Quote of the Day: “Proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim, hath put a spirit of youth in everything.” – William Shakespeare (Sonnet 98)
Photo by: Ali G Rashidi
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Photographs in the last few weeks show the stunning kaleidoscope of colors bursting into bloom in Holland’s tulip fields.
Beginning in late March, millions of blooms have been delighting visitors in the Netherland with their patchwork of color.
British photographer Matt Cooper was one of those visitors. The 48-year-old from London traveled over the Easter weekend and shared his images and drone footage.
The images show Holland’s famous flower field landscapes, which have become a rich blanket of tulips with row upon of row of vivid block colors.
“I went there especially to shoot the tulips,” he said. “This is the best time to shoot them, as they flower in April and May every year.”
Cooper’s 4-day trip took him all over the country capturing the iconic fields by drone—especially the famous Keukenhof Tulip Gardens, one of the world’s largest flower gardens.
The Garden holds an annual festival—but 2022 is the first time the festival has been open to the public since the pandemic. It runs through 15 May.
Cooper said the Dutch people take their tulips very seriously, and across the small country “there are hundreds of millions of tulips’.
“The weather was beautiful too.”
SEE the scenes of the resurgent Keukenhof Tulip Gardens…
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Airports delays are common, but especially during winter when jets need to be dowsed with thousands of gallons of deicing fluids to prevent ice formation and maintain the plane’s aerodynamics to avoid fatal accidents like the tragic Air Florida flight that fell into the Potomac River in Washington, DC directly after lift-off in a 1982 snow storm.
But as soon as any de-iced airplane takes off, most of the liquid slides from the surface of the aircraft and ends up polluting streams, lakes, and oceans.
Now, endeavoring to make a more efficient product immune to ice for such demanding industries, a team at the University of Illinois Chicago have developed a longer-lasting and eco-friendly alternative to conventional deicers.
“Glycols dissolve very fast and get washed away before the plane takes off, and it’s a serious problem that costs hundreds of millions of dollars—most of which literally ends up in the drain,” said Sushant Anand, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. “We thought, why not improve such chemicals themselves, and make alternatives that can last longer while being more biofriendly. And that is what we ended up doing.”
Working with Ph.D. student Rukmava Chatterjee, they accomplished their goal by developing 80 different anti-freezing coatings, which can be classified as polymeric solutions, emulsions, or gels. The formulations can be easily applied to aluminum, steel, copper, glass, plastic or any industrial surface without preconditioning or expensive surface treatments.
“Our coatings are an all-in-one package which can delay formation of frost for extended hours, and simultaneously cause any ice formed on its surface to easily shed off by a gentle breeze or simple substrate tilting,” Chatterjee said.
The anti-freezing gels are also transparent, which is critical for applications like traffic signals, runway lights that assist pilots during landings, automotive windshields, or building windows.
They worked with phase change materials because they had a melting point above the freezing point of water (0 degrees C). This means under sub-zero temperatures the materials are in their solid state, just like chocolate, butter, or water itself.
The multifunctional coatings can prevent the adhesion of ice (or bacteria) on surfaces, irrespective of their inherent material structure and chemistry. This was engineered by regulating how chemicals leach out of the material system and by creating a lubricating surface layer that is both slippery and non-freezing in nature.
Chatterjee told GNN that the idea came to him and his PhD advisor Prof. Anand back in 2016.
“It was February and I was flying out from Chicago to deliver a talk in an international conference on ice/frost protection technologies. Quite an irony! It was a frigid winter day and the flight was already delayed due to icing issues. As a plane full of frustrated passengers waited inside the aircraft for two hours, we watched the plane getting dowsed continuously with thousands of gallons to prepare it for a safe take-off. Later, I missed my next connecting flight due to this delay and had to drive overnight to the conference venue.”
“Since then we have been researching, formulating compositions & exhaustively testing them under real-life winter conditions to address this long standing issue. Being liquid, all these chemicals get easily dissolved away or sheared off, the moment the flight takes off. Our idea was to use certain materials which are solid when cold.”
“In our latest work we identified a family of these materials and encapsulated them in a polymer matrix. The objective being to preserve their native anti-icing property but to increase their lifetime,” he continued. “We prepared more than 80 such formulations in the form of sprayable solutions, emulsions, creams & gels. They can be easily sprayed or coated on any industrial surface (metal/ glass/ plastics) without the need for any special surface treatment.”
“A key point was to use materials which are bio-friendly. For example the anti-freezing gels we prepared are made of dimethyl sulfoxide (a by-product of plant industry and having miraculous medicinal properties) and gelatin (the stuff you use in making deserts and custards): so all very safe items.”
The gels are the best performing ones and have a significant edge amongst the developed formulations. They are easy to fabricate, require only two components, they can be easily cured/sprayed/painted/coated on any surface, regardless of shape. The best part is they are optically transparent even under icing/frosting conditions.
Their research published in Advanced Materials showed that, compared to commercial coatings available in today’s market, they perform better by an order of magnitude after exhaustive testing.
