Stephan: A major breakthrough has just occurred, a second confirmation of gravity waves. It won't get covered much by the media, but this is a very big deal. Here are the relevant facts.
For the second time in history, scientists have directly detected gravitational waves. And just like that, a new era of astronomy is underway.
Like the first gravitational wave detected, scientists believe that the signal was created by the collision of two black holes, albeit a completely different binary black hole system than the first.
Both signals were detected at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO). The LIGO team is made up of researchers from MIT and Caltech who led the design and construction and work together to operate the facility.
After ruling out any other possible source for the detected ripple, the LIGO team determined that the wave matched a single scenario among a bank of hundreds of thousands of known waveform possibilities: the collision of two black holes colliding at half the speed of light, 1.4 billion light years away.
“The first event was so beautiful that we almost couldn’t believe it. Now, the fact of having seen another gravitational wave proves that indeed we are observing a population of binary black holes in the universe. We […]
Emma Graham-Harrison, Reporter - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: Here is some good news about how a poor city in Bangladesh cleaned up some of the worst air pollution in the world.
RAJSHAHI, BANGLADESH — Once upon a time, the sweltering summer in Rajshahi was made worse by a familiar factor on the Asian subcontinent. Windows would have to be bolted shut, not because of the wind or monsoon, but because of the smog.
Dust drummed up from dry riverbeds, fields and roads, and choking smog from ranks of brick kilns on the edge of town helped to secure the place a spot in the top tier of the world’s most polluted cities.
Then suddenly Rajshahi, in Bangladesh, hit a turning point so dramatic that it earned a spot in the record books: last year, according to UN data, the town did more than any other worldwide to rid itself of air particles so harmful to human health.
“We didn’t know about this,” admits Ashraful Haque, the city’s chief engineer, who like some of his fellow residents is rather bemused by the achievement.
Rajshahi does not have a large industrial area, and it is too poor to have streets clogged with cars. Instead, Haque believes it was the campaign to clean up the Read the Full Article
Stephan: Since the trend to equip police with body cameras began I have been looking for research on the effects of this policy. This is the first study from a reliable source that I have seen and its findings suggest this policy is more subtle and complex than was anticipated.
For me this was the principal finding: "Researchers found that during shifts with cameras in which officers stuck closer to the protocol, police use-of-force fell by 37% over camera-free shifts. During shifts in which officers tended to use their discretion, police use-of-force actually rose 71% over camera-free shifts."
Preliminary results from eight UK and US police forces reveal rates of assault against officers are 15% higher when they use body-worn cameras. The latest findings, from one of the largest randomised-controlled trials in criminal justice research, highlight the need for cameras to be kept on and recording at all stages of police-public interaction — not just when an individual officer deems it necessary — if police use-of-force and assaults against police are to be reduced.
New evidence from the largest-yet series of experiments on use of body-worn cameras by police has revealed that rates of assault against police by members of the public actually increased when officers wore the cameras.
The research also found that on average across all officer-hours studied, and contrary to current thinking, the rate of use-of-force by police on citizens was unchanged by the presence of body-worn cameras, but a deeper analysis of the data showed that this finding varied depending on whether or not officers chose when to turn cameras on.
If officers turned cameras on and off during their shift then use-of-force increased, whereas if […]
Stephan: Did you ever think that in your life time the question one used to ask before traveling internationally, Can you drink the water? would have no clear answer. Two thousand American municipal water systems show elevated levels of lead in the water they provide -- I just read a report about Portland, Oregon -- and the number is growing. What is the response of the leaders we have elected to protect our interests? Basically nothing.
Credit: www.vernkummersplumbing.com
It’s been 777 days since Michigan switched Flint’s water supply from Detroit to Flint River and residents began complaining that it looked, tasted, and smelled wrong; 478 days since a Flint resident informed the Environmental Protection Agency that her water contained high levels of lead; and 157 days since Republican Governor Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency.
The U.S. Congress still hasn’t passed any aid to help Flint, or for any of the other communities that could use it.
Senate Republicans on Thursday abandoned an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would allocate $1.9 billion for lead-free clean water infrastructure across the country and in Flint. Before this bill, the Senate didn’t add aid onto a comprehensive energy package because Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) blocked the amendment.
Not only does the water in Flint still contain lead — which leads to physical and developmental problems in adults and children — it could take up to eight years and more than $200 million to replace the damaged pipes that lead to the crisis. And the water in Flint isn’t just dangerous, it’s also expensive: A report by Food and […]
Stephan: The decline of the bees has direct and immediate implications for the wellbeing of the human race. One would think that this clear connection would prove to be a compelling reason to do everything possible to support the health of bees. But no. In the U.S. nothing is more important than profit. Here is a fact based story on this dreadful truth.
To spread public awareness about how bee colony collapse is threatening the nation’s food supply—and the role that chemicals play in their demise—a truck driven by Minnesota beekeeper James Cook is currently hauling 2.5 million dead bees across the country. Credit: Mickey Faulkner/cc/flickr
Despite the abundance of scientific studies documenting the rapid and dangerous decline of pollinator populations, state and federal lawmakers have yet to pass any meaningful protections for bees.
The reason, according to the findings of a new investigation, is that pesticide giants such as Bayer, Monsanto, and Syngenta have deployed an aggressive lobbying campaign to dilute and suppress attempts to regulate their multi-billion dollar industry—with great success.
Published by environmental watchdog Friends of the Earth, the report (pdf) exposes “how the pesticide […]
For the second time in history, scientists have directly detected gravitational waves. And just like that, a new era of astronomy is underway.
Preliminary results from eight UK and US police forces reveal rates of assault against officers are 15% higher when they use body-worn cameras. The latest 
