Venus and Mercury after sunset with pelicans, from James Dixon on March 3, 2018. Canon Rebel t5, 300mm zoom.
Mercury is called the most elusive planet because it’s the innermost planet, always hovering near the sunrise or sunset. Venus is the brightest planet and was in the morning sky throughout the latter part of 2017. Venus only began showing up after sunset again last month, when you had to look exceedingly low in the sky to see it. Right now, if you look very low in the west after sunset, you can see both Venus and Mercury in conjunction, that is, near each other on our sky’s dome. Their actual conjunction is Monday, March 5, but this weekend they were only a little more than one degree apart. That’s about the width of your little finger at arm’s length. Many in the EarthSky community caught their photo! Read more about the Mercury/Venus conjunction here.
Venus and Mercury will remain close enough together on the sky’s dome to fit inside a typical binocular field of 5 degrees for the first three weeks of March 2018.
View larger. | Eliot Herman in Tucson caught Venus and Mercury on the evening of March 2, 2018. He wrote: “Tonight through Sunday night, a close conjunction … 1.3 degrees tonight, slightly closer Saturday, and about the same Sunday.”
Kris Hazelbaker in Grangeville, Idaho caught the pair on March 2. Canon T6s, Sigma 150-600 mm lens at 150 mm.
John Hlynialuk caught Mercury and Venus on March 2, above the ski hills of Blue Mountain Ski Resort in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada. Canon 6D with 24-105 mm zoom set at 105 mm/ f4.0.
Michael Holland Sr. in Lakeland, Florida wrote: “Mercury being as elusive as it is was no match for me tonight. Thanks to the wonderful heads up articles by the staff at EarthSky.” Canon EOS Rebel T5
300 mm lens
ISO 400. 0.3 second exposure f/6.5.
Victor C. Rogus in Arcadia, Florida caught the pair on March 3. He wrote: “I was not sure if I had a good enough western horizon for this event, so I used my “grab and go” telescope and mount. I jumped in my car and found an appropriate spot near a cow pasture. Mosquitoes quickly discovered me, and they seemed to know that I had forgotten my repellant. They had a feast on me while I searched for brilliant Venus that would guide me to Planet Mercury. I could not look away as the two beautiful planets joined together in conjunction while the Sun set. Viewing these magnificent sights is always worth the effort, and this time was no different.” Cannon 80d camera, Vixen D/66mm x F400mm “Star Guy” Apo refractor @F6, on a Celestron ALT AZ mount.
Nicolas Holshouser in Brevard, North Carolina caught the pair on March 3, 2018. He wrote: “Just south of Brevard there’s a nice high ridge with a west view over a dark valley. The far ridge is near Lake Toxaway, North Carolina, about 17 miles away. Mercury finally popped out about 7PM, I got this shot as the blue left the sky, midway through nautical twilight.” 260mm focal length, 3 sec exposure at f/7.1, ISO 100.
Greg Redfern in Virginia wrote: “Venus (l) and Mercury at their closest approach. A beautiful planetary pair in a gorgeous sunset sky.” NIKON D810A W/ 18-300MM HANDHELD @ 300MM.
Don’t miss Mercury and Venus when the moon sweeps past it around March 18, 19 and 20! Read more.
Bottom line: Photos of the Venus/Mercury conjunction in early March 2018.
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2FjUIMG
Venus and Mercury after sunset with pelicans, from James Dixon on March 3, 2018. Canon Rebel t5, 300mm zoom.
Mercury is called the most elusive planet because it’s the innermost planet, always hovering near the sunrise or sunset. Venus is the brightest planet and was in the morning sky throughout the latter part of 2017. Venus only began showing up after sunset again last month, when you had to look exceedingly low in the sky to see it. Right now, if you look very low in the west after sunset, you can see both Venus and Mercury in conjunction, that is, near each other on our sky’s dome. Their actual conjunction is Monday, March 5, but this weekend they were only a little more than one degree apart. That’s about the width of your little finger at arm’s length. Many in the EarthSky community caught their photo! Read more about the Mercury/Venus conjunction here.
Venus and Mercury will remain close enough together on the sky’s dome to fit inside a typical binocular field of 5 degrees for the first three weeks of March 2018.
View larger. | Eliot Herman in Tucson caught Venus and Mercury on the evening of March 2, 2018. He wrote: “Tonight through Sunday night, a close conjunction … 1.3 degrees tonight, slightly closer Saturday, and about the same Sunday.”
Kris Hazelbaker in Grangeville, Idaho caught the pair on March 2. Canon T6s, Sigma 150-600 mm lens at 150 mm.
John Hlynialuk caught Mercury and Venus on March 2, above the ski hills of Blue Mountain Ski Resort in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada. Canon 6D with 24-105 mm zoom set at 105 mm/ f4.0.
Michael Holland Sr. in Lakeland, Florida wrote: “Mercury being as elusive as it is was no match for me tonight. Thanks to the wonderful heads up articles by the staff at EarthSky.” Canon EOS Rebel T5
300 mm lens
ISO 400. 0.3 second exposure f/6.5.