Chatterjee told GNN the gels are also anti-bacterial in nature. “Imagine coating your smart-watch (or any wearable electronic) with this gel and using it in winter. It can potentially prevent your watch’s battery from dying in the cold while also preventing it from bacterial contamination, thereby precluding the need for constant sanitization.”
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For aerodynamic testing, the team coated a propeller blade and tested its anti-frosting performance under sub-zero winter conditions. They also subjected the coatings to very high shear airflow, simulating the conditions of a hurricane and tested their anti-frosting performance thereafter.
Of course, more exhaustive testing on actual airplanes in wind-turbines are needed to pass industrial test requirements before adopting them for real-life usage, but they do promise significant improvement over many commercial solutions available in the market presently.
“Since our anti-icing sprays are bio-friendly and anti-bacterial, we even think there is a potential to use them in agriculture to prevent crops from being ruined by severe frost,” Anand said. “But that is a pipe dream, and we need to do more studies to see if there will be any long-term adverse effect on the plants.”
MORE: A Flying Car Just Got Certified as Airworthy to Fly
A worldwide patent application titled “Compositions and Methods for Inhibiting Ice Formation on Surfaces” has been filed by UIC’s Office of Technology Management. Watch the video below for more information…
FLY THIS Great Idea to All Your Brilliant Friends on Social Media…
A 9-year-old boy walked into his local animal shelter with a big plastic bag filled with cash, handing over all the proceeds he’d raised at a lemonade stand.
Ben Miller from Boise, Idaho, collected a whopping $1,150 in one weekend.
It was his third lemonade stand fundraiser since 2019, a year when he was visiting the Idaho Humane Society with his grandmother and noticed that some of the cats didn’t have toys.
So far, he’s donated a grand total $1,950 to support the cats he loves so much.
His mother helped him create an event on Facebook, which brought in people from across the valley. People also sent money without even visiting to get a drink.
“It was such a fun day meeting so many awesome people and their pets. We had a car full of people pull up saying they had just heard about it on the radio,” said Amy Miller on Facebook. And the highlight that topped off the day was Ben’s teacher coming by.
Ben says he has no plans to stop his charity work for the shelter, which makes his mother beam, even though she says he’s always had a big heart. “It really just blew me away.”
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Watch the local news coverage…
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Quote of the Day: “I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart, who pull with massive patience to move things forward, who do what has to be done, again and again.” – Marge Piercy
Photo by: devn
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
A teenage treasure hunter who combs river bottoms with a heavy-duty magnet pulled a safe containing thousands of dollars—and he captured hearts online after returning the money to its rightful owner.
George Tindale was scouring the River Witham in Grantham, Lincolnshire, with his dad when he made the incredible discovery three weeks ago. They followed a trail of clues to track down the cash’s owner, a businessman whose safe was stolen 22 years ago.
“I mean it was amazing really,” said the 15-year-old who lives in Newark, Nottinghamshire. “We pulled this safe out and it had all that money in.”
The father and son were left gobsmacked when among the mud and slime inside the small safe was a pouch containing $2,500 colorful Australian dollars (around $1,800 US).
Also inside were a certificate and expired bank cards that gave the magnet ‘fishermen’ enough information to track down Rob Everett.
After contacting Rob to explain the amazing find, the kindhearted pair visited him last week at his business in Grantham to return the stolen property.
“I was just amazed that they’d been able to track me down,” said Rob. “There are some really nice and good people in this world. They could have kept the money, they could have said they attempted to get hold of me.
George was even offered a job after the business owner met him. “If I ever want work-experience when I leave school, he said the offer is always open.”
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Mr. Everett also gave George a small reward.
“They wanted to return the contents and the goods to the rightful owners and I think that says a lot about humanity… to go to all that trouble.”
After seeing the video where George does a quick calculation regarding the stack of currency, Ron realized that the youth is a good mathematician. “What’s good about it is, I run a wealth management company and… I’d love him to work for us.”
“There’s a big lesson there. It teaches George that doing good and being honest and giving back is actually more rewarding than taking.”
Although George started magnet fishing three years ago to search for treasure, his hobby now also highlights river pollution and the harm it can have on wildlife. He regularly records his findings on his popular Youtube channel Magnetic G.
“We’re doing a follow up video because we’ve got people hanging off the edges of their seats if you read through the comments,” said George’s mom, Denise.
WATCH their Youtube video where he discovers the money at 12:44…
INSPIRE Someone to Find a New Hobby By Sharing on Social Media…
Recently, a random act of kindness in the Nation’s Capital inspired a driver to share the video of a Good Samaritan.
Thousands were inspired by the moment that happened on April 14th, after it was shared on Reddit.
It may look like the woman, who was being drenched on the sidewalk, began holding the umbrella over a covered baby stroller, but upon closer inspection, you can see it was someone in a wheelchair holding a newspaper to cover their head.
