

 
gifs  

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http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/08/25/i-couldnt-make-this-up-if-i-tried/  
Peter Thiel just backed a startup that helps you sue companies algorithmically  

If Peter Thiel was trying to convince the world he wasn't a lawsuit-happy nerd, this probably isn't the best way to do it. Reports today detail Thiel's latest investment, a $100,000 Thiel Foundation grant to a company, Legalist, that makes trial-by-algorithm a real thing. Legalist, founded by two Harvard undergrads, combs through a mountain of local legal filings to find cases that have a high probability to succeed. The algorithm applies 58 variables that are said to be good indicators of the strength of the case against the opposing party. For cases it deems winnable, the company will invest between…

This story continues at The Next Web  
technology  

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http://thenextweb.com/apple/2016/08/24/apple-wants-unicode-consortium-add-5-new-emoji/  
Apple wants Unicode Consortium to add these 5 new emoji  

iOS 10 will include over 100 new emoji. Apple things that's about five too few. Apple's Peter Edberg, a software engineer that's been with the company 28 years, reached out to the Unicode Technical Committee recently and shared five mockups that he — and Apple — think should be included. ? Apple requests five new emoji professions: Artist, Firefighter, Pilot, Astronaut, Judge https://t.co/rEEHdhOFiK pic.twitter.com/aFzpS0k1zj — Emojipedia ? (@Emojipedia) August 24, 2016 The new emoji — an artist, firefighter, pilot, judge and an astronaut — would be in addition to the 72 new emoji Unicode just approved, most of which have made…

This story continues at The Next Web  
technology  

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http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/08/24/shh-recently-discovered-earth-like-planet-listening/  
Shh! A recently discovered Earth-like planet could be listening  

Researchers have identified a number of planets outside our solar system that both resemble Earth and carry a better than zero chance at containing life. None of these is as close to Earth as newly-discovered Proxima b. Only 4.2 light-years away — about 25 trillion miles — Proxima b is our nearest neighbor outside this solar system. If you're keeping score at home, 25 trillion miles is about 300,000 times further than the Earth is from the sun. While the distance sounds daunting, it's a relative stone throw in the greater scheme of things and further details just how vast…

This story continues at The Next Web  
technology  

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http://thenextweb.com/apple/2016/08/24/woz-warns-apple-dont-kill-headphone-jack/  
Woz warns Apple: Don't kill the headphone jack  

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak isn't impressed with the company's plans to ditch the headphone jack. According to rumors, the next iPhone will be so much thinner, Apple may have to drop the headphone jack. Instead, customers would use the same lightning port used to charge the phone as a headphone jack — or go wireless and use Bluetooth. But that's not a one-size-fits-all solution. According to Wozniak: I would not use Bluetooth … I don't like wireless. I have cars where you can plug in the music, or go through Bluetooth, and Bluetooth just sounds so flat for the same…

This story continues at The Next Web  
technology  

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http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/08/24/big-banks-learned-stop-worrying-love-blockchain/  
How big banks learned to stop worrying and love the blockchain  

From its inception, banks have all but dismissed Bitcoin while embracing the technology that powers it — blockchain. Bitcoin is volatile, prone to theft and confusing for the average customer. The blockchain, however, is merely a digital ledger or transactions, a tool that could decrease costs significantly for major banks. Several of these big banks have now teamed up to create their own solution. Led by UBS, the group — Deutsche Bank, Santander, BNY Mellon and ICAP — teamed up to create ‘Utility Settlement Coin,' (USC) which — if we're honest — sounds a lot like the in-game currency for a…

This story continues at The Next Web  
technology  

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http://thenextweb.com/google/2016/08/24/googles-ai-trumps-jpeg-compression-reducing-image-file-sizes/  
Google's AI trumps JPEG compression in reducing image file sizes  

A group of researchers at Google appear to have taken a leaf out of HBO comedy Silicon Valley's book for its latest project. The team has developed a way to use neural networks that mimic the workings of the human brain to compress images more efficiently than traditional methods. The researchers trained an AI system (built using Google's TensorFlow, which the company open sourced last year) to learn how compression works using 6 million photos for reference. It broke these images into 32 x 32 pixel pieces and selected 100 pieces with the least effective compression to learn from; the idea…

This story continues at The Next Web  
technology  

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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/22-28-august-2016/wpp-weathers-brexit-storm-post-positive-results/  
WPP weathers Brexit storm to post positive results  

WPP has released its interim results, revealing signs of cautious optimism for its businesses, which have generally stood up well since Britain voted to leave the EU.

This has partly been put down to the falling value of the pound. In its analysis of current trading, WPP says that there was strong trading in the UK in July, which may be a reflection of a “post-Brexit vote recovery, driven by a weaker pound sterling.”

Upturn in July

July has been a positive month across all WPP regions and sectors with like-for-like revenue and net sales up 4.6% and 1.9% respectively.

The main results give a view of the financial performance of the group for the six months preceding 30 June 2016.

As a group WPP has posted pre-tax profits of £690 million, which is up 15.8%. Meanwhile constant currency revenue a measure which eliminates the effect of exchange rate fluctuations  is up 8.9% and like-for-like revenue is up 4.3%.

“Pre-Brexit vote uncertainties”

In the UK “pre-Brexit vote uncertainties” were cited as a reason for a slow-down in growth, which stood at 3.5% in the second quarter, but 4.7% in the second quarter of this year.

Internationally, branding and identity, which is grouped together with healthcare and specialist communications, showed like-for-like net sales growth of 3.7% in the second quarter, compared with 5.2% in the first quarter.

However, the branding and identity, direct, digital and interactive groups margins were “up strongly” and it was the healthcare and specialist communications businesses which had put pressure on the sector.

UK-based WPP design consultancies include Brand Union, Coley Porter Bell, Fitch, Landor and The Partners.

The post WPP weathers Brexit storm to post positive results appeared first on Design Week.

 
design  

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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/22-28-august-2016/designstudio-gives-future-finance-optimistic-new-look/  
DesignStudio gives Future Finance an “optimistic” new look  

DesignStudio has unveiled a new visual identity for Future Finance, which looks to reconcile serious subjects such as student loans, with an attention grabbing new look.

It needed to appeal to wide range of student customers, including undergraduates, medical students, lawyers and MBA graduates.

Series of joined-up shapes

The redesign, which includes a different logo and website, centres on “the individual paths we all take to realise our potential”, according to DesignStudio.

The consultancy has used a series of joined-up, distinctive shapes, intended to be a connector between the customer and their future self.

Alongside the kit of Perspex shapes, an “optimistic”, bright colour palette has been used throughout to “side-step the cold, functional world of finance to speak directly to students and their potential,” says the consultancy.

“Brave and bold”

Speaking about the rebrand, DesignStudio's executive creative director, James Hurst, says: “The opportunity that Future Finance offers its customers is extraordinary.”

“Capturing that ambition and impact on real lives means being brave and being bold. This is an identity that signals a brand both connected to you and your connection to a more enriching future.”

