Ethan Kruse has update the Kepler Orrery, just in time for Extreme Solar Systems III now under way.
Enjoy
Ethan Kruse has update the Kepler Orrery, just in time for Extreme Solar Systems III now under way.
Enjoy
Wisdom and mate, 2015, via U.S. Department of the Interior
The world’s oldest known banded bird in the wild returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge – the world’s largest nesting albatross colony – on November 19, 2015. It was almost a year to the day she returned last year. Wisdom was spotted with her mate, shown above. She’s 64. Refuge Manager Dan Clark said on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Tumblr page:
In the face of dramatic seabird population decreases worldwide –70% drop since the 1950’s when Wisdom was first banded – Wisdom has become a symbol of hope and inspiration
We are a part of the fate of Wisdom and it is gratifying to see her return because of the decades of hard work conducted to manage and protect albatross nesting habitat.
Deputy Refuge Manager, Bret Wolfe, added:
Wisdom left soon after mating but we expect her back any day now to lay her egg. It is very humbling to think that she has been visiting Midway for at least 64 years. Navy sailors and their families likely walked by her not knowing she could possibly be rearing a chick over 50 years later. She represents a connection to Midway’s past as well as embodying our hope for the future.
Read more about Wisdom on the USFWS Tumblr page, or at the website of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Bottom line: Wisdom has returned to Midway Atoll in 2015!
Wisdom and mate, 2015, via U.S. Department of the Interior
The world’s oldest known banded bird in the wild returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge – the world’s largest nesting albatross colony – on November 19, 2015. It was almost a year to the day she returned last year. Wisdom was spotted with her mate, shown above. She’s 64. Refuge Manager Dan Clark said on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Tumblr page:
In the face of dramatic seabird population decreases worldwide –70% drop since the 1950’s when Wisdom was first banded – Wisdom has become a symbol of hope and inspiration
We are a part of the fate of Wisdom and it is gratifying to see her return because of the decades of hard work conducted to manage and protect albatross nesting habitat.
Deputy Refuge Manager, Bret Wolfe, added:
Wisdom left soon after mating but we expect her back any day now to lay her egg. It is very humbling to think that she has been visiting Midway for at least 64 years. Navy sailors and their families likely walked by her not knowing she could possibly be rearing a chick over 50 years later. She represents a connection to Midway’s past as well as embodying our hope for the future.
Read more about Wisdom on the USFWS Tumblr page, or at the website of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Bottom line: Wisdom has returned to Midway Atoll in 2015!
Over 20,000 shoes were placed in Paris’s Place de la République to symbolize those unable to march for climate action on November 29. Among them were the pope’s black leather dress shoes. Antonia Juhasz for Newsweek
Amelie Cornu’s sister-in-law was at the Bataclan theater on November 13, the night 130 people were killed in a series of coordinated attacks across Paris, and the site of the deadliest violence that night. She survived, although other friends of Cornu’s friends did not. Iain Keith was sitting in a restaurant when he looked up to see a man outside of the window dressed all in black carrying a gun walking up the street and shouting. A waiter hurried Keith and the others there down the stairs and to a back room. All left physically unharmed. A friend of Alix’s (who did not give a last name) lost her sister in the attacks.
“We all knew someone, or know someone who knew someone,” directly harmed in the attacks,” says Lola Sigogneau of the French climate organization Alternatiba. “But the same is true for all of Paris.”
All were originally united by over a year’s worth of effort to plan what they hoped would be the single largest march demanding action on climate in history, but their lives became inextricably linked that night by the worst attack in French history since World War II. The tragedy ultimately permeated every event held for the climate on November 29, the day before world leaders gathered in Paris for the United Nations 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21).
Read the rest at Newsweek.
Over 20,000 shoes were placed in Paris’s Place de la République to symbolize those unable to march for climate action on November 29. Among them were the pope’s black leather dress shoes. Antonia Juhasz for Newsweek
Amelie Cornu’s sister-in-law was at the Bataclan theater on November 13, the night 130 people were killed in a series of coordinated attacks across Paris, and the site of the deadliest violence that night. She survived, although other friends of Cornu’s friends did not. Iain Keith was sitting in a restaurant when he looked up to see a man outside of the window dressed all in black carrying a gun walking up the street and shouting. A waiter hurried Keith and the others there down the stairs and to a back room. All left physically unharmed. A friend of Alix’s (who did not give a last name) lost her sister in the attacks.
“We all knew someone, or know someone who knew someone,” directly harmed in the attacks,” says Lola Sigogneau of the French climate organization Alternatiba. “But the same is true for all of Paris.”
All were originally united by over a year’s worth of effort to plan what they hoped would be the single largest march demanding action on climate in history, but their lives became inextricably linked that night by the worst attack in French history since World War II. The tragedy ultimately permeated every event held for the climate on November 29, the day before world leaders gathered in Paris for the United Nations 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21).
Read the rest at Newsweek.
Drop of Light/Shutterstock
President Barack Obama has laid years of groundwork in order to be able to say these words in front of 150 world leaders at the COP21 Paris climate conference: “I’ve come here personally, as the leader of the world’s largest economy and the second-largest emitter, to say that the United States of America not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it.”
That might not sound like much, and his short speech at the opening of the summit certainly didn’t include anything that we haven’t heard from him before. In context, though, his address in Paris is remarkable compared to his address to the climate conference in Copenhagen in 2009. Obama was there on the last day of that conference to salvage what was left of a deal. And the remarks he gave were too little, too late.
At Copenhagen, Obama didn’t say much that signaled what his administration would do on climate change, especially important given the U.S.’s historic role as the world’s biggest polluter. His words—“America has made our choice. We have charted our course. We have made our commitments. We will do what we say”—rang false and empty. The entirety of his eight-minute speech echoed the same problems that have plagued global climate action for over two decades. “I have to be honest, as the world watches us today, I think our ability to take collective action is in doubt right now,” he said. “We know the fault lines because we’ve been imprisoned by them for years. These international discussions have essentially taken place now for almost two decades, and we have very little to show for it other than an increased acceleration of the climate change phenomenon.”
Read the rest at The New Republic.
Drop of Light/Shutterstock
President Barack Obama has laid years of groundwork in order to be able to say these words in front of 150 world leaders at the COP21 Paris climate conference: “I’ve come here personally, as the leader of the world’s largest economy and the second-largest emitter, to say that the United States of America not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it.”
That might not sound like much, and his short speech at the opening of the summit certainly didn’t include anything that we haven’t heard from him before. In context, though, his address in Paris is remarkable compared to his address to the climate conference in Copenhagen in 2009. Obama was there on the last day of that conference to salvage what was left of a deal. And the remarks he gave were too little, too late.
At Copenhagen, Obama didn’t say much that signaled what his administration would do on climate change, especially important given the U.S.’s historic role as the world’s biggest polluter. His words—“America has made our choice. We have charted our course. We have made our commitments. We will do what we say”—rang false and empty. The entirety of his eight-minute speech echoed the same problems that have plagued global climate action for over two decades. “I have to be honest, as the world watches us today, I think our ability to take collective action is in doubt right now,” he said. “We know the fault lines because we’ve been imprisoned by them for years. These international discussions have essentially taken place now for almost two decades, and we have very little to show for it other than an increased acceleration of the climate change phenomenon.”
Read the rest at The New Republic.
I thought I’d share this update from the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund.
We have much to be grateful for at CSLDF – this year, we became an independent 501(c)(3) organization, provided legal services to 30+ researchers, and took on some of the worst groups attacking climate scientists. Thank you for your support! We truly couldn’t have done it without you.
Unfortunately, assaults on climate scientists continue. Most notably, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) has launched an investigation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), claiming that NOAA “alters data to get the politically correct results they want.” Rep. Smith has targeted a NOAA study, and the NOAA scientists behind the study, which found that recent temperature increases were greater than earlier studies indicated – contradicting Rep. Smith’s belief that global warming has “paused.” NOAA provided Rep. Smith with much of the information he sought, but it has rightfully refused to hand over scientists’ private emails because protecting internal deliberations is essential for fostering free scientific discourse. Rep. Smith has not responded well. For more on this, please read our post at the Columbia Climate Law blog.
Similarly, the fossil-fuel industry funded Competitive Enterprise Institute filed a lawsuit this month, claiming that open records laws give them the right to access the personal correspondence of George Mason University professor Dr. Ed Maibach, an expert in climate change communications. We fully expect that this lawsuit will be exposed as meritless – as have similar lawsuits before – but sadly, seeking scientists’ emails is an increasingly popular way to harass, intimidate, and attempt to discredit researchers.
Unfortunately, legal attacks on the climate science community happen on a regular basis. To help as many scientists as possible, we will again be offering free one-on-one consultations with an attorney at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco, from December 14 to 18. Details available here.
Please consider donating to help us protect climate scientists from legal attacks. As always, your support is greatly appreciated.
I thought I’d share this update from the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund.
We have much to be grateful for at CSLDF – this year, we became an independent 501(c)(3) organization, provided legal services to 30+ researchers, and took on some of the worst groups attacking climate scientists. Thank you for your support! We truly couldn’t have done it without you.
Unfortunately, assaults on climate scientists continue. Most notably, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) has launched an investigation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), claiming that NOAA “alters data to get the politically correct results they want.” Rep. Smith has targeted a NOAA study, and the NOAA scientists behind the study, which found that recent temperature increases were greater than earlier studies indicated – contradicting Rep. Smith’s belief that global warming has “paused.” NOAA provided Rep. Smith with much of the information he sought, but it has rightfully refused to hand over scientists’ private emails because protecting internal deliberations is essential for fostering free scientific discourse. Rep. Smith has not responded well. For more on this, please read our post at the Columbia Climate Law blog.
Similarly, the fossil-fuel industry funded Competitive Enterprise Institute filed a lawsuit this month, claiming that open records laws give them the right to access the personal correspondence of George Mason University professor Dr. Ed Maibach, an expert in climate change communications. We fully expect that this lawsuit will be exposed as meritless – as have similar lawsuits before – but sadly, seeking scientists’ emails is an increasingly popular way to harass, intimidate, and attempt to discredit researchers.
Unfortunately, legal attacks on the climate science community happen on a regular basis. To help as many scientists as possible, we will again be offering free one-on-one consultations with an attorney at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco, from December 14 to 18. Details available here.
Please consider donating to help us protect climate scientists from legal attacks. As always, your support is greatly appreciated.
Explore the physics of sound as you make music using wine glasses in this family STEM activity.
Have you ever run your finger along the top of a glass and heard a sound? In this week's family science activity, explore the science behind this process and find out how to use the science involved to make a range of sounds!
What causes a sound to occur when you run your finger along the top of a wine glass? Experiment to find out how friction is involved and how varying the size, shape, or amount of water in a glass may change the resulting sound. The following Science Buddies activity on the Scientific American website has all the information you need to do this fun activity with your students at home: Singing Glasses.
Explore the physics of sound as you make music using wine glasses in this family STEM activity.
Have you ever run your finger along the top of a glass and heard a sound? In this week's family science activity, explore the science behind this process and find out how to use the science involved to make a range of sounds!
What causes a sound to occur when you run your finger along the top of a wine glass? Experiment to find out how friction is involved and how varying the size, shape, or amount of water in a glass may change the resulting sound. The following Science Buddies activity on the Scientific American website has all the information you need to do this fun activity with your students at home: Singing Glasses.
The title says it all. Go have a look and let me know what you think. Problem of the eek will make a triumphant return in January. See you then!
The title says it all. Go have a look and let me know what you think. Problem of the eek will make a triumphant return in January. See you then!
On Monday, more than 140 world leaders will gather in Paris to kick off tense two-week treaty negotiations over the fate of a planet in crisis. If this were about any topic other than climate change, it might even make the news.
Granted, there’s been a lot of other news out of France recently—a major climate-themed march in Paris will be canceled for security concerns. And there is going to be a lot of coverage of the Paris climate talks. But it will be nothing compared to the attention that would be paid to a last-ditch meeting to avoid a nuclear standoff—even though climate change is no less dangerous. As Climate Home previews, “a treaty at this scale has never been accomplished before, and the one under construction will affect the way the entire global economy operates.”
Maybe climate change tends to take a back seat because the talks themselves are a jargon-filled monstrosity of diplomatic protocol, which means no one—not even the diplomats themselves!—understands what’s happening half of the time.
Read the rest at Slate.
On Monday, more than 140 world leaders will gather in Paris to kick off tense two-week treaty negotiations over the fate of a planet in crisis. If this were about any topic other than climate change, it might even make the news.
Granted, there’s been a lot of other news out of France recently—a major climate-themed march in Paris will be canceled for security concerns. And there is going to be a lot of coverage of the Paris climate talks. But it will be nothing compared to the attention that would be paid to a last-ditch meeting to avoid a nuclear standoff—even though climate change is no less dangerous. As Climate Home previews, “a treaty at this scale has never been accomplished before, and the one under construction will affect the way the entire global economy operates.”
Maybe climate change tends to take a back seat because the talks themselves are a jargon-filled monstrosity of diplomatic protocol, which means no one—not even the diplomats themselves!—understands what’s happening half of the time.
Read the rest at Slate.
As many of us indulged in Thanksgiving meals last week, NPR’s Planet Money podcast and WAMU’s Metro Connection shared stories on ways food banks are using technology to improve food distribution.
The Planet Money story focuses on how Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks, distributes the donated food it gets from farmers, manufacturers, retailers, and government organizations. Until a few years ago, the headquarters staff didn’t know enough about what kinds of food local organizations most needed or could arrange to get – which is why a food bank in Alaska missed out on a shipment of oranges they could have arranged to transport, but ended up with a truckload of pickles.
The solution, explains the Planet Money story, was an online auction site where local food banks can submit sealed bids. The local organizations receive daily allotments of virtual dollars, and the amount they bid on a particular lot of food signals how much they need it. It’s unlikely that a bank will bid on food it can’t use (like potatoes in Idaho, where the food bank already has plenty of potato donations), so waste is reduced.
As the story makes clear, the Feeding America system relies on the efficiency of a market. Like most US households, local food banks don’t have enough virtual dollars to get all the food they could possibly want, so they have to plan and prioritize. But Feeding America’s system is different from a typical market in one crucial way: The food banks that serve the most people get the most virtual dollars. The full 18-minute Planet Money episode is well worth a listen.
One of Feeding America’s members, the Capital Area Food Bank in Washington, DC, has figured out an additional way to use technology to serve food-insecure families efficiently. In a July 2015 story that ran again Thanksgiving weekend, Lauren Ober of WAMU’s Metro Connection explained how the Capital Area Food Bank’s Hunger Heat Map lets the organization find areas of unmet need. It combines census data on poverty and food insecurity with information on where food is already being distributed. Ober gives an example:
If you’re driving on Jefferson Davis Highway in Woodbridge, Virginia, it’s easy to miss the Marumsco Mobile Home Park. First, there’s no signage or street address out front. Second, it’s basically hidden in a gully behind an Auto Zone and a taco joint on the busy road.
Because of its location, the kids who live at Marumsco are basically trapped in the park during the summer. Most are children of Latino immigrants and many live in poverty. They need the services that the food bank provides, but they can’t get to them.
