astro updates

keep up with astrophysics news and improve your cultural literacy .... now in its 6^th year

feedback, questions, broken links, and what not: kolena@gmail.com

last updated: 7 am April 30, 2019

solar system	stars	exoplanets	galaxies & cosmology	relativity, quantum, & particle physics	cultural literacy	teaching & ed, science & tech
*late April 2019*
*Planetary Defense Conference opens* *(IAA)* *livestream available* *while* 2029 Apophis flyby still looms *(JPL)* Exposed icy bedrock along Titan's equator *(Nature Astronomy)* *NASA to Psyche?* *(NASA)* *a visit to an iron- volcano asteroid* *Mercury has a massive solid core* *(Science News)* solid out to about 0.5 R_M, then liquid out to 0.85 R_M published article *(Geophyscal Research Letters)* says satellite tracking evidence *free* One comet, 70,000 images *(Max Planck Institute)* Rosetta at Comet 67P/Chiryumov-Gerasimenko Ryugu Hayabusa2: look what I made (Science News) a crater on Ryugu *Traveling to the origin of the solar system: @ Ryugu* *(Science)* *paywall* *A spinning-top- shaped rubble pile* *(Science)* *paywall* ------------------- *Was a 2014 meteor our first (known) interstellar visitor?* *(Science News)* based on its approach to Earth but it totally burned up in the atmosphere Methane on Mars? (Earth & Sky) a summary of its comings & goings First recording of a marsquake? *(Science News)* *hopefully the quakes will eventually tell us about Mars' interior* A comet fragment found inside a meteorite *(Arizona St. via phys.org)* supporting inward transport of materials from the outer disk into the inner planetesimal reservoir *New surprises about Titan's lakes* *(Earth & Sky)* *deeper,* *more CH₄and less C₂H₆* *Some of Titan's hydrocarbon lakes are seasonal* *(Science News)* based on 2 new papers in Nature Astronomy, here and here paywall *The Moon math that sets the Easter & Passover dates* *(The Atlantic)* *or why is Easter so late this year?* yes, the climate is changing New climate models predict a warming surge (Science) equilibrium climate sensitivity coming in at > 5 °C for 2100 but too early to get wound up? but why the next generation of models matter (Carbon Brief) first results from new climate models (CMIP) 1950: when the Anthropocene began? (The Atlantic) Want to escape global warming? (NY Times) visit (or move to) Duluth, MN.... or Buffalo, NY climate consequences Ocean wind/waves are getting stronger (Smithsonian) at least in southern oceans, 3-decade study finds... link to climate change uncertain The cost of climate tipping points? (Inside Climate News) $25 trillion (1.5° C) $34 trillion (2° C) $ 67 trillion (with current pledges) published article (Nature Communications) Implications of non-linear decline of permafrost pay now or pay later free Global economic inequality increased by global warming (Axios) published paper (PNAS) Greenland is 'falling apart'? (The Atlantic) accelerating ice melting: last 8 years matches that of the 39 years before published paper (PNAS) a 47-yr study of Greenland ice free One of Alaska's warmest springs (Anchorage Daily News) is causing a deadly thaw Glacier melt may leaves Alps bare (Climate News Network) by end of the century and the species that will go extinct (NY Times) in AK and WA published papers Global glacier mass changes & resulting sea-level rise, 1961 - 2016 (Nature) paywall Future of glaciers in European Alps (Cryosphere) ----------------- Is crop disease affected by rising CO₂? (The Economist) published paper: Plant-pathogen warfare under changing climate conditions (Cell Biology) paywall climate solutions Earth Day reminders 10 ways to accelerate progress on climate change (Vox) 100 solutions to climate change (Vox) ranked How to reduce atmospheric CO₂ & global warming: superplants? (The Guardian) using CRISPR gene editing We can pay for a Green New Deal (Huff Post) the deficit in biodiversity, fresh water, environmental capacity to absorb pollution trumps a budget deficit Why are sales of electric vehicles low? (Scientific American) social norms and lack of info about financial benefits evs/hydbrids still only 2% of US market Can climate-change games boost public understanding? (PNAS) with links to 6 games free climate non-solutions A journalistic failure on climate reporting (The Nation) the media are complacent while the world burns is there hope? 2018 U.S. energy use: record high (Vox) spike in natural gas; petroleum use up; coal down and some recent energy history (U.S. Energy Information Agency) climate law A growing wave of climate lawsuits (Vox) Will climate change the courts? (New Atlantis) is there a right to a stable climate? environment plastic If we care about the environment, why are we still drinking bottled water? (The Guardian) Microplastics are everywhere (Scientific American) they're blowin' in the wind A drowning ocean: 6 decades of plastic waste (The Guardian) but a huge increase in the last 3 Saving the planet from plastic? (Vox) Earth Day 2019 is Monday, April 22 Earth Day Festival (City of Durham) Durham, 4/28/19 noon - 5 pm, Durham Central Park 7 things we've learned (Vox) a sobering list Protect our species (Earth Day) particularly endangered ones A 100% renewable-energy future is realistic (Energy Watch) the executive summary	*Rapidly-rotating jet precession around stellar black hole warps disk and surrounding space* (NRAO) V404 Cygni does frame-dragging with a nice animation Heating the corona *(Astrobites)* *with sunspots that grow coronal loops?* The most metal- poor star ever (arXiv) [Fe/H] = -6.2 *Measuring the diameters of stars using asteroids* *(Sky & Telescope)* *Interstellar buckyballs* (AAS Nova) confirmed by Hubble but how did they form?	*UV surface light should not limit habitability of exoplanets around M stars* *(Astronomy)* *published paper* (MNRAS) *focusing on 4 of the closest potentially-habitable systems* they receive less uv than Earth now and Earth when life started *but another paper says* *Earth-like planet atmospheres can be destroyed by radiation from a small active star* *(Astronomy & Astrophysics)* *Where's the dust when you need it?* *(PNAS)* the dust portion of the disk doesn't appear to be massive enough to form planets *free* *Did double-star systems eject their rocky planets?* *(Space)* *two stars are not better than one* but only 11 such systems are known *preprint* *(arXiv)* *Getting found:* *the cold-giant exoplanets* *(Starts with a Bang)* *i.e., like Jupiter & Saturn* *but still hard to detect* A faster way to form planets? *(AAS Nova)* can roaming icy planetismals (think Oumuamua) act as seeds of planet formation? A planetary death census? (Astrobites) how often do stars consume their planets? Preparing to jump to (20% of) light speed (New Scientist) getting ready to go to Proxima Centauri TRAPPIST-1 system: 2 updates (phys.org) details: Interplanetary tides (ApJ) but still less than stellar tides? paywall Energetic particles from the star *(arXiv)* a flux 6x larger than felt by Earth *A giant exoplanet in a binary system with a white dwarf* (Earth & Sky) how did that happen?	*Rethinking the γ-ray glow at Milky Way's center* *(Quanta)* dark matter or just a bunch of pulsars? the H₀ controversy, again *H₀ tension hardens with new data* *(Hubble)* *Cepheid-measurers claim 2% precision in their H₀ value* *preprint* *(arXiv)* *What the LMC Cepheids contributed* *(Astrobites)* *Constant Controversy* (Sky & Telescope, June issue, now out) a nice summary on the tension no link because S&T never publishes anything on-line without a subscription *November 2018 symposium on H₀* *(Hubble Constant: Controversy: Status, Implications, Solutions)* *with links to all talks' slides or pdfs* ---------------------- VAOs: a new ruler at cosmic dawn *(Astrobites)* *albeit a wiggly one* *Observational support for spiral- density-wave theory?* *(U Arkansas)* *Universe's first molecule?* *(Sky & Telescope)* in the beginning was HeH⁺ *but found, curiously, in a planetary nebula* *Evidence of the end of the reionization era?* *(U Cambridge)* large irregular pockets of H I existed at 10⁹ A.B.	Seeing a quantum (Aeon) as in literally "a"... what else can the eye do? *by Rebecca Holmes, NCSSM '07* *rumors* Gravitational waves hint at neutron-star-eating black hole event on 4/26? *(Nature 4/26)* *difficulties because LIGO-Hanford was out of commission?* *some chance it's a fluke* *plus 3 black-hole mergers (awaiting-confirmation) also detected this month* and LIGO/VIRGO detect 2nd neutron-star merger of 4/25? *(Astronomy)* but no gamma-rays this time but no confirmation of any of this yet on the LIGO page? because and was there a 3^rd (or 2^nd?) last year? (Cosmos) --------------------- First observation of double-neutrino electron capture (Nature) in Xe-124... the longest half-life (1.8 x 10²² yrs) ever measured and hopefully shedding light on neutrino properties and neutrino-less double-beta decay ... and it's a good thing we built that dark-matter detector, eh? *Starts with a Bang* has an explainer The new frontier of gravitational waves *(Nature)* 6-page review article on its current state and future paywall *the black hole image, continued* *What we're actually seeing* *Part I* *somewhat superseded by:* *Part II* *(Of Particular Significance)* *it's not obvious* *it's the best source to read* *Help! I've fallen into a black hole and....* (New Scientist) choose your future *paywall* *M87's SMBH* *paywall* revisited *(Science)* *with a great* image+cartoon combination and for perspective: What's around the black hole (Earth & Sky) *and a zoom-in* *(Daily Galaxy)* We now know the best way to measure black-hole masses *(Science News)* *by star motions, not gas motions* *How a singularity can spin* *(Starts with a Bang)* but remember that quantum gravity gets the final say *The original 'what a black hole will look like' paper* (ApJ Letters) now 20 years old Behind the black- hole image: a giant leap for teamwork (Wall Street Journal) how 4 teams worked independently to make sure the image was free of bias *paywall* *8 telescopes, 20 nations, 60 institutes, 200+ authors* --------------------- Nuclear fusion in a table-top device? *(Physics World)* just 'signatures' so far Searching for the most elusive material in physics? *(Gizmodo)* high-temperature superconductivity in lanthanum hydride *How long do neutrions live?