Search for People Search by Department Agriculture in Syria started with a bang 12,800 years ago as a fragmented comet slammed into the Earth’s atmosphere The explosion and subsequent environmental changes forced hunter-gatherers in the prehistoric settlement of Abu Hureyra to adopt agricultural practices to boost their chances for survival That’s the assertion made by an international group of scientists in one of four related research papers all appearing in the journal Science Open: Airbursts and Cratering Impacts The papers are the latest results in the investigation of the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis the idea that an anomalous cooling of the Earth almost 13 millennia ago was the result of a cosmic impact “In this general region, there was a change from more humid conditions that were forested and with diverse sources of food for hunter-gatherers, to drier, cooler conditions when they could no longer subsist only as hunter-gatherers,” said Earth scientist James Kennett, a professor emeritus of UC Santa Barbara The settlement at Abu Hureyra is famous among archaeologists for its evidence of the earliest known transition from foraging to farming “The villagers started to cultivate barley “This is what the evidence clearly shows.” Abu Hureyra and its rich archaeological record lie under Lake Assad a reservoir created by construction of the Taqba Dam on the Euphrates River in the 1970s archaeologists managed to extract loads of material to study “The village occupants,” the researchers state in the paper “left an abundant and continuous record of seeds legumes and other foods.” By studying these layers of remains the scientists were able to discern the types of plants that were being collected in the warmer humid days before the climate changed and in the cooler drier days after the onset of what we know now as the Younger Dryas cool period the inhabitants’ prehistoric diet involved wild legumes and wild-type grains and “small but significant amounts of wild fruits and berries.” In the layers corresponding to the time after cooling fruits and berries disappeared and their diet shifted toward more domestic-type grains and lentils as the people experimented with early cultivation methods all of the Neolithic “founder crops” — emmer wheat chickpeas and flax — were being cultivated in what is now called the Fertile Crescent become more prominent in the record as well reflecting a drier climate that followed the sudden impact winter at the onset of the Younger Dryas The evidence also indicates a significant drop in the area’s population and changes in the settlement’s architecture to reflect a more agrarian lifestyle including the initial penning of livestock and other markers of animal domestication agriculture eventually arose in several places on Earth in the Neolithic Era but it arose first in the Levant (present-day Syria Israel and parts of Turkey) initiated by the severe climate conditions that followed the impact And what an impact it must have been In the 12,800-year-old layers corresponding to the shift between hunting and gathering and agriculture, the record at Abu Hureyra shows evidence of massive burning The evidence includes a carbon-rich “black mat” layer with high concentrations of platinum nanodiamonds and tiny metallic spherules that could only have been formed under extremely high temperatures — higher than any that could have been produced by man’s technology at the time The airburst flattened trees and straw huts splashing meltglass onto cereals and grains tools and animal bones found in the mound — and most likely on people This event is not the only such evidence of a cosmic airburst on a human settlement. The authors previously reported a smaller but similar event which destroyed the biblical city at Tall el-Hammam in the Jordan Valley about 1600 BCE nanodiamonds and melted minerals have also been found at about 50 other sites across North and South America and Europe the collection of which has been called the Younger Dryas strewnfield it’s evidence of a widespread simultaneous destructive event consistent with a fragmented comet that slammed into the Earth’s atmosphere fires and subsequent impact winter, they say caused the extinction of most large animals as well as the collapse of the North American Clovis culture Because the impact appears to have produced an aerial explosion there is no evidence of craters in the ground “But a crater is not required,” Kennett said “Many accepted impacts have no visible crater.” The scientists continue to compile evidence of relatively lower-pressure cosmic explosions — the kind that occur when the shockwave originates in the air and travels downward to the Earth’s surface “Shocked quartz is well known and is probably the most robust proxy for a cosmic impact,” he continued Only forces on par with cosmic-level explosions could have produced the microscopic deformations within quartz sand grains at the time of the impacts and these deformations have been found in abundance in the minerals gathered from impact craters This “crème de la crème” of cosmic impact evidence has also been identified at Abu Hureyra and at other Younger Dryas Boundary (YDB) sites it has been argued that the kind of shock-fractured quartz found in the YDB sites is not equivalent to that found in the large crater-forming sites so the researchers worked to link these deformations to lower-pressure cosmic events To do so, they turned to manmade explosions of the magnitude of cosmic airbursts: nuclear tests conducted at the Alamogordo Bombing Range in New Mexico in 1945 and in Kazakhstan the nuclear explosions occurred above ground we characterize what the morphologies are of these shock fractures in these lower-pressure events,” Kennett said “And we did this because we wanted to compare it with what we have in the shock-fractured quartz in the Younger Dryas Boundary to see if there was any comparison or similarities with what we see at the Trinity atomic test site and other atomic bomb explosions.” Between the shocked quartz at the nuclear test sites and the quartz found at Abu Hureyra the scientists found close associations in their characteristics indicative of temperatures greater than 2,000 degrees Celsius we propose that shock metamorphism in quartz grains exposed to an atomic detonation is essentially the same as during a low-altitude lower-pressure cosmic airburst,” Kennett said the so-called “lower pressure” is still very high — probably greater than 3 GPa or about 400,000 pounds per square inch equivalent to about five 737 airplanes stacked on a small coin The novel protocol the researchers developed for identifying shock fractures in quartz grains will be useful in identifying previously unknown airbursts that are estimated to recur every few centuries to millennia “implies