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Tuesday, November 24, 2020
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Is Climate Change a Climate Change Hustle?

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"climate change or climate change hustle?"

“Are we rushing ourselves into the grave and dragging the planet with us?”

STATES CHRONICLE – Is the climate change around the world actually a climate change hustle? Is it something the media or some political candidates have invented to attract more audiences and partisans? Or is it a real issue skeptics are making worse? Climate Hustle, a documentary about – as the title points out, climate change, is showing people of the mixed science plus entertainment era, the opinions of both camps around this now delicate subject.

I personally do not believe the climate changes unfolding savagely throughout the world to be climate change hustle or bogus. But what am I basing my opinions on?

Mario Vargas Llosa has called this era, the era of entertainment. And they say that this 30 something year old generation is the generation of documentaries. The generation that makes “informed” decisions based on the facts presented under the form of documentaries. No wonder the term mockumentary has also been thrown around lately. Misleading information often feeds the short span attention minds of the generation that has traded values for speed.

So enter Climate Hustle.

On one side we have Sarah Palin a firm disbeliever of the environmental changes and a political media bate and on the other side, there’s Bill Nye, the Science Guy, and ex Boieng mechanical engineer defending the climate change movement.

It´s fair to say the climate is constantly changing whether we want it or not or whether we´re influencing it. Change is at the base of our very own human nature. However, being the generation of speed, we might also rush the planet into destruction. Because what about the rapid ice cap meltdown, the active rising sea levels, the floods, the tsunamis, the more frequent and stronger earthquakes crashing entire cities all over the world?

Are 97% of the scientists out there adding to the negative perception of mainstream science by really just repeating what they’ve heard? It’s a claim made in the presentation of the Climate Hustle climate change documentary that we recommend seeing for the purpose of inspiration. Inspiration to go do your own research, find out on your own if the international committees set up to address these climate changes have underlying reasons or the issue desperately and truly requires immediate action.

What do you think? Are we rushing ourselves into the grave and dragging the planet with us or is climate change actually a climate change hustle?

Image source: Youtube

How Science and Religion Live in Our Brains

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"brain science and religion"

Science and religion occupy two different parts of our brain

STATES CHRONICLE – Science and religion, or faith, have always been considered to be opposites, although if we look closely, we might find that they have several things in common. Most of the times we see people split into two big groups: the ones who believe in science and the ones who believe in a god.

A recent study shows that the reason some people are more rational and other are more faithful can be found in the structure of our brains. It was already known that our brain can be split into left and right that one part stands for analytical issues, critical thinking while the other stands for creativity and empathy.

This idea of opposition and tension between different parts of our brain is known as the opposing domains hypothesis. The two different parts of our brains are suppressed in turns, depending on the issue we are confronting with. If we need critical thinking then our brain will be less empathetic and the other way around.

So, faith is linked to the empathetic part of the brain, while science is part of the analytical area. And just as all the others, they tune out depending on how a person sees the world. The researchers conducted a study on 159 to 527 subjects.

The ones who had strong analytic thinking were more likely to discourage any spiritual belief while the ones who wore religious were more likely to show greater moral concern. However, the researchers weren’t able to demonstrate a cause and effect for this.

Because women tend to be more empathetic than men, most women also tend to be more spiritual or religious. If you think that people who are religious might be less intelligent than the others, you should bear in mind that 90 percent of the Nobel Prize laureates were religious or spiritual in some way.

Moreover, although most people believe science and religion are in constant conflict, it appears that people who are very scientific-minded and those who are very religious don’t see this conflict and may even see the two as being complementary.

Besides, 76 percent of scientists reported belonging to a religion while only 15 percent of scientists see a conflict between religion and science.

Image source: www.bing.com

NASA’s Next Orion Capsule to Launch on December 4

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NASA’s Next Orion Capsule

NASA’s next Orion capsule arrived at Cape Canaveral Complex 37 launch pad on Tuesday night to get ready for the launch that is going to take place on December 4. The rocket, a Delta 4-Heavy, that will escort NASA’s next Orion capsule, is already at Cape Canaveral.

The next Orion spacecraft is going to be unmanned and the mission it has is to study how the capsule fares at an altitude of 3,600 miles through two orbits. NASA’s next Orion capsule is called the Exploration Flight Test No 1 and its official mission will most likely just take around 4 hours to be completed. It’s nothing to write home about, but the information it will gather will provide precious data that is going to help improve future manned capsules and spacecraft.

