Science and Nature Discussion

[Robert5091]

Update - https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1620634/haze-shutters-city-schools

Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang ordered the closure of 437 schools run by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) until tomorrow. The order came into effect Wednesday at noon. "The decision was made to safeguard small children from health risks," Pol Gen Aswin posted on his Facebook page.
The governor said 50 drones will be deployed to spray water in critically haze-hit areas today and tomorrow, he said, adding City Hall is prepared to send mobile medical units for those affected by the by the haze over the weekend.

... and a call to get to the root of the problem - see https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1620874

 

[Robert5091]

Abandon all cars ye who enter here ... sorry, could n't resist it.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1621342/pm-says-abandon-cars?utm_source=bangkopost.com&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=most_view_bottom_box

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is urging people in Bangkok to abandon their cars and instead use public transport, saying the haze which has choked the capital is mainly caused by vehicles.

 

[Koronin]

This appears to be the best place to put this article. It appears that for the first time in about 100 years a black panther has been spotted in Africa (and apparently near where the fictional country of Wakanda is located). Here's the article from the NY Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/13/world/africa/black-panther-leopard-africa.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

 

[Robert5091]

RIP Opportunity.
https://apnews.com/868e731d260f4919b28218dcf345071f?utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=SocialFlow

NASA’s Opportunity, the Mars rover that was built to operate for just three months but kept going and going, rolling across the rocky red soil, was pronounced dead Wednesday, 15 years after it landed on the planet.

The six-wheeled vehicle that helped gather critical evidence that ancient Mars might have been hospitable to life was remarkably spry up until eight months ago, when it was finally doomed by a ferocious dust storm.

Flight controllers tried numerous times to make contact, and sent one final series of recovery commands Tuesday night, along with one last wake-up song, Billie Holiday’s “I’ll Be Seeing You,” in a somber exercise that brought tears to team members’ eyes. There was no response from space, only silence.

Thomas Zurbuchen, head of NASA’s science missions, broke the news at what amounted to a funeral at the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, announcing the demise of “our beloved Opportunity.”

“This is a hard day,” project manager John Callas said at an auditorium packed with hundreds of current and former members of the team that oversaw Opportunity and its long-deceased identical twin, Spirit. “Even though it’s a machine and we’re saying goodbye, it’s still very hard and very poignant, but we had to do that. We came to that point.”

 

[Robert5091]

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20190222000372

The government issued fine dust emergency measures for all parts of the country except Jeju Island on Friday, as fine dust blanketed Korea for three consecutive days.

The fine dust levels nationwide are expected to reach “bad” or “very bad” levels except for some parts in Gangwon Province and Jeju Island throughout the day.
...
The city will also close down 434 parking lots at state-run organizations, while government employees need to leave their cars at home if their license plate numbers end with an odd number.

While the emergency measures are in effect, power plants that burn fossil fuels must reduce their output to 80 percent of normal operations and plants that produce a large amount of pollution must take measures to reduce emissions.

Dust particles are expected to remain throughout the weekend.

So much for the cloud seeding. :sad:

 

[Robert5091]

It was 150 years ago today,
Sgt Pepper taught the band to play ... no wait a momemnt.

Happy Birthday Periodic Table! - one of Sheldon's favourite tables -
http://tass.com/science/1047675

On March 6, 1869, exactly 150 years ago, Russian chemist Dmitry Mendeleev (1834-1907) presented his periodic table of chemical elements - a graphic description of what was destined to go down in history as the Periodic Law.

So let's all sing along now ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYW50F42ss8

(deep intake of breath) "There's ... "

 

[King Boonen]

Re:

It was 150 years ago today,
Sgt Pepper taught the band to play ... no wait a momemnt.

Happy Birthday Periodic Table! - one of Sheldon's favourite tables -
http://tass.com/science/1047675

On March 6, 1869, exactly 150 years ago, Russian chemist Dmitry Mendeleev (1834-1907) presented his periodic table of chemical elements - a graphic description of what was destined to go down in history as the Periodic Law.

So let's all sing along now ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYW50F42ss8

(deep intake of breath) "There's ... "

If you're interested then this is very good:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079DHKDGK/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

 

[StyrbjornSterki]

New Einstein manuscripts revealed

Hebrew U unveils 110 new manuscript pages which shed light on the famed scientist - and the man behind the science.

Even 140 years after Albert Einstein’s birth, his scientific discoveries still impact our lives--lasers, nuclear power, fiber optics, driverless cars, GPS and space travel all trace back to Einstein’s theories. Today, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) unveiled 110 new manuscript pages, most of which have not been displayed before, and which shed light on the scientist and the man behind the science....

 

[Robert5091]

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20190307000651

S. Korea to push for artificial rain experiment with China

Environment Minister Cho Myung-rae said Thursday the government plans to step up its cooperation with China to combat worsening pollution by pushing to jointly enforce dust-reducing measures and conduct an artificial rain experiment.

The ministry also plans to launch a pilot project to install large air purifying facilities outdoors in major cities, and tighten restrictions on driving on heavily polluted days.