* (Nature) an 8-second discrepancy in 2 different-method measurements persists We need better materials to get better quantum computers *(Chemical and Engineering News)*	John Bolton: on the warpath (New Yorker) still trying to pass on his irrational hatred of Iran to an isolationist President Who talks the most BS? (Ars Technica) boys, the wealthy, and Canadians brag about mastering math concepts that don't exist capitalism faltering? People want a job with a decent wage (The Guardian) why is that so hard? part of the 'broken capitalism' series Why capitalism needs to be reformed (LinkedIn) by the founder of the world's largest health fund perhaps it would be more believable if it came from a concern about fairness rather than politics... a long read Billionaires worry about survival of the system that made them rich (Washington Post) capitalism in crisis? and we're supposed to feel sorry for them? *--------------------* modern monetary theory (MMT) rising? A beginner's guide (Bloomberg) MMT explained (Vox) Why the left should resist MMT (Washington Post) MMT: 101, a reply to critics (Levy Economics Institute) a reply to critics a long read, for economists ------------------- FL Voting rights: the difference between Republicans and Democrats (The Atlantic) unprincipled action vs. principled talk still fighting the Civil War Do we need a new Civil War documentary? (Smithsonian) one not made solely by white men with little historical training Robert E. Lee, white supremacist (The Atlantic) *the media and the Russian thing* *Journalists were right* *(Slate)* The media will learn nothing from the Russiagate fiasco (Rolling Stone) were we betrayed or told the truth? *---------------------* the citizenship question argued before the Supreme Court on 4/23/19 (SCOTUSblog) A preview No valid justification for it Collateral consequences The case explained (Vox) will it overrule 3 lower-court rulings? ---------------------- 20 years after Columbine 300+ schools and a quarter of a million students affected (Washington Post) but the government doesn't keep track of school shootings because ? and still America sees roughly 1 mass shooting per day (Vox) ------------------- the redacted Mueller report Volume I Volume II *Mueller questions* *The central question still unanswered* *(The Atlantic)* *What does Trump owe, and to whom does he owe it?* *Mueller didn't finish his job* *(Above the Law)* and we'll never know why Mueller failed to do his duty (Washington Post) *the bad* The Trump-Russia connections (Politico) *The must-reads* (The Atlantic) The surprises (Politico) The (27) times Trump couldn't remember (Politico) the person with "one of the greatest memories of all time" Trump: indifferent to facts (Wall Street Journal) and unwilling to take on tough tasks *paywall* Questions left unanswered (Foreign Policy) Wikileaks, Kushner, Carter Page, ..... the worse What Barr buried, misrepresented, and ignored (Washington Post) distortion just short of lying A dysfunctional White House (Politico) 10 instances of Trump obstruction (Axios) How Trump fought Mueller (Politico) 140 pages of it the worst Trump obstruction failed only because aides refused 'to carry out orders' *(Washington Post)* The best Trump can claim: it's a damning indictment (Vox) The opposite of exoneration (Washington Post) Save the Republic. Impeach the President. *(Esquire)* "hardly a single...page" where "a violation of the constitutional oath" cannot be found takeaways Rich bad guys who play dirty always win *(The Guardian)* It's not the collusion; it's the corruption (NY Times) *Putin has won* *(Wall Street Journal)* *paywall* impeachment or not Plausible, necessary, or stupid? (Slate) Mueller handed Congress an impeachment map *(The Intercept)* Tawdriness is not a high crime *(National Review)* *best case against?* *really?* If Trump isn't 'worth' impeaching, who is? *(Rolling Stone)* *Impeachment is not the answer* *(The Atlantic)* *at least not yet* with good advice on how to hold hearings There's another option *(Washington Post)* *congressional censure* and then accountability at the ballot box -------------------- The fight for for Puerto Rico (Politico) Scott v. Schumer *5 lies our culture tells us* (NY Times) the root of our political polarization? *past* *We still don't know what caused the financial crisis a decade ago?* *(Washington Post)* yet some people want to 'economics' a science? *and* *Will we solve the next one?* (Politico) by the 'solvers' of the last one *future* *Boycott Turbotax and Tax Act* *(Vox)* *for lobbying against free IRS tax prep* a bit late for this year, but there's next and next and *------------------------* *Guantanamo's darkest secret?* (New Yorker) Mohamedu Salahi a very long read Paris Notre Dame news updates in trips & art below read the stories that won Pulitzer prizes this year *All the winners* *(Pulitzer)* and the other finalists Trump investigations and gun control stand out *Public Service* *(Pulitzer)* Unprepared and overwhelmed (South Florida Sun-Sentinel) *two decades after Columbine, 5 years after Sandy Hook, educators and police weren't ready for Parkland* Breaking News Reporting (Pulitzer) immersive, compassionate reporting of the massacre at the Tree of Life *synagogue* *Unbroken* *(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)* *Investigative reporting* *(Pulitzer)* *A "creepy feeling"* (LA Times) women share their stories *of abuse by a USC gynecologist* *Explanatory reporting* *(Pulitzer)* *`11 takeaways from the investigation into Trump's wealth (NY Times) Trump received at least $413 million from his father's real-estate empire, in dubious and illegal schemes that he participated in`* Local reporting (Pulitzer) *Tilting the scales* *(Baton Rouge Advocate)* *a damning portrayal of the state's discriminatory conviction system* *National reporting* (Pulitzer) Trump's central role in hush-money payoffs *(Wall Street Journal)* uncovering his secret payoffs to women who had affairs with him *International reporting* (Pulitzer) Detailing the atrocities of ware in Yemen (Associated Press) food aid stolen as Yemen starves and Myanmar burning (Reuters) exposing the expulsion and murder of Rohingya Muslims *------------------* *books* Losing Earth & The Uninhabitable Earth (NY Times) 2 climate books, reviewed Winners take all (The Guardian) the hubris & hypocrisy of the super-rich who claim to be improving the world Einstein, Eddington, & the 1919 eclipse (Nature) 3 books on the attempt to confirm General Relativity *Struggling for the soul of theoretical physics* The Universe Speaks in Numbers (Nature) by Graham Farbelo: has math taken over physics? spoiler: no! Einstein's Infinished Revolution (Nature) by Lee Smolin: a realist takes on quantum mechanics -------------------- Bill McKibben's Falter: Has the Human Game Played Itself Out? Climate change: fear v. hope *(NY Times)* Bill McKibben's Falter: Has the Human Game Played Out Self-inflicted threats to humanity *(Scientific American)* *global warming, AI, genetic engineering* --------------------- trips & art Bauhaus at 100 *(NY Times)* *Notre Dame* Paris's Notre-Dame Cathedral (EU Touring) a history photos from the past (NY Times) The fire: what was saved; what was not (New York) *for latest updates* *(Paris Match)* use Chrome for automatic translate *The false choice between rebuilding Notre Dame and helping poor people* *(Vox)* ------------------- How a $1000 bet turned into a $450 million Leonardo *(Vulture)* and we still don't know where it is van Gogh's London pilgrimage *(NY Books)* at Tate Britain until 8/11/19 Hidden stories of SC's Gullah country *(NY Times)*	*A liquid He crisis?* (Physics Today) shortages and rising prices and the danger in shutting down superconducting magnets NC teachers Teachers rally in Raleigh, May 1 *(News & Observer)* *event details* *and* *why it's needed* *(News & Observer)* why do GOP legislators have to be told twice? NC GOP legislators devalue teachers, again *(Charlotte Observer)* *wonder why fewer young people are interested in being teachers?* *NC 2^nd last in the country in salary change, 2000-2017* *(U.S. Dept of Education Statistics)* *a 12% loss* *NC 2^nd last in the country at receiving professional compensation* *(EPI)* 35% less than non- teacher college grads Is there a math 'cover-up' in Wake County? (News & Observer) and an earlier story ---------------------- teachers, etc. 1 in 5 UK teachers spend own money on their students (The Guardian) breakfasts, shoes, soap, winter coats plus school supplies, of course... and no different in NC *40% of new U.S. astronomy faculty hires are women* (Physics World) and 25% of new physics faculty hires says Women in Physics and Astronomy *(American Institute of Physics)* *2019 report* Sexual harassment is 'pervasive' in U.S. physics programs (Nature) 75% of undergrad female physics majors have experienced at least one type of harassment *The real digital divide* *(Washington Post)* is between the kids with 2 biological parents at home and those without and the difference in screen time Can Hampshire, the unconventional, survive? *(Washington Post)* *how to disrupt your circadian rhythm* *Live on the western edge of a time zone* *(Washington Post)* *Build more artificial lighting* (Starts with a Bang) instead, bring back the night sky *----------------------* *life and death* Volcanoes did it: the Permian extinction *(Astrobiology)* 250 million years ago Where life began: ponds, not oceans! (Astrobiology) *The family that feels (almost) no pain* *(Smithsonian)* *but will it help treat physical suffering?* *Research into gun violence in the U.S. is comparable to that into drownings* *(NY Times)* *now it's suddenly hot?* *What we know about Neanderthals* *(Smithsonian)* *could they create art?* --------------------- science and math Chasing the aurora (New Yorker) borealis one... *a travelog without pictures* or *12 epic spring migrations* (Smithsonian) if you're not human Denial of science at the NHL *(The Atlantic)* *How animals arose* (The Atlantic) not with a big bang, but with a lot of smaller ones *Falsifiability and physics* *(Symmetry)* watering down the rules *and* a defense of falsifiabililty *(Not Even Wrong)* *The mathematics of hacking passwords* *(Scientific American)* *bad tech* *Fbook: more billion-$ fines, more privacy* *violations* *(Washington Post)* but *it's small potatoes to FB, and it won't change their behavior* *and Wall Street doesn't care* *add another '0' to the fine, then FB might pay attention* *(NY Times)* *Former Google research scientist; now a conscientious objector* *(NY Times)* workers who refuse to build surveillance tools used to violate human rights deserve protections Coming to stores: cameras which ID your age and gender (NBC) the ultimate in creepy The death of San Francisco *(The Atlantic)* *a city destroyed by apps... and the people who write them* *How Fbook used personal user data to fight rivals and help friends* *(NBC)* *leaked documents show more egregious behavior* *How to stop Android from knowing where you are* *(The Verge)* *it's not obvious* The only answer is less Internet (NY Times) if you want more privacy and less totalitarianism *-------------------* Thomas Kuhn Errol Morris doesn't like Thomas Kuhn *(Slate)* *The Ashtray, reviewed* *Thomas Kuhn wasn't so bad* *(Scientific American)* *this is a compliment?* *Did Thomas Kuhn help elect Donald Trump?* *(Scientific American)*