a novel causative link among extraterrestrial impacts hemispheric environmental and climatic change and transformative shifts in human societies and culture Jim Kennett was born and received his early education in Wellington The wonderful geologic exposures of his native country especially the Nelson area where his grandparents farmed Santa Barbara is a leading research institution that also provides a comprehensive liberal arts learning experience and staff is characterized by a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration that is responsive to the needs of our multicultural and global society All of this takes place within a living and learning environment like no other as we draw inspiration from the beauty and resources of our extraordinary location at the edge of the Pacific Ocean New frontiers for well-being in Antarctica and isolated spaces Ecologist Joan Dudney studies forest change in a warming world World’s biggest Raspberry Pi cluster is now at UCSB Lithium shows its metal, paving the way for better batteries Privacy | Terms of Use Accessibility | Webmaster we shed light on the social perception and acceptance 82% of the biogases potential will be derived from agriculture This indicates a continued integration between the agricultural sector and renewable gas production the ALFA project aims to harness the significant role of agriculture in the biogas sector by tapping into the potential of biogas production specifically from livestock farming The goal is to promote wider uptake of renewable energy sources and increase the share of bioenergy as a flexible energy source all while reducing emissions from untreated animal waste and supporting the creation of new jobs and the local economy The diverse frameworks and specificities of local biogas markets across Europe require an adaptable approach that goes beyond uniform strategies when supporting the scaleup and market uptake of biogas technologies During the initial phase of the ALFA project and legal factors that hinder the use of anaerobic digestion (AD) technologies for on-farm biogas production They concluded that the six target countries of the project have high potential to use livestock manure to enhance their biogas production unused biomass and a lack of biomethane commercialisation persist due to inadequate financial incentives for biogas projects. Farmers’ limited technical know-how and awareness of biogas benefits remain a challenge in Spain Slovakia encounters logistical barriers especially in grid infrastructure and regulatory clarity for biogas operations Italy’s biogas growth is slowing down by complex authorisation procedures and social opposition Belgian farmers find obtaining a permit to install a biogas plant difficult farmers require assistance in both business and technical aspects A survey of 3,000 EU citizens revealed a limited understanding of biogas production from manure While respondents generally have positive perceptions of its environmental and economic benefits such as concerns about health impacts and the safety of production technology Some also believe biogas production can worsen odours and lower property values nearby Based on in-depth interviews with successful biogas and biomethane implementations ALFA hubs came up with valuable recommendations for prospective investors: a Decision Support Tool (for assessing biogas projects in terms of profitability and environmental and social benefits) an interactive map with active Biogas Cases an online repository named Knowledge Center with useful informative materials and a Biogas Forum serving as an open environment for nurturing novel ideas and exchanging best practices The ALFA project is designed to act as a catalyst of biogas production by offering demand driven support for livestock farmers to take up biogas solutions while also providing policymakers and stakeholders insightful information on biogas market dynamics The project will complete its journey by providing science-based information to livestock farming decision makers for the potential of biogas in the form of policy recommendations it aims to raise awareness of the general public on misperceptions about biogas and bioenergy and contribute to the market uptake of biogas solutions in the livestock sector by producing an easy-to-use replication guide George Osei Owusu – Project and Technical Officer owusu@europeanbiogas.eu , ALFA Consortium konstas@qplan-intl.gr George Osei Owusu started working as Technical and Project Officer at EBA He is mainly involved in EU projects on biogas and biomethane predominantly on market research and the application of biogas in some EU countries George has a background in Environmental Science with a master’s degree in environmental science and engineering from JUNIA European Biogas AssociationAvenue des Nerviens 85 , B-1040 Brussels, Belgiuminfo@europeanbiogas.eu +32 24 00 10 89 August 19, 2023JPEG An astronaut aboard the International Space Station took this photo of Onekotan Island while orbiting over the northwest Pacific Ocean. Onekotan is part of the Kuril Islands, an archipelago extending between the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia and Hokkaido in Japan. The photo shows Krenitsyna Volcano located on the southern side of the island The low-oblique angle of the photograph accentuates the terrain, particularly cliffs, coastlines, and mountains. Note that the photo has been rotated (north is down) to minimize an optical illusion known as relief inversion The Tsar-Rusyr caldera is the crater-like depression visible in this image Calderas form when the ground collapses into a partially emptied magma chamber during a large eruption This caldera is surrounded by steep 300-meter (1000-foot) cliffs that cast shadows along the eastern interior of the volcano The caldera holds the blue waters of Kol’tsevoye Lake, which contrasts with the surrounding vegetated summer landscape. Reaching depths of up to 370 meters (1,200 feet), the lake is one of the deepest in Russia. Its surface reflects sunlight back to the camera, producing sunglint and it also mirrors the clouds drifting above the central peak a mountain system is visible on the right side of the image This rugged terrain contrasts with the opposite side of the caldera where the landscape flattens out as it reaches the Pacific Ocean Small patches of bright snow and ice remain in the valleys between the mountain and the coastline View this area in EO Explorer Deception Island is one of the only places in the world where ships can sail directly into the center of an active volcano Semisopochnoi is the “Island of the Seven Mountains ” or more precisely in Russian: “having seven hills.” This uninhabited volcanic island is also an important nesting area for maritime birds of the North Pacific lonely volcanic rock brings