The ministry said it would push for an artificial rainfall experiment over the sea between the Korean Peninsula and China this year, and exchange rain-making technologies with the neighboring country.

“To reduce fine dust that enters Korea from abroad, it is better to conduct an artificial rain experiment over the Yellow Sea, rather than in inland areas, given the weather conditions,” Cho said at a press briefing. “We believe artificial rain will be effective in reducing levels of fine particles in the air.”

Korea’s first experiment this year with artificial rain, in which chemicals are released into clouds to induce rain, failed to cause precipitation and the experiment will be repeated in March, the ministry said.

 

[Robert5091]

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20190308000377

A South Korean government laboratory said Friday it will conduct an aerial observation of flows of pollutants over the Yellow Sea to trace the origins of fine dust concentrations over the Korean Peninsula.

The National Institute of Environmental Research, affiliated with the Ministry of Environment, said it will mobilize a 19-seat airplane for a month to intensively observe fine dust particles over the waters between South Korea and China.

The state-run laboratory has previously used a smaller plane for a limited observation of aerial pollutants. It plans to utilize the results of the monthlong observation in future negotiations with China over responsibility for fine dust particles over the peninsula.

Over the past week, most of South Korea, including Seoul, was hit by heavy concentrations of ultrafine particles that were about six times higher than the maximum density recommended by the World Health Organization.

The daily average of particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter surged close to 150 micrograms per cubic meter in Seoul early this week, the highest levels since record-keeping began in 2015.

President Moon Jae-in ordered his government Wednesday to work with China to fight fine dust pollution. Moon instructed the government to discuss dust-reducing measures with China and look into the possibility of jointly creating artificial rain over the sea between the two countries. South Korea's state-run agencies have said pollutants coming from China are responsible for about 50 to 70 percent of the air pollution over the peninsula.

But China's foreign ministry has denied responsibility for fine dust over the Korean Peninsula, asking Seoul to produce scientific evidence.

This can quickly be needed to be moved to the politics thread - for info see https://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=aqibasics.particle

 

[Red Rick]

Cue the 'making it rain' jokes

 

[Robert5091]

Wishing not to start a debate in the cycling sections, I'll post this here. Sir Jim seems to be on a par with SDB with regards to spin, PR & "science".
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/team-ineos-presented-in-yorkshire-by-froome-and-brailsford/

The most regulated country by a country mile is the US, and they have drilled a million wells or more in America. In the UK we are sat on some potentially extraordinary reserves. Gas is a clean fuel and it creates jobs and investment. Why wouldn't you look at exploiting that in the UK? If I look at the anti-fracking groups, the majority of them are ignorant about fracking. I wouldn't want to get involved in it if it was dangerous. All you do is pump water down, it just loosens the rock a bit. Cheap energy encourages investment in manufacturing. It's outrageous that the government listen to a noisy miniscule minority instead of looking at the science."

 

[jmdirt]

Re:

This appears to be the best place to put this article. It appears that for the first time in about 100 years a black panther has been spotted in Africa (and apparently near where the fictional country of Wakanda is located). Here's the article from the NY Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/13/world/africa/black-panther-leopard-africa.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

Very cool!

 

[aphronesis]

This is a bit dated, but certain chapters in the book underscore the reasons why statistical modeling is increasingly compromised and unreliable

New Dark Age by James Bridle review – technology and the end of the future

The consequences of the technological revolution may be even more frightening than we thought

www.google.com

Obviously the title alone and the book’s general premise are apposite

Is It Easier to Imagine the End of the World Than the End of the Internet?

A recent book by James Bridle, “New Dark Age,” argues technology is clouding our understanding of the world around us and making that world more dangerous.

theintercept.com

“A follow up study [circa 2012] found that more than 2/3 retractions in the biomedical and life sciences had been due to misconduct rather than error and the authors noted that such a result could only be an underestimate. This was shocking to many scientists as it was widely believed that most retractions were down to honest error.”

This touches on challenges of replication in the life sciences, which are acute right now.

 

[Unchained]

I was on the boat in Bahia and the captain kept saying that there were between 40-60 whale sharks in the bay where we left from..we got picked up on the beach about @15 k from the municipal boat launch area..we were coming back in and there were 4 stand up paddle boarders clumped all together... in our boat everyone started seeing the dark masses and the captain cut the motor..There is already a 4 knot speed limit..I asked if it was ok if I jumped in, he said go ahead so using some Speedo swim goggles I went in and tried to see what they looked like from pretty close while just treading water..a small shark about @15ft long swam right past me 4ft close!!then a 25 foot beast made 3 passes and I was able to touch the skin..wasn't sure if I was happy or scared chitless..they are in the area just vacuuming up plankton, and sardines and primarily krill..
I have seen them before but never in anything that looked like a school of whale sharks..also not clear on why some were marked w brilliant white spots and others with an almost grey spots and multiple freckle looking markings..
Like other things in the oceans co dependence life..The whale sharks have other fish that attach themselves for the ride..fish hitchhiker
If the sharks have teeth they are not prominent and they really look toothless and have a wide mouth opening that doesn't look like a sand,white or tiger shark

 

[sir fly]

The arches of chaos in the Solar System | Science Advances