Not only did the driver go out of his way, the woman used the umbrella to shelter the person in the wheelchair instead of herself.
The wholesome scene evoked other memories for people watching the video. One viewer recalled such a moment that happened to her outside Washington, DC.
“Once when I was living in Falls Church (Virginia) I was walking to school in the rain and a sweet lady picked me up and drove me the rest of the way,” wrote commenter, ParanoidAndrea. “I was, like, I’m gonna get your car all wet! She didn’t care.”
“Oh and just to add to her level of kindness I was big-time punky-looking, wearing mostly black and huge pants and all, the kind of kid some people love to judge negatively. A really good memory of mine.”
FunctionalERP_92 recalled the time he was trudging through a Brooklyn rainstorm when a car slowed down, lowered a window, and “chucked” an umbrella at him. “It was one of the nicest and most New York-ish ways of being helped out.”
“This happened to us in DC,” wrote ApotrAde. “Wife and I got stuck under a tree on the sidewalk with a stroller with 2 kids. A guy pulled over and threw an umbrella out the window, wont ever forget that.”
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One viewer’s father worked for the New Jersey transit so he had a lot of umbrellas that came from lost and found. “If it was raining when my dad would pick me up from school he would slow down the car and give umbrellas to the kids who were walking home without,” says Evilgirlattack. “It was embarrassing then, but now that I’m older I think it’s awesome.”
SamSepiol-ER28_0652 keeps a car seat in his trunk even though he doesn’t have kids of his own. “I do it because once I stopped to help a mom and baby caught in the rain, but without a car seat (she just had a stroller) she couldn’t ride with me. I let them wait in my car with me.”
“Now I know that if it happens again I can safely transport a baby or toddler if I ever see someone in a similar situation.”
CHECK OUT: A ‘Trail Angel’ Sprinkles Good Deeds Along Appalachian Trail For Unsuspecting Hikers
SHARE the Sunny Moment With Anyone Needing Inspiration on Social Media…
While there are currently no non-invasive therapies available for the treatment of vision loss in the retina, but researchers are now exploring a solution that could restore sight by using one of the other five senses: Sound.
Common retinal diseases cause degeneration of the light-sensitive photoreceptors in your eye. Currently, ophthalmologists use electronic technology to directly stimulate retinal neurons by implanting electrode devices inside the eye—a technique that requires expensive and invasive surgery.
To provide a better solution, the University of Southern California team is using the same technology that takes a picture of a fetus by sending and receiving sound waves through a pregnant woman’s stomach—using ultrasound stimulation to replace electric stimulation.
The research group includes Mark S. Humayun, professor of ophthalmology and biomedical engineering at USC, and one of the inventors of Argus II—the world’s first artificial retina.
Similar to how shapes and bright spots appear when you gently push on your eyeball with your eyes closed; researchers realized that applying pressure to the eye can activate neurons and send signals to the brain.
Unlike a normal eye that is activated by light, the blind eyes were stimulated by mechanical pressures generated by ultrasound waves in this study. A wearable ultrasound device, like a contact lens, would generate the ultrasound waves to stimulate the retina.
“The neurons present in the retina of the eye possess mechanically sensitive channels that respond to mechanical stimulation,” explained Gengxi Lu, a Ph.D. student working on the project. “These neurons are activated when we use ultrasound to generate mechanical pressure.”
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To test this ultrasound approach, in pre-clinical studies the team at USC stimulated a blind rat’s eyes using high-frequency ultrasound waves that are inaudible to humans.
In this case, for retinal stimulation the research group created a small ultrasound device that can be directed at a specific region of the eye to send sound waves to the retina, which is located in the back of the eye.
Using these high-frequency sounds that can be manipulated and focused on a specific area of the eye; the study demonstrated that when the ultrasound waves are projected as a pattern — for example, the letter ‘C’—the rat’s brain was able to pick up a similar pattern.
Unlike in humans, researchers are unable to get direct answers about the rat’s visual experiences during the ultrasound stimulation.
To answer these questions of what exactly the rat was able to visualize from the ultrasound waves, the team measured visual activity directly from the rat’s visual brain area known as the visual cortex by attaching a multi-electrode array.
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Based on the visual activities recorded from the brain, researchers found the rat was able to perceive visualizations comparable to the ultrasound stimulation pattern projected to the eye. This work was just published in BME Fronters.
The research is currently funded by a four-year, $2.3 million grant from the National Eye Institute (NEI). The team recently applied for another NEI translational grant to take their studies to the next level, testing the approach using non-human primate models prior to conducting human clinical trials.
“Right now, we are using a transducer placed in front of the rat’s eyeball to send the ultrasound signals to the retina, but our final goal is to create a wireless lens transducer” said Dr. Qifa Zhou, professor of biomedical engineering and ophthalmology at USC, who is leading the research.
While the team is currently analyzing the capabilities of ultrasound technology for vision study, their future goal is to generate sharper images and install the ultrasound transducer on a wearable contact lens for next generation.