new meaning to the phrase “the middle of nowhere.” As Israeli ground forces prepare to join the air war on Gaza the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is once again headline news But the obtrusive violence conceals the silent and unrelenting dispossession that is at the root of this conflict And it is all enabled by a discriminatory legal system the world silently witnessed the situation escalate in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah where protesters have tried to stop the latest attempt by Israeli settlers to take over Palestinian homes These protests — which have been repressed by Israeli forces — come as the Palestinian families wait to learn their fate from Israel’s Supreme Court The Sheikh Jarrah families facing expulsion are Palestinian refugees who were driven from their homes in Haifa and Jaffa during the 1948 Nakba and with the creation of the State of Israel the new rulers prevented refugees from returning to their cities and towns Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) settled 28 refugee families in the vacant land of Sheikh Jarrah Jewish settlers began making claims on the refugees’ houses in Sheikh Jarrah the settlers relied on a 1970 Israeli law that allows Jewish people to reclaim properties their families owned in East Jerusalem before 1948 settlers began taking over some of the families’ homes in Sheikh Jarrah Israeli courts ruled to evict several more Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah Their final court date was initially set for May 2 but it has since been postponed for another month Knowing the futility of the Israeli legal system Palestinians have urged the international community to step in to try to stop these forced takeovers and while some individual politicians have spoken up against this impending dispossession the families — and indeed all Palestinians — are being told by the international community to wait for the Israeli courts to make their final determination The underlying assumption is that the Israeli courts will somehow adjudicate fairly Yet this is precisely the problem: Israeli courts are not operating in a vacuum but rather are an integral part of Israel’s land-grabbing enterprise But even as the courts — particularly its Supreme Court — are implicated in this project they are treated overseas with reverence as impartial adjudicators of law even though the laws they enforce are at odds with international norms Israeli Supreme Court judges are frequently invited to speak at law schools around the world to describe the “difficulties” they face when adjudicating cases all the while using the tool of law to provide a veneer of integrity like the families of Silwan and other Palestinian neighborhoods where Israeli settlers are targeting Palestinians for expulsion the Israeli courts will not rule in their favor in advancing Israel’s creeping colonization of Palestinian territory they are also foreclosing any opportunity of a peaceful resolution It isn’t just in the realm of settler takeovers that Palestinians have witnessed the unjust application of Israeli law The courts have sanctioned scores of discriminatory laws to preserve Israel’s status as a “Jewish state.” They have sanctioned the construction of Israeli bypass roads and settlements in the occupied West Bank and have only begrudgingly stopped the small number of outposts built on private Palestinian land They have approved the use of home demolitions as a form of punishment authorized assassinations (euphemized as “targeted killings”) and licensed the cutting off of fuel and electricity to the besieged Gaza Strip The court enables and provides legal cover to an unequal system according to both B’Tselem and Human Rights Watch there are more than 700,000 Israeli settlers controlling more than 60 percent of the land Whether giving the Israeli government permission to build settlements under the guise of “military necessity” or declaring Palestinian land “green spaces” or “military installations” and then later turning them into settlements the court has facilitated rather than stopped Israel’s designs In addition to providing a veneer of legality the Israeli legal system has also been instrumentalized against the growing protest movement by miring the hearings in delays many of these cases have taken more than a decade to work their way through the courts leaving the families with daily uncertainty as to whether they will be able to keep their homes or be forced out the families also have to bear the onerous burden of the time and money lost in litigation I have witnessed Palestinians facing expulsions engage in endless debates as to whether they should continue to pursue legal action to preserve their homes or face the inevitability of dispossession that will be rubber stamped by Israeli courts I’ve seen families grapple with the dilemma of whether to pack their belongings and move in an attempt to spare their children the pain of seeing their homes demolished or remain in the futile hope that the demolitions or expulsions will be halted It is a life of persistent uncertainty and frustrated hopes Why then would Palestinians continue to pursue legal redress given its futility Palestinians are well aware that neither justice nor freedom will come through litigation before Israeli courts But given the international community’s unwillingness to stop any Israeli action — whether home takeovers or otherwise — Palestinians have had to rely on a system that is designed to disregard their concerns in favor of Israel’s ambitions the only option is to buy time in the fleeting hope that the international community will pressure Israel to stop demoralizing loop: The international community is unwilling to stop Israel and instead demands that we use the legal system while using the legal system is simply a means of buying time in the hope that the international community will step in While Israeli courts have been indifferent to their concerns they have found a more sympathetic audience in global public opinion With Sheikh Jarrah residents’ fate hanging between these two courts the Israeli government has tried to quash the protests and defuse international outrage by again delaying the outcome keeping Sheikh Jarrah residents trapped in protracted legal wrangling that once the protests die down and the headlines move on And there will be no international response Will be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy As donors gathered in Brussels at an international pledging conference for Syria organized by the European Union on Thursday UN chief António Guterres highlighted the immense suffering of the Syrian people The UN was asking for $11.1 billion dollars – its largest appeal worldwide – to support Syrians inside the country and those displaced in the broader region By the