Lead flight director of Orion, Mike Sarafin, stated that this particular mission is very important as it enables human spaceflight to reach deep space and previously unimagined destinations:

The aerospace industry is a tough business as a whole. Anybody that’s been in this business for any amount of time understands it takes a great deal of fortitude and perseverance. We intend to test ourselves on this mission and we intend to test our spacecraft before we put humans on board.

NASA’s new Orion capsule will move twice around our planet and will crash into our atmosphere as it returns with speeds of up to 20,000 miles per hour. When that happens, it is expected that the capsule’s shield will reach the temperature of around 4,000 Fahrenheit. This heat test is done to simulate the temperatures the capsule would reach during a return from deep space. This is actually, the final destination and goal for NASA’s next Orion capsule. If and when that is going to happen, depends on the results gathered from the Exploration Flight Test No 1.

Deputy associate administrator of Exploration System Development, Bill Hill, said that testing is only the first step of a long line of missions meant to explore beyond the low orbit of Earth.

 

New Study: Dark Energy is Swallowing up Dark Matter

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Dark Energy is Swallowing up Dark Matter

A new study conducted by the Universities of Portsmouth and Rome have reached the conclusion that dark energy is swallowing up dark matter, which offers data about the nature of these two quite mysterious entities and also gives the world a glimpse into the future of our Universe.

Dark matter cannot be seen with telescopes, but its gravitational effects on objects in space are undeniable. Astronomers do not know what dark matter is made of, they only know that it doesn’t emit light or electromagnetic radiation, nor does it absorb it.

Dark energy, on the other hand is energy that saturates the cosmic space and accelerates the expansion of the universe. We’ve known since the beginning of the 90’s that the universe is expanding at a high rate. What baffled the science world was the fact that the universe was expanding faster and not slower, which would have made sense because of gravity. To clear things up, scientists put the fast expansion of the universe on dark energy.

Now, according to new measurements, it appears that dark energy is swallowing up dark matter. The observable universe has 26.8% dark matter in it and 68.3% dark energy, while the rest of 4.9% consists of ordinary matter (this matter is us, the animals, stars, galaxies and everything that is tangible in a traditional sense).

The researchers in Rome and Portsmouth have stumbled upon an amazing discovery: they found that dark energy is swallowing up dark matter; the Director of Portsmouth’s Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, Professor David Wands, had this to say about the stunning results of their study:

This study is about the fundamental properties of space-time. On a cosmic scale, this is about our Universe and its fate. If the dark energy is growing and dark matter is evaporating we will end up with a big, empty, boring Universe with almost nothing in it. Dark matter provides a framework for structures to grow in the Universe. The galaxies we see are built on that scaffolding and what we are seeing here, in these findings, suggests that dark matter is evaporating, slowing that growth of structure.

The reason why dark energy is swallowing up dark matter is not yet known, nor do scientists expect to find out the reason behind this very soon. It is, though, a very good starting point for a plethora of new studies about the universe and dark matter and energy.

 

New Study Revealed Big Black Holes Stop Star Formation

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Big Black Holes Stop Star Formation

The results of a new study were published and it seems that there is proof that big black holes stop star formation in older galaxies. It appears that the feedback consisting of radio frequencies coming from central black holes in mature galaxies can indeed prevent hot gas from cooling and making baby stars.

Tobias Marriage, from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, had this to say about the study’s results:

When you look into the past history of the universe, you see these galaxies building stars. At some point, they stop forming stars and the question is: Why? Basically, these active black holes give a reason for why stars stop forming in the universe.

Scientists have managed to determine that big black holes stop star formation after studying the SZ (Sunyaev-Zel’dovich) effect signature that is normally used to study clusters of large galaxies. It appears that the effect can also be studied to find out information about smaller formations. Researcher Megan Gralla, from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, explains:

The SZ is usually used to study clusters of hundreds of galaxies, but the galaxies we’re looking for are much smaller and have just a companion or two. What we’re doing is asking a different question than what has been previously asked. We’re using a technique that’s been around for some time and that researchers have been very successful with, and we’re using it to answer a totally different question in a totally different subfield of astronomy.

Stars form after hot gas in drawn into a galaxy where it then cools. If the same hot gas gets sucked in a big black hole that is located inside the galaxy, then the black hole grows, as well as the stars inside the galaxy. This cycles will repeat itself forever: more gas gets sucked in the black hole, thus making it and the stars in the galaxy bigger.