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There is also a pending patent for this novel ultrasound technology that hopes to change the way visual impairment is treated years down the road.
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Our partner Rob Brezsny provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)
Here is your weekly horoscope…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of April 23, 2022
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
In 1879, Taurus-born Williamina Fleming was working as a maid for astronomer Edward Charles Pickering, director of the Harvard Observatory. Impressed with her intelligence, Pickering hired Fleming to do scientific work. By 1893, she had become a prominent, award-winning astronomer. Ultimately, she discovered the Horsehead Nebula, helped develop a system for identifying stars, and cataloged thousands of astronomical phenomena. I propose that we make her your role model for the duration of 2022. If there has ever been a year when you might achieve progress like Fleming’s, it’s this one.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
For 2500 years, Egypt was a conquered territory ruled by non-Egyptians. Persians took control in 525 BCE. Greeks replaced them. In succeeding centuries, Egypt had to submit to the authority of the Roman Empire, the Persians again, the Byzantine Empire, the Arab Islamic Caliphate, the Mamluk Sultanate, the Ottomans, and the British. When British troops withdrew from their occupation in 1956, Egypt was finally an independent nation self-ruled by Egyptians. If there are any elements of your own life story that even partially resemble Egypt’s history, I have good news: 2022 is the year you can achieve a more complete version of sovereignty than you have ever enjoyed. And the next phase of your freedom work begins now.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
During the next four weeks, some of the best lessons you can study and learn will come to you while you’re socializing and communicating. Even more than is usually the case, your friends and allies will offer you crucial information that has the power to catalyze dynamic decisions. Lucky encounters with Very Interesting People may open up possibilities worth investigating. And here’s a fun X-factor: The sometimes surprising words that fly out of your mouth during lively conversations will provide clues about what your deep self has been half-consciously dreaming of.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
“Hold on tight, I would tell myself, but there was nothing for me to hold on to.” A character in one of Haruki Murakami’s novels says that. In contrast to that poor soul, Leo, I’m happy to tell you that there will indeed be a reliable and sturdy source for you to hold onto in the coming weeks—maybe more than one. I’m glad! In my astrological opinion, now is a time when you’ll be smart to get thoroughly anchored. It’s not that I think you will be in jeopardy. Rather, you’re in a phase when it’s more important than usual to identify what makes you feel stable and secure. It’s time to bolster your foundations and strengthen your roots.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
In the latter half of the 19th century, millions of bison living in America’s Great Plains were hunted. They were the source of food, clothing, shelter, bedding, and ropes for indigenous people. The beloved and useful creatures might have gone extinct altogether if it had not been for the intervention of a Virgo rancher named Mary Ann “Molly” Goodnight. She single-handedly rebuilt the bison herds from a few remaining survivors. I propose that we make Goodnight your inspirational role model for the rest of 2022. What dwindling resources or at-risk assets could you restore to health?
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
British Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758–1805) was born under the sign of Libra. He was a brilliant and unconventional strategist whose leadership brought many naval victories for his country. Yet he was blind in one eye, was missing most of his right arm from a battle wound, and was in constant discomfort from chronic seasickness. I propose we make him one of your patron saints for the coming weeks. May he inspire you to do your best and surpass your previous accomplishments even if you’re not feeling perfect. (But also keep in mind: The problems you have to deal with will be far milder than Nelson’s.)
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Anti-apartheid activist Bantu Stephen Biko (1946–1977) was profoundly committed to authenticity. The repressive South African government hated that about him. Biko said, “I’m going to be me as I am, and you can beat me or jail me or even kill me, but I’m not going to be what you want me to be.” Fortunately for you, Scorpio, you’re in far less danger as you become more and more of your genuine self. That’s not to say the task of learning how to be true to your deep soul is entirely risk-free. There are people out there, even allies, who may be afraid of or resistant to your efforts. Don’t let their pressure influence you to dilute your holy quest.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
“The artist must train not only his eye but also his soul,” said Sagittarian painter Wassily Kandinsky. Inspired by his observation, I’m telling you, “The practical dreamer should train not only her reasoning abilities but also her primal intuition, creative imagination, non-rational perceptivity, animal instincts, and rowdy wisdom.” I especially urge you to embody my advice in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. Now is a favorable time to make abundant use of the other modes of intelligence that help you understand life as it really is—and not merely as the logical, analytical mind conceives it to be.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
The language spoken by the indigenous Cherokee people is at least 3,000 years old. But it never had a written component until the 1820s. Then a Cherokee polymath named Sequoyah had a vision. He formulated a syllabary, making it possible for the first time to read and write the language. It was a herculean accomplishment with few precedents in history. I propose we name him your inspirational role model for the rest of 2022. In my astrological understanding, you are poised to make dramatic breakthroughs in self-expression and communication that will serve you and others for a long time.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
A study by psychologists concludes there is a good way to enhance your willpower: For a given time, say one week, use your non-dominant hand to brush your teeth, wield your computer mouse, open your front door with your key, or perform other habitual activities. Doing so boosts your ability to overcome regular patterns that tend to keep you mired in inertia. You’re more likely to summon the resolution and drive necessary to initiate new approaches in all areas of your life—and stick with them. The coming weeks will be an especially favorable time to try this experiment
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
In his book Thus Spoke Zarathustra, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” According to my reading of the astrological omens, you will be justified to say something like that in the near future. Now is a favorable time to honestly acknowledge differences between you and others—and accept those differences just as they are. The important point is to do what you need to do without decreeing that other people are wrong or misguided.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Aries author Marge Piercy writes, “I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart, who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience, who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward, who do what has to be done, again and again.” According to my analysis of the astrological factors, you’ll be wise to be like a person Piercy describes. You’re entering a phase of your cycle when diligent work and impeccable self-discipline are most necessary and most likely to yield stellar rewards.
WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com
(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)
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Quote of the Day: “All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without benefit of experience.” – Henry Miller
Photo by: Greyson Joralemon
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
A landmark Earth Day ceremony just took place to celebrate the start of construction on the historic Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in Southern California.
Spanning over ten lanes of the 101 freeway in the Los Angeles area, when complete the crossing will be the largest in the world, the first of its kind in California, and a global model for urban wildlife conservation.
“California’s diverse array of native species and ecosystems have earned the state recognition as a global biodiversity hotspot. In the face of extreme climate impacts, it’s more important than ever that we work together to protect our rich natural heritage” said said California Governor Gavin Newsom of the project. Stating that the crossing will enable mountain lions and other wildlife to roam safely, he described the crossing as “an inspiring example of the kind of collaborative efforts that will help us protect our common home for generations to come.”
The crossing responds to two decades of study by the National Park Service that has shown roads and development are deadly for animals trying to cross and have created islands of habitat that can genetically isolate wildlife, from bobcats to birds and lizards.
It will preserve biodiversity across the region by re-connecting an integral wildlife corridor, and most critically, help save a threatened local population of mountain lions from extinction.
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“Wildlife crossings restore ecosystems that had been fractured and disrupted. They reconnect lands and species that are aching to be whole,” said Wallis Annenberg, Chairman, president, and CEO of the Annenberg Foundation in a statement from the National Wildlife Federation. “I believe these crossings go beyond mere conservation, toward a kind of environmental rejuvenation that is long overdue.”
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The official ceremony took place this morning at 10 a.m. P.S.T, while a celebration for the general public happened early this afternoon at King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas.
For more information about the events, or about the #SaveLACougars campaign to build the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, visit Save LA Cougars.
Also check out GNN’s initial reporting on this story in 2020—which details how 2,700 mostly private donors raised $15 million for the construction of this 165-foot crossing that will pass over the 101 in Liberty Canyon—an area where some of the wealthiest Hollywood celebs live.
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NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has captured dramatic footage of Phobos, Mars’ potato-shaped moon, crossing the face of the Sun.
These observations can help scientists better understand the moon’s orbit and how its gravity pulls on the Martian surface, ultimately shaping the Red Planet’s crust and mantle.
Captured with Perseverance’s next-generation Mastcam-Z camera on April 2, the 397th Martian day, or sol, of the mission, the eclipse lasted a little over 40 seconds—much shorter than a typical solar eclipse involving Earth’s Moon. (Phobos is about 157 times smaller than Earth’s Moon. Mars’ other moon, Deimos, is even smaller.)
The images are the latest in a long history of NASA spacecraft capturing solar eclipses on Mars. Back in 2004, the twin NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity took the first time-lapse photos of Phobos during a solar eclipse. Curiosity continued the trend with videos shot by its Mastcam camera system.
But Perseverance, which landed in February 2021, has provided the most zoomed-in video of a Phobos solar eclipse yet—and at the highest-frame rate ever. That’s thanks to Perseverance’s next-generation Mastcam-Z camera system, a zoomable upgrade from Curiosity’s Mastcam.
“I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t expect it to be this amazing,” said Rachel Howson of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, one of the Mastcam-Z team members who operates the camera.
Howson noted that although Perseverance first sends lower-resolution thumbnails that offer a glimpse of the images to come, she was stunned by the full-resolution versions: “It feels like a birthday or holiday when they arrive. You know what’s coming, but there is still an element of surprise when you get to see the final product.”
Color also sets this version of a Phobos solar eclipse apart. Mastcam-Z has a solar filter that acts like sunglasses to reduce light intensity. “You can see details in the shape of Phobos’ shadow, like ridges and bumps on the moon’s landscape,” said Mark Lemmon, a planetary astronomer with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, who has orchestrated most of the Phobos observations by Mars rovers. “You can also see sunspots. And it’s cool that you can see this eclipse exactly as the rover saw it from Mars.”
As Phobos circles Mars, its gravity exerts small tidal forces on the Red Planet’s interior, slightly deforming rock in the planet’s crust and mantle. These forces also slowly change Phobos’ orbit.
