Interesting interview on NPR's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED today. Here's the opening;
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
A few years ago, a 6-year-old boy was wandering a beach in Southern England when he came across an unusual rock.
BEN WITTEN: I saw that rock, and it looked really different to all the other pebbles and stones.
SUMMERS: He held onto it for safe keeping. And fast-forward to this year, and he was visiting an exhibit of Stone Age artifacts at a local museum. And he saw something that looked a lot like his find from the beach. He took his rock into the museum, and they told him he had discovered something incredibly rare - a hand ax, some 40 to 60,000 years old, almost certainly made by a Neanderthal. That boy is now 9 years old, and he is here with me now. Ben Witten, welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
BEN: Hello.
SUMMERS: When you first picked it up, did you have any idea what you'd found? What did you think it was?
BEN: I thought it was probably some kind of crystal or old flint. I didn't really imagine it would be in a museum by now. I thought it was just something.
I started doing science posts online when my kids were at home. Let me back up, I started this site as an online novel about the corrupt and they harm people (specifically -- do gooders Thomas Friedman and Nicholas Kristof kidnap Bettina and try to gaslight her). And then, in 2008, put that on hold to cover the political primary. After that, I've tried to bring in topics that were interesting. Usually, for example, I'll cover the Supreme Court. I also do music and TV from time time. I'm a huge lifetime fan of Diana Ross and I can always write about her -- or talk your ear off about her if you know me in real life. Along with the Corrupt Court, I also cover science. As a mom of three kids who weren't in college yet, science was something we could discuss together and my two boys could do science projects with my daughter -- she's the youngest -- both for bonding and for learning. Science was always my favorite subject in school.
And forget click-bait celebrity stories, I can get lost for hours in reading articles about climate, bees, animals, discoveries from the past -- science is so much and so wonderful.
Science is also under fire as Satan prepares to re-enter the White House in January. We've never seen such hatred of science and hatred of facts.
So the science posts aren't just fun anymore, they're necessary.
Mario Sáez and Joe Brennan (AS USA) reports:
A geological phenomenon is occurring in the heart of East Africa that could forever alter the Earth’s map.
A new ocean is in the process of forming, a consequence of tectonic movements that are splitting the African continent. This event, which could happen in the next five to ten million years, will mark the creation of a sixth ocean, an unprecedented geological event in our planet’s recent history.
Currently, Earth is mostly covered by water, with five recognised oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Southern Oceans. However, scientists predict that a sixth ocean could emerge due to the separation of the Somali Plate from the Nubian Plate in a region known as the Great Rift Valley, which stretches from Ethiopia to Mozambique.
This geological process, driven by the Earth’s internal forces, is due to the divergence of tectonic plates that are splitting the African continent. In some areas, such as Ethiopia and Kenya, cracks and fissures have already formed on the Earth’s surface, indicating that the separation is underway.
As the plates continue to move, it is expected that the Horn of Africa will break away from the rest of the continent, allowing the Indian Ocean to flood the area and form a new body of water.
A sixth ocean? Will anyone be here to see it? Even if we addressed climate change seriously, anti-science Robert Kennedy Junior wants to do away with vaccines so who knows if humanity can survive?
Out in space, new discoveries. NASA notes:
The Planet
WASP-69 b
The Discovery
The exoplanet WASP-69 b has a "tail," leaving a trail of gas in its wake.
Key Takeaway
WASP-69 b is slowly losing its atmosphere as light hydrogen and helium particles in the planet's outer atmosphere escape the planet over time. But those gas particles don't escape evenly around the planet, instead they are swept into a tail of gas by the stellar wind coming from the planet's star.
Details
Hot Jupiters like WASP-69 b are super-hot gas giants orbiting their host stars closely. When radiation coming from a star heats up a planet's outer atmosphere, the planet can experience photoevaporation, a process in which lightweight gases like hydrogen and helium are heated by this radiation and launched outward into space. Essentially, WASP-69 b's star strips gas from the planet's outer atmosphere over time.
What's more, something called the stellar wind can shape this escaping gas into an exoplanetary tail.
The stellar wind is a continuous stream of charged particles that flow outwards into space from a star's outer atmosphere, or corona. On Earth, the Sun's stellar wind interacts with our planet's magnetic field which can create beautiful auroras like the Northern Lights.
On WASP-69 b, the stellar wind coming from its host star actually shapes the gas escaping from the planet's outer atmosphere. So, instead of gas just escaping evenly around the planet, "strong stellar winds can sculpt that outflow in tails that trail behind the planet," said lead author Dakotah Tyler, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Los Angeles, likening this gaseous tail to a comet's tail.