The post DesignStudio gives Future Finance an “optimistic” new look appeared first on Design Week.

 
design  

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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/22-28-august-2016/brands-can-collaborate-better-creatively/  
How brands can collaborate better creatively  

It would be great to see our cultural institutions sharing quality content with our social institutions; let's take the National Gallery to the NHS. Prescribing culture as part of a cure is an interesting concept and might work just as well, if not better than any other therapy.

Genuine collaborations are sustainable, benefit everyone involved and share and grow knowledge within the participating organisations, what's not to love!

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71% of the population wear glasses. Specsavers own the negative of poor eyesight, but no brand owns the positive; the beauty, drama, life-affirming happiness of seeing properly. Boots, I'm squinting at you.

Now, forests are visually brilliant. The mad, Impressionist dappling of spring sunlight bouncing between leaves. The cosiness of a winter avenue, trees hooded with snow, bowing in pagan prayer. Stopping on a hill to spot three counties. The euphoria of perspective as you stand in a clearing to see the Milky Way bisect a coldly dark sky.

Boots Opticians and The Forestry Commission should talk to each other.

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You know what I would love to see two brands swapping employees for a month. I spent years working on internal brand campaigns and looking at the business from the inside. Instead of an external facing brand collaboration, I would like to see an internal one.

Think the Gucci folk swapping with VOLVO Group's staff, or Nike's people swapping with HSBC's brand team. I am true believer that their people are part of their brand, so this could be a fantastic experience to see just how true they are to it.

The result could be a great PR story and the ideas may spawn new collaboration as well. Anyone wanna give it a go? I'll facilitate.

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I'd have to opt for two very disparate entities in Southeastern trains and Amazon. One delivers packages smoothly and efficiently across the globe in such an effortless manner that it's difficult to remember a time before they existed.

The other tries desperately to deliver passengers from one destination to another across a comparatively small network but fails dismally, if the comments of their human cargo are anything to go by.

I can't think of another service industry that has its own Facebook page, I Hate Southeastern trains (note the capital H in Hate, incidentally), dedicated to its general incompetence.

I know there will be many mitigating factors in why they provide such a poor service such as investment in the business, and no doubt union power. However, in a fanciful world wouldn't those commuters view their carriages in a totally new light if they were emblazoned with the Amazon logo? I'm sure it would bring a smile to their faces too.

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Recognising an affinity with another brand or spotting a niche, technology or craft that would complement each other brings a whole new level of brand experience and recognition to the customer.

Nike and Liberty have done it so well and I'm eagerly awaiting the outcome of the IKEA and Tom Dixon collaboration.

But rather than a visual or tech collaboration, I'm interested in how charities and brands can collaborate for the better. Viewed favourably by many but controversially in some communities, it could be interesting to encourage an organisation such as Airbnb with the ethos of Belong Anywhere to collaborate with Shelter, the charity campaigning for a home for everyone.

Could there be an Airbnb community shelter in highly populated city communities, a contribution from Airbnb, working with Shelter to help people to really “Belong Anywhere”?

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On 19 June 2009, WHSmith apologised after promoting a book on cellar rapist Josef Fritzl as one of the “Top 50 Books for Dad” as a Father's Day gift. Yes — you read that correctly.

Now… I'm ever the optimist, it really helps when your job is to launch and relaunch brands. And a team approach is a great way to innovate as well as help rejuvenate brands that have lost their way and become less relevant to their audiences.

So I'd love to see the billion-pound bounder that ties WHSmith up with a smart brand to help save its desperately awful stores.

Could Google save them? It organises the entire internet and makes it useful — perhaps it could reorganise the endless upset of 2kg bars of chocolate being attached to your morning newspaper purchase?

Any brand with its own twitter account (@WHS_Carpet — read it and weep) dedicated to just how deplorable the experience has become needs a strong new partnership.

Sadly, I suspect conventional brand tie-ups will not suffice here. Only the powers of Paul McKenna will do, add in David Blaine, Penn & Teller, hell, let's throw Copperfield in there with Derren Brown too — because only one hell of a magic trick is going to turn this one around…

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The Underground is the blood running through London connecting us to inspiring, creative design hubs. Born and raised in London, I was travelling by tube from a young age; let's give it an overhaul and bring some personality back.

The British interior and lifestyle brand House of Hackney would do wonders with the interior of the classic underground train. Reupholstered seats in London-designed and manufactured fabrics, celebrating what is great about our city and its famous Underground.

House of Hackney could work its magic of tradition for a new generation making our journey that bit more inspiring.

The post How brands can collaborate better creatively appeared first on Design Week.

 
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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160824160255.htm  
Can one cosmic enigma help solve another?  
Astrophysicists have proposed a clever new way to shed light on the mystery of dark matter, believed to make up most of the universe. The irony is they want to try to pin down the nature of this unexplained phenomenon by using another, an obscure cosmic emanation known as 'fast radio bursts.'  
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NASA's WISE, Fermi missions reveal a surprising blazar connection  
Astronomers using observations from NASA's WISE and Fermi missions have confirmed a connection between the infrared and gamma-ray light emitted by blazars, a class of distant galaxies powered by monster black holes.  
astronomy  

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Cosmic neighbors inhibit star formation, even in the early universe  
Researchers have discovered four of the most distant clusters of galaxies ever found, as they appeared when the universe was only 4 billion years old. This sample is now providing the best measurement yet of when and how fast galaxy clusters stop forming stars in the early universe.  
astronomy  

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Voyager 2's closest Saturn swoop was 35 years ago today  

Only Cassini's been there since, V'ger 2 is now 15 light-hours away

The Voyager mission is celebrating another remarkable milestone, the 35th anniversary of Voyager 2's closest encounter with Saturn.…

 
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Robert 'Robin' Gottfried: Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? Does Anyone Really Care?  
Photo credit: Pixabay

The following is a guest post written by my friend and colleague, Jerry Cappel.

Have you heard of the term, "Body Burden"? It ...

Read more: Environment, Religion, Christianity, Sustainability, Religion News

 
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A Gorgeous Animated Map Showing How Climate Change Will Force Species To Migrate In North America  
Using flow models from electronic circuit theory, researchers plotted movement routes for each species , connecting current habitats with their projected locations under climate change.  
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The Poaching Mentality  
While poachers are considered destructive criminals of the first order, few think of society as harboring a similar, if less blatant mentality in the handling of natural resources.

Yet a poacher-like attitude is more pervasive in society than one would expect, with instant gratification resulting in behavior that "kills the goose that lays the golden egg".

It's easy to separate ourselves as law-biding citizens from the heinous acts of poachers. Public outage is widespread at the wanton desecration of such species as the elephant and rhino, propelling them towards extinction.

