Text description provided by the architects. The building of the commercial and socio-cultural center of Pivovar Děčín (Decin Brewery) is located in the former brewery of Decin Podmokly, Czech Republic. The core of the building consists of a two-story shopping mall with more than 60 shop units, summing up to a leasable area of 17,500 square meters. The main idea of the whole concept builds on using and preserving the original buildings in a harmonious balance with the construction of the new retail spaces and technical facilities. The two-story part of the new building uses the existing configuration of the terrain - the roof of the new building forms a continuation of the slope and serves as a parking lot for 400 cars. © Alexandra TimpauThe historic brewery buildings originated in the mid-19th century to the early 20th century; therefore they have strong influences of classicism and industrial era style. SectionThese buildings with various unique spaces and structures have been renovated and reused for both classical and specific business units - a restaurant with microbrewery, playground, halls for one-off events, café, etc. © Alexandra TimpauThe configuration is based on joining two previous inner courtyards situated at the center of the historical part. The new shopping areas are uniting these spaces with a tall and brightly lit gallery that functions as the access area to the shopping units. © Alexandra TimpauEnvironmental aspects The building uses water from the original brewery wells for the conditioning system, leading to reduced energy needs for cooling by about 30%. Water from wells is also used for toilet flushing and irrigation. To reduce heat loss, the building configuration contributes positively in that it is partly underground. During the reconstruction we recycled most of the original building materials such as timber elements, stone, and masonry parts. © Alexandra TimpauDesign and construction solutions © Alexandra TimpauThe reconstructed buildings were usually brick while the newer parts of historical buildings had cast iron columns Great attention was paid to the renovated part of the building rehabilitation the rehabilitation of facades and roof deck You'll now receive updates based on what you follow Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors If you have done all of this and still can't find the email A "hunger stone" exposed by the low level of water in the Elbe River is seen in Decin The low level of water caused by the recent drought has exposed the stones on the riverbed A lengthy drought in Europe has exposed carved boulders known as "hunger stones," that have been used for centuries to commemorate historic droughts — and warn of their consequences The Associated Press reports that hunger stones are newly visible in the Elbe River which begins in the Czech Republic and flows through Germany can now be seen in and near the northern Czech town of Decin near the German border," the AP writes One of the stones on the banks of the Elbe is carved with the words "Wenn du mich siehst A team of Czech researchers described that stone in detail in a 2013 paper about the history of droughts in Czech lands The stone is also chiseled with "the years of hardship and the initials of authors lost to history," the researchers wrote: "It expressed that drought had brought a bad harvest the following droughts are commemorated on the stone: 1417 That particular stone is now a bit of a tourist attraction; it's one of the oldest hydrological landmarks in central Europe. Also, because of a dam on a tributary of the Elbe, it's seen more often now than it used to be, according to a Decin tourist site — although the current river levels are still exceptional People visit a famous "hunger stone" exposed by the low level of water in the Elbe river in Decin The Elbe is the place where American and Soviet troops famously met in April 1945 as they advanced from opposite directions on Nazi Germany during World War II. The dropping water levels on the river have also exposed munitions from that conflict, Deutsche Welle reported earlier this month And the levels on the Danube in Hungary have reached record lows in three sections, causing headaches for cruise ships and freighters, Reuters reports Europe has suffered repeated intense droughts in the past few years as the record on the hunger stone indicates this region of Europe has seen plenty of of devastating droughts before Tree-ring research in north-central Europe has found evidence of repeated "megadroughts" in the 15th through 19th centuries And an article in Nature earlier this summer compared recent droughts in Europe to droughts over the last 250 years The scientists found that the 21st century droughts were indeed extreme but not as long-lasting or as massive as the worst of the historic ones the same study noted that the more recent droughts are also linked to record-breaking temperatures That appears to be causing "unprecedented drying trends" for the soil This trend "raises concerns about the consequences of extreme meteorological droughts" as the climate continues to warm The drought in northern and central Europe this year is "one of the most intense regional droughts in recent memory," The Guardian wrote in July and it is paired with abnormally hot temperatures Become an NPR sponsor Řidiči mohou začít využívat přeložku silnice I/62 Děčín - Vilsnice od pondělí 9 Přeložka je posledním z úseků komplexní přestavby průtahu silnic I/13 a I/62 městem Děčín které umožní odvedení tranzitní dopravy z dosavadního dopravně nevyhovujícího průjezdu Ústeckou ulicí ale také vysokorychlostní tratě nebo železniční spojení s pražským letištěm Pro všechny tyto stavby má být možné použít tzv díky kterému půjde stavět ještě před vypořádáním se s výkupem pozemků Novelu zákona urychlující výstavbu dopravní infrastruktury schválili poslanci napříč celým politickým spektrem Jeden kilometr nové dálnice stojí 152 milionů korun tedy o 55 procent méně než před deseti lety Aktuálně se za poloviční ceny staví skoro 194 kilometrů dálnic a silnic I připraveno je přes 150 kilometrů nových silnic K provozování webu a analýze návštěvnosti používáme soubory cookies. Procházením webových stránek jste srozuměni s tím, jak se soubory cookies nakládáme. Kliknutím na odkaz zjistíte více o souborech cookies jak je používáme a jak je povolit či zakázat image: Artist impression of WASP-107b and its parent star Science: Achrène Dyrek (CEA and Université Paris Cité Belgium) / European MIRI EXO GTO team / ESA / NASA co-led by researchers from the Institute of Astronomy used recent observations made with the James Webb Space Telescope to study the atmosphere of the nearby exoplanet WASP-107b Peering deep into the fluffy atmosphere of WASP-107b they discovered not only water vapour and sulfur dioxide These particles reside within a dynamic atmosphere that exhibits vigorous transport of material Astronomers worldwide are harnessing the advanced capabilities of the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) aboard the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to conduct groundbreaking observations of exoplanets – planets orbiting