end of the conference, donors announced €5.6 billion in grants, tweeted the UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi reiterating that pledges must "translate into tangible contributions for Syrians inside the country those on the move and the countries hosting them Only about a tenth of the necessary funding for 2023 has been secured so far and needs are sky-high after a devastating earthquake in February compounded suffering brought on by more than a decade of war. Nearly the entire population of the country lives below the poverty line Guterres warned that there was “no time to spare” as aid will run out for 2.5 million Syrians next month Guterres also reiterated his call for a sustainable political solution to the conflict that would involve all Syrians. “We must chart a path forward for the Syrian people to find a degree of stability and a measure of hope for the future”, he said, stressing that this required progress towards “credible and comprehensive” negotiations, in line with Security Council resolution 2254. Adopted in December 2015 the resolution drew up a road map for a peace process in Syria The UN Special Envoy for Syria saying that it was urgent to renew the intra-Syrian political process as the current situation in the country was “unacceptable and unsustainable”. “Average Syrians have yet to see any dividend from diplomacy,” he deplored Mr. Pedersen also underscored the need to ensure humanitarian access “via all modalities, including cross-line and cross-border”. He joined Mr. Guterres in calling for a 12-month extension of the Security Council’s authorization for cross-border aid access from Türkiye into northwestern Syria called the human cost of the Syrian crisis “astronomical”. Seven out of ten people in the country – more than 15 million in total – need humanitarian aid and protection while one in four Syrian children are stunted and risk “irreversible damage” to their development The crisis has driven more than 13 million people to flee their homes including 6.8 million Syrian refugees who escaped to neighbouring countries The UN leaders underscored the generosity of host countries in the region – Egypt Lebanon and Türkiye – in supporting the refugees. They called for increased international solidarity with those countries as they find themselves “reeling from global economic pressures”. The statement noted that conditions for Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Türkiye have deteriorated in recent years with nine in 10 refugees unable to cover their basic needs while in Jordan almost two thirds were forced into debt. The heads of UN agencies also highlighted the plight of Syrian refugee women and girls who face widespread gender inequality and higher risks of violence To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page. (Photo: Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images) President-elect Joe Biden's reported decision to nominate Tom Vilsack to lead the U.S Department of Agriculture was met with immediate backlash from progressives who argued the former Iowa governor's industry-friendly record as Obama's USDA chief should have disqualified him from returning to the role A coalition of environmental organizations and sustainable farming advocates had urged Biden to choose Rep Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) to head the Agriculture Department but the president-elect opted instead to nominate Fudge as his secretary of housing and urban development Marcia Fudge would have been a historic first at USDA--a secretary on the side of everyday people not corporate agriculture lobbyists," George Goehl director of progressive advocacy group People's Action Goehl called Biden's selection of Vilsack "a terrible decision." "We need a USDA secretary on the side of everyday people who rely on the department in rural and suburban communities." --George Goehl who served as governor of Iowa from 1999 to 2007 have pointed to his failure to confront Big Ag during his time as USDA chief in the Obama administration "The move," Marcetic noted, "helped earn him the derisive moniker 'Mr. Monsanto' and the enmity of many Bernie Sanders supporters at a time in 2016 when he was shortlisted as one of Hillary Clinton's potential running mates." Prominent civil rights organizations have also raised alarm over Vilsack's record on issues of racial justice, pointing specifically to his department's treatment of Black farmers and his 2010 firing of USDA official Shirley Sherrod after she was smeared by far-right publication Breitbart "It would be a slap in the face to all Black people for this administration to appoint him," Corey Lea of the Cowtown Foundation, an organization that advocates for Black farmers, wrote in a letter urging Biden not to select Vilsack The Washington Postreported that during a meeting with Biden on Tuesday NAACP President Derrick Johnson told the president-elect directly that "he did not want Vilsack to be given the agriculture job." Goehl of People's Action also highlighted the Sherrod firing and added that during Vilsack's tenure as secretary USDA "foreclosed on Black farmers after they complained about discrimination." and suburban communities," Goehl said we're getting a revolving-door appointment If this is not the fox guarding the henhouse NASA's Juno spacecraft is getting to the roots of Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot collected during the mission's first pass over the iconic storm reveals that it extends far beneath the planet's surface The spacecraft also discovered two newly identified radiation zones. Bolton and his team presented Juno's results at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans yesterday (Dec The spacecraft's Microwave Radiometer probed the clouds surrounding the gigantic storm "Juno found that the Great Red Spot's roots go 50 to 100 times deeper than Earth's oceans and are warmer at the base than they are at the top," said Andy Ingersoll a professor of planetary science at Caltech and a Juno co-investigator "Winds are associated with differences in temperature and the warmth of the spot's base explains the ferocious winds we see at the top of the atmosphere." "We knew the radiation would probably surprise us but we didn't think we'd find a new radiation zone that close to the planet," said Heidi Becker Juno's radiation monitoring investigation lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory "We only found it because Juno's unique orbit around Jupiter allows it to get really close to the cloud tops during science collection flybys Identified by the spacecraft's Jupiter Energetic Particle Detector Instrument the charged particles are thought to come from fast-moving neutral atoms created in the gas around Jupiter's moons Europa and Io As the particles interact with Jupiter's