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What kinds of scientific instruments can be used to sample the plumes of Enceladus with the goal of identifying the ingredients for life as we know it? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference hopes to address as a team of international researchers investigated how the novel High Ice Flux Instrument (HIFI) could be the next-generation instrument used to sample the plumes of Enceladus while building off the groundbreaking findings from the NASA Cassini spacecraft’s Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA). This study has the potential to help scientists and engineers develop new and efficient methodologies for finding life on Enceladus and throughout the solar system.

How can scientists and engineers build off the success of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter to better explore the Red Planet? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference hopes to address as an aerospace executive with more than two decades of research and engineering experience investigated how a next-generation Mars helicopter could conduct groundbreaking science while delivering peak efficiency and performance. This study has the potential to help scientists and engineers develop new methods for exploring Mars with cost-effective and efficient methods.

Be it sensors, cameras, or displays: Metasurfaces have the potential to fundamentally improve optical systems in our everyday lives. By controlling light more precisely, they drive compact, multi-functional solutions. Researchers have now developed an optical component that enables highly efficient light control at steep angles of incidence, overcoming previous limitations.

Be it sensors, cameras, or displays: Metasurfaces have the potential to fundamentally improve optical systems in our everyday lives. By controlling light more precisely, they drive compact, multi-functional solutions. Researchers have now developed an optical component that enables highly efficient light control at steep angles of incidence, overcoming previous limitations.

What can cryovolcanism on the dwarf planet Ceres teach us about potential cryovolcanism on Uranus’ five largest moons, which include Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel, Titania, and Miranda? This is what two studies recently presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference hopes to address, as a team of researchers investigated using Ceres as an analog for the potential ocean moons, Umbriel and Oberon, and the likelihood of an impact crater on Umbriel showing evidence of cryovolcanism. These studies have the potential to help researchers better understand the formation and evolution of ocean worlds in the outer solar system and whether they could potentially have life as we know it.

When it comes to the planets produced in protoplanetary disks, size matters, but not the way you might think. That's the conclusion a group of astronomers found when they aimed the Atacama Large Millimeter Array in Chile at hundreds of these disks around young stars in the southern constellation Lupus. They used the observatory in 2023 and 2024 to focus on the disks and supplemented that with archival data.

I’ve been busy at the pond watching the ducks and giving a bit of a nosh to Mordecai and Esther, who are doing well. They look fat and happy, though I saw another drake at the pond today and the trio flew off together. (Yes, the males create a “rape culture” (the technical term is “forced copulation”) for the hens, who must constantly avoid ministrations of males other than their mate.) But now they are only two, and I check on them three times a day. Lots of people come by the pond and ask about the ducks, and when I tell them what I know (they like the names) they say that they can’t wait for the ducklings to appear.  But Esther hasn’t nested yet, though she’s preparing to, and once she does and sits on all the eggs she lays, it’ll be 28 days till the babies hatch.

First, the stars of the show. Look at this beautiful hen! Esther’s speculum (the blue feathers) are bright and beautiful.

And her mate (for the moment, at least), Mordecai, with his iridescent green head. A friend of mine— the advisor to Team Duck—guesses that both ducks are two years old au maximum. 

A video of Esther giving voice. She is one of the noisiest hens I’ve ever heard in the pond (remember, only females make the characteristic “quack,” while males make soft, low quacks). Here she is, loud and proud:

More quacking. I often think of having a wine-and-cheese party next to the pond, calling it “Cheese and Quackers.”

Esther is also busy “window shopping,” checking out the windowsills in adjacent buildings where she’ll build her next.  So far she seems to have settled on the second floor of Erman Hall, part of our department. She hasn’t yet chosen the right window yet, as she appears in various windows. She seems to be favoring the second floor. One of our new faculty members has most of the second floor, and when I told her about the window-shopping, she was excited that Esther might nest on her lab window. (She likes ducks and the pond.)