limited time? read the most important/interesting stories from early April 2019: 1) M87's supermassive black hole 'unveiled' 2) two new climate reports: on the Arctic and Canada and renewed interest in carbon pricing 3) the immigration 'crisis' again 4) surveillance capitalism: how digital tech is destroying our freedom 5) why was there so much bad behavior in early April? 6) how to distinguish among the 2020 presidential candidates 7) methane on Mars... or not? 8) the bizarro worlds of Ivanka Trump and Rupert Murdoch
*early April 2019*
Uncovering the chaotic orbital history of the inner planets (Scientific American) a 'geological orrery' built from the rock record of the last from 200 Myr *Hayabusa-2 successfully bombs Ryugu* *(CNN)* *images on approach* *(JAXA)* A chance to see the asteroid Pallas this month, *finder chart from the* downloadable 2019 Star Guide *(Astronomy)* An explanation for Enceladus's subsurface ocean? (phys.org) continual tidal flexing by Saturn's other 4 mid-size moons Mars New evidence for fossil life in a Martian meteorite (Earth & Sky) possible biosignatures in ALH-74005? Life on Mars: assessing the evidence (Cosmos) 5 ways to look for it A new collection of ExoMars images (ESA) Another case for groundwater on Mars (Earth & Sky) (partial) Solar eclipses of Mars by its moons (Vox) something you won't ever see in person Sky & Telescope has some unique eclipse pictures methane on Mars Found: the source of Mars's methane? (Earth & Sky) a source east of Gale crater appears to be the culprit but not definitive says (Sky & Telescope) but no detection by ExoMars (Nature) what it means is open to question (NY Times) bottom line: we don't know what's making it and we don't know what's destroying it published article (Nature Geoscience) paywall -------------------- yes, the climate is changing Global growth responsible for growing GHG emissions (Washington Post) energy demand ↑ 2.3%, GHG emissions ↑ 1.7%, coal use ↑ 0.7% another major report: Key indicators of Arctic climate change (Environmental Research Letters) increasing temp., precipitation, river discharge... decreasing snow cover, sea ice, and warming permafrost even Axios thinks this is important and another: Canada is warming 2x faster than the rest of the world (The Guardian) Canada's Changing Climate Report: Executive Summary Full Report (by chapters) climate consequences Global warming once made the Arctic green... now it's turning it brown (Science News) extreme weather causes lack of snow cover, which freezes vegetation, allows moth infestations, and wildfires Climate change is coming (NY Times) and the Pinkerton security forces are ready Guardian summary: Forces driving migration from Guatemala New Yorker story: part 1: climate change is fueling the border crisis part 2: the debt crisis affecting migrants part 3: dream homes of migrants Warming Arctic will release 66 tons of human feces on Denali (Smithsonian) the messy details (Bio One) Great Barrier Reef: too big to fail? (NY Times) apparently not... its fate ranges from uncertain to bad Insects: no place to hide? (The Guardian) published article (Global Change Biology) How climate change is fueling the border crisis (New Yorker) a long read climate communication climate change makes it to prime time: 2 new series Hostile Planet (Physics Today) how climate change is forcing changes in animal behavior watch the first episode: Mountains (National Geographic TV) series continues on Wednesdays Our Planet (Netflix) premieres April 5 ways to save Our Planet reviews Attenborough's first act as eco-warrior (The Guardian) Beautiful, but empty (New Scientist) Stunning ... plea for conservation (Collider) -------------------- climate solutions These countries have carbon pricing... Is it working? (NY Times) Oil companies are investing in carbon renewal (NY Times) while Big Business is trying to profit from it (NY Times) and this is a surprise? Where (non- cancer-causing) wind power is booming (Vox) why are southern states behind? less wind or fewer state incentives? Have we reached peak meat? (Washington Post) the meatless 'impossible burger' rising livestock is one of the largest contributors to global warming Restoring natural forests: the best way to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere (Nature) 4 ways to make this happen	A new magnetar from a ns-binary merger? (Nature) Brown dwarfs: failed stars or superplanets? (U. Heidelberg) ν Oph appears to be orbiting with 2 brown dwarfs, with 22 M_J and 24M_J evidence that brown dwarfs form like stars? Another weak solar cycle starts in 2020 (Earth & Sky) like to be about the same strength as current one Long-term sunspot records (Astrobites) challenges and limitations Coronal rain solves 2 solar mysteries (phys.org) a new link between coronal heating and slow solar wind... with 2 impressive animated gifs	Small stars are useless (Scientific American) life wants max energy and efficiency, which means the hottest stars and coldest planetary environs possible and they don't metals for the rest of us What if it's just us? (Starts with a Bang) The metal planet orbiting a white dwarf (Astronomy) a vision of our distant future? a planet that survived its star's transition to gianthood Stellar properties that define holistic planetary habitability (arXiv) submitted to AAS decadal survey 'holistic'? TESS finds its first exocomet (Astronomy) around β Pictoris, but then we already knew it had thousands Toffee planets? (Scientific American) some superEarths may have stretchy, flowing surface 'rock' -- and no plate tectonics a case for 'Rare Earth'?	First cosmology constraints from the Dark Energy Survey (AAS Nova) published paper (ApJ Letters) Ω_m = 0.321 ± 0.018 w₀ = - 0.978 + 0.059 w_a = - 0.387 + 0.430 fate of universe: accelerating forever First direct image of jet+torus at the heart of an AGN (phys.org) The search for intermediate-mass black holes (Astrobites) nets 305 more candidates The fine-tuning problem in cosmology (Starts with a Bang) a garbled column... ...focus on the cosmology part and forget the rest	black-hole 'image' of M87 revealed apparently the Milky Way's SMBH image was not ready for prime time the day-after: reflection Astrobites has more details than anyone else read it and this and you'll know it almost everything 10 deep lessons (Starts with a Bang) Kate Bouman wrote the software that combined the many telescope images (The Guardian) more people should know her name Hawking radiation and the foundations of physics (Scientific American) on the paradox of black-hole information ------------------- oriented toward astronomers The 1hr-15min press conference (YouTube) read this first! A non-expert's guide to interpreting the image (Of Particular Significance) best description of the silhouette so far it's not a shadow! 2nd best read (Nature) the 6 published research papers (Ap J Letters) free for now oriented toward astronomy enthusiasts Science News has 3 of the better stories (but read this first) first picture opens new era in astrophysics how they did it a history of black holes Sky & Telescope has some details and diagrams that no one else has Astronomy has 4 stories: about the image the nature of M87 how EHT did it why it took so 2 years How (black-hole) interferometry works (Starts with a Bang) oriented toward the public (that will probably leave you puzzled) Washington Post a good balance NY Times if your like style over substance The Event Horizon Telescope site is remarkably unhelpful The hidden shipping and handling costs of the image (The Atlantic) literally stories before 4/10 4 things we might learn from the first pictures of a black hole? (Science News) from the Event Horizon telescope which has announced 6 simultaneous press conferences scheduled for 4/10/19 apparently only images of Milky Way and M87 SMBHs 6 questions that might be answered (Starts with a Bang) some are making predictions (Astronomy) which turned out to be pretty good and even more hypotheses (Astronomy) but until 4/10, here's the images we actually have (Vox) Expected soon: a black- hole image (NY Times) emphasizing the fluff over the science ----------------------- Space: the final illusion (Scientific American) quantum gravity will destroy the idea that 'physical objects only interact with objects they are close to' LIGO/VIRGO start 3^rd observing run (Nature) on 4/1/19, with detector upgrades and a quantum boost Dark matter v. MOND (Astrobites) study claims to rule out MOND by 10σ the MOND people disagree, of course	Richard Holbrooke and the end of the American century (The Atlantic, by George Packer) we sound more like Serbs and behave