How far away is Deneb?

Here is the beautiful Summer Triangle asterism, now about to come back into convenient evening view for another season. An asterism isn’t a constellation. It’s just a recognizable group of stars. This one is made of three bright stars in three different constellations. Now notice the star Deneb, one of the three Summer Triangle stars. When you gaze at Deneb, you’re gazing across a great distance of space. The exact distance to Deneb is not known for certain, but the currently accepted distance of around 2,600 light-years. That makes Deneb one of the most distant stars we can see with the eye alone.

Why don’t astronomers know the distance to Deneb exactly? In fact, there are varying estimates for this star’s distance. The answer is a glimpse into the process of science, and the way that different astronomers or teams of astronomers – using advancing technologies – try to improve on what was learned earlier, sometimes years before.

A planisphere is virtually indispensable for beginning stargazers. Order your EarthSky planisphere today.

Astronomers use the parallax method to find distances to nearby stars. But Deneb is too far away for accurate parallax measurements from Earth’s surface.

Estimates for Deneb’s distance have been obtained by a variety of methods, some of which involved theoretical models related to the way stars evolve and some of which assumed Deneb’s membership in the Cygnus OB7 association of stars. The most important modern distant measurement for Deneb came in the 1990s, with ESA’s Earth-orbiting Hipparcos Space Astrometry Mission. Hipparcos gathered astrometric data on Deneb. Early analyses of the data indicated a distance of somewhere around 2,600 light-years.

Since then, various groups of astronomers have re-analyzed Hipparcos data. Consider that computer power gets stronger with each passing year, which helps to improve techniques for analysis. So, for example, a 2009 study published in the peer-reviewed journal Astronomy and Astrophysics used a newer method of analysis, which resulted in a distance for Deneb that’s barely half the widely accepted value.

Why does Deneb’s distance matter? It matters to astronomers because – if they don’t know exactly how far away the star is – they can’t get accurate numbers of its true size, mass and energy output.

ESA now has a second astrometric satellite – called Gaia – in orbit around Earth. Its goal is to measure the positions and distances of stars with more precision than ever before, and it’s in the process constructing what ESA says will be:

… the largest and most precise 3D-space catalog ever made.

A new estimate for Deneb’s distance wasn’t included in Gaia’s first data release, in September 2016. Maybe a new distance estimate for Deneb will be included in Gaia’s second data release, planned for April 2018.

And so science marches on!

We can see Deneb from such a great distance because it is a large and very hot supergiant star. Here’s its place on the Hertzsprung Russell diagram. Image via Wikimedia Commons/ ESO.

Bottom line: The star Deneb – part of the famous Summer Triangle – is one of the most distant stars you can see with your eye alone. Why don’t we know its distance precisely?

Help support EarthSky! Visit the EarthSky store for to see the great selection of educational tools and team gear we have to offer.

Delta Cephei, prototype of Cepheid variable stars

How far is a light-year?

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1Bov2Cf

Here is the beautiful Summer Triangle asterism, now about to come back into convenient evening view for another season. An asterism isn’t a constellation. It’s just a recognizable group of stars. This one is made of three bright stars in three different constellations. Now notice the star Deneb, one of the three Summer Triangle stars. When you gaze at Deneb, you’re gazing across a great distance of space. The exact distance to Deneb is not known for certain, but the currently accepted distance of around 2,600 light-years. That makes Deneb one of the most distant stars we can see with the eye alone.

Why don’t astronomers know the distance to Deneb exactly? In fact, there are varying estimates for this star’s distance. The answer is a glimpse into the process of science, and the way that different astronomers or teams of astronomers – using advancing technologies – try to improve on what was learned earlier, sometimes years before.

A planisphere is virtually indispensable for beginning stargazers. Order your EarthSky planisphere today.

Astronomers use the parallax method to find distances to nearby stars. But Deneb is too far away for accurate parallax measurements from Earth’s surface.

Estimates for Deneb’s distance have been obtained by a variety of methods, some of which involved theoretical models related to the way stars evolve and some of which assumed Deneb’s membership in the Cygnus OB7 association of stars. The most important modern distant measurement for Deneb came in the 1990s, with ESA’s Earth-orbiting Hipparcos Space Astrometry Mission. Hipparcos gathered astrometric data on Deneb. Early analyses of the data indicated a distance of somewhere around 2,600 light-years.

Since then, various groups of astronomers have re-analyzed Hipparcos data. Consider that computer power gets stronger with each passing year, which helps to improve techniques for analysis. So, for example, a 2009 study published in the peer-reviewed journal Astronomy and Astrophysics used a newer method of analysis, which resulted in a distance for Deneb that’s barely half the widely accepted value.

Why does Deneb’s distance matter? It matters to astronomers because – if they don’t know exactly how far away the star is – they can’t get accurate numbers of its true size, mass and energy output.

ESA now has a second astrometric satellite – called Gaia – in orbit around Earth. Its goal is to measure the positions and distances of stars with more precision than ever before, and it’s in the process constructing what ESA says will be:

… the largest and most precise 3D-space catalog ever made.