stars other than our own Sun One of these fascinating worlds is WASP-107b a unique gaseous exoplanet that orbits a star slightly cooler and less massive than our Sun The mass of the planet is similar to that of Neptune but its size is much larger than that of Neptune This characteristic renders WASP-107b rather ‘fluffy’ when compared to the gas giant planets within our solar system The fluffiness of this exoplanet enables astronomers to look roughly 50 times deeper into its atmosphere compared to the depth of exploration achieved for a solar-system giant like Jupiter The team of European astronomers took full advantage of the remarkable fluffiness of this exoplanet enabling them to look deep into its atmosphere This opportunity opened a window into unravelling the complex chemical composition of its atmosphere The reason behind this is quite straightforward: the signals are far more prominent in a less dense atmosphere compared to a more compact one there is no trace of the greenhouse gas methane (CH4) These detections provide crucial insights into the dynamics and chemistry of this captivating exoplanet the absence of methane hints at a potentially warm interior offering a tantalising glimpse into the movement of heat energy in the planet’s atmosphere the discovery of sulfur dioxide (known for the odour of burnt matches) but novel climate models of WASP-107b’s atmosphere now show that the very fluffiness of WASP-107b accommodates the formation of sulfur dioxide in its atmosphere Even though its host star emits a relatively small fraction of high-energy photons due to its cooler nature these photons can reach deep into the planet’s atmosphere thanks to its fluffy nature This enables the chemical reactions required to produce sulfur dioxide to occur But that's not all they've observed Both the spectral features of sulfur dioxide and water vapour are significantly diminished compared to what they would be in a cloudless scenario High-altitude clouds partially obscure the water vapour and sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere While clouds have been inferred on other exoplanets this marks the first instance where astronomers can definitively identify the chemical composition of these clouds the clouds consist of small silicate particles a familiar substance for humans found in many parts of the world as the primary constituent of sand "JWST is revolutionising exoplanet characterisation providing unprecedented insights at remarkable speed," says lead author Prof and sulfur dioxide on this fluffy exoplanet by JWST's MIRI instrument is a pivotal milestone It reshapes our understanding of planetary formation and evolution shedding new light on our own Solar System." in gaseous planets reaching temperatures around 1000 degrees Celsius silicate particles can freeze out to form clouds with a temperature of around 500 degrees Celsius in the outer atmosphere traditional models predicted that these silicate clouds should be forming deeper within the atmosphere where temperatures are substantially higher sand clouds high up in the atmosphere rain out How is it then possible that these sand clouds exist at high altitudes and continue to endure Michiel Min: "The fact that we see these sand clouds high up in the atmosphere must mean that the sand rain droplets evaporate in deeper very hot layers and the resulting silicate vapour is efficiently moved back up where they recondense to form silicate clouds once more This is very similar to the water vapour and cloud cycle on our own Earth but with droplets made of sand." This continuous cycle of sublimation and condensation through vertical transport is responsible for the enduring presence of sand clouds in WASP-107b's atmosphere This pioneering research not only sheds light on the exotic world of WASP-107b but also pushes the boundaries of our understanding of exoplanetary atmospheres It marks a significant milestone in exoplanetary exploration revealing the intricate interplay of chemicals and climatic conditions on these distant worlds “JWST enables a deep atmospheric characterisation of an exoplanet that does not have any counterpart in our Solar System Design and development of the MIRI instrument Thanks to funding by the Belgian federal science policy office BELSPO via the ESA PRODEX programme Belgian engineers and scientists played a key role in the design and development of the MIRI instrument including the Centre Spatial de Liege (CSL) Thales Alenia Space (Charleroi) and OIP Sensor Systems (Oudenaarde) At the Institute of Astronomy at KU Leuven instrument scientists tested the MIRI instrument extensively in special test chambers simulating the space environment in laboratories in the UK at NASA Goddard and NASA Johnson Space centres. “With colleagues across Europe and the United States we have been building and testing the MIRI instrument for almost 20 years It is rewarding to see our instrument unravel the atmosphere of this intriguing exoplanet,” says instrument specialist Dr This study combines the results of several independent analyses of the JWST observations and represents the years of work invested not only in building the MIRI instrument but also in the calibration and analysis tools for the observational data acquired with MIRI,” says Dr Jeroen Bouwman of the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie 10.1038/s41586-023-06849-0 but no CH4 detected in a warm Neptune with JWST MIRI are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system Copyright © 2025 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) The James Webb Space Telescope has let us peer into the atmosphere of gas giant planet WASP-107b and it has clouds made of sand and an atmosphere of sulphur dioxide and water vapour By Chen Ly Artist’s impression of fluffy planet WASP-107b and its parent star Science: Achrène Dyrek (CEA and Université Paris Cité Belgium)/European MIRI EXO GTO team/ ESA/NASA Huge clouds made of sand soar in the skies of fluffy Jupiter-sized planet WASP-107b, according to data from the James Webb Space Telescope In 2017, astronomers discovered this unique planet, about 200 light years away from Earth in the constellation Virgo. With a similar mass to Neptune, but a radius much bigger, closer to that of Jupiter, WASP-107b is much less dense than other giant gas planets, about as dense as cotton candy. This is what makes it look fluffy, says Leen Decin at KU Leuven in Belgium this fluffy planet has one of the lowest densities we’ve ever seen,” she says “That allows us to really look very deeply into the atmosphere of that planet.” Read more A comet wagged its tail as it flew past the sun By using the James Webb Space Telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument Decin and her colleagues have now peered into WASP-107b They have found that two of the key components of its atmosphere are sulphur dioxide and water vapour Sulphur dioxide has previously been detected on hot gas giants with an average temperature of 1200 kelvin (927°C) but it was surprising to see it on WASP-107b thought to be too cold for large amounts of sulphur dioxide to form Voyage across the galaxy and beyond with