more like Bosnians a very long read Issues prioritized by 2020 candidates in their social media (Washington Post) best single thing I've read that distinguishes between candidates or go here sort of startling that some candidateshave apparel items for sale, but nothing about their stance on issues Too old to be President ...part 2 (Washington Post) that means you, Trump, Warren, Biden, & Sanders Inside Ivanka's dreamworld (The Atlantic) a long read immigration, again America is not full (Vox) instead Immigration is what made America great (Vox) American progress depends on welcoming foreigners A solution to the border mess (Washington Post) since neither Trump nor the Democrats have one Trump's solution: sending immigrants to Democratic districts (Washington Post) has Trump finally reached rock bottom? Satellite Billboards? (Astronomy) has science reached rock bottom? End the charade: Appoint Stephen Miller head of DHS (Washington Post) if we're going to have a racist policy, let's have a racist director 4 Pinocchios for Trump's claim about Mexico (Washington Post) no, Mexico did not start detaining Central American refugees this week Where migrants go after release (Washington Post) once again, the facts: (Pew Research) Key findings about U.S. immigration What's happening at the border in 6 charts What we know about illegal immigration from Mexico -------------------- bad behavior abounds NC GOP wants extra taxes on hydbrids and electric cars (Raleigh N&O) b/c they save gas (and raise less taxes) Trump and the annihilation of shame (NY Times) enabled by his supporters Joe Biden (Politico) a no-apology apology Kushner's security clearance (Washington Post) "Senior WH Official 1" had "too many disqualifying factors" so why did political appointee Carl Kline overturn the original denial? The NC GOP dumpster fire (Indy Week) and now another former GOP congressman accused of Russian money laumdering Desperate parents sabotaging other students (Washington Post) in trying to get their kids into college Only a millennial could spend $20,000 at Starbucks and be proud of it (Vox) Schadenfreude (The Atlantic) the college admissions scandal College basketball: a murky swamp of misbehavior (Washington Post) best line: "Duke, a University ... that aspires to be worthy of its basketball program" How Rupert Murdoch's empire toppled governments and destabilized democracies (NY Times) in 3 long parts 1: Imperial reach 2: Internal divisions 3: The Fox weapon the short version: 6 takeaways A Supreme Court abdication on gerrymandering: toasting marshmallows while democracy burns (SCOTUS OA) -------------------- The myth of American meritocracy (The Nation) how the rich perpetuate inequality brexit 4/8 update: May to visit Paris/Berlin to ask for extension (The Guardian) 4/5 update: when is Brexit day? (The Guardian) 8 options Inquiry launched into fake Fbook pro-Brexit ads (The Guardian) can Fbook do anything right? or has Brexit already happened? (NY Times) Theresa May: worst prime minster in living memory? (Washington Post) ----------------------- Mueller, redux: 3 alternative views of reality How the Mueller Report can still threaten Trump legitimacy (Washington Post) it provides a road map for congressional investigators An epic journalism disaster (Vox) an interview with Matt Taibbi Why liberals were desperate to believe Mueller would save democracy (Washington Post) the seductiveness of an easy fix --------------------- books Commander in cheat (The Atlantic) how golf explains Trump "He cheats. He lies. He kicks. Not just his ball - yours too. He's won tournaments he's neverl played in. He wins tournaments that have never been held." Why facts don't change our minds (New Yorker) 3 books written before K.A. Conway's 'alternate facts' The real trouble with tech: 3 book reviews (American Prospect) the Fbook catastrophe, hidden decisions, and surveillance capitalism The unkept promises of higher education (American Prospect) 3 book reviews Infinite Powers Calculus for everyone (Science Friday) From calculating with stones to artificial intelligence (Nature) Usain Bolt's split times and the art of calculus (Quanta) an excerpt --------------------- The Fracking of America (The Nation) --------------------- trips & art the first Coachella (LA Times) which I stumbled on by accident while visiting Joshua Tree Edward Munch Edward Munch, in London (British Museum) Love and Angst, until 7/26 *5 review (The Guardian) Booze, bullets, & breakdown (The Guardian) Munch: origin in Norway -------------------- Tour the Prado (NY TImes) in 7 hours & 6 miles on its bicentennial Next Christo wrap: Arc de Triomphe (Art Newspaper) Agua Caliente reservation sits in the midst of Palm Springs (Smithsonian) Hudson Yards (NY Times) a city within a city Escape to Niagra (Washington Post) Canada Celebrating the Moon (Art Newspaper) 5 exhibitions this year What's left of Bears Ears National Monument (Washington Post) 16^th Smithsonian photo contest (Smithsonian) winners & finalists Where in the world is Salvator Mundi? (NY Times) the Leonardo that sold for $450 million in 2017 Frida Kahlo The branding of Frida Kahlo (New Republic) a review of Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving (Brooklyn Museum) until May 12, 2019 Frida Kahlo and Arte Popular (MFA Boston) until June 16, 2019 coming October 19: Frida Kahlo, Diego RIvera, and Mexican Modernism (NC Art Museum) Why Frida Kahlo is more relevant than ever (Architectural Digest)**	science & people Physicists vs, biologists: what people think (Astrobites) a study in stereotypes? published paper (Physics Education Research) has much easier-to-read graphs What to expect after a year in space (Science) the NASA twins study it's not great news free for now Last month, Americans were science-smart... ...so are beliefs in aliens and Atlantis on the rise? (Science) 41% of us believe we've been visited by aliens in the past paywall...don't want word on this getting out The death of an adjunct (The Atlantic) the perils of being trapped in academia's permanent underclass science & nature A new mastodon (Scientific American) Mammut Pacificus A new human (BBC) homo luzonesis Forget vitamin supplements (Annals of Internal Medicine) they are "not associated with mortality benefits among U.S. adults" i.e., they won't help you live longer Albert Einstein (Physics Today) a celebrity, rather than a physicist, in his later years How ostriches & emus lost flight (Science News) culprit: mutations in regulatory DNA Snapshots of vibrating molecules (Nature) fossil find: a 4-legged whale with hooves (The Guardian) the ND-dinosaur- fossil 'find' PNAS publishes day-the-asteroid-hit fossil evidence (PNAS) but most of the evidence for the claims in the New Yorker story are nowhere to be found supplementary information by the same authors The aftermath of the collision may have decided what became extinct (Science News) not the collision iteself National Geographic has a wait-and-see attitude The Wire has a more skeptical take " science as performance?" Astonishment and skepticism (Science) over the fossil find earlier stories including the New Yorker's initial story a reminder: The 5 major extinctions (Cosmos) and what caused them black & blue The history of the color 'blue' (Claremont Review of Books) A history of 'black' (the Millions) -------------------- bad tech Science magazine becomes even more anti-education (Science, AAAS) now it wants $18/yr to read science news briefs.... do teachers get a break? no Big tech and the advent of surveillance capitalism (New Yorker) How digital technology is destroying our freedom (Vox) tech is not driving social progress Another Fbook records exposure (The Guardian) 540 million records found on public Amazon Cloud server Facebook & Google: robber barons of the 21st century (American Prospect) The incredible shrinking Apple (NY TImes) Apple decides to go small Mark Zuckerberg on fixing the internet (Washington Post) the last person who should be talking about fixing anything MZ's essay: a monument to insincerity and misdirection (The Guardian) as always, Fbook refuses accountability Pentagon sounds alarm on Huawei (Washington Post) unacceptable risks of espionage and cyberattacks oh, you mean the Huawei that Fbook sold its users' private data to? (NY Times) Zuckerberg: $1 for salary; $22.6 million for bodyguards (The Guardian) --------------------- Do SAT test prep courses actually work? (Slate) yes, for people who already had high scores Another self-pitying humanist decries the decline of the humanies (NY Books) but instead confuses a loss of humanity majors with a loss of humanist thinking
limited time? read the most important/interesting stories from late March 2019: 1) sampling dust-spitting Bennu: harder than we thought 2) two new climate reports: WMO 2018 Climate Statement and Great Lakes warming faster than the rest of U.S. and the bad news about GHG emissions in 2018 3) is this North Dakota fossil find a record of the day the asteroid hit? 4) short reviews of the current status solar system planets and moons from the 2019 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 5) which stars have the largest or the goldilocks habitable zones? 6) Americans are 'smart' about science? 7) Triangle light rail transport fizzles out 8) NC gerrymandering returns to the Supreme Court 9) does a new matter/antimatter asymmetry explain why we exist? 10) pro and con commentary on Electoral College or reparations for slavery or Mueller Report or Adam Schiff's "It's not OK" response
*late March 2019*