A new estimate for Deneb’s distance wasn’t included in Gaia’s first data release, in September 2016. Maybe a new distance estimate for Deneb will be included in Gaia’s second data release, planned for April 2018.

And so science marches on!

We can see Deneb from such a great distance because it is a large and very hot supergiant star. Here’s its place on the Hertzsprung Russell diagram. Image via Wikimedia Commons/ ESO.

Bottom line: The star Deneb – part of the famous Summer Triangle – is one of the most distant stars you can see with your eye alone. Why don’t we know its distance precisely?

Help support EarthSky! Visit the EarthSky store for to see the great selection of educational tools and team gear we have to offer.

Delta Cephei, prototype of Cepheid variable stars

How far is a light-year?

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1Bov2Cf

Endorsing the Paris Agreement is Trump’s best opportunity for a big win

There is only one part of President Trump’s agenda with real opportunity for a big win, right now, and that is infrastructure. And the Paris Agreement—the strongest ever signal pointing toward transformational infrastructure investment—is the only way to mobilize the capital necessary to get to that big win.

The common misunderstanding about the Paris accord is its impact on business and investment. Opponents fret about costs and economic change, but achieving the Paris Agreement’s goals will unlock capital investment at a rate no other policy initiative can match.

Here’s why:

• Right now, an unprecedented amount of actual wealth is “sitting on the sidelines,” awaiting the next wave economy—the transformational moment of world-building investment potential.
• More than $8 trillion tied up in negative yield bonds, along with another $5 trillion in corporate cash holdings, are waiting for a go sign. All that capital is looking for reliable growth and secure returns.
• Climate-resilient investments, high-efficiency new energy technologies, and services that build value in local communities, hold far more growth potential than any old-style industrial production standards.
• The International Monetary Fund estimates that $5.1 trillion per year in direct and indirect assistance to high-carbon energy is not only a waste of public resources, but qualifies as “destructive spending” that undermines value across whole economies.
• The opportunity to move that money into the building of a new economy of sustainable prosperity open to all is what the Paris Agreement is designed to activate.

Having overseen major building projects in his business career, President Trump has said the cost benefits of energy efficiency are clear to him. Energy efficient infrastructure will not only mobilize capital and add to GDP; it will activate major new property investment opportunities, create a new kind of flexible property market, and revitalize credit and banking.

Energy efficient infrastructure includes buildings that produce, store and manage their own energy. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons

The global policy arena for climate-smart finance goes by the short-hand “unlocking the trillions.” Imagine tens of trillions of dollars currently not creating any jobs becoming active, moving through a resurgent economy, and funding a sustained expansion of local hiring.

Twenty-two Republican senators recently signed a letter urging withdrawal from Paris Agreement, citing aim to avoid “significant litigation.” The litigation argument may backfire, because their letter appears to recognize the legitimacy of the federal lawsuit brought by young people against the government for insufficient action to address climate change. It is also worth noting that every one of these senators’ states will fare better if the Paris Agreement succeeds.

No one understands the boom-and-bust cycle of extractive industries better than the people whose communities did the extraction, and then saw the industry leave. In Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Wyoming, you can visit isolated coal communities that have had zero GDP within city limits since the coal industry closed up shop and left.

Inside the Huber Breaker, a coal breaker that shut down in 1975. The town of Ashley is still working to rebuild its economy four decades later. Photograph: Joseph Robertson

All economies evolve. Economies designed not to—single-function economies—struggle more than others as the world speeds ahead with the adoption of new technologies and business models. Coal communities’ economic problems weren’t created by the Paris Agreement and related policy initiatives, but they can be solved by them.

The power of the Paris Agreement is twofold:

• It integrates all nations into this global effort, which would otherwise fall only on industrial nations like the United States.
• It recognizes the sovereignty of the United States, and of all nations, to choose their best path to a climate-smart economy.

It offers maximum overall benefit with minimum national or local economic risk. It aims to awaken that sleeping investment capital and shift every nation’s economic growth strategy toward the logic of American entrepreneurial innovation.

For many communities across Appalachia, tourism, farming, and other engines of locally rooted economic expansion promise a better future than coal development. The Paris Agreement motivates investment into more sustainably prosperous local economies. Photograph: Mountaintop Removal Road Show (left frame), Joseph Robertson (right frame)

For extraction-focused communities, the right policy response means the ability to capture investment for other kinds of economic activity. Some may go to new energy-sourcing technologies and entrepreneurship, others may become known as cultural or agricultural hotspots.

A simple fee on carbon fuels, with a 100% dividend to all households, would allow people living in coal communities to use increased month-to-month incometo generate entirely new Main Street economies, with new businesses and new jobs, based on local needs, talents, and priorities. A coal industry executive once told me: 

Those carbon dividends are the first economic survival strategy I have ever heard of for the communities I have lived and worked in my entire life.

According to Regional Economic Models, Inc., a steadily rising carbon dividend would steadily improve Real Disposable Personal Income across the U.S. More at: http://ift.tt/2rzYZF9 Illustration: Regional Economic Modeling, Inc.