our space newsletter every month One possible explanation for its presence may be that more ultraviolet radiation from the host star can penetrate the planet due to its relatively low density triggering chemical reactions that form the compound Why we need to bring stellar astrophysics into the real world Explaining the structure and evolution of stars may seem as esoteric as can be but there are many applications for this knowledge in our day-to-day lives Decin and her colleagues found clouds made of tiny silicate particles – the matter that forms sand The researchers think that gaseous silicate deeper in the planet’s atmosphere much like what happens on Earth with water “This is the first time we’ve identified the composition of exoplanetary clouds,” says Decin The findings could improve models of planetary formation and evolution “We understand things based on our own experience here on Earth “We can really enhance our view on the universe by understanding the dynamics and chemistry of exoplanets.” Nature DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06849-0 A Czech company producing inflatable weapon decoys including HIMARS rocket launchers and Abrams tanks on Monday said that it had seen a spike in demand since the Russian invasion of Ukraine started last year The synthetic silk decoys inflated with an electric or gasoline blower are used to fool the enemy in the battlefield making them target the air-filled decoys instead of real weaponry Inflatech Co’s managers have refused to confirm selling their products to Ukraine but they said that output had jumped by 100 percent over the past 12 months “Definitely we’re selling to a lot of governments around the world not only in Europe,” Inflatech sales and marketing director Poven Kumaresan told reporters The company’s three dozen employees produce 30 to 40 decoys a month armored vehicles and even jet fighters weigh between 25kg and 90kg and take two to four people to handle in the battlefield The company can come up with a new design within 72 hours if it has the exact plans of the original piece of military hardware while it takes up to two weeks if working “from scratch,” Kumaresan said It had taken 60 days to ship a replica HIMARS rocket launcher after the order was placed Inflatech has so far rolled out “dozens” of fake HIMARS while the real weapon is wreaking havoc on Russian invaders in Ukraine Inflatech’s products are classified as military materiel and must be approved by government authorities The Czech government last month said that it had provided Ukraine with military aid worth about US$500 million since the invasion started on Feb Inflatech chief executive officer Vojtech Fresser said that key qualities of the firm’s products included a look true to the original I won’t be able to tell whether it is a real weapon or a decoy,” Fresser said The engine used to inflate the weapons also emanates heat that fools infrared sensors The inflatable decoys cost US$10,000 to US$100,000 much less than the rockets used to destroy them “If I force the enemy to destroy my product with something that is at least four times as expensive Kumaresan said that the company keeps upgrading its products looking to make the decoys mobile in the future which originally made the decoys for training purposes used to produce toys or tailor-made models according to customers’ wishes “We produce according to the customer’s specific needs We’re not an e-shop where you could choose,” Fresser said There is “no limit” on output or product range and the company expects rapid growth over the next three years “Of course I would prefer to produce toys for children but first of all we must ensure a safe world for them,” Fresser said Bad news, everyone: The stones are talking again. As the Associated Press reported in late August, the “hunger stones” of Děčín, Czechia—riverside rocks carved with the dates of past droughts as well as portentous inscriptions of doom and gloom—have surfaced in the Elbe River Hunger stones have been found as far afield as Pennsylvania, but they’re most common in Czechia and Germany. They only come out when the water level is low, and this year’s Central European heat wave has been enough to make over a dozen of them visible along the Elbe Travelers on or around the river are now greeted by messages like “We cried—we cry—and you will cry” and “If you see me Use of these stones dates back to at least the 1600s They are conduits for messages from the past: warnings of the famine and decreased mobility that droughts could bring they’re viewed through the lens of the present Here are a few ways the international media has reacted to the appearance of hunger stones over the past hundred years “Famous ‘Hunger Stone’ Appears In Elbe River” (The Lincoln Star, 1918) “Because inhabiants of drought-stricken districts can in this age call upon the food supplies of more fortunate areas, the ‘hunger stones’ may be said to have lost most of their prophetic significance.” (syndicated article in The Tyrone Daily Herald, 1932) “Needless to say, there are innumerable legends woven about the rock, and all of them are sad… mothers frighten their children with ‘If you don’t eat the crust of your bread you’ll someday see the Hunger Stone.’” (The Springfield News-Leader, 1915) “‘Hunger Stone’ of Germany is Showing” (Jackson Daily News, 1918) “The water in the Rhine is so low that the famous ‘hunger stones’ are visible in various places. This means, as the experience of centuries has proved, that the 1928 wines will be unusually good. One of these stones was last visible in 1911 and 1921, and both these years brought famous vintages.” (syndicated article in The Daily Notes, 1928) We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the world’s hidden wonders Consider supporting our work by becoming a member for as little as $5 a month Follow us on Twitter to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders Like us on Facebook to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders As Europe wilts in the sweltering, record-breaking harshness of summer 2018 Mysterious outlines of ancient societies have revealed themselves across the seared landscape, but it's not just traces of ghostly architecture resurfacing Inscribed boulders known as 'hunger stones' are reappearing in Czechia after a prolonged drought afflicting Central Europe, AP reports These hunger stones traditionally sit below the water line of the Elbe River as it flows through the town of Děčín in the country's north, but with water levels hitting record lows in Europe the rocks and the words carved into them have been exposed once more A warning from the ancient "Hunger Stones" now reappearing in Europe's Elbe River: Low water levels mean hard times are coming. https://t.co/NyO66fVH9S In the current conditions, more than a dozen of the hunger stones can now be seen around Děčín, recording the low water levels of years and centuries long ago – "chiselled with the years of hardship and the initials of authors lost to history," as described by the authors of a 2013 study on historic Czech droughts The oldest and most famous of these landmarks, known simply as "Hunger Rock" according to Děčín's tourist guide contains an inscription that dates back to 1616 While the oldest legible inscription on this particular Děčín hunger stone is from 1616 the rock commemorates numerous droughts going as far back as 1417 A fellow hunger stone in Germany records the conditions that year in no happier terms: "If you will again see this stone so shallow the water was in the year 1417." Others say things like "We cried – We cry – And you will cry" The reasons for such ominous bouts of weeping could be numerous When drought and heat came, it could signal not only a bad harvest, but a lack of food and higher prices. And as the water level sank, river transportation became harder, threatening the livelihood of families living along the shore With the Elbe now at its lowest level in more than half a century, the drought is also surfacing reminders of a different kind of misery: unexploded World War II bombs and hand grenades that have been corroding in this waterway for over 70 years While scientists are still coming to terms with what the Northern Hemisphere's sweltering summer portends for the future, a more recent Czech inscription on the Hunger Rock at least tries to lighten the mood a little These ALMA images show the stellar winds around red giant stars; the blue color represents material that is coming towards us; red is material that is moving away from us Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Decin et al “Dying stars swell and cool to eventually become red giants which causes them to lose mass,” said Professor Leen Decin from the Institute of Astronomy at KU Leuven and the University of Leeds and colleagues “Because detailed observations were lacking astronomers have always assumed that these winds were spherical and the stellar radiation causes the expanding ejected layers of stellar material to glow The astronomers observed the stellar winds of 14 stars during their red giant phase of stellar evolution and found morphologies in these winds similar to planetary nebulae “We noticed these winds are anything but symmetrical or round Some of them are quite similar in shape to planetary nebulae,” Professor Decin said and we identified cones in a third group.” “We were very excited when we explored the first images,” said Dr also from the Institute of Astronomy at KU Leuven This is the magic of having high-precision observations: stars are no longer just points anymore.” This ALMA image shows the stellar wind around R Aquilae The team proposed that a process known as binary interaction is responsible for the shape of the stellar winds of red giant stars The theory is that the stellar winds achieve their shape due to the influence of another star “Just like how a spoon that you stir in a cup of coffee with some milk can create a spiral pattern the companion sucks material towards it as it revolves around the star and shapes the stellar wind,” Professor Decin said Since the complexity of stellar winds was not accounted for in the past any previous mass-loss rate estimate of old stars could be wrong by up to a factor of 10,” she added but we now prove that they are not: they tell the story of what comes after,” Professor Decin concluded “It took us some time to realize that stellar winds can have the shape of rose petals (see, for example, the stellar wind of R Aquilae).” as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said in his book Le Petit Prince: ‘C’est le temps que tu as perdu pour ta rose qui fait ta rose si importante’ — ‘It’s the time you spent on your rose that makes your rose so important’.” The team’s paper was published this week in the journal Science (Sub)stellar companions shape the winds of evolved stars Science 369 (6510): 1497-1500; doi: 10.1126/science.abb1229 Cosmos » Astronomy Astronomers have proposed a new explanation for the varied shapes of planetary nebulae based on a unique set of observations of stellar winds around ageing stars. Contrary to common consensus, they say, stellar winds are not spherical, but have a shape similar to that of planetary nebulae. And, they suggest in a paper in the journal Science both winds and nebulae are shaped through interaction with an accompanying star or exoplanet. Dying stars swell and cool to eventually become red giants producing stellar winds (flows of particles that the star expels) that cause them to lose mass astronomers have assumed these winds are spherical However, when an international team led by Leen Decin from Belgium’s KU Leuven observed the stellar winds of 14 AGB stars using the ESO’s Atacama Large Millimeter / submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile “We noticed these winds are anything but symmetrical or round,” Decin says “Some of them are actually quite similar in shape to planetary nebulae.” detailed collection of observations made using the exact same method From these they could even identify different categories of shapes. others contained spirals or cones – a clear in indication that the shapes weren’t created randomly and suggesting that they were caused by low-mass stars or even heavy planets in the vicinity of the dying star. and these showed that the shape of stellar winds can indeed be explained by the companions that surround them and the rate at which the cool evolved star is losing its mass due to the stellar wind is an important parameter. “Our findings change a lot,” Decin says “Since the complexity of stellar winds was not accounted for in the past any previous mass-loss rate estimate of old stars could be wrong by up to a factor of 10.” The team is now doing further research to see how this might impact calculations of other crucial characteristics of stellar and galactic evolution They say their findings also help paint a picture of what the Sun might look like when it dies in around 7000 million years from now. are going to influence whether the Sun spends its last millennia at the heart of a spiral or any of the other entrancing shapes we see in planetary nebulae today,” Decin notes. “Our calculations now indicate that a weak spiral will form in the stellar wind of the old dying Sun.” “We were very excited when we explored the first images,” adds her colleague Miguel Montargès This is the magic of having high-precision observations: stars are no longer just points anymore.” In summer 2022, one widely viewed tweet contained images of a stone in the Elbe River The stone has a particularly dark inscription that appears to warn about famine with information stating the photographs were taken in August 2018.) According to science and technology news site Ars Technica there are multiple carvings in the Děčín stone that serve as traces of historical droughts Carvings in the stone commemorate droughts going all the way back to the 1400s it was unknown whether that particular stone was visible in August 2022 and "It's actually possible to see this particular stone some 126 days out of the year thanks to the construction of a dam that was built on a tributary of the Elbe in 1926." According to France-based news network Euronews a senior researcher for the European Commission Joint Research Centre news conference