As a result, geophysicists can use those changes to better understand how pliable the interior of Mars is, revealing more about the materials within the crust and mantle.
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A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
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The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
(WATCH the NASA video for this story below.)
Source: NASA
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Many Revolutionary War heroes were honored with gold medals by the Continental Congress after the war, and one such medal has just broken a record at an auction house after being lost for more than 200 years.
Sold on the 4th of April at Stack’s Bowers auction house for $960,000—it’s a stunning end to a saga of hands-changing going back to the founding of the U.S.A.
General Daniel Morgan was awarded the Comitia Americana, a special one-off series of military accolades for his victory at the Battle of Cowpens, one of several turning points in the war. The series contained 133 medals, but Morgan’s is considered the most visually stunning, as it depicts him riding into battle on horseback amid explosions.
After he died in 1802, Morgan’s grandson secured the medal in a Pittsburgh bank vault, only to see it stolen by burglars in 1818.
Congress agreed to strike a replacement medal and presented it to Morgan’s great-grandson in 1841, which the auction house reports makes it the only gold medal ordered to be struck by two separate acts of Congress.
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Around 1885, financier J.P. Morgan offered to buy the medal, believing himself related to Daniel Morgan, and following the closure of the sale experts believed it would never be seen again.
But testament to gold’s permanence, the medal resurfaced when someone put it up for auction at Stack’s Bowers, an auctioneer that specializes in coins, medals, and other currencies/tokens.
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Struck from newly-made dies from Paris that were based on the original that struck the first medal in 1789, it is truly one of a kind—and unmistakable according to examinations. It even arrived at the auctioneer in its original red leather U.S. mint case, with crushed purple velvet inside.
In five minutes, the price went from $300,000 to $800,000, which after figuring in a 20% buyer’s fee, makes it the most expensive price ever paid for a U.S. military medal at auction. The auction house stated that the anonymous buyer is a safe and good home for the American treasure.
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Scientists from Australia and Britain are planning to take a 9,400-mile road trip through some of the most remote regions of the world in a Tesla, all the while charging the batteries by unrolling a plastic solar panel sheet.
Called the Charge Around Australia project, the team is getting Australians to think about ways that energy can become more sustainable.
The inventor of the roll-up solar panel, Paul Dastoor, says these parts of Western and Central Australia are probably the most remote in the world—with scorching temperatures, vast distances, and a lack of water that prohibits comfortable human habitation.
Tackling these miles in a Tesla is a big undertaking, but it has the benefit of putting the solar panels immediately under the most extreme conditions imaginable, where dirt and dust, daily rolling and unrolling, high heat, and repeated use will provide the ultimate test of their merit.
Aside from the price point, the biggest hesitancy among consumers to buy electric cars is “range anxiety” and a lack of charging stations near them. Some companies are inventing mobile charging packs, but they’re slow, expensive, and vulnerable to theft.
Printed by a machine used to make wine labels, these solar panels address all these problems, as they cost around $3.33 per square foot. They consist of a transparent solar electrode laminated in PET plastic. Dastoor’s wine-label appropriated technology allows his team to print around a third of a mile, or half a kilometer of solar cell strips every day.
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The 84-day journey will include stops at around 70 schools to give talks on the technology, how it can help prevent climate change, and what everyone around the world can do as well.
The team’s hope is that Tesla founder Elon Musk will think the project was really cool for “showing how our innovative technology is now combining with his developments to develop new solutions for the planet”, Dastoor told Reuters.
(WATCH the Reuters video below to see more details…)
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Quote of the Day: “It was optimism that made science take off, because they are convinced that the problem is soluble and the situation can be improved.” – David Deutsch
Photo by: Joel Filipe
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Playing location-based games, such as the popular augmented reality game Pokémon GO, may alleviate non-clinical forms of mild depression, a new study has found.
In the new study from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has, the researchers examined the effect of location-based mobile gaming on local depression trends.
Location-based games are those that revolve and progress around a player’s physical location. This is often monitored using GPS technology.
Using the introduction of Pokémon GO as a case study, the researchers exploited the staggered release of the game over 50 weeks in 2016 into 166 regions in 12 English-speaking countries. This created a natural “control” group of locations where the game had not yet been released enabling the researchers to compare depression levels in these locations with areas where it was available.
The authors measured local depression levels using Google Trends data to calculate internet searches for depression related terms such as “depression”, “stress,” and “anxiety”. The use of internet search data is a well-established mechanism for measuring mild depression in medical and public health literature.
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They found the release of Pokémon GO was associated with a significant short-term decrease in depression-related internet searches, suggesting location-based mobile games may decrease the prevalence of local rates of depression.
The authors argue that playing location-based games may alleviate mild depression in users as they encourage outdoor physical activity, face-to-face socialization and exposure to nature. Factors which have all been documented as having a positive impact on mental health.
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These LSE findings underscore the mental health opportunities of location-based games and highlight how they can be designed to help vulnerable groups. Due to their ease of use, relatively low cost and high accessibility, the researchers argue location-based games could be attractive subsidy targets for policymakers.
