Science

It’s ok, Darth Vader hasn’t got our humble planet in his sights! No this Death Star is a binary system where both stars are locked into an orbit which will lead to their collision, unleashing a powerful gamma-ray burst when they do. The object, WR104 is otherwise known as the ‘Pinwheel Star’ due to the presence of a spiral of dust engulfing the system. Recent observations have accurately measured the orientation of the stars and thankfully they’re not pointed at the Earth. When they do eventually collide, it’ll be someone else’s problem.

Chemical analysis suggests the 400-million-year-old fossil Prototaxites was neither plant, animal or fungus – hinting at a mysterious life form that went extinct long ago

Yep, it was inevitable that the greatest writer in the English language, but one who wrote several centuries ago, would have to be “decolonized.”  You know, of course, that Shakespeare’s plays are full of stereotypes, dirty jokes, and filthy words, and that can’t be allowed to stand. But it’s worse than that: he’s made out to be a white bigot: a sixteenth-century Nazi.

And so, according to this new piece in Spiked (click below to read), the Pecksniffs have decided to place the Bard in perspective for the public, including the fact he adhered to the ideology of white supremacy. But read Johanna Williams’s article below, largely riffing on a Torygraph article that seems credible:

Some excerpts:

What is it with Britain’s cultural custodians and their hatred of everything British? National self-loathing drips from curators and directors alike, revealed in a Tourette’s-like compulsion to blurt out ‘Decolonise!’ at everything they see. They are currently getting hot under the collar  [JAC: archived here] in the sleepy town of Stratford-upon-Avon, where they have Shakespeare’s birthplace in their sights.

The links above and in the three paragraphs below the next excerpt go to a Torygraph piece (archived here) that says this:

The claims were made in a 2022 collaborative research project between the trust and Dr Helen Hopkins, an academic at the University of Birmingham.

The research took issue with the trust’s quaint Stratford attractions, comprising the supposed childhood homes and shared family home of Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway, his wife, because the Bard was presented as a “universal” genius.

This idea of Shakespeare’s universal genius “benefits the ideology of white European supremacy”, it was claimed.

This is because it presents European culture as the world standard for high art, a standard which was pushed through “colonial inculcation” and the use of Shakespeare as a symbol of “British cultural superiority” and “Anglo-cultural supremacy”.

Veneration of Shakespeare is therefore part of a “white Anglo-centric, Eurocentric, and increasingly ‘West-centric’ worldviews that continue to do harm in the world today”.

. . . The project recommended that Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust recognise that “the narrative of Shakespeare’s greatness has caused harm – through the epistemic violence”.

The project also recommended that the trust present Shakespeare not as the “greatest”, but as “part of a community of equal and different writers and artists from around the world”.

And as the Pecksniffs kvetch, so the Birthplace Trust follows:

. . . The trust will continue looking at updating the “current and future interpretation” of objects in its collection. It will also explore how objects could be used as the focus for new interpretations which tell more international stories, in order to appeal to a more diverse audience.

It has additionally pledged to remove offensive language from its collections information, as part of a “long, thoughtful” process.

. . . The Globe Theatre in London ran a series of seminars titled Anti-Racist Shakespeare which promoted scholarship focused on the idea of race in his plays.

Academies taking part in the series made a number of claims, including that King Lear was about “whiteness”, and that the character of Prince Hamlet holds “racist” views of black people.

Back to Spiked:

Where normal people admire timber-framed houses and marvel at the schoolroom where Shakespeare learnt the classics, our cultural elites see ‘white supremacy’. Where you and I see genius in plays like King Lear, Hamlet and Othello, they see a symbol of ‘British cultural superiority’. They seem to imagine that racist thugs have swapped sharing memes on Telegram for watching Macbeth at the local theatre. Labelling the Bard as a vehicle for white supremacy really is that insane.

With hatred comes flagellation. As such, Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust – the charity tasked with preserving Shakespeare-related heritage sites in historic Stratford-upon-Avon – is now ‘decolonising’ its vast collection. This means that, just as in practically every other museum and art gallery across the UK, exhibits will be labelled to make clear ‘the continued impact of Empire’ or the ‘impact of colonialism’. In Stratford-upon-Avon, the special twist will be to show how Shakepeare’s legacy has allegedly played a part in this litany of sin.

Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust has also warned visitors that some items in its collections may contain ‘language or depictions that are racist, sexist, homophobic or otherwise harmful’. Of course they will. The past was a different time, with different attitudes and values. Shakespeare was not subjected to training in diversity, equity and inclusion. Nor was he presented with a style guide advising him as to the correct pronouns to use for his many crossdressing characters. Thank goodness.

And Williams’s conclusion, the first paragraph of which is spot on:

Just as Shakespeare is integral to being British, his work also absolutely has universal value. He portrays emotions such as joy, grief and anger, and experiences like being young, falling in love and growing old that are fundamental not to being British or even European, but to being human. This is why his legacy endures. His genius is to transcend racial, national and generational differences and point to what we have in common, rather than what divides us. That Shakespeare is English is incidental to the common humanity in his work, but it is entirely relevant to the historical circumstances that made his prodigious talent possible. To boil all this down to ‘white supremacy’ is ridiculous.

The Birthplace Trust’s real concern is to stop British people taking pride in Shakespeare and seeing his work as a symbol of ‘British cultural superiority’. It wants him to be viewed not as the ‘greatest’, but as ‘part of a community of equal and different writers and artists from around the world’. But if academics and curators really cannot say that Shakespeare’s plays are better than a Nigerian soap opera or a Brazilian drag-queen performance, then we really are in trouble. If even Shakespeare’s custodians cannot say that his work is the pinnacle of human achievement, then the Bard has no need of enemies. The barbarians are not at the gate, they are sitting in the stalls.

There is no older work that cannot be scrutinized for violations of wokeness, and they inevitably find it.  Now Shakespeare must always be put in “context” when his works are taught in schools—if they’re taught at all. After all, do we really want our kids to read plays written by a Nazi?

h/t: Ginger K.

The Odysseus spacecraft made a rough landing on the moon last year, toppling over and rendering much of its equipment unusable, but an onboard NASA radio telescope called ROLSES-1  was able to make some observations

Whether you like it or not, you’re going to look at photos of my ducks today: Esther and Mordecai. (This is the equivalent of a proud parent showing off pictures of their kid.)  They have now been here well over a week, and have settled in nicely, having learned to navigate most of the pond (except for the parts blocked by netting.)  They have also mated at least once, though mallards mate several to many times before the female finally nests.

Esther hasn’t yet started building a nest. Once she does—and I hope it’s on a windowsill instead of the ground—she will lay all her eggs, one per day, and then, when they’re all laid, she will sit tight on them, brooding them for just about 28 days, when they will all hatch within one day. And then. . . ducklings on the pond!

Although mallards are ground-nesters, somehow the Botany Pond ducks have learned to nest on the windowsills of the adjacent buildings, which affords them protection from both predators and the elements. But Esther seems to be a young and rather wild duck, and I hope she doesn’t put her nest on the ground, where predators and errant humans could disturb it.

The good news is that both ducks have learned to come to my whistle for a nosh, and when I make my characteristic call, they both come swimming towards me. This is something that’s happened only in the last two days. Ducks learn fast!  Here are some photos, all taken yesterday.

BREAKING NEWS: When I went to see the pair this morning, I couldn’t find Esther, though Mordecai was on the east side of the pond. I had a feeling, and so I looked up. Sure enough, there was Esther sitting on a ledge in a window of the second floor of Erman, the building next to the pond. She is clearly scoping out nesting spots (“nest shopping”, we call it), and so the next step in the breeding process has occurred. She will pick out a good ledge (that’s a nice one, above soft ground), build a nest, and then lay eggs. I’m glad she knows enough to nest on a ledge and not on the ground. These ducks are not dumb!  To see two films of Honey and her ducks jumping off the ledge, be sure to go here and watch the movies

Below: the pair swimming together. They are NEVER far apart, and if they get separated by too great a distance, Esther will quack loudly at Mordecai and he will come swimming to her. (He’s a good husband.)  Remember, only female mallards can make the characteristic quack that we associate with mallards.

After her swim, Esther dried off on the warm cement facing the sun:

As I’ve said, hens are particularly cute when they tilt their heads, which, given the placement of their eyes, they have to do to see above them. They often do this when a hawk or other possible predator flies overhead:

Swimming. If you haven’t seen our mallards before, the blue stripe on the wings is called the speculum, and we don’t really know why it’s there.

