Photo of the day !!

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Book Review: All History Is Environmental History​

By Ramin Skibba

All history is environmental history, according to Sunil Amrith, an historian and the author of “The Burning Earth,” which traces the disparate, and often disastrous, efforts by civilizations as far back as the Mongol empire to control nature in the name of exploration, expansion, and development. Read on »

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The Irony of Powering AI on Atomic Energy​

By Stephanie Palazzo

Microsoft announced a deal to revive Three Mile Island and buy all of the nuclear power plant’s electricity as the demands of its artificial intelligence data centers increase. One anthropologist asks whether a dying 20th century technology that didn’t fulfill its promises should be used to power a new and similarly uncertain one. Read on »

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War’s Public Health Impacts Are Vast. Tallying Them Is Difficult.​

By Jyoti Madhusoodanan

Connecting the dots between armed conflict and health is not straightforward. But researchers are developing creative techniques to gauge the extent of armed conflict’s public health harms — an endeavor they say is essential to inform short-term relief efforts as well as long-term policies. Read on »

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Is Depression Contagious? The Science Is Uncertain.​

By Joshua Cohen

The contagious nature of infections like strep throat or influenza is well understood. You’re at risk of catching the flu, for example, if someone near you has it. But what about a person’s mental health? Can depression be contagious? Research into those questions is hard to parse. Read on »


poutting thought in vacant minddds a

undark ha

 

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This Week’s Stories​

​ The Coming Collision Between Whales and Tankers on British Columbia’s Coast​ Decades after they were hunted to local extinction, fin whales are recovering in the Kitimat fjord system—only to be threatened by a booming LNG industry.​ by Laura Trethewey • 5,300 words / 26 mins ​

​ Environmental Protection, with a Side of Small Business​ Conservation takes cash, and philanthropic funding is notoriously fickle. To secure the future of its environmental efforts, this Dominican nonprofit is trying something new: making booze.​ by Brian Owens • 1,100 words / 5 mins ​

​ Peekaboo Plovers​ Can you spot these baby birds?​ by Marina Wang and Mercedes Minck • six-panel comic​

yes so very saf re our innocence,o some degree re whales and shops andb bird deaths with the wind turnines very sad

 

[Kuapaman]

 

[BigdongSE]

 

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(Aditya Madhavan) A "ring of fire" shines over Easter Island in a spectacular new image of the annular solar eclipse on Oct. 2. Full Story: Space(10/18)

Spaceflight China reveals ambitious space exploration plans (China National Space Administration) Sample returns, seeking lunar water, planetary defense and more missions are planned across the 2020s. Full Story: Space(10/17)

Science & Astronomy Europe makes moves to visit asteroid Apophis in 2029 (OHB Italia) The Ramses mission would rendezvous with the infamous asteroid Apophis during its 2029 close approach to Earth. Full Story: Space(10/18) 'Killer electrons' play pinball with space weather (UCLA EPSS/NASA SVS) "They can penetrate metal on satellites, hit circuit boards, and can be carcinogenic if they hit a person in space." Full Story: Space(10/18)

Search for Life SETI's alien hunt finds TRAPPIST-1 planets remain silent (NASA/JPL-Caltech) Some 25 million radio signals were detected, but all were eliminated by a clever computer code as terrestrial radio frequency interference. Full Story: Space(10/18)

 

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Comet A3 is still visible in the sky, but not for long (Josh Dinner) It may be just past its best, but it's not too late to grab a glimpse of the brightest comet for a decade. Full Story: Space(10/17) Hunter's Moon supermoon 2024 photos (Getty Images/China News Service) The largest and brightest full moon of 2024 lit up the skies of Earth on Thursday (Oct. 17), with skywatchers across the globe on hand to capture the lunar face in its full glory. Full Story: Space(10/18)

Skywatching Orionid meteor shower peaks this weekend (VCG/VCG via Getty Images) The Orionid meteor shower 2024 reaches its peak in the pre-dawn hours on Monday, Oct. 21, but this year a bright moon could make it difficult to see these shooting stars. Full Story: Spa

 

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Despite its critical role in reproduction, the fusion of egg and sperm (artificially coloured in this image) in vertebrates is a molecular mystery that has proved difficult to crack. (D. Phillips/Science Photo Library)

 

[BigdongSE]

 

[Kuapaman]

 

[edonline]

Los Angeles, California. Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-Atlas) streaks across the sky over Joshua Tree national park.