*Jupiter's inward migration traced by its Trojan asteroids* *(Astronomy)* it formed 3.5x farther out; the journey took 0.7 Myr preprint has details (arXiv) At least 5 of Saturn's moons were built up from ring particles *(Astronomy)* *Rivers raged on Mars recently* (phys.org) which is code for Intense, climate-driven river runoff persisted late into Mars' history (Science Advances) meaning: as late as 1 Byr ago space traveling To save space travel, clean up Earth's orbit now *(New Scientist)* *(paywall)* Pence: Americans to return to Moon in 5 years (Astronomy) despite recent setbacks to Space Launch System and no new money *about as believable as anything else Pence says* Why Trump needs the Moon *(The Atlantic)* *legacy, a show of strength, and it can be done before 2024* *but the public wants NASA to work on climate instead* All-female ISS spacewalk canceled: Christina Koch to walk with Nick Hague *(NY Times)* *not enough (i.e., 2) ISS medium-torso spacesuits available... seems a bit late to be noticing* *Trident: a NASA mission proposal to Neptune moon Triton* *(Astronomy)* *but it has lots of competition* --------------------- Formation of a new great dark spot on Neptune *(Geophysical Research Letters)* Did Saturn help Jupiter create its large moons? (phys.org) yes, say simulations Next NASA flagship mission down to 4 choices (Starts with a Bang) yet, WFIRST is on the chopping block Why dangerous asteroids are hard to detect (phys.org) duh, they're small and faint and detecting every one in advance is not going to happen Sun crossed the vernal equinox on Wednesday, 3/20, at 5:58 pm EDT *(aka the official beginning of spring)* *(Vox)* 6 science-y things to know A jet stream in Europa's ocean? *(Earth & Sky)* driven by Jupiter's magnetic field, it's equatorial and moving a few cm/s Another piece of Vesta falls to Earth *(SETI)* ok, 343 pieces, fell in Sariçiçek, Turkey, 9/2/15 *So maybe Oumaumau was a comet after all?* (Scientific American) powered by a water jet *Ryugu* Ryugu: young, dark and dry (Sky & Telescope) < 10⁸ yrs old; 2% albedo; deficient in H₂O compared to Bennu Ryugu: a chip of off 2 other, larger asteroids (Science News) @LPSC and a flurry of Ryugu papers (Science) *------------------* Bennu the exploding asteroid Grabbing a bit of Bennu: harder than expected (Earth & Sky) but awesome images *The unexpected surface of Bennu* (phys.org) based on one of a flurry of papers (Nature) and it's emitting high-speed particles (Astronomy) and complicating sample collection (Nature) Science News has images of the space-dust spitting Geologic history of Bennu (Nature Geoscience) (paywall, sadly) *------------------* Ultima Thule U.T. revealed as first primordial planetismal (JHU APL) composition, geology, and origin press briefing in video or pdf format, *from LPSC* The tholins that make Ultime Thule red (Astronomy) and maybe Titan and Triton too The Frankenworld of Ultima Thule *(Science News) based on* An overview of results from the Ultima Thule flyby *plus* *its geology* *and* *accretion origin* *from LPSC* ------------------ LPS conference Lunar and Planetary Science conference runs March 18 - 22 *includes* posted pdf versions of most talks selected summary papers generally 2-3 pages each on the current status of solar-system objects all free Lunar origin by giant impact Evolution and bombardment of the early solar system 50 years of Mercury exploration Venus: current understanding and open questions Sedimentary history of Mars Ceres and Vesta Exploration of Jupiter The Galilean satellites Titan since Apollo The Habitability of Enceladus Exploration of the ice giants: Uranus and Neptune Exploration of Pluto yes, the climate is changing 2018 global carbon emissions: an all-time high *(The Guardian)* Coal-fired power generation: an all- time high in 2018 (Washington Post) "we are in trouble" Historic, widespread flooding (NOAA) particular in the upper Midwest... with a disturbing map two new climate reports UN WMO State of the Climate 2018 (United Nations) 39-page report, in everyday English Great Lakes warming faster than the rest of the U.S. *(phys.org)* wide-ranging impacts ahead: more flooding and, extreme weather, lower-quality drinking water, agricultural losses, and more *full report:* An assessment of the impact of climate change on the Great Lakes *(Environmental Law and Policy Center)* and the executive summary ------------------- Volcanic threats to society *(Science)* climate consequences Climate change claims first mammal extinction (Scientific American) Bramble Cay melomys wiped out by rising seas climate solutions or non-solutions GND or not The case against incremental climate policy (Vox) a radical call for the GND Yes, there's a climate crisis, but the GND has too much other political baggage (Niskanen Center) the climate is too important to be held hostage to a socialist agenda Forget the Green New Deal... let's work on a real & effective climate bill (Politico) 6 things to do now Perhaps start by getting ride of all those fossil fuel subsidies? (Mother Jones) --------------------- *75% of coal production is now more expensive than wind- and solar-electricity* *(Energy Innovation)* so is coal on the way out? Copenhagen: getting to zero emissions in 6 years (NY Times) *A future without fossil fuels?* (NY Books) and how to get there How to understand carbon budgets (Carbon Tracker) You can't take science out of the clean air standards (Scientific American) Roadmap tp 2050: how to effect a global energy transformation *(Irena)* *80-page white paper* *12-page executive summary* *and if you're thinking of going nuclear, remember* *the long half-life of 3-Mile Island* *(Smithsonian)* Mike Lee, R-UT has a solution: more babies *(New York)* *even more stupid than it sounds?* climate law Wyoming drilling stopped over climate concerns (Washington Post) climate opinion American cares about climate change again? *(Atlantic)* but not if you read the comments to this *(American Spectator)* How to convince your parent to care about the climate (Grist) 5 things *retro climate* Snowball Earth (Annual Reviews) revisited	*At the heart of neutron stars: quark matter?* *(Astrobites)* *A rare double- detonation supernova* *(AAS Nova)* *caught in the act* *Solar flares, jets, waves, and ejections* *(AAS Nova)* what's the connection? with a few short videos Neutron star + white dwarf binary sets record low period: 38 minutes *(Astrobites)* with a separation smaller than the Earth-Moon distance	*Earth: the Goldilocks planet* (New Scientist) the Gaia hypothesis rebooted? an attempt to explain why Earth has been so stable for so long *(paywall)* What we don't know about protoplanetary disks *(Astrobites)* habitable zones Which stars' HZs are best to search for life? *(Universe Today)* *Complex life might require narrow HZs* *(Universe Today)* *HZ predictions and how to test them* *(arXiv)* type A stars are interesting prospects; is the carbon-silicate cycle universal? *what atmospheres are best?* *"be careful about using Earth to extrapolate about life on other planets"* ---------------- Can uv (light) light up life? (Astrobites) if so, M stars are the place to find it The survivability of planets in young star clusters (Astrobites) seems to be low	*Another galaxy without dark matter* (Astronomy) and a confirmation of the first... a blow for MOND both are in the same galaxy cluster *Finally, an experimental test of inflation?* *(phys.org)* *preprint of article* to appear in Phys Rev Letters and a reminder of what this is about: Pop goes the universe *(Scientific American)* *and* *a response* *by 33 'angry physicists'* ------------------- We can't visit the disappearing universe, but we can see it (Starts with a Bang) or some of it Precise distance measurement to the LMC deepens H₀ tension crisis *(Scientific American)* H₀ comes in at 74.0 km/s/Mpc (Planck CMB value = 67.4 km/s/Mpc) wait... how do you get a H₀ value from the non-expanding Local Group? *A 360° immersive visualization of the Milky Way's center* *(Chandra)* Newly-discovered X-ray chimneys connect Milky Way to γ-ray bubbles *(Science News)* *exhaust vents for the energy generated by the SMBH (or multiple supernovae)* Missing γ-ray halos around AGNs? (*AAS Nova)* *brand new high- energy physics processes required?* Why galaxies' redshifts must be due to expansion of space and not galaxies' motions *(Starts with a Bang)* interesting, but not exactly convincing	How a proton gets its spin (Science News) is surprisingly complicated *why do anti-up quarks determine the proton net spin if the proton sea contains more anti-down quarks than anti-up quarks?* why we exist, explained, sort of? A new matter-antimatter asymmetry (CERN) in the decay of the charm quark in the D⁰ meson (via a mechanism different from that of the charm and bottom quark decays) *more physics-y details* *(CERN LHC-b)* *an even more physics-y powerpoint* *(CERN)* *Webcast of discovery-announcement seminar* (CERN) from 3/21/19 11 am Geneva, Switzerland the webcast site is buggy... I suggest clicking on the 'Camera & Slides' presentation mode just above the webcast window ... the presentation doesn't start until 21:45 (unless you want to watch tech set-up) warning: talk is pretty heavy-physics going, as you can tell from the talk's slides perhaps some background on the first hint of D⁰ matter-antimatter oscillations from 2013 would help (APS) But, no, we really don't understand why matter dominates in the universe (Starts with a Bang) there aren't enough baryon-violating interactions a readable review of the baryogenesis problem (arXiv) *----------------* quantum computing The case against *(IEEE)* *An optimistic view* *(IEEE)* *on overcoming 4 challenges* ---------------- Why we haven't directly observed gravitational waves from a black-hole merger in our galaxy *(Starts with a Bang)* the number of mergers per galaxy per year is only 4 x 10^-7 Mixed signals on dark matter (Nature) 2 new experiments point in opposite directions *19 nonsense arguments in favor of a a new collider* *(Backreaction)* Quantum gravity in the lab (Scientific American, April 2019 issue) experiments on the table top *paywall, of course*	Rep. Adam Schiff : "You might think it's ok that...." *(YouTube)* a 5-minute takedown of Trump et al's' "immoral, unethical, unpatriotic, and corrupt" activities... *which GOP legislators need to listen to over and over ....* triangle transport GoTriangle ends Durham-Orange light rail (Go Triangle) A failure of cooperation (Raleigh N&O) can the money go to buses? (*Raleigh N&O)* Scooters are coming to Durham (IndyWeek) are we ready? *But Bird and Lime are leaving Raleigh* *(Raleigh N&O)* but others are waiting in line *-------------------* newspapers How Trump changed the New York Times *(Esquire)* *forever?