“This is a remote location for them,” said Amanda Brundidge, the mobile meals program coordinator for the Capital Area Food Bank. “They can’t cross the main street. And they have barriers that prevent them from going to the mobile sites.”
After recognizing this unmet need, the Capital Area Food Bank started sending a Kids Food Bus to four new locations, including the Marumsco Mobile Home Park.
In the US, 48 million people – approximately one in seven – face food insecurity. I hope that shameful number will decline, but in the meantime it’s a good thing we have so many creative, committed people tackling the problem.
As many of us indulged in Thanksgiving meals last week, NPR’s Planet Money podcast and WAMU’s Metro Connection shared stories on ways food banks are using technology to improve food distribution.
The Planet Money story focuses on how Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks, distributes the donated food it gets from farmers, manufacturers, retailers, and government organizations. Until a few years ago, the headquarters staff didn’t know enough about what kinds of food local organizations most needed or could arrange to get – which is why a food bank in Alaska missed out on a shipment of oranges they could have arranged to transport, but ended up with a truckload of pickles.
The solution, explains the Planet Money story, was an online auction site where local food banks can submit sealed bids. The local organizations receive daily allotments of virtual dollars, and the amount they bid on a particular lot of food signals how much they need it. It’s unlikely that a bank will bid on food it can’t use (like potatoes in Idaho, where the food bank already has plenty of potato donations), so waste is reduced.
As the story makes clear, the Feeding America system relies on the efficiency of a market. Like most US households, local food banks don’t have enough virtual dollars to get all the food they could possibly want, so they have to plan and prioritize. But Feeding America’s system is different from a typical market in one crucial way: The food banks that serve the most people get the most virtual dollars. The full 18-minute Planet Money episode is well worth a listen.
One of Feeding America’s members, the Capital Area Food Bank in Washington, DC, has figured out an additional way to use technology to serve food-insecure families efficiently. In a July 2015 story that ran again Thanksgiving weekend, Lauren Ober of WAMU’s Metro Connection explained how the Capital Area Food Bank’s Hunger Heat Map lets the organization find areas of unmet need. It combines census data on poverty and food insecurity with information on where food is already being distributed. Ober gives an example:
If you’re driving on Jefferson Davis Highway in Woodbridge, Virginia, it’s easy to miss the Marumsco Mobile Home Park. First, there’s no signage or street address out front. Second, it’s basically hidden in a gully behind an Auto Zone and a taco joint on the busy road.
Because of its location, the kids who live at Marumsco are basically trapped in the park during the summer. Most are children of Latino immigrants and many live in poverty. They need the services that the food bank provides, but they can’t get to them.
“This is a remote location for them,” said Amanda Brundidge, the mobile meals program coordinator for the Capital Area Food Bank. “They can’t cross the main street. And they have barriers that prevent them from going to the mobile sites.”
After recognizing this unmet need, the Capital Area Food Bank started sending a Kids Food Bus to four new locations, including the Marumsco Mobile Home Park.
In the US, 48 million people – approximately one in seven – face food insecurity. I hope that shameful number will decline, but in the meantime it’s a good thing we have so many creative, committed people tackling the problem.
A new paper out in the journal Judgement and Decision Making by Gordon Pennycook, James Cheyne, Nathaniel Barr, Derek Koehler, and Jonathan Fugelsang. The abstract:
Although bullshit is common in everyday life and has attracted attention from philosophers, its reception (critical or ingenuous) has not, to our knowledge, been subject to empirical investigation. Here we focus on pseudo-profound bullshit, which consists of seemingly impressive assertions that are presented as true and meaningful but are actually vacuous. We presented participants with bullshit statements consisting of buzzwords randomly organized into statements with syntactic structure but no discernible meaning (e.g., “Wholeness quiets infinite phenomena”). Across multiple studies, the propensity to judge bullshit statements as profound was associated with a variety of conceptually relevant variables (e.g., intuitive cognitive style, supernatural belief). Parallel associations were less evident among profundity judgments for more conventionally profound (e.g., “A wet person does not fear the rain”) or mundane (e.g., “Newborn babies require constant attention”) statements. These results support the idea that some people are more receptive to this type of bullshit and that detecting it is not merely a matter of indiscriminate skepticism but rather a discernment of deceptive vagueness in otherwise impressive sounding claims. Our results also suggest that a bias toward accepting statements as true may be an important component of pseudo-profound bullshit receptivity.
Keywords: bullshit, bullshit detection, dual-process theories, analytic thinking, supernatural beliefs, religiosity, conspiratorial ideation, complementary and alternative medicine.
The paper is here.
Hat tip: Stephan Lewandowsky
A new paper out in the journal Judgement and Decision Making by Gordon Pennycook, James Cheyne, Nathaniel Barr, Derek Koehler, and Jonathan Fugelsang. The abstract:
Although bullshit is common in everyday life and has attracted attention from philosophers, its reception (critical or ingenuous) has not, to our knowledge, been subject to empirical investigation. Here we focus on pseudo-profound bullshit, which consists of seemingly impressive assertions that are presented as true and meaningful but are actually vacuous. We presented participants with bullshit statements consisting of buzzwords randomly organized into statements with syntactic structure but no discernible meaning (e.g., “Wholeness quiets infinite phenomena”). Across multiple studies, the propensity to judge bullshit statements as profound was associated with a variety of conceptually relevant variables (e.g., intuitive cognitive style, supernatural belief). Parallel associations were less evident among profundity judgments for more conventionally profound (e.g., “A wet person does not fear the rain”) or mundane (e.g., “Newborn babies require constant attention”) statements. These results support the idea that some people are more receptive to this type of bullshit and that detecting it is not merely a matter of indiscriminate skepticism but rather a discernment of deceptive vagueness in otherwise impressive sounding claims. Our results also suggest that a bias toward accepting statements as true may be an important component of pseudo-profound bullshit receptivity.
Keywords: bullshit, bullshit detection, dual-process theories, analytic thinking, supernatural beliefs, religiosity, conspiratorial ideation, complementary and alternative medicine.
The paper is here.
Hat tip: Stephan Lewandowsky
A major two-week summit on climate change opened on Monday in Paris, and President Barack Obama was there to urge world leaders to push for a strong international agreement to slow global warming.
In his speech (video above), the president also offered a rebuke to the terrorists behind the November 13 attacks in the French capital that left 130 people dead.
The summit, he said, is “an act of defiance that proves nothing will deter us from building the future we want for our children.”
Obama acknowledged America’s unique responsibility for ensuring success at the talks, which are designed to produce an unprecedented agreement between nearly 200 nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the impacts of climate change. It’s the first time nations have tried to reach that goal since the last major climate summit, in 2009 in Copenhagen, crumbled over disagreements between the United States, China, and developing nations.
In his second term, Obama has sought to make action on climate change a central part of his legacy; a strong agreement in Paris would be a vital component to that. “I’ve come here personally, as the leader of the world’s largest economy and the second-largest emitter,” Obama said, “to say that the United States of America not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it.”
Prior to the speech, Obama met privately with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders have worked closely over the last year to advance a joint climate agenda. Xi also gave a speech, in which he said it was “very important for China and the United States to be firmly committed to the right direction of building a new model of major country relations.”
Obama’s remarks come a day after the White House announced a sweeping initiative to double public-sector investment in clean energy research and development from $5 billion to $10 billion by 2020. That new program, known as Mission Innovation, also includes more than a dozen major private-sector investors, including Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and Mark Zuckerberg.
Finance for clean energy and for climate change adaptation is likely to be a major issue at the talks, as vulnerable nations in Africa, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere urge the United States and other major emitters to pony up more cash. At the last major climate summit in Copenhagen, countries agreed to raise $100 billion per year for a UN-administered climate adaptation fund. That goal is only about two-thirds met.
A major two-week summit on climate change opened on Monday in Paris, and President Barack Obama was there to urge world leaders to push for a strong international agreement to slow global warming.
In his speech (video above), the president also offered a rebuke to the terrorists behind the November 13 attacks in the French capital that left 130 people dead.
The summit, he said, is “an act of defiance that proves nothing will deter us from building the future we want for our children.”
Obama acknowledged America’s unique responsibility for ensuring success at the talks, which are designed to produce an unprecedented agreement between nearly 200 nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the impacts of climate change. It’s the first time nations have tried to reach that goal since the last major climate summit, in 2009 in Copenhagen, crumbled over disagreements between the United States, China, and developing nations.
In his second term, Obama has sought to make action on climate change a central part of his legacy; a strong agreement in Paris would be a vital component to that. “I’ve come here personally, as the leader of the world’s largest economy and the second-largest emitter,” Obama said, “to say that the United States of America not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it.”
Prior to the speech, Obama met privately with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders have worked closely over the last year to advance a joint climate agenda. Xi also gave a speech, in which he said it was “very important for China and the United States to be firmly committed to the right direction of building a new model of major country relations.”
Obama’s remarks come a day after the White House announced a sweeping initiative to double public-sector investment in clean energy research and development from $5 billion to $10 billion by 2020. That new program, known as Mission Innovation, also includes more than a dozen major private-sector investors, including Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and Mark Zuckerberg.
Finance for clean energy and for climate change adaptation is likely to be a major issue at the talks, as vulnerable nations in Africa, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere urge the United States and other major emitters to pony up more cash. At the last major climate summit in Copenhagen, countries agreed to raise $100 billion per year for a UN-administered climate adaptation fund. That goal is only about two-thirds met.
Army ants of the species Eciton hamatum move in columns over the forest floor of Central and South America, killing every insect in their path. If a chasm or gap disrupts the raiding swarm, the ants simply build a bridge — using their own bodies. Instinctively stretching across the opening, clinging on to one another, the ants pass over the living bridge even as they’re assembling it. Army ant swarms might form several bridges during a day, which can see the back-and-forth of thousands of ants.
New research, published November 23, 2015 by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports that these structures are more sophisticated than scientists knew. The ants form living bridges without any oversight from a “lead” ant, the researchers say. Instead, the action of each individual ant coalesces into a group unit, say the researchers, that adapts to the terrain and yet operates by a clear cost-benefit ratio. The ants will create a path over an open space up to the point when too many workers are being diverted from collecting food and prey.
Matthew Lutz, a graduate student in Princeton’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology is the study’s co-first author. Lutz said:
These ants are performing a collective computation. At the level of the entire colony, they’re saying they can afford this many ants locked up in this bridge, but no more than that. There’s no single ant overseeing the decision, they’re making that calculation as a colony.
Individual ants adjust to one another’s choices to create a successful structure, say the researchers, despite the fact that each ant doesn’t necessarily know everything about the size of the gap or the traffic flow. Co-author Iain Couzin is director of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and chair of biodiversity and collective behavior at the University of Konstanz in Germany. Couzin said:
They don’t know how many other ants are in the bridge, or what the overall traffic situation is. They only know about their local connections to others, and the sense of ants moving over their bodies. Yet, they have evolved simple rules that allow them to keep reconfiguring until, collectively, they have made a structure of an appropriate size for the prevailing conditions.
The researchers found that the ants, when confronted with an open space, start from the narrowest point of the expanse and work toward the widest point, expanding the bridge as they go to shorten the distance their compatriots must travel to get around the expanse. Previously, scientists thought that ant bridges were static structures.
Image credit: Matthew Lutz, Princeton University and Chris Reid, University of Sydney.
In robotics, say the researchers, understanding more about how these ants work could help with creating robots that don’t just rely on themselves, but can exploit the group to do more: Imagine simple robots able to navigate complex spaces singly, but could self-assemble into larger structures — bridges, towers, pulling chains, rafts — when they face something they individually did not have the ability to do.
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Bottom line: According to research published November 23, 2015 by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Army ants of the species Eciton hamatum form living bridges without any oversight from a “lead” ant. Instead, the action of each individual ant coalesces into a group unit that adapts to the terrain and yet operates by a clear cost-benefit ratio.
Read more from Princeton University
Army ants of the species Eciton hamatum move in columns over the forest floor of Central and South America, killing every insect in their path. If a chasm or gap disrupts the raiding swarm, the ants simply build a bridge — using their own bodies. Instinctively stretching across the opening, clinging on to one another, the ants pass over the living bridge even as they’re assembling it. Army ant swarms might form several bridges during a day, which can see the back-and-forth of thousands of ants.
New research, published November 23, 2015 by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports that these structures are more sophisticated than scientists knew. The ants form living bridges without any oversight from a “lead” ant, the researchers say. Instead, the action of each individual ant coalesces into a group unit, say the researchers, that adapts to the terrain and yet operates by a clear cost-benefit ratio. The ants will create a path over an open space up to the point when too many workers are being diverted from collecting food and prey.
Matthew Lutz, a graduate student in Princeton’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology is the study’s co-first author. Lutz said:
These ants are performing a collective computation. At the level of the entire colony, they’re saying they can afford this many ants locked up in this bridge, but no more than that. There’s no single ant overseeing the decision, they’re making that calculation as a colony.
Individual ants adjust to one another’s choices to create a successful structure, say the researchers, despite the fact that each ant doesn’t necessarily know everything about the size of the gap or the traffic flow. Co-author Iain Couzin is director of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and chair of biodiversity and collective behavior at the University of Konstanz in Germany. Couzin said:
They don’t know how many other ants are in the bridge, or what the overall traffic situation is. They only know about their local connections to others, and the sense of ants moving over their bodies. Yet, they have evolved simple rules that allow them to keep reconfiguring until, collectively, they have made a structure of an appropriate size for the prevailing conditions.
The researchers found that the ants, when confronted with an open space, start from the narrowest point of the expanse and work toward the widest point, expanding the bridge as they go to shorten the distance their compatriots must travel to get around the expanse. Previously, scientists thought that ant bridges were static structures.
Image credit: Matthew Lutz, Princeton University and Chris Reid, University of Sydney.
In robotics, say the researchers, understanding more about how these ants work could help with creating robots that don’t just rely on themselves, but can exploit the group to do more: Imagine simple robots able to navigate complex spaces singly, but could self-assemble into larger structures — bridges, towers, pulling chains, rafts — when they face something they individually did not have the ability to do.
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Bottom line: According to research published November 23, 2015 by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Army ants of the species Eciton hamatum form living bridges without any oversight from a “lead” ant. Instead, the action of each individual ant coalesces into a group unit that adapts to the terrain and yet operates by a clear cost-benefit ratio.
Read more from Princeton University
On Wednesday, a Vega rocket will boost LISA Pathfinder into space to pave the way to a future mission for detecting gravitational waves. Once aloft, ESA’s mission control teams will pace the ultra high-tech spacecraft through the critical first days of the journey to its final destination.
At 04:15 GMT (05:15 CET) on Wednesday, 2 December, ESA’s LISA Pathfinder is set to lift off on a 30 m-tall Vega rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, for a 105-minute ride into orbit.
LISA Pathfinder is a demonstrator to help open up a completely new window into the Universe: it will test new technologies needed to measure gravitational waves in space. Predicted by Albert Einstein, these waves are ripples in the curvature of spacetime produced by massive celestial events, such as the merging of black holes.
Detecting gravitational waves would be an additional confirmation of General Relativity, and greatly improve our knowledge of the most powerful phenomena in the Universe.