On the European continent, it is easy to denounce French poachers' illegal pursuit of an immediate payoff from the trapping and wholesale depletion of goldfinches. Criminal traffickers are selling these wild song birds, which the public unfortunately snaps up as household pets. The methodology for capturing these birds produces cruel collateral damage in which nine goldfinches perish for every one recovered. Not surprisingly, in the past 16 years, the once ubiquitous goldfinch population in France has been reduced by half and the carnage continues, despite stepped up law enforcement. At some point, the poachers could conceivably exhaust the population and then move on to the next bird "du jour".

Bad news, but is humanity in general engaged all too often in a variation of the poacher's same reckless behavior?

In that vein, I think back years ago to a drive in the Chinese countryside. An eerie silence prevailed over the land. No birds, no insects, or other signs of wildlife were in evidence. The only animals to be observed were some domesticated stock when one passed an occasional farm.

The mystery was dispelled when I entered a nearby town and visited its open market. For sale primarily as culinary fare or decoration was every life form, big or small that had once inhabited the surrounding countryside.

This is an extreme example, but the truth is that no people are immune at times from being moved by greed, desperation, or some other motivation to care only for the moment in exploiting a resource.

The July 2014 Science Magazine identified 322 birds, mammals, and reptiles eradicated due to human activity. Most were probably not depleted in the purposeful fashion of the poacher, but the outcome was the same.

In our own country, streams that were once drinkable no longer are as a result of human activity. Some marine species have been decimated from overfishing, and forests with rare plants have been stripped bare. Wolves were wiped out in the Rocky Mountain West at agricultural interests' request, upsetting the balance of nature.

Are poachers an advance team for a human race of two-legged lemmings inexorably caught in a fatal march to the sea? Or will mankind be able to pull back from the brink and commit itself to a sustainable use of the earth's remaining natural resources?

Stay tuned.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Mutually helpful species become competitors in benign environments  
Nature abounds with examples of mutualistic relationships. Think of bees pollinating flowers whose nectar nourishes the bees. Each species benefits the other, and together their chances of survival are better than if they lived apart. Now scientists have found that such mutualistic relationships aren't always set in stone. Depending on environmental conditions, once-simpatico species can become competitors, and in extreme cases, one species can even drive the other to complete extinction.  
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Arctic gives clues on worst mass extinction of life  
Extreme global warming 252 million years ago caused a severe mass extinction of life on Earth. It took life up to 9 million years to recover. New study finds clues in the Arctic as to why this recovery took so long.  
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Endangered Cuban solenodon evolved after the extinction of dinosaurs  
The Caribbean islands form a natural laboratory for the study of evolution due to their unique biological and geological features. There has been heated discussion since the early 20th century on how species appeared on the islands. The Cuban solenodon is a small, rare, endangered animal, belonging to the mammalian order Eulipotyphla. It is a mole-like nocturnal animal with a long snout that feeds on insects and is found in only a few fragmented locations in Cuba. Its evolutionary origins have been widely contested and have remained relatively elusive because they have been so difficult to capture and examine.  
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Health Care Is A Business, Not A Right  
While we're perfectly okay with griping about the cost of a gallon of milk, we don't like to think about healthcare in terms of dollars and cents. Which is why America will never transition over to a single-payer healthcare system.  
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Predicting plant-soil feedbacks from plant traits  
In nature, plants cannot grow without soil biota like fungi and bacteria. Successful plants are able to harness positive, growth-promoting soil organisms, while avoiding the negative effects of others. Which plant traits can predict these interactions, or the success of a plant? Researchers and plant breeders would like to know.  
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http://twitter.com/radj/status/768583733108678656 
Threshers should be on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) list for protection. https://t.co/W1scwSjCdy 
https://t.co/W1scwSjCdy 

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South West Skyline, London  

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City of London Skyline, London  

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Watch the world's biggest 'flying bum' go arse over tit in a crash  

Longest aircraft hits the deck during second test flight

Video The Airlander 10 hybrid part airplane and part airship has had a bumpy touchdown after piling into its landing site nose first.…

 
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Jubilee Morning  

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Watch: A Slow-Motion Sneeze Looks A Lot Like Breathing Fire  

What happens when you let loose with a juicy one? A lab of MIT mathematicians and physicists are taking a close look, with the goal of improving public health.

 
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The Weirdest Thing: One Week From Landing  
Today was our last Sunday on sMars. In less than a week, the hatch will open and the six of us will rejoin the world. In some (obvious) ways, we never left. In many ways, we'll be aliens among our own kind.



When your whole world looks like this, your values change a bit.

It's easier than you might think to step out of the world - so easy, in fact, that people do it on accident. We spend a weekend in the woods; volunteer for a summer in rural Mexico; go for a long walk across Spain, moving from east to west, from the mountains skirting France to the edge of the Atlantic ocean. After the week, month, season or year away, we re-emerge into daily life in the developed world and suffer from a sort of shock. It happens all the time. It's happened to me dozens of times. In my experience, the magnitude and duration of the shock is generally proportional to the magnitude and duration of how far I stepped away and for how long; and regardless of duration, no sensory system is spared.


The littlest things get noticed up here.

Returning from my first trip to the mountains as a kid (age 11), I was struck by how loud Los Angeles was. It took several weeks not to feel like the city was actively trying to melt my brain. On coming back from a summer in Mexico (age 15), I remember looking around and thinking, "Where in the name of (your chosen deity) is everyone GOING in such a blinding hurry?" The pace of urban life struck me as bizarre and amusing - almost circus-like.

Speaking of blinding, having returned from West Africa (age 16), I couldn't believe how bright everything was. Nights in the Ivory Coast are thick and dark: like living inside somebody's lung. The brightest thing to pass you on the blackness is the moonlight reflecting off the whites of people's eyes - and, if they are smiling, their teeth. By contrast, the buildings in America are so aglow that, by contrast, the people walking the streets wear shadows.

Smells are muffled, too. When I returned from my last major trip abroad, the first thing I noticed is that, unlike the Himalayas, the US didn't have a single, distinct smell that accosts you as you're moving along. On the Annapurna, it was one sharp scent after another: hay and wet clay; a steaming dish of vegetables and lentils called dal bat; donkeys trailing bushy dust-cloud-tails behind them as they made their weary way back down the trail. Even the water in Nepal had a smell: it smelled like brightness, if that makes any sense - like the powerful reflection of high-altitude sunlight as it sloughed sleeping snow and ice from the gnarled faces of rugged gray slopes. By comparison, US-smells seemed muddled. Even in hospitals, the acrid scent of disease was always tinged with a motley of industrial cleaning products, personal perfumes, and several kinds of cuisine snuck onto the floors by patients' families.

Even with all that, nothing held a candle to the shock that awaited me and my crewmates after a "quick" two-week trip to an asteroid in April of 2015. While in our capsule, we saw only a field of fixed stars and our asteroid out the electronic portals. Starlight is ever so gentle at a distance. The up-close-and-personal variety proffered by our own dear Sun nearly fried me and my flight engineer when we stepped outside for the first time at the end of that short mission. It's shockingly easy to forget that we all live under the unblinking gaze of a giant nuclear fireball. That is, until you haven't seen it for a while.