Victor C. Rogus in Arcadia, Florida caught the pair on March 3. He wrote: “I was not sure if I had a good enough western horizon for this event, so I used my “grab and go” telescope and mount. I jumped in my car and found an appropriate spot near a cow pasture. Mosquitoes quickly discovered me, and they seemed to know that I had forgotten my repellant. They had a feast on me while I searched for brilliant Venus that would guide me to Planet Mercury. I could not look away as the two beautiful planets joined together in conjunction while the Sun set. Viewing these magnificent sights is always worth the effort, and this time was no different.” Cannon 80d camera, Vixen D/66mm x F400mm “Star Guy” Apo refractor @F6, on a Celestron ALT AZ mount.
Nicolas Holshouser in Brevard, North Carolina caught the pair on March 3, 2018. He wrote: “Just south of Brevard there’s a nice high ridge with a west view over a dark valley. The far ridge is near Lake Toxaway, North Carolina, about 17 miles away. Mercury finally popped out about 7PM, I got this shot as the blue left the sky, midway through nautical twilight.” 260mm focal length, 3 sec exposure at f/7.1, ISO 100.
Greg Redfern in Virginia wrote: “Venus (l) and Mercury at their closest approach. A beautiful planetary pair in a gorgeous sunset sky.” NIKON D810A W/ 18-300MM HANDHELD @ 300MM.
Don’t miss Mercury and Venus when the moon sweeps past it around March 18, 19 and 20! Read more.
Bottom line: Photos of the Venus/Mercury conjunction in early March 2018.
Chirag Upreti wrote on February 17, 2018: “Milky Way core, first light for 2018! A fortunate break in the weather coincided with a favorable moon phase today early morning. Impossible to resist, a buddy and I drove 3 hours to get to Montauk, the easternmost tip of New York State and the location of the Montauk Point Lighthouse.” Sony A7R3. Tamron 15-30mm. 10-shot panorama (stitched in LR). Each image at ISO 4000, 30mm, f/2.8, 15sec shutter speed.
The Milky Way is, of course, our home galaxy, and it’s a spiral galaxy, with a flat disk and central bulge. We live in one of the galaxy’s spiral arms, about two-thirds of the way out from the center. If your sky is dark enough, you sometimes can see the flat disk of the galaxy in your night sky. Late summer is the best time to look in the evening, because then we’re looking toward the center of the galaxy. As spring is about to arrive each year, we always hear from astrophotographers who’ve ventured into the early morning darkness to capture the core of the Milky Way returning before dawn.
RodNell Barclay caught this image of the Milky Way in mid-February, 2018, while coming down from Ben Vrackie, a mountain in Scotland.
Vidhyacharan HR caught this image from Myles Standish State Park in Massachusetts on February 17, 2018. He wrote: “Early morning encounter with Milky Way … my first encounter for this year. This shot was captured during twilight, before the sunrise.” Nikon D750, Nikkor 20mm 1.8, With Hoya intensifier filter, Exif: ISO 2500, F/1.8, 20.0 sec.
Jatin Thakkar created this composite from images acquired from Sohier Park, York, Maine on February 17, 2018. It was 4:40 a.m., temperature around 15 degrees Fahrenheit (-9 Celsius). The Milky Way is rising over Atlantic Ocean. Jatin wrote: “This is a panorama of 6 images. Each image is a blend of 6 images for noise reduction. (total 36 images used).” Nikon D750 with Nikkor 50mm f/1.8.
RV Photography shot this photo at Mälarhusens Strand, a beach in southern Sweden, in mid-February 2018. He wrote: “The sun is creeping ever nearer to the horizon and soon dawn will be here … Time for one last shot and then sit and watch the sky for awhile.”
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2Fds8Ji
Chirag Upreti wrote on February 17, 2018: “Milky Way core, first light for 2018! A fortunate break in the weather coincided with a favorable moon phase today early morning. Impossible to resist, a buddy and I drove 3 hours to get to Montauk, the easternmost tip of New York State and the location of the Montauk Point Lighthouse.” Sony A7R3. Tamron 15-30mm. 10-shot panorama (stitched in LR). Each image at ISO 4000, 30mm, f/2.8, 15sec shutter speed.
The Milky Way is, of course, our home galaxy, and it’s a spiral galaxy, with a flat disk and central bulge. We live in one of the galaxy’s spiral arms, about two-thirds of the way out from the center. If your sky is dark enough, you sometimes can see the flat disk of the galaxy in your night sky. Late summer is the best time to look in the evening, because then we’re looking toward the center of the galaxy. As spring is about to arrive each year, we always hear from astrophotographers who’ve ventured into the early morning darkness to capture the core of the Milky Way returning before dawn.
RodNell Barclay caught this image of the Milky Way in mid-February, 2018, while coming down from Ben Vrackie, a mountain in Scotland.
Vidhyacharan HR caught this image from Myles Standish State Park in Massachusetts on February 17, 2018. He wrote: “Early morning encounter with Milky Way … my first encounter for this year. This shot was captured during twilight, before the sunrise.” Nikon D750, Nikkor 20mm 1.8, With Hoya intensifier filter, Exif: ISO 2500, F/1.8, 20.0 sec.
