On September 14, 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detected gravitational waves from the merger of two black holes 29 and 36 times the […]

The post Ligo’s Twin Black Holes Might Have Been Born Inside a Single Star appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Every few thousand years, an unlucky star wanders too close to the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The black hole’s powerful […]

The post Our Galaxy’s Black Hole is Spewing Planet-size “Spitballs” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

AUSTIN, Texas — Astronomers at The University of Texas at Austin and Harvard University have put a basic principle of black holes to the test, […]

The post Do Stars Fall Quietly into Black Holes? appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The center of our Galaxy has been intensely studied for many years, but it still harbors surprises for scientists. A snake-like structure lurking near our […]

The post Cosmic filament probes our galaxy’s giant black hole appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A team of astrophysicists and planetary scientists has predicted that Neptune-like planets located near the center of the Milky Way galaxy have been transformed into […]

The post Black hole blasts may transform “Mini-Neptunes” into rocky worlds appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Black holes sound wildly complicated. After all, there are all sorts of bizarre things going on: intense gravity, the warping of the fabric of space, the distortion of time itself. But when it comes to describing black holes, it comes down to just two numbers: the mass of the black hole and its spin. That’s right. Everything you physically need to describe a black hole is found in just these two numbers.

The post Black Holes, just two numbers is all you need… appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Silent black & white archival film clip from "Japan: Promotional and Theatrical Footage, ca. 1927". The full film, which is 17 minutes long, includes segments from what are believed to be a theatrical film, a promotional film and, possibly, amateur film - all of unknown origin.

The post Geisha Hairstyling, ca. 1927, a silent black & white archival film clip from the Smithsonian’s Human Studies Film Archives appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The value of what the United States loses because of the poorer health and earlier death experienced by the 41 million Americans who lack health insurance is estimated to be $65 billion to $130 billion every year, according to a first-ever economic analysis of the costs of uninsurance for society overall.

A congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council finds serious deficiencies in the nations forensic science system and calls for major reforms and new research.

The ocean plays a critical role in climate and weather, serving as a massive reservoir of heat and water that influences tropical storms, El Nin~o, and climate change.

Black lung disease cases in coal miners have been increasing since 2000 for uncertain reasons.

Engineering is emerging as an important topic in K-12 education in the U.S., and is being incorporated into education standards, instructional materials, and assessments.

; Credit: Michelle Lanz/KPCC

This is my Earth Day homage, with the green cotton poplin coat and the nifty closures. Couture and hardware experts! Can I beseech you to tell us what this type of closure is called? The round metal gizmo is a grommet, but what do you call the short bar at the end of a chain that goes through the grommet to secure it?

I hope there’s some fanciful medieval word for it, because in my fevered romantic brain, it has the feel of the kind of clothing closure that might have been used for a coat of mail or doublet or surcoat or cotehardie or any of a number of divinely archaic phrases for wardrobe items.
 
Can a print still be spring-y when it’s on a black background, like this one? I’ve heard that there’s a new vogue for prints in tshirts. I would welcome that, because I’m weary of the myriad dreary fan-girl T-shirts, and the clever or hip ones meant to show that you are unique, along with the other two-million people wearing the identical shirt. I’ve seen enough devil’s horns and skulls and snakes to fill the Book of Revelations, so let’s just move along, shall we?
 
These shoes I wear, but rarely. Otherwise they doze quietly in their red flannel shoe bag: my green patent-leather Louboutins. I’d coveted them since seeing them new in a shop in London, when they cost about as much as my plane ticket. I lay in wait for years for someone to put them up on eBay.

The name of the style is “Iowa.” Did the person in charge of naming styles for M. Louboutin know that Iowa is a flat agricultural state smack dab in the middle of the United States? Or perhaps he or she simply liked the esthetics of a word with three vowels and a consonant. What leads me to suspect the latter is the fact that Paris has a wanna-be TexMex cafe named “Indiana.”

When I went there, it was chockablock with images of Indians, who have nothing to do with TexMex food and are not much associated these days with the state of Indiana.
 
For the life of me, I can’t remember where I got the bracelet, but the blue-green-colored “art glass” cabochons practically glow, like that magnificent iridescence that you find in nature. It goes by the fine name ‘’goniochromism,’’ which you should really start throwing around more in general conversation. It’s the purview of butterfly wings and peacock feathers and  scarabs and abalone shells, of course, and of that changeable taffets which seems to have a recrudescence every few years on the racks of prom gowns, and probably should not.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

The number of overexploited or collapsed fish stocks in the Mediterranean Sea has been increasing at a rate of approximately 38 every 10 years between 1970 and 2010, a new study has shown. In the Black Sea, the equivalent figure is 13 stocks per decade, the researchers found. The study’s authors augmented traditional methods of stock assessments with a variety of other data sources on multiple fish species to give a more accurate overview of these marine ecosystems. These results should be used to improve conservation and management, they recommend.

DEF CON and Black Hat announced today that their upcoming security conferences in Las Vegas this summer will no longer be in-person and are instead moving to an all-virtual event. [...]

International rail vehicle construction company, Stadler, disclosed that it was the victim of a cyberattack which might have also allowed the attackers to steal company and employee data. [...]

Sustainable management of complex ecosystems requires clear understanding of uncertainty. However, scientific guidance documents show a lack of clarity and coherence regarding uncertainties and tend to focus solely on the need for more data or monitoring, new research indicates. The researchers suggest that scientific guidance should recognise uncertainty as an inherent part of any complex ecosystem.