Ariane 5 flight V188 rises above ESA's Estrack station in Kourou, French Guyana
Kourou tracking station
Separation from Vega is expected at 06:00 GMT (07:00 CET), marking the moment when controllers at ESA’s ESOC operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany, take over the satellite.
First contact is expected two minutes later, around 06:02 GMT (07:02 CET) via the ground station at Kourou.
After confirming LISA Pathfinder’s status and overall health, ground teams will start an intensive cycle of crucial and complex orbit-raising manoeuvres.
These will include firing the mission’s propulsion module six times during 6–11 December to raise its initial orbit, before beginning a six-week cruise phase to its operational orbit some 1.5 million km from Earth in a sunward direction.
After arriving at the final working orbit, the propulsion module will be discarded in later January, and, after about three months of setting-up and calibration, the science mission will begin in March.
The liftoff will be streamed live via two separate programmes on Wednesday: launch webcast live from Kourou, 03:55 GMT (04:55 CET) start; and a media briefing live from ESOC, 05:45 GMT (06:45 CET) start (links to each via http://www.esa.int).
The timeline below is subject to change. An expanded version is available on ESA’s Rocket Science blog.
1-2 December 2015
| MET | GMT | CET | Vega VV06 |
LISA Pathfinder/ESOC | Tracking stations |
| L-09:10:00 | 19:05:00 | 20:05:00 | Flight Control Team ‘on console’ in ESOC Main Control Room; start of prelaunch activities (B-section) | ||
| L-09:00:00 | 19:15:00 | 20:15:00 | ESOC teams begin monitoring spacecraft and ground systems, receiving live telemetry from LISA Pathfinder on top of Vega via umbilical | ||
| L-08:00:00 | 20:15:00 | 21:15:00 | Start of Vega countdown | ||
| L-06:00:00 | 22:15:00 | 23:15:00 | Start of ESOC network countdown; mission controllers continue monitoring LISA Pathfinder | Ground tracking stations: Start of dedicated LPF launch support. Begin station check outs at ESA 15m stations at Perth (Aus), Maspalomas (Spain), Kourou (F. Guiana) plus ASI station Malindi (Kenya) | |
| L-05:45:00 | 22:30:00 | 23:30:00 | ESOC starts a series of data flow tests to confirm primary & backup data links between ESOC and tracking stations | Data flow tests KRU, MAS, PER, MAL-X | |
| L-05:30:00 | 22:45:00 | 23:45:00 | Activation of Vega Multi Function Unit - MFU controls the launcher's critical systems (incl power distribution & pyrotechnics) | ||
| L-05:10:00 | 23:05:00 | 00:05:00 | "Vega Inertial Reference System on; Vega telemetry starts flowing" |
||
| L-05:05:00 | 23:10:00 | 00:10:00 | ESOC Flight Director conducts first formal check of ground segment launch readiness: confirms that teams, systems and stations are ready | Data flow tests contiune: test back-up links to stations | |
| L-04:55:00 | 23:20:00 | 00:20:00 | ESOC Flight Director reports ground segment status to Kourou launch control centre | ||
| L-04:50:00 | 23:25:00 | 00:25:00 | Activation of Vega Safeguard Master Unit - SMU controls safety self-destruct, which can be commanded by ground or autonomously in case of degraded flight behaviour | ||
| L-04:20:00 | 23:55:00 | 00:55:00 | Activation of Vega onboard computer and loading of flight program | ||
| L-03:45:00 | 00:30:00 | 01:30:00 | End of data flow tests via back-up station links. Links now configured for actual LPF TM. Begin data flow tests on primary links. | ||
| L-02:40:00 | 01:35:00 | 02:35:00 | Mobile gantry withdrawal (45 mins) | ||
| L-02:30:00 | 01:45:00 | 02:45:00 | End of data flow tests via primary station links. Links now configured for actual LPF TM. All data flow tests complete; ground segment configured for actual LPF TM | ||
| L-02:00:00 | 02:15:00 | 03:15:00 | Mission Control Team handover in ESOC MCR. A-Section engineers briefed by B-Section counterparts. | ||
| L-01:45:00 | 02:30:00 | 03:30:00 | A-Section of Mission Control Team now on console in MCR | Station engineer team at Kourou depart for safe area. From now until launch, KRU station operated remotely from ESOC. | |
| L-01:55:00 | 02:20:00 | 03:20:00 | Alignment and checks of Inertial Reference System (after withdrawal of gantry) | ||
| L-01:15:00 | 03:00:00 | 04:00:00 | Vega telemetry transmitter on (after withdrawal of gantry) Vega transponders on |
||
| L-00:55:00 | 03:20:00 | 04:20:00 | ESA Flight Director conducts Go/NoGo roll call in Main Control Room | ||
| L-00:35:00 | 03:40:00 | 04:40:00 | ESOC Spacecraft Operations Manager conducts final briefing with ground tracking stations | All stations in conference with ESOC | |
| L-00:34:00 | 03:41:00 | 04:41:00 | Launcher system ready | ||
| L-00:25:00 | 03:50:00 | 04:50:00 | ESOC Flight Director conducts final formal check of ground segment launch readiness: confirms that teams, systems and stations are ready | ||
| L-00:15:00 | 04:00:00 | 05:00:00 | LISA Pathfinder on internal power | ESOC Flight Director confirms ground segment ready for launch to Kourou launch control centre | |
| L-00:10:00 | 04:05:00 | 05:05:00 | Last Kourou weather report before launch | ||
| L-00:04:00 | 04:11:00 | 05:11:00 | Start of Vega synchronized sequence | ||
| L-00:00:08 | 04:14:52 | 05:14:52 | Last possible launch abort | ||
| 00:00:00 | 04:15:00 | 05:15:00 | Vega first stage ignition | ||
| 00:00:01 | 04:15:01 | 05:15:01 | LIFT OFF | ||
| L+00:01:53 | 04:16:53 | 05:16:53 | Separation of first stage | ||
| L+00:01:54 | 04:16:54 | 05:16:54 | Second stage ignition | ||
| L+00:02:30 | 04:17:30 | 05:17:30 | All tracking stations configured for AOS - first acquisition of signal | ||
| L+00:03:37 | 04:18:37 | 05:18:37 | Separation of second stage | ||
| L+00:03:49 | 04:18:49 | 05:18:49 | Third stage ignition | ||
| L+00:04:03 | 04:19:03 | 05:19:03 | Fairing jettisoned | ||
| L+00:06:30 | 04:21:30 | 05:21:30 | Separation of third stage | ||
| L+00:07:29 | 04:22:29 | 05:22:29 | Fourth stage first burn | ||
| L+00:16:23 | 04:31:23 | 05:31:23 | Fourth stage shutdown | ||
| L+01:41:19 | 05:56:19 | 06:56:19 | Fourth stage second burn | ||
| L+01:42:53 | 05:57:53 | 06:57:53 | Fourth stage second shutdown | ||
| L+01:45:33 | 06:00:33 | 07:00:33 | LISA Pathfinder release command | ||
| L+01:45:33 | 06:00:33 | 07:00:33 | SEPARATION | LISA Pathfinder separates from fourth stage; begins automatic sequence | |
| L+01:47:03 | 06:02:03 | 07:02:03 | Acquisition of signal (earliest) from satellite via Kourou station | KRU AOS LPF | |
| L+01:48:00 | 06:03:00 | 07:03:00 | ESOC issues test command | "KRU transmits test command KRU starts ranging & Doppler for orbit determination" |
|
| L+01:55:10 | 06:10:10 | 07:10:10 | Fourth stage third burn, for deorbiting | ||
| L+01:55:17 | 06:10:17 | 07:10:17 | Fourth stage shutdown | ||
| L+02:10:00 | 06:25:00 | 07:25:00 | LISA Pathfinder end of automatic sequence. In stable, Sun-pointing mode. ESOC teams continue checkout |
On Wednesday, a Vega rocket will boost LISA Pathfinder into space to pave the way to a future mission for detecting gravitational waves. Once aloft, ESA’s mission control teams will pace the ultra high-tech spacecraft through the critical first days of the journey to its final destination.
At 04:15 GMT (05:15 CET) on Wednesday, 2 December, ESA’s LISA Pathfinder is set to lift off on a 30 m-tall Vega rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, for a 105-minute ride into orbit.
LISA Pathfinder is a demonstrator to help open up a completely new window into the Universe: it will test new technologies needed to measure gravitational waves in space. Predicted by Albert Einstein, these waves are ripples in the curvature of spacetime produced by massive celestial events, such as the merging of black holes.
Detecting gravitational waves would be an additional confirmation of General Relativity, and greatly improve our knowledge of the most powerful phenomena in the Universe.
Ariane 5 flight V188 rises above ESA's Estrack station in Kourou, French Guyana
Kourou tracking station
Separation from Vega is expected at 06:00 GMT (07:00 CET), marking the moment when controllers at ESA’s ESOC operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany, take over the satellite.
First contact is expected two minutes later, around 06:02 GMT (07:02 CET) via the ground station at Kourou.
After confirming LISA Pathfinder’s status and overall health, ground teams will start an intensive cycle of crucial and complex orbit-raising manoeuvres.
These will include firing the mission’s propulsion module six times during 6–11 December to raise its initial orbit, before beginning a six-week cruise phase to its operational orbit some 1.5 million km from Earth in a sunward direction.
After arriving at the final working orbit, the propulsion module will be discarded in later January, and, after about three months of setting-up and calibration, the science mission will begin in March.
The liftoff will be streamed live via two separate programmes on Wednesday: launch webcast live from Kourou, 03:55 GMT (04:55 CET) start; and a media briefing live from ESOC, 05:45 GMT (06:45 CET) start (links to each via http://www.esa.int).
The timeline below is subject to change. An expanded version is available on ESA’s Rocket Science blog.
1-2 December 2015
| MET | GMT | CET | Vega VV06 |
LISA Pathfinder/ESOC | Tracking stations |
| L-09:10:00 | 19:05:00 | 20:05:00 | Flight Control Team ‘on console’ in ESOC Main Control Room; start of prelaunch activities (B-section) | ||
| L-09:00:00 | 19:15:00 | 20:15:00 | ESOC teams begin monitoring spacecraft and ground systems, receiving live telemetry from LISA Pathfinder on top of Vega via umbilical | ||
| L-08:00:00 | 20:15:00 | 21:15:00 | Start of Vega countdown | ||
| L-06:00:00 | 22:15:00 | 23:15:00 | Start of ESOC network countdown; mission controllers continue monitoring LISA Pathfinder | Ground tracking stations: Start of dedicated LPF launch support. Begin station check outs at ESA 15m stations at Perth (Aus), Maspalomas (Spain), Kourou (F. Guiana) plus ASI station Malindi (Kenya) | |
| L-05:45:00 | 22:30:00 | 23:30:00 | ESOC starts a series of data flow tests to confirm primary & backup data links between ESOC and tracking stations | Data flow tests KRU, MAS, PER, MAL-X | |
| L-05:30:00 | 22:45:00 | 23:45:00 | Activation of Vega Multi Function Unit - MFU controls the launcher's critical systems (incl power distribution & pyrotechnics) | ||
| L-05:10:00 | 23:05:00 | 00:05:00 | "Vega Inertial Reference System on; Vega telemetry starts flowing" |
||
| L-05:05:00 | 23:10:00 | 00:10:00 | ESOC Flight Director conducts first formal check of ground segment launch readiness: confirms that teams, systems and stations are ready | Data flow tests contiune: test back-up links to stations | |
| L-04:55:00 | 23:20:00 | 00:20:00 | ESOC Flight Director reports ground segment status to Kourou launch control centre | ||
| L-04:50:00 | 23:25:00 | 00:25:00 | Activation of Vega Safeguard Master Unit - SMU controls safety self-destruct, which can be commanded by ground or autonomously in case of degraded flight behaviour | ||
| L-04:20:00 | 23:55:00 | 00:55:00 | Activation of Vega onboard computer and loading of flight program | ||
| L-03:45:00 | 00:30:00 | 01:30:00 | End of data flow tests via back-up station links. Links now configured for actual LPF TM. Begin data flow tests on primary links. | ||
| L-02:40:00 | 01:35:00 | 02:35:00 | Mobile gantry withdrawal (45 mins) | ||
| L-02:30:00 | 01:45:00 | 02:45:00 | End of data flow tests via primary station links. Links now configured for actual LPF TM. All data flow tests complete; ground segment configured for actual LPF TM | ||
| L-02:00:00 | 02:15:00 | 03:15:00 | Mission Control Team handover in ESOC MCR. A-Section engineers briefed by B-Section counterparts. | ||
| L-01:45:00 | 02:30:00 | 03:30:00 | A-Section of Mission Control Team now on console in MCR | Station engineer team at Kourou depart for safe area. From now until launch, KRU station operated remotely from ESOC. | |
| L-01:55:00 | 02:20:00 | 03:20:00 | Alignment and checks of Inertial Reference System (after withdrawal of gantry) | ||
| L-01:15:00 | 03:00:00 | 04:00:00 | Vega telemetry transmitter on (after withdrawal of gantry) Vega transponders on |
||
| L-00:55:00 | 03:20:00 | 04:20:00 | ESA Flight Director conducts Go/NoGo roll call in Main Control Room | ||
| L-00:35:00 | 03:40:00 | 04:40:00 | ESOC Spacecraft Operations Manager conducts final briefing with ground tracking stations | All stations in conference with ESOC | |
| L-00:34:00 | 03:41:00 | 04:41:00 | Launcher system ready | ||
| L-00:25:00 | 03:50:00 | 04:50:00 | ESOC Flight Director conducts final formal check of ground segment launch readiness: confirms that teams, systems and stations are ready | ||
| L-00:15:00 | 04:00:00 | 05:00:00 | LISA Pathfinder on internal power | ESOC Flight Director confirms ground segment ready for launch to Kourou launch control centre | |
| L-00:10:00 | 04:05:00 | 05:05:00 | Last Kourou weather report before launch | ||
| L-00:04:00 | 04:11:00 | 05:11:00 | Start of Vega synchronized sequence | ||
| L-00:00:08 | 04:14:52 | 05:14:52 | Last possible launch abort | ||
| 00:00:00 | 04:15:00 | 05:15:00 | Vega first stage ignition | ||
| 00:00:01 | 04:15:01 | 05:15:01 | LIFT OFF | ||
| L+00:01:53 | 04:16:53 | 05:16:53 | Separation of first stage | ||
| L+00:01:54 | 04:16:54 | 05:16:54 | Second stage ignition | ||
| L+00:02:30 | 04:17:30 | 05:17:30 | All tracking stations configured for AOS - first acquisition of signal | ||
| L+00:03:37 | 04:18:37 | 05:18:37 | Separation of second stage | ||
| L+00:03:49 | 04:18:49 | 05:18:49 | Third stage ignition | ||
| L+00:04:03 | 04:19:03 | 05:19:03 | Fairing jettisoned | ||
| L+00:06:30 | 04:21:30 | 05:21:30 | Separation of third stage | ||
| L+00:07:29 | 04:22:29 | 05:22:29 | Fourth stage first burn | ||
| L+00:16:23 | 04:31:23 | 05:31:23 | Fourth stage shutdown | ||
| L+01:41:19 | 05:56:19 | 06:56:19 | Fourth stage second burn | ||
| L+01:42:53 | 05:57:53 | 06:57:53 | Fourth stage second shutdown | ||
| L+01:45:33 | 06:00:33 | 07:00:33 | LISA Pathfinder release command | ||
| L+01:45:33 | 06:00:33 | 07:00:33 | SEPARATION | LISA Pathfinder separates from fourth stage; begins automatic sequence | |
| L+01:47:03 | 06:02:03 | 07:02:03 | Acquisition of signal (earliest) from satellite via Kourou station | KRU AOS LPF | |
| L+01:48:00 | 06:03:00 | 07:03:00 | ESOC issues test command | "KRU transmits test command KRU starts ranging & Doppler for orbit determination" |
|
| L+01:55:10 | 06:10:10 | 07:10:10 | Fourth stage third burn, for deorbiting | ||
| L+01:55:17 | 06:10:17 | 07:10:17 | Fourth stage shutdown | ||
| L+02:10:00 | 06:25:00 | 07:25:00 | LISA Pathfinder end of automatic sequence. In stable, Sun-pointing mode. ESOC teams continue checkout |
This post was written by Peter Sinclair and Greg Laden in response to a recent Wall Street Journal Op Ed piece by Matt Ridley and Benny Peiser.