that the year's drought could be worse than 2018 which had previously been considered the worst in five centuries "Just to give you an idea the 2018 drought was so extreme that there were no other events similar to the drought of 2018 but this year I think it is really worse than 2018," Toreti said during the news conference While it was unknown whether the Děčín stone was visible, hunger stones in other locations have emerged in 2022 due to drought conditions. The news outlet Reuters published a video on Aug showing such stones in Germany's River Rhine exposed The stones visible in the video commemorate droughts in 2003 A 2020 research paper about hunger stones published by the European Geosciences Union said they got their apocalyptic-sounding name in 1842 from a newspaper article they were referred to with more neutral-sounding names like "milestone" or "mark." “Europe’s Drought Could Be the Worst in 500 Years https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/08/10/europes-drought-could-be-the-worst-in-500-years-warns-researcher “When Context Is Key: ‘Hunger Stones’ Go Viral but News First Broke in 2018.” Ars Technica https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/08/viral-hunger-stones-tweet-left-out-context-original-story-was-from-2018/ https://www.dw.com/en/rivers-across-europe-are-too-dry-too-low-and-too-warm/a-62758853 "Germany’s Drought Uncovers Ominous 'hunger Stones.'" 17 Aug "Low Water Stage Marks on Hunger Stones: Verification for the Elbe River from 1616 to 2015." 2020 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337088602_Low_Water_Stage_Marks_on_Hunger_Stones_Verification_for_the_Elbe_River_in_1616-2015 Bethania Palma is a journalist from the Los Angeles area who started her career as a daily newspaper reporter and has covered everything from crime to government to national politics. She has written for ... read more This material may not be reproduced without permission Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com .st1{fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;fill:#2a2a2a}By Eric Woodyard | ewoodyar@mlive.comOskar GoliÃ¡ http://osk-art.comFlint's William Hatcher plays professional basketball for BK Decin of the Czech League.FLINT Michigan — As a young kid bustling around on Wolcott Street in Flint one thing stuck out about William Hatcher — and it wasn't his proficiency on the basketball court “I just started calling him ‘Bean,’” said Roy Shavers Sr. “That’s just more or less a hood name and I never did think it would go on to follow him this long.” “I had to be about 5-years-old when he gave it to me and he was just saying that I had a bean-shaped head and I had long arms,” Hatcher laughed “First it went from ‘Stringbean’ then it went to ‘Bean Head’ and then everything just got cut down to Bean.” On this month’s cover of the “Basket” magazine in the Czech Republic Hatcher’s “bean head” is displayed on the front of the publication as the feature story The publication is equivalent to that of the “SLAM” magazine in the United States When the 2002 Carman-Ainsworth graduate was first approached by the writer to participate in the article he didn’t think it would be to that extent “I didn’t know I had the cover until the magazine came out,” Hatcher said It was a good feeling (and) it made me feel like my hard work had been paying off.” is in his fourth professional season of international basketball He began his career in Germany but has spent his last three seasons in the Czech Republic with the BK Decin in Decin He currently leads the team in scoring (14.5 points) He turned pro after a highly-successful four-year career at the University of Miami-Ohio where he was a first team All-Mid-American Conference his senior season Last year he was named to the school’s all-decade team The magazine is sold on all the newsstands throughout their country making Hatcher somewhat of a celebrity across the waters Although he can’t actually read what was written about him — since the story is not in English — he still marvels at the layout “Of all the wild things that you think about you never really think about the magazine aspect of it so it kind of caught me a little (off guard),” Hatcher confessed “It was definitely exciting and kind of a wow factor.” Those who know him best don’t think Hatcher being in the spotlight is anything out of the “I knew he had the potential from when we were younger,” said Roy Shavers Jr. Hatcher’s best friend since the first grade was another one who spotted Hatcher’s potential early on To watch him growth from about 8-years-old to now it was just a matter of how much he wanted to get better Jimmie Hatcher — who is the reason Bean began playing basketball — now hopes his son can use his newfound fame to help local kids to one day see their faces on the front of a magazine think of who was there for you’ and that’s how we do it is happy to be living out his adolescent dream “I think the best thing for me is just to continue to do what you love I know so many people at my age that don’t want to go to work,” Hatcher said “For me to just continue to do what I’ve been doing my whole life and still enjoy it (is great).” Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2025) © 2025 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us) The material on this site may not be reproduced except with the prior written permission of Advance Local Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site YouTube's privacy policy is available here and YouTube's terms of service is available here Ad Choices Menu.page-265026674{--colorD:#e3fc01;--colorJ:#e3fc01;--gradientTransparentJ:#e3fc0100;--colorDC:#e3fc01;--colorDA:#e3fc01;--colorDF:#e3fc01;--colorJD:#e3fc01;--colorDJ:#e3fc01;--colorJF:#e3fc01;--colorJG:#e3fc01;--colorDDC:#e3fc01;--colorDTransparent:#e3fc01;--colorJTransparent:#e3fc01}SpaceIt Rains Molten Sand on This Backward Alien Planet Webb Telescope Data Reveals JWST data shows an atmosphere of water vapor and noxious sulfur dioxide Belgium) / European MIRI EXO GTO team / ESA / NASAWe make a fuss about finding distant worlds that look like Earth But the coolest thing about alien planets is that sometimes they’re just completely Consider WASP-107b. The gas giant is a gloriously weird planet. For one, it orbits its star backward, in what astronomers call a retrograde orbit. Based on data from the Keck Observatory because stellar wind is blowing parts of its atmosphere away And according to new data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Astronomer Leen Decin of the Catholic University of Leuven and her colleagues published their findings in the journal Nature. This artist’s illustration shows what WASP-107b might look like as it races backward around its star Decin and her colleagues recently used JWST’s Mid InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) to peer deep into the atmosphere of gas giant WASP-107b which orbits a star slightly smaller than our Sun about 200 light years away As the planet’s orbit brings it between Earth and its star MIRI measures the starlight filtering through WASP-107b’s atmosphere Decin and her colleagues saw that WASP-107b’s atmosphere