atmosphere Juno also found a second charged region around the planet's high latitudes in realms never before explored by any spacecraft which were detected by Juno's Stellar Reference Unit star camera Editor's Note: This article was corrected to reflect that an atom's electrons being stripped away would give the atom a positive charge Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. She loves all things space and astronomy-related She has a Bachelor’s degree in English and Astrophysics from Agnes Scott college and served as an intern at Sky & Telescope magazine Hubble spies a skewed spiral galaxy | Space photo of the day for May 5 James Webb Space Telescope captures thousands of galaxies in a cosmic 'feast' (image) NASA's Artemis 2 moon rocket gets 2nd stage even as Trump tries to scrap Space Launch System (photos) The 2 minutes of darkness caused by the total solar eclipse earlier this week may seem momentous but it's nothing compared with the prolonged darkness that followed the dinosaur-killing asteroid that collided with Earth about 65.5 million years ago When the 6-mile-wide (10 kilometers) asteroid struck Earth plunged into a darkness that lasted nearly two years The finding may help scientists understand why more than 75 percent of all species, including the non-avian dinosaurs, such as Tyrannosaurus rex went extinct after the asteroid slammed into what is now Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula When the space rock smashed into Earth, it probably triggered earthquakes, tsunamis and even volcanic eruptions The asteroid hit with such force that it launched vaporized rock sky-high into the atmosphere the vaporized rock would have condensed into small particles When the spherules plunged back down to Earth causing friction and heating to temperatures hot enough to ignite fires around the world a thin band of spherules can still be found in the geologic record a project scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox Bardeen and his colleagues used the most up-to-date estimates of the amount of fine soot in the geologic record — that is they plugged that amount into the NCAR-based Community Earth System Model (CESM) — a modern chemistry-climate model that factors in components related to the atmosphere This model allowed the scientists to simulate the effect of soot in the years following the asteroid impact "Different studies have assumed various types of particles including dust sulfates and soot," Bardeen told Live Science in an email "All of these particles can block enough sunlight to cool the surface but only soot is so strongly absorbing that it is self-lofting can heat the stratosphere and reduces sunlight at the surface light to very low levels." The new results show what a catastrophic effect the soot had on Earth "Our study shows it is dark enough to shut down photosynthesis for up to two years," Bardeen said since the ocean relies upon phytoplankton as a primary source of food and loss of this would be catastrophic to the entire food chain." Even if the soot levels had been one-third this estimated amount photosynthesis would have still been blocked for an entire year and also allowed for vast quantities of water vapor to hover in the stratosphere When this water vapor chemically reacted in the stratosphere it would have created hydrogen compounds that led to further ozone destruction As the ozone disappeared and the soot cleared damaging doses of ultraviolet light reached Earth When the stratosphere eventually cooled down the water vapor there condensed and began raining which in turn led the water vapor to condense into ice particles Once this cooling cycle repeated enough times the thinning soot layer vanished within months Bardeen credited his friend Betty Pierazzo, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, a nonprofit headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, with securing funding from NASA for an earlier study that enabled and inspired this study Pierazzo died before research on the end-Cretaceous asteroid got underway including that the model is based on a modern Earth and that at the end of the Cretaceous period Earth's continents were in different locations and the planet also had different atmospheric properties The study was published online Monday (Aug. 21) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Original article on Live Science Her work has appeared in The New York Times She has won multiple awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association for her reporting at a weekly newspaper near Seattle Laura holds a bachelor's degree in English literature and psychology from Washington University in St Louis and a master's degree in science writing from NYU Dinosaurs might still roam Earth if it weren't for the asteroid rex researchers eviscerate 'misleading' dinosaur leather announcement May's full 'Flower Moon' will be a micromoon By Priti Parikh Underwater cables carry internet traffic around the world A 10,000-kilometre-long fibre-optic cable owned by Google that is at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean can be used to detect deep-sea seismic activity and ocean waves Zhongwen Zhan at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, and his colleagues, including researchers at Google, used traffic data from one of the tech giant’s optical fibres to measure changes in pressure and strain in the cable. Using this data, they could detect earthquakes and ocean waves called swells generated by storms Over a nine-month period, the team recorded around 30 ocean storm swell events and around 20 earthquakes over magnitude 5 – strong enough to damage buildings – including the magnitude 7.4 earthquake event near Oaxaca, Mexico, in June 2020. The team had wanted to measure a tsunami Deploying and maintaining geophysical instruments on the seafloor is difficult and expensive so underwater seismic stations are relatively rare Anthony Sladen at the University Côte d’Azur in France says that the study is “a major step in exploiting the benefits of existing cables” There have been previous efforts to use fibre-optic cables as seismic sensors but these required specialised laser-detection equipment at both ends of the cable or the use of dedicated fibres within the cables Such fibres are in short supply on deep-sea cables so dedicating one to measuring earthquakes would be difficult Zhan says his team’s approach of using an existing traffic fibre is more flexible and scalable as it doesn’t need new infrastructure “This is exciting as if only a fraction of the million kilometres of submarine fibre-optic networks could be used as sensors there would be vast improvements in the amount and coverage of seismic data.” Science DOI: 10.1126/science.abe6648 MarTech » Performance marketing » Impersonated on Facebook The social network