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Aerial refueling is an incredibly difficult procedure that requires precision controls and flawless teamwork conducted by a number of highly-trained military aviators. Given how difficult the maneuver can be, understandably, the situation does not always go as planned.
Check out some unfortunate mid-air refueling mishaps in the compilation video below.
Aerial refueling requires at least two aircraft to fly in tandem with one another. The larger of the two, a tanker, will extend its fueling hose out towards the aircraft in need. The second plane, often a fighter jet or combat aircraft, then must attach itself to the fueling hose – all while maintaining a constant speed and altitude.
If successful, the entire process can take just a couple of minutes. The delicate procedure is invaluable in allowing military aircraft to extend their flying range, continue engaging targets without landing, or avoiding hotspots altogether.
When things go wrong with the aerial fueling process, the situation can quickly become dangerous. In the best-case scenario, a missed fuel hose will spill hundreds of gallons of jet fuel into the air before the flight crew can regain control of the situation.
If things take a turn for the worst, the two aircraft involved in the refueling process could even collide. After all, the aircraft must maintain a close enough distance to one another in order to successfully attach themselves for the fuel transfer.
In the video, the mishaps mainly involve missed fueling lines. If the pilots cannot come together properly and successfully refuel, the two aircraft will usually distance themselves in order to reset and try again. Fortunately, the pilots are not alone. An aerial refueling procedure usually includes multiple spotters and other crewmen directing the entire operation. Sometimes, a third or fourth aircraft will fly nearby as well to offer an additional set of eyes.
Aerial refueling began as an experiment in the mid-1920s when pilots wanted to attempt record-breaking long-distance flights. By the end of the 1930s, the process was refined and proved successful. In 1949, it allowed for the first non-stop circumnavigation of the globe.
Today, many different forms of aerial refueling exist and assist in allowing military from all over the world to fly farther and longer in various situations. | <urn:uuid:5674d375-b5c8-4941-a37c-be13e41031f4> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://americanmilitarynews.com/2017/02/watch-the-biggest-air-refueling-mishaps-ever-caught-on-video/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141685797.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201231155-20201202021155-00041.warc.gz | en | 0.953577 | 456 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Paleontology takes patience. Even though we live during a time of frenetic fossil activity, the process of finding, excavating, preparing, studying, and describing previously-unknown creatures from Deep Time often takes years. And that's just when things go smoothly. Sometimes extinct species get hung up in scientific limbo, waiting even longer to receive their names. That's what happened to Gengasaurus nicosiai.
Named for the Italian town where it was found and the paleontologist who prepared the nearly-complete skeleton, Gengasaurus nicosiai was a big-eyed ichthyosaur that swooped through Jurassic seas around 152 million years ago. Its body was found in 1976, one of the most complete "fish lizards" ever found in Italy, but, as paleontologist Ilaria Paparella and coauthors explain in their paper describing the seagoing reptile, the fossil was forgotten about for two decades before expert Umberto Nicosia set about cleaning up the old bones. Another twenty years later, Paparella have recognized "L’Ittiosauro di Genga" as something new to science.
Gengasaurus is one of the ophthalmosauid icthyosaurs. This is a specific group of the shark-like marine reptiles that was widespread through Late Jurassic oceans. And in addition to upping the ichthyosaur count by one, the relationships of Gengasaurus to other ichthyosaurs underscores longstanding questions about how these marine reptiles moved around the planet.
Ichthyosaurs like Gengasaurus have often thought to be fast-swimming, migratory animals, Paparella and coauthors write, but the emerging picture is that many ichthyosaur species have narrow geographic ranges. Rather than being global swimmers, many Late Jurassic ichthyosaur species may have patrolled smaller areas, evolutionary convergence creating a false image of global travelers. The full story of the Jurassic seas has yet to be drawn from the reptiles who called the ancient waters home.
Name: Gengasaurus nicosiai
Meaning: Gengasaurus means "Genga lizard", after the town where the fossil was found, while nicosiai honors Italian paleontologist Umberto Nicosia.
Age: Jurassic, around 152 million years old.
Where in the world?: Camponocecchio, Italy.
What sort of critter?: An ichthyosaur belonging to a big-eyed group called ophthalmosaurids.
Size: Over eight feet long.
How much of the creature’s body is known?: A nearly-complete skeleton of one individual.
Paparella, I., Maxwell, E., Cipriani, A., Roncacè, S., Caldwell, M. 2016. The first ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur from the Upper Jurassic of the Umbrian–Marchean Apennines (Marche, Central Italy). Geological Magazine. doi: 10.1017/S0016756816000455
Previous Paleo Profiles: | <urn:uuid:6cedeb96-0e32-40cb-a33c-d5e0827bdea6> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/laelaps/paleo-profile-the-genga-lizard/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141168074.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20201123211528-20201124001528-00561.warc.gz | en | 0.911226 | 647 | 3.5 | 4 |
On December 12, 2019 the United States Senate adopted Resolution 150 to officially recognize and remember the genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians, Greek, Assyrian, Chaldean, Syriac, Aramean, Maronite and other religious minority subjects. The resolution calls on the commemoration of the genocide through education and public understanding, while explicitly rejecting denial by the United States Government of the Armenian Genocide, or any other genocide.
Eyewitness accounts from foreign workers in the Ottoman Empire of arbitrary arrests, forced labor, massacres, rape, plunder and death marches of entire communities into the desert were forwarded to United States Ambassador Henry Morgenthau Sr. in Constantinople, who called the acts “a campaign of race extermination.” During World War II such atrocities were given a name: genocide.
Co-sponsored by Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the text of the resolution mirrors that of House Resolution 296 passed on October 29, 2019. In support of the resolution Senator Cruz declared, “We have a moral duty to acknowledge what happened to 1.5 million innocent souls. It’s the right thing to do.”
The unanimous recognition of the genocide by the Senate commemorates the historic American response to one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the twentieth century and honors the legacy of the heroic leaders and relief workers of Near East Relief.
The Near East Relief Historical Society is grateful for this renewed acknowledgment of the victims of the genocide and the tragedies endured by the survivors. The resolution stands as an important reminder of America’s commitment to the humanitarian values of compassion and justice for all. | <urn:uuid:9101d347-8ccd-497b-86ee-9df7d3dad9df> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://neareastmuseum.com/2019/12/13/unanimous-senate-resolution-150-recognizing-and-remembering-the-armenian-genocide/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141181179.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20201125041943-20201125071943-00641.warc.gz | en | 0.914878 | 334 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Fifteen-year-old Sarafina, a female student in the capital city of Liberia, had a distressing problem at school: Her math teacher refused to give her a report card unless she had sex with him.
Enter UNICEF’s U-Report, a social reporting bot that enables young people in developing countries to report issues in their community via SMS and other messaging platforms. U-Report polled 13,000 users in Liberia to ask if teachers at their schools were exchanging grades for sex. An astonishing 86 percent of reporters said yes.
Within a week of the U-Report discovery of the “Sex 4 Grades” epidemic, help hotlines around the country were inundated with reports of child abuse. Simply exposing a pervasive taboo inspired victims to speak up and reach out for help. Since then, UNICEF and Liberia’s Minister of Education have collaborated on a plan to stop the issue.
“U-Report is not just about getting questions answered, but getting answers back out,” explains Chris Fabian, co-lead of UNICEF’s Innovation Unit. “We get responses in real time to use the data for policy change.” With over 2.6 million U-Reporters worldwide and deep expertise building technology for developing economies, the U-Report team is uniquely positioned to tackle challenging social issues like violence against children, HIV/AIDs policy, climate change, and war and conflict. | <urn:uuid:5b26d784-aecf-49d1-a21b-a145e642c142> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.climatechangenewsservice.org/single-post/2016/11/12/Online-Humanitarian-Bots-Can-Even-Help-Climate-Change-Efforts-Not-Just-Parking-Tickets | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141188800.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126142720-20201126172720-00001.warc.gz | en | 0.952486 | 300 | 2.71875 | 3 |
The 16-story Ingalls Building, still in use today, was the world's first reinforced concrete skyscraper. Its success led to the acceptance of high-rise concrete construction in the United States.
Melville E. Ingalls, for whom the building is named, spent two years convincing city officials to issue a building permit. Skepticism was high, because the existing height record for a concrete building was only six stories.
Ingalls knew that Ernest L. Ransome had been using reinforced concrete since the mid-1800s, analyzing ways to increase its strength. In 1884, Ransome patented the use of twisted steel bars for the reinforcing of concrete. His pioneering efforts helped establish the viability of concrete for large, multi-level buildings.
The 210-foot-high building was designed to act as a monolithic unit, with each floor slab providing a rigid diaphragm to steady the building from wind loads. | <urn:uuid:2eac97bb-f4e3-42e4-8af5-343bfdde27a2> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.inventionandtech.com/landmark_landing/80255 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141686635.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20201202021743-20201202051743-00321.warc.gz | en | 0.969169 | 191 | 3.796875 | 4 |
The farther smokers live from cigarette retailers, the more likely they are to quit, based on results of a longitudinal Finnish study of nearly 21,000 smokers.
Published in JAMA Internal Medicine, this study looked at the association between residential access to cigarettes and smoking status. Many studies suggest that easier access to cigarettes increases chances of smoking, but findings have been inconsistent.
To learn more, researchers analyzed data from the Finnish Public Sector study and the Health and Social Support study. The Finnish Public Sector study included employees from various occupations in Finland, while the Social Support Study included a representative sample of the Finnish population. Together, both studies included a total of 20,729 past or present smokers, all of which completed periodic surveys on health and lifestyle between 2003 and 2012.
Based on survey responses, 8,349 participants were smokers and 12,380 were ex-smokers at the beginning of the study. After following participants for up to nine years, researchers found that nearly one-third of smokers quit over the study period, while 7% of ex-smokers relapsed.
Similar to past findings, distance to the nearest tobacco outlet had a significant impact on chances of quitting. Among smokers, every 1/3 mile increase in distance from home to tobacco outlet was associated with a 16% increase in chances of quitting, after taking into account factors like income and health status.
However, researchers note that there was no significant association between access to tobacco outlets and chances of smoking relapse among ex-smokers.
Based on findings, authors believe that reducing access to tobacco outlets in residential areas could be a useful tool to combat smoking. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and reducing smoking is a major public health goal in the U.S. and worldwide. While education is a key component of anti-smoking efforts, policy change is also needed to tip the scale when it comes to ending smoking. Reducing the number of stores that sell cigarettes, particularly in residential areas, may offer yet another way to help eliminate smoking and improve America’s health. | <urn:uuid:03d8cb44-1e2d-4b79-87a9-03d827d58456> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.cardiosmart.org/news/2016/9/living-farther-from-cigarette-outlets-increases-chances-of-quitting-smoking | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141182776.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20201125100409-20201125130409-00201.warc.gz | en | 0.960457 | 420 | 3.25 | 3 |
Wispy arms swirling out from a bright, elongated core distinguish a particular kind of spiral galaxy known as a barred spiral, seen here in this Hubble Space Telescope image.
July 17 | 2017
Residing about 30 million light-years away in the northern constellation of Lynx, this galaxy was first discovered by British astronomer William Herschel over 200 years ago. Barred spirals are actually more common than was once thought. Around two-thirds of all spiral galaxies – including the Milky Way – exhibit these straight bars cutting through their centers. These cosmic structures act as glowing nurseries for newborn stars, and funnel material towards the active core of a galaxy. This galaxy is still actively forming new stars, although this process appears to be occurring very unevenly. The upper half of the galaxy – where the spiral arms are slightly better defined – hosts many more star-forming regions than the lower half, as indicated by the bright, dotted islands of light. Credit: ESA/Hubble/NASA | <urn:uuid:e7b9bfd2-c404-45b5-b4ff-de592904834c> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://sergeyyushkeev.rebelmouse.com/wispy-arms-swirling-out-from-a-bright-elongated-core-distinguish-a-par | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141188899.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126171830-20201126201830-00281.warc.gz | en | 0.955087 | 200 | 3.953125 | 4 |
The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Black Death in the 1340s, the high taxes resulting from the conflict with France during the Hundred Years' War, and instability within the local leadership of London. The final trigger for the revolt was the intervention of a royal official, John Bampton, in Essex on 30 May 1381. His attempts to collect unpaid poll taxes in Brentwood ended in a violent confrontation, which rapidly spread across the south-east of the country. A wide spectrum of rural society, including many local artisans and village officials, rose up in protest, burning court records and opening the local gaols. The rebels sought a reduction in taxation, an end to the system of unfree labour known as serfdom, and the removal of the King's senior officials and law courts.
Inspired by the sermons of the radical cleric John Ball and led by Wat Tyler, a contingent of Kentish rebels advanced on London. They were met at Blackheath by representatives of the royal government, who unsuccessfully attempted to persuade them to return home. King Richard II, then aged 14, retreated to the safety of the Tower of London, but most of the royal forces were abroad or in northern England. On 13 June, the rebels entered London and, joined by many local townsfolk, attacked the gaols, destroyed the Savoy Palace, set fire to law books and buildings in the Temple, and killed anyone associated with the royal government. The following day, Richard met the rebels at Mile End and acceded to most of their demands, including the abolition of serfdom. Meanwhile, rebels entered the Tower of London, killing the Lord Chancellor and the Lord High Treasurer, whom they found inside. | <urn:uuid:7b86d331-54d5-4b74-b8dc-a7de9fa22dfb> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/257093-2019-03-04-peasants-revolt.htm?EdNo=001&From=RSS | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141194982.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128011115-20201128041115-00361.warc.gz | en | 0.968859 | 355 | 4.21875 | 4 |
A new, comprehensive analysis of mountaintop removal mining, which is common in the Appalachian region of the United States, shows that its environmental effects extend to the hydrology of its surroundings, ruining streams and the ecosystems they support. Technically known as "mountaintop mining with valley fills" (MTM/VF), it consists of stripping away forests and topsoil from the tops of mountains and then using explosives to break through rocks that cover the coal inside the mountain. The resulting rocks are then pushed away into valleys, where they interfere with and often bury existing streams.
It's not all that surprising that clean water, and a lot of it, is important to ecosystems; research shows that if these activities disrupt as little as 5-10 percent of a watershed's area, they can cause irreversible changes to the ecosystem. The reduced flow of streams that get buried by valley fills can kill off plants and trees in an area with high biodiversity. This loss of flora also results in a landscape that is less effective at handling runoff water, leading to an increase in the frequency and magnitude of downstream flooding.
Streams that continue to flow are polluted with various chemicals and metals from the mountaintop rocks. Increases in sulfate cause stream microbes to create more hydrogen sulfide, which is toxic to many aquatic plants and organisms. Selenium accumulation causes deformities and lethality in fish, which in turn poison the birds that eat them. Humans in the area are also affected by the dirty streams and the elevated levels of airborne, hazardous dust that results from mining. Studies have found elevated levels of hospitalization for pulmonary disorders and hypertension, as well as increased mortality in the region.
Reclamation of the areas appears to be ineffective, with soils still having low organic and nutrient content and little to no regrowth of woody vegetation afterward. Reclamation often involves rebuilding streams, but the new ones carry chemicals released by the rock debris, and don't integrate into the radically altered environment.
The sum of these problems add significantly to the externalized costs of coal use for power generation. Because of the huge impact, the scientists behind the report are recommending that the government stops issuing MTV/VF permits until new methods to address these problems can be developed and subjected to rigorous review.
Science, 2010. DOI: 10.1126/science.1180543
photo courtesy of Vivian Stockman | <urn:uuid:62993d40-69a8-4e20-80c1-c3f9877d7871> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://arstechnica.com/science/2010/01/mountaintop-coal-mining-harmful-to-valley-ecosystems/?comments=1&post=54206 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141486017.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20201130192020-20201130222020-00521.warc.gz | en | 0.958427 | 483 | 3.703125 | 4 |
The food distribution industry in California is seeking accommodation regarding a labeling matter, contending that state law mandating a specific outcome is overly arduous and unfeasible from any practical perspective.
The subject matter surrounding what seems to be a growing debate is Bisphenol A, a synthetic compound widely used in product manufacturing involving plastics. Bisphenol A is a chemical and has special utility in the lining of bottled and canned foods. Essentially, the chemical serves as a coating/sealant that isolates foods and liquids from the insides of containers.
As noted in a recent article discussing Bisphenol A and labeling requirements for products containing the chemical, a demonstrated link reportedly exists between the compound and adverse effects in the reproductive systems of women.
And that nexus is sufficiently apparent to enough state officials that they added the chemical in 2015 to a list of toxic components that require special labeling.
Specifically, applicable law mandates that the potential danger posed by Bisphenol A must be disclosed on either product labels or store shelves where products are displayed that contain the chemical.
Food industry spokespersons say that such a requirement is flatly onerous and unworkable, given the millions of cans already on shelves in California stores.
State environmental officials agree, stating that a more logical response to the concern would be the placement of warning signs at store cash registers.
At least one environmental group advocating for consumers has responded that the register-based solution would be ineffective. That organization states that the food industry has already been given considerable time to adjust and should be forced to abide by the labeling requirement.
The matter continues to unfold, with officials presently considering an industry request for an extension — essentially a moratorium — on a duty to act.
We will keep readers duly apprised of any material developments that emerge in the matter. | <urn:uuid:732479c2-e6dd-4ce4-a49e-74162d3cfd8d> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.caufieldjames.com/blog/2016/03/food-industry-chemical-under-a-spotlight-in-california/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141486017.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20201130192020-20201130222020-00521.warc.gz | en | 0.944878 | 372 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Estuarine water clarity is determined by suspended materials in the water, including colored dissolved organic matter, phytoplankton, sediment, and detritus. These constituents directly affect temperature because when water is opaque, sunlight heats only the shallowest layers near the surface, but when water is clear, sunlight can penetrate deeper, warming the waters below the surface. Despite the importance of accurately predicting temperature variability, many numerical modeling studies do not adequately parameterize this fundamental relationship between water clarity and temperature.
In a recent study published in Estuaries and Coasts, the authors quantified the impact of a more realistic representation of water clarity in a model of the Chesapeake Bay by comparing two simulations: (1) water clarity is constant in space and time for the calculation of solar heating vs. (2) water clarity varies with modeled concentrations of light-attenuating materials. In the variable water clarity simulation (2), the water is more opaque, particularly in the northern region of the Bay. During the spring and summer months, the lower water clarity in the northern Bay is associated with warmer surface temperatures and colder bottom temperatures. Warmer surface temperatures encourage phytoplankton growth and nutrient uptake near the head of the Bay, thus fewer nutrients are transported downstream. These conditions are exacerbated during high-river flow years, when differences in temperature, nutrients, phytoplankton, and zooplankton extend further seaward.This work demonstrates that a constant light attenuation scheme for heating calculations in coupled models underestimates temperature variability, both temporally and spatially. This is an important finding for researchers who use models to predict future temperature variability and associated impacts on biogeochemistry and species habitability.