In a recent Wall Street Journal commentary, “Your Complete Guide to the Climate Debate,”
Matt Ridley and Benny Peiser ask what might make world leaders concerned about the security impacts of climate change. One answer might be the US Department of Defense.
In its 2010 Quadrennial Defense review, Pentagon experts wrote:
“…climate change could have significant geopolitical impacts around the world, contributing to poverty, environmental degradation, and the further weakening of fragile governments. Climate change will contribute to food and water scarcity, will increase the spread of disease, and may spur or exacerbate mass migration.”
If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s today’s front page news. A 2014 Defense Department document underlined the message, calling climate warming “a threat multiplier.”
Ridley and Peiser ridicule President Obama over his “careless” statement that climate change is a greater threat than terrorism. Indeed, recent research indicates that the current Syrian refugee crisis is at least partly a result of climate change enhanced drought in the region.
Ridley and Peiser claim that global temperatures have risen only slowly. This is simply untrue. The upward march of global surface temperatures varies, as expected for any natural system such as this, but continues on an upward trend. Contrarian claims of an extended pause in global warming have been debunked over recent months by at least a half dozen studies. (See: this, this, this, this, and this.)
Ridley and Peiser also suggest that surface temperatures have risen less than earlier climate modeling had projected. This is simply untrue. Global surface temperatures have risen at a pace of about 0.15 degrees C per decade since 1990, which is within the range of earlier IPCC projections.
Ridley/Peiser suggest that current record smashing weather events are due to El Nino, not climate change.
Wrong for two reasons.
First, many of the record breaking events we have experienced over recent years happened when there was no El Nino.
Second, records that are set during an El Nino period are, obviously, compared to all other prior El Nino periods as well. This year’s El Nino is exceeding earlier El Nino years in heat and tropical storm activities precisely because of a continued rise in planetary heat.
Ridley and Peiser claim that it has been warmer at times during the last 10,000 years. This statement is not supportable. While scientists know that orbitally caused warming occurred some 8000 years ago, the most current research suggests that today’s surface temperature exceed those values, or will shortly under current trends.
It is incorrect to assert that there have been no changes in extreme storms, or flooding. In the past week we have seen a new annual northern hemisphere record in major hurricanes, with 30 storms category 3 and above this year, literally blowing away the old record of 23, with the season not yet over.
Every year for the last three years, careful and conservative researchers at the US Bureau of Meteorology have studied the contribution of global warming to major weather events around the world. Every year the number of events attributed to global warming goes up. (See these three reports.)
The US Global Change Research Program has documented the increase in extreme precipitation events across the country, and in recent weeks, the east and gulf coast of the US have been inundated by a “1000 year rain event”, as well as a new phenomenon, coastal flooding not associated with any storm, merely the regular pull of the tides, on an ocean that has risen several inches since 1950.
Miami taxpayers are currently spending 500 million dollars on pumps and other infrastructure to remedy the flooding Peiser and Ridley say does not exist.
Ridley and Peiser make the claim that tropical storms can’t be as much of a problem now as they were in the past because the number of deaths attributed to natural disasters is reduced. The irony of this statement is stunning. The reason there are fewer deaths due to weather related natural disasters is precisely because climate science and meteorology have developed methods and models to predict and warn. That very same science is telling us about the recent, ongoing, and future changes in climate due to the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas.
Ridley and Peiser seek to confuse by conflating Arctic and Antarctic sea ice, without mentioning that the small increase in Antarctic sea ice, along with the large loss of Arctic ice, is predicted from our understanding of the global warming process, and that, globally, sea ice area is clearly in a multi-decadal decline, the very reason that our giant oil companies are lobbying so intensely for access to polar regions they know are thawing.
Similarly deceptive is the claim that “Antarctica is gaining land based ice”. Here they cite a one-off outlier study, not the other dozen studies completed since 2012 by groups from NASA, the European Space Agency and others, most using more recent data than the cited piece, and all of which show overall Antarctic land ice loss. Moreover, the author of the study cited has said that
if the sea level rise does not come from Antarctica, it obviously must be undercounted elsewhere, such as Alpine glaciers, Greenland, or thermal expansion of the oceans – since observed sea level rise is unequivocal.
That sea level rise is also the most unambiguous indicator of a warming planet. The relentless and accelerating observed rise of the seas supports the half dozen recent studies showing that global warming has not halted or paused, and continues apace.
Ridley and Peiser claim that research is increasingly showing climate sensitivity to be low. This is entirely the opposite of what has been happening. The most likely range of values of climate sensitivity (the amount of increase in surface temperature that eventually occurs as a result of the doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere) was established over a century ago. Recently revealed documents show that Exxon Mobil Corporation itself studied climate science as early as the late 70’s, and its findings were in clear agreement with the National Academy of Science 1979 report, which estimated a climate sensitivity of 3°C, plus or minus 1.5° C. Tables in Exxon’s 1982 Climate Change “Primer” for executives show predictions for 2015 markedly similar to contemporary estimates by NASA, and NOAA.
Meanwhile, the solutions for climate change are at hand.
Solar and wind energy have grown faster, and costs have plummeted further, than even most fervent supporters would have predicted a few years ago. Wind and solar are now out-competing coal and nuclear everywhere, and even gas in many markets. Recent volatility in oil and gas prices make the predictable zero cost of renewables all the more attractive, as more and more major corporations are signing power purchase agreements for renewable energy, based on markets, not political correctness.
In a recent article in Scientific American, Engineers Mark Jacobsen and Mark Deluchi have shown how 139 countries can generate their total energy needs by 2050 from wind, solar, and water technologies.
Today’s average cost of large-scale solar in the U.S. is 5 cents/kWh. The installed cost of solar is down by half since 2009. The cost of wind in the U.S. is 2.5 cents per kWh, and efficiency is about the same, and sometimes below 1 cent/kWh. (See this.)
Denmark, Scotland, Spain, and Portugal are now producing more than half their electricity from renewable sources, Germany is close to a third – and the German grid is 10 times more reliable than the US grid.(See this)
In 20 US states, contractors will put solar panels on your roof for free – and in San Antonio Texas, the utility will pay you for the privilege of putting those panels on, and lowering your utility bill. (See this and this)
It’s a business model that will spread, sooner than coal barons like Matt Ridley would like you to believe.
Polling shows again and again that large majorities of Americans across all demographics favor rapid development of renewable energy, and tough regulations for greenhouse gases.
In addition, most importantly, a large majority of Americans now believe that climate change is a moral issue that obligates government officials, and private citizens, to take action.
The tactics of confusion and distortion are losing their effectiveness, as more and more Americans experience the effects of a climate altered world first hand. It’s time to stop denying the science, and begin discussing the solutions.
This post was written by Peter Sinclair and Greg Laden in response to a recent Wall Street Journal Op Ed piece by Matt Ridley and Benny Peiser.
In a recent Wall Street Journal commentary, “Your Complete Guide to the Climate Debate,”
Matt Ridley and Benny Peiser ask what might make world leaders concerned about the security impacts of climate change. One answer might be the US Department of Defense.
In its 2010 Quadrennial Defense review, Pentagon experts wrote:
“…climate change could have significant geopolitical impacts around the world, contributing to poverty, environmental degradation, and the further weakening of fragile governments. Climate change will contribute to food and water scarcity, will increase the spread of disease, and may spur or exacerbate mass migration.”
If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s today’s front page news. A 2014 Defense Department document underlined the message, calling climate warming “a threat multiplier.”
Ridley and Peiser ridicule President Obama over his “careless” statement that climate change is a greater threat than terrorism. Indeed, recent research indicates that the current Syrian refugee crisis is at least partly a result of climate change enhanced drought in the region.
Ridley and Peiser claim that global temperatures have risen only slowly. This is simply untrue. The upward march of global surface temperatures varies, as expected for any natural system such as this, but continues on an upward trend. Contrarian claims of an extended pause in global warming have been debunked over recent months by at least a half dozen studies. (See: this, this, this, this, and this.)
Ridley and Peiser also suggest that surface temperatures have risen less than earlier climate modeling had projected. This is simply untrue. Global surface temperatures have risen at a pace of about 0.15 degrees C per decade since 1990, which is within the range of earlier IPCC projections.
Ridley/Peiser suggest that current record smashing weather events are due to El Nino, not climate change.
Wrong for two reasons.
First, many of the record breaking events we have experienced over recent years happened when there was no El Nino.
Second, records that are set during an El Nino period are, obviously, compared to all other prior El Nino periods as well. This year’s El Nino is exceeding earlier El Nino years in heat and tropical storm activities precisely because of a continued rise in planetary heat.
Ridley and Peiser claim that it has been warmer at times during the last 10,000 years. This statement is not supportable. While scientists know that orbitally caused warming occurred some 8000 years ago, the most current research suggests that today’s surface temperature exceed those values, or will shortly under current trends.
It is incorrect to assert that there have been no changes in extreme storms, or flooding. In the past week we have seen a new annual northern hemisphere record in major hurricanes, with 30 storms category 3 and above this year, literally blowing away the old record of 23, with the season not yet over.
Every year for the last three years, careful and conservative researchers at the US Bureau of Meteorology have studied the contribution of global warming to major weather events around the world. Every year the number of events attributed to global warming goes up. (See these three reports.)
The US Global Change Research Program has documented the increase in extreme precipitation events across the country, and in recent weeks, the east and gulf coast of the US have been inundated by a “1000 year rain event”, as well as a new phenomenon, coastal flooding not associated with any storm, merely the regular pull of the tides, on an ocean that has risen several inches since 1950.
Miami taxpayers are currently spending 500 million dollars on pumps and other infrastructure to remedy the flooding Peiser and Ridley say does not exist.
Ridley and Peiser make the claim that tropical storms can’t be as much of a problem now as they were in the past because the number of deaths attributed to natural disasters is reduced. The irony of this statement is stunning. The reason there are fewer deaths due to weather related natural disasters is precisely because climate science and meteorology have developed methods and models to predict and warn. That very same science is telling us about the recent, ongoing, and future changes in climate due to the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas.
Ridley and Peiser seek to confuse by conflating Arctic and Antarctic sea ice, without mentioning that the small increase in Antarctic sea ice, along with the large loss of Arctic ice, is predicted from our understanding of the global warming process, and that, globally, sea ice area is clearly in a multi-decadal decline, the very reason that our giant oil companies are lobbying so intensely for access to polar regions they know are thawing.
Similarly deceptive is the claim that “Antarctica is gaining land based ice”. Here they cite a one-off outlier study, not the other dozen studies completed since 2012 by groups from NASA, the European Space Agency and others, most using more recent data than the cited piece, and all of which show overall Antarctic land ice loss. Moreover, the author of the study cited has said that
if the sea level rise does not come from Antarctica, it obviously must be undercounted elsewhere, such as Alpine glaciers, Greenland, or thermal expansion of the oceans – since observed sea level rise is unequivocal.
That sea level rise is also the most unambiguous indicator of a warming planet. The relentless and accelerating observed rise of the seas supports the half dozen recent studies showing that global warming has not halted or paused, and continues apace.
Ridley and Peiser claim that research is increasingly showing climate sensitivity to be low. This is entirely the opposite of what has been happening. The most likely range of values of climate sensitivity (the amount of increase in surface temperature that eventually occurs as a result of the doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere) was established over a century ago. Recently revealed documents show that Exxon Mobil Corporation itself studied climate science as early as the late 70’s, and its findings were in clear agreement with the National Academy of Science 1979 report, which estimated a climate sensitivity of 3°C, plus or minus 1.5° C. Tables in Exxon’s 1982 Climate Change “Primer” for executives show predictions for 2015 markedly similar to contemporary estimates by NASA, and NOAA.
Meanwhile, the solutions for climate change are at hand.
Solar and wind energy have grown faster, and costs have plummeted further, than even most fervent supporters would have predicted a few years ago. Wind and solar are now out-competing coal and nuclear everywhere, and even gas in many markets. Recent volatility in oil and gas prices make the predictable zero cost of renewables all the more attractive, as more and more major corporations are signing power purchase agreements for renewable energy, based on markets, not political correctness.
In a recent article in Scientific American, Engineers Mark Jacobsen and Mark Deluchi have shown how 139 countries can generate their total energy needs by 2050 from wind, solar, and water technologies.
Today’s average cost of large-scale solar in the U.S. is 5 cents/kWh. The installed cost of solar is down by half since 2009. The cost of wind in the U.S. is 2.5 cents per kWh, and efficiency is about the same, and sometimes below 1 cent/kWh. (See this.)
Denmark, Scotland, Spain, and Portugal are now producing more than half their electricity from renewable sources, Germany is close to a third – and the German grid is 10 times more reliable than the US grid.(See this)
In 20 US states, contractors will put solar panels on your roof for free – and in San Antonio Texas, the utility will pay you for the privilege of putting those panels on, and lowering your utility bill. (See this and this)
It’s a business model that will spread, sooner than coal barons like Matt Ridley would like you to believe.
Polling shows again and again that large majorities of Americans across all demographics favor rapid development of renewable energy, and tough regulations for greenhouse gases.
In addition, most importantly, a large majority of Americans now believe that climate change is a moral issue that obligates government officials, and private citizens, to take action.
The tactics of confusion and distortion are losing their effectiveness, as more and more Americans experience the effects of a climate altered world first hand. It’s time to stop denying the science, and begin discussing the solutions.
“Lots of science fiction deals with distant times and places. Intrepid prospectors in the Asteroid Belt. Interstellar epics. Galactic empires. Trips to the remote past or future.” -Edward M. Lerner
Of all the asteroids we’ve ever discovered, it’s arguably the very first one, Ceres, that’s got the most to teach us. Currently being mapped at higher and higher resolution by NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft, Ceres isn’t just the largest asteroid we’ve got, it’s also one of the least inclined, orbiting the Sun with a tilt of just 3 degrees.
Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA, from the DAWN mission.