Here’s Esther scoping out a second-floor window in Erman (she’s at the end of the arrow). Although wild mallards are ground-nesters, for some reason even young hens at Botany Pond start scoping out windowsills to avoid predators and pesky drakes.  How they figure this out is a mystery to me, as they certainly can’t have the genes for nesting so high, and I doubt they learn it from watching other hens. One of my colleagues thinks that a window ledge is a “superliminal stimulus.” That is, mallard hens are known to nest on wooden platforms low to the ground or on bent-over tussocks of grass that are a foot or so from the ground. This protects them somewhat from predators like raccoons or possume. It could be that, like our evolved love of sweets and fats that now drives many us to a diet full of sugary foods, hens have an evolved preference for nesting a bit high, and that goes into overdrive when they see a safe windowsill with vines to anchor a nest.

More of Esther at Erman:

Here her head is tilted, a hen’s cutest pose:

After a nosh, both ducks like to preen, clean themselves by grooming and dunking underwater, and making big aplashes for futher cleaning. Here’s Esther doing all that. Note that her bill opens as if she’s quacking, but no sound comes out. I’m told that this is common in hens. When she rubs her head over her feathers, she’s oiling them.

Another loud bout of postprandial quacking and activity:

Ducks, like many birds, oil their feathers using the uropygial gland at the feathers near their tail.  Wikipedia says this about it:

It is a holocrine gland enclosed in a connective tissue capsule made up of glandular acini that deposit their oil secretion into a common collector tube ending in a variable number of pores (openings), most typically two. Each lobe has a central cavity that collects the secretion from tubules arranged radially around the cavity. The gland secretion is conveyed to the surface via ducts that, in most species, open at the top of a papilla (nipple-like structure).

More from VCA Animal Hospitals:

The uropygial gland is located on top of the tail base, on the lower back, just in front of the base of the tail feather quills. This area is generally featherless except for a tuft of feathers at the tip called the uropygial wick. The gland is bi-lobed, with two similar-sized sections.

The uropygial gland secretes a thick, transparent, complex oil (preening oil) that consists of diester waxes (uropygiols), fats, and fatty acids. Each lobe of the gland secretes oil through small papilla (nipple-like projections).

The oil secreted by the uropygial gland performs many functions, including waterproofing and maintaining the suppleness of the skin, feathers, and beak. The oil may have an antibacterial function.

During preening, a bird transfers this oil to its feathers by rubbing its head and beak against the oil gland and then spreading the oil over the rest of its feathers.

The uropygial gland is not normally visible unless the feathers are parted in this area or there is a problem with the gland.

Here you can see Esther rubbing her head and bill on the gland and then spreading it over her feathers.  They mostly use their beak, but also dive and splash because mixing the oils with water helps spread it through the feathers, giving the duck essential waterproofing. They also use their heads and flexible necks to spread the oils, so there’s no part of her body (save her “chin,” perhaps) that she can’t reach:

Here’s a thorough cleaning and oiling of her wings.  They don’t miss a feather! Ducks are immaculate, constantly grooming.

The drakes have to preen too, of course, as all mallards need to be waterproof and clean. Note Esther go for her gland at about 18 seconds in. Both ducks also engage in diving:

One more video of Esther preening. Notice how she goes for the uropygeal glands and uses her flexible neck to spread oils from her head and beak.

After bath time it’s nap time.  They like to lie on the grass and cement on the pond edge in the afternoon, warmed by the sun to their west.

Notice how cryptic Esther is compared to Mordecai. His visibility is the price he pays for attracting a mate, but the females’ color and pattern help then hide from predators (and horny drakes). You can see her hunkered down to the right, looking like a clump of brown grass.

Here’s a cartoon map of the campus from 1932, labeled as ” Elizabeth Moore (“Betty”) Fisher’s (PhB’22) 1932 cartoon campus map. (University of Chicago Special Collections).”  You can see the whole thing enlarged here (map below, click to enlarge):

and, enlarging Botany Pond, you see a lone duck (I added the arrow in the second picture below). Botany Pond was built in 1899 as part of the biology group’s research facilities, and you can see some early photos here.  The pond and surroundings were designed by the landscape architects John Charles and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., two brothers whose firm designed many notable spaces.

More than 100 years of ducks!

The pond has been under renovation for two years, as cracks in the walls, and an accumulation of schmutz, called for a ton of renovation. During that time the pond was empty and we were bereft from the lack of ducks (many also greatly miss the turtles and fish, which will be put back into the pond). During this slow period, I tended the squirrels, giving them high-class nuts like pecans and hazelnuts:

Fingers crossed for a good summer and a healthy crop of ducklings!