Grace E. Kim (NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center)
Pierre St-Laurent (VIMS, William & Mary)
Marjorie A.M. Friedrichs (VIMS, William & Mary)
Antonio Mannino (NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center) | <urn:uuid:3b80e81b-eac3-416a-a849-b67799ca5d2c> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.us-ocb.org/tag/sediments/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141746320.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20201205044004-20201205074004-00041.warc.gz | en | 0.874074 | 426 | 3.828125 | 4 |
Bringing together the work of scholars in many disciplines, Women in the Metropolis provides a comprehensive introduction to women's experience of modernism and urbanization in Weimar Germany. It shows women as active participants in artistic, social, and political movements and documents the wide range of their responses to the multifaceted urban culture of Berlin in the 1920s and 1930s.
Examining a variety of media ranging from scientific writings to literature and the visual arts, the authors trace gendered discourses as they developed to make sense of and regulate emerging new images of femininity. Besides treating classic films such as Metropolis and Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, the articles discuss other forms of mass culture, including the fashion industry and the revue performances of Josephine Baker. Their emphasis on women's critical involvement in the construction of their own modernity illustrates the significance of the Weimar cultural experience and its relevance to contemporary gender, German, film, and cultural studies. | <urn:uuid:ef3c9fa8-db6b-439b-82ad-11779aab0553> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520204652/women-in-the-metropolis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141171126.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124053841-20201124083841-00401.warc.gz | en | 0.936572 | 195 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Mercury is a widespread and pervasive contaminant, and chronic exposure to mercury can impair host immune defense and susceptibility to infections. However, the relationship between mercury and immunity is unknown for bats, which appear immunologically distinct from other mammals and are reservoirs of many pathogens important to human and animal health. Our study quantified mercury in hair collected from blood-feeding vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) in two populations from Belize. Bats that foraged more consistently on domestic animals exhibited higher mercury. However, relationships between diet and mercury were evident only in 2015 but not in 2014, which could reflect recent environmental perturbations associated with agriculture. Mercury concentrations were low relative to values observed in other bat species but still correlated with vampire bat immunity. Bats with higher mercury had more neutrophils, weaker bacterial killing ability, and impaired innate immunity. These patterns suggest that temporal variation in mercury exposure may impair bat innate immunity and increase susceptibility to pathogens such as bacteria. Unexpected associations between low-level mercury exposure and immune function underscore the need to better understand the environmental sources of mercury exposure in bats and the consequences for bat immunity and susceptibility
Read the full article at
Becker, D.J., Chumchal, M.M., Bentz, A.B., Platt, S.G., Czirják, G.Á., Rainwater, T.R., Altizer, S., and Streicker, D.G. (2017). Predictors and immunological correlates of sublethal mercury exposure in vampire bats. Royal Society Open Science 4, 170073. | <urn:uuid:bf98c134-5ecd-420f-85df-558e7bcdf259> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | http://gsa.ecology.uga.edu/predictors-and-immunological-correlates-of-sublethal-mercury-exposure-in-vampire-bats/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141182794.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20201125125427-20201125155427-00481.warc.gz | en | 0.924172 | 341 | 3.65625 | 4 |
Beyond the Big Bang body
Perhaps more than any other scientific discipline, modern physics has revolutionized our understanding of the cosmos by tackling a number of age-old existential questions: How did the universe begin? How can something emerge from nothing? What is the fabric of reality? Why do the laws of physics seem to be uniquely suited for life on Earth? Do we live in a deterministic universe? For all its successes, physics has also uncovered new mysteries, from dark energy and dark matter to the perplexing properties of quantum mechanics and the possibility of multiple universes. While new discoveries have pushed us to the frontiers of science, they have also raised fundamental questions regarding what physics can ultimately reveal about the nature of our reality.
The great revolutions that shook 20th century physics transformed familiar ideas such as space and time, opening new pathways for understanding and interacting with the world around us. Today, however, we are left to wonder how to relate to dark matter, black holes, or the multiverse—concepts that appear to be wholly disconnected from us. Has modern physics lost touch with our basic intellectual and existential concerns? Can physics help us to understand what it means to be human, or are we merely insignificant specks in the cosmos? What, in other words, is the human significance of contemporary physics?
Moderated by Steve Paulson, journalist and Executive Producer of Wisconsin Public Radio’s To the Best of Our Knowledge, this intriguing three-part series brings together a wide array of leading physicists, philosophers, historians, and writers to explore the multiple scientific and philosophical dimensions suggested by modern physics, with an emphasis on understanding how recent scientific advances impact our enduring search for meaning. In doing so, the series will analyze and reflect upon the wider implications of these discoveries in a manner that seeks to render them more accessible to our daily lives.
Registration — Individual Lecture Prices
|Nonmember (Student / Postdoc / Resident / Fellow)||$7|
You may purchase tickets to each event by clicking on the links below. | <urn:uuid:3993c5ae-681d-4c2e-b393-d63e65b9eb0d> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.nyas.org/related-contents/beyond-the-big-bang-body/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141201836.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20201129153900-20201129183900-00001.warc.gz | en | 0.921519 | 412 | 2.734375 | 3 |
This letter, folded to create its own mailing envelope, bears the word “Free” and the signature of Representative David Cobb. That pairing signals an early use of the “franking privilege,” which granted free postage for official business to Members of Congress. Congressman Cobb simply marked mail with an official signature and “free,” and posted it. The custom began in 1775 with the First Continental Congress. In this case, Cobb wrote to Elkanah Watson, a longtime supporter of canals and farming, to answer his questions about regulation of trade. | <urn:uuid:1e048019-a9ff-4927-a688-843f9a768c98> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://history.house.gov/Collection/Detail/15032397008?current_search_qs=%3Fid%3D15032449327%26amp%253bPreviousSearch%3DSearch%252cTitle%26amp%253bCurrentPage%3D4%26amp%253bSortOrder%3DTitle%26amp%253bResultType%3DGrid%26amp%253bCommand%3DPrev%26PreviousSearch%3DSearch%252cTitle%26CurrentPage%3D1%26SortOrder%3DTitle%26ResultType%3DList%26Command%3DDate | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141708017.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20201202113815-20201202143815-00161.warc.gz | en | 0.961004 | 117 | 2.875 | 3 |
In the 1890s in Hawaii, as American businessmen and politicians wrested political control from the native Hawaiian queen Liliʻuokalani and petitioned the American government for annexation, groups of native Hawaiians organized to protest the push for the islands to join with the United States. Below, two pages of a petition against annexation show how organized and widespread that movement eventually became.
The entire document, which you can see in the National Archives’ digital repository, is 556 pages long. The organizers, working for the groups Hui Hawaii Aloha Aina (Hawaiian Patriotic League) and Hui Hawaii Aloha Aina o Na Wahine (the Patriotic League’s female wing) got 21,269 native Hawaiians to sign. The number represented more than half of the native population, as counted by a census that year.
The petition is headed in Hawaiian and English, and there are separate pages for men and women. A column recording the ages of signatories attests to the intergenerational appeal of the effort.
Delegates representing the two organizations brought the completed petition to Washington, lobbying the Senate from December 1897 through February, 1898. The motion to annex needed a two-thirds majority to pass; only 46 senators were willing to vote for it.
This win was short-lived, however, as the Spanish-American War began around the same time that winter. The Hawaiian Islands gained strategic importance, and the pro-annexation forces saw a chance to use wartime urgency in their favor. Annexation passed as a joint resolution, which required only a majority vote, and became law on July 7, 1898. At that point, Hawaii became an organized incorporated territory of the United States; statehood followed in 1959. | <urn:uuid:0eb5175e-6334-4b9a-a2b0-129148ae2156> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/03/hawaii-annexation-petition-against-annexation-signed-by-half-of-native-hawaiian-population.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141732835.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20201203220448-20201204010448-00241.warc.gz | en | 0.97079 | 358 | 4.0625 | 4 |
I didn’t even know you can smell them! An innocent TikTok video started an unusual debate across social media. The creator asked whether others can smell the disgusting scent of dead ants on the sidewalk. That’s where the chaos began. Some users commented they could, while a whopping majority were left surprised by the fact that ants emit a scent:
Many common species of ants release pungent smells when they are in danger, squished, or otherwise dead, according to Clint Penick, an assistant professor at Kennesaw State University and ant researcher. The most common type of ant that people find in their homes on the East Coast and in the Midwest is called the odorous house ant, and when squished, it releases a pheromone that smells like blue cheese. This odorous chemical belongs to a group of chemical compounds called methyl ketones. It’s also produced by the Penicillium mold that grows on rotting coconuts and it’s what gives blue cheese its distinctive, pungent odor.
But that’s far from the only smelly compound ants produce. Some species, including carpenter ants, spray formic acid, a caustic chemical that smells a lot like vinegar, when they feel threatened. (Some people think that the ability to smell formic acid is genetic, like asparagus, and that might be why some people are more sensitive to this particular ant smell than others.) Citronella ants are named for the distinctive citrusy scent they often produce, and trap-jaw ants release a chocolatey smell when squished. When ants die of natural causes, they also release oleic acid, so dead ants “smell a little something like olive oil,” Penick says.
Image via Popular Science | <urn:uuid:fcecbe32-8f8d-4afb-ac33-d6edb9296472> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.neatorama.com/2020/11/21/Why-Can-Some-People-Smell-Ants/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141732835.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20201203220448-20201204010448-00241.warc.gz | en | 0.937454 | 370 | 3.171875 | 3 |
For this activity, your little one demonstrated how rain falls from clouds with the help of cotton balls, turkey basters, and water. To initiate this activity, your budding meteorologist learned about the physical properties of clouds, how they are created, hold water, and eventually form hurricanes. This activity accessed several areas of development.
By adding water to the cotton balls, each student experimented with a variety of measurement concepts such as volume, density, and weight. As they regarded the varying amount of water seeping from their “clouds”, they experienced the physical components of cause and effect. Lastly, they acquired new language, as they discussed how their clouds changed shape with the added water. | <urn:uuid:f93f8d7c-de12-4d6a-acca-d91cb5d513ec> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://misscarriescorner.com/2014/08/31/clouds-and-a-cotton-ball/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141747323.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20201205074417-20201205104417-00321.warc.gz | en | 0.96812 | 141 | 3.90625 | 4 |
Self-driving still seems to be a ways off from active public use on regular roads, but once it arrives, it could ramp very quickly, according to a new study by the Boston Consulting Group. The study found that by 2030, up to a quarter of driving miles in the U.S. could be handled by self-driving electric vehicles operating in shared service fleets in cities, due mostly to considerable cost savings for urban drivers.
The big change BCG sees is a result of the rise in interest in autonomous technologies, paired with the increased electrification of vehicles. There’s also more pressure on cities to come up with alternate transportation solutions that address increasing congestion. All of that added together could drive reduction in costs by up to 60 percent for drivers who opt into using shared self-driving services vs. owning and operating their own cars.
This won’t result in a precipitous drop in the car sales market, however, according to BCG. Total demand for cars will remain high, but the shift of who owns them and how they’re used will change dramatically, if the report’s findings prove correct – particularly in large cities where the fleets could have ramifications including decreased traffic congestion, but also decreased ridership, which the research firm says could lead to regulated limits on how many self-driving taxi services can operate in a given area.
Ultimately, the dramatic uptake is down to cold, hard cash: BCG says that shared fleets might be able to effectively double discretionary income for the average city-dweller over the course of a year, and we all know fun money is a powerful motivator.
Studies don’t always line up with reality, of course, but it’s clear automakers are investing in and planning for a future in which shared fleet services play a key role in their city-based business. Timelines can easily change, but this looks like a reasonable picture of our eventual future. | <urn:uuid:5ca18bf3-9847-4ed3-81ac-68a895fbf623> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://develop.techcrunch.com/2017/04/10/25-of-u-s-driving-could-be-done-by-self-driving-cars-by-2030-study-finds/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141184123.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20201125183823-20201125213823-00041.warc.gz | en | 0.97018 | 397 | 2.578125 | 3 |
For two weeks in 1956, people who lived near Taipei, Taiwan, were terrified of a mysterious slasher roaming the streets. The fiendish character would surreptitiously slice people as he slipped through crowds or brushed past them. About two dozen folks, most of whom were poor women and children, reported being slashed [source: Bartholomew and Goode].
But then something even stranger happened. After police spoke with the victims, it became clear that there was no mass slasher. Spurred by hysterical news reports, people thought that regular minor cuts on their bodies were the work of a crazed killer. In one case, the "slash" was an old injury which the person had scratched and re-opened.
Such mass hysterias, or collective delusions, are actually quite common. They happen often in places where small, tight-knit groups of people are gathered together and may be under stress — like schools, convents and factories. Young women are the most likely victims. The hysterias generally spread rapidly but are relatively short-lived [sources: Bartholomew and Goode, Dominus].
In medical terms, mass hysteria occurs when people become afflicted with conversion disorder,also called functional neurological symptom disorder. When this happens, a bad scare or stress — something mental or emotional — transforms into a medical issue. There are two types of conversion disorders: anxiety hysteria and motor hysteria. In the former, people develop symptoms such as headaches, dizziness and nausea, typically after perceiving something threatening, such as a foul odor or unusual stain. Hundreds of these cases occur annually in the U.S.
Motor hysteria involves everything from twitching and stuttering to catatonic states and melodramatic outbursts. This is rarer and is often found in restrictive social settings, such as discipline-heavy boarding schools or prisons [sources: Bartholomew and Goode, Dominus, Mayo Clinic].
Mass hysterias have occurred across cultures and throughout time. Here's a chronological look at 10 of the stranger ones. | <urn:uuid:406ed1b3-a8a0-477b-abfb-d216514cc35e> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-events/10-strangest-mass-hysterias.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141184123.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20201125183823-20201125213823-00041.warc.gz | en | 0.967879 | 419 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Furnace waste may find use in longer-lasting concrete
Salt may indeed keep winter roads free of ice, but it also actively degrades them. There may be a way out of the conundrum, however. Drexel University's Dr. Yaghoob Farnam has been experimenting with making "salt-proof" concrete that incorporates waste products generated by coal furnaces and the smelting process.
Ordinarily, regular Portland-style cement contains calcium hydroxide, which reacts with road salt (calcium chloride) to form calcium oxychloride. Unfortunately, calcium oxychloride expands as it forms, creating cracks in the concrete.
Fortunately, though, Farnam believes that fly ash, slag and silica fume could be used to replace the calcium hydroxide. The mixture serves much the same purpose, yet produces very little calcium oxychloride when combined with salt. Additionally, given that the fly ash, etc are currently unwanted and plentiful waste products, concrete made with the mixture should also be cheaper than traditional concrete.
In lab tests, when samples of regular concrete were exposed to road salt, they began degrading in just eight days. By contrast, samples of the fly ash concrete remained undamaged over the same period.
Farnam and his team are also looking at using a protective surface layer of bacteria to prevent calcium oxychloride formation on concrete.
Source: Drexel University | <urn:uuid:1ebb7c2f-aaf1-43e1-a8da-f10a340e3851> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://newatlas.com/fly-ash-concrete/49618/?0000016e-d4b4-d036-a77f-defe204f0000-page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141189038.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127015426-20201127045426-00121.warc.gz | en | 0.939789 | 292 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Researchers prove the security of the Vector Stream Cipher
How do we know if the electronic keys we use in our devices are really secure? While it is possible to rigorously test the strength of a cipher—a kind of digital data lock—there are rarely any definitive proofs of unbreakability. Ciphers are highly complex, and while they may ward off certain attacks, they might be vulnerable to others.
Now, in a series of papers published in IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security and IEICE Nonlinear Theory and Its Applications, researchers from Kyoto University have definitively demonstrated the strength of a cipher based on principles of chaos theory.
The group's Vector Stream Cipher (VSC) is the first example of a 128-bit key chaotic cipher with provable security. "We first developed VSC in 2004 as a simple, fast cipher, and parts of it have already been utilized in the private sector," explains Ken Umeno, leader of the study. "Many theoretical attacks in the past have failed to break it, but until now, we hadn't shown definitive proof of security."
The researchers conducted a number of tests, such as a method to evaluate the lock's randomness. Many ciphers rely on number sequences that appear to be random, but are actually generated through recurring relations that are vulnerable to being reproduced.
"Before evaluating the security of VSC with randomness tests, we found a way to make it significantly more reliable and sensitive," continues Umeno. "We then continued this refinement during the actual investigation."
The research highlights that VSC is not only secure, but structurally simple and low on memory usage compared with existing technology, making it useful for high-density data transmission applications such as in 5G mobile networks and 4K television broadcasts.
Umeno concludes, "Chaotic ciphers have been in use for about 30 years, but before this study we had not expected to find proof of security. We hope that our work will be studied widely and applied throughout our digital world." | <urn:uuid:5aeaae3e-7047-40b4-92b4-bfa5887c0cf0> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://phys.org/news/2017-07-vector-stream-cipher.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141202590.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20201129184455-20201129214455-00281.warc.gz | en | 0.956741 | 415 | 3.296875 | 3 |
Microcracks are tiny cracks, usually invisible to the naked eye, that appear on solar panels after installation. While microcracks generally develop over time through exposure to weather, they are made worse when hotspots develop. Hotspots form on the cells of solar panels when areas are covered by dirt and grime. This puts more stress on the areas that aren't covered, leading to overheating and cracking. Existing microcracks become worse when hotspots remain and new mircrocracks form, dramatically reducing the overall energy efficiency of solar panels. | <urn:uuid:522616e0-b29d-4a0c-8d39-f16c63cf275b> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.originenergy.com.au/solar/maintenance.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141711306.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20201202144450-20201202174450-00441.warc.gz | en | 0.944038 | 112 | 3.140625 | 3 |
The Home and the World
Audie-nominated narrator Deepti Gupta shares a classic love story set among the fires of India’s struggle for independence. Bimala is torn between her commitment to her husband, Nikhil, who holds Western beliefs, and the radical Sandip, a leader of the Swadeshi movement under the British Raj. Bimala finds herself asking what freedom truly means for herself and for her country.
Author, poet, and Nobel laureate, Sir Rabindranath Tagore sets the story on a Bengali noble’s estate in 1908. It is both a love story and a novel of political awakening. Bimala’s attempts to resolve the irreconcilable—pressures of home and the world—reflect the conflict in India itself. The tragic outcome foreshadows the unrest that accompanied Partition in 1947. | <urn:uuid:355bf830-b697-47d1-89d8-82480bd74592> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://townebookcenter.mymustreads.com/id006377797/The-Home-and-the-World | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141176864.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124140942-20201124170942-00241.warc.gz | en | 0.895664 | 180 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Modern medicine has done a great job at creating antibiotics to fight infection — in fact, it might be doing too good of a job. As antibiotic use has spiked over the past century or so, the potential for antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” has grown ever more frightening. Now, new research is helping scientists rethink their approach to antibiotics, and their inspiration comes from a rather unlikely source: platypus milk.
Platypuses are weird animals. With their duck-like bill and rodent-like bodies, the creatures have always been fascinating, and researchers now know that their milk is just as bizarre as the animals themselves. In a new paper published in Structural Biology Communications, Australian scientists reveal the strange properties that give platypus milk incredible antibiotic power, and the breakthrough could yield a new tool for fighting dangerous bacteria.