This means, much like the Moon, that there’s a chance it has permanently shadowed craters at its poles, possibly containing volatile materials that have boiled off everywhere else on the world. Yet within these permanent shadows, relics from billions of years ago may still persist.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA, via http://ift.tt/1T6owcW.
Come find out what might be in there on today’s Mostly Mute Monday!
“Lots of science fiction deals with distant times and places. Intrepid prospectors in the Asteroid Belt. Interstellar epics. Galactic empires. Trips to the remote past or future.” -Edward M. Lerner
Of all the asteroids we’ve ever discovered, it’s arguably the very first one, Ceres, that’s got the most to teach us. Currently being mapped at higher and higher resolution by NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft, Ceres isn’t just the largest asteroid we’ve got, it’s also one of the least inclined, orbiting the Sun with a tilt of just 3 degrees.
Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA, from the DAWN mission.
This means, much like the Moon, that there’s a chance it has permanently shadowed craters at its poles, possibly containing volatile materials that have boiled off everywhere else on the world. Yet within these permanent shadows, relics from billions of years ago may still persist.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA, via http://ift.tt/1T6owcW.
Come find out what might be in there on today’s Mostly Mute Monday!
Maj. Mike Stinchfield, left, and Maj. Greg. Pavlichko demonstrate the virtual capabilities of the Stryker Virtual Collective Trainer concept at the Combined Arms Center – Training Innovation Facility on Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Photo by Mike Casey.
By Mike Casey – Combined Arms Center – Training
A team of soldiers and civilians is hammering plywood together and adding off-the-shelf electronics to demonstrate ideas for a new generation of Army training capabilities.
The Combined Arms Center – Training Innovation Facility, or CAC-TIF, last year began its mission of assisting the Army in generating ideas for enhanced training with low-cost solutions.
“The CAC-TIF is a living laboratory for the field and tactical formations,” said Brig. Gen. Mark J. O’Neil, deputy commanding general of the Combined Arms Center – Training. “We want to work with the force to find ways to fill training gaps. Through collaborative efforts, we will save time and money in developing the new training capabilities.”
Besides working with the force, the CAC-TIF team will collaborate with the Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation, which develops, acquires and sustains simulators for training.
The CAC-TIF’s work on the Stryker Virtual Collective Trainer concept exemplifies how the facility is taking requests from the field.
In 2013, Lt. Gen. Robert B. Brown, then commanding general of I Corps, wanted a Stryker training simulator, but not at the cost of simulators that replicate the Abrams, Bradley and other vehicles. CAC-TIF developers used commercially available virtual reality headsets to create a 360-degree immersive environment and opted for touch screens instead of a number of buttons. Rather than creating an expensive metal platform, developers chose plywood.
“We built one vehicle interface for less than $7,000,” said Maj. Mike Stinchfield, who manages the CAC-TIF. He emphasized that the current model is for demonstration and testing – not for use by the force now.
In December, the CAC-TIF team will showcase the Stryker Virtual Collective Trainer concept at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference, and later take the demonstration to Maneuver Center of Excellence and home stations to receive Soldier feedback.
“We want to hear from soldiers to find out what works and what doesn’t work,” Stinchfield said.
The CAC-TIF is part of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, or TRADOC, Capability Manager – Virtual and Gaming, which writes requirements for training simulators and approves simulators for the field.
Getting early feedback from the force will help the Army get training products to soldiers quicker and at lower costs, Stinchfield said.
One of the cost savers is the virtual reality headset versus the more expensive simulator’s computer screens.
“Virtual reality provides immersion and a sense of presence that is as good, if not better than the current simulators, at a fraction of the cost. The technology needs improvements, but several major companies will release retail versions in 2016 that we anticipate will be fully capable for the Stryker trainer,” he said.
The CAC-TIF, however, did not scrimp on some items. “The joystick that controls the remote weapon system in the Stryker is exactly the same as the real one,” Stinchfield said. “That form, fit and function needed to be there.”
Stinchfield’s team used the Army’s flagship gaming program, Virtual Battlespace 3, to create the simulation environment for the Stryker.
Brown, now the commanding general of the Combined Arms Center on Fort Leavenworth, recently visited the CAC-TIF. “The CAC-TIF has the potential to significantly improve readiness through home station training,” he said.
“This needs to get out and demonstrated to home stations for feedback from Stryker leaders and soldiers,” said Brown regarding the Stryker vehicle.
The CAC-TIF team is planning several visits to Stryker locations with the demonstration.
Maj. Mike Stinchfield, left, and Maj. Greg. Pavlichko demonstrate the virtual capabilities of the Stryker Virtual Collective Trainer concept at the Combined Arms Center – Training Innovation Facility on Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Photo by Mike Casey.
By Mike Casey – Combined Arms Center – Training
A team of soldiers and civilians is hammering plywood together and adding off-the-shelf electronics to demonstrate ideas for a new generation of Army training capabilities.
The Combined Arms Center – Training Innovation Facility, or CAC-TIF, last year began its mission of assisting the Army in generating ideas for enhanced training with low-cost solutions.
“The CAC-TIF is a living laboratory for the field and tactical formations,” said Brig. Gen. Mark J. O’Neil, deputy commanding general of the Combined Arms Center – Training. “We want to work with the force to find ways to fill training gaps. Through collaborative efforts, we will save time and money in developing the new training capabilities.”
Besides working with the force, the CAC-TIF team will collaborate with the Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation, which develops, acquires and sustains simulators for training.
The CAC-TIF’s work on the Stryker Virtual Collective Trainer concept exemplifies how the facility is taking requests from the field.
In 2013, Lt. Gen. Robert B. Brown, then commanding general of I Corps, wanted a Stryker training simulator, but not at the cost of simulators that replicate the Abrams, Bradley and other vehicles. CAC-TIF developers used commercially available virtual reality headsets to create a 360-degree immersive environment and opted for touch screens instead of a number of buttons. Rather than creating an expensive metal platform, developers chose plywood.
“We built one vehicle interface for less than $7,000,” said Maj. Mike Stinchfield, who manages the CAC-TIF. He emphasized that the current model is for demonstration and testing – not for use by the force now.
In December, the CAC-TIF team will showcase the Stryker Virtual Collective Trainer concept at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference, and later take the demonstration to Maneuver Center of Excellence and home stations to receive Soldier feedback.
“We want to hear from soldiers to find out what works and what doesn’t work,” Stinchfield said.
The CAC-TIF is part of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, or TRADOC, Capability Manager – Virtual and Gaming, which writes requirements for training simulators and approves simulators for the field.
Getting early feedback from the force will help the Army get training products to soldiers quicker and at lower costs, Stinchfield said.
One of the cost savers is the virtual reality headset versus the more expensive simulator’s computer screens.
“Virtual reality provides immersion and a sense of presence that is as good, if not better than the current simulators, at a fraction of the cost. The technology needs improvements, but several major companies will release retail versions in 2016 that we anticipate will be fully capable for the Stryker trainer,” he said.
The CAC-TIF, however, did not scrimp on some items. “The joystick that controls the remote weapon system in the Stryker is exactly the same as the real one,” Stinchfield said. “That form, fit and function needed to be there.”
Stinchfield’s team used the Army’s flagship gaming program, Virtual Battlespace 3, to create the simulation environment for the Stryker.
Brown, now the commanding general of the Combined Arms Center on Fort Leavenworth, recently visited the CAC-TIF. “The CAC-TIF has the potential to significantly improve readiness through home station training,” he said.
“This needs to get out and demonstrated to home stations for feedback from Stryker leaders and soldiers,” said Brown regarding the Stryker vehicle.
The CAC-TIF team is planning several visits to Stryker locations with the demonstration.
Capturing buckyballs involves molecular design based on non-covalent interactions. This poses interesting challenges for both the designer and the computational chemist. The curved surface of the buckyball demands a sequestering agent with a complementary curved surface, likely an aromatic curved surface to facilitate π-π stacking interactions. For the computational chemist, weak interactions, like dispersion and π-π stacking demand special attention, particularly density functionals designed to account for these interactions.
Two very intriguing new buckycatchers were recently prepared in the Sygula lab, and also examined by DFT.1 Compounds 1 and 2 make use of the scaffold developed by Klärner.2 In these two buckycatchers, the tongs are corranulenes, providing a curved aromatic surface to match the C60 and C70 surface. They differ in the length of the connector unit.
B97-D/TZVP computations of the complex of 1 and 2 with C60 were carried out. The optimized structures are shown in Figure 1. The binding energies (computed at B97-D/QZVP*//B97-D/TZVP) of these two complexes are really quite large. The binding energy for 1:C60 is 33.6 kcal mol-1, comparable to some previous Buckycatchers, but the binding energy of 2:C60 is 50.0 kcal mol-1, larger than any predicted before.
 1 |
 2 |
Figure 1. B97-D/TZVP optimized geometries of 1:C60and 2:C60.
Measurement of the binding energy using NMR was complicated by a competition for one or two molecules of 2 binding to buckyballs. Nonetheless, the experimental data show 2 binds to C60 and C70 more effectively than any previous host. They were also able to obtain a crystal structure of 2:C60.
(1) Abeyratne Kuragama, P. L.; Fronczek, F. R.; Sygula, A. "Bis-corannulene Receptors for Fullerenes Based on Klärner’s Tethers: Reaching the Affinity Limits," Org. Lett. 2015, ASAP, DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.5b02666.
(2) Klärner, F.-G.; Schrader, T. "Aromatic Interactions by Molecular Tweezers and Clips in Chemical and Biological Systems," Acc. Chem. Res. 2013, 46, 967-978, DOI: 10.1021/ar300061c.
1: InChI=1S/C62H34O2/c1-63-61-57-43-23-45(41-21-37-33-17-13-29-9-5-25-3-7-27-11-15-31(35(37)19-39(41)43)53-49(27)47(25)51(29)55(33)53)59(57)62(64-2)60-46-24-44(58(60)61)40-20-36-32-16-12-28-8-4-26-6-10-30-14-18-34(38(36)22-42(40)46)56-52(30)48(26)50(28)54(32)56/h3-22,43-46H,23-24H2,1-2H3/t43-,44+,45+,46-
InChIKey=RLOJCVYXCBOUQB-RYSLUOGPSA-N
2: InChI=1S/C66H36O2/c1-67-65-51-24-45-43-23-44(42-20-38-34-16-12-30-8-4-27-3-7-29-11-15-33(37(38)19-41(42)43)59-55(29)53(27)56(30)60(34)59)46(45)25-52(51)66(68-2)64-50-26-49(63(64)65)47-21-39-35-17-13-31-9-5-28-6-10-32-14-18-36(40(39)22-48(47)50)62-58(32)54(28)57(31)61(35)62/h3-22,24-25,43-44,49-50H,23,26H2,1-2H3/t43-,44+,49+,50-
InChIKey=JAUUHTKCNSNBMD-NETXOKAWSA-N
Capturing buckyballs involves molecular design based on non-covalent interactions. This poses interesting challenges for both the designer and the computational chemist. The curved surface of the buckyball demands a sequestering agent with a complementary curved surface, likely an aromatic curved surface to facilitate π-π stacking interactions. For the computational chemist, weak interactions, like dispersion and π-π stacking demand special attention, particularly density functionals designed to account for these interactions.
Two very intriguing new buckycatchers were recently prepared in the Sygula lab, and also examined by DFT.1 Compounds 1 and 2 make use of the scaffold developed by Klärner.2 In these two buckycatchers, the tongs are corranulenes, providing a curved aromatic surface to match the C60 and C70 surface. They differ in the length of the connector unit.
B97-D/TZVP computations of the complex of 1 and 2 with C60 were carried out. The optimized structures are shown in Figure 1. The binding energies (computed at B97-D/QZVP*//B97-D/TZVP) of these two complexes are really quite large. The binding energy for 1:C60 is 33.6 kcal mol-1, comparable to some previous Buckycatchers, but the binding energy of 2:C60 is 50.0 kcal mol-1, larger than any predicted before.
|
1 |
|
2 |
Figure 1. B97-D/TZVP optimized geometries of 1:C60and 2:C60.
Measurement of the binding energy using NMR was complicated by a competition for one or two molecules of 2 binding to buckyballs. Nonetheless, the experimental data show 2 binds to C60 and C70 more effectively than any previous host. They were also able to obtain a crystal structure of 2:C60.
(1) Abeyratne Kuragama, P. L.; Fronczek, F. R.; Sygula, A. "Bis-corannulene Receptors for Fullerenes Based on Klärner’s Tethers: Reaching the Affinity Limits," Org. Lett. 2015, ASAP, DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.5b02666.
(2) Klärner, F.-G.; Schrader, T. "Aromatic Interactions by Molecular Tweezers and Clips in Chemical and Biological Systems," Acc. Chem. Res. 2013, 46, 967-978, DOI: 10.1021/ar300061c.
1: InChI=1S/C62H34O2/c1-63-61-57-43-23-45(41-21-37-33-17-13-29-9-5-25-3-7-27-11-15-31(35(37)19-39(41)43)53-49(27)47(25)51(29)55(33)53)59(57)62(64-2)60-46-24-44(58(60)61)40-20-36-32-16-12-28-8-4-26-6-10-30-14-18-34(38(36)22-42(40)46)56-52(30)48(26)50(28)54(32)56/h3-22,43-46H,23-24H2,1-2H3/t43-,44+,45+,46-
InChIKey=RLOJCVYXCBOUQB-RYSLUOGPSA-N
2: InChI=1S/C66H36O2/c1-67-65-51-24-45-43-23-44(42-20-38-34-16-12-30-8-4-27-3-7-29-11-15-33(37(38)19-41(42)43)59-55(29)53(27)56(30)60(34)59)46(45)25-52(51)66(68-2)64-50-26-49(63(64)65)47-21-39-35-17-13-31-9-5-28-6-10-32-14-18-36(40(39)22-48(47)50)62-58(32)54(28)57(31)61(35)62/h3-22,24-25,43-44,49-50H,23,26H2,1-2H3/t43-,44+,49+,50-
InChIKey=JAUUHTKCNSNBMD-NETXOKAWSA-N
Irish trad session at Wirström’s pub in Stockholm’s Old Town
Irish trad session at Wirström’s pub in Stockholm’s Old Town
Ranga-Ram Chary. Visit his bio page.
A scientist has evidence of our universe and a parallel universe bumping into one another, in the distant past. An analysis by Ranga-Ram Chary of a map of the cosmic microwave background revealed eerie glowing patches that he thinks might be imprints left in the encounter. The map comes from data gathered by a space observatory called Planck, operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) from 2009 to 2013, and Chary is a researcher at the at the U.S. Planck Data Center at CalTech. Follow the links below to learn more:
Many universes? Until recent decades, most astronomers would have told you that, by definition, the word universe means all there is. That word was used to describe all space, time, matter, physical laws and constants. But now a new word – multiverse – has entered the language of scientists.
Not all scientists agree, but some – including Stephen Hawking, for example, and Alan Guth of MIT – believe there’s scientific justification for a multiverse, many universes springing into being, possibly existing simultaneously, each possibly with its own physics. If true, then our universe of stars and galaxies is just a small part of this vast assemblage of many universes.