absorbed light at the same wavelengths as water vapor and sulfur dioxide but that signal was sometimes hidden by dense clouds of silicate (also known as extremely tiny sand grains) in the planet’s upper atmosphere going the wrong way and tilted at a jaunty angle the planet absorbs a lot of heat from its star This means WASP-107b is about the same mass as Neptune but it fills a sphere about the size of Jupiter and nearly transparent down to surprising depths that means it’s possible to see starlight filtered through much deeper layers of WASP-107b’s atmosphere than they could see in a normal exoplanet Decin and her colleagues suggest that vaporized silicate (imagine heating sand so much that it melts and then evaporates) in WASP-107b’s upper atmosphere cools and condenses into tiny particles which form sandy clouds and eventually rain down into the planet’s depths and the sand evaporates again and gets carried aloft into the upper atmosphere “This is very similar to the water vapor and cloud cycle on our own Earth, but with droplets made of sand,” says University of Amsterdam astronomer Michael Min WASP-107b isn’t the only alien world where it rains sand (which may be the weirdest fact of all). Clouds of tiny quartz crystals — also made of silicate — glitter in the upper atmosphere of WASP-17, and VHS 1256b’s cloudy atmosphere is a constant roaring sandstorm When astronomers first spotted giant gas planets orbiting distant stars it was natural to compare them to our familiar neighbors But there’s nothing in our Solar System like WASP-107b or the other sandstorm worlds this deeply alien world — thanks to its inflated atmosphere — is one of the few places outside our Solar System where astronomers have been able to see firsthand how heat and chemistry combine to create climate and weather patterns in the form of a weird sandy rain cycle Home → Space Astronomers have captured stellar winds emitted by aging stars in unprecedented detail New observations have revealed that stellar winds are not spherical as previously believed but instead come in a variety of shapes that resemble those of planetary nebulae — created when a dying star explosively sheds its outer layers which by a weird naming quirk actually have nothing to do with planets. In fact those winds could mark out the ‘molds’ by which planetary nebulae are shaped The discovery comes as a result of research conducted by a team of astronomers including Leen Decin and is detailed in a paper published today in the journal Science “We noticed these winds are anything but symmetrical or round,” Decin says “Some of them are actually quite similar in shape to planetary nebulae.” The team believes that this variety in stellar winds and planetary nebulae shape around dying stars are connected and a result of interactions with companion stars in binary pairings, or even from exoplanets in orbit around the stars. “The Sun — which will ultimately become a red giant — is as round as a billiard ball,” Decin explains “So we wondered; how can such a star produce all these different shapes?” The findings collected by the team could explain a long-standing mystery of planetary nebulae around stellar remnants like red dwarfs come in a variety of close-but-not-quite-spherical shapes. Planetary nebulae display such a wide range of complex shapes and structures that although the influence of binary companions has been suggested as a possible cause of this diverse range of asymmetric forms the fact they can arise around stars with spherically symmetric stellar winds has The answer found by the team is that these winds aren’t symmetric at all and that the shape of the winds directly informs the shape of planetary nebulae. The observations of the stellar winds of 14 AGB stars using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array made by the team were so-detailed that they actually allowed the team to categorize the shapes of the stellar winds and planetary nebula and some were conical — a good indication that the shapes were not created randomly — but the team realized it was the presence of other low-mass stars or exoplanets in the vicinity of the primary star that was shaping the stellar wind and planetary nebula Professor Decin is on hand to provide a useful and colorful analogy: “Just like how a spoon that you stir in a cup of coffee with some milk can create a spiral pattern the companion sucks material towards it as it revolves around the star and shapes the stellar wind.” Stellar winds are important to astronomers as they account for one of the main mechanisms by which stars lose mass This mechanism becomes even more critical when attempting to understand the death throes of stars of similar sizes to the Sun and as their cores contract and the outer layers swell creating planetary nebulae — the other major contributor to mass-loss in aging stars Discovering the role played by stellar companions in such a process is a surprise “All our observations can be explained by the fact that the stars have a companion,” says Decin any previous mass-loss rate estimate of old stars could be wrong by up to a factor of 10.” the team will now research how it impacts other crucial characteristics involved in the life and death stars like the Sun the team believes that their research will add more depth to our view of stars “We were very excited when we explored the first images,” adds co-author Miguel Montargès they have their own identity. “This is the magic of having high-precision observations: stars are no longer just points anymore.”But whilst we are on the subject of the future the team says their findings have particular ramifications for the end of our own star The Sun is roughly halfway through its lifetime meaning that in approximately 5 billion years it will start to die this means undergoing the transformation into a red giant The team’s research gives us an idea of just what shape this planetary nebula will take and how it will be crafted by the solar system’s largest planets “Jupiter or even Saturn — because they have such a big mass — are going to influence whether the Sun spends its last millennia at the heart of a spiral or any of the other entrancing shapes we see in planetary nebulae today,” Decin notes. “Our calculations now indicate that a weak spiral will form in the stellar wind of the old dying Sun.” © 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science © 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science This is just one of the ominous messages carved into the medieval ‘hunger stones’ that have been revealed by sever drought in the Elbe River or ‘hungersteine’ as the Germans call them are carved boulders or river plates that only become visible in severe droughts The inscriptions chiselled into them are believed to have once been used to warn people that hard times and famine were coming which starts in the Czech Republic and flows into Germany features dozens of hunger stones with inscriptions dating back to the 17th century but other European rivers feature such ominous stones with carvings from as early as 1417 Photo: Norbert Kaiser/Wikimedia Commons (Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany) The