“The platypus belongs to the monotreme family, a small group of mammals that lay eggs and produce milk to feed their young,” Dr Janet Newman, lead author of the study, explains. “By taking a closer look at their milk, we’ve characterized a new protein that has unique antibacterial properties with the potential to save lives.”
Those unique properties are related to the shape of the protein structure in the milk. By recreating the protein in a laboratory the researchers were able to study it in greater detail, and that’s when they realized just how remarkable it was. The animals have developed an odd, curly fold in their milk protein which led the team to dub it the “Shirley Temple” in honor of the child star’s iconic hair.
The protein’s novel structure is thought to be responsible for its remarkable resistance to bacteria, and the researchers now hope to extend their work by applying this newfound knowledge to antibiotic creation. The next phase of the work will reveal whether the discovery could be meaningful in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
“Although we’ve identified this highly unusual protein as only existing in monotremes, this discovery increases our knowledge of protein structures in general, and will go on to inform other drug discovery work done at the Centre,” Dr Newman says. | <urn:uuid:f72b360d-731c-45a0-94f3-50f2b4806b31> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://bgr.com/2018/03/15/platypus-milk-antibiotic-life-saving-medicine/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195656.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128125557-20201128155557-00481.warc.gz | en | 0.954461 | 454 | 3.46875 | 3 |
On March 7, Mongabay’s Rhett A. Butler released a great feature about jaguars (Panthera onca) in Bolivia. More specifically, the article deals with a ranch that is serving as a bastion of conservation.
The ranch at the center of Butler’s article is called San Miguelito. Run by Duston Larsen and his partner Anai Holzmann, San Miguelito is showing other ranchers that it is possible to coexist with jaguars.
Larsen and Holzmann have invested in ecotourism – allowing guests to pay to visit their ranch and search for wildlife – which diversifies their income. As such, Larsen and Holzmann are better able to absorb the financial losses that occur when jaguars harm their cattle. San Miguelito also experiences far less jaguar predation than it once did.
Larsen and Holzmann have been working with Panthera, the global wildcat conservation organization, to better protect their cattle from jaguars. Taking steps like corralling calves and incorporating water buffalo and Criollo cattle into their herds – both of which are known to stand their ground against predators – has led to a sharp reduction in jaguar attacks; between 2013 and 2018, livestock losses declined by 92% on San Miguelito.
Of course, jaguars cannot survive without suitable habitat. To that end, Larsen and Holzmann are advocating for leaving wider strips of trees in soy fields than the government mandates. While these habitat paths are not as preferable as intact forests, they could serve as corridors that allow jaguars to move throughout human-dominated farmlands.
Forest patches are also good for soy beans, which benefit from the lower temperatures and higher humidities that the trees promote.
All together, San Miguelito is an example of how other ranches in Central and South America might operate. Rather than trying to ‘combat’ nature, Larsen and Holzmann have found ways to benefit both themselves and their local environment. In that regard, San Miguelito may serve as a glimpse into a better future. | <urn:uuid:5483a287-c8f6-4de3-bf87-30abbdf21916> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://thejaguarandallies.com/2019/03/09/a-model-ranch-for-jaguars-in-bolivia/?like_comment=15699&_wpnonce=47c4e0e478 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141203418.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20201129214615-20201130004615-00561.warc.gz | en | 0.9601 | 441 | 2.859375 | 3 |
What Does Rat Scat Look Like?
Property owners in San Jose should always be diligent in regularly inspecting for rat excrement in order to catch infestations early and avoid health problems. Rat droppings can vary in appearance depending on the species, but they are generally 1/2–3/4" in length. Norway rats, the most common home invader, produce droppings with blunted ends, while black rat droppings are pointed.
Signs of Infestation
Rats damage the structural integrity of the buildings they live in and threaten the health of nearby individuals, particularly by urinating and defecating excessively. Other signs of rats include the presence footprints, droppings, scratching noises at night, and finding a burrow system in the yard. Critter Control of San Jose specializes in professional removal of pest animals; Contact Us to schedule an appointment!
Hazards of Rat Feces
If water supplies are contaminated by rat urine or feces, humans are at risk of contracting tularemia, salmonellosis, and leptospirosis. Additionally, breathing in dust contaminated with rodent excrement can lead to hemorrhagic fever. In order to properly clean up affected areas, individuals should always use gloves and protective masks to avoid breathing in particles of rat droppings and dried aerosolized urine.
The process can be tedious and time-consuming because the use of typical cleaning tools is inadvisable. Vacuums, in particular, stir up dust and increase the possibility of disease transfer. Given the dangers of cleanup, contacting pest control specialists is the best option. Professionals effectively remove rat problems and protect residents by properly sanitizing affected areas. Call Critter Control of San Jose for rat assistance today! | <urn:uuid:4c2697f0-acde-4774-bcdc-a0ef0fbc7f3d> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.crittercontrolsanjose.com/wildlife/animals/rats/rat-droppings.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141716970.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20201202205758-20201202235758-00001.warc.gz | en | 0.914232 | 357 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Loggerhead sea turtle populations have a rough time keeping up as it is, but humankind’s excessive use of plastic for just about everything could be making things even tougher on them.
A paper published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin this week by researchers from Florida State University underscores how microplastic pollution hinders the species’ population growth by contaminating its delicate nesting environment.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
"With increasing populations, higher demand for resources and more use of plastic, we're having a lot more plastic and microplastic appearing as marine debris," explained study co-author Mariana Fuentes.
"In these coastal areas, we're seeing significantly more pollution."
The researchers reached their conclusion after surveying ten of Florida’s most prominent loggerhead nesting sites and found evidence for bits of microplastics virtually everywhere they looked.
And to make matters worse, microplastics were most prevalent in the sand dunes that the loggerheads take advantage of for nesting.
Many of the microplastics they found measured no more than just a few millimeters thick, but it’s enough to alter the composition of the sand residing at the nesting sites.
Plastic tends to retain heat, so its presence in the sand impacts the surrounding sand temperature. Given how loggerheads exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination during the incubation period, this excessive heat fluctuation can translate to too many of one gender and make it more challenging for the species to reproduce adequately.
While the situation looks bleak for loggerheads, the researchers seem confident that humankind will be able to reverse the damages before it’s too late. Countless efforts are underway to reduce plastic waste, and this could dramatically slash the amount of plastic pollution found on beaches in the future.
"There is a lot of hope," Fuentes said. "We're beginning to see more and more initiatives providing incentives to discourage the use of plastics. I see my students making those changes every day. It's up to everyone."
Perhaps there’s a light at the end of the tunnel after all…
Source: Florida State University | <urn:uuid:4f4b268e-e273-4489-ac4c-1536c634eae2> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.labroots.com/trending/plants-and-animals/8680/microplastic-pollution-threatens-loggerhead-sea-turtle-nesting-sites | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141716970.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20201202205758-20201202235758-00001.warc.gz | en | 0.934537 | 435 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford made an exciting announcement Monday: the COVID-19 vaccine they developed together appeared up to 90 percent effective at preventing disease. But in the days since, that exciting news melted into a pool of confusion after it became clear that the 90 percent figure came about from a complete accident. Now, experts are scratching their heads over what actually happened in the trial and what it means for the vaccine’s future.
The questions all swirl around the vaccine’s dosage regimen. In initial press releases, AstraZeneca and Oxford explained that researchers had used two different dosage regimens to test their experimental vaccine, AZD1222. In one regimen, trial participants received two “full” vaccine doses, 28 days apart. In the other, participants received a half dose of vaccine followed by a full dose 28 days later.
Pooling results from trials in the United Kingdom and another in Brazil, the researchers found the two-full-dose regimen was 62 percent effective at preventing COVID-19—a good, but not great result. The half-dose/full-dose regimen, on the other hand, appeared 90 percent effective—a rather impressive result. | <urn:uuid:2531d33b-a2db-4059-9d08-bc7ef6a127df> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://hardreboot.net/?cat=1653 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141185851.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126001926-20201126031926-00601.warc.gz | en | 0.947461 | 250 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Lifepac Lang Arts 4th Grade Teacher Guide
Having difficulty explaining parts of speech to your fourth grader? Need a time-saving resource that helps you plan lessons and grade problems in minutes instead of hours? Good news! Alpha Omega Publications has just the thing to help you. It's called the LIFEPAC 4th Grade Language Arts Teacher's Guide! This complete, step-by-step teacher's guide has everything you need to successfully teach your child English concepts in Units 1-10 of the LIFEPAC 4th Grade Language Arts homeschool curriculum. This handy resource has clear, easy-to-follow directions and is packed with many "extra" materials like a LIFEPAC curriculum overview, a weekly lesson planner, a curriculum management section, alternate tests and worksheets, and teacher notes with tips. And, the part all parents love to hear—this must-have, soft-cover Alpha Omega curriculum guide has all the answers for lessons and tests in LIFEPAC 4th Grade Language Arts Student Units 1-10.
That's not all either. The LIFEPAC 4th Grade Language Arts Teacher's Guide has each lesson's objectives, required materials, study pages, and additional activities clearly outlined! This means you can easily enhance your child's grammar and writing lessons with fun supplemental material. Can't you just imagine all the endless hours you'll be able to save when you use this convenient resource? Instead of spending so much time pouring over lesson planning and grading, you'll finally be able to spend more quality time with your child! Now that's something you both deserve. So, really, what's not to love? Order the LIFEPAC 4th Grade Language Arts Teacher's Guide today-and see how much time it can save in your homeschooling schedule! | <urn:uuid:d77685cf-b286-429c-9b1e-cb82440a1abd> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.aopschools.com/Lifepac-Lang-Arts-4th-Grade-Teacher-Guide | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141185851.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126001926-20201126031926-00601.warc.gz | en | 0.93267 | 370 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Beginning with the Gospels, interpretations of the life of Jesus have flourished for nearly two millennia, yet a clear and coherent picture of Jesus as a man has remained elusive. In Rabbi Jesus, the noted biblical scholar Bruce Chilton places Jesus within the context of his times to present a fresh, historically accurate, and revolutionary examination of the man who founded Christianity.
Drawing on recent archaeological findings and new translations and interpretations of ancient texts, Chilton discusses in enlightening detail the philosophical and psychological foundations of Jesus' ideas and beliefs. His in-depth investigation also provides evidence that contradicts long-held beliefs about Jesus and the movement he led. Chilton shows, for example, that the High Priest Caiaphas, as well as Pontius Pilate, played a central role in Jesus' execution. It is, however, Chilton's description of Jesus' role as a rabbi, or "master," of Jewish oral traditions, as a teacher of the Cabala, and as a practitioner of a Galilean form of Judaism that emphasized direct communication with God that casts an entirely new light on the origins of Christianity.
Seamlessly merging history and biography, this penetrating, highly readable book uncovers truths lost to the passage of time and reveals a new Jesus for the new millennium. | <urn:uuid:be50fcbb-2382-43f3-96f4-bc485c8d02d0> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.recordedbooks.com/title-details/9780385505444 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195745.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128184858-20201128214858-00041.warc.gz | en | 0.941837 | 259 | 2.734375 | 3 |
The possibilities of wood as a primary material for all sorts of applications is explored in a project called ‘Hello Wood,’ an annual event in the fields of Hungary that invites students to create unusual outdoor installations. This year’s theme was ‘playing with balance,’ exploring the interaction of opposite forces. The results are pretty incredible, from an elevated walkway made of criss-crossing lumber to a set of wooden games for kids and adults alike.
‘Cornwalk’ (pictured top) is a ramp that rises above a cornfield to face the point where the sun sets, offering an ideal vantage point. It makes use of a simple repeating A-frame gradually increasing in height. The playground by Architecture Uncomfortable Workshop uses simple wooden objects to create new games, often requiring improvisation on the part of participants.
A project by András Cseh of CZITA Architects makes tongue-in-cheek reference to the opposites of low-tech materials and high-tech concepts by building a ‘wooden spaceship.’
The flexibility of thin strips of wood is put on display with the Mochi installation led by Pep Tornabell of CODA, creating lightweight but self-supporting structures. See all of the entries over at ArchDaily. | <urn:uuid:f5ee0f1e-5b84-4e80-bbd8-186095eaf856> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://easternwhitepine.org/hello-wood-students-create-stunning-outdoor-installations/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141205147.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20201130035203-20201130065203-00121.warc.gz | en | 0.934765 | 269 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Stockton-on-Tees seems like your basic British market town with a history dating back to the 12th century. You’ve got your lovely rowhouses, your pleasant parks, and your 18th century ship replica. It’s very charming!
Naturally, there’s a network of mysterious underground tunnels beneath the city, reports the Teesside Gazette.
A Georgian townhouse in the center of town was slated for renovations, and in the process, the owner discovered a series of crumbling rooms and tunnels underneath the house.
The most striking part of the rooms is the details: there are cut-outs in the wall to hold candles, doorways still framed with aging wood, and windows with intact glass panes.
The tunnels, though, are more mysterious: tight and filled with rubble, it’s not clear where they lead.
It looks like there once would have been street access to this underground network, and Jeff Highfield, the building’s owner, has a few ideas about what the rooms and tunnels might have been used for. There’s a larder, and perhaps servants lived in these basement rooms.
Another possibility: these rooms were used to store cows. The cattle market was right across the street, and it would have been a convenient place to store animals. The tunnels could have been “cow tunnels,” used as passageways for cows so that they wouldn’t create traffic above.
These tunnels are just one part of a wider network, locals says. “We all know or have heard stories about the underground tunnel system beneath the High Street,” one commented on Facebook. One is supposed to pass through a local park and once might have connected to the river. The stories about those tunnels propose much more exciting users than cows, though—smugglers, Vikings, and Romans. When your town has been around for almost a millennium, you never know who was digging secret tunnels underneath it. | <urn:uuid:ece87ab0-3954-4540-ad2d-271f74a443e2> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/found-a-centuriesold-network-of-secret-underground-tunnels | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141674594.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201135627-20201201165627-00201.warc.gz | en | 0.972542 | 409 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Compiled by the late Hopkins, this stirring poetry collection celebrates the breadth and diversity of the American experience, including contributions from two Young People’s Poet Laureates (Margarita Engle and Naomi Shihab Nye), a Newbery winner (Kwame Alexander), and winners of Coretta Scott King and Pura Belpré Awards (Carole Boston Weatherford and Guadalupe Garcia McCall). Their poems touch on racism, biculturalism, and class, with a running theme of family heritage, fond childhood memories, and connection to identity. Many selections are laced with the pain of never quite fitting in and the danger of feeling like “the other.” In Marilyn Nelson’s “Route 66,” she writes about childhood road trips: “I sit behind Daddy’s beautiful close-shorn head / and his broad, strong uniform-blue shoulders, / loving him, and feeling fear for his life. /What if somebody who hates black people / drives past our car and shoots him in the head?” Short glossary entries cover terms that children may not be familiar with and translations of non-English words, plus quotations from the contributors about their inspirations or thoughts on poetry, as well as short biographies. Done in each artist’s signature style, the illustrations highlight each poem’s message, making entries even more poignant and thought-provoking. A gorgeous must-have for all poetry units and an excellent collection for all libraries. | <urn:uuid:0fee309d-9dfe-403a-9397-c4bc5e8d2f6b> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.leeandlow.com/books/i-remember/reviews/3317 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141674594.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201135627-20201201165627-00201.warc.gz | en | 0.920037 | 310 | 3.046875 | 3 |
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Black Eden chronicles the history of Idlewild, a Michigan black community founded during the aftermath of the Civil War. As one of the nation’s most popular black resorts, Idlewild functioned as a gathering place for African Americans, and more importantly as a touchstone of black identity and culture. Benjamin C. Wilson and Lewis Walker examine Idlewild’s significance within a historical context, as well as the town’s revitalization efforts and the need for comprehensive planning in future development. In a segregated America, Idlewild became a place where black audiences could see rising black entertainers.
Profusely illustrated with photos from the authors’ personal collections, Black Eden provides a lengthy discussion about the crucial role that Idlewild played in the careers of artists such as Louis Armstrong, B. B. King, Sammy Davis Jr., Jackie Wilson, Aretha Franklin, and Della Reese. Fundamentally, the book explores issues involved in living in a segregated society, the consequences of the civil rights movement, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and subsequent integration, and the consequences of integration vs. racial solidarity. The authors ask: Did integration kill Idlewild?, suggesting rather that other factors contributed to its decline. | <urn:uuid:01a0f78d-a540-4d31-b745-0393238a8630> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.bibliovault.org/BV.book.epl?ISBN=9780870138041 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141717601.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20201203000447-20201203030447-00281.warc.gz | en | 0.931757 | 251 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Astronomers keep hearing unexplained, extremely powerful signals from the far reaches of space — signals that come by loud and clear for a thousandth of a second after which mysteriously disappear. First found in 2007, “these pulses are often known as quick radio bursts”, and so they stay one of many universe’s largest mysteries. Dozens of the enigmatic cosmic signals have been detected, and astronomers have puzzled over them for the past decade, making an attempt to decode where they arrive from — and what causes them.
In a historic first, an international team of researchers has pinpointed the location of a non-repeating fast radio burst, discovering its supply originates in the outskirts of a galaxy 4 billion light-years away.
The monumental findings, revealed in AAAS journal Science on Thursday, detail the discovery and localization of FRB 180924, a powerful, one-off fast radio burst that lasted for just a fraction of a second. Speculation about the reason for the bizarre signals takes in everything from explosive neutron stars to alien spacecraft, and whereas we’re nonetheless unsure what’s causing them, the revelation puts astronomers one step nearer to their true nature.
The burst was picked up by the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, which consists of 36 radio telescopes working in tandem to scan the sky and pay attention for radio alerts. Situated in the Australian outback, where there’s little radio interference, ASKAP is ready to pick up the faintest whispers of the universe. The burst traveled from the other side of the universe, smacking into ASKAP’s array — and within half a second, the machine stopped the search and downloaded the data from each of the 36 dishes.
The burst hits each dish a totally different time. In a ridiculous feat of engineering, the team can calculate the difference in arrival time to within one-tenth of a nanosecond. That permits their detective work to begin, tracing the place to a spot in the sky essentially plucking a needle from a haystack. | <urn:uuid:444bc212-f09f-4a71-899e-296710d325b0> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://inherentnews.com/astronomers-received-a-mysterious-cosmic-radio-burst-the-inherent-news/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141750841.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20201205211729-20201206001729-00441.warc.gz | en | 0.929259 | 420 | 3.203125 | 3 |
These 297 acres are a component of the Rochester Park System designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., beginning in 1888, with a general plan created in 1893. Olmsted designed the park to provide public access to the Genesee River while also preserving the area from encroaching development. His original master plan called for tree-lined carriage drives on both sides of the canyon, and a circulation network of paths that sensitively minimized disturbance from grading. Dense plantings along the gorge served to prevent erosion and reduce the risk of falling debris. A series of overlooks provided scenic views from 200 feet above the river. In the early twentieth century, park leaders, influenced by the City Beautiful movement, installed new recreational assets, including swimming pools, playgrounds, and a zoo. The additions were in part overseen by John Charles Olmsted who sought to integrate these features with the aesthetic established by his father.