Because this tail is created by the stellar wind, however, that means it's subject to change.
"If the stellar wind were to taper down, then you could imagine that the planet is still losing some of its atmosphere, but it just isn't getting shaped into the tail," Tyler said, adding that, without the stellar wind, that gas escaping on all sides of the planet would be spherical and symmetrical. "But if you crank up the stellar wind, that atmosphere then gets sculpted into a tail."
Tyler likened the process to a windsock blowing in the breeze, with the sock forming a more structured shape when the wind picks up and it fills with air.
The tail that Tyler and his research team observed on WASP-69 b extended more than 7.5 times the radius of the planet, or over 350,000 miles. But it's possible that the tail is even longer. The team had to end observations with the telescope before the tail's signal disappeared, so this measurement is a lower limit on the tail's true length at the time.
However, keep in mind that because the tail is influenced by the stellar wind, changes in the stellar wind could change the tail's size and shape over time. Additionally changes in the stellar wind influence the tail's size and shape, but since the tail is visible when illuminated by starlight, changes in stellar activity can also affect tail observations.
Exoplanet tails are still a bit mysterious, especially because they are subject to change. The study of exoplanet tails could help scientists to better understand how these tails form as well as the ever-changing relationship between the stellar and planetary atmospheres. Additionally, because these exoplanetary tails are shaped by stellar activity, they could serve as indicators of stellar behavior over time. This could be helpful for scientists as they seek to learn more about the stellar winds of stars other than the star we know the most about, our very own Sun.
Fun Facts
WASP-69 b is losing a lot of gas — about 200,000 tons per second. But it's losing this gaseous atmosphere very slowly — so slowly in fact that there is no danger of the planet being totally stripped or disappearing. In general, every billion years, the planet is losing an amount of material that equals the mass of planet Earth.
The solar system that WASP-69 b inhabits is about 7 billion years old, so even though the rate of atmosphere loss will vary over time, you might estimate that this planet has lost the equivalent of seven Earths (in mass) of gas over that period.
The Discoverers
A team of scientists led by Dakotah Tyler of the University of California, Los Angeles published a paper in January, 2024 on their discovery, "WASP-69b's Escaping Envelope Is Confined to a Tail Extending at Least 7 Rp
," in the journal, "The Astrophysical Journal." The observations described in this paper were made by Keck/NIRSPEC (NIRSPEC is a spectrograph designed for Keck II).
So there's our science grab bag.
"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Friday, December 13, 2024. Nancy Mace is the new Jussie, Donald's breaks campaign promises before even being sworn in, and much more.
But three witnesses at the scene have contradicted her claims, telling The Imprint and The Hill that McIntyre merely shook Mace's hand at a Foster Youth Caucus reception and asked her to support the rights of transgender people. Mace, who co-chairs the congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, spoke at the reception, telling attendees she looked forward to working with them.
"James [McIntyre] met her by the door where people could see her and him to say, 'trans youth are in foster care and they need your support,' and gave a handshake and then walked back to his seat and sat down," one witness told The Hill, describing it as a "pretty normal interaction."
"They shake hands, and James says, 'Trans youth are also foster youth, and they need your support.' And then sat down," Hinkle said.
Shortly after Mace left with a congressional staffer, Hinkle said, the staffer came back into the room and approached McIntyre, asking for his name and the message he had for Mace.
Several minutes later, Hinkle said, U.S. Capitol Police began arriving outside the event. Capitol Police said in Tuesday’s statement that officers later arrested McIntyre after an investigative interview.
"I watched that interaction happen, and I saw a handshake and a conversation and a very normal thing for an advocate to come to D.C. and do," Hinkle said. “She didn’t even seem to have, like, that big of a reaction to him. She just sort of made, like, almost like a tiny shock face, and then she left the room.”
Mace also shared a photo of herself wearing an arm sling and a brace on social media Thursday. The photo was immediately ridiculed by Natalie Johnson, a former Mace staffer, who called it “a pathetic ploy for attention.”
“This is the same woman who told staff, myself included, during Jan. 6 that she wanted to get ‘punched in the face’ by a rioter so she could get on TV,” Johnson said on X, formerly Twitter.
- Trump said in his Person of the Year interview that lowering grocery prices is "very hard."
- He said that high food prices were part of why he won the election.
- Some economists think Trump's economic plans, like tariffs and deportations, will be inflationary.
As recently as Sunday, MSNBC reports, Trump insisted, “We’re going to bring those prices way down.”
On Monday, Fox News reported: “Pointing to high grocery prices, Trump says, ‘I won an election based on that'”
But in his TIME magazine “Person of the Year” interview, Trump suggested he might not be able to lower prices as he promised to do. Appearing to remove himself from the equation, he declared: “It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard.”
