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Scientists have made major strides in predicting rapidly intensifying storms over the past decade, but even the best tech can't keep up as climate change fuels rapidly intensifying storms

The Perseid meteor shower lasts from mid-July until the end of August, and it is one of the most impressive displays of shooting stars there is – here is your guide to spotting it

One of the biggest lacunae on Wikipedia is its lack of an entry on Natasha Hausdorff, a London barrister and expert on international law who happens to work with the UK Lawyers for Israel. She has a sterling background:

She holds law degrees from Oxford and Tel Aviv Universities and was a Fellow in the National Security Law Programme at Columbia Law School. Natasha previously worked for Skadden Arps, in London and Brussels and clerked for the President of the Israeli Supreme Court, Chief Justice Miriam Naor, in Jerusalem. She regularly briefs politicians and international organisations and has spoken at Parliaments across Europe and at the United Nations.

Hausdorff is, along with Douglas Murray, one of the most eloquent and articulate spokespeople for Israel.  In this Triggernometry interview, highlighted by a reader today, and which I watched during lunch, Hausdorff debunks several of the Big Lies that propel opposition to Israel: Genocide, Apartheid, and Occupation—all at bottom expressions of antisemitism and, according to Hausdorff, expressions of modern “blood libel.”

I have watched so much Hausdorff that her arguments here aren’t that new to me, but I love to hear her speak. Like Pinker, she speaks in complete sentences and paragraphs. For those of you who don’t know how international law applies to Hamas vs. Israel, you could do worse than watch this one-hour interview of Hausdorff with hosts Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster . The hosts don’t ask softball questions, but they do allow the interviewee to express her views.  Don’t miss the Jew-hating Palestinian propaganda clips interpolated in the interview!

As for me, I’m sick to death today of the endless hatred and bickering about politics, hatred that doesn’t seem to be diminishing despite everybody’s calls for comity after the assassination attempt on Trump. Rather than express my own malaise and grumpiness, I’ll just ask readers to read and follow the posting Roolz if they haven’t. Please pay attention to the rules about civility towards other commenters and the host, as well as the rule about dominating threads.

And now, I give you someone who’s always civil. I’ll be back tomorrow with, I hope, a better disposition, as well as a science post and who knows what else.

Research achieves scientific breakthrough in understanding cell division.

Our immune system is always on alert, detecting and eliminating pathogens and cancer cells. Cellular control mechanisms cause diseased cells to present antigens on their surface like signs for the immune system. For analysis of the necessary complex antigen processing and transport processes in real time, researchers have developed a 'cage' that is opened with light to release trapped antigens at a specific place and time.

Researchers have been the first to demonstrate that not just individual bits, but entire bit sequences can be stored in cylindrical domains: tiny, cylindrical areas measuring just around 100 nanometers. As the team reports, these findings could pave the way for novel types of data storage and sensors, including even magnetic variants of neural networks.

Researchers have been the first to demonstrate that not just individual bits, but entire bit sequences can be stored in cylindrical domains: tiny, cylindrical areas measuring just around 100 nanometers. As the team reports, these findings could pave the way for novel types of data storage and sensors, including even magnetic variants of neural networks.

A new study on common food aromas may help explain why astronauts report that meals taste bland in space and struggle to eat their normal nutritional intake. This research has broader implications for improving the diets of isolated people, including nursing home residents, by personalizing aromas to enhance the flavor of their food.

Carbon capture is a promising approach for mitigating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Different materials have been used to capture CO2 from industrial exhaust gases. Scientists developed hybrid CO2 capture materials containing sodium carbonate and nanocarbon prepared at different temperatures, tested their performance, and identified the optimal calcination temperature condition. They found that the hybrid material exhibits and maintains high CO2 capture capacity for multiple regeneration cycles at a lower temperature, making it cost- and energy-effective.

When natural gas leaks from a subsurface pipeline, a ground cover of water/snow saturation, asphalt paving or a combination of these can cause the gas to migrate away from the leak site up to three to four times farther than through dry soil, a new study has found. A research team also found that these surface conditions can impact the speed of the leaked gas, as well, traveling 3.5 times faster than an equivalent leak under dry soil conditions.