* *Why losing local newspapers is breaking our politics* *(Scientific American)* *newspaper closures linked to rise in partisanship* *-------------------* gerrymandering *A return to the Supreme Court* *(NY Times)* *for the NC & MD cases* Appellees' written brief in the NC gerrymandering case *(Campaign Legal Center)* *to be argued 3/26/19* *at the Supreme Court* *Scotusblog* *coverage* *Rucho v. Common Cause (NC)* *and* *Lamone v. Benisek* *(MD)* *but* the court is more skeptical *(Raleigh N&O)* *since Kavanaugh replaced Kennedy* *Politicians shouldn't draw electoral maps* (Roy Cooper-NC and Larry Hogan-MD) the governors of the 2 most gerrymandered states in the country How we drew NC congressional districts for political advantage (The Atlantic) by NC Reps Ralph Hise and David Lewis, gerrymandering criminals *But voters are not waiting* *(Washington Post)* 5 states have just reined it in *and lawsuits are pending in 12 states* *(Associated Press)* Is state-Supreme-Court-ordered redistricing a better path to fairer redistricting? *(Slate)* and a detailed argument for State Supreme Court relief Supreme Court should steer clear of gerrymandering cases *(Washington Post)* *George WIll does not surprise* much more gerrymandering news *-------------------* the Mueller report 4 takeaways (Washington Post) and 6 unanswered questions (Vox) The Mueller probe: an unmitigated success? (The Atlantic) the scandal was how much corruption it exposed... and how much of it was legal The Mueller report: a death blow for the reputation of the American media? (Matt Taibbi) worse than the media's misreported Iraqi-war WMDs *The serious journalism was important* *(Washington Post)* *the endless speculative threads were ridiculous* Did Buzzfeed's publishing of the Steele Dossier set the stage for a Mueller letdown? (The Atlantic) *and from the right:* Unsurprisingly, Mueller comes up empty (National Review) The many problems with the Barr letter? (NY Times) *What we already know without the Mueller report* *(Washington Post)* is disturbing enough The scandals that the Democrats and the media should have focused on instead (The Atlantic) missed opportunities The true horror: we elected Trump ourselves (NY Times) without any help from Russia-Trump collusion Now, hopefully, the 2020 election will be about which party will improve the lives of Americans *(Politico)* The 'rigged election' claims in the 2016 Presidential election *(Cambridge Press)* *"advanced Trump's campaign" and may have led to his election* *published in Political Science & Politics* *--------------------* New Zealand changes gun laws after 1 mass shooting *(Vox)* U.S.: after hundreds of mass shootings, nope, not interested let's arm teachers instead! electoral college *The problem with the Electoral College* *(NY Times)* *its bias toward big battlegrounds* *The problem with the Electoral College* *(Politico)* *it's the middle-sized states that get screwed* *Why Elizabeth Warren is wrong about the E.C.* *(Politico)* *and embarrassed to agree with Rich Lowery* *Getting around the E.C. reaches a milestone?* *(538)* *Colorado joins National Popular Vote compact* *sorry, denial of reality* *Democrats' idiocy* *(Washington Post)* *messing with the* *Electoral College and the Supreme Court are not winning issues* The E.C. is an abomination (Washington Post) Democrats *should keep talking about it* ---------------- brexit Theresa May trades her resignation for Brexit plan passage *(The Guardian)* *3/27 update, but* *no no no no no no no no* ? days to Brexit *(The Guardian)* *with a nice flow chart* *EU to UK:* *pass* an exit plan by 3/29 (and take till 5/22 to leave the EU) no exit plan by 3/29, and its goodbye and a hard exit on 4/12 and forget Eurostar to London till April Brexit extension, explained (Vox) *----------------* reparations for slavery? "We demand reprations... (The Movement for Black Lives) *... for past and continuing harms"* Making good on the promise of reparations *(NY Books)* A step-by-step guide to giving reparations to black people *(Huffington Post)* "If we don't look back and reckon with what's done, there's no moving forward." The illogic of reparations at this late date (Wall Street Journal, via Outline) *(paywall)* Democrats renew the debate on slavery reparations (The Guardian) is this political suicide? We shouldn't pay reparations for slavery *(Washington Post)* by Megam McArdle, ex-WSJ reporter A case for slavery reparations *(NY Times)* *by David Brooks !?!* U.S. House Bill H.R.40: A commission to study reparation proposals *(U. S. Congress)* *and* what started this all 'Case for Repartions' *(The Atlantic)* *by Ta-nehisi Coates* *a very very long read* *-----------------------* *How to rebuild the labor movement in America* *(American Prospect)* *Millennials really are special* *(Washington Post)* *they're just slower at* *everything* *....* *and then there's capitalism* is this still America? GOP declares moral bankruptcy *(Washington Post)* it became official on 3/14/19 America: becoming a banana republic? (New Yorker) Shaking one's faith in America (Washington Post) Meanwhile, how to sue a cow (Vox) *-----------------------* NC voting gerrymandering One way to spot partisan gerrymandering *(538)* *the tricks the NC GOP legislature used to choose their voters* 10-minute video summarizing NC gerrymandering *(Campaign Legal)* voter ID NC State Election Board approves some NC college IDs as voter IDs, but rejects others *(Raleigh N&O)* 'yes' for Duke, NCSU, NCCU and 14 others; 'no' for UNC-CH and 12 others official list of 30 approvals and rejections *(WRAL)* will legislators act to fix the situation? (Raleigh N&O) unlikely but voter-ID requirement now postponed to 2020 *(WITN)* *GA passed; governor signed* *-----------------------* books The Chernobyl Syndrome (NY Books) still unresolved lessons? *review of 3 books* *The Privileged Poor* *(Washington Post)* *how elite colleges are failing disadvantaged students* *ironically published by Harvard U Press* Kushner, Inc: Ambition, Freed, Corruption *(NPR)* *a rehash of old news along with rampant speculation* *---------------------* trips *you've got a couple weeks to* *see these* *Where to find the superblooms* *(LA Times)* *Superbloom shuts down Lake Elsinore* *(LA Times)* Painted Ladies swarm southern California *(Ecowatch)* butterfly migration triggered by the superbloom ------------------- The top 10 most visited art shows in 2018 (Art Newspaper) in various categories Yemen and the complex history of Wendell Phillips *(Smithsonian)* America's 'Lawrence of Arabia' *Monument(al) loss* (The Guardian) Azerbaijan: 'worst cultural genocide of the 21^st century' A journey to St. Helena (Smithsonian) where Napoleon spent his last days Martinique: a slice of France (NY Times) with beaches The end of the Hastings pier? *(The Guardian)* Was van Gogh's Starry Night inspired by Hokusai's Great Wave? *(Art Newspaper)* surmises the van gogh blog	teachers/education The teacher pay gap is a national failure. How to fix it (Washington Post) by Kamala Harris teachers earn 11% less than similarly-educated professionals No more crowd-funding for teachers? (Vox) it's embarrassing that they would have to NC wants retired teachers back (Raleigh N&O) at TItle I or failing schools without benefit penalties Wanna teach without a teaching license? Charter schools are for you! (Raleigh N&O) Americans are smart about science?!? (538) *or at least 'pretty decent'... the average American got 6.7 of 11 simple questions* correct... and we're 'smart'? 60% is not passing in some schools the full report: What Americans know about science (Pew) you can take the 11-question quiz first liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans do the best on the test... and there's a striking difference in results by race and ethnicity,,, The cult of homework *(The Atlantic)* *is genetic?* *science* *River basins of the world* (Smithsonian) art meets science Help astronomers understand how galaxies evolve & grow *(Astroquest)* *a new* *citizen-science project* 5 Physics World podcasts celebrating 30 years in 30 - 60 minutes free & downloadable with email registration Particle Physics Gravitational Waves Fusion Energy Superconductivity: celebrating 30 years World Wide Web ------------------- We humans couldn't pronounce 'f' or 'v' sounds until we started eating softer foods *(Smithsonian)* *which changed our jaw* science on trial Bleak times for Astrophysics (Scientific American) the end of space telescopes? WFIRST deleted from Trump's budget 70 attacks on science (Union of Concerned Scientists) what happens when corporations run the government What is the world to do about gene-editing? *(NY Books)* *where's the red line?* Opting out of vaccines should opt you opt of American society *(Scientific American)* *nature* a dinosaur deathbed in North Dakota The day the dinosaurs died *(New Yorker)* a unique record of the aftermath of the asteroid crash *a very long read* UC-Berkeley press release forthcoming published article (PNAS) link not active until 4/3/2019 -------------------- The amphibian apocalypse is twice as bad as scientists thought *(Washington Post)* *the worst disease ever recorded?