This linear park frames three miles of steep banks on both sides of the Genesee River. East of the river, a one-way carriageway curves through rolling woodland and loops around the artificial Trout Lake created by damming a natural spring. The road and lake, situated on a plateau and bordered by picnic groves and meadows, were both designed by Olmsted Sr. Trails with occasional descents to the river follow the edge of the gorge. To the north, trails are surrounded by a wilderness of sassafras, hickory, maple, oak, and horse chestnut trees, while to the south a pedestrian bridge spans the river to connect both sides of the park. Located on a ridge, the Seneca Park Zoo, built in the 1930s, is visually separated by its higher elevation and perimeter woodland plantings. Seneca Park was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as Seneca Park East and West in 2003. | <urn:uuid:036d9396-3dde-48dd-9059-d25577dfc9cd> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://tclf.org/landscapes/seneca-park | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141750841.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20201205211729-20201206001729-00441.warc.gz | en | 0.962884 | 379 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Colorado Geographic Bee Comes to DU
One of the oldest universities in the world, al-Azhar, was founded in the tenth century and still exists today in what present-day capital city located near the Eastern Desert?
The correct answer is Cairo. On March 31, 100 of Colorado's top geography students in grades four through eight will gather in Sturm Hall to test their knowledge with questions just like this. The winner of the Colorado State Bee will qualify for the National Geographic Bee in Washington, D.C., in May.
Organized by the National Geographic Society, the competition is intended to inspire and reward curiosity toward the world. Students from 10,000 schools across the nation compete for a chance to win college scholarships.
DU's Department of Geography & the Environment has hosted the competition for the past 15 years. The collaboration involved with this event embodies the aspirations outlined in DU IMPACT 2025, the University’s strategic plan, which calls for engagement with the community and collaboration with schools across Colorado.
"For more than two decades, we've partnered with the National Geographic Society in supporting geography education throughout Colorado," says Michael Keables, department chair. "We are excited once again to host this year's competition."
"Hosting the Bee and seeing first-hand the enthusiasm and mastery of these students is truly inspiring," says geography professor Hillary Hamann. "In today’s globalized and interconnected world, geographic knowledge is more important than ever."
Hamann and a volunteer team of faculty, staff, and students are providing support for the Bee, which counts 80,000 students from 235 schools throughout Colorado as participants this year. The champion from each school completed an online geography test to qualify as one of the state's 100 top finalists.
Vice Chancellor Lili Rodriguez will open the competition with a brief statement at 9:00 a.m. Andrei Kutateladze, dean of the Division of Natural Sciences & Mathematics, will introduce the final round at 1 p.m. Moderated by Amelia Earhart of 9News, the final round consists of the top 10 competitors and is open to the public and media.
Housed within the Division of Natural Sciences & Mathematics, the Department of Geography & the Environment offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in both geography and environmental science, with courses ranging from hydrology to urban sustainability, climatology, geographic information systems, and more. | <urn:uuid:522c093d-0632-45e2-bf44-1de8155a8bd1> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.du.edu/news/colorado-geographic-bee-comes-du | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141750841.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20201205211729-20201206001729-00441.warc.gz | en | 0.95271 | 490 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Your bone and gum tissue should fit snugly around your teeth like a turtleneck. When you have periodontal disease, this supporting tissue and bone is destroyed, forming "pockets" around the teeth. Over time, these pockets become deeper, providing a larger space for bacteria to thrive and wreak havoc.
As bacteria accumulate and advance under the gum tissue in these deep pockets, additional bone and tissue loss follows. Eventually, if too much bone is lost, the teeth will need to be extracted.
Flap surgery is sometimes performed to remove tartar deposits in deep pockets or to reduce the periodontal pocket and make it easier for you or your dental professional to keep the area clean. This common surgery involves lifting back the gums and removing the tartar. The gums are then sutured back in place so that the tissue fits snugly around the tooth again.
A pocket reduction procedure is recommended if daily at-home oral hygiene and a professional care routine cannot effectively reach these deep pockets.
In some cases, irregular surfaces of the damaged bone are smoothed to limit areas where disease-causing bacteria can hide. This allows the gum tissue to better reattach to healthy bone. | <urn:uuid:9060dfbd-7ab7-4475-8605-8507af480a17> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | http://www.cullendentalassociates.com/articles/baystone_curated_content/502393-flap-surgery/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141163411.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20201123153826-20201123183826-00002.warc.gz | en | 0.927884 | 245 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Paradise Lost is one of the greatest epic poems in the English language. It tells the story of the Fall of Man, a tale of immense drama and excitement, of rebellion and treachery, of innocence pitted against corruption, in which God and Satan fight a bitter battle for control of mankind's destiny. The struggle ranges across three worlds - heaven, hell, and earth - as Satan and his band of rebel angels plot their revenge against God. At the centre of theconflict are Adam and Eve, motivated by all too human temptations, but whose ultimate downfall is unyielding love. Milton's influence has been felt by many writers since, none more so in recent times than the novelist Philip Pullman. His acclaimed trilogy His Dark Materials takes it title from a line in the poem, and the worlds he created for Lyra and Will have entranced readers across generations. His introduction to the poem is a tribute that is both personal and full of insight; his enthusiasm for Milton's language, his skill, and his supreme gifts as a storyteller is infectious andinstructive. He encourages readers above all to experience the poem for themselves, and surrender to its enchantment. | <urn:uuid:aa705345-f18d-4fa3-aef2-fdf77173d22f> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://books.telegraph.co.uk/Product/John-Milton/Paradise-Lost/11405502 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141177607.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124224124-20201125014124-00082.warc.gz | en | 0.962015 | 239 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Owl monkey cytomegalovirus produces a decoy molecule A43 to evade detection and destruction by immune cells in their hosts, according to a study published April 4 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Ana Angulo of the University of Barcelona, and colleagues. As the authors note, the findings provide a novel example of an immune evasion strategy developed by viruses.
An ingenious viral immune evasion tactic used by the CMV protein A43. Credit: Maria Angulo
Throughout evolution, cytomegaloviruses (CMVs) have been capturing genes from their hosts, employing the derived proteins to dampen immune responses and successfully persist within their hosts. Certain CMVs encode homologs of CD48, a molecule found on the surface of most of the leukocytes of the body. CD48 binds to the 2B4 receptor on certain immune cells such as natural killer cells, which play a pivotal role in the rapid recognition and control of viral infections. But the properties and biological relevance of the viral CD48 homologs have not been explored. In the new study, Angulo and colleagues have investigated for the first time the immunomodulatory potential of one of these viral molecules: A43, a CD48 homolog encoded by owl monkey CMV.
The researchers show that A43 binds strongly to 2B4 and is capable of blocking its interaction with CD48. Moreover, the findings reveal how this viral protein interferes with the function of human natural killer cells. Taken together, these results not only underscore the importance of 2B4-mediated immune responses in controlling CMV infections, but also unveil CD48 as a new viral counteract mechanism for subverting immune surveillance. The authors propose that A43 may serve as a CD48 decoy receptor by binding and masking 2B4, thereby impeding effective immune control by cytotoxic lymphocytes during viral infections. According to the authors, the research highlights the potential of using the inhibitory molecule A43 to develop novel therapeutic tools to manipulate aberrant immune responses, such as those linked to autoimmune diseases. | <urn:uuid:e6b0720a-b614-4e6f-a765-eef6af358653> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.news-medical.net/news/20190408/Study-reveals-immune-evasion-strategy-developed-by-cytomegaloviruses.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141177607.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124224124-20201125014124-00082.warc.gz | en | 0.926881 | 424 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Acquired bleeding disorders (ABD) are commonly encountered in both inpatient and outpatient settings. ABD can occur due to consumption, decreased synthesis, or inhibition of coagulation factors and platelets. Clinical presentation may vary, ranging from mild bruising to life-threatening hemorrhage. The location, frequency, severity, and provocation of bleeding provide insight into the cause of ABD. Obtaining a good medical, surgical, family, social, and medication history is a crucial step in determining the underlying etiology. Basic laboratory parameters, such as prothrombin time, partial thromboplastin time, thrombin time, fibrinogen, platelet count, and D-dimer levels, aid in further elucidating the reason for bleeding. Optimal management depends on accurate interpretation of the history and laboratory values. Treatment options include administration of vitamin K; blood component transfusion, consisting of plasma, cryoprecipitate, and/or platelets; and blood derivatives, including single and multiple factor concentrates. These products should be used judiciously, due to potential infectious and noninfectious complications, including transfusion-related acute lung injury and transfusion-associated circulatory overload. This article discusses the management of the more common causes of ABD.
- acquired coagulopathy
- disseminated intravascular coagulation
- liver disease
- new oral anticoagulants
- warfarin reversal
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine | <urn:uuid:5702c406-a3bf-4a73-b4e4-1d69e19cca16> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://utsouthwestern.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/diagnosis-and-management-of-common-acquired-bleeding-disorders | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141186761.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126055652-20201126085652-00162.warc.gz | en | 0.877332 | 313 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Practical Theory for Guitarists will equip students with the skills to better understand, interpret, compose, improvise, and play music through the study and creative application of music theory. The progressive curriculum will cover topics such as interval identification, scales, chord cadences and chord progressions, ear training, and fretboard logic. These elements will be examined in detail through examples and exercises, and also as each pertains to students' own musical projects.
This class is designed to assist students in fulfilling the theory requirements of the BMS Guitar Certificate Program. Students should begin in Level I, but may begin in a higher level with permission from the teacher. | <urn:uuid:9b955d08-10b1-433f-885b-ce2daa34ed08> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.bmsmusic.org/theory/practical-theory-for-guitarists | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141186761.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126055652-20201126085652-00162.warc.gz | en | 0.935641 | 131 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Plagued by decades of internal conflicts, the Democratic Republic of Congo now hosts more than 4.5 million internally displaced people, with hundreds of thousands more living in overcrowded refugee camps in neighboring countries like Uganda and Rwanda.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is experiencing a humanitarian crisis.
— UN Humanitarian (@UNOCHA) April 27, 2018
As the conflict worsens, 18 of the DRC’s 26 provinces are facing an internal crisis, with 13.1 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.
The Kasai and Kivu provinces have seen the worst effects of the civil war, causing widespread displacement, chronic malnutrition, and the spread of infectious diseases such as cholera.
Direct Relief recently dispatched two tons of medical aid to the DRC. The shipment contained supplies to treat cholera, including 10,000 doses of oral rehydration salts, antibiotics, as well as Emergency Family Hygiene Kits that will benefit up to 2,500 displaced people.
The Direct Relief Emergency Family Hygiene Kits, which are supported through donations from Unilever, contain essential daily necessities such as soap, shampoo, antibiotic ointment, and oral hygiene items.
The donation was shipped to Save the Children, located in the country’s North Kivu Province, to support mobile medical clinics that travel to serve the country’s displaced populations. The clinics are staffed by local doctors, nurses, and midwives who are placed in areas lacking healthcare facilities and medical services.
Direct Relief will continue to monitor the ongoing crisis in the DRC and provide donations of essential medicines and supplies as needed. | <urn:uuid:cbea1e53-a9a5-4efb-89cf-c74d995dd3d8> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.directrelief.org/2018/05/emergency-medical-aid-bound-for-democratic-republic-of-congo-amid-ongoing-humanitarian-crisis/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141186761.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126055652-20201126085652-00162.warc.gz | en | 0.939563 | 333 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Genre and Still Life Painting
Object-Thomas Waterman Wood, The Yankee Pedlar
In his portraits and genre paintings, Thomas Waterman Wood combined realism and moralizing narrative to document American life during the mid- and late nineteenth century. The Yankee Pedlar presents a moment of negotiation between a persuasive peddler, who offers manufactured and luxury goods, and a cautious yet eager farm family, accustomed to the barter exchanges more typical of agrarian life. As a Vermont native, Wood was familiar with such transactions in the northeastern United States. His model for The Yankee Peddler was a celebrated tin salesman known as “Snapping Tucker” from Calais, Vermont. Based on a veritable fixture in midcentury rural culture, Wood’s peddler reflects a figure of the past for America’s rising urban population. In an era of evolving, complex economic relations and competitive commercialism, The Yankee Peddler personified ideals of thrift, hard work, and plain dealing associated with a simpler time and a vanishing way of life.
Learn more about this painting on the Terra Foundation website. | <urn:uuid:f77e2bd5-1750-40f2-b118-b743aea4479d> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://conversations.terraamericanart.org/artworks/the-yankee-pedlar | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141193221.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127131802-20201127161802-00242.warc.gz | en | 0.932798 | 226 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Well, it looks like Canada’s National Library is completely embracing April Fools Day, having just released the declassified journals and military records of James “Logan” Howlett. You know who James Howlett is, right? That’s right; he’s the freaking Wolverine! Yes, it’s Wolverine’s origin declassified thanks to Canada’s National Library and their incredibly authentic-looking documentation. Check it out!
This “misinformation” was shared through the Library and Archives Facebook page, and disseminated a lot of very interesting, facts regarding the once-shrouded history of Wolverine! A few of those interesting facts relayed through the aforementioned Library and Archives Facebook page:
“Logan was born in 1882 in Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada, to wealthy landowner Elizabeth Howlett and her grounds-keeper Thomas Logan.
Logan’s journals provide valuable insight into his early life in Canada, including work as a miner in a British Columbia stone quarry, a fur trader for the Hudson’s Bay Company, and a homesteader in the Canadian Rockies. His military career spanned multiple conflicts, making his personnel records an unprecedented study in Canadian military history. Logan was gravely wounded in action many times, and gained a reputation as a gritty survivor.”
• WWI: captain in the Canadian Armed Forces (Devil’s Brigade). Fought at Ypres in 1915. Wounded by a sword through the chest.
• WWII: Returned to the Devil’s Brigade in the Second World War, as an allied spy and paratrooper for the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion during the Normandy landings on D-Day.
• Cold War: based in Ottawa and Calgary, worked for both CSIS and the CIA.
• Logan later changed his operative name to ‘Wolverine’, and worked with various NGOs.”
It’s the completely accurate, fake facts regarding the origins of Wolverine! | <urn:uuid:93bdd828-2330-497e-b1c7-6d272fabde34> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://source.superherostuff.com/comics/wolverines-origin-declassified/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195929.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128214643-20201129004643-00322.warc.gz | en | 0.951253 | 430 | 2.625 | 3 |
Ethiopian woman wears massive eight-inch lip disc
An Australian film crew had been traveling through the remote valleys of southern Ethiopia when they met Ataye Eligidagne. Upon setting eyes on the 20-year-old for the first time, the documentary makers were left speechless. That's because the young woman had an iron disc placed in her bottom lip that was almost as large as her head.
It took Ataye three years to stretch her lip out far enough to accommodate the eight-inch disc; she did so by gradually increasing the size of the discs. The Ethiopian even had two teeth removed so that the disc stays in place.
Wearing lip discs is a symbol of prestige for the pastoral Suri and Mursi tribes residing in South Sudan and southwestern Ethiopia — the larger the lip disc a woman has, the larger the dowry of cattle the woman's family would receive when she gets married.
It's fascinating to see how beauty is defined across different cultures around the globe. As demonstrated by Ataye, the human body is astonishingly stretchable, too! | <urn:uuid:e0d08ba5-f910-4b5b-970d-5cb07c295c57> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.hefty.co/ataye-eligidagne/?ref=fb | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195929.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128214643-20201129004643-00322.warc.gz | en | 0.971867 | 221 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Black locust is among the hardest domestic woods, rated alongside hickory. It’s natural chemistries also make it an exceptionally rot and decay resistant wood. The color can range from pale greenish yellow to darker browns as it ages. The tree, which primarily grew through parts of the mid-Atlantic, was appreciated early on by pioneers for fence posts and to a lesser extent ship masts. Black locust has been increasingly valued as a natural and often more sustainable option for fence boards and posts, and in modern times, deck extensions. | <urn:uuid:42d75d37-7d64-43c3-8fde-5f4a79622cfa> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.sawkill.nyc/woods/black-locust-nyc/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141211510.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20201130065516-20201130095516-00402.warc.gz | en | 0.971236 | 112 | 2.578125 | 3 |
It truly was the night (and day) of the iguana.
After the National Weather Service sent an unusual alert to south Florida residents on Tuesday night, warning them of possible “falling iguanas” in light of unseasonably low temperatures, residents were indeed treated to a show of rigid reptiles out of the sky (or, actually, the trees).
The not-so-small creatures were seen motionless in the middle of sidewalks and backyards. While they looked dead, they were actually just too cold to move. Iguanas start becoming sluggish when temperatures drop below 50F and are susceptible to freezing once temperatures drop to around 40F. When frozen, they easily fall out of the trees they call home, appearing lifeless even though they aren’t dead.
Floridians shared videos of the phenomenon, giving Twitter an up-close look at the green-scaled reptiles that are probably dreaming of warmer climates, or at least spring.
One Twitter user happened to capture the resurrection of an iguana as it took in some warmth in the sunshine and slowly crawled back to life after being temporarily frozen.
Iguanas are an invasive species in Florida and can be little nuisances when not frozen. They can damage infrastructure by digging small burrows into sidewalks or foundations and leave droppings on decks and inside swimming pools.
Wildlife conservationists recommend people not touch frozen iguanas as they may come back to life and feel threatened if a person is close. | <urn:uuid:0069b028-a53e-4960-a4c7-b1545e7bf746> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/iguanas-fall-from-trees-florida | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141187753.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126084625-20201126114625-00442.warc.gz | en | 0.946433 | 305 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, Le Corbusier (1887–1965) is widely acclaimed as the most influential architect of the 20th century. From private villas to mass social housing projects, his radical ideas, designs, and writings presented a whole-scale reinvention not only of individual structures, but of entire concepts of modern living.
Le Corbusier’s work made distinct developments over the years, from early vernacular houses in Switzerland through dazzling white, purist villas to dynamic syntheses of art and architecture such as the chapel at Ronchamp and the civic buildings in Chandigarh, India. A hallmark throughout was his ability to combine functionalist aspirations with a strong sense of expressionism, as well as a broader and empathetic understanding of urban planning. He was a founding member of the Congrès international d’architecture moderne (CIAM), which championed “architecture as a social art.”
This book presents some of Le Corbusier’s landmark projects to introduce an architect, thinker, and modern pioneer who, even in his unrealized projects, offered discussion and inspiration for generations to come. | <urn:uuid:f69e17ae-3c96-4307-9c00-2d768316eda0> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/architecture/all/49211/facts.le_corbusier.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141685797.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201231155-20201202021155-00042.warc.gz | en | 0.957243 | 248 | 3.125 | 3 |
Spinning Patriotic Sentiment in Colonial America
“As for me, I will seek wool and flax, and work willingly with my hands; and indeed there is occasion for all our industry and economy.”
—Abigail Adams, in a 1774 letter to her husband, John Adams
Did you know that the humble spinning wheel was once a symbol of patriotic fervor in America? Colonial women in the years before the Revolution created their own homespun cloth as a way to disrupt the British monopoly on the textile market. In fact, spinning played such an important role in the conflict that the Daughters of the American Revolution chose a spinning wheel as a symbol for their organization.