idea behind hunger stones was to warn people that a drought and famine similar to those of the years carved into the stones were coming stocking up on food and fodder for their cattle Over a dozen hungersteine have been spotted in the Elbe river this year an eerie confirmation of Europe’s record-setting drought “It expressed that drought had brought a bad harvest and 1893,” researchers wrote about one of these hunger stones in a 2013 study on the most severe droughts in Czech history Photo: Axel Hindemith/Wikimedia Commons (Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany) Some of the ominous messages carved into these hunger stones are a clear reminder of the devastating effects droughts had on people’s lives in centuries past. One of the ones that was recently revealed in the Elbe river this summer features a message in German that translates as “when you see me, cry”, while an earlier one, carved in Czech reads “don’t cry, girl, don’t fret. When it’s dry, just spray your field wet”. The Elbe river features the highest number of hunger stones, but they have also been spotted in other rivers, like the Rhine, in Germany. Interestingly, these ancient warning signs only came to be known as hunger stones in the mid 20th century. The name was inspired by an inscription on one such stone that read “Hungerjahr 1947”, German for “Year of Hunger 1947”, which refers to the great famine that affected Germany in the winter of 1946-1947, after World War 2. People continue to mark sever droughts by carving new hunger stones, with some of the newer ones featuring inscriptions like “Anno 2003”. It marked Europe’s hottest summer on record since at least 1540. Video: The team made up of mainly Roma individuals keep on winning because other teams refuse to play against them I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Roma Decin football club in the Czech Republic has won six of its opening ten matches of the season, climbing to fourth in the table as the league rests for the winter break. However, the team's success is bittersweet as five of their six victories have been because their opponents won't turn up to play against them, preferring instead to take a 3-0 forfeit loss and a fine of $70. For the Roma players, they see the succession of forfeits as highlighting the continuing discrimination they face in the Czech Republic. They argue that the trials of club Decin show that the racism the Roma people incur is not restricted to areas such as employment and education but sport as well. Of the five games that Roma Decin have actually played, they lost the first four until a victory in a penalty shootout with Dolni Habartice saw them claim their first "real" win of the season. Roma Decin play in the lowest official football league in the Czech Republic. Roma Decin coach Pavel Horvath said, "I will not change my opinion. I can’t change my opinion. The clubs themselves know why they don’t want to play us. I will not comment any further. My opinion and only opinion is it is because we are Roma and that is my opinion." Activist Radek Drahomir Horvwath wrote an open letter to Czech Republic President Milos Zeman: "I don't understand why clear racism is becoming part of the game. I was not able to explain that to my daughter and son. Why do my children and I have to be confronted with such an unbelievable insult to our dignity?" However, Josef Kucera, the coach for Rybniste, said that racism was not the reason they refused to play with Roma Decin. "It has nothing to do with racism. We had a bad experience with them and that's why we don't want to play them," Kucera said. Rybniste and the other teams argue that a 2011 post-match fight involving Roma players is the reason why they are staying clear of playing the club. The fight, which occurred after a match between FC Decin and Loko Decin, saw a Roma player punch a referee after being sent off and the fight spilled out into the locker room. FC Decin was fined $1,260 but they failed to pay and consequently the club was dissolved. FC Decin returned to the league this year under new name Roma Decin. The Czech football federation said an investigation had shown that racism was not at play and that clubs had indeed complained about rowdiness from the Roma Decin fans. Roma Decin have reportedly agreed to increase security at home matches. In September, diplomats from the embassies of Scandinavian and Baltic countries, as well as Britain and the USA, created a team to play against Roma Decin, with their shirts displaying the message, "We show the red card to racism". Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Petr David Josek/AP PhotoOne of the “hunger stones” seen in Děčín The drought which has been ravaging Europe all summer has uncovered several startling artifacts not the least of which are these ominous carvings in the Czech Republic On August 23, the Associated Press reported that boulders know as “hunger stones” have resurfaced in the Elbe River The stones are located in the town Děčín in the northern part of the Czech Republic Over a dozen of the stones are now visible thanks to the prolonged drought in Central Europe which has caused the river’s water levels to drop to extremely low levels whenever the water levels dropped low enough to see the stones citizens would etch the date into the stone to mark the drought Wikimedia CommonsA hunger stone in the Elbe River in Děčín But dates were not the only things that locals cautioned in their carvings. For hundreds of years, the “hunger stones” were used as a means to warn people of the hardships that would follow because of the drought. According to a 2013 study on droughts in the Czech Republic one of the stones “expressed that drought had brought a bad harvest high prices and hunger for poor people.” Another one of the stones featured a darker message The study also added that before the start of the 20th century The rocks and their haunting messages from the past have become a tourist attraction in the city, according to NPR The stones are one of the oldest hydrological landmarks in all of Central Europe which has caused tourists to flock to the city of Děčín Petr David Josek/AP PhotoPeople visiting the “hunger stones” in Děčín A local Děčín tourist site says that the area was dammed in 1926, which has made the rocks appear more often. However, it is the dropping water levels from the draught that most recently caused the stones to appear. According to the Local the Elbe River is at the lowest level in over half of a century and as of early Aug was just centimeters away from its lowest ever recorded level The harsh conditions and receding water levels caused by Europe’s drought this summer have unearthed much more than just the “hunger stones.” the Elbe River’s record-breaking low water levels also allowed several unexploded World War II bombs to be found in the river earlier this month The effects of the drought are not isolated to just Germany. In July 2018, a massive, 4,500-year-old Irish Henge was discovered after the normally plush agricultural lands wilted enough to reveal the structure the last Roman Catholic martyr to die in England