Yes. they say that age is “just a number,” but it isn’t in one sense: the bigger the number, the closer we are to taking The Big Nap. But in the birthday/anniversary sense, yes, it’s significant—though only because humans evolved with ten digits. And Eric Clapton has one of these anniversaries: he was born on March, 30, 1945, and so turns eighty today.

I’m speaking subjectively, of course, but I consider Clapton the greatest rock guitarist of all time (Rolling Stone ranks him at #2, after Jimi Hendrix, who has a credible claim to the top spot). Further, Clapton was coauthor and performer of what I see as the greatest rock song of all time: “Layla” (note that it was recorded in 1970, when Clapton was only 25).

“Layla” is a two-part song, as you’ll hear below, with the rocking seven-note intro that identifies it immediately. Later it segues into a slow part with piano, and I usually stop listening at that point. So I guess I can say that the best rock song in history is the FIRST part of “Layla.”

It was the feature song of the only album made by one of Clapton’s groups: Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, featuring Derek and the Dominoes. Here’s that group below: (L–R: Jim Gordon, Carl Radle, Bobby Whitlock, Eric Clapton).

Atco Records, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Another reason I love “Layla” is the backstory, which every rock aficionado knows. It’s the heartfelt cry of a man in love with a woman who’s already married. She was Patti Boyd, who was married to George Harrison when Clapton fell in love with her. (Harrison and Boyd divorced two years after the song, and Clapton married her in 1979. It wasn’t the love of a lifetime, for they divorced a decade later.

This is one song where every word tells the story of that unrequited love.  Here’s a great live version (there are several), performed at Madison Square Garden in 1999, when Clapton was 54.  He hasn’t lost a lick, and the fantastic solo begins at 2:56, when he makes the guitar scream and wail, playing out his pain.

You can stop listening at 4:05, when the slow part begins, though I know some readers will find it as good as (and inseparable from) the first part.

Yes, I know that Clapton has a bit of a dark side. He’s known for bizarre behavior, including racist and anti-vaccine rants.  But long after he’s taken the Big Nap, people will still be listening to and marveling at his music. Nobody has ever played the axe better.

Clapton had tons of good songs. Some of my favorites are “Lay Down Sally” (1977), “Promises” (a ringer from 1978), and one more I’ll show below, “Badge,” (1969), co-written with George Harrison, who plays on the recorded track by Cream.  I’ll never forget the first time I heard “Badge,” which came out when I was in college; I was mesmerized by the solo.  Here it is live from 2001, with an extended solo in the middle and then another long one (not on the recording) at the end.

And so it’s a happy birthday to Slowhand!

Feel free to give your favorite Clapton song in the comments, or take issue with my ranking “Layla” as the best rock song ever (but you have to name your choice).

This being Sunday, we have a dollop of John Avise‘s photos of North American butterflies. John’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them.

Butterflies in North America, Part 16 

This week continues my 18-part series on butterflies that I’ve photographed in North America.  I’m continuing to go down my list of species in alphabetical order by common name.  The following is an anecdote rather than a controlled observation, but I wonder whether other WEIT readers have a similar impression:  Twenty years ago, butterflies of many species seem to me to have been far more abundant than they are today.

Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus), male:

Silvery Blue, male underwing:

Silvery Blue, female:

Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis):

Silvery Checkerspot, underwing:

Sleepy Duskywing (Erynnis brizo):

Sonoran Skipper (Polites sonora), upperwing:

Sonoran Skipper, underwing:

Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus):

Spring Azure (Celastrina laden):

Sylvan Hairstreak (Satyrium sylvinus):

Tailed Copper (Lycaena arota), upperwing:

Tailed Copper, underwing:

Efforts are underway to develop advanced propulsion systems that can reduce transit times to Mars and other locations in the Solar System. These include nuclear propulsion concepts, which NASA began researching again in 2016 for its proposed "Moon to Mars" mission architecture. In a recent paper, two aerospace innovators reviewed some key nuclear-electric propulsion concepts, their respective advantages, and challenges. In the end, they conclude that nuclear propulsion has the potential to revolutionize space exploration and make humanity "multiplanetary."