In the paper, published in the Journal of Management Information Systems, the authors were keen to stress that their findings only relate to those suffering from mild depression—not chronic or severe depressive disorders.
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People may come and go, but moms are forever friends. In fact, seven in 10 Americans said their mom is their best friend.
A survey of 2,000 adults asked them how they show their appreciation toward the women in their lives who are mothers and found that three in five believe every day should be Mother’s Day (60%).
A whopping 86% of respondents said these women are the most hardworking people they know, but 69% agree that moms don’t get enough credit for all that they do.
Seven in 10 Americans said their mom is their best friend, and 63% said their mom is a superhero who can take on any challenge and resolve it with grace.
The average person would spend about $300 on a gift for their special day to show these moms their appreciation, but two in three agree that you don’t have to break the bank to show mom love.
Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Angara, the survey found that those who always pamper their moms with presents prioritize shopping every year to find the perfect gift (84%).
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That may be because a similar percentage love seeing their mom’s face light up after opening a present (82%).
Finding the right gift can be tricky, but 64% are confident they know what their moms would enjoy as presents; still, three-quarters of respondents make sure they’re on the right track by asking them what they want (76%).
And sometimes moms get so excited that three in four survey-takers admitted they have to hide the presents so the surprise isn’t ruined.
The top presents people prefer getting their moms are personalized items like photo frames or blankets (37%), edible gifts like chocolate or fruit arrangements (36%), or household niceties like a new TV or wine glasses (36%).
And to avoid gifting mishaps from their partners and kids, 74% of moms said they don’t mind letting them know what they want in advance.
Moms also weighed in on the kind of gifts they like, with most admitting they expect a gift from their significant other and/or kids (82%). They also revealed how their personalities might influence what they hope to get.
“Foodie moms” (who loves to eat, snack and try new foods) would unsurprisingly be happiest with edible gifts (29%) but would also love a getaway or gift card/certificate (27%, each).
In contrast, “soccer moms” (who are sporty, takes her kids to sporting events and practices) are not shy about letting their families know what they want in advance (96%). They also prefer homemade (31%) or household gifts (29%).
And “wine moms” (who loves an occasional glass of wine after a long day) also have a preference for heartfelt homemade gifts (35%) or ones they can munch on (27%).
“When it comes to getting mom a gift she’s going to love, personalization is key,” said Ankur Daga, CEO of Angara. “A custom piece always feels more thoughtful to let them know that you’re always thinking of what they want and what’s best for them.”
Some of the best Mother’s Day presents moms recalled they’ve received are having the house cleaned and dinner made, a handwritten poem and a “beautiful yellow vase that contains porcelain roses.”
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On the other hand, 62% of moms admitted had received a present they pretended to like in the past, such as a plant, mud flaps for their car and dish towels.
Still, 88% of moms said no matter what their kids and/or significant other get them for Mother’s Day, they always value the thought behind the gift more than the gift itself.
When it comes to safe choices, a fifth of moms also agree that jewelry is always an option they appreciate (22%).
“Jewelry is a timeless gift,” Daga added. “She can wear it daily as a reminder that she is loved and then pass it on to someone she loves just as much when the time comes. A good piece of jewelry is an investment at first but lasts forever.”
WHAT DO MOMS LOVE GETTING FOR MOTHER’S DAY?
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As we all know, 66 million years ago an asteroid struck the Earth, causing a worldwide extinction of the dinosaurs.
Now a dinosaur mass grave is revealing the crucial details of the global cataclysm, as scientists believe they have found evidence of its exact moment.
Among the finds are dinosaurs that suffered what appear to be grave, near instantaneously-inflicted injuries; there are fish and other aquatic animals mixed up with the land-dwellers, a fossilized pterosaur embryo, a sea turtle that has bizarrely been impaled by a wooden stake, and even what paleontologists believe to be a shard of the asteroid itself.
“We’ve got so many details with this site that tell us what happened moment by moment, it’s almost like watching it play out in the movies. You look at the rock column, you look at the fossils there, and it brings you back to that day,” Robert DePalma, the University of Manchester grad student who leads the Tanis dig, told the BBC, who are featuring a special documentary hosted by Sir David Attenborough called Dinosaurs: The Final Day.
The Tanis dig refers to Tanis, North Dakota where the site was found. The hypothesis of the overall happenings preserved by the fossils is that a water surge created by earthquakes following the impact struck Cretaceous North Dakota, and that this was the cause for the chaotic mess of animal bodies.
Cretaceous North Dakota was actually the site of a large inland sea, and a massive upsurge in the water level would have devastated the surrounding environment.
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UC Berkeley described Tanis as a “fossilized graveyard” of “fish stacked one atop another and mixed in with burned tree trunks, conifer branches, dead mammals, mosasaur bones, insects, the partial carcass of a Triceratops, marine microorganisms called dinoflagellates and snail-like marine cephalopods called ammonites.”