Sam Stein of The Bulwark and MSNBC noted via social media, “’Prices will come down,’ Trump told voters during a speech last week laying out his vision for a return to the White House. ‘You just watch: They’ll come down, and they’ll come down fast, not only with insurance, with everything.'”
Sourcing data from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the report found that deporting 8.3 million immigrants in the country illegally would reduce GDP by 7.4 percent and reduce employment by 7 percent by 2028, likely resulting in zero overall growth throughout Trump’s second term.
Trump has proposed deporting all such immigrants in the United States — currently an estimated 11 million — and millions more currently protected by humanitarian programs such as Temporary Protected Status, who could lack legal status if those programs were cut.
According to an American Immigration Council (AIC) estimate sourced by the JEC report, deporting at a clip of 1 million people per year — echoing a proposal by Vice President-elect JD Vance to “start with 1 million” — could generate a 4.2 percent to 6.8 percent loss in GDP. The U.S. economy shrank by 4.3 percent during the Great Recession, the report’s authors noted.
“Trump’s plan to deport millions of immigrants does absolutely nothing to address the core problems driving our broken immigration system. Instead, all it will do is raise grocery prices, destroy jobs, and shrink the economy. His immigration policy is reckless and would cause irreparable harm to our economy,” JEC Chair Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said.
But looming over the internal party debate is a more fundamental question: Just how much power does a DNC chair have to change the direction of the party?
“There’s no savior that’s coming in to save the DNC,” said one candidate for chair, Ken Martin, who argued the DNC is part of a “larger ecosystem of organizations that are fighting for economic and social justice.”
A key role for the DNC chair, he added, is to take the lead in bringing those groups together.
The DNC chair contest is expected to become more formalized Thursday, when the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee is set to meet in Washington to go over the rules and procedures for the Feb. 1 election.
At least four candidates have already declared they are running: Martin, a DNC vice chair who also leads the Minnesota party; Ben Wikler, chairman of the Wisconsin party; Martin O’Malley, the former commissioner of the Social Security Administration and Maryland governor; and James Skoufis, a New York state senator from a battleground district.
Remember that whomever gets the job needs organizing and leadership skills. It would also help if they had a little understanding of the 2024 election -- including that there was no landslide for Trump, none at all.
In the real world, Senator Patty Murray's office issued the following:
Murray discusses how bipartisan overhaul she negotiated has simplified FAFSA, expanded aid eligibility—and shares update on law’s implementation
Washington state lags in FAFSA completion rates; in 2023, WA left $65 million in Pell Grants on the table by not completing the FAFSA
Senator Murray: “Take advantage of every penny of federal grants available to you. Fill the FAFSA out—it’s quick, it’s easy, and thousands of dollars in federal grants could be just ten minutes away.”
***WATCH: Senator Murray discusses FAFSA form that is now live***
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), urged Washington state students and families to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, which is now live, to take full advantage of the federal grants, assistance, and loans available to them to pursue a higher education. Senator Murray discussed how the new FAFSA form is easier and quicker to complete than ever and how more aid is now available to more students—thanks to the bipartisan FAFSA Simplification Act she negotiated and got signed into law in 2020. The law overhauled the financial aid application process, simplified the FAFSA form for students and families, and significantly expanded eligibility for federal aid. She also provided an update on implementation of the law.
“Here’s what high school seniors, college students, and families across Washington state should know: the FAFSA form for the upcoming school year is available now and you should get it done as soon as possible,” said Senator Murray. “Filling out the FAFSA is the only way to unlock federal grants, assistance, and loans to help you get a higher education. Whether you’re looking to get a four-year degree or to head to community or technical college, fill the FAFSA out! And now, thanks to the bipartisan reforms I worked hard to make happen, the form is shorter and quicker than ever.”
“Unfortunately, our state has lagged behind in filling out the FAFSA—and that means not taking advantage of federal aid that they qualified for,” Murray continued. “In 2023, Washington state left $65 million in Pell Grants on the table because no one applied for them—so let’s turn that around! That’s the message I want to get across today: take advantage of every penny of federal grants available to you. Fill the FAFSA out—it’s quick, it’s easy, and thousands of dollars in federal grants could be just ten minutes away.”
Washington state still has one of the lowest FAFSA completion rates in the nation. In 2023, students in Washington state left $65 million in Pell Grants on the table by not completing the FAFSA.
The bipartisan FAFSA Simplification Act Senator Murray negotiated and got signed into law:
- Significantly expands who is eligible to receive Pell Grants and the maximum award;
- Significantly simplifies the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA);
- Makes the financial aid process easier to navigate for students experiencing homelessness and students formerly in foster care.