Jatin Thakkar created this composite from images acquired from Sohier Park, York, Maine on February 17, 2018. It was 4:40 a.m., temperature around 15 degrees Fahrenheit (-9 Celsius). The Milky Way is rising over Atlantic Ocean. Jatin wrote: “This is a panorama of 6 images. Each image is a blend of 6 images for noise reduction. (total 36 images used).” Nikon D750 with Nikkor 50mm f/1.8.
RV Photography shot this photo at Mälarhusens Strand, a beach in southern Sweden, in mid-February 2018. He wrote: “The sun is creeping ever nearer to the horizon and soon dawn will be here … Time for one last shot and then sit and watch the sky for awhile.”
From teabags to tinctures, smoothies to supplements, there’s no shortage of products that claim to boost the immune system. These seemingly simple solutions make it appear that getting our immune system in gear is easy – but nothing could be further from the truth.
Our immune system is incredibly complex. It wages a daily battle against potential infections or other threats, while striking a balance to protect healthy tissues from friendly fire. Too little action, and threats to our health could slip through the net. While too much action can see our body turn against itself.
Both situations present unique challenges for research. And by studying diseases that are tied to the immune system in different ways, scientists may find common ground that accelerates progress.
This approach is the foundation behind our new partnership with Arthritis Research UK. Launched last year, this exciting new collaboration is funding innovative research projects focused on the common ground between both arthritis and cancer, with the hope of bringing benefits for both diseases.
Joining the dots
“We know that in autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, where the immune system attacks the body, the immune response is overactive and so the aim is to dampen it,” says Dr Stephen Simpson, Arthritis Research UK’s director of research.
“We’re also increasingly finding that in cancer, a good immune response can have an impact on tumour growth. When that goes wrong, the disease can progress.
“These are opposite sides of the same coin.”
Experts say the evidence linking cancer and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis has been mounting for some time.
“In essentially all autoimmune conditions, a fundamental driver of disease is over-aggressive inflammation caused by the immune system,” says Professor Adrian Hayday, one of the project’s leads from the Francis Crick Institute and King’s College London.
It makes sense that if you’re apparently hitting the same points in the immune response, there’s a chance these two separate fields can learn from one another
– Dr Stephen Simpson
“It’s also been clear for years, from both population-based and clinical studies, that aggressive immune inflammation is also a major risk factor for certain cancers. The best example is probably hepatitis, which can lead to liver cancer.”
But that wasn’t the only spark to ignite interest from both fields.
“After cancer patients started being treated with new drugs that successfully unleash the immune system – called checkpoint inhibitors – suddenly we saw a number of them were developing autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, or type 1 diabetes,” Hayday says.
“It makes sense that if you’re apparently hitting the same points in the immune response, there’s a chance these two separate fields can learn from one another,” adds Simpson.
“Here we have a real opportunity to look at these common checkpoints.”
Not only that, both scientists are quick to highlight another bridge between inflammatory diseases and cancer – unchecked cell growth. Among many examples of overactive inflammation, relentless cell growth is what leads to thickening of the skin in people with psoriasis. While in cancer, this is the fundamental process that leads to tumours.
“We can see that both these layers are interlinked,” Simpson says.
“They’re rich areas to learn from.”
Links that last
After a successful three-day workshop last year, involving researchers from both sides and patient advocates, three research projects were funded and are now underway. The first is looking at molecules that control the immune system across rheumatoid arthritis and cancer, with the aim of better understanding how the immune system responds to both diseases. This could identify new ways of predicting who may benefit from drugs that affect the immune system.
Project two is investigating why unregulated cell growth in the joints of patients with rheumatoid arthritis doesn’t lead to cancer, shedding light on how cancers develop and potentially highlighting new treatment avenues for arthritis. The final project seeks to answer a long-standing question around how the body sees these diseases.
“There’s been a long-held idea that cancer might, in a fundamental way, be a wound that doesn’t heal,” says Hayday.
“Perhaps that’s also what arthritis is. It’s an exciting idea to have emerged from the workshop.”
We need to continue melting boundaries that exist between scientific disciplines
– Professor Adrian Hayday
While these projects have funding for one year initially, this marks the beginning of collaborations that ignite a new wave of research. And it’s the doors this could open that have both Simpson and Hayday excited.
“Research takes a long time,” says Simpson. “But the hope is that this we’ll find something that stacks the odds in our favour of finding a new treatment for either disease.”
“By bringing these research communities together, I really think we’re going to get a new perspective on how the immune system interacts with tissues,” adds Hayday.
“We need to continue melting boundaries that exist between scientific disciplines, because progress is motivated by people asking smart questions.
“These come from bright people speaking with one another, and having the courage to say what likely will and won’t work.”
From our Grand Challenge awards to arranging scientific conferences, this new partnership is just one example of the many ways that Cancer Research UK is committed to supporting collaborative research. Not just in the UK, but worldwide.
And with so much still to learn, it certainly won’t be the last.
Justine
While you’re here, please help us improve the news we provide by filling out this short questionnaire below – it should only take a couple of minutes. Thanks!
from Cancer Research UK – Science blog http://ift.tt/2I1uPPX
From teabags to tinctures, smoothies to supplements, there’s no shortage of products that claim to boost the immune system. These seemingly simple solutions make it appear that getting our immune system in gear is easy – but nothing could be further from the truth.
