Vice on DART, Harvard on the 'Armageddon causing comet' that killed the dinosaurs, and more asteroid news for Apophis Day

Today is Apophis Day, when I report on the perils of space. In particular, I concentrate on potential threats from asteroids, as the asteroid Apophis will fly by Earth twice on this date, first in 2029 and again in 2036, hence my name for the day. Since I like some hope along with my DOOM, I also write about possible solutions. On that note, watch How NASA Plans to Save Earth from Asteroids | The Space Show by Vice News.

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test is NASA's first test of a "kinetic impactor" that could one day be used to save Earth from an incoming asteroid. Andy Rivkin, an asteroid expert with The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, explains how to smash into giant space rocks and possibly save human civilization.

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission looks promising. Preparations should be well under way by Asteroid Day, so I expect that I will be writing about the mission again at the end of June.

One of the main reasons asteroids rank so highly among doomsday scenarios is the discovery that an asteroid impact caused the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. Dinosaurs and disaster — that's a combination that attracts attention! Harvard University reported a new finding about the Origin of the Armageddon causing comet.

A new theory from Avi Loeb and Amir Siraj explains the origin of the comet that killed the dinosaurs

So a big comet nucleus made of carbonaceous chondrite, not a stony asteroid, hit the Earth 66 million years ago. That shows both the blurriness of the boundary between comets and asteroids and that comets are as big a threat as asteroids. I'll keep that in mind for future posts about asteroids.

Follow over the jump for two more videos reporting the latest news about asteroids.

HIV news for World AIDS Day

Yesterday (which is still today from Chicago west to the Aleutians) was World AIDS Day.  I marked it a week late last year, when I posted AIDS: The pandemic in our midst. This year, I'm observing it along with the western two-thirds of North America and all of the eastern Pacific, so I'm not completely tardy.

Like last year, I'm sharing the news stories from Overnight News Digests, this time going back to The Archdruid on Ebola and other epidemic news, the last time I mentioned the disease.  I begin with two stories about in utero HIV transmission.

SUNY Stony Brook: Dr. Sharon Nachman Leads Network Involving NIH-Sponsored Study that Identifies Superior Drug Regimen for Preventing Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission

Stony Brook, NY – November 24, 2014 – The results of an international clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has found that taking a three-drug regimen during pregnancy prevents mother-to-child HIV transmission more effectively than taking a single drug during pregnancy, another during labor, and two more after giving birth.

“This study will help us to understand the safety and toxicity of these specific regimens in HIV positive pregnant women and their children,” said Dr. Nachman, Associate Dean of Research and Professor of Pediatrics at Stony Brook Medicine, and the Principal Investigator of the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) network, which conducts the PROMISE (Promoting Maternal Infant Survival Everywhere) Study. “As these women and children are followed, we will learn more about the long-term issues that may arise from these medications.”

Wayne State University: Research shows anti-HIV medicines can cause damage to fetal hearts
Just-published findings in the journal AIDS raise concern about potential long-term harmful impact of “antiretroviral therapy” on in-utero infants whose mothers are HIV-positive, but who are not infected with HIV themselves.
November 19, 2014

DETROIT, Mich., Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014 – A study by a Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit Medical Center research team is shedding new light on the troubling question of whether the drugs often given to HIV-positive pregnant women can cause significant long-term heart problems for the non-HIV-infected babies they carry.

The study recently published in the journal AIDS shows that while the HIV medications have been successful in helping to prevent the transmission of the virus from mother to infant, they are associated with persistently impaired development of heart muscle and reduced heart performance in non-HIV-infected children whose mothers received the medicines years earlier.

“What our study indicates is that there’s potentially a long-term price to be paid for protecting the children of HIV-infected mothers from the virus,” said Steven Lipshultz, M.D., pediatrician-in-chief at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan and chair of pediatrics for the Wayne State University School of Medicine. Dr. Lipshultz is a specialist in the study of long-term toxic cardiac effects among children affected by cancer and HIV drug therapies.

Follow over the jump for more stories from the past three months in reverse chronological order.