Deciding how to power a CubeSat is one of the greatest challenges when designing a modular spacecraft. Tradeoffs in solar panel size, battery size, and power consumption levels are all key considerations when selecting parts and mission architecture. To help with those design choices, a paper from researchers in Ethiopia and Korea describes a new machine-learning algorithm that helps CubeSat designers optimize their power consumption, ensuring these little satellites have a better chance of fulfilling their purpose.

Bill Maher’s latest news-and-comedy shtick (8½ minutes) deals with “Trump Devotion Syndrome”:  the sycophancy that imbues the cowards of America who don’t want to offend the Orange Man.  Lots of Presidential rump osculation here! Putting his image on Mount Rushmore and on American currency? But of course!

Oh, and there’s the “transgender mice” he mentioned.  (“We were splicing their genes, not making them compete in women’s sports.”) All in all, this bit is what the kids say is a “sick burn” for MAGA.  And Maher is peeved!

John McWhorter and journalist Rikki Schlott are there, too.

This is a good one; don’t miss it.

A team led by Corrado Malanga from the University of Pisa and Filippo Biondi from the University of Strathclyde recently claimed to have found huge structures beneath the Pyramids of Giza using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology.

These structures are said to be up to 10 times larger than the pyramids, potentially rewriting our understanding of ancient Egyptian history.

However, many archaeologists and Egyptologists, including prominent figures, have expressed doubt, highlighting the lack of peer-reviewed evidence and the technical challenges of such deep imaging.

Photo by Michael Starkie / Unsplash

Dr. Zahi Hawass, a renowned Egyptologist and former Egyptian Minister of Antiquities, has publicly rejected these findings, calling them “completely wrong” and “baseless,” arguing that the techniques used are not scientifically validated. Other experts, like Professor Lawrence Conyers, have questioned whether SAR can penetrate the dense limestone to the depths claimed, suggesting decades of prior studies using other methods found no such evidence.

The claims have reignited interest in fringe theories, such as the pyramids as ancient power grids or energy hubs, with comparisons to Nikola Tesla’s wireless energy transmission ideas. Mythological correlations, like the Halls of Amenti and references in the Book of the Dead, have also been drawn.

The research has not been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, which is a critical step for validation. The findings were announced via a press release on March 15, 2025, and discussed in a press conference.

What to make of it all?

For a deep dive into this fascinating claim, Skeptic magazine Editor-in-Chief Michael Shermer appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored, alongside Jay Anderson from Project Unity, archaeologist and YouTuber Dr. Flint Dibble, Jimmy Corsetti from the Bright Insight Podcast, Dan Richards from DeDunking the Past, and archaeologist and YouTuber Milo Rossi (AKA Miniminuteman).

Watch the discussion here:

Here you go: the 18 celebrity ailurophiles featured, including photos and videos of their moggies. They include Taylor Swift (of course), Drew Barrymore, Ricky Gervais, Kate Beckinsale, Katy Perry, Martha Stewart, Nicole Kidman, Ellen DeGeneres, Ed Sheeran, Mark Ruffalo, Russell Brand, Robert Downey, Jr., Miley Cyrus, Kat Dennings, James Franco, Jesse Eisenberg (he was on Team Cat when we debated at the New Yorker Festival), Mayim Bialik, and Cameron Diaz.

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From FB; a video of cats going down stairs, most of them awkwardly.. I like “Slinky Kitty”.

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Did you know that there is an American Museum of the House Cat in Sylva, North Carolina? I discovered it when Facebook foisted a short video on me. Here’s where Sylva is, and it’s not far from Asheville (birthplace and burial site of Thomas Wolfe) or Pigeon Forge (home of “Dollywood”).

Some information from the site:

The American Museum of the House Cat is dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of art, artifacts, and literature of the HouseCat for the purposes of education, historical perspective, aesthetic enjoyment, and for the significance of the unique five million year relationship between man and the domesticated feline.

The Museum was closed for several years, but opened up again in 2023, and is still active. Admission for adults is $10, and $5 for children. Here’s a ten-minute video of a visit to the Museum by “Cashew Paul”.  This looks like a MUST for all cat lovers.

