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!