Biofuel crops can be good for the environment and other biofuels research

Normally, I'm skeptical about biofuels, but that's primarily because the main biofuel in the U.S. is corn ethanol, which I have characterized for years as an energy indepence strategy, not a sustainability strategy.  It doesn't help that pretty much all the increased corn production during the past decade has gone into gas tanks.  In one of the first entries on this blog, I described "converting corn into ethanol" as "a big energy loser."  On the other hand, I followed that by writing that it would be "less of a loser if ethanol comes from cellulose in the stalks and leaves instead of the grain, as cellulosic ethanol requires less fertilizer than grain ethanol."

I'd be even more optimistic if the enthanol and other biofuels came from something other than corn.  Fortunately, two stories I included in last week's Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Nobel Prizes 2014) on Daily Kos gave me even more reason for optimism, as they show the biofuel crops can be good for the environment even if they aren't burned for fuel.

First, Liz Ahlberg, writing for the University of Illinois, reported Bioenergy crops could store more carbon in soil.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In addition to providing renewable energy, grass crops like switchgrass and miscanthus could store some of the carbon they pull from the atmosphere in the soil, according to a new study by University of Illinois researchers.

The study compared soil dynamics – the ratio of carbon to nitrogen and microbial activity – of bioenergy crops with that of a standard corn-corn-soybean rotation. They found that in bioenergy crops, a certain threshold of plant matter left in the field after harvest lets much more carbon accumulate in the soil.

Led by civil and environmental engineering professor Praveen Kumar, the researchers published their findings in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

Next, Kelly April Tyrell, writing for the University of Wisconsin passed along the good news about Balancing birds and biofuels: Grasslands support more species than cornfields.

In Wisconsin, bioenergy is for the birds. Really.

In a study published today in the journal PLOS ONE, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) scientists examined whether corn and perennial grassland fields in southern Wisconsin could provide both biomass for bioenergy production and bountiful bird habitat.

The research team found that where there are grasslands, there are birds. Grass-and-wildflower-dominated fields supported more than three times as many bird species as cornfields, including 10 imperiled species found only in the grasslands. These grassland fields can also produce ample biomass for renewable fuels.

Monica Turner, UW-Madison professor of zoology, and study lead author Peter Blank, a postdoctoral researcher in her lab, hope the findings help drive decisions that benefit both birds and biofuels, too, by providing information for land managers, farmers, conservationists and policy makers as the bioenergy industry ramps up, particularly in Wisconsin and the central U.S.

Both of those are good news and make me more favorably disposed to (non-corn) biofuels.

Follow over the jump for the biofuel news from Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Ebola in the U.S.).

Predictions about Ebola coming true

It's been two weeks since The Archdruid on Ebola and other epidemic news, so it's time for another update.

First, this video from Discovery News: Everything You Need To Know About Ebola In Under 3 Minutes.

The current Ebola outbreak is the worst in history, and there are a lot of myths about this virus floating around. Julian is here to figure out what is fact, and what is fiction.

Now that the general introduction is out of the way, on September 19, 2014, Arizona State University posted Research predicts possible 6,800 new Ebola cases this month.

New research published in the online journal PLoS Outbreaks predicts new Ebola cases could reach 6,800 in West Africa by the end of the month if new control measures are not enacted.

Arizona State University and Harvard University researchers also discovered through modeling analysis that the rate of rise in cases significantly increased in August in Liberia and Guinea, around the time that a mass quarantine was put in place, indicating that the mass quarantine efforts may have made the outbreak worse than it would have been otherwise.

Deteriorating living and hygiene conditions in some of the quarantined areas sparked riots last month. Sierra Leone began a three day country-wide quarantine today, where all citizens have been asked to stay at home, said Sherry Towers, research professor for the ASU Simon A. Levin Mathematical, Computational and Modeling Sciences Center (MCMSC) in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Tomorrow is the end of the month, so it's time to see if that prediction is coming true.  In Liberia's top doctor in quarantine after assistant dies of Ebola, Reuters reported the latest.

The latest figures from the World Health Organization show that the death toll from the worst outbreak of Ebola on record has killed at least 3,091 people, out of 6,574 probable, suspected and confirmed cases.

Pretty close, especially since the numbers came out on Saturday.  I'm sure four more days would push the number of cases to and probably past 6,800.