But it appears that in mature galaxies, gas doesn’t cool off anymore to form new stars. It stay hot and the reason behind it is the massive black holes. Marriage revealed that the mechanism of why big black holes stop star formation is not yet fully understood and debates are still often.

Thursday Partial Solar Eclipse Visible Across the U.S.

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Solar Eclipse

If you live in North America then you will be able to see a partial solar eclipse on Thursday afternoon. The Thursday partial solar eclipse is the second and last partial solar eclipse this year.

The only portion of the North American continent that will not be able to see the Thursday partial solar eclipse is going to be a small part of eastern Canada and eastern New England.

In the majority of areas in the U.S. you will be able to see about half of the sun being covered. The Northern USA will see about 65% of the sun and Southern USA will see about 40%.

In other words, the farther west and north you are, the better you’re going to see the Thursday partial solar eclipse. In the West of the United States, the eclipse will happen while the sun is still in the afternoon sky. For instance, NASA revealed that In Los Angeles the partial solar eclipse will start at 2:08 pm PT and end at 4:40 p.m. PT.

In the rest of the U.S. the Thursday partial solar eclipse will be seen at sunset and if you live in New York, then you should know that the Thursday partial solar eclipse starting at 5:49 p.m. ET and ending when the sun sets, which happens at 6:03 p.m. ET.

Meteorologist Joe Rao said this about the Thursday partial solar eclipse.

People who live east of a line running from roughly Quebec City to Montauk Point, N.Y., will miss out on the solar show, since the sun will set before the dark disc of the moon begins to encroach upon it.

This is the second partial solar eclipse that was visible on the territory of USA this year. US has also had visible two lunar eclipses, one that occurred earlier October and one in April.

The sun, moon and Earth for an almost straight line, during a solar eclipse. The shadow cast on the sun is the moon’s.

Health officials recommend that you use a filter when you look at the sun, such as special glasses or even welder’s glasses in order to block out the harmful rays and strong light. The UV and infrared light that focus on your retinas can damage your eyesight for life.

The next solar eclipse that will be visible in the U.S. will occur on August 2017.

 

Mummified Hadrosaur Costs North Dakota $3 Million

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Mummified hadrosaur costs North Dakota $3 million

The North Dakota State Historical Society has agreed to give a grant of $3 million to the Marmarth Research Foundation in exchange for the right to a mummified hadrosaur, a duck-billed dinosaur. Mummified hadrosaur costs North Dakota $3 million and it might seem steep, but it is one of the finest and most rare dinosaur specimens ever discovered.

The hadrosaur is partially intact and it gives a plethora of new information about this duck-billed dinosaur. For example, the dinosaur’s back is 25% larger than it was originally thought which makes it faster than the famous T.Rex. The skin of the mummified hadrosaur shows signs that it may have been stripped and not block colors as it was originally thought. The skin shows a camouflage-like pattern in some parts of the animal.

The dinosaur was discovered in 1999 by Tyler Lyson, a then 16-year-olf fossil hunter on his uncle’s farm. Lyson has went on to become a paleontologist with a degree from Yale and is still the owner of the mummified hadrosaur.

Now, mummified hadrosaur costs North Dakota $3 million, as the North Dakota State Historical Society will fund a grant of $3 million for mummified dinosaur, so that the Marmarth Research Foundation can keep the mummy of the dinosaur.

Lyson revealed that the money will fund more digs and a part will go in education and expanding the dinosaur collection in the state of North Dakota. This deal will also give Lyson and his team of scientists access to the laboratory where the mummified dinosaur is kept.

British paleontologist Doctor Phillip Manning reveals in a book he wrote about the hadrosaur:

The fossilized bones of the hadrosaur that Tyler discovered would allow the resurrection of many grave secrets locked in stone for more than 65 million years. The presence of rare soft-tissue structures would ensure that this fossil would become a member of a prehistoric elite – dinosaur mummies… Such remarkable fossils enable immense advances in our understanding of long-vanished lives and forgotten worlds

Mummified hadrosaur costs North Dakota $3 million, but its purchase will surely help the state find out more about hadrosaur and dinosaur mummification.