So, now it's been a year. In that year, what haven't we seen?



You don't see much growing around here, but when you do, it's really exciting.


People come to mind - more than a handful at a time is unheard of in these parts, as are cars, traffic lights, streets, skyscrapers, shops of any kind, and direct contact with nonhuman life forms larger than a mouse. Given all that and my past experiences slipping into and out of various cultures, what do I expect the weirdest thing to be when the hatch opens in two weeks? TV? Telephones? Politics? Smalltalk? Currency - a monetary economy in general?

All of these things will no doubt be strange. Some of them already are when you think about it. In the main, the thing I expect to take the longest amount of time to adjust to won't be people in their nearly limitless perfusion of appearance and behavior. I am from Earth, after all. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations has been the rule in my life, not the exception. I don't believe it will be sights, smells, or sounds, either - not this time. No singular aspect of daily life or sensory experience can compare to the subtle yet undeniable force of the underlying current that drives a society's entire existence; that being: what we value.


When this is how you get your water, long showers are not a thing.


What we value on "Mars" stands in stark contrast to what is valued in much of the world today. Here, appearances mean very little. Fashion is nonexistent. Property is largely communal and, even when it is private, it's understood that any object in the vicinity may be pressed into service for the good of the mission. Time functions in much the same way. Any given day consists of hours, minutes, and seconds of activities that you would like to pursue such as eating, sleeping, exercising, running your experiments, writing emails home, working on your thrilling personal memoirs, etc. At best, all these take a backseat to keeping the lights on, the water flowing, storms from blowing in the roof, the communication channels glowing, and the food growing, which is why none of us have memoirs written - yet. They're buried in the trunk beneath the tools we're using to fix the water pump and the composting toilets.

In other words, Martians value the survival of both individuals and our mission above all else. As a result, waste - be it of food, water, power or time - is frowned upon. Effectiveness, efficiency, and willingness to pitch in are the gold standard. The ability to entertain is just as awesome as it is back on Earth, but it comes in second place to industriousness and mechanical aptitude. It's not that we don't, for example, love music. We do, very much. We enjoy movies as much as ever, if not more. Laughter, as it is wherever humans roam, is virtually priceless. It's just that on "Mars" - a land sans cocktail parties, banquets, and award ceremonies - carpenters, plumbers, and paramedics thoroughly outrank singers, actors, and comedians, and always will.

Those values drive our behavior. The first thing that I do when I wake up on "Mars" is check the weather and the power levels. Those set the tone for the day - not just my day but the crew's day; determine our ability to carry out the tasks that have been assigned to us by mission control. Then I grab some water, make sure mission control hasn't sent us an urgent message, and start exercising. In stark contrast, the first thing scheduled to happen when that hatch opens on 8/28 is a 45-minute press conference. That's good. Communicating the goals of our mission and how we accomplished them is very important. Helping people understand why we do what we do is an essential part of our job - and, I would argue, of all science. However, it is undeniably a different kind of important from the kind of important that has consumed our waking - and sometimes our sleeping - hours for the last 359 days.

Across a distance the width of a threshold, the scales upon which we measure importance will vary so profoundly that it's almost as if gravitational forces between the two worlds differ. In countless domains, that which carries weight on Mars barely dips the needle on your world. That which consumes vast amounts of time and energy on Earth may not even register on our radar. In the space between the two, there is no right nor wrong, only sensibilities. In the brief span of time it will take to cross from one world to the next, sensibilities will change drastically. Our values will not.


Beauty itself, on any planet, but especially in a place made mostly of rock.


I can imagine no sight, no sound, no smell, taste, or touch to equal the magnitude and duration of shock likely to be induced by the disparity in values between daily life in space and daily life in the spacefaring nations of the world. In those first moments back on Earth, the sight of my family, the piercing sweetness of a real pineapple, and the sensation of wind on my face will be golden beyond price; will defy of the very concept of value in the world standing before me; and also, in a completely different way, in the world standing just behind me.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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WATCH: Squishy 'Octobot' Moves Autonomously  

The robot designed by a team from Harvard University moves without the help of any rigid parts. Researchers say it is the first proof-of-concept design for an entirely soft, autonomous machine.

 
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Study Of Breast Cancer Treatment Reveals Paradox Of Precision Medicine  

A genetic test of breast cancer tumors helped identify women whose survival odds would not be greatly improved by chemotherapy. But that test isn't as precise as women and doctors might like.

 
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The Mesmerizing 'Liquid Shard' Brings Pershing Square Back To Life  


The moribund Pershing Square Park in downtown Los Angeles briefly came back to life over the past few weeks, thanks to artist Patrick Hearn's monumental and mesmerizing Liquid Shard, which is made of holographic mylar and monofilament and spans some 15,000 square feet. Riding invisible wind currents, the piece undulates along a span 15 feet high to the top of the park's tower, at 150 feet high.

According to Hearn, "the inspiration comes from observing nature and the feeling that we are only aware on a very surface level of what is really going on around us. Unexpected things are revealed in time-lapse or hyper-spectrum photography that fascinate me. Like fractals recurring progressively, we feel the currents of air on our skin but do not see the larger movements."

The video above also shows the incredible capabilities of video-enabled drones. A technology largely unavailable even a few years ago, video-enabled drones now allow artists and designers of all kinds to tell new stories about the places they have created. The value for landscape architects is clear.

As the temporary installation Liquid Shard comes down, Paris-based landscape architecture firm Agence Ter soon start their work redesigning the unloved park. According to The Architect's Newspaper, "the French landscape firm's approach is notable for the 'town square' approach taken to the site, where a large canopy located at the western edge of the park will house cafés and other amenities that open onto a grassy knoll at the center of the park."



Los Angeles city council officials hope the new park will open by 2019.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Canary Wharf and O2  

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London

 
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The Shard at Sunset  

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From Greenwich Park

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The Shard at Sunset  

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Rainbows in bubbles  

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Goodnight sunshine  

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Albus by Gabriel Gomez  

Albus by Gabriel Gomez

Simple portrait

Gabriel Gomez: Photos

 
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A levitation exercice by Paulo Correia  

A levitation exercice by Paulo Correia

POMBAL BUS STATION

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The Long Flight Home Avro Lancaster NXJust Jane by David Stoddart  

The Long Flight Home Avro Lancaster NXJust Jane by David Stoddart

"The Long Flight Home" - Avro Lancaster NX611 Just Jane. New Photoshop Composite. The Mountains are a stock image i bought and the Avro was photographed by me at Lincs Aviation on the SonyA7Rii, i paid 2.00 for a cockpit viewing, bargain! Photoshop time 6 hours.... More shots to come of the Lancaster, luckily i had the 10mm Voigtlander with me in the cockpit... Limited Edition prints available from the website now. www.davidstoddartphotography.co.uk #avaiationphotography #warbirds #lancaster #battleofbritain #photoshop #composite

David Stoddart: Photos

 
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Climate Change This Week: Heating Up, Melting Away, Upping Wind Power, and More!  
Today, the Earth got a little hotter, and a little more crowded.