is testing an alert feature It’s quite often that we hear of some sort of social network impersonation: your profile photo used on a newly opened account by someone who isn’t you name and profile for the purposes of simply accruing new friends and spamming or harassing them in the future Facebook’s had enough of it, to the point that they’re working on a new tool to prevent the harassment and impersonation that plagues likely thousands of its users. Mashable reports that the tool will notify you about any type of impersonated account and give you a chance to identify the profile The process is wholly automated but impersonated accounts will be flagged manually first by Facebook employees According to Facebook’s Head of Global Safety this feature has been available since November of last year and is live in 75% of the world stemmed specifically from women; in some cultures especially the impersonation could have social ramifications While the feature emerged out of a societal concern of safety for women it is especially helpful among those who have been regularly impersonated due to their high profile visibility in certain circles especially among marketers who have trigger happy fans Facebook will be rolling out additional safety features one of which will help eliminate non-consentual intimate images which have been banned on Facebook since 2012 Victims of abuse in particular can identify themselves as subjects in images that may have been posted on Facebook without permission giving them access as well to support groups and potential legal aid The second safety feature Facebook will also be rolling out is a photo checkup feature that will educate Facebook users on privacy settings ensuring that those posting their images know who is actually seeing them While this security is already in place on photos not everyone is familiar with them and the walk-through checkup tool will give users the ability more tightly control their photo privacy settings Contributing authors are invited to create content for MarTech and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the martech community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers See terms. Discover time-saving technologies and actionable tactics that can help you overcome crucial marketing challenges Now available: MarTech spring Online Sept. 17-18, 2025: MarTech fall Learn actionable search marketing tactics that can help you drive more traffic Get 55+ tools to gain insights and grow your audience Meet your new AI-powered marketing assistant © 2025 MarTech.org is a Trademark of Semrush Inc Third Door Media, Inc. is a business-to-business media company. It is the publisher of MarTech and the producer of the MarTech Conference Third Door Media offers marketing solutions that help vendors connect with an engaged audience of B2C and B2B marketers The company headquarters is 800 Boylston Street February 6, 2021JPEG Snow is not as rare as you might think in the Hawaiian Islands On February 6, 2021, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired natural-color images of the “Big Island” of Hawai'i with abundant snow on its two tallest peaks Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa (elevation above 13,600 feet/4200 meters) receive at least a dusting that lasts a few days The bar chart below shows the Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) for Hawai'i as observed by NASA’s Terra satellite NDSI incorporates a blend of visible light and shortwave infrared to assess the amount of snow within a given geographic area The chart shows the combined NDSI for Mauna Loa (teal) and Mauna Kea (blue) for the first week of February in each year from 2001 to 2021 The combined weekly NDSI in 2021 for the two volcanoes is the highest since 2014 and second-highest in the record According to news and social media accounts, Hawaiians have found their way up the volcanic mountains with snowboards and boogie boards to sled through the fluffy white blanket. Others have filled their pickup truck beds to bring snow down to friends. Weather blogger Weatherboy shared photos collected from the scene. Snowfall in Hawai'i is often associated with a weather phenomenon referred to as a Kona low Winds that typically blow out of the northeast shift and blow from the southwest The winds from the leeward or “Kona” side draw moisture from the tropical Pacific turning it from rain to snow as the air rises up into the high elevations With the recent snowfall in Hawai'i, Florida is now the only state that has not yet seen snow this winter, according to The Weather Channel NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey and data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Story by Michael Carlowicz View this area in EO Explorer Three storms in three weeks have left abundant snow atop Hawaii’s tallest volcanic mountains and winter storms mark the 2020-21 winter season Fresh snow highlights Lebanon’s two mountain ranges in this true-color image from March 17 The start of winter in the Southern Hemisphere brought snow to the continent’s highest peak Scientist Tom Painter examines the differences between pure and dirty snow A rise in dust can be a critical influence on snow-fed water supplies in the American West Exoplanet hunters can determine a remarkable amount of information about distant worlds by studying the planet's orbital parameters and also by looking at the planet's host star Now scientists from the Australian National University have turned those methods around to provide a closer look at Earth the team says it has produced the best estimate of Earth's elemental composition which has always had a fair amount of uncertainty The team said that its study also provides more insight into how the Earth formed 4.6 billion years ago "Determining the chemical composition of rocky exoplanets was definitely the inspiration for this work," said Charley Lineweaver an associate professor at the Australian National University's Planetary Science Institute "We know the four most abundant elements — iron silicon and magnesium — make up more than 90 percent of the Earth's mass but working out exactly what the Earth is made of has been tricky." transit photometry and radial velocity measurements can yield rough estimates of the densities and mineralogies of exoplanets But potentially more precise estimates of the chemical composition of rocky worlds can be made based on the known elemental abundances of their host stars especially when combined with estimates of how the planets may have initially formed from their stellar nebulae "The idea is that rocky planets orbiting their host stars are devolatilized pieces of their host stars," Lineweaver explained sublimation and evaporation are dominated by the universal properties of atoms and molecules then the effects of these