 

[magnetico]

Tramp of Airlie

 

[Telcontar12]

So I biked to, uhm, "K"anada the other day...and didn't even have to leave Europe while doing so!

I then wanted to continue onwards to Amerika, but unfortunately, somebody had stolen its city limit sign! Curses a thousandfold!

 

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many very tired of akk the ww bs

 

[Meatn2veg]

Three pics from me tonight. I took them all on Thursday (17th Oct).

This was completely unplanned.....but pic 2 was taken exactly two hours after pic 1. And #3 was taken exactly two hours after pic 2. (And, yes, #2 was taken with me pretty much - but not quite! - horizontal in my back garden!)

By the most amazing coincidence, incidentally, precisely 24 hours (to the minute) after I took the last pic, I finally managed to see Comet C/2023 A3 with my own eyes. It actually felt quite humbling to witness something that it seems was last visible from this planet 80,000 years ago.....

 

[Kudo]

 

[fieldguide4dragons]

 

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View attachment 147957821

wuw thanks
my sinday nz savioir
ta again

 

[Kuapaman]

 

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Top Science News (Photo by Mauro Calattini; Owen Alexander Higgins et al. Nature Communications, 2024; CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) 17,000-year-old remains of blue-eyed baby boy unearthed in Italy The well-preserved remains of a baby boy who died 17,000 years ago in what is now Italy reveal that he had blue eyes, dark skin and curly hair. Read More​

History & Archaeology (North Wind Picture Archives via Alamy Stock Photo) Why didn't the Vikings colonize North America? The Vikings landed in what is now Newfoundland, Canada around the year A.D. 1000. So why didn't they colonize the region like other Europeans did centuries later? Read More​

Planet Earth (Days Edge Productions) Watch bioluminescent algal blooms trigger electric-blue waves off San Diego coast in stunning new footage Mesmerizing footage from a new PBS Nature show captures the bioluminescent beauty of brilliant blue waves crashing along San Diego's coast. Read More​

Space (MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images) The universe may end in a 'Big Freeze,' holographic model of the universe suggests New research suggests holographic dark energy could stop the universe's expansion. Read More​

Health (Kobus Louw via Getty Images) How do people die of the flu? Severe flu infections can lead to a range of deadly complications, especially in people whose immune systems are compromised by age or disease.

 

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A metallic plate about the size of a standard sheet of printer paper is bolting through space as you read this, engraved with the thoughts of U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón:"Arching under the night sky inkywith black expansiveness, we pointto the planets we know," Full Story: Space(10/21)

Science & Astronomy Hubble sees 'stellar volcano' erupt in amazing colors (NASA, ESA, Matthias Stute , Margarita Karovska , Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble), Mahdi Zamani (ESA/Hubble)) The Hubble Space Telescope has captured an intricate portrait of two nearby stars that have been in close contact for centuries, revealing once again the complex yet volatile relationship of a stellar duo. Full Story: Space(10/20)

Technology Inflatable habitats could be key to exploring space (Max Space) It's high time to crank up the volume in space! That's the shout from several private firms that want to see an inflation factor for the future. What is now being evaluated and tested is the use of "softgoods" to fashion inflatable/expandable airlocks and off-Earth habitats, not only for low Earth orbit, but also to provide comfy housing for future moon and Mars explorers. Full Story: Space(10/20)

Entertainment 'Edge of Space' director Jean de Meuron on his X-15 film (exclusive) (Atticus Films) Soaring in with the unbridled spirit of classics like director Philip Kaufman's "The Right Stuff," a new short film making the festival rounds and being submitted for Oscar contention is indie filmmaker Jean de Meuron's "Edge of Space." Full Story: Space(10/20)

Star Trek Star Trek Universe warps into NYCC with sneak peeks at 'Lower Decks' season 5, 'Strange New Worlds' season 3, a date for 'Section 31' and 'Starfleet Academy' season 2 (Paramount+) The invigorating "Star Trek" franchise is a flourishing galaxy of content these days and that imaginative sci-fi realm is about to become even more fertile as evidenced by all the Star Trek-centric projects heading our way that were revealed at Saturday's "Star Trek" Universe panel at New York Comic Con. Full Story: Space(10/20) way itis was happy her;; pween 2024 idwe makw it smile