Our immune system is incredibly complex. It wages a daily battle against potential infections or other threats, while striking a balance to protect healthy tissues from friendly fire. Too little action, and threats to our health could slip through the net. While too much action can see our body turn against itself.
Both situations present unique challenges for research. And by studying diseases that are tied to the immune system in different ways, scientists may find common ground that accelerates progress.
This approach is the foundation behind our new partnership with Arthritis Research UK. Launched last year, this exciting new collaboration is funding innovative research projects focused on the common ground between both arthritis and cancer, with the hope of bringing benefits for both diseases.
Joining the dots
“We know that in autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, where the immune system attacks the body, the immune response is overactive and so the aim is to dampen it,” says Dr Stephen Simpson, Arthritis Research UK’s director of research.
“We’re also increasingly finding that in cancer, a good immune response can have an impact on tumour growth. When that goes wrong, the disease can progress.
“These are opposite sides of the same coin.”
Experts say the evidence linking cancer and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis has been mounting for some time.
“In essentially all autoimmune conditions, a fundamental driver of disease is over-aggressive inflammation caused by the immune system,” says Professor Adrian Hayday, one of the project’s leads from the Francis Crick Institute and King’s College London.
It makes sense that if you’re apparently hitting the same points in the immune response, there’s a chance these two separate fields can learn from one another
– Dr Stephen Simpson
“It’s also been clear for years, from both population-based and clinical studies, that aggressive immune inflammation is also a major risk factor for certain cancers. The best example is probably hepatitis, which can lead to liver cancer.”
But that wasn’t the only spark to ignite interest from both fields.
“After cancer patients started being treated with new drugs that successfully unleash the immune system – called checkpoint inhibitors – suddenly we saw a number of them were developing autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, or type 1 diabetes,” Hayday says.
“It makes sense that if you’re apparently hitting the same points in the immune response, there’s a chance these two separate fields can learn from one another,” adds Simpson.
“Here we have a real opportunity to look at these common checkpoints.”
Not only that, both scientists are quick to highlight another bridge between inflammatory diseases and cancer – unchecked cell growth. Among many examples of overactive inflammation, relentless cell growth is what leads to thickening of the skin in people with psoriasis. While in cancer, this is the fundamental process that leads to tumours.
“We can see that both these layers are interlinked,” Simpson says.
“They’re rich areas to learn from.”
Links that last
After a successful three-day workshop last year, involving researchers from both sides and patient advocates, three research projects were funded and are now underway. The first is looking at molecules that control the immune system across rheumatoid arthritis and cancer, with the aim of better understanding how the immune system responds to both diseases. This could identify new ways of predicting who may benefit from drugs that affect the immune system.
Project two is investigating why unregulated cell growth in the joints of patients with rheumatoid arthritis doesn’t lead to cancer, shedding light on how cancers develop and potentially highlighting new treatment avenues for arthritis. The final project seeks to answer a long-standing question around how the body sees these diseases.
“There’s been a long-held idea that cancer might, in a fundamental way, be a wound that doesn’t heal,” says Hayday.
“Perhaps that’s also what arthritis is. It’s an exciting idea to have emerged from the workshop.”
We need to continue melting boundaries that exist between scientific disciplines
– Professor Adrian Hayday
While these projects have funding for one year initially, this marks the beginning of collaborations that ignite a new wave of research. And it’s the doors this could open that have both Simpson and Hayday excited.
“Research takes a long time,” says Simpson. “But the hope is that this we’ll find something that stacks the odds in our favour of finding a new treatment for either disease.”
“By bringing these research communities together, I really think we’re going to get a new perspective on how the immune system interacts with tissues,” adds Hayday.
“We need to continue melting boundaries that exist between scientific disciplines, because progress is motivated by people asking smart questions.
“These come from bright people speaking with one another, and having the courage to say what likely will and won’t work.”
From our Grand Challenge awards to arranging scientific conferences, this new partnership is just one example of the many ways that Cancer Research UK is committed to supporting collaborative research. Not just in the UK, but worldwide.
And with so much still to learn, it certainly won’t be the last.
Justine
While you’re here, please help us improve the news we provide by filling out this short questionnaire below – it should only take a couple of minutes. Thanks!
from Cancer Research UK – Science blog http://ift.tt/2I1uPPX
At top: mysterious zodiacal light shining behind the Faulkes Telescope North on Maui via Rob Ratkowksi/UH High Altitude Observatory.
Now that the moon has left the early evening sky, the next several weeks are an excellent time for those in the Northern Hemisphere to look for the mysterious zodiacal light. You’ll want a rural location, and you’ll want to look west, around the time evening twilight has just faded, as full darkness falls. About 80 to 120 minutes after sunset should be about right.
From the Northern Hemisphere, the weeks around the March equinox are the best time all to catch the zodiacal light in the evening. From the Southern Hemisphere, it’s your best time of year to see the zodiacal light in the morning, in the east just before dawn. A bright moon is up before dawn in early March. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, you might need to wait until mid-to-late March – when the moon has waned to a thin crescent or left the morning sky entirely – to look for the zodiacal light before dawn.
This observation is not for city dwellers. But if you find yourself beneath a dark country sky – or perhaps driving along a country road after dusk – look for this eerie light.