Click here to read the rest

from Skeptical Science http://ift.tt/2qzBOXo

There is only one part of President Trump’s agenda with real opportunity for a big win, right now, and that is infrastructure. And the Paris Agreement—the strongest ever signal pointing toward transformational infrastructure investment—is the only way to mobilize the capital necessary to get to that big win.

The common misunderstanding about the Paris accord is its impact on business and investment. Opponents fret about costs and economic change, but achieving the Paris Agreement’s goals will unlock capital investment at a rate no other policy initiative can match.

Here’s why:

• Right now, an unprecedented amount of actual wealth is “sitting on the sidelines,” awaiting the next wave economy—the transformational moment of world-building investment potential.
• More than $8 trillion tied up in negative yield bonds, along with another $5 trillion in corporate cash holdings, are waiting for a go sign. All that capital is looking for reliable growth and secure returns.
• Climate-resilient investments, high-efficiency new energy technologies, and services that build value in local communities, hold far more growth potential than any old-style industrial production standards.
• The International Monetary Fund estimates that $5.1 trillion per year in direct and indirect assistance to high-carbon energy is not only a waste of public resources, but qualifies as “destructive spending” that undermines value across whole economies.
• The opportunity to move that money into the building of a new economy of sustainable prosperity open to all is what the Paris Agreement is designed to activate.

Having overseen major building projects in his business career, President Trump has said the cost benefits of energy efficiency are clear to him. Energy efficient infrastructure will not only mobilize capital and add to GDP; it will activate major new property investment opportunities, create a new kind of flexible property market, and revitalize credit and banking.

Energy efficient infrastructure includes buildings that produce, store and manage their own energy. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons

The global policy arena for climate-smart finance goes by the short-hand “unlocking the trillions.” Imagine tens of trillions of dollars currently not creating any jobs becoming active, moving through a resurgent economy, and funding a sustained expansion of local hiring.

Twenty-two Republican senators recently signed a letter urging withdrawal from Paris Agreement, citing aim to avoid “significant litigation.” The litigation argument may backfire, because their letter appears to recognize the legitimacy of the federal lawsuit brought by young people against the government for insufficient action to address climate change. It is also worth noting that every one of these senators’ states will fare better if the Paris Agreement succeeds.

No one understands the boom-and-bust cycle of extractive industries better than the people whose communities did the extraction, and then saw the industry leave. In Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Wyoming, you can visit isolated coal communities that have had zero GDP within city limits since the coal industry closed up shop and left.

Inside the Huber Breaker, a coal breaker that shut down in 1975. The town of Ashley is still working to rebuild its economy four decades later. Photograph: Joseph Robertson

All economies evolve. Economies designed not to—single-function economies—struggle more than others as the world speeds ahead with the adoption of new technologies and business models. Coal communities’ economic problems weren’t created by the Paris Agreement and related policy initiatives, but they can be solved by them.

The power of the Paris Agreement is twofold:

• It integrates all nations into this global effort, which would otherwise fall only on industrial nations like the United States.
• It recognizes the sovereignty of the United States, and of all nations, to choose their best path to a climate-smart economy.

It offers maximum overall benefit with minimum national or local economic risk. It aims to awaken that sleeping investment capital and shift every nation’s economic growth strategy toward the logic of American entrepreneurial innovation.

For many communities across Appalachia, tourism, farming, and other engines of locally rooted economic expansion promise a better future than coal development. The Paris Agreement motivates investment into more sustainably prosperous local economies. Photograph: Mountaintop Removal Road Show (left frame), Joseph Robertson (right frame)

For extraction-focused communities, the right policy response means the ability to capture investment for other kinds of economic activity. Some may go to new energy-sourcing technologies and entrepreneurship, others may become known as cultural or agricultural hotspots.

A simple fee on carbon fuels, with a 100% dividend to all households, would allow people living in coal communities to use increased month-to-month incometo generate entirely new Main Street economies, with new businesses and new jobs, based on local needs, talents, and priorities. A coal industry executive once told me: 

Those carbon dividends are the first economic survival strategy I have ever heard of for the communities I have lived and worked in my entire life.

According to Regional Economic Models, Inc., a steadily rising carbon dividend would steadily improve Real Disposable Personal Income across the U.S. More at: http://ift.tt/2rzYZF9 Illustration: Regional Economic Modeling, Inc.

Click here to read the rest

from Skeptical Science http://ift.tt/2qzBOXo

Occupational Health News Roundup [The Pump Handle]

At Eater, Elizabeth Grossman reports that Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation that would protect undocumented agricultural workers from deportation and provide them and their families with a path to long-term residence and citizenship.

The bill proposes that farmworkers who can prove at least 100 days of agricultural work in the last two years could apply for a “blue card” that grants temporary residency and the ability to work. Farmworkers with a blue card and who work for 100 days a year for five years or 150 days a year for three years would then be eligible for a green card or permanent legal resident status. The spouses and children of blue-card holders would also be eligible for the program. Grossman writes that the proposal has the support of both workers and employers. She writes:

Undocumented farmworkers are the backbone of the United States’ agriculture industry, a situation that has long posed numerous challenges for these workers, their families, and employers. But the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies and aggressive Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) action — which has detained farm workers in New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere — has created a climate of fear among workers. And that’s already resulting in labor shortages that are prompting some growers to curtail harvest plans.

