lol Yep.
They're (researchers) being very careful, but I hope that the sharks aren't harmed in any way. Doesn't sound like it so far.
Science stories of the week
- Thread starter wegs
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They're (researchers) being very careful, but I hope that the sharks aren't harmed in any way. Doesn't sound like it so far.
[...] Without getting too political, not sure why Trump is defunding oceanic research, especially related to global warming initiatives.Regardless of why he doesn't believe that global warming is a priority, why he would cut funding for this area of weather research is ignorant to me, especially in light of the dramatic uptick of natural disasters that continue to plague the US.
It's part of the general budget cuts aimed at “deconstructing a wasteful and weaponized bureaucracy.”
While there is no doubt that government agencies and departments are inefficient and wasteful (compared to the private sector where your company perishes if you are not the reverse), we usually have a pragmatic worry prevailing of "letting them be bloated is better than the danger-risk of too much decrease and entering a state of inadequacy", when it comes to bureaucracy affiliated with critical areas of survival, preparation, and defense.
And in this particular context, the "weaponized" propaganda part would ultimately pertain to how the anti-capitalist and anti-Western goals of the far-left coincidentally align somewhat with the radical rehabilitation of the world necessary to combat climate change. But that kind of paranoia does not take into account that traditional progressives (who run those operations) are still capitalists. There is instead only a shift to other areas of industry and business cashing in on this energy, tech, and lifestyle reform process boom -- as opposed to the classic enterprises related to oil/gas (etc) dependency profiting.
Capitalism has assimilated the "climate change crisis" (including climate justice) to serve its own ends. Just as it has all political activism and prescribed socioeconomic transitions and existential transformations (like this) over the decades. Bloated bureaucracy in the US is managed by one stripe of capitalist representative or another. The only way that will ever change is if Zohran Mamdani triggers a national revolutionary wave after he becomes mayor of NYC. Which is extremely unlikely, as there were far more robust Marxist and socialist movements around that attracted the working class during the first half of the 20th-century, which never remotely succeeded. And it is Trump and his populist legacy inheritors who ironically own the working class now.
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Pinball1970
Valued Senior Member
This has been coming for a while.
phys.org
NASA says it will lose about 20 percent of its workforce
The US space agency NASA will lose about 3,900 employees under Donald Trump's sweeping effort to trim the federal workforce—at the same time as the president prioritizes plans for crewed missions to the moon and Mars.
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
What will be funny is when Trump appoints another photogenic blonde bimbo, from Fox or Breitfart or somewhere, to head NASA, having rejected this Jared Isaacson (Oy vey or wot?) bloke, presumably because Musk proposed him.This has been coming for a while.
NASA says it will lose about 20 percent of its workforce
The US space agency NASA will lose about 3,900 employees under Donald Trump's sweeping effort to trim the federal workforce—at the same time as the president prioritizes plans for crewed missions to the moon and Mars.
From the article:This has been coming for a while.
NASA says it will lose about 20 percent of its workforce
The US space agency NASA will lose about 3,900 employees under Donald Trump's sweeping effort to trim the federal workforce—at the same time as the president prioritizes plans for crewed missions to the moon and Mars.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration's proposed NASA budget put a return to the moon and a journey to Mars front and center, slashing science and climate programs.
The White House says it wants to focus on "beating China back to the moon and putting the first human on Mars." China is aiming for its first crewed lunar landing by 2030, while the US program, called Artemis, has faced repeated delays.
Soooo, Trump wants to slash the budget for NASA, in the form of decreasing head count, yet he wants to have a flourishing space exploration program. That makes total sense.
Warnings downgraded as Pacific tsunami threat recedes
Thousands of Hawaiians headed for higher ground but the state's governor says no "wave of consequence" has hit the islands.
bbc.com
So happy that the warnings and prep time to leave was taken seriously. Better to be safe than sorry, even if just slightly inconvenienced.
Pinball1970
Valued Senior Member
If this is confirmed this will be interesting. Before you ask yes its from March so I missed the bus.