As for the future, another Reuters report passed along these grim projections.

WHO said earlier this week the total number of infections could reach 20,000 by November, months earlier than previously forecast. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned between 550,000 and 1.4 million people might be infected in the region by January if nothing was done.

The Archdruid is right to be concerned about Ebola.  He concluded his response to a comment of mine on Dark Age America: The Senility of the Elites on the topic.

I probably need to do a post here on the likely role of pandemic disease in the transition to the deindustrial dark age. Given that Ebola cases are doubling every twenty days at this point, that may be a more immediately relevant point than most people like to think.

I hope he follows through.  If so, it wouldn't be the first time one of my comments prompted him to explore a topic.  I did it before when I inspired The Archdruid to write about Steampunk.  That's when I wrote the following to him.

On my blog, I've written that interacting with you has been good for my writing.  I'm glad to see that the reverse has been true for you, too.

May that continue to be so.

Healthier and more sustainable cities

Time to revisit the topic of The intersection of public health and the environment, how to design cities that are healthier and more sustainable.  I begin with research from the University of Connecticut I originally included in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Shark Week) on Daily Kos: Older Cities May Be Good for Your Health by Colin Poitras on August 12, 2014.

Older cities with compact neighborhoods that encourage walking and biking are generally healthier places to live than many newer cities with wide, multi-lane streets designed for cars, a new study by researchers at the University of Connecticut and University of Colorado-Denver shows.

The researchers looked at street network patterns in 24 medium-sized California cities with populations between 30,000 and 100,000. They then looked for correlations between street patterns and network density and health outcomes such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and asthma.

The health data was gleaned from about 50,000 adults who completed the California Health Interview Survey over multiple years.

What they found was that the more intersections a city had, the better people living there generally felt. An increased intersection density was significantly linked to reduction in obesity at the neighborhood level and in obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease at the city level.

Pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods are good for their residents health.  It's one of the reasons why I enjoy living where I do, because it's probably the most walkable neighborhood I've ever lived in.

Follow over the jump for two more articles from Arizona State University I used in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Bardarbunga eruption).

Space photographs as art and other space and astronomy news

It's that time of the week again. This week, the stories I'm featuring aren't about scientific discoveries or space flights, at least night directly. Instead, they're about how the photos that document scientific discoveries and space flight make for great art, as well as educational opportunities.


University of Arizona: Adam Block and the Cosmic Canvas
Adam Block, astrophotographer and astronomy educator with the UA's Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter, has been selected to receive the Advanced Imaging Conference Hubble Award to honor his work in "bringing the cosmos to the people."
By Daniel Stolte, University Communications
October 29, 2012

Adam Block, astrophotographer and astronomy educator with the University of Arizona's Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter, has been selected to receive the Advanced Imaging Conference Hubble Award to honor his work in "bringing the cosmos to the people." Block received the award at the annual Advanced Imaging Conference held Oct. 26-28 in San Jose, Calif.
...
NASA regularly features his images on its "Astronomy Picture of the Day" website, such as this image of Reflection Nebula vdB1 (used as the illustration above--P.S.). Hundreds of Block's photos have appeared in magazines such as National Geographic, Scientific American, Astronomy, Sky & Telescope, Arizona Highways, Coelum, Astronomie and The Practical Astronomer. Space.com has featured a score of his images as its image of the day.

"Adam's pictures draw people in and facilitate their thinking about science," said Alan Strauss, director of the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter. "One of the things that distinguishes our outreach efforts from similar public programs is that Adam's photographs are used so widely. The images are beautiful, and they awaken a curiosity and an appreciation of science in general, and astronomy specifically."

Arizona State University: Moon and art go hand in hand
October 29, 2012

To patrons of fine art, space might seem like a foreign frontier but the monOrchid art gallery in downtown Phoenix will bring the two together when it hosts dozens of images taken from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC).

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA mission that is a precursor to the return of humans to the Moon. LROC, which is one of seven instruments aboard the orbiter, is run from the Tempe campus by principal investigator Mark Robinson.