Saving BUB, Beautiful Unique Biodiversity, like this Jeweled Flower Mantis found in Asian forests, is another reason to save these important ecosystems. Source Pinterest

Forests: the cheapest way to store carbon

OO Malaysia: Sarawak Establishes 2+ Million Acres Of Protected Areas and may add 1.1 million more... now will these truly be protected from illegal deforestation? Stay tuned, folks.




Credit Dan at freedigitalphotos.net

OO Rising Temperatures Stunt Tree Growth new research finds iconic Douglas firs across the West are water- and heat-stressed.





Rising Temperatures Fuel Fires - the Sobranes, CA wildfire has destroyed nearly 70,000 acres of forest and destroyed over 40 homes. Source www.wcvb.com

OO 43 Large US West Wildfires as of August 24, 2016 shows the US Forest Service wildfire map.


OO New England Is Being Deforested since the 1980s due to expansion of affluent suburbs, says a new study; since then 5% of its forests has been lost.

Sounds small? "Even a small-scale rate of deforestation will have a large impact over time," says study co-author Pontus Olofsson of Boston University.

When we harm forests, we harm ourselves.

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HOT NEWS




OO Extraordinary Heat Wave In Eastern U.S.,
With Extreme Humidity - recently, for the second long stretch this summer, with heat indices approaching 110 degrees Fahrenheit.





Camelot It Isn't as Africa and the Mideast heats up, literally and socially.

OO Epic Middle East Heat Wave Could Be
Global Warming's Hellish Curtain-Raiser - with record-shattering temperatures this summer scorching countries from Morocco to Saudi Arabia and beyond, climate experts warn that this could be a harbinger of worse to come.


OO It's Hotter Nights - More Than Hotter Days -
That Make Heat Waves Dangerous thanks to climate change. Hot nights deprive the body of a needed cool break from daytime heat, but under climate change, nights are heating up faster than days.


OO Heat Waves Bring Warnings About Synthetic Turf Risk - synthetic turf is much hotter to run on than natural grass: when air temperature reaches 90 F, turf temperatures have been measured at 165 F!

YEOW!! Time to hot foot it out of there - and returning the space to grass...





2015 Was Not Cool - practically anywhere on the planet; most areas were hotter than average. Source www.theguardian.com

OO Environmental Records Shattered
As Climate Change 'Plays Out Before Us - with the temperature of the air and oceans breaking records, sea levels reaching historic highs and carbon dioxide surpassing a key milestone, a major international report has found.


Related Headlines:

OO 2015 Set Frenzy Of Climate Records - and 2016 has broken or is poised to break several of 2015's records: check out their interactive.


OO Latest Climate Report:
Heat, More Heat And Signs Of Worse To Come - with 2015 record warm temperatures on every inhabited continent as ice melted and the seas rose at alarming rates. It hasn't stopped.


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FIXING CLIMATE CHANGE



@@ A Simple And Smart Way To Fix Climate Change given by Dan Miller in 2014 at a Ted talk suggests a way to profit as we tackle climate change, by finally charging those who sell and use fossil fuels - and distributing the revenues back to all of us.

The strategy is sure to speed transition to clean renewable energy. What's not to like? Check it out!

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*

MELTDOWN



Credit NSIDC; Holly Tichney at UK Met Office

OO A Pieced History of The Arctic's Sea Ice Back To 1850 shows that Arctic sea ice cover has declined over recent decades, with the greatest decrease in the summer, with sea ice extent reducing roughly 12% per decade since the satellite record began in 1979.


OO The Alaskan Highway Is Literally Melting - with bumps and sometimes wide deep cracks scarring huge swathes of the road.



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SOCIAL REPERCUSSIONS



Source Wikipedia

@@ How Climate Change Fuels Conflict - as temperatures soar and drought increases, many in Africa are losing their livelihoods. Looking for other ways to survive, some are turning to groups like Boko Haram.


OO Africa: Fleeing Disasters, Escaping Drought, Migrating - most agree that Africa is the most impacted region by widespread violence and climate catastrophes.


OO Britain Protests Immigration But Ignores A Root Cause: Climate Change with its politicians skeptical of action on global warming.






OO US: Thirsty Westlands Faces Escalating Woes - think drought, and water wars.


OO So California: Stagnant Heat Brings Worst Smog In Years
And Surge In Hospital Visits


OO Climate Change Threatens Japan's Agriculture







TheWannabe Atlantis: Louisiana Floods Bigtime with thousands of homes destroyed, and several killed. Credit Isaac Landov at www.wunderground.com

OO 3 Killed In 'Historic' Louisiana Floods; Thousands Rescued


OO Philippines: Five Dead, Tens Of Thousands Flee Floods caused by days of unrelenting rain.


OO India Climate: Extreme Heat, Drought - And Now, Rain - this year's strong monsoon has created floods:

• affecting 8+ million people;
• 
  
• 1+ million people are living in temporary shelters;
• 
  
• some 300 people have died.

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A SWEET SPOT IN CREATING SUSTAINABLE POPULATIONS




Triple Win: Using Profits to Provide Needed US Family Planning - Medicines360.org is key to creating a sustainable US population and bright futures for women - AND saving taxpayers many billions yearly in community costs by preventing unintended pregnancies. Source medicines360.org

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GOOD IDEAS



Source www.computerworld.com

OO In Corporate March To Clean Energy, Utilities Not Required - companies like google are buying renewable energy directly from the producers.


OO The New Green Grid: Utilities Deploy 'Virtual Power Plants' by linking together networks of energy-efficient buildings, solar installations, and batteries, US and Europe companies are increasingly helping utilities reduce energy demand at peak hours and supply targeted areas with renewably generated electricity.


OO An Expanded Power Grid Could Help California Fight Climate Change - by 2019, CA's largest utilities could be slashing their use of fossil fuels by swapping CA solar energy for Rocky Mountain wind power in a sprawling Western electricity grid.




Source www.gogreensolar.com

OO California, New York Are Going Clean Energy -
But CA Is Ditching Nuclear


OO California: Tiny Town To Cut Emissions Via A Utility Collective to buy power on behalf of residents and businesses, acquiring more clean power as part of a potential climate plan committing to climate changing gas reductions.


OO Creative Incentives To Boost Groundwater Recharge In California - an innovative program offers landowners incentives to collect stormwater run-off to recharge groundwater.





A Future Block Island View? Source www.siemens.com

OO Rhode Island To Have First Us Offshore Wind Farm


OO US Tribes Work With Scientists Against Climate Change





OO China To Use Tougher Environmental Standards
To Tackle Capacity Glut - including those of safety and energy efficiency, to rein in overproduction in key industrial sectors, such as steel, cement, coal, aluminum and glassmaking.


OO Australia: A Mining Shows How To Turn To Clean Renewables - as in wind and solar power.