On call with reporters, Monterey Mushrooms president and owner Shah Kazemi confirmed the labor situation. “We’re currently short hundreds of workers,” he said. “We have been forced to cut back our production because people are not showing up to work out of fear. “If we don’t have a way to fix our broken immigration system, I don’t think agriculture can survive in this country,” said Kazemi.

Continue reading at Eater.

In other news:

Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin, Emma Brown and Darryl Fears report that the Trump administration is planning to gut the U.S. Department of Labor division that ensures federal contractors abide by nondiscrimination laws as “part of wider efforts to rein in government programs that promote civil rights.” In particular, the plan would fold the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs into the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), even though the two units have very different roles. The reporters writes: “Unlike the EEOC, which investigates complaints it receives, the compliance office audits contractors in a more systematic fashion and verifies that they ‘take affirmative action’ to promote equal opportunity among their employees. Patricia A. Shiu, who led the compliance office from 2009 to 2016, said the audits are crucial because most workers don’t know they have grounds to file a complaint. ‘Most people do not know why they don’t get hired. Most people do not know why they do not get paid the same as somebody else,’ she said.”

Denver Post: In the wake of an oil tank explosion that killed one worker and injured three others, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper says he will “take any necessary action to ensure this doesn’t happen again.” John Ingold reports that state oil and gas regulators have asked oil company Anadarko to conduct a “root cause” analysis of the explosion — a request that state regulators rarely make. OSHA says it’s investigating the explosion. Anadarko already faces lawsuits related to a different explosion earlier this year. That explosion was the result of gas seeping from a cut underground flowline, killing two people and seriously injuring another. Ingold writes: “At least 51 other workers have died in the state’s oil and gas fields since 2003, a Denver Post investigation last year found. When those deaths occur, an interlocking set of laws and regulations often keep companies from facing severe penalties, the Post found.”

BuzzFeed News: Caroline O’Donovan reports that Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., has introduced the first piece of federal legislation addressing the lack of benefits for on-demand workers. More specifically, the bill would create a $20 million fund that organizations could use to build portable benefits programs — benefits that independent contractors could ideally bring with them from gig to gig. The article notes that some states have proposed similar legislation. For example, Washington state lawmakers are considering a bill that would require on-demand employers contribute a certain percentage of profits toward a benefits fund. O’Donovan writes: “Warner, who estimates that currently a third of the US workforce falls outside traditional employment and predicts that figure will increase to 50% by 2020, said his goal is to get people to break out of the ‘mindset that…the only way you got benefits was if you’re a full-time, permanent employee.’”

Charlotte Observer: In some good news for workers, Joe Marusak reports that North Carolina’s Unicon Inc. has paid nearly $600,000 in back wages and an equal amount in damages to more than 800 workers who round up and transport chickens to poultry processors. The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division had previously found the company violated federal overtime and record-keeping rules, automatically deducting pay for lunch breaks that workers didn’t actually take and failing to pay workers for the prep and cleanup involved in rounding up chickens. Marusak reported that Mark Watson, a regional administrator with the Wage and Hour Division, said: “This agreement goes a long way to ensure that Unicon’s workers are made whole by providing the wages they earned. It also levels the playing field for other employers in this industry.”

Kim Krisberg is a freelance public health writer living in Austin, Texas, and has been writing about public health for 15 years. Follow me on Twitter — @kkrisberg.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2rlTYiy

At Eater, Elizabeth Grossman reports that Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation that would protect undocumented agricultural workers from deportation and provide them and their families with a path to long-term residence and citizenship.

The bill proposes that farmworkers who can prove at least 100 days of agricultural work in the last two years could apply for a “blue card” that grants temporary residency and the ability to work. Farmworkers with a blue card and who work for 100 days a year for five years or 150 days a year for three years would then be eligible for a green card or permanent legal resident status. The spouses and children of blue-card holders would also be eligible for the program. Grossman writes that the proposal has the support of both workers and employers. She writes:

Undocumented farmworkers are the backbone of the United States’ agriculture industry, a situation that has long posed numerous challenges for these workers, their families, and employers. But the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies and aggressive Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) action — which has detained farm workers in New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere — has created a climate of fear among workers. And that’s already resulting in labor shortages that are prompting some growers to curtail harvest plans.

On call with reporters, Monterey Mushrooms president and owner Shah Kazemi confirmed the labor situation. “We’re currently short hundreds of workers,” he said. “We have been forced to cut back our production because people are not showing up to work out of fear. “If we don’t have a way to fix our broken immigration system, I don’t think agriculture can survive in this country,” said Kazemi.

Continue reading at Eater.

In other news:

Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin, Emma Brown and Darryl Fears report that the Trump administration is planning to gut the U.S. Department of Labor division that ensures federal contractors abide by nondiscrimination laws as “part of wider efforts to rein in government programs that promote civil rights.” In particular, the plan would fold the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs into the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), even though the two units have very different roles. The reporters writes: “Unlike the EEOC, which investigates complaints it receives, the compliance office audits contractors in a more systematic fashion and verifies that they ‘take affirmative action’ to promote equal opportunity among their employees. Patricia A. Shiu, who led the compliance office from 2009 to 2016, said the audits are crucial because most workers don’t know they have grounds to file a complaint. ‘Most people do not know why they don’t get hired. Most people do not know why they do not get paid the same as somebody else,’ she said.”