The New York Times was describing a brief history of the multiverse when it explained that the argument for it comes from Big Bang theory:
… according to the standard model, shortly after the universe exploded into existence about 14 billion years ago, it suddenly jumped in size by an enormous factor. This ‘inflation’ can best be understood by imagining that the observable universe is, relatively speaking, a tiny blob of space buried deep within a vast labyrinth of interconnected cosmic regions.
Under this theory, if you took a God’s-eye view of the multiverse, you would see big bangs aplenty generating a tangled melee of universes enveloped in a superstructure of frenetically inflating space.
Though individual universes may live and die, the multiverse is forever.
How can we envision the multiverse? There are different ways of describing the possibilties, and scientists nowadays may speak of bubble universes, or a quantum multiverse. You can read a relatively easy compilation of scientists’ ideas about the multiverse on Wikipedia.
The cosmic microwave background – first theorized in the 1940s and first observed in 1965 by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey – is a tool for studying the possibility of alternate universes.
Theorists determined several years ago that, if two universes started out close enough that they touched before expanding space pushed them apart, they could leave an imprint – a bruise – on each other that might show up on the cosmic microwave background.
View larger. | ESA’s Planck space observatory released the highest resolution map yet of the cosmic microwave background – CMB – in 2013. It shows tiny temperature fluctuations that correspond to regions of slightly different densities in the early days of our universe: the seeds of future galaxies and stars. Map via ESA.
What Ranga-Ram Chary found. The cosmic microwave background is often described as relic radiation leftover from the Big Bang. ESA’s Planck space observatory has been the third space observatory specifically designed to study it. It mapped the cosmic microwave background with greater precision than its two predecessor satellites, COBE and WMAP.
Analyzing those maps is part of Chary’s job at the U.S. Planck Data Center.
NewScientist.com broke the story about his recent analysis of the cosmic microwave background about a month ago. It described what he did this way:
Instead of looking at the [cosmic microwave background, or CMB] itself, Chary subtracted a model of the CMB from Planck’s picture of the entire sky. Then he took away everything else, too: the stars, gas and dust.
With our universe scrubbed away, nothing should be left except noise.
But in a certain frequency range, scattered patches on the sky look far brighter than they should.
This residual signal was about 4,500 times brighter than it should be and may represent an imprint from a parallel universe, which bumped into ours long ago. Chary himself feels tentative about this conclusion. In his paper, published at arXiv.org in October, he wrote:
…it could also possibly be due to the collision of our universe with an alternate universe.
But he also says that there’s a 30% probability the signal is just noise. And, in an email, he told EarthSky:
One has to trust the data since Nature has a way of surprising us with the unexpected. But for something as unusual as alternate universes, one needs at least two independent lines of evidence. Right now, we have only one, and it is currently right at the limit of the current data from Planck.
This isn’t the first time that a scientists has found possible evidence that other universes have bumped up against our own. In 2010, Stephen M. Feeney et al also described four statistically unlikely circular patterns in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). They also mentioned the possibility of bruises to our universe, caused by being bumped four times by other universes. Their evidence came from Planck’s predecessor, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, or WMAP, and it was later disproven. But Planck sees the cosmic microwave background about three times more clearly than WMAP.
This greater detail might mean that an observation of an imprint from another universe is now possible.
If alternate universes do exist, we cannot contact them. But Chary expressed his personal belief that their existence has profound implications for our universe, when he told EarthSky:
… unless we have a physically motivated way to explain the value of key physical parameters of our universe – such as the baryon to photon ratio, the fine structure constant and the total energy density – one has to conclude that Nature may be playing dice after all, and we are just a random Universe among a multitude of others.
Is our universe one among many in a multiverse?
Bottom line: A researcher at the U.S. Planck Data Center, Ranga-Ram Chary, conducted an analysis of the cosmic microwave background that revealed eerie glowing patches – 4,500 brighter than they should have been. There’s a 30% probability the signal is just noise, but it might also be a cosmic fist-bump: evidence of our universe colliding with another universe.
Read more about Planck and the cosmic microwave background
Ranga-Ram Chary. Visit his bio page.
A scientist has evidence of our universe and a parallel universe bumping into one another, in the distant past. An analysis by Ranga-Ram Chary of a map of the cosmic microwave background revealed eerie glowing patches that he thinks might be imprints left in the encounter. The map comes from data gathered by a space observatory called Planck, operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) from 2009 to 2013, and Chary is a researcher at the at the U.S. Planck Data Center at CalTech. Follow the links below to learn more:
Many universes? Until recent decades, most astronomers would have told you that, by definition, the word universe means all there is. That word was used to describe all space, time, matter, physical laws and constants. But now a new word – multiverse – has entered the language of scientists.
Not all scientists agree, but some – including Stephen Hawking, for example, and Alan Guth of MIT – believe there’s scientific justification for a multiverse, many universes springing into being, possibly existing simultaneously, each possibly with its own physics. If true, then our universe of stars and galaxies is just a small part of this vast assemblage of many universes.
The New York Times was describing a brief history of the multiverse when it explained that the argument for it comes from Big Bang theory:
… according to the standard model, shortly after the universe exploded into existence about 14 billion years ago, it suddenly jumped in size by an enormous factor. This ‘inflation’ can best be understood by imagining that the observable universe is, relatively speaking, a tiny blob of space buried deep within a vast labyrinth of interconnected cosmic regions.
Under this theory, if you took a God’s-eye view of the multiverse, you would see big bangs aplenty generating a tangled melee of universes enveloped in a superstructure of frenetically inflating space.
Though individual universes may live and die, the multiverse is forever.
How can we envision the multiverse? There are different ways of describing the possibilties, and scientists nowadays may speak of bubble universes, or a quantum multiverse. You can read a relatively easy compilation of scientists’ ideas about the multiverse on Wikipedia.
The cosmic microwave background – first theorized in the 1940s and first observed in 1965 by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey – is a tool for studying the possibility of alternate universes.
Theorists determined several years ago that, if two universes started out close enough that they touched before expanding space pushed them apart, they could leave an imprint – a bruise – on each other that might show up on the cosmic microwave background.
View larger. | ESA’s Planck space observatory released the highest resolution map yet of the cosmic microwave background – CMB – in 2013. It shows tiny temperature fluctuations that correspond to regions of slightly different densities in the early days of our universe: the seeds of future galaxies and stars. Map via ESA.
What Ranga-Ram Chary found. The cosmic microwave background is often described as relic radiation leftover from the Big Bang. ESA’s Planck space observatory has been the third space observatory specifically designed to study it. It mapped the cosmic microwave background with greater precision than its two predecessor satellites, COBE and WMAP.
Analyzing those maps is part of Chary’s job at the U.S. Planck Data Center.
NewScientist.com broke the story about his recent analysis of the cosmic microwave background about a month ago. It described what he did this way:
Instead of looking at the [cosmic microwave background, or CMB] itself, Chary subtracted a model of the CMB from Planck’s picture of the entire sky. Then he took away everything else, too: the stars, gas and dust.
With our universe scrubbed away, nothing should be left except noise.
But in a certain frequency range, scattered patches on the sky look far brighter than they should.
This residual signal was about 4,500 times brighter than it should be and may represent an imprint from a parallel universe, which bumped into ours long ago. Chary himself feels tentative about this conclusion. In his paper, published at arXiv.org in October, he wrote:
…it could also possibly be due to the collision of our universe with an alternate universe.
But he also says that there’s a 30% probability the signal is just noise. And, in an email, he told EarthSky:
One has to trust the data since Nature has a way of surprising us with the unexpected. But for something as unusual as alternate universes, one needs at least two independent lines of evidence. Right now, we have only one, and it is currently right at the limit of the current data from Planck.
This isn’t the first time that a scientists has found possible evidence that other universes have bumped up against our own. In 2010, Stephen M. Feeney et al also described four statistically unlikely circular patterns in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). They also mentioned the possibility of bruises to our universe, caused by being bumped four times by other universes. Their evidence came from Planck’s predecessor, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, or WMAP, and it was later disproven. But Planck sees the cosmic microwave background about three times more clearly than WMAP.
This greater detail might mean that an observation of an imprint from another universe is now possible.
If alternate universes do exist, we cannot contact them. But Chary expressed his personal belief that their existence has profound implications for our universe, when he told EarthSky:
… unless we have a physically motivated way to explain the value of key physical parameters of our universe – such as the baryon to photon ratio, the fine structure constant and the total energy density – one has to conclude that Nature may be playing dice after all, and we are just a random Universe among a multitude of others.
Is our universe one among many in a multiverse?
Bottom line: A researcher at the U.S. Planck Data Center, Ranga-Ram Chary, conducted an analysis of the cosmic microwave background that revealed eerie glowing patches – 4,500 brighter than they should have been. There’s a 30% probability the signal is just noise, but it might also be a cosmic fist-bump: evidence of our universe colliding with another universe.
Read more about Planck and the cosmic microwave background
Photo credit: WMO
The global average surface temperature in 2015 is likely to be the warmest on record and to reach the symbolic and significant milestone of 1° Celsius above the pre-industrial era, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The WMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations, with a global membership of 185 member states and six territories. It released its new report on November 25, 2015, as world leaders converged in Paris for the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21). The WMO says the high temps in 2015 are likely due to a combination of the overall trend of global warming, plus the strong ongoing El Niño.
A WMO five-year analysis by the WMO said that the years 2011-2015 have been the warmest five-year period on record. During this period there have been many extreme weather events; heatwaves topped the list, according to WMO. Michel Jarraud, WMO Secretary-General, commented in a statement:
The state of the global climate in 2015 will make history as for a number of reasons. Levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached new highs and in the Northern Hemisphere spring 2015, the three-month global average concentration of CO2 crossed the 400 parts per million barrier for the first time.
2015 is likely to be the hottest year on record, with ocean surface temperatures at the highest level since measurements began.
It is probable that the 1°C Celsius threshold will be crossed …
Added to that, we are witnessing a powerful El Niño event, which is still gaining in strength. This is influencing weather patterns in many parts of the world and fueled an exceptionally warm October. The overall warming impact of this El Niño is expected to continue into 2016
The WMO’s report comes on the heels of another United Nations report – this one from the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – showing that over the last 20 years, 90% of major human disasters have been caused by 6,457 recorded floods, storms, heatwaves, droughts and other weather-related events. That earlier report – released November 23, 2015 – also said that that weather-related disasters were nearly twice as frequent over the past decade as two decades ago.
The statement from the WMO said:
A preliminary estimate based on data from January to October shows that the global average surface temperature for 2015 so far was around 0.73 °C above the 1961-1990 average of 14.0°C and approximately 1°C above the pre-industrial 1880-1899 period.
This temperature tendency indicates that 2015 will very likely be the warmest year on record. The global average sea-surface temperature, which set a record last year, is likely to equal or surpass that record in 2015. The global average temperatures over land areas only from January to October suggest that 2015 is also set to be one of the warmest years on record over land. South America is having its hottest year on record, as is Asia (similar to 2007), and Africa and Europe their second hottest.
According to preliminary figures as of the end of September 2015, 2011-15 was the world’s warmest five-year period on record, at about 0.57°C (1.01°F) above the average for the standard 1961-90 reference period. It was the warmest five-year period on record for Asia, Europe, South America and Oceania, and for North America. WMO compiled the five-year analysis because it provides a longer-term climate signal than the annual report.
Read more: 2015 likely to be warmest on record, 2011-2015 warmest 5-year period
Read more: Weather-related natural disasters are up
Average temperature anomalies for January to October, 2015. Crosses (+) indicate temperatures that exceed the 90th percentile. Dashes (-) indicate temperatures below the 10th percentile, indicating unusually cold conditions. Source: Met Office Hadley Centre, via WMO.
Bottom line: The 2015 global average surface temperature is likely to be the warmest on record and due to a combination of a strong El Niño and human-induced global warming, according a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released on November 25, 2015.
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Photo credit: WMO
The global average surface temperature in 2015 is likely to be the warmest on record and to reach the symbolic and significant milestone of 1° Celsius above the pre-industrial era, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The WMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations, with a global membership of 185 member states and six territories. It released its new report on November 25, 2015, as world leaders converged in Paris for the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21). The WMO says the high temps in 2015 are likely due to a combination of the overall trend of global warming, plus the strong ongoing El Niño.
A WMO five-year analysis by the WMO said that the years 2011-2015 have been the warmest five-year period on record. During this period there have been many extreme weather events; heatwaves topped the list, according to WMO. Michel Jarraud, WMO Secretary-General, commented in a statement:
The state of the global climate in 2015 will make history as for a number of reasons. Levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached new highs and in the Northern Hemisphere spring 2015, the three-month global average concentration of CO2 crossed the 400 parts per million barrier for the first time.
2015 is likely to be the hottest year on record, with ocean surface temperatures at the highest level since measurements began.
It is probable that the 1°C Celsius threshold will be crossed …
Added to that, we are witnessing a powerful El Niño event, which is still gaining in strength. This is influencing weather patterns in many parts of the world and fueled an exceptionally warm October. The overall warming impact of this El Niño is expected to continue into 2016
The WMO’s report comes on the heels of another United Nations report – this one from the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – showing that over the last 20 years, 90% of major human disasters have been caused by 6,457 recorded floods, storms, heatwaves, droughts and other weather-related events. That earlier report – released November 23, 2015 – also said that that weather-related disasters were nearly twice as frequent over the past decade as two decades ago.
The statement from the WMO said:
A preliminary estimate based on data from January to October shows that the global average surface temperature for 2015 so far was around 0.73 °C above the 1961-1990 average of 14.0°C and approximately 1°C above the pre-industrial 1880-1899 period.
This temperature tendency indicates that 2015 will very likely be the warmest year on record. The global average sea-surface temperature, which set a record last year, is likely to equal or surpass that record in 2015. The global average temperatures over land areas only from January to October suggest that 2015 is also set to be one of the warmest years on record over land. South America is having its hottest year on record, as is Asia (similar to 2007), and Africa and Europe their second hottest.
According to preliminary figures as of the end of September 2015, 2011-15 was the world’s warmest five-year period on record, at about 0.57°C (1.01°F) above the average for the standard 1961-90 reference period. It was the warmest five-year period on record for Asia, Europe, South America and Oceania, and for North America. WMO compiled the five-year analysis because it provides a longer-term climate signal than the annual report.
Read more: 2015 likely to be warmest on record, 2011-2015 warmest 5-year period
Read more: Weather-related natural disasters are up
Average temperature anomalies for January to October, 2015. Crosses (+) indicate temperatures that exceed the 90th percentile. Dashes (-) indicate temperatures below the 10th percentile, indicating unusually cold conditions. Source: Met Office Hadley Centre, via WMO.
Bottom line: The 2015 global average surface temperature is likely to be the warmest on record and due to a combination of a strong El Niño and human-induced global warming, according a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released on November 25, 2015.
Enjoying EarthSky? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!
As you all have no doubt noticed over the years, I love highlighting the best science books every year via the various end of year lists that newspapers, web sites, etc. publish. I’ve done it so far in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.
And here we are in 2015!
As in previous years, my definition of “science books” is pretty inclusive, including books on technology, engineering, nature, the environment, science policy, history & philosophy of science, geek culture and whatever else seems to be relevant in my opinion.