OO Europe Aims To Close Loophole On Wood Energy that promotes burning wood for electricity by an industry that's felling American trees, a reform that is urgently needed, says a new report.




Soil Once Covered That Green Pole - back in 1852; farming has since eroded much of the rich soil. Credit Megan Darby

OO No-Dig For Victory:
Saving Britain's Soils From Climate Stress Takeaways:

• Tilling soil exposes its carbon to air;
• 
  
• Exposed carbon converts into climate-changing CO2
• 
  
• And robs soils of needed carbon.
• 
  
• No till farming equipment is needed to plant seeds.

OO Seoul To Limit Old Diesel Vehicles To Fight Air Pollution





OO Wisconsin Taxes Wind Farms - too bad they didn't think of this in coal's heyday... those old mines will continue to cause environmental headaches, both in local pollution and climate change generated.


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NATURAL REPERCUSSIONS




A Knotty Future awaits this Red Knot (hey, I don't make up these names) and many other Arctic birds, as climate change drives a wedge between their breeding seasons and the emergence of their food sources.

OO Warming Climate Expected To Squeeze Out Arctic Bird Habitat - birds are hardwired to migrate according to daylight patterns; their food sources, insects, are hardwired to emerge based on temperature. This sets up a lethal mismatch in a warming future for breeding shorebirds, shows a new study.

About two-thirds of the studied species will lose most of their important breeding habitat by 2070.


OO Climate Change Could Make Beaches Saltier indicates a new study. Takeaways:

• increasing temperatures up evaporation from beaches;
• 
  
• this makes the seawater trapped just beneath the surface saltier.
• 
  
• This could potentially affect coastal aquifers,
• 
  
• and beach life, such as crabs and shore birds.

Marine Heatwave Caused Massive Bleaching on the beautiful giant Great Barrier Reef, turning undersea rainbows into ghostly white coral graveyards.

OO 'The Blob':
How Marine Heatwaves Are Causing Unprecedented Climate Chaos - a giant mass of hot seawater off California caused massive die-offs of sea birds, marine mammals, fish and more during 2014-2015.

Such marine heatwaves are increasing worldwide, especially in Australia, where in 2015 they permanently destroyed 60+ miles of kelp forests. These forests sustained about $10 billion worth of fish and tourism industries.




Gone Forever are many miles of kelp forests off Australia, along with all the fascinating creatures that lived among them, doomed by marine heatwaves. Source www.toptenplus.com

In 2016, marine heatwaves caused disastrous coral die-offs on the Great Barrier Reef there, and massive die-offs of mangroves, important natural coastal storm barriers.

OO Arctic Fish Populations Changing As Ice Dwindles, report says, with twenty species, including sleeper sharks, as newly documented denizens of the Arctic Chukchi and Beaufort seas.





Did This Just Start A Bog Fire? Lightning can if the bogs are hot and dry. Source www.tehwethernetwork.com

OO A New Climate Danger: Carbon Released By Burning Bogs - rising temperatures can dry out northern peatlands, increasing the risk of fires that release thousands of years of stored carbon into the atmosphere.

Bog fires are notoriously difficult to extinguish, and can burn for decades.


OO Mountain Biodiversity More Vulnerable To Climate Change
than previously reported, a new study shows.





Untouchable? As waters warm and enable toxic algal blooms, oysters and other shellfish concentrate the toxins in their flesh, making them poisonous. Source www.tabasco.com

OO Study Links Global Warming To Rise In Waterborne Illnesses - such as food poisoning from oysters, along with other nasty infections, a new study shows.





A Cornucopia of Cichlid Fish evolved in Lake Tanganyika, such as this Blue Neon, and are being lost as the lake slowly warms over the centuries - an outdoor laboratory that previews what will happen to fish in a global warming world. Source aquarium-pictures.blogspot.com

OO World's Longest Lake Is Being Depleted Of Life As Waters Warm - loss of biodiversity in Lake Tanganyika, Africa's oldest and deepest lake, has been driven by 500 years of sustained climate warming, a study of core sediments has found.


OO Sea Lions Decline Tied To Declining Food Sources In Warming Waters in the Falkland Islands.


*
*

CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE FUNNIES




@@ The Madhouse Effect - Enjoy the cartoons as you learn about the science, policy and solutions of climate change - and the strange pathology of climate denial.

Probably too many and big words for Donald Trump, but fine for ages 12 and up. You can get it here - a great gift for friends and family who need it.

*
*

GOOD CLEAN NEWS




New York Goes Green - well, at least with its energy... but a farmer can dream of more...Source wwwurbanplantscapes.com

OO New York Approves Plan For 50 % Renewable Energy By 2030 The ambitious plan will rely on big subsidies to nuclear power plants to help reduce the state's reliance on fossil fuels.


OO Apple Can Sell Power As Tech Giants Boost Energy Investments - It spent $850 million last year on a 130-megawatt solar farm near San Francisco, and can now begin selling power into wholesale markets.





Born in 2015, Walking in 2016? The global climate agreement created in Paris, December 2015, may start going into effect soon.

OO Global Climate Deal Likely To Enter Into Force In 2006 a new study shows.


OO Massachusetts' Ambitious Clean Energy Bill
Jolts Offshore Wind Prospects - making offshore wind a big part of its renewable energy requirements.


OO Toyota, Tesla And Vestas Ranked Among World's Top Green Companies and are outperforming most polluting counterparts by three to one.


*
*

CLIMATE LEADERSHIP




Pushing Clean Energy And A Safe Future by creating new ways for the US government to address climate change. Credit AP photo, Julie Jacobson

OO Every US Govt Agency Will Have To Consider Climate Change in their decisions from now on, as the White House's Council on Environmental Quality has finalized a process of shaping how the agencies will do so.


Related Headline:

OO Obama Broadens Use Of 'Climate Tests' In Federal Project Reviews to account for the carbon emissions and other climate impacts of their major decisions, new guidelines say.


OO Obama To Roll Out New Climate Change Measures for combating climate change before he leaves office.





OO Clinton Makes Pitch For 'Modern Grid' essential for transitioning to clean renewable power; she called for billions of dollars in added infrastructure investments recently.


*
*

CLUELESS LEADERSHIP




Credit Nate Beeler at the Columbus Dispatch

OO Trump: Climate Change Won't Be 'Devastating - yeah, right - tell that to the flood victims in Louisiana, and the people who lost their homes to wildfires in the west, or to tornadoes in the Midwest...


*
*

ELECTION YEAR:




If You Don't Vote For Climate Action, You Can Forget The Rest - in a climate-changing world of famine, drought, rising seas, giant storms and heat waves, there will be no security in jobs, health, wealth, or national safety. There will be chaos ensuing from increasing crises and disasters. Vote.

OO Global Warming Policies We Set Today Will Determine The Next 10,000 Years - of global warming, a new study shows -- and whether our civilization survives or not: history shows that harmful climate change has destroyed civilizations before.

