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late April 2017 |
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Cassini's closest encounters with Saturn's rings (Scientific American) its death spiral begins celebrating Cassini's final days (Astronomy) Rethinking Triton (Astronomy) KBO or not, another underwater- ocean dwarf planet? Titles and abstracts from March's Lunar & Planetary meeting climate change science The Arctic is unraveling (Scientific American) it's warming 2x faster than the rest of the planet based on Snow, Water, Ice, & Permafrost in the Arctic report (AMAP) summary for policy makers Severe weather in a warming climate (Nature) Deadly bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef (Vox) in one map, color-coded Antarctic ice shelf stabilized by meltwater river? (Nature) Can dirt save us from disastrous global warming? (Mother Jones) a climate mystery under our feet science, tech, & economics Why coal can't be saved (Vox) it's the economy, stupid Global warming wild card (Scientific American, May 2017 issue) can India save the planet? science & politics We aren't the only nation not taking the Paris treaty seriously (Vox) carbon emissions need to be drastically reduced. now. Don't believe in climate change? it's what republicans do (Vox) the correlation between climate beliefs and political preference Canada & Australia: worse than Trump (Guardian) good rhetoric, bad policies EPA's Pruitt's bogus claims about Paris accords (Washington Post) 4 Pinocchios, of course EPA's Pruitt's claims about CO2 are false (Politifact) |
A rare lensing of a supernova (Sky & Telescope) |
7-Earth-mass rocky(?) planet in habitable zone of nearby M star (Nature) 1.4x Earth-radius from transit data Scientific American commentary NY Times commentary Sky & Telescope commentary Astronomy commentary Aliens structures around Tabby's star? (Scientific American, May 2017 issue) was Obama born in Kenya? |
Cosmic 'cold spot' challenges standard cosmology (Astronomy) a matter supervoid, the last hope, is now rules out What a SMBH looks like (Scientific American) image taken; results next year? |
A new force or new particles?: the latest LHC anomaly (Nature) even though it's only 2.5 sigma |
100 days of Trump "I kept my promises to Americans" (Washington Post) written by DJT, himself 10 lessons (538) Winners & losers (Vox) and another set (Washington Post) A comprehensive guide (Guardian) the view from afar 100 days, ranked (Politico) 20 issues (Atlantic) 20 takes, 20 predictions ________________ Humans in N America 130,000 yrs ago? (Nature) based on marks on mastodon bones but much skepticism (Nature) or is it shock? (Science) Visual proof that vaccines do more good than harm (Science) Where evangelicals came from (NY Books) Torching the digital 'library of Alexandria' (Atlantic) the death - by copyright - of Google books |
free speech on college campuses The war on the liberal mind (New York) shutting down speech is stupid What snowflakes get right about free speech (NY Times) really? Hate speech is free speech (USA Today) Understanding the campus free-speech crisis (National Review) but beware the source March for Science Why the March for Science was scary (Atlantic) and why scientsts must be political March for science! (Raleigh N&O) a NCSU grad student speaks out 9 March-for-Science sites in NC (March for Science) Raleigh, yes; but not in Durham or Chapel Hill Why it's a bad idea (NY Times) instead, march into schools, churches, county fairs, & offices of senators/reps To change politics, do more than march for science (Scientific American) call your Reps! March for Science: misunderstanding politics (Atlantic) scientists put their heads in the sand, again _______________ Genius: unraveling Einstein (NY Times) on NatGeoTV, in 10 parts |
early April 2017 |
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Molecular H2 on Enceladus: evidence for hydrothermal processes (Science) means Enceladus is the 'top candidate' for life elsewhere in solar system (Science) as 'microbe food is abundant' Sky & Telescope comments with cartoons of what might lie beneath Scientific American also has good commentary Mars lost its atmosphere to space (Sky & Telescope) blame the solar wind On the other hand, Solar wind may be responsible for Ceres' fleeting atmosphere (Sky & Telescope) What makes a good landing site on Mars (Atlantic) flat, near the equator, & where water might be found Curiosity's discoveries on Mars (Sky & Telescope, April 2017 issue) Citizen scientists closing in on Planet 9? (Astronomy) or they're just getting started, or ??? climate science Antarctica's sleeping ice giant could awaken soon (Nature) the East Antarctic ice sheet may be unstable New GOP-proposed carbon fee: better than nothing? (Scientific American) Thawing the permafrost (NY Times) more than expected? Nature published article How humans' CO2 emissions have accelerated plant growth (Nature) a negative feedback on global warming? commentary (NY Times) on this breakthrough paper Trump's end to the war on coal? (New Yorker) more like a war on science? A new assault on Arctic ice (Science) from warm currents below Biodiversity redistribution due to climate change (Science) has created new ecosystems |