Today’s list is The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2015.
And check out my previous 2015 lists here!
Many of the lists I use are sourced via the Largehearted Boy master list.
(Astute readers will notice that I kind of petered out on this project a couple of years ago and never got around to the end of year summary since then. Before loosing steam, I ended up featuring dozens and dozens of lists, virtually every list I could find that had science books on it. While it was kind of cool to be so comprehensive, not to mention that it gave the summary posts a certain statistical weight, it was also way more work than I had really envisioned way back in 2008 or so when I started doing this. As a result, I’m only going to highlight particularly large or noteworthy lists this year and forgo any kind of end of year summary. Basically, all the fun but not so much of the drudgery.)
As you all have no doubt noticed over the years, I love highlighting the best science books every year via the various end of year lists that newspapers, web sites, etc. publish. I’ve done it so far in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.
And here we are in 2015!
As in previous years, my definition of “science books” is pretty inclusive, including books on technology, engineering, nature, the environment, science policy, history & philosophy of science, geek culture and whatever else seems to be relevant in my opinion.
Today’s list is The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2015.
And check out my previous 2015 lists here!
Many of the lists I use are sourced via the Largehearted Boy master list.
(Astute readers will notice that I kind of petered out on this project a couple of years ago and never got around to the end of year summary since then. Before loosing steam, I ended up featuring dozens and dozens of lists, virtually every list I could find that had science books on it. While it was kind of cool to be so comprehensive, not to mention that it gave the summary posts a certain statistical weight, it was also way more work than I had really envisioned way back in 2008 or so when I started doing this. As a result, I’m only going to highlight particularly large or noteworthy lists this year and forgo any kind of end of year summary. Basically, all the fun but not so much of the drudgery.)
Zachariae Isstrom glacier in northeast Greenland. Photo was shot from a NASA Falcon jet on September 30, 2015. Image Credit: John Sonntag.
Scientists have detected accelerated ice loss at Zachariae Isstrom, a large glacier located in northeastern Greenland. The accelerated period of ice loss began in 2012, these scientists say. They believe it is being driven by warming air and ocean temperatures. Water from the melting glacier is expected to contribute to the ongoing rise in sea levels. This new research was published in the journal Science on November 12, 2015.
If all of its ice were to melt, Zachariae Isstrom holds enough water to raise sea levels by about 0.5 meters (20 inches), these scientists say.
To assess recent changes at this glacier, the team analyzed several decades’ worth of imagery data that were collected via satellites and aircraft.
The ice front data showed that the glacier was relatively stable throughout the latter part of the 20th century. Then, around 2002–2003, a large chunk of ice broke off, and the glacier started its retreat. Acceleration in the retreat rate was detected in late 2012, and by the end of 2014, the ice shelf — the terminal end of the glacier that floats in seawater — was 95% smaller than its 2002 size. Changes were also observed in the position of the glacier’s grounding line and in the speed of ice movement.
Collectively, the data suggest that this glacier is undergoing a number of destabilizing processes.
Presently, Zachariae Isstrom is losing mass at rate of 5 billion tons per year.
Interestingly, a neighboring glacier named Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden did not show evidence of dramatic changes in the ice front position, although it too is experiencing rapid melting. The scientists think that the underlying topography is protecting Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden from rapid retreat.
Satellite image of two glaciers in northeast Greenland. Image was taken on August 30, 2014. Image Credit: NASA/USGS.
Jeremie Mouginot, lead author of the study, is an associate project scientist in the Department of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine. He summarized the results by stating:
North Greenland glaciers are changing rapidly. The shape and dynamics of Zachariae Isstrom have changed dramatically over the last few years. The glacier is now breaking up and calving high volumes of icebergs into the ocean, which will result in rising sea levels for decades to come.
Co-authors of the paper included Eric Rignot, Bernd Scheuchl, Ian Fenty, Ala Khazendar, Mathieu Morlighem, Arnaud Buzzi, and John Paden. The research was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
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Bottom line: Scientists have detected accelerated ice loss at a major glacier in northeast Greenland. Warming air and ocean temperatures are to blame. This new research was published in the journal Science on November 12, 2015.
What caused the record Greenland ice melt in summer 2012?
Zachariae Isstrom glacier in northeast Greenland. Photo was shot from a NASA Falcon jet on September 30, 2015. Image Credit: John Sonntag.
Scientists have detected accelerated ice loss at Zachariae Isstrom, a large glacier located in northeastern Greenland. The accelerated period of ice loss began in 2012, these scientists say. They believe it is being driven by warming air and ocean temperatures. Water from the melting glacier is expected to contribute to the ongoing rise in sea levels. This new research was published in the journal Science on November 12, 2015.
If all of its ice were to melt, Zachariae Isstrom holds enough water to raise sea levels by about 0.5 meters (20 inches), these scientists say.
To assess recent changes at this glacier, the team analyzed several decades’ worth of imagery data that were collected via satellites and aircraft.
The ice front data showed that the glacier was relatively stable throughout the latter part of the 20th century. Then, around 2002–2003, a large chunk of ice broke off, and the glacier started its retreat. Acceleration in the retreat rate was detected in late 2012, and by the end of 2014, the ice shelf — the terminal end of the glacier that floats in seawater — was 95% smaller than its 2002 size. Changes were also observed in the position of the glacier’s grounding line and in the speed of ice movement.
Collectively, the data suggest that this glacier is undergoing a number of destabilizing processes.
Presently, Zachariae Isstrom is losing mass at rate of 5 billion tons per year.
Interestingly, a neighboring glacier named Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden did not show evidence of dramatic changes in the ice front position, although it too is experiencing rapid melting. The scientists think that the underlying topography is protecting Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden from rapid retreat.
Satellite image of two glaciers in northeast Greenland. Image was taken on August 30, 2014. Image Credit: NASA/USGS.
Jeremie Mouginot, lead author of the study, is an associate project scientist in the Department of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine. He summarized the results by stating:
North Greenland glaciers are changing rapidly. The shape and dynamics of Zachariae Isstrom have changed dramatically over the last few years. The glacier is now breaking up and calving high volumes of icebergs into the ocean, which will result in rising sea levels for decades to come.
Co-authors of the paper included Eric Rignot, Bernd Scheuchl, Ian Fenty, Ala Khazendar, Mathieu Morlighem, Arnaud Buzzi, and John Paden. The research was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Enjoying EarthSky? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!
Bottom line: Scientists have detected accelerated ice loss at a major glacier in northeast Greenland. Warming air and ocean temperatures are to blame. This new research was published in the journal Science on November 12, 2015.
What caused the record Greenland ice melt in summer 2012?
Here’s the Texas Star Party in 2009, one of the biggest public astronomy events of each year, drawing about 500 deep-sky enthusiasts and their telescopes to the Davis Mountains of West Texas. Image used with permission, via Todd Hargis and Ron Ronhaar.
Interested in astronomy, but not sure where to begin? Seek out your local astronomy club, a roomful of willing and able amateur astronomers, whose telescopes may offer your first glimpse of the cosmos. The Astronomical League, an umbrella organization of 240 amateur astronomy clubs and societies in the U.S., helps us create and maintain the list of events on this page. Click here to visit the Astronomical League’s website.
Know of an event that’s not on the list below? Contact us.
Do you have a great photo of a star party in your area? Submit here.
Looking for an astronomy club in your area? Click here.
Jump below the photo for a list of upcoming events!
View larger. | Big Dipper on the horizon while getting set up at the Astronomical Society of New Haven‘s 25th annual Connecticut Star Party in Goshen, Connecticut, October 9-11, 2015. Photo by Kurt Zeppetello.
Upcoming astronomy events …
December 11-13
Riverside Astronomical Society Star Party
Landers, California
http://ift.tt/1QnmZ0z
February 8-14
Winter Star Party
Big Pine Key, Florida
www.scas.org
March 9–13
Staunton River Star Party
Scottsburg, Virginia
http://ift.tt/1IwNpXs
April 2–9, 2016
OzSky Star Safari, a.k.a. Deepest
South Texas Star Safari
Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia
www.ozsky.org
May 1-8, 2016
38th Annual Texas Star Party
Prude Ranch near Fort Davis, Texas
texasstarparty.org/
May 2-5, 2016
Night Sky Utah Photography Workshop
Moab, Utah
Taylor Photography
May 9-12, 2016
Night Sky Utah Photography Workshop
Moab, Utah
Taylor Photography
July 27-31, 2016
York County Star Party
Shreveport Airport North
Wellsville, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC)
http://ift.tt/1lpzzCt
Bottom line: List of astronomy and night sky events for the public, for 2015 and 2016, compiled in cooperation with the awesome Astronomical League. Join in, and have fun!
Here’s the Texas Star Party in 2009, one of the biggest public astronomy events of each year, drawing about 500 deep-sky enthusiasts and their telescopes to the Davis Mountains of West Texas. Image used with permission, via Todd Hargis and Ron Ronhaar.
Interested in astronomy, but not sure where to begin? Seek out your local astronomy club, a roomful of willing and able amateur astronomers, whose telescopes may offer your first glimpse of the cosmos. The Astronomical League, an umbrella organization of 240 amateur astronomy clubs and societies in the U.S., helps us create and maintain the list of events on this page. Click here to visit the Astronomical League’s website.
Know of an event that’s not on the list below? Contact us.
Do you have a great photo of a star party in your area? Submit here.
Looking for an astronomy club in your area? Click here.
Jump below the photo for a list of upcoming events!
View larger. | Big Dipper on the horizon while getting set up at the Astronomical Society of New Haven‘s 25th annual Connecticut Star Party in Goshen, Connecticut, October 9-11, 2015. Photo by Kurt Zeppetello.
Upcoming astronomy events …
December 11-13
Riverside Astronomical Society Star Party
Landers, California
http://ift.tt/1QnmZ0z
February 8-14
Winter Star Party
Big Pine Key, Florida
www.scas.org
March 9–13
Staunton River Star Party
Scottsburg, Virginia
http://ift.tt/1IwNpXs
April 2–9, 2016
OzSky Star Safari, a.k.a. Deepest
South Texas Star Safari
Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia
www.ozsky.org
May 1-8, 2016
38th Annual Texas Star Party
Prude Ranch near Fort Davis, Texas
texasstarparty.org/
May 2-5, 2016
Night Sky Utah Photography Workshop
Moab, Utah
Taylor Photography
May 9-12, 2016
Night Sky Utah Photography Workshop
Moab, Utah
Taylor Photography
July 27-31, 2016
York County Star Party
Shreveport Airport North
Wellsville, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC)
http://ift.tt/1lpzzCt
Bottom line: List of astronomy and night sky events for the public, for 2015 and 2016, compiled in cooperation with the awesome Astronomical League. Join in, and have fun!
SKYGLOW: DISHDANCE from Sunchaser Pictures on Vimeo.
This morning, video producer Gavin Heffernan dropped EarthSky a note, saying:
… enclosed is a link to DISHDANCE, a SETI [Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence] tribute and timelapse medley of Radio Astronomy facilities …
This timelapse was filmed as part of SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM, our ongoing crowdfunded quest to explore the effects and dangers of urban light pollution in contrast with some of the most incredible Dark Sky Preserves in North America.
This video was shot by my Skyglow partner Harun Mehmedinovic (www.Bloodhoney.com) and myself (SunchaserPictures.com).
More credits:
Voiceover: Carl Sagan, from the section “Darkness” in his book “Pale Blue Dot.”
Music by Tom Boddy, music track “Thoughtful Reflections.”
Edited by: Harun Mehmedinovic
Dishdance was filmed at Very Large Array Observatory in New Mexico, Owens Valley Observatory in California, and Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia.
By the way, EarthSky also ran project Skyglow’s earlier video – showing what Los Angeles would look like if you could see the night sky wheeling overhead – in April, 2015. It’s a very cool video, too – a Vimeo staff pick. Watch it here, and help Skyglow keep going.
Video still from Dishdance, part of project Skyglow.
Bottom line: A new video from project Skyglow – an ongoing crowdfunded quest to explore the effects and dangers of urban light pollution – called Dishdance. This video focuses on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and features a voiceover by the late, great Carl Sagan.
SKYGLOW: DISHDANCE from Sunchaser Pictures on Vimeo.
This morning, video producer Gavin Heffernan dropped EarthSky a note, saying:
… enclosed is a link to DISHDANCE, a SETI [Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence] tribute and timelapse medley of Radio Astronomy facilities …
This timelapse was filmed as part of SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM, our ongoing crowdfunded quest to explore the effects and dangers of urban light pollution in contrast with some of the most incredible Dark Sky Preserves in North America.
This video was shot by my Skyglow partner Harun Mehmedinovic (www.Bloodhoney.com) and myself (SunchaserPictures.com).
More credits:
Voiceover: Carl Sagan, from the section “Darkness” in his book “Pale Blue Dot.”
Music by Tom Boddy, music track “Thoughtful Reflections.”
Edited by: Harun Mehmedinovic
Dishdance was filmed at Very Large Array Observatory in New Mexico, Owens Valley Observatory in California, and Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia.
By the way, EarthSky also ran project Skyglow’s earlier video – showing what Los Angeles would look like if you could see the night sky wheeling overhead – in April, 2015. It’s a very cool video, too – a Vimeo staff pick. Watch it here, and help Skyglow keep going.
Video still from Dishdance, part of project Skyglow.
Bottom line: A new video from project Skyglow – an ongoing crowdfunded quest to explore the effects and dangers of urban light pollution – called Dishdance. This video focuses on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and features a voiceover by the late, great Carl Sagan.
We had our usual tv time on Sunday morning at my parents’, with the kids alternating picking what they watched. When it came around to SteelyKid’s turn, she opted for MythBusters, which wasn’t available on demand, but she has several episodes on her tablet. Of course, if SteelyKid was going to watch video on her tablet, then The Pip had to watch video on his, which led to this shot:
SteelyKid and The Pip watching video on their tablets.
And also blissful, blessed quiet, a gigantic improvement over the sounds of “Paw Patrol,” which was The Pip’s cartoon of choice on this trip. And, well, ugh.
Anyway, that’s what’s up with the kids these days and their newfangled personal multimedia devices. And music that’s just noise– NOISE, I tell you…
We had our usual tv time on Sunday morning at my parents’, with the kids alternating picking what they watched. When it came around to SteelyKid’s turn, she opted for MythBusters, which wasn’t available on demand, but she has several episodes on her tablet. Of course, if SteelyKid was going to watch video on her tablet, then The Pip had to watch video on his, which led to this shot:
SteelyKid and The Pip watching video on their tablets.
And also blissful, blessed quiet, a gigantic improvement over the sounds of “Paw Patrol,” which was The Pip’s cartoon of choice on this trip. And, well, ugh.