Zodiacal light just after sunset at the Oregon coast, via Ben Coffman Photography. He caught this photo in 2014 and told EarthSky: “This was my first time seeing zodiacal light, and I only knew what it was because of some of your past articles … thanks!”
The zodiacal light is caused by sunlight reflecting off interplanetary dust particles that orbit the sun within the inner solar system.
People at mid-northern latitudes can see the zodiacal light after dusk at present because the ecliptic – the approximate plane of the solar system – is nearly perpendicular to the horizon on March/April evenings.
At this time of year, evening watchers see the zodiacal light jutting upward from the western horizon and toward the constellation Taurus the Bull. Taurus can be identified by its two most prominent signposts, the star Aldebaran and the Pleiades star cluster.
So for the elusive zodiacal light – pointing upwards into Taurus – in the western sky, as dusk gives way to nightfall, these next few weeks.
The farther south you live within the Northern Hemisphere’s temperate zone, the more likely you are to spot the zodiacal light. But you can catch it from northerly latitudes, too. This wonderful capture is from Robert Ede in Invermere, British Columbia. Note that – in this photo – the zodiacal light is pointing toward the Pleiades star cluster (left of top center).
Bottom line: The zodiacal light is a pyramid-shaped light. It’s west after true darkness falls for the Northern Hemisphere (east before dawn for the Southern Hemisphere) around the March equinox.
At top: mysterious zodiacal light shining behind the Faulkes Telescope North on Maui via Rob Ratkowksi/UH High Altitude Observatory.
Now that the moon has left the early evening sky, the next several weeks are an excellent time for those in the Northern Hemisphere to look for the mysterious zodiacal light. You’ll want a rural location, and you’ll want to look west, around the time evening twilight has just faded, as full darkness falls. About 80 to 120 minutes after sunset should be about right.
From the Northern Hemisphere, the weeks around the March equinox are the best time all to catch the zodiacal light in the evening. From the Southern Hemisphere, it’s your best time of year to see the zodiacal light in the morning, in the east just before dawn. A bright moon is up before dawn in early March. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, you might need to wait until mid-to-late March – when the moon has waned to a thin crescent or left the morning sky entirely – to look for the zodiacal light before dawn.
This observation is not for city dwellers. But if you find yourself beneath a dark country sky – or perhaps driving along a country road after dusk – look for this eerie light.
Zodiacal light just after sunset at the Oregon coast, via Ben Coffman Photography. He caught this photo in 2014 and told EarthSky: “This was my first time seeing zodiacal light, and I only knew what it was because of some of your past articles … thanks!”
The zodiacal light is caused by sunlight reflecting off interplanetary dust particles that orbit the sun within the inner solar system.
People at mid-northern latitudes can see the zodiacal light after dusk at present because the ecliptic – the approximate plane of the solar system – is nearly perpendicular to the horizon on March/April evenings.
At this time of year, evening watchers see the zodiacal light jutting upward from the western horizon and toward the constellation Taurus the Bull. Taurus can be identified by its two most prominent signposts, the star Aldebaran and the Pleiades star cluster.
So for the elusive zodiacal light – pointing upwards into Taurus – in the western sky, as dusk gives way to nightfall, these next few weeks.
The farther south you live within the Northern Hemisphere’s temperate zone, the more likely you are to spot the zodiacal light. But you can catch it from northerly latitudes, too. This wonderful capture is from Robert Ede in Invermere, British Columbia. Note that – in this photo – the zodiacal light is pointing toward the Pleiades star cluster (left of top center).
Bottom line: The zodiacal light is a pyramid-shaped light. It’s west after true darkness falls for the Northern Hemisphere (east before dawn for the Southern Hemisphere) around the March equinox.
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook page during the past week.
Editor's Pick
We’ve radically underestimated how vulnerable Americans are to flooding
New research claims that official estimates lowballed the risk by, uh, about a factor of three.
A giant nor’easter — incongruously named Winter Storm Riley, like some Brooklyn kid’s play date — is expected slam into New England coast today, bringing snow, rain, high tides, and damaging winds.
The Boston Globe reports that the National Weather Service has “high confidence” that the eastern coast of Massachusetts is going to experience “moderate to major flooding.” It has “moderate confidence” that heavy rains of two to three inches could cause urban and street flooding throughout southeastern Massachusetts, including Boston.
[HAZARDS] Updated. Coastal flood warning E MA, advisory S MA & RI; hurricane / storm force wind warnings for the waters; high wind warning & advisory across the interior; flood watch for E MA, RI & CT; winter storm warning for the high terrain ... Mainly Friday through Saturday
So it is somewhat ironic (if that’s the word) that this week also features the publication of a new paper in Environmental Research Letters showing that Americans are at far greater risk from flooding than official estimates reveal — as in, three times the risk.
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook page during the past week.
Editor's Pick
We’ve radically underestimated how vulnerable Americans are to flooding
New research claims that official estimates lowballed the risk by, uh, about a factor of three.
A giant nor’easter — incongruously named Winter Storm Riley, like some Brooklyn kid’s play date — is expected slam into New England coast today, bringing snow, rain, high tides, and damaging winds.