- Restores Pell Grant eligibility for students who have been defrauded, students with drug-related offenses, and more.
Senator Murray has led oversight efforts of implementation of the new, simplified FAFSA and has continued to stay in close contact with the Department of Education to ensure the new form works for students and families. The draft Senate Fiscal Year 2025 spending bill, authored and negotiated by Murray, which funds the Department of Education, includes an additional $100 million for the administration of student aid programs—the funding would support a wide range of activities, including implementation of the FAFSA. The bill also directs the Department of Education to undertake various activities related to the FAFSA, including conducting outreach to students who have uncompleted FAFSA applications, providing weekly updates to Congress on FAFSA implementation, and correcting errors that have made it difficult for unaccompanied homeless youth to access the FAFSA application. Senator Murray’s funding bill passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee 25-3—and she is now working to get it signed into law.
Read about the FAFSA Simplification Act HERE.
Senator Murray’s full comments, as delivered, are below:
“My siblings and I all were able to pursue a higher education thanks to federal support.
“So I personally know just how important it is. And that is why I have been so focused throughout my career on making sure students can get the federal support they need to make it through higher education.
“Today, one of the first steps many kids take to make that dream a
reality is filling out the form called FAFSA, which is how they get
access to funding for higher education through the federal government.
“Now, for many, many years, the application was daunting. Many,
many questions. Very complex to fill out. You had to import your tax
information.
“And I’ve always believed there’s no reason for what should be a first step on the path to a higher education to become the first stumbling block. And I wasn’t the only person who thought that.
“So I set out to make the form a whole lot easier and quicker to fill out. And I worked with my Republican counterpart on the Senate Education Committee—and together we passed a bipartisan bill to streamline the FAFSA—and to rework the financial aid formula so that we could get more aid to more students, including, of course, in Washington state.
“The rollout of the new form and the overhaul I negotiated last year was rocky—to say the very least.
“So I’ve had to continue to work with the Department to push them to address the incredibly frustrating problems that students and families were experiencing.
“Now, many of those major kinks have been addressed, and I am much more optimistic about where things stand this year, and going forward.
“So I’m going to keep making sure it works well—but bottom line: students can expect a much smoother, easier process.
“And despite the challenges over the last year—we are already seeing more students get more aid, which is exactly why I pushed so hard to reform this process.
“We know now that, nationwide, 10% more students are on track to receive Pell Grants—not loans, Pell Grants—this school year than last year.
“And in Washington state, over 12% more students are now eligible for Pell Grants than just a year ago. Which means more people will be able to get federal grants so they can get a higher education.
“This is really important for students and families across our state to take advantage so that they can get access to the federal money to open those doors to higher education and it will be available for them immediately.
“So here’s what high school seniors, college students, and families across Washington state should know: the FAFSA form for the upcoming school year is available now and you should get it done as soon as possible! It’ll just take 10-15 minutes, as little as 18-20 questions—done with it, and you will know whether you are eligible and whether you can be eligible for financial aid.
“Even if you think you may not be eligible for financial aid, it is worth taking a few minutes to fill out that form and find out. And I think many students will be very surprised to learn they are eligible to get additional support—especially with the expanded aid that we helped to get.
“Filling out the FAFSA is the only way to unlock federal grants, assistance, and loans to help you get a higher education.
“Whether you’re looking to get a four-year degree or to head to community or technical college, fill the FAFSA out!
“And now, thanks to the bipartisan reforms I worked hard to make happen, the form is shorter and quicker.
“Instead of over a hundred questions, it’s now down to as few as 88. So it’ll only take you about 10 minutes to fill it out.
“So I encourage anyone thinking about going to college, community college, or technical school next year—or who will be returning—to take a few minutes and get the FAFSA done.
“Unfortunately, our state has lagged behind in filling out the FAFSA—and that means not taking advantage of federal aid that they qualified for.
“In fact, in 2023, Washington state left $65 million in Pell Grants on the table because no one applied for them—so let’s turn that around!
“That’s the message I want to get across today: take advantage of every penny of federal grants available to you. Fill the FAFSA out—it’s quick, it’s easy, and thousands of dollars in federal grants could be just ten minutes away.
“And know that I am working hard to make sure students and families and people who work in higher education know this form is out there. Let’s get it done. Let’s make sure everyone gets access to higher education that qualifies.”
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That's probably the case in every state so take her advice to heart.
The following sites updated:
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Grab bag8 hours ago
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So many idiots9 hours ago
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A very interesting development9 hours ago
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Good for Joe Biden9 hours ago
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