This unusual exhibit will feature LROC images of the Moon depicting impact craters, ancient lava flows and the Apollo landing site where astronauts first stepped onto the lunar surface. The exhibit will premiere Nov. 2, during the First Friday art walk in downtown Phoenix, and remain open from 5 to 10 p.m. every Friday in November. MonOrchid is located at 214 E. Roosevelt St., in downtown Phoenix.

“The Moon is a really beautiful place,” said Robinson, creator of the exhibit. “These are like Ansel Adams images of the Moon.”

For the rest of last week's space news from Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Sandy's aftermath edition) on Daily Kos, follow over the jump.

Debates by proxy on science and energy plus other election news from Overnight News Digest

Time for the last compilation of pre-election news from campuses on the campaign trail collected in Overnight News Digest on Daily Kos.


I'll begin with this pair of articles from Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (2012 Nobel Prizes edition) about the two major party candidates' planks on energy, environment, and space. I was planning on making these a centerpiece of a response to Kunstler's kvetching on his blog about how the major party candidates were ignoring the real problems of the country. Instead, I used the minor party debate as a reply that someone, if not Obama and Romney, was attempting to do what Kunstler wanted.

Firist, Arizona State University asks Whose science and tech platform is better?
October 6, 2012

As the election nears, much focus is dedicated to the presidential campaign platforms on the economy and the federal budget. Both candidates publicly champion the advancement of science and technology, and recognize scientific progress as a cornerstone of the American economy and way of life. However, minimal attention is given to the specifics of the science and tech platforms.

ASU physicist and author Lawrence Krauss is helping to draw attention to these specifics via a two-part series on Future Tense at Slate magazine.

The first article, Bombing the Test, touches on climate change and the environment, with the majority focused on the current state of the United States' nuclear weapon arsenal and missile defense.
...
In a second piece, Krauss asks, “Whose Space Exploration Policy Is Better—Obama’s or Romney’s?"

As a scientist, environmentalist, and space enthusiast, the answers to these questions are quite important to me, although if the GOP were serious about any of them, they'd have nominated either Huntsman or Gingrich, who has a clear, consistent, but wrong platform on energy, an interest in science, and a love of space exploration. Even so, he would still have made it easy for me to vote for Obama.

The energy debate, which was hidden inside Slate's explanation of the dueling positions of the major parties, became more explicit in this piece from the University of Colorado, Denver: Students speak their mind in energy policy debate
Natural gas production also a hot topic at third annual Energy Moving Forward forum
By Chris Casey
October 12, 2012

DENVER -- Just hours before the vice presidential candidates sparred in a lively debate on Thursday night, barely touching on energy policy, an equally spirited discussion struck on that very topic, courtesy of the third annual Energy Moving Forward forum.

A panel exchanged partisan blows in "The Future We Want: Student Perspectives on Energy Policy and its Ramifications," part of the half-day conference held in the Terrace Room at the University of Colorado Denver. About 200 business professionals attended.
...
The Republican side criticized President Obama's "all-of-the-above" energy policy, saying it obstructs oil and gas production with unnecessary regulations and squanders largess on the renewables sector. The Democrats argued that renewables are the energy of the future and that leaving energy regulation to individual states muddles accountability and imperils the environment.

That last paragraph pretty much sums up the debate. I'm on the Democrats' side on this one, while I think the Republicans are being a bunch of fossil fools. Just the same it's worth reading the rest of the report to see the talking points and supporting details of both sides.

Follow over the jump for two more stories from Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Sandy's aftermath edition), including press releases about a book describing the psychology of extremism and a hotline for people who think they've been denied the right or opportunity to vote.

Election news from campuses in the swing states

Here's this week's collection of election news from state universities in swing states that I originally included in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Frankenstorm edition) on Daily Kos. Hey, I'm an environmentalist; I recycle.

First, the most popular of the political stories that I tweeted as I put together last Saturday's OND.


Purdue University: Prof: Election season makes it hard to like some Facebook friends
October 25, 2012

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — People dropping Facebook friends over political differences is a reminder that some of those so-called friendships are virtual, not the face-to-face type, says a Purdue University communication professor.