Denver Post: In the wake of an oil tank explosion that killed one worker and injured three others, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper says he will “take any necessary action to ensure this doesn’t happen again.” John Ingold reports that state oil and gas regulators have asked oil company Anadarko to conduct a “root cause” analysis of the explosion — a request that state regulators rarely make. OSHA says it’s investigating the explosion. Anadarko already faces lawsuits related to a different explosion earlier this year. That explosion was the result of gas seeping from a cut underground flowline, killing two people and seriously injuring another. Ingold writes: “At least 51 other workers have died in the state’s oil and gas fields since 2003, a Denver Post investigation last year found. When those deaths occur, an interlocking set of laws and regulations often keep companies from facing severe penalties, the Post found.”

BuzzFeed News: Caroline O’Donovan reports that Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., has introduced the first piece of federal legislation addressing the lack of benefits for on-demand workers. More specifically, the bill would create a $20 million fund that organizations could use to build portable benefits programs — benefits that independent contractors could ideally bring with them from gig to gig. The article notes that some states have proposed similar legislation. For example, Washington state lawmakers are considering a bill that would require on-demand employers contribute a certain percentage of profits toward a benefits fund. O’Donovan writes: “Warner, who estimates that currently a third of the US workforce falls outside traditional employment and predicts that figure will increase to 50% by 2020, said his goal is to get people to break out of the ‘mindset that…the only way you got benefits was if you’re a full-time, permanent employee.’”

Charlotte Observer: In some good news for workers, Joe Marusak reports that North Carolina’s Unicon Inc. has paid nearly $600,000 in back wages and an equal amount in damages to more than 800 workers who round up and transport chickens to poultry processors. The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division had previously found the company violated federal overtime and record-keeping rules, automatically deducting pay for lunch breaks that workers didn’t actually take and failing to pay workers for the prep and cleanup involved in rounding up chickens. Marusak reported that Mark Watson, a regional administrator with the Wage and Hour Division, said: “This agreement goes a long way to ensure that Unicon’s workers are made whole by providing the wages they earned. It also levels the playing field for other employers in this industry.”

Kim Krisberg is a freelance public health writer living in Austin, Texas, and has been writing about public health for 15 years. Follow me on Twitter — @kkrisberg.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2rlTYiy

Donald Trump Signs Up for On Line Dating [Greg Laden's Blog]

A statement has just been released by the White House, regarding President Donald Trump:

President Trump has a magnetic personality and exudes positive energy, which is infectious to those around him. He has an unparalleled ability to communicate with people, whether he is speaking to a room of three or an arena of 30,000. He has built great relationships throughout his life and treats everyone with respect. He is brilliant with a great sense of humor … and an amazing ability to make people feel special and aspire to be more than even they thought possible.

There are a thousand ways to interpret this. And they are all AT THIS LINK

Hat Tip: Tracy Walker

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2rBYPxc

A statement has just been released by the White House, regarding President Donald Trump:

President Trump has a magnetic personality and exudes positive energy, which is infectious to those around him. He has an unparalleled ability to communicate with people, whether he is speaking to a room of three or an arena of 30,000. He has built great relationships throughout his life and treats everyone with respect. He is brilliant with a great sense of humor … and an amazing ability to make people feel special and aspire to be more than even they thought possible.

There are a thousand ways to interpret this. And they are all AT THIS LINK

Hat Tip: Tracy Walker

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2rBYPxc

Not many US Senators write this kind of book! [Greg Laden's Blog]

Al Franken, Giant of the Senate By Al Franken. This book claims to be this:

From Senator Al Franken – #1 bestselling author and beloved SNL alum – comes the story of an award-winning comedian who decided to run for office and then discovered why award-winning comedians tend not to do that.

This is a book about an unlikely campaign that had an even more improbable ending: the closest outcome in history and an unprecedented eight-month recount saga, which is pretty funny in retrospect.

It’s a book about what happens when the nation’s foremost progressive satirist gets a chance to serve in the United States Senate and, defying the low expectations of the pundit class, actually turns out to be good at it.

It’s a book about our deeply polarized, frequently depressing, occasionally inspiring political culture, written from inside the belly of the beast.

In this candid personal memoir, the honorable gentleman from Minnesota takes his army of loyal fans along with him from Saturday Night Live to the campaign trail, inside the halls of Congress, and behind the scenes of some of the most dramatic and/or hilarious moments of his new career in politics.

Has Al Franken become a true Giant of the Senate? Franken asks readers to decide for themselves.

As the person who personally got Al Franken elected to office the first time around, I’m sure I’m in this book in several places. I haven’t checked yet, but I thought you should know about the book.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2sjpBX5

Al Franken, Giant of the Senate By Al Franken. This book claims to be this:

From Senator Al Franken – #1 bestselling author and beloved SNL alum – comes the story of an award-winning comedian who decided to run for office and then discovered why award-winning comedians tend not to do that.