It all started with Britain’s attempt to protect one of their biggest industries, textiles. Colonists imported most of their textiles from Britain, and wool production in the colonies was discouraged since Britain saw America as a supplier of raw materials for England’s factories. England could then sell the manufactured goods to the colonies at a handsome profit.
But early Americans had other ideas. By the end of the 1600s, America was exporting wool, which outraged England and led to the Wool Act of 1699, prohibiting the colonies from exporting wool, wool yarn, and wool cloth.
The passage of the Wool Act lit the fires of resentment in the colonies and many people resisted by making cloth from flax and hemp—and producing their own essential clothing instead of buying British imports.
The homespun clothing movement really gained steam when the Daughters of Liberty turned to their spinning wheels. This group of patriotic women organized mass spinning “bees’’ in town squares, churches, and private homes. Once the war started, they gathered to spin and sew uniforms for the Continental Army.
During Sheep-to-Shawl at Philipsburg Manor, interpreters demonstrate 18th-century spinning and weaving techniques similar to those used by the Daughters of Liberty. Although the owners of Philipsburg Manor sided with England during the Revolution and bought their textiles from Britain, it’s certain there were patriotic spinners among the manor’s many tenant farm households! | <urn:uuid:aa495f30-d94d-45e8-bfa6-478e27734691> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://hudsonvalley.org/article/spinning-patriotic-sentiment-in-colonial-america/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141188800.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126142720-20201126172720-00002.warc.gz | en | 0.961166 | 443 | 3.75 | 4 |
Forgiving is no easy task: in fact, it may be the most difficult endeavor one can undertake. St. Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei, said, “I didn’t need to learn how to forgive, because God has taught me how to love.” Still, even this saint struggled with the trying task of forgiving. This collection of anecdotes from his life explores his experiences in offering and accepting forgiveness.
Life as a priest in the midst of the violent Spanish Civil War offered St. Josemaría countless opportunities to practice forgiveness. Owing to an attitude of prayer, mortification, and total confidence in God, he was as immediate and resolute in forgiving in dramatic situations as he was in the ordinary circumstances of everyday life. He knew when a situation necessitated silence, and was always prompt in offering an apology when he found himself in the wrong. Readers will find themselves equally amazed and humbled by the gentle charity that contributed to Josemaría’s sainthood.
In addition to anecdotes from St. Josemaría Escrivá’s life, this powerful introduction to forgiveness includes a biography of St. Josemaría, an explanation of the message of Opus Dei, excerpts from Pope John Paul II at the canonization of St. Josemaría and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) at the beatification of Josemaría Escrivá, as well as resources for further information in print and online. | <urn:uuid:25ba3f21-9ace-4188-862e-418b0e15b7d5> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://catholicbooksdirect.com/product/a-man-who-knew-how-to-forgive/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141194634.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127221446-20201128011446-00082.warc.gz | en | 0.951459 | 308 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Two immunologists, American James P. Allison and Japan's Tasuku Honjo, have been awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their work on a new approach to treating cancer.
The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm announced the winners on October 1, citing "their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation."
"This year's Nobel Prize constitutes a landmark in our fight against cancer. The discovery made by the two Medicine Laureates takes advantage of the immune system's ability to attack cancer cells by releasing the brakes on immune cells," the assembly said.
Allison studied a protein that functions as a brake on the immune system. He realized the potential of releasing the brake and unleashing the body's immune cells to attack tumors, developing the concept into a new approach for treating cancer patients.
Separately, Honjo discovered a protein on immune cells and revealed that it can also operate as a brake, but with a different mechanism of action. Therapies based on his discovery have proven to be strikingly effective in the fight against cancer.
The two scientists will share the 9 million-Swedish-kronor ($1 million) prize. | <urn:uuid:9b65dee9-0b4d-456c-8ff4-d0779d75a7f7> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.rferl.org/a/two-scientists-win-nobel-prize-for-medicine-with-revolutionary-work-on-cancer-therapy/29519045.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141194634.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127221446-20201128011446-00082.warc.gz | en | 0.953248 | 244 | 2.734375 | 3 |
While South African novelist and Nobel laureate J. M. Coetzee is best known for his fiction, he recently had a show celebrating his lesser-known creative work: his black and white photographs taken during his adolescence in apartheid-era South Africa. The photographs offer an intimate view of the writer and his upbringing.
Scholar Harald Leusmann analyzes J. M. Coetzee’s cultural critique of white, postcolonial, post-apartheid South Africa. He argues that Coetzee’s writing, often loosely autobiographical fiction, is important and even integral to understanding South African history. Leusmann notes that Coetzee’s 1999 novel Disgrace “written after the demise of the apartheid regime…deals with the collective mood of present-day South Africa’s white population at the end of the dark twentieth century.” According to Leusmann, the author “forces his readers to look into abysses they do not really want to look into but are actually unable to turn away from anymore.”
The exhibition of Coetzee’s previously unpublished photographs—many of which were never printed, only surviving as negatives until now—offers a similarly intimate look at apartheid South Africa, from the point of view of a white, Boer-English South African. The young Coetzee captured private moments at home with his family, along with significant events he happened to witness. One photo documents a white policeman pulling up to two black pedestrians; another photo from around 1955 immortalizes his family taking two black farmhands to the ocean for the first time.
Coetzee’s landscapes portray some of the same places he describes in his books. He spent time in the southernmost part of South Africa in Karoo, for instance, photographing the arid landscape. Later, he wrote about Karoo, where “there in the grandiose emptiness, the scattered islands of colonialism—the settlements of the white farmers—can be found.”
Through Coetzee’s literature, he “exposes layer by layer the nightmares South Africans must have and the mental deformations of and within a racist caste system.” As Leusman notes, Coetzee “is a white African in whose novels the country of apartheid and the postcolonial presence of South Africa are scrutinized in a clear and uncompromising light that makes sure no traces of injury and destruction can escape.” His photographs are similarly clear and uncompromising. | <urn:uuid:e5d06ebb-5a67-492e-ad64-ee10146efa48> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://daily.jstor.org/novelist-j-m-coetzee-apartheid-era-photographs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141216897.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20201130161537-20201130191537-00242.warc.gz | en | 0.957717 | 517 | 3.125 | 3 |
In an interview with the Chilean publication MasDeco, Urban Planning Professor Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris discussed design strategies necessary to make sidewalks safe for all users. Loukaitou-Sideris explained that, while sidewalks were originally designed with the sole purpose of accommodating foot traffic and separating pedestrians from fast-moving cars, these narrow corridors are now overwhelmed by bikes, scooters and pedestrians, all moving at different speeds within the same space. New laws require bikers in many cities to ride in the street instead of on the sidewalk, but Loukaitou-Sideris stressed the importance of creating a designated bike lane to protect bikers riding alongside cars. In the interview, published in Spanish, Loukaitou-Sideris said design should be informed by the demography of the area in order to create space for everyone, especially older adults and small children. She concluded that urban planning and design can minimize conflict by creating space for all types of sidewalk users. | <urn:uuid:d2d7c29a-09f9-4a2c-bc29-ee425fd526b7> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://luskin.ucla.edu/loukaitou-sideris-discusses-strategies-to-ease-sidewalk-congestion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141686635.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20201202021743-20201202051743-00322.warc.gz | en | 0.926232 | 202 | 3.015625 | 3 |
People who use cannabis every day may be at increased risk for psychotic disorder, especially if they use a high-potency form of the drug, according to a 2019 study in Lancet Psychiatry. The risk is especially concerning because cannabis has been legalized or decriminalized in many countries, potentially making its use more common.
Researchers from 11 sites across Europe collected data from 2010 to 2015 on 901 people who had experienced a single episode of psychosis, in which people lose contact with reality, and 1,237 people who had not experienced psychosis. The study revealed that people who reported using cannabis on a daily basis had more than triple the odds of psychotic disorder compared with those who never used cannabis. Those who used a high-THC form of the drug every day had nearly five times the odds. (THC is the chemical responsible for most of marijuana’s psychological effects).
One weakness of the study is that participants reported their own use of cannabis, which is a less reliable way to obtain data than using an objective measure such as a blood test. Also, the study does not prove that daily cannabis use causes psychosis; it only shows an association. It’s possible that people predisposed to psychosis may be self-medicating with cannabis.
Although the medicinal properties of cannabis are being increasingly appreciated, people who decide to use it need to be aware of its adverse effects, especially with frequent or high-potency use. | <urn:uuid:3543b69b-3cda-4b74-8db1-bf6d234d9222> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.healthandwellnessalerts.berkeley.edu/blog/daily-cannabis-use-may-increase-risk-for-psychotic-disorder/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141745780.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20201204223450-20201205013450-00482.warc.gz | en | 0.969685 | 289 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Black and Blue Canyon
In a move that environmentalists and others fear could set a dangerous precedent, the U.S. Department of the Interior has ceded control over the waters in Colorado’s Gunnison National Park, allowing the state to sell it to cities. Interior Secretary Gale Norton said the decision to hand over control of the river (which was awarded to the federal government when the Black Canyon was made a national monument in 1933) reflects the Bush administration’s desire to let states control natural-resource policies, even on federal land. State officials joined the feds in welcoming the agreement, which they claim will help restore the natural flow of the river while encouraging economic development. Enviros say the plan sets a precedent that could spell disaster not just for the Gunnison River but for protected waterways and their ecosystems everywhere, and they have promised to challenge it in court. | <urn:uuid:ee652a4f-04c9-4bb3-81c2-2136b252a685> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://grist.org/article/black1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141171077.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124025131-20201124055131-00122.warc.gz | en | 0.944913 | 176 | 2.90625 | 3 |
You might not think of Canada as an important battle site in the Revolutionary War, but the fighting reached all the way up to the Quebec province. This historical map of Quebec city, created in 1776, shows the site of a decisive battle in the short-lived Canadian campaign of the Revolutionary War.
The Americans had high hopes for capturing British Canada, and early successes emboldened them. On Nov. 13, 1775, General Richard Montgomery and his army captured Montreal without firing a single shot. Caught flat-footed after quashing an attack by Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, the British had to surrender.
Ultimately, though, the American invasion failed. Forces under Gen. Montgomery joined Benedict Arnold (then a major-general in the Continental Army), and the two attacked Quebec in late December. The British shot Montgomery off his horse, killing him and routing his army. The Americans maintained a blockade of the city over the next several months, but they had to abandon the campaign.
The map above shows Quebec city in the months during and following the Americans’ defeat in Quebec. The map shows remarkable detail, including each building as well as shading that represents topography. Letters indicate various military strongholds, and the L (on the eastern shore, near the label for Cap Diamant) marks where Gen. Montgomery and his men began their (failed) assault.
In addition to its wartime importance, this map hints at the sociocultural forces at work in Quebec. Though (Protestant) England had taken over Canada in the 1760s, the Catholic Church remained highly influential among the French-speaking population. You can see this influence in how the town is laid out, with a “Bishop’s Palace,” buildings for the Jesuits and Ursulines (two Catholic religious orders) and a cathedral. This tension between Canada’s competing English-Protestant and French-Catholic influences remains even today.
This map comes from the Library of Congress, where you can find many great documents from the Revolutionary War. Those interested in Canadian genealogy should also check out the Library and Archives Canada’s website’s collection of historical maps of Quebec and other provinces. | <urn:uuid:8b4a30c5-56be-4806-a582-034a94abc8d7> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.familytreemagazine.com/heritage/canadian/historical-research-maps-quebec-city-1776/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141188899.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126171830-20201126201830-00282.warc.gz | en | 0.966018 | 453 | 3.9375 | 4 |
The fame and influence of Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) were as immediate as they were unprecedented. It is not surprising, therefore, that he was the only living artist Giorgio Vasari included in the first edition of Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, published in 1550. Revised and expanded in 1568, Vasari’s monumental work comprises more than two hundred biographies; for centuries it has been recognized as a seminal text in art history and one of the most important sources on the Italian Renaissance.
Vasari’s biography of Michelangelo, the longest in his Lives, presents Michelangelo’s oeuvre as the culminating achievement of Renaissance painting, sculpture, and architecture. He tells the grand story of the artist’s expansive career, profiling his working habits; describing the creation of countless masterpieces, from the David to the Sistine Chapel ceiling; and illuminating his relationships with popes and other illustrious patrons. A lifelong friend, Vasari also quotes generously from the correspondence between the two men; the narrative is further enhanced by an abundance of colorful anecdotes. The volume’s forty-two illustrations convey the range and richness of Michelangelo’s art.
An introduction by the scholar David Hemsoll traces the textual development of Vasari’s Lives and situates his biography of Michelangelo in the broader context of Renaissance art history. | <urn:uuid:da926f63-05bb-4b4f-9f22-05b6531427fc> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://sanmin.com.tw/Product/index/006665779 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141486017.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20201130192020-20201130222020-00522.warc.gz | en | 0.950611 | 296 | 3 | 3 |
Check out these amazing videos! Another sign. Be prepared.
A small comet plunged into the sun this morning, and just before it arrived, the sun expelled a magnificent full-halo CME. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) recorded the action. In the final frames of the movie, the comet can be seen furiously vaporizing. Indeed, those were the comet’s final frames. It did not emerge again from its flyby of the hot sun. “With a diameter of perhaps a few tens of meters, this comet was clearly far too small to survive the intense bombardment of solar radiation,” comments Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab, who studies sungrazing comets.
The CME (coronal mass ejection) came from an explosion on the farside of the sun. Although the CME and the comet appear to intersect, there was probably no interaction between the two. The comet is in the foreground and the farside CME is behind it.
Occasionally, readers ask if sundiving comets can trigger solar explosions. There’s no known mechanism for comets to spark solar flares. Comets are thought to be too small and fragile to destabilize the sun’s magnetic field. Plus, this comet was still millions of kilometers from the sun when the explosion unfolded.
The comet, R.I.P., was a member of the Kreutz family. Kreutz sungrazers are fragments from the breakup of a single giant comet many centuries ago. They get their name from 19th century German astronomer Heinrich Kreutz, who studied them in detail. | <urn:uuid:582821e9-5882-48b5-8a8f-88acd3301fbc> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://cindeepthoughts.com/tag/seattle-earthquake/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141692985.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20201202052413-20201202082413-00602.warc.gz | en | 0.952325 | 339 | 3.03125 | 3 |
During this Mexican holiday, graves are cleaned and decorated with marigolds, which are thought to attract souls. Household altars are constructed and adorned with the deceased's favorite foods. It is hoped that on this day the spirits enjoy some of the things they loved when they were alive. More than the departed themselves, The Day of the Dead commemorates the good things in life, and culminates in parties and family gatherings.
At The Museum of the American Indian's celebration, visitors can learn how to make papel picado, "paper flowers," as well as plaster skeleton figurines called calacas. These figures, icons of the holiday, are usually dressed festively and represent joy rather than grief. Other festivities include dance performances by the troupe Danza Mexica Cetiliztli Nauhcampa, storytelling by playwrights Elvira and Hortensia Colorado, an art installation, and even skulls made of sugar!
Like the Day of the Dead, the Museum of the American Indian sheds light on the past while keeping the present, living traditions of the Americas' indigenous peoples in focus. Historical objects and contemporary art are given equal space, and an exhibit on clothing and identity tracks the changing role of native women through their dresses.
As if you needed one more reason to visit, the museum building, The Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, is a work of art itself. It was designed by Cass Gilbert, who would later plan the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. Exhibitions spread out in rooms around the main rotunda, a gorgeous beaux-arts style Roman dome illustrated with murals by Reginald Marsh and illuminated from above by a giant skylight.
A final incentive? This being a part of the Smithsonian, admission to The National Museum of the American Indian is free. | <urn:uuid:9f9d35b5-579a-47cf-8650-25fcc1144434> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.weekendnotes.com/day-of-the-dead-at-the-national-museum-of-the-american-indian/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141692985.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20201202052413-20201202082413-00602.warc.gz | en | 0.963517 | 377 | 2.625 | 3 |
For decades, Sesame has brought joy and learning to the lives of children across Europe. Our first production outside the U.S., Germany’s Sesamstrasse, was the template for adapting our approach to different needs and cultures around the world. The program is loved by generations of families, many of whom think of the show as an original German creation. In areas of the continent marked by cultural conflict, our programs bring lessons in mutual understanding to help sow the seeds of peace.
The Dutch version of Sesame Street is one of the longest-running kids’ shows in the Netherlands, reaching millions of children daily. The program has taught generations of preschoolers about letters and numbers while helping them form important social and emotional skills. Segments address issues of local and global importance like cultural stereotyping, bullying, peaceful problem solving, and expressing emotion in healthy ways.
Millions of children have grown up with Sesamstrasse, which first aired in Germany in 1973. Created for 3- to 5-year-olds, the show encourages creative play, asking questions, and using active imaginations. The characters tackle issues like sharing and taking turns, protecting the environment, and mutual respect and understanding—especially relevant for the diverse population of modern Germany.
In areas marked by conflict, Sesame Street helps promote respect and understanding among children of all backgrounds. Past examples include our Sesame Tree co-production in Northern Ireland, where two Muppet role models—Hilda the Irish Hare and Potto, a furry purple monster—overcame their cultural differences to become friends and live together peacefully in their tree. Likewise, our programs in Kosovo became a powerful tool for healing rifts between the Kosovo-Albanian and Kosovo-Serb peoples as they moved toward reconciliation.
When you support Sesame Workshop, you’re making a positive difference in the lives of children around the world. Join us! | <urn:uuid:c138e14c-0683-4f4e-9306-d48cf80754df> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.sesameworkshop.org/where-we-work/europe | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141746320.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20201205044004-20201205074004-00042.warc.gz | en | 0.950786 | 391 | 2.84375 | 3 |
This spring was a wet one where I live. If the same goes for you, perhaps you’ve noticed a sprinkling of unsightly splodges coating leaves and stems in your flower bed or lawn. This is a slime mold, an ancient single-celled amoeba, similar to a fungus (using spores to reproduce), which lives in soils from Antarctica to the Arctic. For most of its life cycle, mold leads an unexceptional life, but sometimes it bands together in communities of thousands to form large shapeless blobs known as a plasmodium—an organism in its own right, encased in slime. It’s harmless and easily washed off with a hose, but before you exterminate this most primitive of life forms, consider how extraordinary it is.
An individual slime mold lives quietly, but once part of the blob, it is capable of incredible maneuvers and exploits. It can creep, crawl, pulsate, grow tentacles, and even negotiate a maze, seducing a substantial fan base of biologists eager to tinker with this most mundane research subjects. Their favorite is Physarum polycephalum, a yellow slime mold that conducts electricity. Scientists have wired it to a silicon-based circuit to create an interactive biocomputer, allowing technologists to get in on the act: Professor Eduardo Miranda, of Plymouth University in the United Kingdom, has performed a piano duet with a slime mold. Others have used the mold’s extraordinary ability to negotiate the shortest routes to map the Roman roads of ancient Britain.