"Facebook friendships are often diluted, because the reality of managing dozens, hundreds or thousands of these friendships is just not possible," says Glenn Sparks, who studies mass media effects and interpersonal relationships. "That's why people are easily surprised when some of their Facebook friends post or like different political candidates or issues. It begs the question of how well do you really know these people. And, it also explains why people can quickly dismiss these connections."

Sparks, who is co-author of "Refrigerator Rights: Our Crucial Need for Close Connection," says the ease of dropping these social media friends is a reminder that weaker social connections should not be a replacement for face-to-face interactions.

Take heart. The election will be over in less than a week. With any luck, your Facebook feed will return to normal after that.

Follow over the jump for more stories from the three Arizona universities, University of Colorado, and Iowa State University.

Happy Halloween from Crazy Eddie the Motie!

For your amusement, I present the Halloween stories that I included in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Frankenstorm edition) and Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (2012 Nobel Prizes edition) on Daily Kos.

Scientific American: Trick or Theory: 6 Halloween Costumes for Science Nerds [Slide Show]

This year, when choosing your spooky guise, channel your empirical side

Arizona State University: The monsters among us
Posted: October 25, 2012

Hollywood is quick to cash in on what’s popular, but why do themes gain popularity in the first place? Does the prevalence of a certain monster reflect what’s going on in our society today?

“I would argue that monsters in literature, in general, are almost always indicative of things we fear in a sort of collective sense,” says Cajsa Baldini, a senior lecturer in the English Department of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Baldini is well-versed in classic monsters and their cultural significance. She teaches a course on 19th century fiction, which covers monstrous tales such as Mary Shelley’s "Frankenstein" and "The Island of Doctor Moreau" by H.G. Wells. Both novels are steeped in themes of technology out of control and the ethical implications of science.

Purdue University: Halloween films can be scarier than you think: What parents should know
October 11, 2012

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Scary movies with increasingly realistic visual effects can significantly frighten children of all ages, says a Purdue University mass media effects expert.

"This time of year there are a number of films vying for the Halloween season, and parents need to be careful because paranormal themes can be upsetting for children who are trying to sort out what is real and not real," says Glenn Sparks, professor of communication, who studies the effects of frightening images. "Reality can be just as frightening as fantasy for children ages 7-11, and they don't yet have the coping systems to handle such fear."

Sparks encourages parents to look beyond the age-based movie rating system for more information about a film's content, especially potentially frightening images. Parents can research the film in advance by using resources such as http://www.kids-in-mind.com/

Finally, this bit of trick or treating from Belle and the Beast as Princess Leia and Chewbacca.


Hat/tip to Brad DeLong, who posted Lucasfilm Acquired by Disney and linked to Disney Acquires Lucasfilm; Promises Star Wars VII in 2015; Lucas Passes “To a New Generation of Filmmakers” at The Mary Sue. Wow, that's both a nice trick and a great treat!

Endeavour's last flight and other space and astronomy news

I've delayed long enough in posting the space and astronomy news from last week's Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (2012 IgNobel Prizes edition) on Daily Kos, so here it is. The top story is the transcontinental flight of space shuttle Endeavour to its new home in a California museum.

NASA Television on YouTube: Endeavour Goes Cross-Country on This Week @NASA

Atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, Endeavour completes its journey from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Los Angeles, where it'll go on display at the California Science Center next month. Also, Shuttle Social, Curiosity Cruises, Helping Hangout, Ride Remembered, and more.

I have more from the University of Arizona on YouTube, which was fortunate enough to have a flyover by request.

Space Shuttle Endeavour Flies Over UA Mall
 

On it's way to retirement at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, the space shuttle Endeavour few over the University of Arizona as thousands of students, faculty and staff looked on. Mark Kelly, the last person to command a mission aboard the shuttle, requested the UA visit in honor of his wife, former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Viewers on the UA Mall cheered and took photographs of the shuttle as it passed.

This completes the previous chapter in human space flight by the U.S. May there be another one so that our society does not act out the tragic science fiction plot of losing the ability to travel to space as a sign of a declining technological civilization.

More news from the asteroid belt to college campuses over the jump

Election news from campuses on the campaign trail

In Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (End of primary season edition) last night on Daily Kos, I marked the end of a series.