New research shows that ozone concentrations at Carlsbad Caverns National Park frequently exceed Environmental Protection Agency health standards, likely due to oil and natural gas development in the Permian Basin and surrounding region.

A new study has unveiled surprising findings about mercury pollution: where it comes from and how it moves through the environment vary significantly depending on the ecosystem. In drier regions, most mercury is deposited through rain and snow. In wetter, forested areas, gaseous mercury from the air sticks to leaves, which then fall and carry the toxin into the ground.

A new study shows that an AI tool can draft responses to patients' EHR queries as accurately as their human healthcare professionals, and with greater perceived 'empathy.'

A new study of radar experiment data from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn has yielded fresh insights related to the makeup and activity of the liquid hydrocarbon seas near the north pole of Titan, the largest of Saturn's 146 known moons.

Physicists are developing quantum microscopy which enables them for the first time to record the movement of electrons at the atomic level with both extremely high spatial and temporal resolution. Their method has the potential to enable scientists to develop materials in a much more targeted way than before.

A strange 'garden sprinkler-like' jet coming from a neutron star has been pictured for the first time. The S-shaped structure is created as the jet changes direction due to the wobbling of the disc of hot gas around the star -- a process called precession, which has been observed with black holes but, until now, never with neutron stars.

The liquid hydrocarbon seas, lakes and rivers on Titan have varying compositions and signs of active tides or currents

To even out the intermittent power supply from wind and solar, we need to build vast energy storage facilities. It turns out the best solution might be cheap, simple ideas like heating bricks and lifting weights

The official definition of a planet, which famously saw Pluto demoted to dwarf planet status in 2006, doesn't really work for worlds outside of our solar system. Now there is a fix – but Pluto is still left out

James Blilie came through with a photo contribution, but of course we need more.  The captions for James’s photos for today (taken yesterday in Oregon) are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them:

These photos are from this morning (15-Jul-2024), taken on an easy hike to Wahclella Falls in the Columbia River Gorge, near our home.

Our son Jamie is home from WSU Pullman for the summer and is mostly working; but we hike at least once a week on his days off.

This is a pretty easy hike to a spectacular 60-foot high waterfall.  It’s close to Portland, Oregon, so it gets lots of traffic.  If you don’t like crowds, go any time other than Memorial Day through Labor Day!  I was able to exclude the large numbers of tourists by careful framing and waiting.

The creek that goes over the falls is Tanner Creek and it is known by local birders as a good spot to see American Dippers (Cinclus mexicanus; a.k.a. water ouzels). Today fully justified that reputation.  We found Dippers all along the stream, including a juvenile bird that was (successfully) begging food from its parent.  All the photos of the Dippers are taken by our my son, Jamie, the family wildlife photographer.  Dippers get their name from their odd behavior of “dipping” up and down on their legs, perhaps signaling to other birds.

First some stage-setting:  Photos of the hike that I took.  At the lower end of the trail.  A basic view of falls.

Next, some basic portraits of the Dippers.

Then photos of Dippers foraging on rocks in the fast moving water of the stream.  The insects or insect larvae they were feeding on seemed to be abundant.  In one photo, the bird seems to have shining necklace of water and it shakes the water off its feathers.  These birds swim very readily and they are fast under water.

Then photos of the juvenile Dipper begging from its parent.  One photo showing it calling for food.  The other shows the parent at upper left and the juvenile at lower right:

Finally my photo of the bird photographer (Homo sapiens) at work with the falls behind him.

 

Equipment:

Jamie:  Nikon D5600 (crop factor = 1.5), Sigma 150-600mm 5-6.3 DG OS HSM Lens (225mm-900mm equivalent; quite a sharp lens), Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3G ED lens, Nikkor AF-S VR Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED Lens (an amazingly sharp lens that goes 1:1 macro and is a great portrait lens)

Me:  Olympus OM-D E-M5 (micro 4/3 camera, crop factor = 2.0), LUMIX G X Vario, 12-35mm, f/2.8 ASPH.  (24mm-70mm equivalent), LUMIX 35-100mm  f/2.8 G Vario  (70-200mm equivalent)