The Boston Globe reports that the National Weather Service has “high confidence” that the eastern coast of Massachusetts is going to experience “moderate to major flooding.” It has “moderate confidence” that heavy rains of two to three inches could cause urban and street flooding throughout southeastern Massachusetts, including Boston.
[HAZARDS] Updated. Coastal flood warning E MA, advisory S MA & RI; hurricane / storm force wind warnings for the waters; high wind warning & advisory across the interior; flood watch for E MA, RI & CT; winter storm warning for the high terrain ... Mainly Friday through Saturday
So it is somewhat ironic (if that’s the word) that this week also features the publication of a new paper in Environmental Research Letters showing that Americans are at far greater risk from flooding than official estimates reveal — as in, three times the risk.
A signal caused by the very first stars to form in the universe has been picked up by a tiny but highly specialised radio telescope in the remote Western Australian desert.
Details of the detection are revealed in a paper published February 28, 2018 in Nature, and tell us these stars formed only 180 million years after the Big Bang.
It’s potentially one of the most exciting astronomical discoveries of the decade. A second Naturepaper also published February 28, links the finding to possibly the first detected evidence that dark matter, thought to make up much of the universe, might interact with ordinary atoms.
Tuning in to the signal
This discovery was made by a small radio antenna operating in the band of 50-100Mhz, which overlaps some well known FM radio stations (which is why the telescope is located in the remote WA desert).
What has been detected is the absorption of light by neutral atomic hydrogen gas, which filled the early universe after it cooled down from the hot plasma of the Big Bang.
At this time (180 million years after the Big Bang) the early universe was expanding, but the densest regions of the universe were collapsing under gravity to make the first stars.
A timeline of the universe, updated to show when the first stars emerged emerged by 180 million years after the Big Bang. Image via N.R. Fuller, National Science Foundation.
The formation of the first stars had a dramatic effect on the rest of the universe. Ultraviolet radiation from them changed the electron spin in the hydrogen atoms, causing it to absorb the background radio emission of the universe at a natural resonant frequency of 1,420MHz, casting a shadow so to speak.
Now, 13 billion years later, that shadow would be expected at a much lower frequency because the universe has expanded nearly 18-fold in that time.
An early result
Astronomers had been predicting this phenomenon for nearly 20 years and searching for it for ten years. No one quite knew how strong the signal would be or at what frequency to search.
Most expected it would take quite a few more years post 2018.
But the shadow was detected at 78MHz by a team led by astronomer Judd Bowman from Arizona State university.
Amazingly this radio signal detection in 2015-2016 was done by a small aerial (the EDGES experiment), only a few metres in size, coupled to a very clever radio receiver and signal processing system. It’s only been published now after rigorous checking.
The EDGES ground-based radio spectrometer, CSIRO’s Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in Western Australia. Image via CSIRO.
This is the most important astronomical discovery since the detection of gravitational waves in 2015. The first stars represent the start of everything complex in the universe, the beginning of the long journey to galaxies, solar systems, planets, life and brains.
Detecting their signature is a milestone and pinning down the exact time of their formation is an important measurement for cosmology.
This is an amazing result. But it gets better and even more mysterious and exciting.
An artist’s rendering of how the first stars in the universe may have looked. Image via N.R. Fuller, National Science Foundation.
Evidence of dark matter?
The signal is twice as strong as expected, which is why it has been detected so early. In the second Nature paper, astronomer Rennan Barkana, from the Tel Aviv University, said it is quite hard to explain why the signal is so strong, as it tells us the hydrogen gas at this time is significantly colder than expected in the standard model of cosmic evolution.
Astronomers like to introduce new kinds of exotic objects to explain things (e.g. super massive stars, black holes) but these generally produce radiation that makes things hotter instead.
How do you make the atoms colder? You have to put them in thermal contact with something even colder, and the most viable suspect is what is known as cold dark matter.
Cold dark matter is the bedrock of modern cosmology. It was introduced in the 1980s to explain how galaxies rotate – they seemed to spin much faster than could be explained by the visible stars and an extra gravitational force was needed.
We now think that dark matter has to be made of a new kind of fundamental particle. There is about six times more dark matter than ordinary matter and if it was made of normal atoms the Big Bang would have looked quite different to what is observed.
As for the nature of this particle, and its mass, we can only guess.
So if cold dark matter is indeed colliding with hydrogen atoms in the early universe and cooling them, this is a major advance and could lead us to pin down its true nature. This would be the first time dark matter has demonstrated any interaction other than gravity.
Here comes the ‘but’
A note of caution is warranted. This hydrogen signal is very difficult to detect: it is thousands of times fainter than the background radio noise even for the remote location in Western Australia.
The authors of the first Nature paper have spent more than a year doing a multitude of tests and checks to make sure they have not made a mistake. The sensitivity of their aerial needs to be exquisitely calibrated all across the bandpass. The detection is an impressive technical achievement but astronomers worldwide will be holding their breath until the result is confirmed by an independent experiment.
If it is confirmed then this will open the door to a new window on the early universe and potentially a new understanding of the nature of dark matter by providing a new observational window in to it.
This signal has been detected coming from the whole sky, but in the future it can be mapped on the sky, and the details of the structures in the maps would then give us even more information on the physical properties of the dark matter.