Between now and the end of the primary/caucus season, Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday will highlight the research stories from the public universities in each of the states having elections and caucuses during the week (or in the upcoming weeks if there is no primary or caucus that week). Tonight's edition highlights the science, space, environment, health, and energy stories from universities in the states of Delaware, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island (list from Politics1.com) and will be the last to do so, as primary season is over.

As for what will replace that series, I plan on replacing it with featuring the research of public universities in swing states, with the additions of states hosting presidential and vice-presidential debates. As of right now, that would mean stories from Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia, along with Kentucky and New York the weeks surrounding the vice-presidential debate in Danville, Kentucky on October 11th and the second presidential debate in at Hofstra University in New York on October 16th. The schedule shows the other two debates are already in swing states, Colorado and Florida. If other states come into play, I might add them. In particular, I'm keeping a close eye on Wisconsin, not only because Paul Ryan might once again make that state close, but because the University of Wisconsin provides good stories.

Enough of my plans for the future. Follow over the jump for the beginning of my celebration of the end of this series with election news for the past month originally included in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Curiosity's first destination edition), Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Labor Day weekend edition), and Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (35th Anniversary of Voyager 1 edition).

Another possibly habitable exoplanet and other space and astronomy stories

Time for the past week's space and astronomy stories from Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Labor Day weekend edition) on Daily Kos, which had the same lead story.

Another potentially habitable world emerges
Planet orbits a common dwarf star, suggesting more may be out there
By Nadia Drake
Web edition : Friday, August 31st, 2012

BEIJING — A potentially habitable planet has been discovered orbiting the star Gliese 163, 50 light-years away. The planet is bigger than Earth — roughly seven times as massive — and resides near the inner edge of the star’s habitable zone, Thierry Forveille of France’s Observatoire de Grenoble reported on August 30 at the International Astronomical Union’s general assembly meeting. Depending on its composition and how insulating its atmosphere is, the planet could be capable of supporting life.

“I’d say that’s a habitable planet,” said Raymond Pierrehumbert of the University of Chicago. It’s unlikely the planet would experience any sort of runaway greenhouse effect that would heat it beyond the point of livability, he says.

Forveille and his colleagues found the planet by searching for wobbles in the planet’s host star with a telescope in Chile. Astronomers calculate that Gl 163c, as the planet is called, receives 30 to 40 percent more energy than Earth receives from the sun. Because the planet’s radius is unknown, it’s not yet clear what the planet is made of, but scientists speculate that it’s a mix of rock and water.

Note the dateline. The International Astronomical Union held its annual meeting in China. That makes this entry one about the CoDominion.

More stories after the jump.

Science crime scenes 6: Accidental and intentional responses to GOP war on science

As I wrote yesterday, after skipping last week, it's time to post another installment of a continuing series. Today, it's science crime scenes.

I'm going to skip the usual archeology stories about atrocities from the past and modern day smuggling, looting, and vandalism. That's not because I don't have any; I have quite a lot of them from Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Curiosity's first destination edition) on Daily Kos that I'll post in another edition. Instead, I'm going to focus on stories about crimes against science, the planet, and society from other disciplines, including psychology, sociology, and technology, along with a dose of policy, all but one of which come from the public research universities of Arizona, where there will be a primary election this coming Tuesday, according to Politics1.com. It turns out that all of these stories either directly or indirectly comment on the GOP's science policies or the party's top candidates.

I begin with a story from Science Magazine that is about a potential crime against science itself, a law from the state of Todd Akin and one that bears the stamp of the religious wing of the Republican Party.

Missouri 'Right to Pray' Law Could Limit Teaching Evolution

Last week, Missouri voters gave themselves the right to pray without state interference. But some science educators are worried that the seemingly innocuous referendum on the 7 August ballot, which passed overwhelmingly, could also undermine the teaching of evolution in public schools.

Amendment 2 "is a lawyer's dream" because of its vagueness, says Joshua Rosenau, programs and policy director of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, California, which tracks efforts by groups that oppose evolution. While the amendment begins by declaring that all residents "have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences," it also lists several situations in which that right must be protected. Rosenau is worried about one particular clause: "that no student shall be compelled to perform or participate in academic assignments or educational presentations that violate his or her religious beliefs."