The more we learn about the extraordinary skills of this most ordinary group of cells, the greater the parallels I see in our human communities. Individually, we may seem powerless to affect much beyond our immediate lives, but as a species—as humanity—we are altering the planet with unprecedented power. Humanity is changing the climate, the biodiversity of life, the chemistry of the atmosphere and oceans, global landscapes, and so much more. Like the blob, we are an extraordinary force. The challenge is to ensure that as individuals we are not as inconsequential as the amoeba in directing our powerful blob.
This column originally appeared at The American Scholar. | <urn:uuid:96257182-27f5-4698-b4ee-dbe44d96516c> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://wanderinggaia.com/2015/07/02/in-praise-of-slime-moulds/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141182794.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20201125125427-20201125155427-00482.warc.gz | en | 0.935516 | 453 | 3.078125 | 3 |
An art scholar in Italy believes that a recently unearthed sketch of Jesus Christ is a lost work from Leonardo Da Vinci. The intriguing drawing had reportedly been hidden away in a private collection for centuries until it was shown to Da Vinci scholar Annalisa Di Maria, who examined the piece and concluded that it had been created by the legendary Renaissance painter. "It is a remarkably beautiful and refined work," she marveled, "and I’m absolutely convinced it is a sketch by Leonardo."
Specifically, Di Maria points to how the "rendering of the beard is practically identical to Leonardo's self-portraits, as are the eyes." She also observed that "the posture of Christ is typical of Leonardo, who rarely drew figures front-on but from an angle." Additionally, Di Maria noted that the drawing was done using red chalk, which was the preferred medium that the painter used for his sketches. Taken together along with a dating test on the paper which indicates that it is from the 16th century, she told a French newspaper, the piece "recalls everything in the drawings of Leonardo: it is his language, and speaks loud and clear."
More on this story at the Coast to Coast AM website. | <urn:uuid:5ab36a95-acee-4731-8792-7d132ed56f89> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://wrko.iheart.com/featured/coast-to-coast-am/content/2020-11-18-remains-of-medieval-soldier-found-at-bottom-of-lake-in-lithuania/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141188947.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126200910-20201126230910-00562.warc.gz | en | 0.983238 | 246 | 3.125 | 3 |
A newly unearthed set of fossils may have just moved back the milepost for when the first forms of life appeared on Earth. A team of scientists from the University of Tokyo studying rock formations in Labrador, the northern region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland, found evidence that life may have formed as long as 3.95 billion years ago — a mere 590 million years after the Earth formed.
If they’re correct, this finding will move the date for the first life on Earth back 150 million years. Previously, scientists believed the earliest life on Earth emerged 3.8 billion years ago.
This research is outlined in a paper published Wednesday in Nature. In the paper, co-lead authors Yuji Sano, professor of marine analytical chemistry, and Tsuyoshi Komiya, associate professor of geology, explain that their microscopic analysis of the makeup of Labrador’s ancient rocks revealed evidence of early life.
They argue that the deposits of graphite — which is made of carbon — in the rock samples from the Saglek Block formation came from some of the earliest organisms on Earth. The rocks contain a particular mixture of carbon and carbonate isotopes that suggest they were left behind by autotrophic marine microorganisms.
Most graphite is made inorganically as carbon in the Earth’s crust is heated and pressurized to form the distinctively dark silver mineral. But in rare cases, graphite can form through biological means, as microorganisms pile up, die, and are crushed by heat and pressure into rock over time.
Living organisms tend to carry plenty of a specific carbon isotope known as carbon-12, which lingers long after they die. So, when scientists come across graphite that contains a lot of carbon-12, there’s a pretty good chance that it came from living organisms. That was the case here, and the scientists think the organisms that left all that carbon-12 behind might have been autotrophs — which, like modern algae, produce nutrients from inorganic molecules — but it’s still too early to know for sure.
Their next steps? Further analysis of the rocks will hopefully reveal not only what the heck the first forms of life actually were but, more importantly, how they lived — and where they came from.
If you liked this article, check out this video of a 99 million-year-old dinosaur fossil. | <urn:uuid:cdc41b34-b24f-482b-bc47-91ff1d13581b> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.inverse.com/article/36956-oldest-life-on-earth-first-autotrophs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141188947.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126200910-20201126230910-00562.warc.gz | en | 0.953321 | 491 | 4.1875 | 4 |
Prior to entering Saturn’s atmosphere, the Cassini spacecraft executed a series of 22 highly inclined orbits, the Grand Finale orbits, through the previously unexplored region between Saturn and its extensive ring system. The Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) aboard Cassini returned the first direct measurements of the planet’s upper atmosphere, revealing a much more chemically complex environment than previously believed. We present here an in-depth analysis of the mass spectra returned from INMS and provide further evidence of external material entering Saturn’s atmosphere from the rings. Density profiles of major and minor constituents suggest that multiple species exhibit behavior indicative of an external source, and that this external material heavily influences Saturn’s upper atmospheric composition. We use a new mass spectral deconvolution algorithm to determine the amount of each species observed in the spectrum and use these values to determine the influx and mass deposition rate for these species. These analyses are vital to improve our understanding of the interactions between Saturn and its rings, and the results are critical to advance photochemical modeling efforts of Saturn’s upper atmosphere. | <urn:uuid:edcd254e-eb99-4746-a9e0-ca8d93f8536c> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://baas.aas.org/pub/2020n6i314p02d/release/1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195069.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128040731-20201128070731-00642.warc.gz | en | 0.893891 | 224 | 2.828125 | 3 |
With every new year comes change, and change can be scary. Thankfully, we know that there's at least one way 2014 will be like every year that came before it. Watching scientists make stuff levitate is still cool as hell, same as it ever was.
The latest work comes from a group of researchers at the University of Tokyo. What we see in their latest proof of concept clip is fairly dumbfounding: Arrangements of tiny little beads lift into the air and glide around in perfect formation. An iron screw spins gently in space. Pieces of plastic, broken match heads, and even droplets of water all defy gravity, all thanks to the precise application of ultrasonic sound waves.
The idea itself is not entirely novel. As we're told in the clip, scientists have been experimenting with acoustic levitation for decades, using sound waves to suspend materials in mid-air. What's new here, though, is the ability to move those materials in three dimensions.
That's made possible by the unique arrangement of the speakers themselves. Where former setups bounced sound waves off a solid plate, the Tokyo researchers instead use four panels of speakers, all facing each other. These walls combine to create an "ultrasonic focal point," which can be moved—along with the object trapped in it—by adjusting the output from each speaker array. The sound waves are out of the range of human hearing, so the setup effectively operates in silence.
We're already seeing similar technology used in clever ways. McLaren recently announced it's doing away with windshield wipers, reportedly employing ultrasonic vibrations to let its cars repel rain. Other obvious applications range from hoverboards to flying carpets. In the meantime, I'd be OK with 2014 being the year of funny animated GIFs of floating ants. Don't let me down, science! | <urn:uuid:46116f13-b0ef-471b-827d-408d023247e9> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.wired.com/2014/01/whoa-watch-scientists-control-levitating-beads-with-sound-waves/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195069.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128040731-20201128070731-00642.warc.gz | en | 0.950934 | 372 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Human brains are nearly three times larger than those of chimpanzees, but we’ve got nothing on our closest cousins in the testicle department. Whereas human testes top out at about 50 grams, chimpanzees’ routinely reach weights of 150 to 170 grams. Scientists think the difference has to do with each species’ mating habits. Among primates in which females tend to have one mate at a time, like humans and gorillas, testicles are generally smaller. Larger testes—along with more tissue designed for holding semen—are found in species in which females have sex with several males during a fertility cycle, like chimpanzees and rhesus macaques. New research suggests that the forces governing the difference lie in each species’ transcriptome, or the set of RNA molecules that translates genetic codes into actual physical traits. In more polygamous species, the transcriptome directs testicles to continue developing for longer after birth, researchers report this month in a study on the preprint server bioRxiv. In humans, testicle development starts later and ends earlier, leaving men about as well endowed as an adolescent chimpanzee. But hope is not lost, puny humans! Our primate ancestors appear to have switched between mating types—and, therefore, testicle size—at least six times before we came along, suggesting that testicle tissue may respond to evolutionary pressure more rapidly than other body parts do. | <urn:uuid:47dc69e1-e3c4-40d8-a823-ef6b97b2e784> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/10/why-humans-are-less-well-endowed-chimps | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141201836.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20201129153900-20201129183900-00002.warc.gz | en | 0.938665 | 284 | 3.578125 | 4 |
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump may come from vastly different backgrounds and espouse opposing views on most issues, but they both won the Michigan primary on March 8. Their victories are thanks in part to one issue they have similar views on: free trade deals. Both Sanders and Trump have argued that trade deals hurt the American economy.
According to conservative political commentator Laura Ingham, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), led to 281,000 lost manufacturing jobs in the U.S. through 2013, and economic opportunities remain scant, Real Clear Politics reports. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that Michigan was the hardest-hit state in the wake of NAFTA, the Huffington Post notes.
Although NAFTA was implemented back in 1994, and WTO was founded in 1995, trade deals have come back into the spotlight thanks to the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). TPP is a U.S. trade deal with 12 Pacific Rim countries. The deal has been championed by President Barack Obama, but many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have voiced concerns about the measure, specifically regarding its possible effects on the remaining U.S.-based manufacturing industries.
This revival of the free trade deal debate translated well in terms of votes for Sanders and Trump, both of whom are running as champions of the working class. Sanders has pressed his main rival Hillary Clinton on trade and her unclear stance on the issue has proven problematic. Trump meanwhile has cited America's trade policies with China as one reason why the manufacturing sector is crumbling.
Both Democrats and Republicans have become increasingly concerned about trade in 2016 and some have called it a “sleeper issue” in the 2016 presidential election. Although 55 percent of Republicans surveyed by CNN said they believe trade kills jobs, another 32 percent said they believe trade creates them.
Democrats polled in a similar pattern: 58 percent of Democrats believe increased trade takes away U.S. jobs and 30 percent believe it creates them. | <urn:uuid:68719720-a6d6-4153-9945-eeb7c30fd055> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.opposingviews.com/category/one-major-issue-bernie-sanders-and-trump-agree | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141542358.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201013119-20201201043119-00082.warc.gz | en | 0.962914 | 414 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The production of the Boeing 787 promised the next evolution in flight technology. Since its introduction, however, the plane has been fraught with crippling malfunctions. What's to blame for the potentially fatal mishaps of this one-time dream machine of the skies, and how much information is being hidden from an unsuspecting public?
The documentary Broken Dreams: The Boeing 787, produced by Al Jazeera, peeks behind the curtain to expose a troubling business model that places the lives of every day travelers at risk on a daily basis; one that is defined by compromised quality standards, operator error, and corporate cover-up.
Constructed by teams of manufacturers situated across the globe, the Boeing 787 was designed to be the most advanced commercial aircraft in the industry, and promised unparalleled comfort and fuel efficiency. It operates on a staggeringly complex electrical system - the foundation of which are its state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries.
Those batteries, in fact, have been fingered as one of the main culprits behind the airplane's misfortunes. Comprehensive independent studies had been conducted on the battery technology, and each had uncovered explosive instabilities that failed to meet operation standards. Boeing, who had been given free reign by the Federal Air Association (FAA) to conduct their own testing, reached an entirely different conclusion: the batteries harbored little to no risk of catching fire aboard an aircraft. But when two instances of mid-flight battery fires occurred within nine days of each other, the industry expressed grave concerns, and all 50 of the Boeing 787 models were eventually grounded in January of 2013. Only months later, a battery redesign ensured the aircraft could take flight once again.
Broken Dreams: The Boeing 787 presents convincing testimony from designers, engineers and company whistleblowers. They all contend that a series of issues exist that transcend volatile battery packs, including poor quality standards set in motion by irresponsible cost-cutting measures and restrictive scheduling considerations, errors in parts construction, rampant drug use, and a woefully under-trained and unregulated manufacturing and operating staff. These deficiencies work together to create a nightmare environment where human lives could be the ultimate cost. | <urn:uuid:3ceb6626-f98f-4f45-84f6-70ecbd2612bb> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/broken-dreams-boeing-787/?replytocom=561493 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141732835.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20201203220448-20201204010448-00242.warc.gz | en | 0.959038 | 435 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Norishige Kanai (right) pictured with fellow astronauts Mark Vande Hei of NASA (left) and Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos (center). (Credit: Wikimedia Commons) A Japanese astronaut grew three and a half inches during the course of his trip to the International Space Station. If that sounds too incredible to be true, you're right. It's not. But some people evidently believed Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai when he tweeted out a mistaken measurement from aboard the ISS Monday. He quickly re-measured himself after a Russian colleague questioned the measurement and found that the growth spurt was actually less than an inch — well within the range of what astronauts usually experience in space. Kanai tweeted out an apology, calling his initial measurement "fake news" and saying that he's happy he'll be able to fit in the Soyuz capsule that will take him home. His initial measurement was so extreme that he worried he'd be too big for the tight space, which contains seat liners custom-molded for each astronaut and cannot fit anyone above 6 feet, 3 inches tall. It's well known that astronauts grow a bit taller in the weightlessness of space, a result of the spine decompressing. The stretching is usually limited to no more than two inches though — Kanai's mistaken measurement put him at almost double that. It's not a permanent change though, as astronauts' spines compress again to their normal length when they return to the pull of Earth's gravity. Spinal stretching isn't just limited to spacefarers, either. Just laying in bed overnight, the spine will stretch out just a little bit, and then shrink again once we stand up. Adding an inch or two isn't the only bodily fluctuation astronauts experience. Most experience changes to their eyesight, probably caused by fluctuations in the fluid pressure behind their eyeballs. There are indications that astronauts are also at higher risk for heart disease after going to space, and they experience bone loss and diminished muscle density due to the effects of weightlessness as well. | <urn:uuid:c0dfc72f-0b18-4d7c-a82e-7ea37ad60dec> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/japanese-astronaut-grew-in-space-but-not-that-much | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141732835.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20201203220448-20201204010448-00242.warc.gz | en | 0.968243 | 416 | 2.703125 | 3 |
When a personal setback or national tragedy takes place, many people are searching for explanations. In the understandable desire to alleviate anxiety, a popular phrase is typically offered: everything happens for a reason. While uttered in a spirit of good intentions, this line of thinking is problematic for at least three reasons.
First, it is a disempowering worldview. People are framed as mere actors in a play directed by an external force. We become puppets who do nothing more than regurgitate from a script. Control is theorized as being outside the individual; thus reducing humanity to an instrument. Such an idea wages a frontal assault on agency and responsibility – sending the message that beings are just -and can only be- means to an end. Depending on the psychological makeup of each person, this could strengthen the original feeling of despondency that it seeks to ameliorate. Alternatively, this perspective might encourage a flight from reality to a world of sacred illusions where invisible Fathers have all the answers.
Second, the phrase raises more questions than it answers. Asserting that there is a reason does not even remotely address what that reason is. It’s like raising your hand to solve a problem in math class by stating: “I know there is an answer”… but never giving it. It’s a pointless rhetorical exercise that wastes everybody’s time.
And unless the speaker has psychic abilities, it is unknown whether that reason is good. The ‘reason’ is a mystery and one is forced to speculate. Without concrete facts, it is an empty declaration. Therefore, the cliché should not be presented as a statement – it should be framed as a question. We are really asking: everything happens for a reason, right? In some instances, the saying is more suitable as a prayer: everything happens for a reason, O Lord!
Third, the phrase promotes paralysis. In the face of social injustice, it is imperative that people organize and act to change their conditions. There must be an active resistance. However, the impulse of this phrase (the word ‘everything’) suggests that our decadent civilization is a self-correcting system that does not require intervention. So stay home! Sit back! Relax! | <urn:uuid:562f75d7-e17c-432a-a72e-9b0bfeb2891d> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://zoneofnonbeing.wordpress.com/2017/02/08/stop-saying-everything-happens-for-a-reason/?like_comment=2147&_wpnonce=e22d5be62e | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141732835.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20201203220448-20201204010448-00242.warc.gz | en | 0.950733 | 459 | 2.578125 | 3 |
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy, and a West Virginia local conservationist filed a complaint against Beech Ridge Energy and its parent company in June, contending that their massive industrial wind power facility being built in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, will unlawfully injure and kill the endangered Indiana bats who live near the project site.
“We were hoping to avoid a federal lawsuit,” says John Stroud, spokesperson for Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy. “However, Beech Ridge Energy is currently moving forward with construction, despite repeated requests to first bring the project into compliance with the Endangered Species Act.”
The wind project will include 124 turbines, each nearly 400 feet tall, along a 23-mile stretch of forested Appalachian mountain ridgelines. Habitat-destroying roads, buildings and transmission lines necessary to operate the facility will also be installed.
Meyer, Glitzenstein and Crystal, the public interest law firm representing the plaintiffs, had informed Beech Ridge Energy of the likelihood that its wind power project would adversely impact the endangered bats. The US Fish and Wildlife Service had also warned Beech Ridge of the project’s threat to bats, recommending a full three years of pre-construction wildlife monitoring before making a siting decision. Beech Ridge, however, failed to respond and has proceeded with construction plans.
Plaintiffs are particularly concerned about the project’s impacts in light of the increasing threat posed by White-nose Syndrome—a disease ravaging bat populations in the eastern US.
“According to conservative estimates, the Beech Ridge project alone is expected to kill more than 130,000 bats over a 20-year period,” says D.J. Schubert, AWI wildlife biologist. “Poorly sited wind power projects in the eastern US have already killed and maimed scores of bats.”
The date and location of the trial still remains to be scheduled in what is possibly the first lawsuit challenging an industrial wind energy project under the Endangered Species Act. | <urn:uuid:5797feba-7377-4514-840a-1c5969df1efb> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://awionline.org/awi-quarterly/2009-summer/turbines-threaten-endangered-bats | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141747323.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20201205074417-20201205104417-00322.warc.gz | en | 0.944631 | 429 | 2.859375 | 3 |
The world-leading quality of the Centre’s SiC layers has revealed material properties that can be used in a new generation of miniature sensors. Once incorporated into MEMS-based devices, a plethora of applications open up.
Their single crystal, nanometre-thin films can be applied to silicon wafers that are 300mm in diameter, and feature an ultra-smooth surface roughness of less than 0.5nm. The films were grown using ANFF Q’s low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) reactor at 1,000 °C.
The SiC samples have demonstrated a piezoresistive characteristic that provides 15 times more sensitivity to mechanical stresses than metals. They remain sensitive at 400ºC, making them ideal for sensing applications in harsh environments.
“With the platform technology for batch fabrication of SiC-MEMS/NEMS transducers, we can produce tens of thousands of micro sensors on a single SiC-on-Si wafer,” Professor Nam-Trung Nguyen, a researcher at QMNC and Deputy Director of ANFF-Q, said.
“This high throughput will significantly reduce the total cost of the sensors and is relevant to a wide range of applications. Especially sensing in harsh environments, such as those in mining, automotive, defence, and power industries, this will allow a quick penetration into the commercial market,” he continued.
QMNC is the only research centre in Australia with the capability of growing high-quality SiC nanometre-thin films, but the researchers there have maximised their outcomes through numerous inter-institutional collaborations. This includes work with UQ on SiC-on-glass waferbonding, with University of Tokyo on SiC piezoresistive effects, and with Stanford University on bulk SiC-based sensing devices.