More desert observations
Today’s publications are exciting news for Australia in particular. Western Australia is the most radio quiet zone in the world, and will be the prime location for future mapping observations. The Murchison Widefield Array is in operation right now, and future upgrades could provide exactly such a map.
This is also a major science goal of the multi-billion dollar Square Kilometre Array, located in Western Australia, that should be able to provide much greater fidelity pictures of this epoch.
It is extremely exciting to look forward to a time when we will be able to reveal the nature of the first stars and to have a new approach via radio astronomy to tackle dark matter, which has so far proved intractable.
Let’s hope the governments of the world, or at least Australia, can keep the frequency of 78MHz clean of pop music and talk shows so we can continue to observe the birth of the universe.
A signal caused by the very first stars to form in the universe has been picked up by a tiny but highly specialised radio telescope in the remote Western Australian desert.
Details of the detection are revealed in a paper published February 28, 2018 in Nature, and tell us these stars formed only 180 million years after the Big Bang.
It’s potentially one of the most exciting astronomical discoveries of the decade. A second Naturepaper also published February 28, links the finding to possibly the first detected evidence that dark matter, thought to make up much of the universe, might interact with ordinary atoms.
Tuning in to the signal
This discovery was made by a small radio antenna operating in the band of 50-100Mhz, which overlaps some well known FM radio stations (which is why the telescope is located in the remote WA desert).
What has been detected is the absorption of light by neutral atomic hydrogen gas, which filled the early universe after it cooled down from the hot plasma of the Big Bang.
At this time (180 million years after the Big Bang) the early universe was expanding, but the densest regions of the universe were collapsing under gravity to make the first stars.
A timeline of the universe, updated to show when the first stars emerged emerged by 180 million years after the Big Bang. Image via N.R. Fuller, National Science Foundation.
The formation of the first stars had a dramatic effect on the rest of the universe. Ultraviolet radiation from them changed the electron spin in the hydrogen atoms, causing it to absorb the background radio emission of the universe at a natural resonant frequency of 1,420MHz, casting a shadow so to speak.
Now, 13 billion years later, that shadow would be expected at a much lower frequency because the universe has expanded nearly 18-fold in that time.
An early result
Astronomers had been predicting this phenomenon for nearly 20 years and searching for it for ten years. No one quite knew how strong the signal would be or at what frequency to search.
Most expected it would take quite a few more years post 2018.
But the shadow was detected at 78MHz by a team led by astronomer Judd Bowman from Arizona State university.
Amazingly this radio signal detection in 2015-2016 was done by a small aerial (the EDGES experiment), only a few metres in size, coupled to a very clever radio receiver and signal processing system. It’s only been published now after rigorous checking.
The EDGES ground-based radio spectrometer, CSIRO’s Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in Western Australia. Image via CSIRO.
This is the most important astronomical discovery since the detection of gravitational waves in 2015. The first stars represent the start of everything complex in the universe, the beginning of the long journey to galaxies, solar systems, planets, life and brains.
Detecting their signature is a milestone and pinning down the exact time of their formation is an important measurement for cosmology.
This is an amazing result. But it gets better and even more mysterious and exciting.
An artist’s rendering of how the first stars in the universe may have looked. Image via N.R. Fuller, National Science Foundation.
Evidence of dark matter?
The signal is twice as strong as expected, which is why it has been detected so early. In the second Nature paper, astronomer Rennan Barkana, from the Tel Aviv University, said it is quite hard to explain why the signal is so strong, as it tells us the hydrogen gas at this time is significantly colder than expected in the standard model of cosmic evolution.
Astronomers like to introduce new kinds of exotic objects to explain things (e.g. super massive stars, black holes) but these generally produce radiation that makes things hotter instead.
How do you make the atoms colder? You have to put them in thermal contact with something even colder, and the most viable suspect is what is known as cold dark matter.
Cold dark matter is the bedrock of modern cosmology. It was introduced in the 1980s to explain how galaxies rotate – they seemed to spin much faster than could be explained by the visible stars and an extra gravitational force was needed.
We now think that dark matter has to be made of a new kind of fundamental particle. There is about six times more dark matter than ordinary matter and if it was made of normal atoms the Big Bang would have looked quite different to what is observed.
As for the nature of this particle, and its mass, we can only guess.
So if cold dark matter is indeed colliding with hydrogen atoms in the early universe and cooling them, this is a major advance and could lead us to pin down its true nature. This would be the first time dark matter has demonstrated any interaction other than gravity.
Here comes the ‘but’
A note of caution is warranted. This hydrogen signal is very difficult to detect: it is thousands of times fainter than the background radio noise even for the remote location in Western Australia.
The authors of the first Nature paper have spent more than a year doing a multitude of tests and checks to make sure they have not made a mistake. The sensitivity of their aerial needs to be exquisitely calibrated all across the bandpass. The detection is an impressive technical achievement but astronomers worldwide will be holding their breath until the result is confirmed by an independent experiment.
If it is confirmed then this will open the door to a new window on the early universe and potentially a new understanding of the nature of dark matter by providing a new observational window in to it.