A research group under the leadership of Linköping University Professor Markus Heilig has identified an enzyme whose production is turned off in nerve cells of the frontal lobe when alcohol dependence develops. The deficiency in this enzyme leads to continued use of alcohol despite adverse consequences.

read more

The damaging effects of sea-level rise on Black Sea beaches have been estimated in a new study. Diminishing river sediment supply caused by river dams is also an erosion threat. These new results suggest that erosion could cause over 90% of these beaches to retreat by at least 20% of their width. A publicly available database created by the researchers could be useful for developing coastal protection schemes.

Researchers have trawled coastal areas of the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea for waste and found up to 1211 items of litter per km². Plastic bags and bottles were some of the most commonly found items. They present the results in a recent study, which they say supports Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) implementation, as well as efforts to discourage plastic carrier bag use.

Reluctance to use cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in environmental decision making in Germany stems from a preference for traditional approaches and a fear that it leads to loss of influence. This is suggested by new research based on interviews with those responsible for water policy management.

The impacts of climate change in the Black Sea region are likely to affect agriculture in Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, new research suggests. The number of days of plant growth was reduced in these countries as a result of reduced precipitation, increased temperatures and low capacity for irrigation to supplement water needs. A strong legal framework is necessary to deal with conflicting future demands for water, say the researchers.

The English Channel (La Manche) is one of the world’s busiest sea areas, and management of it is a challenging task. This study reviews governance across the Channel, finding poor integration between countries, sectors, policies and research. The study also considers management in terms of the ecosystem approach and suggests that linking research between the UK and France could be key to improving marine governance.

Reliable data regarding marine debris pollution in the Black Sea are lacking. This study provides the first account of the abundance and types of litter floating in the north-western part of the Sea. This information will help to develop effective solutions for marine litter in the region and therefore to achieve the EU objective of ‘Good Environmental Status’ by 2020.

A recent study has analysed research on implementing the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in Europe and identified a number of research gaps that could be filled. For example, some countries, such as Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, have not been well studied and more research on the experiences of such countries would build up knowledge on the implementation of the WFD across Europe.

Conservation on private land in Poland is supported by less than half of landowners, a new study suggests. The authors conclude that both conservation agencies and landowners could benefit from voluntary conservation schemes, financial incentives and more participatory decision-making processes, while civic organisations could play a vital coordinating role.

Among the ecological effects of climate change are changes to the timing of natural events, such as flowering. To understand why these phenological changes affect reproduction, this study manipulated conditions in a spring herb to prompt premature flowering. This exposed the flowers to frost, and resulting damage caused dramatic reductions in plant reproduction, suggesting that climate change may threaten plant survival.

The black locust tree can be economically valuable and offer certain environmental benefits, but its dominant and invasive nature in Europe can have an adverse impact on biodiversity. A recent study, which presents an overview of this species’ ecological and socio-economic impacts in Central Europe, recommends tolerating the tree in some areas and eradicating it in others, in order to balance its co-existence with people and nature.

A recent assessment suggests that reducing black carbon emissions, produced by burning carbon-based materials, would prevent millions of premature deaths in developing countries as well as helping meet climate change mitigation targets.

New research has recorded high levels of airborne aerosol black carbon (BC) in Lithuania during two periods in 2008 and 2009. Further investigation indicated this is from smoke produced by wildfires in Ukraine and southwest Russia, which then travels northwards.

Man-made pollutants may be responsible for the expansion of the tropics in the northern hemisphere, according to recent research. Black carbon aerosols and tropospheric ozone, formed from human activities, are heating the atmosphere and shifting major atmospheric circulation patterns further north, which could create drier conditions in the subtropics.

Measures to control methane and black carbon (soot) emissions could improve air quality and public health, in addition to slowing the rate of climate change, according to recent research. By 2030, the reduced pollution could prevent between 700,000 and 4.7 million premature deaths each year, with 80% of the benefits occurring in Asia.

Air pollution from the world’s megacities not only has local impacts, but can spread to remote regions of the world. Recent research has highlighted, for example, that megacities are a source of black carbon pollution in lowest kilometre of atmosphere in the Arctic, with European megacities contributing more than others.

Increased black smoke pollution was associated with increased mortality rates almost a month after exposure in a recent study. The researchers studied death rates in relation to pollution concentrations over a 22-year period in the city of Glasgow, UK, and found significantly higher mortality rates among residents at 13-18 and 19-24 days after increased exposure to black smoke.

Measurements of individual vehicle emissions are usually made in laboratory tests. In this study, researchers followed cars driving in real conditions to measure emissions of air pollutants, including black carbon and nitrogen oxides. The study shows that diesel cars contribute disproportionately to air pollution, and highlights the value of on-road measurements.

Black List Plugin Description This is a simple utility to keep black sheep away from a public Foswiki site. The site can be protected against excessive page access ... (last changed by StefanHaller)

Government assistance appears to be crucial to keeping many from falling into housing insecurity

The 1Q results also include a $8.5B pretax charge, driven by the sharp decline in market valuations.

A minimum of four wells will be drilled in the initial program year, which starts in 3Q 2020.

As the lights went out in the Superdome, social media lit up like crazy.

The latest black hole discovery opens a whole new universe of not-so-big black holes.

A binary star system that got too close to our resident supermassive black hole paid the ultimate price.