To consult on the site, DePalma called Walter Alvarez, a UC Berkeley Professor who 40 years ago first described the meteorite impact hypothesis.
“…We have this magnificent and completely unexpected site that Robert DePalma is excavating in North Dakota, which is so rich in detailed information about what happened as a result of the impact,” Alvarez said. “For me, it is very exciting and gratifying!”
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One of the calling cards of the impact were tiny spherules of molten rock called tektites embedded in the gills of sturgeon and paddlefish found at Tanis. The tektites were catapulted into the atmosphere by the size and force of the meteorite, before setting down across the Western Hemisphere. As they reached bodies of water, they were clearly inhaled by the fish.
The tektites chemically and radiometrically match those recovered from the impact crater on the Yucatán Peninsula.
“We were able to pull apart the chemistry and identify the composition of that material. All the evidence, all of the chemical data, from that study suggests strongly that we’re looking at a piece of the impactor; of the asteroid that ended it for the dinosaurs,” explains Professor Phil Manning, who is DePalma’s PhD supervisor at Manchester. “It’s absolutely bonkers,” he said to BBC Radio 4’s Today program.
The BBC hired several independent experts in various specializations of dinosaur examination to try and verify the claims that these deaths were caused directly from the meteorite impact.
As is widespread in paleontology, there is a serious skepticism about the claim, but some of the hired experts told the BBC that some of the finds—the pterosaur egg in particular, are so wonderfully unique that whether their deaths were completely connected to the impact is, at the moment, of minor importance compared to the astonishments of the discovery itself.
(WATCH the BBC video for this story below.)
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The largest woodpecker on the continent, the ivory-billed woodpecker was proposed to be extinct last year after more than 70 years without a sighting.
New findings, including trail and drone camera images, presented by conservationists at the National Aviary, aim to refute this claim and secure protection for lowland forests in Louisiana where the woodpecker would live.
Americans love their birds, and it seems premature to propose the species extinct, when since 1944 there have been 200 reported sightings, including from game wardens, ornithologists, and field biologists. Furthermore, observations have included both photographic and audio evidence, and even feathers.
For example, Tim Gallagher of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and avid birder Bobby Harrison visited the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in next-door Arkansas in 2005 after sightings of the bird were reported there.
Their team of volunteers spent 4,750 hours searching; they recorded a grainy video, five convincing images, and a characteristic audio recording that prompted the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture and the Nature Conservancy to both jump in with millions of dollars to preserve the surrounding area.
As far as birds go, woodpeckers are pretty easy to find and identify. In North America, most species of woodpecker are black, white, and red—while clinging to tree trunks rather than perching on branches mean they are almost never camouflaged, and in profile they are immediately noticeable, especially the ivory-billed which is the largest in the family on the continent.
Further still, the calls of woodpeckers are very loud, very different from song birds, and very easy to trace back to the source.
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With all these calling cards, it’s no surprise that a professional field survey conducted over ten years from 2012-2021 has a lot to say about whether the ivory-billed is extinct or not.
Picking out prime ivory-billed habitat, the team of Steven Latta, Mark Michaels, and eight other members and collaborators from the National Aviary’s Project Principalis—named after the scientific name of the woodpecker—looked for dying trees or trees that had evidence of woodpecker activity based on local knowledge.
After finding one believed ivory-billed on a sweetgum tree in October of 2019, the team heavily surveyed it and any suitable nearby trees for the next two years. Using evidence from 6-19 camera traps, as well as a video-camera-armed drone hovering at around 400 feet above the treetops, the team put together a series of comparisons with other woodpeckers in a paper awaiting peer-review, which they believe conclusively demonstrates the ivory-billed’s continued survival.
For example, taken on the same tree, cameras reveal the size difference between visiting woodpeckers by imaging a pileated, red-headed, and a third woodpecker which was much bigger than both—a good sign, as the ivory-billed woodpecker is the largest in North America.
A reference photograph taken in 1939 reveals the characteristics of the bird: most notably the “white saddle” or patch of white-colored feathers in the small of its back.
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Comparisons to the pileated woodpecker are key. Not only do they look very similar, but they are both large birds. In one sequence of trail cam photos, a family group of large woodpeckers was spotted foraging together. This is terrific evidence that these were ivory-billed woodpeckers, as not only do pileated woodpeckers forage quite differently, but they are also extremely territorial, and don’t forage alongside other males.
Further drone footage found large flying woodpeckers in the area with white saddles, and white on the hindwing quarters.
“As a group, we are confident in our results,” state the National Aviary. “We look forward to our data informing management and conservation of bottomland forests for this species and for others that share the habitat. The continuing survival of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in Louisiana has conservation management implications not only in that state, but also widely within the historic range of the species, which encompasses much of the southeastern United States.”
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Quote of the Day: “Life is about growth and exploration, not achieving a fixed state of balance. You have a very limited time on earth to experience all that you can.” – Mel Robbins
Photo by: Mona Eendra
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