This is a book about an unlikely campaign that had an even more improbable ending: the closest outcome in history and an unprecedented eight-month recount saga, which is pretty funny in retrospect.

It’s a book about what happens when the nation’s foremost progressive satirist gets a chance to serve in the United States Senate and, defying the low expectations of the pundit class, actually turns out to be good at it.

It’s a book about our deeply polarized, frequently depressing, occasionally inspiring political culture, written from inside the belly of the beast.

In this candid personal memoir, the honorable gentleman from Minnesota takes his army of loyal fans along with him from Saturday Night Live to the campaign trail, inside the halls of Congress, and behind the scenes of some of the most dramatic and/or hilarious moments of his new career in politics.

Has Al Franken become a true Giant of the Senate? Franken asks readers to decide for themselves.

As the person who personally got Al Franken elected to office the first time around, I’m sure I’m in this book in several places. I haven’t checked yet, but I thought you should know about the book.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2sjpBX5

The Best Children’s Books #2 [Greg Laden's Blog]

Installment # 1 is here

Without delay, here are four five star choices and four four star choices:

The Emperor’s New Clothes, the classic story by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated for the modern retro child by Virginia Lee Burton.

You know the story, so I won’t give you a summary, and the whole point is the illustrations so you should just click through to see. (The graphic at the top of the post is from within the book, illustrating the overall reading level and quality).

So Few of Me by Peter Reynolds.

Alternate title: Calming the helicopter parent.

Leo’s list of things to do keeps growing, until one day he wishes, “If only there were two of me.” Just as the words are out of his mouth, poof! Another Leo appears! Two Leos become three, three become four, and four become more . . . but Leo can’t help but notice that he has even more to do than before. As he struggles to deal with his overcomplicated life, Leo realizes that there may be a simpler solution to his overscheduling woes. Peter H. Reynolds, the award-winning author-illustrator of THE DOT and ISH, returns with an important message for readers of all ages: stop and take a little time to dream.

I’m Here a second installment by Peter Reynolds

I’m here.
And you’re there.
And that’s okay.
But…
maybe there will be a gentle wind that pulls us together.
And then I’ll be here and you’ll be here, too.

Pure, powerful and deceptively simple, bestselling author and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds reminds us that children—and the friendships they make—can take flight in unexpected ways.

Other books (not reviewed her) by Peter Reynolds, including a box set:

The North Star

Happy Dreamer

The Dot

Going Places

Peter Reynolds Creatrilogy Box Set (Dot, Ish, Sky Color)

Ish (Creatrilogy), a third suggestion by Peter Reynolds

Ramon loved to draw. Anytime. Anything. Anywhere.

Drawing is what Ramon does. It¹s what makes him happy. But in one split second, all that changes. A single reckless remark by Ramon’s older brother, Leon, turns Ramon’s carefree sketches into joyless struggles. Luckily for Ramon, though, his little sister, Marisol, sees the world differently. She opens his eyes to something a lot more valuable than getting things just “right.” Combining the spareness of fable with the potency of parable, Peter Reynolds shines a bright beam of light on the need to kindle and tend our creative flames with care.

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type (A Click, Clack Book) by Doreen Cronin (Author) and Betsyh Lewin (Illustrator)

Keyboarding Kows:

New York Times bestselling duo Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin’s Caldecott Honor–winning book is now available as a Level 2 Ready-to-Read!

Farmer Brown has a problem. His cows like to type. All day long he hears:

Click, clack, moo.
Click, clack, moo.
Click, clack, moo.

But Farmer Brown’s problems REALLY begin when his cows start leaving him notes! Come join the fun as a bunch of literate cows turn Farmer Brown’s farm upside-down!

I Stink! by Kate McMullan and Jim McMujllan

This is more illustration than words, but the image gives you an idea of the words.

For fans of Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site and Steam Train, Dream Train comes a noisy addition to the hilarious read-aloud series from Kate and Jim McMullan, the popular creators of I’m Bad! and I’m Dirty!

“Know what I do at night while you’re asleep? Eat your trash, that’s what!”

With ten wide tires, one really big appetite, and an even bigger smell, this garbage truck’s got it all. His job? Eating your garbage and loving every stinky second of it! And you thought nighttime was just for sleeping.

The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot by Margaret McNamara and Mark Fearing.

Introduce kids to the planets and solar system in this fractured fairy tale retelling of the classic The Three Little Pigs. Parents and children alike will adore this out-of-this-world story, which is set in outer space!

GREEP BOINK MEEP! The three little aliens are happily settling into their new homes when the Big Bad Robot flies in to crack and smack and whack their houses down! A chase across the solar system follows in this humorous and visually stunning book from Margaret McNamara (How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?) and Mark Fearing (The Book that Eats People). The endpapers even include a labeled diagram of all the planets.

Scaredy Squirrel by Mélanie Watt.

(I would have given this a five star, but Amanda gave it a four.)