Anyway, that’s what’s up with the kids these days and their newfangled personal multimedia devices. And music that’s just noise– NOISE, I tell you…
I’ve been blogging for nearly eleven years now—and continuously at that, with only brief breaks for vacations or when the vagaries of life and career (particularly grant deadlines) interfered with the writing impulse. It’s true that I’ve slowed down a bit. I rarely post on weekends any more and not infrequently miss a weekday, but I tend to think that’s a good thing, as it decreases the frequency of posts in which I’m clearly forcing it, where I’m “phoning it in,” so to speak. Or at least I like to think so. One major challenge over the years, however, has been the inevitable problem that comes with writing a regular feature for so long, regardless of medium, and that’s familiarity. As I reach ancient status as a blogger, I’ve started to think that I’ve seen it all, that there’s nothing new under the sun in terms of quackery or pseudoscience. The compensating advantage of longevity is that, with the benefit of time and study, I can see patterns and draw relationships that wouldn’t have occurred to me before, and I can abbreviate a lot of posts by linking to material that I’ve written in the past. Still, every so often I do so like to find a bit of woo I haven’t encountered before.
And so it was that I came across this video:
Truly, I don’t recall having seen anything like this Radionic Remedy Maker/Homeopathic Simulator before. Seriously. Watch the video. It’s four minutes that are guaranteed to have skeptics chuckling mightily by the end, if not within the first 30 seconds. The product portrayed in the video is something called a Spectrum Radionic Copier. It consists of a wooden box, with two metal dishes embedded in it and a control of some sort in between. What is it for? Glad you asked! The video helpfully informs us right away that this particular model is used to make a remedy at a specific potency or to change to a higher or lower one or to make “straight copies of any substance, homeopathic remedies, flower essences, gems, crystals, etc., etc.” Helpfully, next to each metal dish is a sign, one reading “input,” the other reading “output.”
Yes, the device works exactly as you might think—or, I should say, is claimed to work as you might imagine looking at its design. All you need, apparently, are either sugar pills or mixtures of water and alcohol to put in the “output” dish. Then all you have to do is to put the original, whatever it is, into the “input dish.” The original can be pretty much anything, but the device seems primarily designed to replicate homeopathic remedies because, well, no one would ever know if it actually worked or not given that most homeopathic remedies are diluted to nonexistence. Then all you have to do is to switch the machine on for 15 seconds, and, as the video proclaims, “Your remedy is ready to use!”
How does it work, you might ask? If you believe the video, this magic machine can “‘copy’ the energy of anything.” In fact, you can do better than that. The very next scene shows several remedies in the “input” dish, and we’re told that the machine can easily make combinations of remedies. All you have to do is to put as many remedies as will fit in the “input” dish and fire this sucker up! Voila! Instant combination therapy! I do have to wonder, however: Isn’t the manufacturer worried about interactions between homeopathic remedies? Imagine the potential horror if, for instance, the Bach flower remedies interfered with the “memory” of water in the homeopathic remedies whose “energy” interfered with the crystal remedy. Come to think of it, if this thing can replicate crystals, why not put a diamond or other precious geme in the “input” dish and start replicating away? It’d be instant money!
Oh, wait. The manufacturer only says that the “energy” of any crystal or gem can be copied. Bummer. On the other hand, you can take the energy from any combination of crystals and infuse the sugar pills or alcohol-water with it to do…well, it’s not exactly clear what, but I bet it’ll be awesome.
Perhaps my favorite part of this commercial is where it explains the dial. Basically, if you leave the dial at zero, the machine just makes a direct copy. However, if you turn the dial up or down you can adjust the potency according to a chart that’s supplied with the instrument. Helpfully, the video recommends that you can use applied kinesiology (at least, that’s what I assume to be meant by “muscle testing”) or dowsing to find the exact potency needed. How convenient! Even more convenient is the fact that if you only want to make straight copies of your woo-ful remedies, all you need is the basic model. It’s only if you want to get all fancy and adjust the potency that you need to invest in the fancier model. I did notice that the basic model looked like it was made of black metal or plastic, while the fancy model was encased in the lovely polished wood box.
There was a web address, www.lesleyknight.com at the end of the video, but when I tried to visit the site the domain was listed as being for sale. So I Googled “Lesley Knight” and “radionic,” and what I found was Lesley’s Healthcare and Radionics, as well as a Facebook page for Radionics UK, as well as a spiffy picture on Facebook of her new Radionic copiers. On her website, Knight describes herself thusly:
15 years ago I decided to change direction after doing Social Work as a career. I trained in Vega testing after finding it helped enormously with the issues one of my sons had.
That started the journey which has led me to train in and try many different therapies.
The most recent discovery and the most powerful one to effect permanent change is Access Consciousness. Access has created more profound changes in me than the combination of everything else I have tried previously. I see the same transformational results for my clients so cannot recommend it highly enough.
So Knight started out as a social worker and then “graduated” to the purest woo. Indeed, if you look on her personal Facebook page, you’ll see that she supports Stanislaw Burzynski, as she posted a link to the Change.org petition supporting Burzynski in the lead up to Burzynski’s hearing before the Texas Medical Board. On her website, she offers a variety of Radionic Remedy Makers, including:
That last one makes a lot of serious claims, specifically that you there is no limit to what you can transfer into homeopathic remedies.
Not surprisingly, she also offers a line of supplements, distant healing sessions, and homeopathic nosode testers, the latter of which for a cool £360. And, of course, there’s dowsing and—my favorite—pyramid workshops.
But that’s not all! There’s also Vega Testing:
Electro Acupuncture unlike Chinese Acupuncture does not involve the use of needles. It is a system of diagnosis which was developed in Germany by Dr Voll over 50 years ago.
The diagnosis is performed by placing a probe on acupuncture points on the hands and feet. Each acupuncture point relates to a specific body part or system.
Each point measured gives a reading on the machine which indicates the presence of toxins and the health of that part of the body. It is possible to detect pathogens within the body in the way of bacteria, viral, fungal infections, parasites & tropical diseases.
These can then be eliminated using appropriate remedies matched both to the toxins and the patient. i.e. the cause of cold sores can be detected and cleared using a Nosode as treatment – hence no more cold sores, likewise specific tooth infections can be detected and eliminated without the use of antibiotics.
The testing device can also test allopathic drugs, herbs, vitamins etc. on the patient, this shows if a drug will have a positive or negative effect on them. So this will indicate which one is the most suitable one for the patient.
For instance infections such as in Lyme disease from a tick bite. Borrelia, Mycoplasma, Babesia, Bartonella amongst others can cause chronic health conditions. Detecting these in the body using Vega testing is possible, and using Isopathic remedies and Nosodes they can be cleared.
Hmmm. I thought electroacupuncture was just transdermal electrical nerve stimulation rebranded as acupuncture by hooking up electrodes to acupuncture needles. Who knew it was a diagnostic modality as well? Of course it is. As if that’s not enough, there’s even Access Bars. Check out the link and you’ll see that that’s some serious, high-powered woo. Basically, if you believe this stuff, there are 32 points on the head that, when lightly touched, clear all the limitations that you have, including money, aging, sex, joy, sadness, creativity, and awareness. What? A head massage means I can have better sex? Sign me up!
But back to the Radionic Remedy Maker.
There are so many questions I had when I looked at this. For instance, what powers these things? There don’t appear to be any electrical wires or plugs to plug the device into an electrical outlet. Batteries? There’s no mention of them, but one has to assume that that’s a likely power source. More importantly, though: If this device can truly replicate the “energy” of various woo-ful remedies, then presumably if you purchase this device you’ll never need to purchase any given homeopathic remedy, Bach flower remedy, crystal, or other remedy more than once, because you can use this device to replicate it again and again and again and again, for as long as you like. I’d think that homeopaths and other quacks might not be too happy about that. After all, this device coul basically put them out of business, which in itself wouldn’t be such a bad thing. The price, however, would be bad because you’d be paying one quack like Lesley Knight to put other homeopaths out of business.
I’ve been blogging for nearly eleven years now—and continuously at that, with only brief breaks for vacations or when the vagaries of life and career (particularly grant deadlines) interfered with the writing impulse. It’s true that I’ve slowed down a bit. I rarely post on weekends any more and not infrequently miss a weekday, but I tend to think that’s a good thing, as it decreases the frequency of posts in which I’m clearly forcing it, where I’m “phoning it in,” so to speak. Or at least I like to think so. One major challenge over the years, however, has been the inevitable problem that comes with writing a regular feature for so long, regardless of medium, and that’s familiarity. As I reach ancient status as a blogger, I’ve started to think that I’ve seen it all, that there’s nothing new under the sun in terms of quackery or pseudoscience. The compensating advantage of longevity is that, with the benefit of time and study, I can see patterns and draw relationships that wouldn’t have occurred to me before, and I can abbreviate a lot of posts by linking to material that I’ve written in the past. Still, every so often I do so like to find a bit of woo I haven’t encountered before.
And so it was that I came across this video:
Truly, I don’t recall having seen anything like this Radionic Remedy Maker/Homeopathic Simulator before. Seriously. Watch the video. It’s four minutes that are guaranteed to have skeptics chuckling mightily by the end, if not within the first 30 seconds. The product portrayed in the video is something called a Spectrum Radionic Copier. It consists of a wooden box, with two metal dishes embedded in it and a control of some sort in between. What is it for? Glad you asked! The video helpfully informs us right away that this particular model is used to make a remedy at a specific potency or to change to a higher or lower one or to make “straight copies of any substance, homeopathic remedies, flower essences, gems, crystals, etc., etc.” Helpfully, next to each metal dish is a sign, one reading “input,” the other reading “output.”
Yes, the device works exactly as you might think—or, I should say, is claimed to work as you might imagine looking at its design. All you need, apparently, are either sugar pills or mixtures of water and alcohol to put in the “output” dish. Then all you have to do is to put the original, whatever it is, into the “input dish.” The original can be pretty much anything, but the device seems primarily designed to replicate homeopathic remedies because, well, no one would ever know if it actually worked or not given that most homeopathic remedies are diluted to nonexistence. Then all you have to do is to switch the machine on for 15 seconds, and, as the video proclaims, “Your remedy is ready to use!”
How does it work, you might ask? If you believe the video, this magic machine can “‘copy’ the energy of anything.” In fact, you can do better than that. The very next scene shows several remedies in the “input” dish, and we’re told that the machine can easily make combinations of remedies. All you have to do is to put as many remedies as will fit in the “input” dish and fire this sucker up! Voila! Instant combination therapy! I do have to wonder, however: Isn’t the manufacturer worried about interactions between homeopathic remedies? Imagine the potential horror if, for instance, the Bach flower remedies interfered with the “memory” of water in the homeopathic remedies whose “energy” interfered with the crystal remedy. Come to think of it, if this thing can replicate crystals, why not put a diamond or other precious geme in the “input” dish and start replicating away? It’d be instant money!
Oh, wait. The manufacturer only says that the “energy” of any crystal or gem can be copied. Bummer. On the other hand, you can take the energy from any combination of crystals and infuse the sugar pills or alcohol-water with it to do…well, it’s not exactly clear what, but I bet it’ll be awesome.
Perhaps my favorite part of this commercial is where it explains the dial. Basically, if you leave the dial at zero, the machine just makes a direct copy. However, if you turn the dial up or down you can adjust the potency according to a chart that’s supplied with the instrument. Helpfully, the video recommends that you can use applied kinesiology (at least, that’s what I assume to be meant by “muscle testing”) or dowsing to find the exact potency needed. How convenient! Even more convenient is the fact that if you only want to make straight copies of your woo-ful remedies, all you need is the basic model. It’s only if you want to get all fancy and adjust the potency that you need to invest in the fancier model. I did notice that the basic model looked like it was made of black metal or plastic, while the fancy model was encased in the lovely polished wood box.
There was a web address, www.lesleyknight.com at the end of the video, but when I tried to visit the site the domain was listed as being for sale. So I Googled “Lesley Knight” and “radionic,” and what I found was Lesley’s Healthcare and Radionics, as well as a Facebook page for Radionics UK, as well as a spiffy picture on Facebook of her new Radionic copiers. On her website, Knight describes herself thusly:
15 years ago I decided to change direction after doing Social Work as a career. I trained in Vega testing after finding it helped enormously with the issues one of my sons had.
That started the journey which has led me to train in and try many different therapies.
The most recent discovery and the most powerful one to effect permanent change is Access Consciousness. Access has created more profound changes in me than the combination of everything else I have tried previously. I see the same transformational results for my clients so cannot recommend it highly enough.
So Knight started out as a social worker and then “graduated” to the purest woo. Indeed, if you look on her personal Facebook page, you’ll see that she supports Stanislaw Burzynski, as she posted a link to the Change.org petition supporting Burzynski in the lead up to Burzynski’s hearing before the Texas Medical Board. On her website, she offers a variety of Radionic Remedy Makers, including:
That last one makes a lot of serious claims, specifically that you there is no limit to what you can transfer into homeopathic remedies.
Not surprisingly, she also offers a line of supplements, distant healing sessions, and homeopathic nosode testers, the latter of which for a cool £360. And, of course, there’s dowsing and—my favorite—pyramid workshops.
But that’s not all! There’s also Vega Testing:
Electro Acupuncture unlike Chinese Acupuncture does not involve the use of needles. It is a system of diagnosis which was developed in Germany by Dr Voll over 50 years ago.
The diagnosis is performed by placing a probe on acupuncture points on the hands and feet. Each acupuncture point relates to a specific body part or system.
Each point measured gives a reading on the machine which indicates the presence of toxins and the health of that part of the body. It is possible to detect pathogens within the body in the way of bacteria, viral, fungal infections, parasites & tropical diseases.
These can then be eliminated using appropriate remedies matched both to the toxins and the patient. i.e. the cause of cold sores can be detected and cleared using a Nosode as treatment – hence no more cold sores, likewise specific tooth infections can be detected and eliminated without the use of antibiotics.
The testing device can also test allopathic drugs, herbs, vitamins etc. on the patient, this shows if a drug will have a positive or negative effect on them. So this will indicate which one is the most suitable one for the patient.
For instance infections such as in Lyme disease from a tick bite. Borrelia, Mycoplasma, Babesia, Bartonella amongst others can cause chronic health conditions. Detecting these in the body using Vega testing is possible, and using Isopathic remedies and Nosodes they can be cleared.
Hmmm. I thought electroacupuncture was just transdermal electrical nerve stimulation rebranded as acupuncture by hooking up electrodes to acupuncture needles. Who knew it was a diagnostic modality as well? Of course it is. As if that’s not enough, there’s even Access Bars. Check out the link and you’ll see that that’s some serious, high-powered woo. Basically, if you believe this stuff, there are 32 points on the head that, when lightly touched, clear all the limitations that you have, including money, aging, sex, joy, sadness, creativity, and awareness. What? A head massage means I can have better sex? Sign me up!
But back to the Radionic Remedy Maker.
There are so many questions I had when I looked at this. For instance, what powers these things? There don’t appear to be any electrical wires or plugs to plug the device into an electrical outlet. Batteries? There’s no mention of them, but one has to assume that that’s a likely power source. More importantly, though: If this device can truly replicate the “energy” of various woo-ful remedies, then presumably if you purchase this device you’ll never need to purchase any given homeopathic remedy, Bach flower remedy, crystal, or other remedy more than once, because you can use this device to replicate it again and again and again and again, for as long as you like. I’d think that homeopaths and other quacks might not be too happy about that. After all, this device coul basically put them out of business, which in itself wouldn’t be such a bad thing. The price, however, would be bad because you’d be paying one quack like Lesley Knight to put other homeopaths out of business.