An explosive event in the Orion nursery (Sky & Telescope) 1350 yrs ago |
Strange (but possible) oceans in the universe? (Astronomy) plasmic water, methane habitable zones, and tarry, oil-like or molten- rock seas? The 5 most habitable exoplanets (Astronomy) Competing visions of TRAPPIST-1 (Astronomy) fiery hell or raining life? Holding on to an atmosphere around an active start (Astronomy) |
How SMBHs shred whole stars (Scientific American, April 2017 issue) Spirits of our galaxy's past (Sky & Telescope, April 2017 issue) some of the images are in A gallery of stellar streams in galaxy halos (Sky & Telescope) |
Does space heat up when you accelerate? (Science) controversy over the Unruh effect Muons' big moment? (Nature) measuring the electron's magnetic moment A dark matter review (Nature) an entire issue (but most behind a paywall) A ripple in spacetime (the 1A) a 30-min podcast on the discovery of gravitational waves How to get info out of a black holes (Quantum Frontiers) or, one way at least The search for 0νββ (Science) still no sign of neutrino-less double beta decay (but still hoping) ditto says Nature Battle between quantum and thermodynamics laws heat up (Nature) Answering quantum questions may require new math (Quanta) |
the best analyses of the first half of April Understanding the rise of conservatism (NY Times) we've seen it before The dark side of cities (The Week) vs. the bright side and a slightly longer, differently- focused version: The voters the Left left behind (NY Times) Why Americans prefer unequal societies (Nature!) fair inequality beats unfair equality, but also a denial of reality by the downtrodden Living in two different worlds (LA Times) Fox et al. vs the mainstream ------------------- The Duke lacrosse mess and the rise of the alt right? (NY mag) relevant only if you're over 30 Why information matters (New Atlantis) part of a special issue on Info, Matter, and Life Quantifying (and fighting) gerrymandering (Quanta) math for good The case for immigration (Vox) growing economy, more jobs, less crime, and an enriched culture Why it's so hard to get ahead in the South (Atlantic) Charlotte is front and center (in being last) The myth of voter fraud (Atlantic) why republicans can't find any evidence for it 6 reasons why the Trump presidency is in shambles (Vox) best (short) review I've seen Can you really compromise on civil rights? (Atlantic) the embarrassing "repeal" of of NC's HB2 or Compromise on HB2 is justified (Raleigh N&O) The lamp beside the golden door (Indy Week) immigration in North Carolina |
Who are you calling anti-science? (Scientific American) college admissions How to take the SAT like a rich kid (NY Times) The relentless pursuit of students (Atlantic) by colleges A college app guide for the gap year accompanied by what to do on gap year if you're rich (NY Times) ---------------------- How high-school athletics affect school start times (Atlantic) as if you didn't already know Two approaches to evading the paywall on research articles: OpenAccessButton and Unpaywall Course choice: a different way to expand school choice (Ed Week) Why life moved to land (Quanta) for a better view? Science & Policy (Astrobites) by NCSSM alu, Mia de los Reyes Researchers say school should start later (Raleigh N&O) but not happening in Wake county UNC scandal, continued (Raleigh N&O) no end in sight? Who moved my teachers? (Mother Jones) the Wisconsin attack on teachers How social media became the perfect incubator for fake news (Scientific American April 2017 issue) duh Should your kids opt out of state testing? (Science 2.0) |
late March 2017 |
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Trump budget would shutter GoreSat (Science) a blow to exoplanet (and climate) research Our changing view of Mars (Physics Today) chemically complex, historically watery, and a suitable place for life The top 15 planet-altering volcanic eruptions over 2 Byr old (Nature) recovering a lost history climate change New evidence for planet- altering weather pattern persistence (Washington Post) Nature article Business as usual could result in highest CO2 levels in 50 Myr (Washington Post) driven by rising CO2 and solar flux Nature article Carbon emissions flat for 3rd year in a row (IEA) US, China emissions down, EU flat, others up Arctic sets record for lowest winter sea ice (Washington Post) dropping by 3% per decade more data from (National Snow and Ice Data Center) did you know we had one? A road map for decarbonization (Science) an alarming gap exists between Paris accords and real science Large portions of Great Barrier Reef have died in past year (NY Times) killed by overheated water Nature abstract 'We need to .... litigate every piece of .... climate science' (Science) say the AGW doubters, at their conference World's most polluted cities (Science) Leaves are emerging earlier (Climate Central) as planet warms Why coal isn't coming back (538) hurray for small victories? |
A new view on the origin of gold (Quanta) from neutron star collisions --- not supernovae? |