Scaredy Squirrel never leaves his nut tree. It’s way too dangerous out there. He could encounter tarantulas, green Martians or killer bees. But in his tree, every day is the same and if danger comes along, he’s well-prepared. Scaredy Squirrel’s emergency kit includes antibacterial soap, Band-Aids and a parachute.

Day after day he watches and waits, and waits and watches, until one day … his worst nightmare comes true! Scaredy suddenly finds himself out of his tree, where germs, poison ivy and sharks lurk.

But as Scaredy Squirrel leaps into the unknown, he discovers something really uplifting …

From John Peters at Booklist:

Gr. 1-3. In a tongue-in-cheek tale that may help to prod anxious readers out of their hidebound routines, a squirrel discovers the pleasures of leaping into the unknown. As the world’s a scary place, what with the killer bees, green Martians, tarantulas, germs, and sharks that might be lurking about, Scaredy Squirrel keeps to his tree, and to a precise, minute-by-minute daily schedule–until a supposed “killer bee” actually wanders by, causing Squirrel to dislodge his suitcase-size emergency kit. A wild lunge to rescue it turns into a long glide (portrayed in a gatefold), as Squirrel discovers to his astonishment that he is a flying squirrel. Eventually, Squirrel returns in triumph to his tree and from then on adds a daily glide to his accustomed rounds. Despite the simply drawn cartoons and brief text, this is more sophisticated in tone than Martin Waddell’s Tiny’s Big Adventure (2004), though the message is similar.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2rldr2V

Installment # 1 is here

Without delay, here are four five star choices and four four star choices:

The Emperor’s New Clothes, the classic story by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated for the modern retro child by Virginia Lee Burton.

You know the story, so I won’t give you a summary, and the whole point is the illustrations so you should just click through to see. (The graphic at the top of the post is from within the book, illustrating the overall reading level and quality).

So Few of Me by Peter Reynolds.

Alternate title: Calming the helicopter parent.

Leo’s list of things to do keeps growing, until one day he wishes, “If only there were two of me.” Just as the words are out of his mouth, poof! Another Leo appears! Two Leos become three, three become four, and four become more . . . but Leo can’t help but notice that he has even more to do than before. As he struggles to deal with his overcomplicated life, Leo realizes that there may be a simpler solution to his overscheduling woes. Peter H. Reynolds, the award-winning author-illustrator of THE DOT and ISH, returns with an important message for readers of all ages: stop and take a little time to dream.

I’m Here a second installment by Peter Reynolds

I’m here.
And you’re there.
And that’s okay.
But…
maybe there will be a gentle wind that pulls us together.
And then I’ll be here and you’ll be here, too.

Pure, powerful and deceptively simple, bestselling author and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds reminds us that children—and the friendships they make—can take flight in unexpected ways.

Other books (not reviewed her) by Peter Reynolds, including a box set:

The North Star

Happy Dreamer

The Dot

Going Places

Peter Reynolds Creatrilogy Box Set (Dot, Ish, Sky Color)

Ish (Creatrilogy), a third suggestion by Peter Reynolds

Ramon loved to draw. Anytime. Anything. Anywhere.

Drawing is what Ramon does. It¹s what makes him happy. But in one split second, all that changes. A single reckless remark by Ramon’s older brother, Leon, turns Ramon’s carefree sketches into joyless struggles. Luckily for Ramon, though, his little sister, Marisol, sees the world differently. She opens his eyes to something a lot more valuable than getting things just “right.” Combining the spareness of fable with the potency of parable, Peter Reynolds shines a bright beam of light on the need to kindle and tend our creative flames with care.

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type (A Click, Clack Book) by Doreen Cronin (Author) and Betsyh Lewin (Illustrator)

Keyboarding Kows:

New York Times bestselling duo Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin’s Caldecott Honor–winning book is now available as a Level 2 Ready-to-Read!

Farmer Brown has a problem. His cows like to type. All day long he hears:

Click, clack, moo.
Click, clack, moo.
Click, clack, moo.

But Farmer Brown’s problems REALLY begin when his cows start leaving him notes! Come join the fun as a bunch of literate cows turn Farmer Brown’s farm upside-down!

I Stink! by Kate McMullan and Jim McMujllan

This is more illustration than words, but the image gives you an idea of the words.

For fans of Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site and Steam Train, Dream Train comes a noisy addition to the hilarious read-aloud series from Kate and Jim McMullan, the popular creators of I’m Bad! and I’m Dirty!

“Know what I do at night while you’re asleep? Eat your trash, that’s what!”

With ten wide tires, one really big appetite, and an even bigger smell, this garbage truck’s got it all. His job? Eating your garbage and loving every stinky second of it! And you thought nighttime was just for sleeping.

The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot by Margaret McNamara and Mark Fearing.

Introduce kids to the planets and solar system in this fractured fairy tale retelling of the classic The Three Little Pigs. Parents and children alike will adore this out-of-this-world story, which is set in outer space!

GREEP BOINK MEEP! The three little aliens are happily settling into their new homes when the Big Bad Robot flies in to crack and smack and whack their houses down! A chase across the solar system follows in this humorous and visually stunning book from Margaret McNamara (How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?) and Mark Fearing (The Book that Eats People). The endpapers even include a labeled diagram of all the planets.