Facebook and Apple Will Freeze Their Female Employees’ Eggs

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Earlier this week we saw how Apple is going to launch Apple Pay mobile payments service, which is going to allow users to pay in stores and online with their smartphones alone. Today, we’re going to take a look at another Apple news: it appears that Facebook and Apple will freeze their female employees’ eggs, if they want to.

Facebook and Apple Will Freeze Their Female Employees’ Eggs

Egg freezing is now for the first time ever being offered as a work benefit. Facebook and Apple will freeze their female employees’ eggs if they choose to undergo such a procedure. At first glance, it’s mighty nice of these companies to offer this. The procedure is a very expensive and can cost up to $10,000, while the egg storage and cost around $500 per year.

Facebook is ahead of Apple and has already started to offer up to $20,000 in coverage for one egg freezing procedure to all their female employees. Apple will start offering this benefit starting with January 2015.

Facebook and Apple Will Freeze Their Female Employees’ Eggs

An Apple spokesperson released a statement via mail:

We continue to expand our benefits for women, with a new extended maternity leave policy, along with cryopreservation and egg storage as part of our extensive support for infertility treatments. We also offer an Adoption Assistance program, where Apple reimburses eligible expenses associated with the legal adoption of a child. We want to empower women at Apple to do the best work of their lives as they care for loved ones and raise their families.

But is it mighty nice of these companies to offer to pay for the freezing of their female employees’ eggs? Does it discourage women from having babies and if it does it that a bad thing? Or does it simply make women to put their careers ahead of family.

Please share your thoughts on this matter. We would love to hear from you.

Baby Though to Have Been Cured of HIV Shows Sings of HIV Infection in Blood

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This week we saw the results of a new study that showed how infant antibiotic exposure is associated with early childhood obesity. Today, we’ve got more amazing health news: it appears that a second child thought to have been cured of HIV has the virus present in his blood again.

Cured of HIV?

The Mississippi baby was the first infant in the world who was thought to have been cured of the horrible virus after receiving antiretroviral therapy hours after being born. Sadly, the virus returned two years after the baby was taken off the medicine.

cured of HIV

Today, it was revealed that another baby was believed to have been cured of HIV, but had the virus return. This case comes from Milan, Italy, where the baby was born to a mother infected with HIV. 12 hours after the baby was born, it was determined that he had HIV present in his bloodstream. He was started with ART four days after he was born and 3 years later, the tests showed that he had no more HIV or HIV antibodies in his blood, thus he was believed to have been cured of HIV. Unfortunately, as soon as he was taken off the ART, the virus came back.

There is only one person in the world who is thought to have been officially cured of HIV. He is Ray Brown and he’s called the Berlin patient. The man was diagnosed with HIV in 1995 and received ART for 10 years. After being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, he received a bone marrow transplant from a donor who had a CCR5 gene mutation (that stops HIV from entering human cells). 5 years later, Ray Brown is still HIV free.

What are your thoughts on this news? Drop us a line in the comment section below and share your thoughts with us.

West Antarctica’s Ice Meltdown is Weakening the Earth’s Gravity

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Last month we discussed on the great news that the ozone layer is starting to slowly recover and today we’re going to take a look at a more dire news. Apparently, West Antarctica’s ice meltdown is slowly, but surely, weakening the Earth’s gravity. It sounds as bad as it is!

West Antarctica’s Ice Meltdown

Researchers have discovered that the Earth’s gravity is weaker in the area of West Antarctica, due to the large amounts having melted down in recent years. The change is so massive, that it is actually influencing the gravity of the Earth.

Antarctica ice meltdown

The results of the study were published in the Geophysical Research Letters in August. It appears that Earth’s gravity will minutely fluctuate due to changes in the Earth’s mass. And when a large chunk of ice disappears, the gravity will change in that area.

Satellites recorded a dip in the Earth’s gravity field and the cause was identified as being the ice meltdown in West Antarctica. The satellites are called GOCE and they belong to the European Space Agency. They’re on a four year mission to study and map our planet’s gravity.

The measurements show that between 2009 and 2012, West Antarctica lost around 209 billion metric tons of ice. That number is very worrying, especially now that scientists have seen how much it influenced Earth’s gravity.

The team of researchers, led by Johannes Bouman, is planning to analyze ice loss from all of Antarctica with the help of the GOCE satellites. Their work helps us understand better the effects of global warming on our planet and our lives.

Are you worried by this news? Do you think West Antarctica’s ice meltdown should worry the world? Drop us a line in the comment section below, we would love to hear from you!

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