What happened at the Big Bang (Preposterous Universe) or at least 27 slides from an AAS talk SMBHs Star formation in SMBH jet outflows (ESO) sadly, the accompanying image is fake A SMBH ejected from its quasar? (Astronomy) by gravitational waves, no less ditto says Sky & Telesccope and with better pictures (Washington Post) Hunting for a black hole's event horizon (Nature) with an Earth- sized telescope Young galaxies have less dark matter than expected? (Sky & Telescope) or maybe we're learning about galactic evolution? Building the first SMBHs (Astronomy) can galaxies induce SMBH formation in their neighbors? UFOs from SMBHs may shape galaxies (Sky & Telescope) that's Ultra Fast Outflows |
Quantum leaps: bit by bit (Nature) |
Sorry, environmentalists; most cancer is caused by DNA (Science 2.0) or, at least, by bad DNA copying Shaking up the dinosaur family tree (NY Times) it's not in the hips Should healthy people have to pay for others' illnesses? (Washington Post) an eye-opening article about what insurance really pays for The impending end of the banana (Wired) at least the Cavendish Cooling to absolute zero mathematically outlawed? (New Scientist) without infinite time and resources The laws of life (Physics Today) limit life's forms and processes |
We don't fail well (STAT) why students don't go into science? Trump's blitzkrieg on science and climate change (Skeptical Science) Making America great again by defunding science & education Bracing for a lost generation in US science research (Atlantic) Cuts to science: "short-sighted and dangerous" (AGU) The Trump budget assault on science (Vox) A grim budget day for US science (Science) Trump budget 'would cripple science' (AAAS) Trump's budget would break science (Wired) today and tomorrow Budget director: "climate change research ... is a waste of money" (NPR) US science agencies face deep cuts (Nature) EPA and NIH are the big losers Scientists bristle at research budget cuts (NY Times) $9 billion cut targets teacher preparation. low- income access to higher ed (Edweek) --------------------- |
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early March 2017 |
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ET dust is everywhere (NY Times) particularly on your roof Why SpaceX can't colonize Mars (Science 2.0) and why we can't do an Earth back-up anywhere nearby (Science 2.0) Ceres' bright spots are only 4 Myr old (Max Planck) making the case for cryovolcanism Crashing an asteroid into the sun (Wired) doing the physics Dust devils on Mars (Earth & Sky) One less ocean world in the solar system? (Astronomy) sorry, Mimas.... you would have Europa-like surface cracks if had an ocean Oldest life on Earth? (NY Times) 3.77 Gyr old... or is it 4.22 Gyr? Science comments Spring 3 weeks early? (NY Times) yep, it's climate change An improved assessment of the oceans' heat content (Science) significant warming since 1998, esp. in the south End fracking (Raleigh N&O) to avert more CH4 release and a climate crisis |
Dust found in z = 8.4 galaxy (Astronomy) pushed back era of first stars to earlier than 600 Myr A.B. or read the incoherent children's version (NY Times) |
Kepler provides more info on TRAPPIST-1's 7 planets (Kepler) including links to fake pictures, virtual reality, and other nonsense caution on exoplanet claims Exoplanet ranking metrics need to change (Nature Astronomy) in particular, stop claiming 'Earth-like'.... we can't possibly know How habitable zones and 'super-earths' lead us astray (Nature Astronomy) science turning into clickbait? --------------------------- First evidence of rocky planet in Tatooine system (UC London) Secrets of SuperEarths (Sky and Telescope, March 2017 issue) surprisingly common, but still baffling some of the diagrams are in the associated What makes a planet habitable (Sky and Telescope) |
Origin of Milky Way's Fermi bubbles solved? (Hubble) the central SMBH's last big feeding frenzy What's wrong with Hubble's constant? (Science) bad assumptions? new physics? The most detailed dark-matter map (Astronomy) ever Fast radio bursts: the next big thing? (Nature) |
Case weakens for antimatter sign of dark matter (Science) in pulsars The emergence of Anyons? (Quanta) from tangled knots of quantum mechanics |
How Facebook, fake news, and your friends distort reality (Nature) the science of rewriting collective memories Quick guide to GOP's ACA replacement (Boston Globe) what stays, what doesn't; Medicare contracts; lots still unknown An explanation for why we have Trump (NY Times) bipartisan freakout over nearly- nonexistent terror Why the mammoths disappeared (Science) a 'genomic meltdown' New insights into the Chaco Canyon civilization (Scientific American) but ethics concerns still dog the research The end of a beautiful friendship (Slate) why Casablanca is losing its hold on movie lovers 5 steps to defeating the anti-science lobby (Scientific American) |
EPA removes 'science' from its mission statement (New Republic) is anyone paying attention? Want to fix schools? Go to the Principal's office (NY Times) A new NC Teaching Fellows Program? (Raleigh N&O) focusing on STEM The dangerous safety of college (NY Times) The dangerous (NY Times) 'coding' is short for 'programming' Want to make it as a biologist? (Wired) learn how to code Programmers: stop calling yourselves engineers (Atlantic) You physics teachers really need to be teaching numerical calculations (Wired) presumably most of bonus: running Python on your phone |