was discovered when extremely hot and dry temperatures revealed the outline of the house These “hunger stones” serve as an obvious reminder that droughts like the one Europe faces now are not unusual occurrences one has to wonder if the stones’ most recent exposure is truly a sign of darker times ahead After reading about the hunger stones, read about the drought in Zimbabwe that caused officials in the country to sell off their wild animals. Then discover the shade balls California used to try and help solve its drought Astronomers present an explanation for the mesmerising shapes of planetary nebulae The discovery is based on an extraordinary set of observations of stellar winds around ageing stars the team found that stellar winds are not spherical but have a shape similar to that of planetary nebulae The team concludes that interaction with an accompanying star or exoplanet shapes both the stellar winds and planetary nebulae WATCH THE INTERVIEW WITH LEEN DECIN Because detailed observations were lacking it heats up again and the stellar radiation causes the expanding ejected layers of stellar material to glow astronomers were in the dark about the extraordinary variety of colourful shapes of planetary nebulae that had been observed The nebulae all seem to have a certain symmetry but are almost never round “The Sun – which will ultimately become a red giant – is as round as a billiard ball so we wondered: how can such a star produce all these different shapes?” says corresponding author Leen Decin (KU Leuven) The team observed stellar winds around cool red giant stars with the ALMA observatory in Chile Her team observed stellar winds around cool red giant stars with the ALMA observatory in Chile each of them made using the exact same method This was crucial to be able to directly compare the data and exclude biases “We noticed these winds are anything but symmetrical or round,” Professor Decin says The astronomers could even identify different categories of shapes we identified cones.” This is a clear indication that the shapes weren’t created randomly low-mass stars or even heavy planets in the vicinity of the dying star were causing the different patterns These companions are too small and dim to detect directly the companion sucks material towards it as it revolves around the star and shapes the stellar wind,” Decin explains and indeed: the shape of the stellar winds can be explained by the companions that surround them and the rate at which the cool evolved star is losing its mass due to the stellar wind is an important parameter Decin: “All our observations can be explained by the fact that the stars have a companion.” The shape of the stellar winds can be explained by the companions that surround them calculations about the evolution of stars were based on the assumption that ageing Sun-like stars have stellar winds that are spherical any previous mass-loss rate estimate of old stars could be wrong by up to a factor of 10.” The team is now doing further research to see how this might impact calculations of other crucial characteristics of stellar and galactic evolution The study also helps to envision what the Sun might look like when it dies in 7000 million years “Jupiter or even Saturn – because they have such a big mass – are going to influence whether the Sun spends its last millennia at the heart of a spiral or any of the other entrancing shapes we see in planetary nebulae today,” Decin notes “Our calculations now indicate that a weak spiral will form in the stellar wind of the old dying Sun.” “We were very excited when we explored the first images,” says co-author Miguel Montargès (KU Leuven) which aims to learn more about the physics and chemistry of old stars “Cool ageing stars are considered to be boring but we now prove that they are not: they tell the story of what comes after It took us some time to realise that stellar winds can have the shape of rose petals (see qui fait ta rose si importante’ – ‘It’s the time you spent on your rose that makes your rose so important’,” Decin concludes The study “(Sub-)stellar companions shape the winds of evolved stars” by Leen Decin et al. was published in Science (doi: 10.1126/science.abb1229) Find out more about the ALMA telescope. Join the conversation You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account Czech Republic — Due to this summer’s drought in Central Europe boulders known as “hunger stones” are reappearing in the Elbe River Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience The low water levels in the river that begins in the Czech Republic then crosses Germany into the North Sea has exposed stones on the river bed whose appearances in history used to warn people that hard times were coming can now be seen in and near the northern Czech town of Decin near the German border The oldest water mark visible dates to 1616 is considered the oldest hydrological landmark in Central Europe bears a chiseled inscription in German that says: “When you see me transmission or republication strictly prohibited This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy You can manage saved articles in your account This morning, 48 locations across Czechia were under flood alert with four areas along the Elbe River at the highest risk. According to the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ) 10 areas reported a reduced flood alert by 5 a.m The warning issued by meteorologists pertains to potential stream flooding around the Elbe and Morava rivers and the lower sections of the Vltava and Ohře rivers and Kostelec nad Labem in the Mělník (Central Bohemia) area woke to the Elbe River at level-three flood danger (the highest) the Vltava River in Český Krumlov (South Bohemia) fluctuated between dangerous levels around midnight before being downgraded to a lower-level alert three hours later VelkÃ¡ voda v ÄŒelÃ¡kovicÃch. #povoden #celakovice #velkavoda pic.twitter.com/T6mRoVQzEn other areas like Trmice on the Bílina River in the Ústí nad Labem region and Nové Sady in Olomouc reported flood alerts in the early hours The ČHMÚ has set a low-level flood alert for Prague as of Thursday morning and Poděbrady areas (all Central Bohemia) have an extreme-danger level alert The entirety of southwest and northeast Czechia is without risk water levels in rivers nationwide are expected to fall with the exclusion of areas around the Ústí nad Labem region "The peak of the river level in Ústí nad Labem should come late tonight and from tomorrow [water levels in the] Elbe River should gradually fall too,” said a Czech Television meteorologist The rise in river levels commenced prior to Christmas Eve due to substantial rainfall and subsequent snowmelt from significant temperature jumps Prague activated preventive measures due to the rising water levels The city's flood authority implemented closed floodplains and activated barriers along the Vltava leading some residents to evacuate homes preemptively firefighters’ technical interventions surged multiple-fold surpassing regular intervention rates on Tuesday Your morning coffee deserves a great companion. 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