I have two Chessie System playing cards: rarities (see 5:30). You need to know who Chessie is, along with her kittens Nip and Tuck and their father Peek (doesn’t he look proud?). Note also the medieval “petrified cat”, a signed Warhol cat, and a ton of cat art, clocks, ceramics, pendants, stuffed toys, and so on.  And a display of FELIX, my favorite cartoon cat.

And there’s a movie about the curator, Dr. Harold Sims, which I found on YouTube (see below). The blurb on the site:

Little Works of Art, a documentary by Kim Best, is the story of our Curator, Dr, Harold Sims.  Serving as an introduction to our American Museum of the House Cat, this short film details the love and passion Dr, Sims feels for the Cat.  The Cary Theater featured Little Works of Art for their Local Premiers Series in November of 2017.  Little Works of Art then debuted at the 1st Annual New York Cat Film Festival in December of 2017 with the awarded honor of being chosen as the title feature for the Program Two and has been touring the country throughout 2018 with stops in cities and towns from the West Coast to the East Coast delighting cat lovers everywhere.  In 2018 Little Works of Art was one of the films officially selected for the LongLeaf Film Festival held at the North Carolina Museum of History.

Voilà: “Little works of art.”  Don’t miss Dr. Sims’s passion for cats, and what he wants done with his body after he dies. And you get to see more stuff from the Cat Museum.

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Lagniappe: I saw this photo on the FB site Meow, and I needed to find out the details. I found them, of course, on YouTube, on a news report in the video below:

Meet Suki and her staff, Francesca Bourdier.  After Suki attended all the Zoom classes that Bourdier watched, Suki got her own cap and own, but not really a diploma. That’s okay, though.

Quickie with Bob: Extinction Survivors; News Items: Constructed Languages, Exercise and Brain Health, Curiosity Rover Finds Long Carbon Chains, Nanotech Lightsails, Vaccine and Autism Again; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Technology vs Magic; Science or Fiction

We have two new videos from Tara Tanaka in Florida, featuring Wood Storks mating and Great Egrets proffering sticks.  The mating looks like an ungainly act!

Tara’s captions are indented; her Vimeo site is here and her Flickr site is here).

During spring and early summer the sound of male Wood Storks clacking their beaks against the female’s beak as they mate is can be heard frequently from our yard, but we rarely see them. I videoed a pair last week, as their nest-neighbors looked on. If the male had arms, I think he would be really good at patting his head and rubbing his stomach at the same time. The light was hitting their wings in a way that you can see the beautiful iridescent green in their wing feathers that usually just look black. Click to start the videos (there’s also an arrow at lower left): My heart is so full from all of your kind comments on the Great Egret photo and the Wood Storks mating that I wanted to share a video that I shot of the male Great Egret bringing a stick to the nest. I usually shoot video at 60 fps, but switched to 120 fps so I could slow it down and you could see how beautiful his plumes are and how graceful he is as he lands. Hard to believe that many herons and egrets were almost hunted to extinction to provide feathers for women’s hats.

Enjoy this very short, slow-motion video!:

The hazards facing lunar astronauts are many. There's the radiation, the temperature extremes, the psychological challenges associated with isolation, and the risk of important equipment breaking down. But there's also the dust, which constitutes an ever-present background hazard.

Since the second world war, US economic prosperity and major technological developments have hinged upon the government’s commitment to funding scientific research. The Trump administration is ending that

Scientists have long sought to unravel the mysteries of strange metals -- materials that defy conventional rules of electricity and magnetism. Now, a team of physicists has made a breakthrough in this area using a tool from quantum information science. The study reveals that electrons in strange metals become more entangled at a crucial tipping point, shedding new light on the behavior of these enigmatic materials. The discovery could pave the way for advances in superconductors with the potential to transform energy use in the future.

Scientists have long sought to unravel the mysteries of strange metals -- materials that defy conventional rules of electricity and magnetism. Now, a team of physicists has made a breakthrough in this area using a tool from quantum information science. The study reveals that electrons in strange metals become more entangled at a crucial tipping point, shedding new light on the behavior of these enigmatic materials. The discovery could pave the way for advances in superconductors with the potential to transform energy use in the future.