“The support from ANFF and our industrial partner SPT in establishing world-class micro/nanofabrication facilities in the Queensland node was an important factor, which led to the success of this project,” Nam-Trung said. | <urn:uuid:32257546-865c-43a9-b40a-824cd98e0f27> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://anff-q.org.au/casestudy/australia-taken-lead-producing-sic-sensors/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141176049.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124082900-20201124112900-00682.warc.gz | en | 0.925697 | 437 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Clean energy offers a significant opportunity to diversify the rural economy while generating cheap, renewable power for rural homes and businesses.
Wind, solar, and other renewable energy projects help revitalize rural communities by taking advantage of their rich energy resources. New tax revenue from these projects help shore up local infrastructure, like schools and emergency services, while reducing the local tax burden on rural people. Meanwhile, farmers and landowners receive land-lease payments from project developers in an unpredictable farm economy. In addition, new jobs are created by the increased demand for local manufacturing and project operators.
To maximize the impact of clean energy development, a critical need arises for new and upgraded transmission capacity to carry renewable energy generated across wide geographic areas to consumers. Investing in transmission infrastructure creates new access to clean energy and allows rural economies in the Midwest and Great Plains to unlock their clean energy potential.
We aim to assist landowners and other rural stakeholders to ensure that clean energy transmission is built in an equitable, sustainable way—a way that works best for rural citizens and their communities.
Click here to view our wind energy story map, and watch the video below to see how the small town of Petersburg, Nebraska, realized its clean energy potential. Check out our clean energy transmission database, which provides project details on proposed or newly developed transmission projects in the Midwest and Great Plains. | <urn:uuid:6b79dcac-b537-465f-baee-46abdeb07296> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.cfra.org/clean-energy?page=21 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141176049.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124082900-20201124112900-00682.warc.gz | en | 0.918693 | 269 | 2.8125 | 3 |
In the later fifteenth century, the Kingdom of Hungary became the first land outside Italy to embrace the Renaissance, thanks to its king, Matthias Corvinus, and his humanist advisors, János Vitéz and Janus Pannonius. Matthias created one of the most famous libraries in the Western World, the Bibliotheca Corviniana, rivaled in importance only by the Vatican. The court became home to many Italian humanists, and through his friendship with Lorenzo the Magnificent, Matthias obtained the services of such great Florentine artists as Andrea del Verrocchio, Benedetto da Maiano, and Filippino Lippi. After Matthias’s death in 1490, interest in Renaissance art was continued by his widowed Neapolitan queen, Beatrice of Aragon, and by his successors Vladislav I and Louis II Jagiello.
The twenty-two essays collected in this volume provide a window onto recent research on the development of humanism and art in the Hungary of Matthias Corvinus and his successors. Richly illustrated with new photography, this book eloquently documents and explores the unique role played by the Hungarian court in the cultural history of Renaissance Europe. | <urn:uuid:b0c4211a-f4fc-4191-9ff8-d288860da6bc> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674063464 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141184123.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20201125183823-20201125213823-00042.warc.gz | en | 0.954704 | 251 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Standing Up Against Hate tells the stories of the African American women who enlisted in the newly formed Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in World War II. They quickly discovered that they faced as many obstacles in the armed forces as they did in everyday life. However, they refused to back down. They interrupted careers and left family, friends, and loved ones to venture into unknown and sometimes dangerous territory. They survived racial prejudice and discrimination with dignity, succeeded in jobs women had never worked before, and made crucial contributions to the military war effort. The book centers around Charity Adams, who commanded the only black WAAC battalion sent overseas and became the highest ranking African American woman in the military by the end of the war. Along with Adams’s story are those of other black women who played a crucial role in integrating the armed forces. Their tales are both inspiring and heart-wrenching. The book includes a timeline, bibliography, and index. | <urn:uuid:aee1a78b-75cb-4671-84b8-5f61a9e24438> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://books.apple.com/us/book/standing-up-against-hate/id1359122717 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141189038.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127015426-20201127045426-00122.warc.gz | en | 0.973847 | 195 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Snoring all night might not just be keeping your partner awake—it might be signaling something serious about your health.
Excessive snoring is a symptom of sleep apnea, a serious condition where you actually stop breathing in your sleep. It’s been linked to problems like morning headache, daytime sleepiness, and much more serious issues like high blood pressure, stroke, and heart attack. (Here are 7 signs you actually stop breathing in your sleep.)
The gold standard of diagnosing sleep apnea is a sleep study, usually a polysomnogram. This test records brain activity, heart rate oxygen levels, and snoring, among other signs. It’s painless, but you’ll have to go to a sleep lab to get it done. Some doctors offer home-based monitors, but they are difficult to use and tend to disrupt your sleep.
Now, a new device may bridge the gap between accurate diagnosis and convenience: Scientists have developed a one-ounce, adhesive patch that can confidently identify sleep apnea, according to preliminary research presented at SLEEP 2017, the annual meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
After testing the device on 174 people with sleep apnea, the researchers discovered 87 percent agreement on sleep apnea diagnosis from the patch and traditional in-lab polysomnography tests.
A separate study looking at how well patients were able to use the device on their own found that 38 out of 39 people got successful readings from it, according to a press release.
This skin-adhesive patch measures nasal pressure, blood oxygen saturation, pulse rate, any respiratory struggles, sleep time, and body position.
The results from this study will be used in petitioning the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval for the device.
In the meantime, if you think you’re suffering from sleep apnea—you snore, fall asleep easily in places outside your bed, wake up with a headachy or scratchy throat, or feel tired all the time—talk with your doctor. Until this device is approved, a sleep study may be your best bet to ID’ing sleep apnea. | <urn:uuid:1e043bb0-a332-48a2-980e-29e9ef15eb4c> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.menshealth.com/health/a19518875/patch-diagnoses-sleep-apnea/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141189038.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127015426-20201127045426-00122.warc.gz | en | 0.931567 | 449 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Students spent their first hands-on Materials Lab this morning working with objects donated by the YMCA Blacksburg that pose a significant challenge to their operation: furniture made from pressed wood. While affordable and functional, these furnishings do not typically age well. Each time they are assembled or disassembled, they sustain damage at their mechanical joints, and the wood-to-fastener connections lose integrity. They are also often left unfinished on the surfaces contacting the floor, which makes them vulnerable to moisture damage. When faced with space limitations and limited staff, the Y is forced to either reject donations of these types of furniture, or pay to dispose of them if they cannot be repaired to a sellable state. Particularly during move-out periods, the volume of donations greatly exceeds available resources to deal with them. A better solution is needed to deal with these types of donations more sustainably.
On a global scale, diminishing high quality forest resources and greater consumer demand for affordable furniture mean that this type of material is becoming much more common than raw wood. Our class has an opportunity in this lab to study the material properties of pressed board. This lab is an important preparatory step for our last lab of the semester, in which each team will propose a useful way to upcycle pressed board materials into something the YMCA can sell, therefore both reducing waste disposal costs and offering a potential new revenue stream. Through these labs, we'll apply our creativity not only to help the local YMCA solve its immediate problems, but also contribute to finding solutions that may help address the world's solid waste and resource scarcity problems. | <urn:uuid:f2912adc-7fdb-4cbc-af94-4f939b31218b> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.bc.vt.edu/news/bc-2044-students-investigate-upcycling-possibilities-furniture | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141733120.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20201204010410-20201204040410-00522.warc.gz | en | 0.958513 | 324 | 3.0625 | 3 |
A key function in emergency medicine is to assign an acuity rating to new patients shortly after their arrival. This is done by the triage nurse on the basis of a cursory evaluation. If the nurse underassesses the patient, a long wait may ensue, thereby putting a critically ill patient at risk. The most common type of medical negligence in this scenario results in delayed treatment of an impending cardiac arrest. Several professional organizations have set standards regarding acuity assessment at triage to assist caregivers in avoiding unnecessary delays.
According to the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research (AHQR), “[t]he purpose of triage in the emergency department (ED) is to prioritize incoming patients and to identify those who cannot wait to be seen. The triage nurse performs a brief, focused assessment and assigns the patient a triage acuity level, which is a proxy measure of how long an individual patient can safely wait for a medical screening examination and treatment. *** With more patients waiting longer in the waiting room, the accuracy of the triage acuity level is even more critical. Under-categorization (undertriage) leaves the patient at risk for deterioration while waiting. *** And rapid, accurate triage of the patient is important for successful ED operations.”
A medical malpractice claim may arise under Ohio law out of a delay in treatment in the setting of an emergency department visit. In response to concerns about delays occurring at triage, the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) and the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) made joint recommendations for triage in emergency departments. A hospital’s failure to properly assess the patient’s acuity and risk of deterioration may fall below accepted standards for emergency medicine.
There are over 100 million visits to U.S. emergency departments each year according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Of those visits, less than 20% of patients were seen within 15 minutes, leaving the majority of patients waiting in the waiting room. In dire cases, early, accurate assessment is crucial to good care. | <urn:uuid:b9d716b0-23e5-451c-b5e0-72f233484096> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.mishkindlaw.com/2013/05/15/acuity-ratings-emergency-medicine/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141733120.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20201204010410-20201204040410-00522.warc.gz | en | 0.940211 | 423 | 2.734375 | 3 |
by TM Conway, JV Vecht
Landscape and Urban Planning 138:1-102015
Many North American cities have set ambitious goals to increase their urban forests, as well as improving the diversity of the trees planted. Diversity considerations include both a larger range of species and an increased percentage of native species. However, it is unclear how the urban foresters and organizations involved in tree planting and supply make species selection decisions. This article explores the species selection process of several actors who are planting or selling trees in the city of Toronto, Canada. Researchers conducted interviews with, and surveyed landscape architects, non-profit organizations, retail nurseries, garden centers, and urban foresters to gain an understanding of decision-making related to tree species selection. Differences between the sets of actors were primarily related to neighboring tree species, native species status, and tree pests. The available tree supply influenced the type of species planted or sold, suggesting this may be the fundamental factor determining how species diversity goals are implemented. Additionally, contrasting decision-making criteria did not consistently result in different species being planted. This finding reaffirms that despite urban forestry goals being interpreted through different criteria, the resulting selections can still often lead to a diverse range of tree species planted. | <urn:uuid:29e1c34e-c7b2-4729-a07f-a404bd81c4f5> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | http://laurbanresearchcenter.org/entry/growing-a-diverse-urban-forest-species-selection-decisions-by-practitioners-planting-and-supplying-trees/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141184870.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20201125213038-20201126003038-00322.warc.gz | en | 0.945077 | 249 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Prior to its development in the 1880s as a luxury seaside resort, the Coronado peninsula was a brush-covered sandspit accessible only by rowboat. To create the lush landscape desired for the site, local horticulturist Kate Sessions selected hardy, drought-tolerant plants from comparable coastal climates like Mexico and the Canary Islands. When the Hotel del Coronado opened in 1888, its grounds boasted ornamental and specimen species that had not yet been planted in California.
Envisioned as a tropical garden at the heart of the hotel by developers Elisha Spurr Babcock and Hampton Story, and created by Sessions, a rectangular courtyard was filled with rich arrangements of palms, cycads, ferns, birds of paradise, and other exotic species. Designed by architects James and Merritt Reid, verandas and red cupolas jut out of the hotel’s white-clapboard façade to overlook the central courtyard gardens below. Between the hotel and the ocean, terraces give way to an elliptical, open lawn and colorful, low-lying plantings. Sandy berms planted with aloe and agave protect the beachfront lawn from erosion. Plantings along the resort’s meandering pathways echo Sessions’ original plant palette, and a dragon tree planted by Sessions along the Vista Walk is considered one of the hotel’s most iconic landscape features. Although the 28-acre property has been updated and renovated on several occasions, many of Sessions’ key specimen plants and primary design elements remain. Hotel del Coronado was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1977. | <urn:uuid:ebcb2be0-1c23-4ff0-b165-3b9d62081048> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://tclf.org/hotel-del-coronado | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141184870.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20201125213038-20201126003038-00322.warc.gz | en | 0.927868 | 346 | 2.875 | 3 |
The news just keeps getting worse for bisphenol A. Lab and animal research has linked it to reproductive disorders, obesity, diabetes, and cancers sensitive to hormonal activity, like those of the breast and prostate. Studies show that more than the vast majority of Americans have measurable levels of BPA in their urine (though as Sydney Brownstone wrote on this blog yesterday, Old Order Mennonites seem to have less)—not surprising given that the chemical is used in thousands of consumer products, including cans and plastic packaging for food and beverages.
Now a new study from China has found an association, for the first time, between human exposure to BPA and brain tumors. The kind of tumor, called meningioma, is usually benign and occurs more frequently in women than in men. Since female hormones appear to fuel the growth of meningioma tumors, it’s not surprising that an endocrine-disrupting chemical like BPA, which mimics estrogen in the body, could play a similar role.
In the study, researchers compared BPA urine levels in about 250 Chinese adults diagnosed with meningioma to a similar number of healthy controls. Those with the highest levels were 60 percent more likely to have a meningioma tumor than those with the lowest, after adjusting for being overweight, having a history of hormone replacement therapy, and other factors that can influence the risk of the disease.
The study is far from conclusive. For one thing, the researchers determined BPA exposure levels from a single urine sample. Since the body quickly excretes BPA, a sample taken after a tumor has already developed does not necessarily indicate that exposure to the chemical predated the illness.
Despite the limitations, the findings are another reminder that ubiquitous chemicals like BPA are likely to inflict significant damage before the weight of evidence finally convinces federal agencies to take greater steps to cut human exposures. As Sydney noted in her post yesterday, the FDA still thinks it’s not a problem for us to ingest the chemical with our canned tomato soup. | <urn:uuid:c8732de9-babf-4126-84b4-66bc97250de1> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://practice.motherjones.com/politics/2012/06/bpa-linked-brain-tumor-first-time/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141189141.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127044624-20201127074624-00402.warc.gz | en | 0.95589 | 418 | 2.640625 | 3 |
While diving off the coast of Thailand, a group of adventurers were treated to a sight like no other: A giant manta ray, swimming around near the depths of the ocean. Captured on film, the moment has received tens of thousands of views since it surfaced online earlier this month. The footage is particularly spectacular because of its clarity, as the image quality truly allows a detailed view of the mysterious animal.
The giant manta ray, or oceanic ray, is different from the standard manta ray that most people are familiar with. Discovered less than a decade ago according to National Geographic, oceanic manta rays are distinguished from reef manta rays, another name for the normal-sized variety, in a few different ways. The oceanic ray can grow up to a 23-foot wing span, while the reef ray averages 10 feet, Manta Trust reports. The larger species has much wider migratory tendencies, and can be found in a variety of different waters.
Like its smaller cousin, however, the oceanic ray is not equipped with a barbed sting, unlike stingrays. This makes it a mostly harmless animal for divers to be around – and while it reportedly fears human contact, according to National Geographic, the animal is not considered a threat.
Surprisingly, oceanic manta rays have been found to be potentially very intelligent, self-aware animals. New Scientist reports that researchers at the University of South Florida who had placed oceanic manta rays in a tank equipped with a mirror seemed aware that the mirror was showing them a reflection of themselves, rather than another living creature. "The behavioral responses strongly imply the ability for self-awareness, especially considering that similar, or analogous, behavioral responses are considered proof of self-awareness in great apes," Csilla Ari, a USF biologist, told New Scientist.
The IUCN Red List classifies oceanic rays as vulnerable. National Geographic explains this is due to the massive value of their gills in Guangzhou, China. Manta rays are only capable of reproducing every two to five years, and give birth to only one pup at a time, which puts them in severe danger of massive losses in population.
Watch the video below for a look at this majestic animal, and make sure to share it with your friends on Facebook. | <urn:uuid:dd698b20-1a98-43d4-9558-6bb04410c505> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://worldofanimals.org/2016/03/24/giant-manta-rays-gracefully-enchanting/?src=bottomxpromo&ro=3&et=sxp&eid=70759&pid=50627&t=mxp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141189141.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127044624-20201127074624-00402.warc.gz | en | 0.956183 | 471 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Naturally iridescent materials such as opal or a butterfly’s wing have long fascinated onlookers for their ability to produce spectacular rainbow colors. Now, researchers have uncovered the cause of the vibrant display in another naturally iridescent material, the iron oxide mineral known as rainbow hematite. Pennsylvania State University geochemist Peter J. Heaney and his student Xiayang Lin used a variety of imaging and spectroscopy techniques to investigate the chemical makeup and surface structure of a rainbow hematite sample from Brazil (Gems & Gemol. 2018, DOI: 10.5741/GEMS.54.1.28). They found that the mineral contains stacked sheets of spindle-shaped nanocrystals that are arranged at 120-degree angles. The nanocrystal array acts as a diffraction grating, splitting and scattering beams of light to produce the rainbow effect. The researchers also calculated a chemical formula (Fe1.81Al0.23P0.03O3) for the mineral, which contains aluminum and phosphorus impurities in addition to its major iron and oxygen components. The presence of those impurities within the crystal structure may have prompted the nanoparticles to grow into spindle shapes rather than into more symmetrical rhombohedrons, Heaney says. He thinks the findings could inspire new nanocrystal-based iridescent coatings. | <urn:uuid:22eca4f7-bdb0-44d0-80b3-ba30dfa8fd89> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://cen.acs.org/physical-chemistry/geochemistry/Nanocrystals-give-hematite-rainbow-flair/96/i27?utm_source=YMAL&utm_medium=YMAL&utm_campaign=CEN&utm_content=pos1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141195656.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20201128125557-20201128155557-00482.warc.gz | en | 0.922235 | 279 | 3.625 | 4 |
A new small study out of Harvard and Boston University is targeting the use of soft robotic exosuits among stroke survivors. The aim is to demonstrate how such technologies could impact the rehabilitation of patients suffering hemiparesis, a kind of paralysis that impacts muscles and limbs on one side of the body.
The results so far seem promising. Among the six patients involved in the study, walking speed has been improved by an average of 0.14 meters a second. The patients are also able to walk 32 meters farther on average during a six-minute interval, with one walking more than 100 meters farther.
The suit itself is small and soft, weighing around 11 pounds, including battery. Electronics aside, it’s largely fabric-based, with actuators mounted on the wearer’s hip. Those are used to assist movement in the ankles by way of attached cables. The system can be worn on either side of the body.
“The vast majority of people who have had a stroke walk slowly and cannot walk very far. Faster and farther walking after physical therapy are among the most important outcomes desired by both patients and clinicians. If neither speed nor distance are changed by a therapy, it would be difficult to consider that therapy to be effective,” study co-author and Harvard Wyss faculty member Lou Awad says in a release. “The levels of improvement in speed and distance that we found in our exploratory study exceeded our expectations for an immediate effect without any training and highlight the promise of the exosuit technology.”