* *(The Atlantic)* *responsible for 90 extinctions* *Saber-toothed tigers* *(Science News)* *fierce and family-oriented* Secrets of electric eels (Scientific American, April 2019 issue) shock and awe *paywall, of course* Eating and breathing electricity *(Earth & Sky)* bacteria in Yellowstone *and* 'Epic Yellowstone' documentary episode 2 premieres this week (Science News) "Return of the Predators" Let the sun shine in? *(New Scientist)* sunscreen: more harm than good? (paywall) college ...or not The most consequential decision that students make (their major) may be the least informed (Washington Post) a revealing study of who switches majors and why and why do education majors have the lowest grading standards, with among the lowest SAT scores? full research paper Scandal ringleader Rick Singer: "I can do everything and anything" (NY Times) the college admissions scandal How elite colleges tell low-income students they don't belong (The Atlantic) but there's a long history of this Can everyting important be learned at Harvard & Yale? (Journal Star) Is creating conservative universities a solution? (Atlantic) *anti-college* or is it anti-education? Stop wasting your money on college (Spectator) Is college worth it? (Washington Post) Are we better off without college for everyone? (The Atlantic) "students don't seem to be getting much out of higher education" pre-college learning gap between rich and poor students hasn't changed in decades (Science News) students in the 90^th percentile of wealth are 3 - 4 years ahead of those in the 10^th percentile (in learning) by 8^th grade says a new study (Harvard Kennedy School of Government) *-----------------------* bad tech Fbook sued for housing discrimination (NY Times) Fbook to start blocking white nationalist posts (Washington Post) after claiming it was 'against its rules' Another day, another Fbook mess (NY Times) it didn't store millions of passwords securely ... and there's no way to know if yours was one Google fined $1.7 billion by EU for harming competition and consumers (Washington Post) 3rd time in 3 years but some say 'so what?' Facebook dismantles targeted advertising (Washington Post) and we're supposed to be thankful for small favors? ----------------------- science & religion Religion gets too much credit for the evolution of modern society *(Scientific American)* complex societies gave birth to goda, not the other way around When societies hit 10⁶people, vengeful gods appeared *(Real Clear Science)* *research article* *(paywall)* *7 universal moral codes?* *(Real Clear Science)* Who are more biased" liberals or conservatives? (Skeptical Inquirer) wait, you didn't think that D and R are religions? NP winner nner claims 'atheism is inconsistent with scientific method' (Scientific American) because a scientist can't say "I don't believe (in God) without having any evidence" although, apparently, it's ok to say I believe in God without any evidence ... a failure of the interviewer to ask hard questions
*limited time? read the most important stories from early March 2019:* 1) Planet 9 updates 2) the insides of white dwarfs and neutron stars 3) absent craters on Charon hint at a lot fewer small KBOs? 4) 5 bad-news climate stories 5 first sign of the cosmic neutrino background? 6) Triangle rail transit goes off track 7) T-Rex renaissance 8) K stars are the Goldilocks ones 9) (mostly bad) tech: social media reaches bottom as does web dysfunction good AI and bad AI Fbook: criminal investigation opens
*early March 2019*
Christina (Hammock) Koch (NCSSM '97) goes to space (Raleigh N&O) launched @3:14 pm on 3/14/19 (probably because it's 'pi' day) her spacewalk is scheduled for 3/29 successful launch (phys.org) so why do only the men get individual pictures? New Mars Insight images are here and here A sunlight-driven water jet powered Oumaumau's acceleration through the inner solar system? (Sky & Telescope) but it's complicated preprint (arXiv) Opportunity's last shot (phys.org) a Martian panorama Lunar origin: better within a terrestrial synthesia? (Astrobites) improving on the generic giant-impact hypothesis? pre-published article (arXiv) Breaking up (an asteroid) is hard to do (Astronomy) it shatters, but just reforms, show 2 simulations so we better be working harder on deflection? Planet 9 update The Planet 9 hypothesis (Physics Today, March 2019 issue) the statistical evidence of orbit clustering is high, but still no planet by the co-inventor of the idea The aligned KBO orbits have only a 1-in-500 chance of observational bias (Astronomy) supporting a physical cause (such as Planet 9) Planet 9 gets more support (Earth & Sky) and tightened bounds on its properties: 5 - 10 M_earth, it could be 1600 au away... it's on the edge of detectability, but it could take 15 years to find published paper (Physics Reports) with a Planet 9 'property' summary in the abstract (paywall) Astronomy chimes in Did an ancient stellar flyby put Planet 9 'out there'? (Astronomy) and perhaps related.... Obliquity-driven tides can drive planetary migration (Scientific American) published article (Nature Astronomy) free to read, but not to save/download ------------------- Pluto & Charon Missing small craters means few small KBOs? (Astrobites) is an excellent summary based on published article (Science) (paywall) or the free preprint (arXiv) but not so, says occultation data (Sky & Telescope) A new geologic map for Charon (AGU) reveals its history: 3 distinct eras of volcanic cryoflow? published article (J Geophysical Research: Planets) free ------------------- yes, the climate is changing 5 bad-news climate stories in the first 10 days of March: Rain is melting Greenland's ice, even in winter (Science) fueling even more sea-level rise published article (Cryosphere) free Après 2050, the deluge.., and mega-drought (Scientific American, March 2019 issue) due to a quantum resonance in the jet stream? by Michael Mann (paywall) Ocean heat waves are destroying global diversity (The Guardian) tripling in recent years, it's destroyed kelp, coral, and seagrass published article (Nature Climate Change) free at the moment and parts of the ocean are running out of oxygen (Scientific American) with "dramatic consequences for ecosystems and coastal economies" Coal's Poisoned Legacy (Environmental Integrity Project) 80-page report on how coal has contaminated ground water the summary (The Guardian) 242 of 265 U.S. coal plants contaminated by arsenic, thallium, cobalt, selenium, lithium, & more meanwhile, in the U.S., climate 'fashion' (Vox) is apparently important Climate change's growing impact on human health (Scientific American, March 2019 issue) heat waves are spreading disease more rapidly When the Bering sea ice disappears (Science News) ... there will be a shock to the whole Arctic system climate solutions Can geoengineering halve global warming? (Vox) and not damage nature? published paper (Nature Climate Change) free to read but not to download/save But who gets to decide whether to hack the climate? (Breakthrough Institute) who decides geoengineering justice? climate politics A global school strike for climate? (Scientific American) and, despite scientists' endorsements, this is going to change what? The UK strikers' climate manifesto (The Guardian) start with declaring a climate emergency Why climate activists aren't changing minds (Real Clear Science) because they don't respect the "emotions and psychology" of the uninformed perhaps true, but very sad climate apocalypse more of The Uninhabitable Earth (NY Times) or worse? Deep Impact: A Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy (Wordpress) "an academic study so depressing that it's sending people to therapy" climate past Does the 'Little Ice Age' foretell our climate future? (Foreign Policy) expect political chaos, says Nature's Mutiny Climate as history (NY Times) but not as the cause of everything bad? environment The racial gap of pollution (The Root) white Americans cause the pollution, but people of color breathe it the published research paper (PNAS) free The end of recycling? (The Atlantic) China refuses our trash In rural NC, rising seas = poisoned farmland (Washington Post) and the post-article commentary on NC education is brutal	The oldest white dwarfs have indeed crystallized (Physics Today, March 2019 issue) *evidence: a statistical pileup at high luminosity* shows that the latent heat of the phase transition has been released The inner lives of neutron stars (Scientific American, March 2019 issue) nature's weirdest form of matter (paywall)	Looking for life? K main-sequence stars are your best chance (AAS Nova) M stars have energetic flares; K stars live longer than Gs and have stronger O₂ /CH₄ biosignatures published paper (Ap J Letters) free Validated exoplanet count passes 4,0000 (Earth & Sky) 50 billion rogue planets roaming the Milky Way? (Earth & Sky) escaping a star in a cluster environment isn't unlikely Another 'solution' to the Fermi Paradox (Quanta) the 'Aurora effect' preprint (arXiv) ETI exists, but they've had a hard time getting here Puffed-up planets (AAS Nova) how does a Neptune-mass, Jupiter-sized planet hold itself together? or is it a dust-shell illusion? Who's out there? (National Geographic, March 2019 issue) how to find alien life that 'probably exists' free, but requires email signup a long read with good pictures Decoding exoplanets (Physics Today, March 2019 issue) with better statistics and technology *and* Sara Seager, exoplanet explorer, gets even press (Physics Today, March 2019 issue) The Kepler/K2 exoplanet conference is in Glendale, CA, March 4 - 8 *(NASA)* no live or delayed talks online; but abstracts available	Another day, another 83 new SMBHs found in the early universe (phys.org) how did they get so big so fast? An updated mass for the Milky Way *(Hubble & Gaia)* *1.5 trillion M_sun* *but still with considerable (50%) uncertainty* published paper *(ApJ, in press)* Intermediate black hole found near Milky Way center *(Earth & Sky)* *32,000 M_sun.... it's 100x less massive than the SMBH there, and 7 pc from it published article (ApJ Letters)* *1^st detection of cosmic neutrino background's effect on the BAO spectrum?* *(Science News)* *Starts with a Bang* has more explanatory details published article *(Nature Physics)* free to read, but not to save/download A shocking model to explain FRBs *(Astrobites)* preprint of Metzger et al's first full model *(arXiv)* 'FRBs as synchrotron maser emission from decelerating radio blast waves' Secrets of the Galaxies (Astronomy, March 2019 issue) *6 summary articles* *sorry, no secrets revealed* *(free)* The joys of living near a SMBH *(Scientific American)* *astronomical humor* *Cosmic inflation: trick or treat?* *(arXiv)* *a new review gets complicated quickly* just read the intro to each section?	Why neutrinos can't be more than 1.5% of dark matter (Starts with a Bang) with some comments on sterile neutrinos and an updated primer on neutrino-less beta decay (arXiv) submitted to Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science 2019 *Digging for dark matter* *(New Scientist)* *is the evidence in the rock record?