This signal has been detected coming from the whole sky, but in the future it can be mapped on the sky, and the details of the structures in the maps would then give us even more information on the physical properties of the dark matter.
More desert observations
Today’s publications are exciting news for Australia in particular. Western Australia is the most radio quiet zone in the world, and will be the prime location for future mapping observations. The Murchison Widefield Array is in operation right now, and future upgrades could provide exactly such a map.
This is also a major science goal of the multi-billion dollar Square Kilometre Array, located in Western Australia, that should be able to provide much greater fidelity pictures of this epoch.
It is extremely exciting to look forward to a time when we will be able to reveal the nature of the first stars and to have a new approach via radio astronomy to tackle dark matter, which has so far proved intractable.
Let’s hope the governments of the world, or at least Australia, can keep the frequency of 78MHz clean of pop music and talk shows so we can continue to observe the birth of the universe.
People born between the early 80s and mid 90s are set to be the most overweight age group since records began by the time they reach middle age. Our widelyreported new figures are concerning as research shows carrying extra weight in adulthood can increase the risk of 13 different types of cancer.
The release of these figures was tied to the launch of our campaign to raise awareness of the link between obesity and cancer. And it’s already sparked debate on social media. We also blogged about the evidence showing that losing weight if you’re already overweight or obese can reduce the risk of cancer.
Some early changes to cells in the cervix detected by screening might not need treatment, according to early research. The BBC and The Telegraph reported that in around half of cases abnormal cells return to normal. But upcoming changes to cervical screening are expected to tackle the problem of unnecessary treatment.
A survey picked up by the Guardian suggests satisfaction with GPs is the lowest in 30 years.
And the Scottish Daily Mail says patients in Scotland are waiting too long for important cancer tests.
Breast cancer death rates vary across England, report Sky News and The Sun. Experts suggest this could be due to regional differences in the number of women turning up to breast screening as well as other factors linked to NHS staff shortages like an unavailability of appointments.
Researchers in California think that a common bacterium found on healthy human skin could protect against skin cancer, according to the Guardian. The scientists were surprised to see that melanomas didn’t grow as big in mice that were treated with a chemical produced by the microbe. Now they need to investigate this further to see if it could ever be used to prevent the disease in people.
US researchers have found a potential new target for genetically engineered immune cells that could help them attack a type of aggressive brain tumour called glioblastoma. Our news report has the details.
The Guardian explores the evidence linking bacon to cancer and looks into the industry that provides processed meat.
And finally
Vapers are more likely to get pneumonia, says the Mail Online. But the study this claim was based on included just 17 people. Researchers found that vaping increased levels of a molecule that helps pneumonia-causing bacteria stick to the airways, but did not look at pneumonia itself. More vapers will need to be studied and followed over a long period of time to see if there’s a link and if there are long term effects.
Gabi
While you’re here, please help us improve the news we provide by filling out this short questionnaire below – it should only take a couple of minutes. Thanks!
from Cancer Research UK – Science blog http://ift.tt/2I2pgkn
People born between the early 80s and mid 90s are set to be the most overweight age group since records began by the time they reach middle age. Our widelyreported new figures are concerning as research shows carrying extra weight in adulthood can increase the risk of 13 different types of cancer.
The release of these figures was tied to the launch of our campaign to raise awareness of the link between obesity and cancer. And it’s already sparked debate on social media. We also blogged about the evidence showing that losing weight if you’re already overweight or obese can reduce the risk of cancer.
Some early changes to cells in the cervix detected by screening might not need treatment, according to early research. The BBC and The Telegraph reported that in around half of cases abnormal cells return to normal. But upcoming changes to cervical screening are expected to tackle the problem of unnecessary treatment.
A survey picked up by the Guardian suggests satisfaction with GPs is the lowest in 30 years.
And the Scottish Daily Mail says patients in Scotland are waiting too long for important cancer tests.
Breast cancer death rates vary across England, report Sky News and The Sun. Experts suggest this could be due to regional differences in the number of women turning up to breast screening as well as other factors linked to NHS staff shortages like an unavailability of appointments.
Researchers in California think that a common bacterium found on healthy human skin could protect against skin cancer, according to the Guardian. The scientists were surprised to see that melanomas didn’t grow as big in mice that were treated with a chemical produced by the microbe. Now they need to investigate this further to see if it could ever be used to prevent the disease in people.
US researchers have found a potential new target for genetically engineered immune cells that could help them attack a type of aggressive brain tumour called glioblastoma. Our news report has the details.
The Guardian explores the evidence linking bacon to cancer and looks into the industry that provides processed meat.
And finally
Vapers are more likely to get pneumonia, says the Mail Online. But the study this claim was based on included just 17 people. Researchers found that vaping increased levels of a molecule that helps pneumonia-causing bacteria stick to the airways, but did not look at pneumonia itself. More vapers will need to be studied and followed over a long period of time to see if there’s a link and if there are long term effects.
Gabi
While you’re here, please help us improve the news we provide by filling out this short questionnaire below – it should only take a couple of minutes. Thanks!
from Cancer Research UK – Science blog http://ift.tt/2I2pgkn
Let’s hope the governments of the world, or at least Australia, can keep the frequency of 78MHz clean of pop music and talk shows so we can continue to observe the birth of the universe.