Mordecai swimming. His neck is stretched out because he hears something. Note his curly tail feathers:

Mordecai swimming, neck in normal position. I like the psychedelic patterns in the water:

Esther chilling (or rather, warming) on the cement edge, eastern part of pond:

Mordecai standing just a few feet away from her. He doesn’t want to neglect his reproductive investment! Note that both ducks are in good condition, healthy and plump:

As Esther jumps up onto the edge from the water, she uses her wings to assist, and you can clearly see her speculum. Each blue feather (these are called “secondary” feathers, with the “primaries” being the main flight feathers) has a white stripe on it. I still have several speculum feathers from Honey, as mallards molt and regrow all their feathers after they have babies. During this period of a few weeks, they’re unable to fly.

Spending a lot of time outdoors may be the best way to prevent myopia, or delay its progression, but this isn't always practical. Now, research suggests that bringing the outside in may be a valid workaround

Isar Aerospace is preparing to launch its Spectrum rocket from a base in Norway, which would make it the first orbital launch from continental Europe outside Russia

Stone tools are considered the first form of technology devised by ancient humans – but they might not have been invented from scratch

Tutankhamun ruled ancient Egypt shortly after a period of religious instability, and objects from his tomb suggest he took advantage to invent new funerary rituals

Fortunately, there is a better way. Millions of parents have embraced a holistic approach, one that boosts the immune system by harnessing children's innate, natural ability to prevent illness.

The post Beholden to Big Suppla, RFK Jr. Wants to Cover Up the Symptoms of Diseases With Untested, Toxic Chemicals & Drugs, Rather Than Prevent the Root Cause first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

Many of us have a brain that is older than our years. But there are plenty of things you can do to counteract this, says neuroscience columnist Helen Thomson

It’s looking more and more as if dark energy, the mysterious factor that scientists say is behind the accelerating expansion of the universe, isn’t as constant as they once thought. The latest findings from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, or DESI, don’t quite yet come up to the level of a confirmed discovery, but they’re leading scientists to rethink their views on the evolution of the universe — and how it might end.

Researchers have engineered yeast to efficiently convert methanol into D-lactic acid, a key compound for biodegradable plastics and pharmaceuticals. By optimizing gene and promoter combinations, they achieved the highest reported yield to date, offering a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based production. Their findings advance eco-friendly chemical manufacturing.

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument used millions of galaxies and quasars to build the largest 3D map of our universe to date. Combining their data with other experiments shows signs that the impact of dark energy may be weakening over time -- and the standard model of how the universe works may need an update.

A research team has achieved a new milestone in 3D X-ray imaging technology. The scientists have captured high-resolution CT scans of the interior of a large, dense object -- a gas turbine blade -- using a compact, laser-driven X-ray source. The work is part of a larger vision to leverage high-intensity lasers for a wide range of uses, from studying inertial fusion energy to generating bright beams of GeV electrons and MeV x-rays.

Somehow, we all know how a warp drive works. You're in your spaceship and you need to get to another star. So you press a button or flip a switch or pull a lever and your ship just goes fast. Like really fast. Faster than the speed of light. Fast enough that you can get to your next destination by the end of the next commercial break.

Welcome back to our five-part examination of Webb's Cycle 4 General Observations program. In the first and second installments, we examined how some of Webb's 8,500 hours of prime observing time this cycle will be dedicated to exoplanet characterization, the study of galaxies at "Cosmic Dawn," and the period known as "Cosmic Noon." Today, we'll look at programs that will leverage Webb's unique abilities to study stellar populations and the interstellar medium in galaxies.

The surfaces of the Moon, Mercury, and Mars are easily visible and are littered with crater impacts. Earth has been subjected to the same bombardment, but geological activity and weathering have eliminated most of the craters. The ones that remain are mostly only faint outlines or remnants. However, researchers in Australia have succeeded in finding what they think is the oldest impact crater on Earth.

Researchers developed a hybrid AI approach that can generate realistic images with the same or better quality than state-of-the-art diffusion models, but that runs about nine times faster and uses fewer computational resources. The tool uses an autoregressive model to quickly capture the big picture and then a small diffusion model to refine the details of the image.

Researchers developed a hybrid AI approach that can generate realistic images with the same or better quality than state-of-the-art diffusion models, but that runs about nine times faster and uses fewer computational resources. The tool uses an autoregressive model to quickly capture the big picture and then a small diffusion model to refine the details of the image.