This time, it could be worldwide. Let's keep "The Hunger Games" in the realm of fiction.

*
*

CORAL CATASTROPHE CONTINUES




Another Beautiful Undersea Kingdom Destroyed - a Guam coral reef in a cooler, healthier past, above, and in the wake of a warming present, devastated by bleaching, below.

OO 'I Cried...Right Into My Mask' - Guam's reefs have bleached four years straight, but have received little notice. Takeaways:

• Just outside the Pacific "triangle" of high coral biodiversity,
• 
  
• Guam reefs host 300+ types of coral;
• 
  
• An important tourism area, Tumon Bay, has been hard hit
• 
  
• Early in the "bleaching season"

@@ A Coral Convulses: this heated coral expands then expels its symbiotic algae under time lapse photography.


Warming waters can up the photosynthesis of resident algae, leading to toxic levels of oxygen inside coral tissues. Thus, expelling the algae is a short term defense. But continued warm waters can deter algae from re-colonizing the coral, leading to its death.

El Nino worsened conditions on Guam reefs, causing extremely low tides which left parts of the reef exposed to air, and other parts shallow, thus prone to more heating.

"Today, for the first time in the 50 years I've been in the water, I cried for an hour, right into my mask, as I witnessed the extent to which our lovely Tumon Bay corals were...dying," coral biologist Laurie Raymundo wrote.


*
*

SPEAKING OUT



Source cetology.org

OO When Protest Becomes Sacrament - these Catholic social justice advocates are exemplars of the force behind We Are Seneca Lake, one of the nation's longest-running campaigns of civil disobedience, blockading a facility that enables fracking.


OO Clean Power Plan Offers Chance To Right Past Injustices, advocates say, in a little known provision.





OO Climate Change May Be Doubted By Some,
But Now It's The Law says a federal appeals court in Chicago giving a thumbs-up this week to an obscure regulatory practice that helps the U.S. government account for projected costs of climate change.


*
*

FOSSIL FUEL FOLLIES




OO US Must Bury Coal To Save Miner Jobs said Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, using ex-miners to clean up the messes left behind by closed coal mines, and having ex-miners help shape a post coal economy.


OO US Coal Regulator To Crack Down On Cleanup Coverage - states should force coal companies to set aside collateral to pay for future mine cleanups and protect taxpayers as the industry braces for further declines, a leading federal regulator said recently.


OO Colorado: Fighting Fracking at the Ballot Box - as the energy industry ramped up publicity for unregulated fracking, activists gathered signatures across the state to put 2 proposed fracking regulations on the November ballot.





They're Baaaaaack... To Drill for more oil, this time off Australia. As if the country hasn't got enough climate change disasters with marine heatwaves destroying its coral reefs, kelp forests and mangroves. Wikipedia

OO BP Reveals Plans To Drill For Oil In Great Australian Bight Marine Reserve a commonwealth marine reserve.


OO Undermining China: Towns Sink After Mines Close - and houses sink into the collapsing network of mine tunnels.


OO India's Coal Ministry Said To Seek Environment Tax On Petcoke an oil-refining byproduct and a coal substitute, is more polluting than coal and should be subject to the same federal taxes, the coal ministry said. Imagine anything like that ever happening in the US...


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*



If we do not grow sustainably,
Our children will die inhumanely.




@@ How Parents Can Help Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Teen childbearing cost US taxpayers $9+ Billion in 2010
And the costs of raising a child usually ensures decades, if not a life, of poverty for its mother.
- US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Help prevent unintended pregnancies in your community:
publicize where women can access affordable contraception.



They can go here to find locations:




And there are many more actions you can do, right here.

*
*
*

SOLAR KEEPS RISING



OO Solar Manufacturers Pivoting Away From Big US Utility Projects because utilities aren't signing as many deals to buy electricity from their giant power plants.





Check it out here, right now!

*
*
*

WHY WE SHOULD ACT NOW: RISING RISKS




Daily Climate Change: Global Map of Unusual Temperatures, Aug 23, 2016

How unusual has the weather been? No one event is "caused" by climate change, but global warming, which is predicted to increase unusual, extreme weather, is having a daily effect on weather, worldwide.

Looking above at recent temperature anomalies, some of the US and the waters surrounding it are experiencing warmer than normal temperatures: the eastern Pacific warm spot continues and so does the drought in California. Down south, a stagnating storm front, expected under climate change, brought historic flooding to much of Louisiana.

Much of the areas surrounding the North Pole are experiencing much warmer than normal temperatures - not good news for our Arctic thermal shield of ice. Hotter than usual temperatures continue to dominate human habitats.

*
*
*



There is, of course, much more news on the consequences and solutions to climate change. To get it, check out this annotated resource list I've compiled, "Climate Change News Resources," at Wordpress.com here. For more information on the science of climate change, its consequences and solutions you can view my annotated list of online information resources here.

To help you understand just what science does and does NOT do, check this out!

Every day is Earth Day, folks, as I was reminded by these wild flowers I photographed one summer. Making the U.S. a global clean energy leader will ensure a heck of a lot more jobs, and a clean, safe future. If you'd like to join the increasing numbers of people who want to TELL Congress that they will vote for clean energy candidates you can do so here. It's our way of letting Congress know there's a strong clean energy voting bloc out there. For more detailed summaries of the above and other climate change items, audio podcasts and texts are freely available.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Mary Ellen Harte: Climate Change This Week: Heating Up, Melting Away, Upping Wind Power, and More!  
Today, the Earth got a little hotter, and a little more crowded.




Saving BUB, Beautiful Unique Biodiversity, like this Jeweled Flower Mantis found ...

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Sunset, Canary Riverside, London, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016.  

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Sunset, Canary Riverside, London, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016, in the background the River Thames and buildings in the City of London. IMG1065

 
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Sunset from Canary Riverside, London, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016.  

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Sunlight hits the top of the building in the City of London know as the Walkie Talkie at sunset Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016. IMG1005

 
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Sunset, Canary Riverside, London, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016.  

olliepix posted a photo:

Sunlight breaks through a cloud and a rainbow effect is given off at sunset from Canary Riverside, London, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016. IMG0972

 
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Sunset, Canary Riverside, London, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016.  

olliepix posted a photo:

Sunset, Canary Riverside, London, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016, in the background the River Thames and buildings in the City of London. IMG0946

 
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Sunset, Canary Riverside, London, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016.  

olliepix posted a photo:

Sunset, Canary Riverside, London, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016, in the background the River Thames and buildings in the City of London. IMG0944

 
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Climate Change Complicates Predictions Of Damage From Big Surf  

Earth's changing climate has made the quest to understand wave behavior more important than ever, scientists say. Rising seas, storm surge and dune and reef erosion all shape Florida's Gulf Coast.

 
science  

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Connecting Every Neuron: The Future of Brain-Mapping and Illness Discovery  
The brain has been a mythologized artifact of humanity for as long as we can remember. You've seen its raw potential epitomized in sci-fi films, its grace harnessed by artists, and its endless future encapsulated by scientists. We've barely cracked the surface of its depths, and there are several years of research before we can pat ourselves on the back. That's not to say our current achievements are lackluster - quite the opposite, actually. We've come so far the avenue for continued study is immense.