Awad says the team is “eager” to explore the results in settings outside of the lab. The team’s findings were published in IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology (OJEMB). | <urn:uuid:b5e46c81-330a-4e22-b853-c2d1054dad51> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://future.techcrunch.com/2020/05/13/robotic-exosuits-show-immediate-improvements-to-walking-speeds-of-stroke-survivors/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141203418.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20201129214615-20201130004615-00562.warc.gz | en | 0.957013 | 362 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Contributing writer Michael Behar has an intriguing feature today that details the science behind the link between injection wells and earthquakes. For a visual rundown of the fascinating process, check out the GIF below.
Drillers inject high-pressure fluids into a hydraulic fracturing well, making slight fissures in the shale that release natural gas. The resulting briny wastewater flows back up to the surface, where it is transported by truck or pipeline to nearby injection wells. The liquid is then pumped down the injection wells to a layer of deep, porous rock, often sandstone. Once there, it can flow in every direction, including into and around faults. Added pressure and lubrication can cause normally stable faults to slip, unleashing earthquakes.
Illustration: Leanne Kroll. Animation: Brett Brownell | <urn:uuid:876c2f07-9730-478c-9a42-edfeeb2cdf48> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://adops.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/how-fracking-causes-earthquakes-animated-gif/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141672314.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201074047-20201201104047-00642.warc.gz | en | 0.908981 | 161 | 3.5 | 4 |
LOCATION: 159 Mulford Hall, UC Berkeley.
The galaxies of our night sky are as diverse and colorful as any garden—and for the most part, just as tranquil. When we look back at the ancient universe, however, a different picture emerges: a cosmos that buzzes with activity and teems with the fresh growth of stars and black holes. How did these processes that formed our Milky Way begin? Why did they stop? And where did it all come from, anyway?
This talk will explore the tumultuous history of our universe, focusing on its evolution from a (mostly) uniform cloud of plasma to the dizzyingly complex array of stars and galaxies we see today. We’ll discuss how the seeds of galaxy formation were planted during the Big Bang, how budding galaxies collect the food for new stars, and how, like a cosmic autumn, this rampant growth transitioned into the fading colors and staid calm of our current galactic epoch.
Leaving horticultural metaphors aside, we’ll also discuss topics that have no terrestrial analogy: the mysterious, yet essential, contributions of dark matter and black holes to galaxy evolution. They may not make wormholes (sorry, Interstellar fans), but we’ll examine the ways in which astronomers can actually harness the incredible power of black holes to study the most baffling aspects of galaxy growth.
Ryan Trainor is a postdoctoral fellow in astrophysics at the Miller Institute for Basic Research at UC Berkeley. After growing up in the foothills of Lake Tahoe, he went south to complete a BS at UC Irvine and a PhD at Caltech. Having happily returned to northern California, he now splits his time between studies of galaxy growth and more hands-on experiments on vegetable growth with his wife in their backyard garden.
Event Contact: email@example.com Webcast: Webcast. Events are recorded and typically made available a few days after the event. | <urn:uuid:0891bc1d-459a-40f9-b238-f0bb85cc6bec> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://live-scienceatcal.pantheon.berkeley.edu/december-lecture-how-to-grow-a-galaxy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141672314.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201074047-20201201104047-00642.warc.gz | en | 0.943016 | 396 | 3.109375 | 3 |
On a Confluence Park field trip earlier this month, a student saw a curious-looking caterpillar under the largest pavilion. He cordoned off the area with his arms to make sure his friends did not accidentally step on it. Together, with their faces inches from the ground, they studied the creature and named it “Tomato Head” because of its plump shape and vermillion color.
But that was not enough for this student. As his friends wandered away, he went into a trance staring back and forth from a butterfly identification card to “Tomato Head.” Only a few minutes later, his eyes grew wide with delight as he pointed to a photo of a white-striped long-tailed skipper, successfully determining the species on his own. In a single caterpillar, this student found a sense of discovery and potential. | <urn:uuid:c35058b6-38df-4f2d-b794-290052b44f6f> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://sariverfound.org/portfolio/the-story-of-tomato-head/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141672314.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201074047-20201201104047-00642.warc.gz | en | 0.982968 | 176 | 2.875 | 3 |
Meet the Mpumalanga man who uses bees to scare elephants
It’s unimaginable that a 6 000-kilogram animal would fear a tiny insect. But elephants are scared of bees. And Ronnie Makukule is using this simple fact to conserve vulnerable vegetation and protect crops. Elephants have the capacity to completely wipe out thickets of trees by eating or trampling on them.
Efforts to deter them – thorny hedges, deep trenches, or fighting back with rocks, spears, firecrackers and guns – have not only failed, but in some cases resulted in the loss of life of both humans and elephants. In the midst of what appears to be a lose-lose situation, Makukule manages the world’s largest land mammals with fences made from beehives.
The revolutionary method harnesses the natural animosity between the two creatures. When bees are aggravated by elephants, they target their vulnerable spots – their trunks and eyes. The elephants have since learned to stay away. Working in bee husbandry, Makukule’s fences provide a more humane method of control. It also allows him to explore his interest in conservation, which has been growing since he was a child.
After Makukule completed matric, he won a bursary to study environmental education and nature conservation at the Southern African Wildlife College. He then ran environmental awareness programmes at schools for the Timbavati Foundation. In 2016, Makukule joined Elephants Alive, using his ability to identify individual elephants and collect DNA samples to become a valuable researcher on the team. But it’s his work as head of the Bee Project that has made the most significant impact.
Human aggression towards elephants has contributed to their already dwindling numbers caused by poachers. Beehive fences are a peaceful means of alleviating the conflict between humans and elephants, without causing harm to either. The bees also pollinate plants and add to the biodiversity of the area.
Unlike electric fences, the initial cost of beehive fences is soon counteracted by the income from honey production. It’s an ingenious method, proof that nature has the best solutions. And with a little creative thinking, something small can make a huge difference in conservation and wildlife management. | <urn:uuid:ebecf672-4fbe-4ca1-92ed-438bb2a14922> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/mpumalanga/meet-the-mpumalanga-man-who-uses-bees-to-scare-elephants-17355734 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141716970.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20201202205758-20201202235758-00002.warc.gz | en | 0.960366 | 465 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Diseases Spread by Norway Rats
When Norway rats invade attics or kitchens, property damage and loss of food aren't the worst concerns. Residents should be much more worried about Norway rat diseases, which can damage the health and threaten the wellbeing of humans. Some of the more severe illnesses include:
- Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome - Any immediate contact with rodent saliva or droppings can spread HPS. Although it's somewhat rare, the potential severity of the disease makes it noteworthy. Symptoms include chills, nausea, and abdominal discomfort.
- Tularemia - Humans contract this fever-inducing Norway rat disease by either eating contaminated food or through the skin. The illness results in ulcers and the swelling of glands.
- Salmonellosis - This disease is spread via the accidental ingestion of food or drink polluted with rodent feces. Symptoms can last up to a week and include bloody stool, abdominal cramps, and vomiting.
Many Norway rat diseases are spread through the air. Dried fecal matter is easily kicked up in grass or gardens and disturbed while cleaning sheds or attics. Proper ventilation is necessary when cleaning up droppings, and homeowners must wear dust masks, gloves, and long sleeves to stay safe. To best avoid catching these diseases, contact the professionals at Critter Control to eliminate Norway rats safely. | <urn:uuid:c5ca0b6a-c052-4fe4-8cc5-4cdf4f00e72e> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.crittercontrol.com/wildlife/norway-rats/norway-rat-diseases | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141748276.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20201205165649-20201205195649-00162.warc.gz | en | 0.927436 | 270 | 3.46875 | 3 |
It’s officially winter, and we all know what that means: Dark days and dreariness. If you live east of the Cascades, you’ve probably already seen lots of snow, and if you live closer to the coast, you know we have months left in our annual rainy season—which could end up being just as cold and wet as it was last winter.
Instead of retreating to your couch and blanket when the weather’s less than desirable, consider braving the elements and finding a park, trail or other outdoor spot to visit. That might seem counterintuitive, since many people in this region experience seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, when our daylight hours grow shorter.
Yes, you’ll need rain gear—and patience—but going outdoors even on icky days could bring health benefits.
“I would encourage people to get out regardless of weather. Even just getting your steps in can be especially important on days that are gray and cold, since physical activity is important for both mental and physical health,” says Pooja Tandon, M.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine who studies the relationship between physical activity and children’s health.
Tandon and colleagues recently reviewed studies analyzing the many ways exposure to nature can affect health. Research shows that benefits of being in nature range from reduced anxiety and depression to better sleep, eyesight, immune function and better outcomes for people who have chronic conditions like congestive heart failure or ADHD. | <urn:uuid:bb347b8e-1378-42dc-a8a1-fb977d63448d> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://rightasrain.uwmedicine.org/life/leisure/why-you-should-still-go-outside-when-weather-sucks | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141176922.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124170142-20201124200142-00522.warc.gz | en | 0.958415 | 317 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Since the legalization movement began hitting full stride, new research discoveries about marijuana’s potential health benefits have been surfacing with regularity. Among the most recent, a study shows that the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), restores cognitive function in the brains of mice by rolling back the aging process.
The study builds from a theory that the brain’s endocannabinoid system (home of the receptors that THC binds to) is related to cognitive aging and decline. The older we get, the more the activity in this system slows down; our brains gradually produce fewer naturally occurring endocannabinoids. The outcomes from this slowdown aren’t entirely understood, but there’s enough evidence from animal models to suggest that it’s tied to memory loss and decreased learning ability.
"With increasing age, the quantity of the cannabinoids naturally formed in the brain reduces," quoting Professor Andreas Zimmer, one of the study’s authors. "When the activity of the cannabinoid system declines, we find rapid aging in the brain."
So, if it’s possible to somehow recharge the system, it could be possible to reverse or at least reduce the cognitive slowdown. That’s what the researchers tried with old mice, and the results were remarkable. When they studied the brain tissue and gene activity of the mice after a low-dose THC treatment, they found that the genetic signature no longer looked like that of old mice, but of very young mice. And they found increased nerve links in the brain tissue, which correlates with learning and thinking speed.
Again quoting Zimmer, “It looked as though the THC treatment turned back the molecular clock.”
Yes, these are mice and not humans, and yes, this sort of research would be difficult to perform on humans for obvious ethical reasons–but it’s still extraordinary. It sounds implausible to think that adding low doses of a chemical from a plant could reverse the brain’s aging process, but that’s exactly what this study shows glimpses of in the brain tissue of mice.
While we can’t draw solid conclusions from this study for humans, the results add to a promising list of findings that should continue encouraging cannabis research. It's imperative that that door stays open.
The study was published in the journal Nature Medicine. | <urn:uuid:1118b9ba-e6cf-4260-b10c-50b47b40384d> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2017/05/30/marijuana-may-be-a-weapon-against-brain-aging-suggests-new-study/?sh=7ae7102f51ca | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141205147.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20201130035203-20201130065203-00122.warc.gz | en | 0.945937 | 484 | 3.078125 | 3 |
When the Bolsheviks seized power in 1917, they set themselves the task of building socialism in the vast landscape of the former Russian Empire, a territory populated by hundreds of different peoples belonging to a multitude of linguistic, religious, and ethnic groups. Before 1917, the Bolsheviks had called for the national self-determination of all peoples and had condemned all forms of colonization as exploitative. After attaining power, however, they began to express concern that it would not be possible for Soviet Russia to survive without the cotton of Turkestan and the oil of the Caucasus. In an effort to reconcile their anti-imperialist position with their desire to hold on to as much territory as possible, the Bolsheviks integrated the national idea into the structure of the new Soviet state.
In Empire of Nations, Francine Hirsch examines the ways in which former imperial ethnographers and local elites provided the Bolsheviks with ethnographic knowledge that shaped the very formation of the new Soviet Union. The ethnographers—who drew inspiration from the Western European colonial context—produced all-union censuses, assisted government commissions charged with delimiting the USSR’s internal borders, led expeditions to study “the human being as a productive force,” and created ethnographic exhibits about the “Peoples of the USSR.” In the 1930s, they would lead the Soviet campaign against Nazi race theories . Hirsch illuminates the pervasive tension between the colonial-economic and ethnographic definitions of Soviet territory; this tension informed Soviet social, economic, and administrative structures. A major contribution to the history of Russia and the Soviet Union, Empire of Nations also offers new insights into the connection between ethnography and empire. | <urn:uuid:f8ab07b7-ebfb-47cf-abb1-de21e226f84e> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://history.wisc.edu/publications/empire-of-nations-ethnographic-knowledge-and-the-making-of-the-soviet-union/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141674594.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201135627-20201201165627-00202.warc.gz | en | 0.955746 | 348 | 3.734375 | 4 |
The Mungoma Caves in Vihiga County are a sight to behold. Tucked in the remote village of Mungoma, the caves are made up of several enormous boulders lumped together, leaving hollow winding openings inside. The caves are revered in the larger Vihiga for their tremendous cultural significance. The site offers a sneak peek into the history of the Maragoli, a sub-tribe of the Luhya people. The rocks serve as an enduring link between the people and their past. Two Maragoli traditional huts have been erected at the foot of the rocks to symbolize that the founders of the Maragoli nation once inhabited the place. | <urn:uuid:da550c70-57b7-43a0-9c37-5102badeb99d> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://twenzetu.com/local/maragoli-hills/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141717601.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20201203000447-20201203030447-00282.warc.gz | en | 0.963775 | 137 | 2.734375 | 3 |
What was once an agricultural field and a coal-burning facility on the shores of Lake Erie is now a solar electricity generating station. Ontario Power Generation partnered with the Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation and the Mississauga’s of the Credit First Nation to bring the communities their first 44-megawatt alternating current (AC) solar facility and a long-term revenue stream. The station is a part of the Ontario government’s future-thinking plan to phase out the province’s coal plants in favor of cleaner sources of energy.
Due to the land’s history, proper drainage during construction was imperative to prevent residual coal dust from washing into the lake, and we ensured all subcontractors followed set plans. Now, wildlife including deer and snapping turtles are once again thriving on the restored land. | <urn:uuid:3a5af409-466b-41d0-8499-cb760b199031> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.pcl.com/ca/en/our-work/nanticoke-solar---44-mw-ac-solar-facility- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141717601.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20201203000447-20201203030447-00282.warc.gz | en | 0.923291 | 166 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Provide a foundation for essential skills with the Complete Book of Grade PreK. With the colorful lessons in this workbook, your young learner will strengthen skills that include colors and shapes, letter and number recognition, and handwriting. The Complete Book series provides a dynamic way for students in prekindergarten to grade 4 to master essential skills. Each vivid workbook guides students through a variety of engaging activities in phonics, reading comprehension, math, and writing. Challenging concepts are presented in simple language with easy-to-understand examples, while stickers and full-color illustrations capture students' interest. The Complete Book series is a thorough, comprehensive guide to grade-level success. | <urn:uuid:4c367305-4bb6-4077-94bf-922d80c12b13> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.teachersparadise.com/c/complete-book-grade-pk | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141717601.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20201203000447-20201203030447-00282.warc.gz | en | 0.910225 | 140 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have created a smartphone ultra-zoom solution that allows scientists in the field to image and size DNA. The tool, which uses a little 3D-printed box that acts as a high-resolution microscope, can be used to see objects as small as two nanometers in width.
“For perspective, that makes DNA about 50,000 times thinner than a human hair,” said Aydogan Ozcan, the UCLA professor involved in the project. “Currently, imaging single DNA molecules requires bulky, expensive optical microscopy tools, which are mostly confined to advanced laboratory settings. In comparison, the components for my device are significantly less expensive.”
From the release:
Considering current methods require non-portable heavy machinery and computers, this seems like a godsend for researchers in the field. The team is currently using the tool to “detect the presence of malaria-related drug resistance.” | <urn:uuid:0e05a27f-b078-4322-808f-467bcbf20fac> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://techcrunch.com/2015/04/30/researchers-create-the-ultimate-smartphone-ultra-zoom-to-see-and-measure-strands-of-dna/?ncid=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141735600.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20201204101314-20201204131314-00362.warc.gz | en | 0.952081 | 199 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Spider Webs Are Chock Full of DNA from Devoured Insects
A spider’s web ensnares its prey for far longer than it takes the spider to down its next meal, a new study finds. Spider webs bear traces of DNA from whatever creatures have come in contact with them, according to the research led by University of Notre Dame biologists and published in PLOS ONE.
The scientists used black widow spiders from Indiana’s Potawatomi Zoo. After they built webs, the four spiders were fed crickets dropped into their webs. The researchers then took samples of the webs, and extracted DNA from them. They were able to identify the species of both spider and their prey from these web samples—even one from a spider that had died and been removed from its exhibit (along with its prey) almost 90 days before.
While the presence of little bits of spider DNA may make their webs seem a little creepier, it could be a boon for keeping track of spider and insect populations. Spiders tend to be elusive, but their webs are easier to track down, so researchers could use this genetic material to monitor spider biodiversity, even after the arachnids themselves have died or moved on from that habitat. DNA testing could also reveal information about what type of insects get caught in the webs.
However, this study tested webs housed indoors, and outdoor spider webs may deteriorate more rapidly, so the results might not be as clean-cut. | <urn:uuid:ea67eb87-2da4-480f-9ce3-36b1f3991cea> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/71760/spider-webs-are-chock-full-dna-devoured-insects | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141735600.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20201204101314-20201204131314-00362.warc.gz | en | 0.976065 | 298 | 3.765625 | 4 |
A novel imaging-based computer-aided diagnostic system is up to 90% accurate at spotting melanoma, according to a study published in Diagnostics.
Lithuanian researchers developed their method by combining various noninvasive imaging technologies, such as ultrasound and optical spectrophotometry.
And when tested on 100 lesions, the tool accurately distinguished melanoma from benign findings, topping the 90% mark in some situations.
“Based on the results of our research, we can confirm that the developed automated system can complement the noninvasive diagnostic methods currently applied in the medical practice by efficiently differentiating melanoma from a melanocytic mole,” Renaldas Raisutis, head of the team behind the research at Kaunas University of Technology, said in a statement published Monday.
In Europe, where this study was undertaken, melanoma is the fifth most common type of cancer, with mortality rates tallying 3.8 deaths per 10,000 individuals in northern regions.
Additionally, Raisutis noted that spotting melanoma relies on removing and then testing the entire lesion. This invasive approach is highly user-dependent and only 65% accurate.
For their research, the team developed four different binary classification algorithms and tested them on 91 cases, including 50 moles and 41 melanomas.
The models all utilized pathologic, ultrasonic and spectrometric images, but the support vector machine approach proved most accurate, the authors noted, diagnosing cutaneous melanoma with an accuracy of 98.9%.
Raisutis et al. said they designed their system specifically for medical professionals, but hinted they may also be considering an at-home option.
The tool may have a big impact on outcomes when used alongside current diagnostic approaches.
"An efficient diagnosis of an early stage malignant skin tumor could save critical time: More patients could be examined and more of them could be saved,” Raisutis explained.
Read the entire study here. | <urn:uuid:d4d59c44-4010-4b00-8680-5a50cfcfc828> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.healthimaging.com/topics/diagnostic-imaging/computer-aided-system-90-accuracy-melanoma | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141163411.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20201123153826-20201123183826-00003.warc.gz | en | 0.941753 | 407 | 2.71875 | 3 |
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