Those words give students the legal right to skip assignments related to evolution if the subject matter conflicts with their beliefs, Rosenau says. And that exemption could extend throughout their scholastic career, he adds, since evolution is not just taught in one lesson but remains a recurrent theme throughout science education. The amendment also leaves a hole in their coursework, he says, as it provides no guidance on any substitute lessons.

Hat/tip to CharlesInCharge on Daily Kos, who included the above excerpt in You've Got to Show Me: The (New) Epistemological Crisis and commented about the law's greater significance.

We face a new epistemological crisis in this country. The crisis has been brewing for well over 50 years but, I would argue, since the advent of the internet has reached epidemic proportions. In an age where every URL is created equal and where precedence goes not to knowledge which is tested in the cauldron of the scientific method but rather by which spurious link comes up first in a Google search, how are we to evaluate statements and data to see whether they accurately represent truth or reality?

Thomas Kuhn, in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, argued that the history of science could be explained by anomalies in a prevailing paradigm reaching the point where a 'crisis' occurs, such that the existing paradigm must be overthrown and replaced by a new paradigm. Think Einstein replacing Newton or Darwin replacing the Biblical account of Creation. The point is that internal contradictions within an older established order reach such a fever pitch that the older order no longer suffices. That crisis now besets the very mechanisms by which our culture arbitrates what it calls knowledge. The epistemological crisis is now upon us and it is hard to forsee the new paradigm that will replace the ancien regime.

Scientific revolutions are almost always advancements in our understanding of the universe. I have my doubts that what is happening qualifies as one.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the past week's stories, all of which bear on a weakness of the Republican presidential ticket.

Fantasy and reality about immigrants

WXYZ found a local angle on President Obama's announcement Friday about young undocumented immigrants.




family fighting deportation

After all this time, I don't think this serves much of a useful purpose anymore, at least in objective terms. In subjective ones, it reinforces a fear that runs counter to the evidence. Continue over the jump for two studies showing that immigrants do not contribute to crime and do contribute to thriving neighborhoods.

Dragon and ISS dock plus other space and astronomy news of the week

In Space and astronomy stories for the week of the annular eclipse, the story below the jump was about the scrubbed launch of SpaceX's Falcon/Dragon to the International Space Station. This week, that story gets top billing both here and in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Dragon docks with ISS edition) at Daily Kos. Pride of place goes to the Los Angeles Times' article on the event.

NASA astronauts open SpaceX capsule hatch and begin unloading cargo
By W.J. Hennigan
May 26, 2012, 3:36 a.m.

Less than 24 hours after a historic docking, astronauts aboard the International Space Station clambered into SpaceX's unmanned Dragon spacecraft and began unloading supplies that were packed inside.

Wearing oxygen masks as a precaution, the astronauts opened the hatch, slid the door open, and took delivery of the 1,014 pounds of food, water and clothing aboard Dragon.

"Like the smell of a brand new car," said NASA astronaut Don Pettit, after going inside.

Live coverage of the hatch opening, which included some of the first video footage from inside the cone-shaped Dragon, started Saturday shortly before 3 a.m PDT on the Hawthorne company's website and NASA TV.

Speaking of NASA TV...

Enter The Dragon on This Week @NASA

The crew of the International Space Station opened the hatch of the recently berthed SpaceX Dragon capsule, the first commercial craft to fly to the ISS. Also, Venus Transit, Fallen Heroes, Carbon-Sensing Sherpa, and more.

That's not the only video I posted. Here is SpaceX Dragon COTS 3 Rendezvous Grapple Berthing Timelapse. Note: there is no sound with this video.




I wasn't the only diarist at Daily Kos to comment on the occasion yesterday. DarkSyde used the story to headline This week in science: Catch a Dragon by the tail and kindler placed it in a sustainability context by comparing and contrasting Forward vs. Backward: SpaceX vs. Heartland. That latter diary earned a distinction of getting a lot of recs and tips, but no comments. That's the equivalent of a silent standing ovation, a great sign of respect.

Click on "Read more" for the rest of the week's space and astronomy news.