* *(paywall)* *Science of Dark Matter:* *(Astronomy)* *12-page e-book* *free to download* Is there still physics hiding in the Higgs boson? *(Quanta)* Math that unites classical & quantum physics? *(Nautil.us)* learning to love algebraic geometry *more hype than light* but if the above is not enough, more here *the battle over a new particle collider heats up* *A new collider?* (Scientific American) exciting new physics or a particle desert? "There has never been a better time to be a physicist" (CERN Courier) an interview with 'superstar' Nima Arkani or *the only reason to become a physicist now:* *"It’s hard to see things (becoming) worse"* *(Not Even Wrong)* a definite 'no' 10 years in, the LHC has failed *(NY Times)* *Sabine Hossenfelder* *does a podcast* and talks economics and pens a whole book: *Lost in Math* *which mostly interviews 'famous' physicists* and a definite 'yes' The future of high energy colliders *(arXiv)* has physics 'reasons' (or 'opinions'?) but many of the 'yes' clamorers have lame arguments *(Not Even Wrong)*	Senator Hypocrisy (R-NC) (NY Times) aka Thom Tillis gets afraid of a challenge from the right *The senator who deserted himself* *(Raleigh N&O)* America in crisis? How much immigration is too much? *(The Atlantic)* the good and bad about American immigration *a very long read* and a follow-up Waiting for ~~Godot~~ Mueller *(The Atlantic)* Where have all the male workers without college degrees gone? (The Atlantic) the decline continues The oppression of a supermajority (NY Times) more than 65% support paid family leave, higher taxes on the ultra-wealthy, gun checks, net-neutrality, and more... *yet nothing changes* American democracy will survive. Probably. *(NY Times)* it's too resilient for Trump to destroy The geography of partisan prejudice? *(The Atlantic)* *county by county* *methodology* (polling and 'projection') seems suspect, as do the results (FL, SC, and New England are totally prejudiced; but NC and NY, just the opposite?) news, or not Journalism's fall from grace? (NY Books) + 2 book reviews but taking BuzzFeed and Vice seriously as news organizations is absurd Town by town, local journalism is dying *(Associated Press)* *in plain sight* The making of the Fox News White House *(New Yorker)* a long read, and, unusually for Jane Meyer, a disorganized *stream-of-consciousness mess* Fox News has become an American plague *(Washington Post)* random A week of Brexit votes *(New York)* *or more* Does a voter-ID law now exist in NC? *(Raleigh N&O)* *ah, it's complicated* *update on the court cases* Ended: NSA spying-on-Americans'-phone-and-texts program *(NY Times)* *who knew?* *but worthy of a celebration* *exposed by Edward Snowden... unlikely to be renewed?* 'Leaving Neverland' ...will it change anything now? *(Vanity Fair)* why was nothing done when the abuse stories were first reported 25 years ago? and where were the parents? (Atlantic) *The art of a monster* *(The Atlantic)* Michael Jackson's music is a gift (?)... separate the art from the artist no, hit them where it hurts... in the pocketbook Triangle light rail ...off track? (Raleigh N&O) The basic plan PRO: rail will be inclusive and connective CON: time to let go Duke U puts up hurdle after hurdle Devils bargain: Duke kills light rail? (Indy Week) the Durham-Duke relationship will nover be the same? 20 years and $130 million on light rail, but Duke now says it's inconvenient books A new explanation for whining, burned-out millennials *(Vox)* *capitalism!* The Big Nine (Science News) companies that control the future of AI Tailspin: autopsy of the American dream (Vox) Q & A with author Stephen Brill The best books to understand socialism (New York) Is home cooking a moral issue? (Vox) socialism rising? The return of American socialism (American Prospect) A plan to win socialism in America (Jacobin) Trump's new red scare (Atlantic) Pinkos have more fun (New York) it's not only about politics The Socialist Manifesto (Amazon) to be published, 4/30/2019 trips & art How van Gogh became great (Washington Post) at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts until 6/27/19 Lawrence Ferlinghetti's enduring San Francisco (NY Times) as he nears his 100^thbirthday A history of painting through the lens of entropy and complexity (PNAS) an amazing analysis (paywall, alas) Traveling to all 37 (or 38) Vermeers in the world (The Guardian) alas, I've still 7 I've 7 to go The green flash (Earth & Sky) Miro Joan Miro (New Yorker) modernism for everybody or a euphoric dive into his early years (NY Times) Birth of the World exhibit (MOMA) through June 15, 2019 and 58 installation images from the exhibit Anza Borrego has one of its biggest blooms in years (AB Desert Wildflowers) and a map Can Borrego Springs survive? (The Guardian) the 2019 flowergeddon -------------------- not art Basquiat at the Brant (NY Times)	bad tech Are there really no limits to the evil of social media? (Washington Post) using social media like a lethal weapon: the NZ massacre Warren wants to break them up...how about lock them up Stop the web's descent into dysfunction (BBC) must stop, says Tim Berners-Lee, its inventor on its 30th anniversary *his* *Open Letter* *has 3 possible solutions* *but is too late?* How AI will rewire us *(The Atlantic)* by corrupting human relationships, and in unintended ways Fbook to pivot to privacy? *(The Guardian)* if so, only a decade too late *and likely only to avoid government regulation* *ah, but wait...* Criminal investigation into Fbook's data deals opens in NY *(NY Times)* *maybe justice after all* The end of Fbook as we know it? *(Washington Post)* *if only* *or could it get worse?* The descent of the millionaires *(NY Times)* will destroy San Francisco The dark side of social media *(Physics World)* *physics sees patterns* wait, there's a bright side to social media?? good tech How AI is changing science *(Quanta)* science & nature Trump on science Big budget cuts to science *(Nature)* *again* NIH, down 12% Astrophysics, down 29% EPA, down 31% *NSF, down 13%* *ditto says* *Science* *ditto says* *Scientific American* *Start with a Bang* calls it 'a plan to destroy NASA Science' ---------------------- T Rex et al. The once and future king of dinosaurs *(NY Times)* what we've learned recently about the royal family T Rex in feathers *(NY Times)* *exhibition review* Art? design? science? *(NY Times)* *how to build a blockbuster* T Rex: Ultimate Predator *(American Museum of Natural History)* exhibit opens March 11 Dinosaurs were thriving until the asteroid *(Earth & Sky)* *and not in climate-driven decline* *published paper* *(Nature)* ------------------ You're too old to be President, science says *(Boston Globe)* that means you: Sanders, Biden, Trump, & Warren Renaissance for the Neanderthals *(Aeon)* Why microwaved grapes become fireballs (Science News) *microwaves resonate inside the grapeskin* but don't try this at home? it could damage your microwave 1st black panther seen in Africa in 100 years *(Earth & Sky)* *photos & video* Conflict on the Columbia River *(Harpers)* sea lions reign... salmon, not so much From 0.7 msec to 20 quadrillion yrs *(Science News)* covering the half-life range of unstable elements Apollo 11 in IMAX opened March 8 *(IMDB)* and a review A redesigned Periodic Table? *(New Scientist)* *-----------------------* teachers & schools It's getting harder to be a teacher in America *(Axios)* in NC, teacher salaries have dropped $4000 in just 6 years, & state support for pupil has dropped 25% since 2000 find out what's what in your state NC Teachers' pay raises: a hollow victory (Raleigh N&O) But NC legislature files a bill to give teachers more pay if they carry a gun in class (Raleigh N&O) *meanwhile, extra pay for teachers with a Masters or PhD has been withdrawn* *and a reminder that science says "more guns do not stop more crimes)* (Scientific American, October 2017 issue) Why (and what) Oakland's striking teachers won *(Jacobin)* doubled raises, to start American schools are crumbling... can they be fixed? *(The Conversation)* maybe, with $100 billion *but not right now, we have Trump scandals to investigate* When the price of knowledge is too high (Nature) *Elsevier & the art of criminal publishing* How much do college physics faculty earn? *(AIP)* *but you have t*o answer 10 questions first
*limited time? read the most important stories from late February 2019:* 1) Ceres, Charon, Ultima Thule, Ryugu, Oumuamua, & FarFarOut: small solar system bodies dominate the news 2) NC election fraud... even the GOP throws in the towel 3) the Hubble tension (in the NY Times?) 4) The Uninhabitable Earth: climate future? 5) is the Green New Deal really about solving climate change? 6) work, money, and the 1% 7) bad tech: Facebook's digital gangsterism & Amazon's greed 8) audio-visual tour of 33 great Rembrandts and another podcast

learn more about
neutrinos, dark energy, the multiverse, climate change,
exoplanet biosignatures (1) and exoplanet biosignatures (2),
Hubble tension

previous astro/culture updates

from 2019:

january-february 2019

from 2018:

july-august 2018           september-october 2018           november-december 2018

january-february 2018          march-april 2018            may-june-2018

from 2017:

july-august 2017      september-october 2017          november-december 2017

january-february 2017 march-april 2017    may-june 2017

from 2016:

july-august 2016          september-october 2016    november-december 2016

                may-june 2016          march-april 2016    january-february 2016

from 2015:

november-december 2015          september-october 2015          july-august 2015

may-june 2015          march-april 2015          january-february 2015

from 2014:

november-december 2014          september_october 2014          july-august 2014

may-june 2014          march-april 2014          january-february 2014

from 2013:

november-december 2013          september-october 2013         july-august 2013