Scaredy Squirrel by Mélanie Watt.

(I would have given this a five star, but Amanda gave it a four.)

Scaredy Squirrel never leaves his nut tree. It’s way too dangerous out there. He could encounter tarantulas, green Martians or killer bees. But in his tree, every day is the same and if danger comes along, he’s well-prepared. Scaredy Squirrel’s emergency kit includes antibacterial soap, Band-Aids and a parachute.

Day after day he watches and waits, and waits and watches, until one day … his worst nightmare comes true! Scaredy suddenly finds himself out of his tree, where germs, poison ivy and sharks lurk.

But as Scaredy Squirrel leaps into the unknown, he discovers something really uplifting …

From John Peters at Booklist:

Gr. 1-3. In a tongue-in-cheek tale that may help to prod anxious readers out of their hidebound routines, a squirrel discovers the pleasures of leaping into the unknown. As the world’s a scary place, what with the killer bees, green Martians, tarantulas, germs, and sharks that might be lurking about, Scaredy Squirrel keeps to his tree, and to a precise, minute-by-minute daily schedule–until a supposed “killer bee” actually wanders by, causing Squirrel to dislodge his suitcase-size emergency kit. A wild lunge to rescue it turns into a long glide (portrayed in a gatefold), as Squirrel discovers to his astonishment that he is a flying squirrel. Eventually, Squirrel returns in triumph to his tree and from then on adds a daily glide to his accustomed rounds. Despite the simply drawn cartoons and brief text, this is more sophisticated in tone than Martin Waddell’s Tiny’s Big Adventure (2004), though the message is similar.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2rldr2V

Improving endurance exercise [Life Lines]

Photo of zebrafish (Danio rerio) by Azul (Own work) [Copyrighted free use], via Wikimedia Commons

We all know that aerobic exercise is good for us because it helps improve muscle function and our ability to move well. For fish, aerobic exercise helps animals escape predators, catch prey as well as improve reproduction success. When we exercise, our muscles adapt by altering the metabolism of energy, the way calcium is handled as well as the type of contractile proteins present in the muscle. Together these changes alter how muscles contract. Histone deacetylases (HDAC) are known to change gene expression rather quickly. For this reason, researchers wanted to know if HDAC were responsible for causing short term changes in muscles of exercising zebrafish (Danio rerio). Their findings were published last month in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.  Fish that were able to sustain swimming exercise had higher aerobic metabolism and calcium handling as well as more slow contractile muscle fibers than fish that were better at sprinting. For fish that were were good at sprinting exercise, four weeks of aerobic exercise training (not surprisingly) improved their ability to perform endurance exercise. The switch to becoming more tolerant of endurance exercise (i.e resistant to fatigue) happened in two ways: their muscles made more ATP, while the muscle demand for ATP was reduced. If you recall, ATP is important because it is needed for muscles to relax in between contractions.

The researchers  also found that inhibiting certain HDACs in the muscle could be a way to help animals (and perhaps people) adapt to sustained exercise by increasing the presence of slow muscle fiber types. In addition, they predict that increased expression of slow muscle fiber types may be beneficial to the treatment of diseases that affect muscles such as muscular dystrophy.

Source:

AIM Simmonds, F Seebacher. Histone deacetylase activity modulates exercise-induced skeletal muscle plasticity in zebrafish (Danio rerio). American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. Published 12 April 2017. DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00378.2016

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2qCMRhM

Photo of zebrafish (Danio rerio) by Azul (Own work) [Copyrighted free use], via Wikimedia Commons

We all know that aerobic exercise is good for us because it helps improve muscle function and our ability to move well. For fish, aerobic exercise helps animals escape predators, catch prey as well as improve reproduction success. When we exercise, our muscles adapt by altering the metabolism of energy, the way calcium is handled as well as the type of contractile proteins present in the muscle. Together these changes alter how muscles contract. Histone deacetylases (HDAC) are known to change gene expression rather quickly. For this reason, researchers wanted to know if HDAC were responsible for causing short term changes in muscles of exercising zebrafish (Danio rerio). Their findings were published last month in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.  Fish that were able to sustain swimming exercise had higher aerobic metabolism and calcium handling as well as more slow contractile muscle fibers than fish that were better at sprinting. For fish that were were good at sprinting exercise, four weeks of aerobic exercise training (not surprisingly) improved their ability to perform endurance exercise. The switch to becoming more tolerant of endurance exercise (i.e resistant to fatigue) happened in two ways: their muscles made more ATP, while the muscle demand for ATP was reduced. If you recall, ATP is important because it is needed for muscles to relax in between contractions.

The researchers  also found that inhibiting certain HDACs in the muscle could be a way to help animals (and perhaps people) adapt to sustained exercise by increasing the presence of slow muscle fiber types. In addition, they predict that increased expression of slow muscle fiber types may be beneficial to the treatment of diseases that affect muscles such as muscular dystrophy.

Source:

AIM Simmonds, F Seebacher. Histone deacetylase activity modulates exercise-induced skeletal muscle plasticity in zebrafish (Danio rerio). American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. Published 12 April 2017. DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00378.2016

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2qCMRhM