processes could be similar everywhere in the universe." RELATED: Pitch Black Exoplanet That Reflects No Light Spotted by Hubble Telescope So if exoplanet scientists can estimate the chemical composition of unseen rocky planets by applying a devolatilization process Earth scientists should be able to calibrate that here in our own solar system by comparing the best model of the elemental composition of the Earth with the best model of the elemental composition of the Sun The biggest surprise of the research was that no one had actually done this yet 'Earth scientists will have produced excellent elemental compositions of bulk Earth,' Lineweaver said in his email "We found lots of separate papers about the elemental composition of the mantle and we found more speculative papers about the elemental composition of the core We found lots of heated disagreements between researchers and we found a woeful neglect of error bars." Error bars represent the uncertainty of measurements providing a general idea of how precise or imprecise a measurement might be one can’t combine numbers and know how accurate the numbers are This highlights another surprise the researchers found "To combine the elemental compositions of the mantle and the core one crucially needs to know the mass fraction of the core," Lineweaver continued "This number tells you how much of the core's elemental composition you have to add to the mantle's composition The core mass fraction has been estimated but no one had gone to the trouble of estimating the uncertainty on that fraction." RELATED: Objects Destabilized by Jupiter or Saturn May Have First Brought Water to Earth Even though seismological studies of earthquakes provide information about Earth's core the team said it's hard to convert this information into an elemental composition Lineweaver said that rocks on Earth's surface only come from as deep as the upper mantle and we've only drilled down to 10 kilometers of our 6,400 kilometer radius planet said that the team made the most comprehensive estimates of the Earth's composition based on a "meta-analysis" of previous estimates of the mantle and core "Our work focused on getting realistic uncertainties so that our reference model can be used in future comparisons of the Earth with the sun or with Mars or with any other body in the solar system," said Wang in a statement They compiled previous estimates on composition with the most recent data on Earth's radial density profile to conclude that our planet's core makes up about 32.5 percent (plus or minus .3 percent) of Earth's total mass Iron-nickel alloy accounts for about 87.90 percent of the core with a variety of other elements such as silicone RELATED: NASA's Next Mission to Mars Will Probe the Red Planet's Deep Interior in 2018 The researchers determined that the four most abundant elements — oxygen silicon and iron — make up about 94.19 percent (plus or minus .69 percent) of the total mass of Earth's mantle Their estimates for elements like magnesium and cadmium turned out to be significantly lower than previous estimates of the bulk of Earth The team said that its composition methods "usefully calibrate the unresolved discrepancies between standard Earth models under various geochemical and geophysical assumptions," and that incorporating the uncertainties for the elemental abundances of Earth's primitive mantle and core provides a reference that can be used by both Earth and planetary scientists "This will have far-reaching importance," said co-researcher Trevor Ireland "not only for planetary bodies in our solar system but also other star systems in the universe." Originally published on Seeker Astronomers gaze into 'dark nebula' 60 times the size of the solar system (video) July 10, 2018JPEG An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) shot this photograph of Momotombo Volcano in western Nicaragua. This active stratovolcano was once described as “the smoking terror” in a 1902 stereograph set In 1898, Lieutenant Walker of the U.S. Navy surveyed Nicaragua for a potential canal route As Walker traversed the area near Momotombo sulfur-stained peak emitting large volumes of vapor from the summit The plume in this July 2018 image may be similar to the vapor described by Walker Seven years after Walker’s survey (1905) A channel runs down the eastern flank of the volcano, where lava has reached low-lying surroundings. This channel existed before the 2015 eruption, so it gave the most recent lava flow an easy path down from the crater. Lava levees appear on either side of the channel as dark rock A geothermal field surrounds Momotombo, and it has been used to produce renewable energy since 1983. Hot fumaroles—openings at Earth’s surface where volcanic gas or steam is emitted—are found around Momotombo The presence of fumaroles indicates that magma is near the surface creating the hot conditions for geothermal energy to be harnessed View this area in EO Explorer Momotombo in western Nicaragua is an active stratovolcano and a source of renewable energy this image shows a fresh lava flow on the surface of Tolbachik Volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula Tanzania&#rsquo;s Ol Doinyo Lengai Volcano erupted sending a cloud of ash into the atmosphere The charcoal-colored stains on the volcano’s flanks appear to be lava but they are actually burn scars left behind by fires that were spawned by fast-flowing narrow rivers of lava ejected by the volcano The Nicaraguan volcano erupted for the first time in more than a century China's Chang'e 4 mission will soon make a historic touchdown on the far side of the moon. Chang'e 4, which consists of a stationary lander and a mobile rover, is expected to land sometime in the first few days of January. The mission totes six kinds of scientific payloads The LFS is newly developed for Chang'e 4, which launched on Dec. 7; the other payloads are inherited instruments from the Chang'e 3 mission which landed on the moon's near side in December 2013 International joint collaboration payloads on Chang'e 4 include: the scientific objectives for Chang'e 4 are: Astronomers are very much looking forward to Chang'e 4's low-frequency radio work The lunar far side is exceptionally radio-quiet human-made radio frequency interference and auroral radiation noise Solar radio emission is also blocked during the lunar night "We've been following the Chang'e 4 mission closely," said Jack Burns Professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Science at the University of Colorado He is also the Director of the NASA-funded Network for Exploration and Space Science (NESS) are co-principal investigators of the NCLE aboard Queqiao "Their antenna won't be deployed until after the main mission involving the farside lander is complete They expect to begin gathering data in the