Many of our goals regarding the brain require one thing -- a full understanding of the connections between our brains' neurons. If we ever wish to fulfill our desire of understanding thought, or illnesses like schizophrenia or autism, we need to map every signal sent between all of the neurons in the brain. And we just have. Get ready for an unprecedented amount of cranial detail.















The new technique, called an MAP-sequence, is a revolution to current standards of mapping neuronal connections. Today, we use pigmented proteins and ridiculously expensive microscopes to see what parts of a patient's brain are firing whenever they visualize a certain thought or desire. That technique isn't wrong or outmoded - in fact it makes a lot of sense. If you can begin to associate the color of a protein with a certain region or function of the brain, we can immediately know what a patient is doing, thinking, or saying when a color pops up under the microscope.

Unfortunately this technique is slow and tedious. The weight of these disadvantages burden understaffed research facilities, and this kind of research seems necessary but impractical. This is where an MAP sequence saves the day. It's ease and utility clears the once obstructed path of neuronal studies.

MAP-sequencing uses a giant library of viruses that contain random RNA sequences. This database is encapsulated in a mixture that's then injected into the brain, where approximately one virus enters one neuron, such that each neuron has its own RNA barcode. Think of a huge dictionary, where a single word maps to a particular neuron. A DNA sequencer can then read the barcodes, and we can form a matrix that shows how a single neuron maps to every other. A connected graph of every neuron in the brain, all in the time it took to drink a cup of coffee. Pretty neat.

The beautiful thing about this technology is that when we think about illnesses like autism or schizophrenia, or more broadly, something as abstract as thought itself, our inability to fully understand these issues stem from brain connectivity issues, making this kind of research priceless. It's almost as if we've been studying the brain for the last twenty years without a proper diagram of its wiring, and someone has just handed us a blueprint of its entire circuitry. The possibilities abound, but for starters, we can now discern the true origin of schizophrenia, pinpoint the handful of neurons that are faulty, develop fool-proof medicine, or potentially even deactivate the corrupted brain cells. All of this stems from a crucial set of cerebral details engendered by this research.




This technology is truly ground-breaking, but I hope it doesn't distract us from the true nature of human consciousness. Next time you ponder your ambitions, desires, or even your upcoming Netflix binge, smile at the fact that your body wields a tissue whose origin and functionality are incomprehensibly infinite. The future is bright, but solving this dilemma will only spawn more mysteries about the brain, and we should be OK with that.

A reality of science is understanding that the more we peer and examine, the more our studies elude us. There's something eerily beautiful about that, and I hope it inspires fear, curiosity, and most of all, determination, in everyone. Just because the number of questions ahead seem endless, it doesn't mean we can't answer most of them.

Till next time,
Nikhil

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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The World Next Door  

A view of the surface of the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Solar System, is seen in an undated artist's impression released by the European Southern Observatory August 24, 2016.

If it's for real, it's the closest planet beyond our solar system. The closest planet in outer space.

Astronomers using a telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile have announced the discovery of a world around the star Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to us other than the Sun. They base this on very slight stellar wobbles -- a convincing claim resting on more than a dozen years of accumulated data.

Proxima Centauri's paltry distance (4.2 light-years) is matched by its paltry size: It's a dim bulb, a red dwarf that's only one-seventh the Sun's diameter. The newly discovered planet orbits this star in only 11 Earth days. This cheek-by-jowl relationship ensures that, despite Proxima Centauri's meager energy output, there's enough sunlight hitting the planet to sustain large bodies of liquid water. There could be oceans covering at least some of this world, and where there's water, there might be life.

But is there? It's a question as obvious as the Matterhorn. Unfortunately, it's hard to get an answer.

Some will immediately figure the best tactic would be to send a reconnaissance probe to Proxima Centauri to check out the neighborhood. A nice idea, but so is world peace. Neither is easy to realize in practice. Our fastest rockets would take 75,000 years to get to this planet, by which time the crew's enthusiasm for the project will have soured.

Of course, we could send robots instead. Phil Lubin, a physicist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has outlined a scheme that would use ganged lasers to propel tiny probes about the size of a silver dollar to the Alpha Centauri system at roughly one-fifth the speed of light. Alpha Centauri is a double star rather close to Proxima Centauri, and it would be easy to send the probes to the latter, now that it boasts an interesting target for scrutiny. Lubin's scheme has been funded for study by investor Yuri Milner. It's a serious proposal that should now enjoy some enhanced motivation.

But even if Brobdingnagian lasers were launching pygmy probes today, it would be at least decades before anything arrived. And in the interim you can bet your trust fund that hordes of astronomers will be trying to espy this planet with the biggest telescopes they can get their hands on, including the ones in Chile that were used to find it. If they manage to sample the light from this new world, they can -- at least in principle -- sift it spectroscopically for oxygen or other gases tied to biology.

But get real. This planet is small, dim and difficult to see. Very difficult. It will probably require new space-based instruments, such as NASA's James Webb telescope, to get these kinds of data. They're years away.

A more immediate opportunity is to use big antennas to search for emissions that would tell us that this new world has not just life, but technically adept life able to produce radio signals. That's not an entirely easy experiment, as Proxima Centauri is deep in the southern sky, and you can't see it from any observatory north of Miami. But in 1995, the SETI Institute's Project Phoenix made observations of a few hundred southern hemisphere stars using an antenna in Australia. The Parkes Radio Telescope was swung in the direction of Proxima Centauri, and a search was made for microwave signals. None were seen, despite the fact that if there had been a society on this planet using a similarly sized antenna aimed at Earth, we could have noticed it had the broadcast power been a measly few kilowatts or more. If there are aliens hanging out on this world, they were not broadcasting in our direction. We should try again.

So how remarkable is this newly discovered exoplanet? How excited should we be? Some astronomers now estimate that as many as one in five stars hosts a habitable planet, in which case this is just one of tens of billions in our galaxy. In that sense, you could say it isn't so extraordinary.

But on the other hand, none of these other tens of billions will be as close as this one. It will always be special, somewhat akin to Prince William. Sure ,he's just another British kid -- but one who's destined to forever be the subject of our attentions.

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An Earth-Like Exoplanet Orbits Our Nearest Neighbor  
The red dwarf star Proxima Centauri is home to a newly discovered exoplanet, which may look a lot like Earth. This video was reproduced with permission and was first published on August 24, 2016. It...

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Why Campus Inclusion Matters  

Harvard's history is rooted in exclusion, says the school's president Drew Faust. The university began in 1636 to educate clergy who were white, male Puritans. Today, the university is promoting inclusivity—a space that exists “somewhere between diversity and belonging,” according to Faust. In this video, she discusses Harvard's latest efforts to include women and minorities in campus life.

 
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