spring The expectations for this experiment are modest," Burns pointed out no effort was made to make the satellite radio-quiet the team doesn't even know what the amount of internally generated radio frequency interference (RFI) will be the satellite is not in an ideal orbit for radio astronomy." Provided by Germany, the LND instrument was developed by Kiel University. The device is designed to gauge radiation on the moon It will also measure the water content underneath the lander Also onboard the mission is a "lunar mini biosphere" experiment designed by 28 Chinese universities led by southwest China's Chongqing University made from special aluminum alloy materials contains silkworm eggs and seeds of tomato and Arabidopsis plants A tiny camera and data transmission system allows researchers to keep an eye on the seeds and see if they blossom on the moon Added Liu Hanlong, chief director of the experiment and vice president of Chongqing University: "Our experiment might help accumulate knowledge for building a lunar base and long-term residence on the moon." The mini biosphere experiment was selected from more than 200 submissions according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA) Another aspect of the Chang'e 4 rover is the LPR which will be able to detect the lunar subsurface structure on the robot's patrol route and to detect the thickness and structure of the lunar regolith The device is a nanosecond impulse radar with bistatic antennas A similar device was utilized on the Chang'e 3 rover It works like this: An ultra-wideband nanosecond impulse is produced by a transmitter sent through the transmitting antenna down to the lunar surface The receiving antenna receives the reflected signal The echo signal from the underground target is received by the receiving antenna amplified in the receiver and then restored as data record deputy minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China has stressed China's willingness to cooperate with other countries within the space program China's second sample return lunar mission (10 kg) of payload space on the orbiter and lander for international partners Currently writing as Space.com's Space Insider Columnist among his other projects Leonard has authored numerous books on space exploration with his latest being "Moon Rush: The New Space Race" published in 2019 by National Geographic He also wrote "Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet" released in 2016 by National Geographic Leonard has served as a correspondent for SpaceNews Scientific American and Aerospace America for the AIAA including the first Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History in 2015 at the AAS Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium You can find out Leonard's latest project at his website and on Twitter 'Falcon' flies on Star Wars Day: SpaceX launches Starlink satellites from Florida (photos) New US Space Force documentary 'Always Above' lands in planetariums Harvesters have been out in the corn fields earlier than ever this year Some farmers harvested as early as mid-September whereas in previous years the harvest was not ready until the end of October Harvests of other cereals are also much earlier this year we go straight from oilseed rape to winter wheat and they are almost dry to those deadlines and to those pests,” says Julius Vaitekūnas chairman of the Farmers’ Union Joniškis chapter new varieties of plants are constantly being sought that can withstand various stresses But agriculture is a field where you work and work but don’t know if you get your income at the end of the year It’s getting harder every year,” says farmer Andrius Jarulis Fruit and berry growers are also feeling the effects of climate change Every year plant breeders develop new varieties we look at how suitable they are for our climate,” says strawberry farmer Manfredas Rudis “Climate change is really making itself felt harvests come early and everything is over much earlier Sometimes you start thinking about two harvests a year.” This has been a good year for Lithuanian berry and fruit growers as Poland lost part of its harvest to the elements planning income and expenditure is becoming increasingly difficult “It is very difficult to predict what the purchase prices will be what people will have to pay and what the costs will be to produce the harvest There are a lot of uncertainties,” comments Rudis The country’s farms are increasingly equipped with modern technology they are thought to be the future of agriculture “Farmers are installing individual weather stations They are already making some predictions about what the future may hold Artificial intelligence can predict outbreaks of certain insects or pests,” says Gedas Špakauskas Insurance companies are also feeling the effects of climate change Losses are already affecting not only individual districts we have seen that all the risks against which we insure occurring in Lithuania In Lithuania and in Latvia,” says Martynas Rusteika Either they rent out their land or they simply stop their activities.” The agricultural sector is the first to feel the effects of climate change The last five years have been particularly challenging Farmers in many parts of the world are trying to adapt to climate change South Australia has opened its 2024 Marsh AFL U16 National Championship campaign in positive fashion with a hard-fought 10-point win against Western Australia in Game 1 at Thebarton Oval the Croweaters’ defining third term proved pivotal in the final result as they kicked 3.2 to the Sandgropers 1.3 to establish a handy 10-point buffer heading into the fourth quarter SA coach Heath Younie would have been pleased his men were able to hold the visitors at arm’s length during the tense final stanza as both sides kicked 2.3 each Croweaters’ midfielder Archie Van Dyk was prominent around the ball while joint vice captain Dougie Cochrane stood tall in defence for the hosts the younger brother of Carlton draftee Ashton Moir looked dangerous with two goals while Jacob McNicol and Zemes Pilot also bagged a pair of majors each SA will travel north to face Victoria Metro at People First Stadium on the Gold Coast on Tuesday July 9 before closing with a match against Victoria Country at Fankhauser Reserve at Southport on Friday July 12 South Australia 1.2 5.3 8.5 10.8 (68) Western Australia 2.2 5.4 6.7 8.10 (58) Britain’s hunting estates were once beautiful we can all appreciate how the purchase of land for hunting can radically protect our countryside Almost a thousand years after William the Conqueror set aside this wooded wonderland Britain’s largest herds of free-roaming grazing animals and a chorus of birdsong that has been lost in most other corners of our land Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3 Already a subscriber?