Beyond the first galaxies primordial black holes shine
Antonio Matter , Andrea Ferrara , and Andrea Pallottini
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://arxiv.org/pdf/2503.18850#:~:text=The%20presence%20of%20nine%20candidate,alternative%20solution%20available%20so%20far.
Hopefully the link will work.
Objects found by Webb up to Z=25, when the Universe was 120 million years old.
I found this on YT from Anton (A good guy - he discusses papers) so I tracked this paper down.
Beyond the first galaxies primordial black holes shine
Antonio Matter , Andrea Ferrara , and Andrea Pallottini
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://arxiv.org/pdf/2503.18850#:~:text=The%20presence%20of%20nine%20candidate,alternative%20solution%20available%20so%20far.
Hopefully the link will work.
Objects found by Webb up to Z=25, when the Universe was 120 million years old.
I found this on YT from Anton (A good guy - he discusses papers) so I tracked this paper down.
Thanks, PB. Nothing was registering as a link on this browser. Just in case there are others similarly afflicted...
If the first URL doesn't go directly to the paper, then the second one indirectly goes there (both HTML and PDF formats are accessible). Cheapened NASA press release below that.
Beyond the first galaxies primordial black holes shine
https://arxiv.org/html/2503.18850v1
https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.18850
Primordial black holes: Cosmic matchmakers or party crashers of the first stars?
https://nasaspacenews.com/2025/08/p...chmakers-or-party-crashers-of-the-first-stars
Conclusion: These findings could fundamentally reshape our understanding of both the first stars and the makeup of dark matter itself. If PBHs reside in that Goldilocks zone, they become both cosmic architects (enabling the first stars) and silent dark matter agents. Either outcome—PBHs exist or they don’t—tightens our picture of cosmic history. This is exciting because it uses the universe itself as an experiment: if star formation doesn’t align with predictions, PBHs get ruled out; if it does, we’ve found a candidate for dark matter. In short, the universe’s own “cosmic dawn” may hold the answer to one of physics’ longest-standing puzzles.
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Pinball1970
Valued Senior Member
Pinball1970
Valued Senior Member
A piece on 31/ATLAS, Avi Loeb has his own ideas.....probably get a netflicks out of it.
phys.org
Hubble captures stunning view of third interstellar visitor
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have observed 3I/ATLAS, only the third known object from outside our solar system to visit our neighborhood. This interstellar interloper is putting on quite a show as it approaches the sun, revealing secrets about visitors from the depths of space.
Pinball1970
Valued Senior Member
They are calling this kid "little Einstein" I think "Sheldon" is closer to the mark.
www.brusselstimes.com
Belgium’s 15-year-old prodigy earns PhD in quantum physics
"After this, I’ll start working towards my goal: creating ‘super-humans."
www.brusselstimes.com
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
Who is Sheldon?They are calling this kid "little Einstein" I think "Sheldon" is closer to the mark.
Belgium’s 15-year-old prodigy earns PhD in quantum physics
"After this, I’ll start working towards my goal: creating ‘super-humans."
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
Sheldon Cooper
"I apologize if I haven't been the friend you deserve. But I want you to know, in my way, I love you all." ―Sheldon Cooper to his friends, The Stockholm Syndrome Sheldon Lee[1] Cooper,[2] B.Sc., M.Sc., M.A., Ph.D., Sc.D.,[3] is a Caltech theoretical physicist. Next to his best friend Leonard...
bigbangtheory.fandom.com
A nerdy,scientific character from the Big Bang American sitcom.
Quite good but not really up my street.
Quite good but not really up my street.
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
Aha thanks, that explains why it didn’t ring any bells. I have no TV.View attachment 7162
Sheldon Cooper
"I apologize if I haven't been the friend you deserve. But I want you to know, in my way, I love you all." ―Sheldon Cooper to his friends, The Stockholm Syndrome Sheldon Lee[1] Cooper,[2] B.Sc., M.Sc., M.A., Ph.D., Sc.D.,[3] is a Caltech theoretical physicist. Next to his best friend Leonard...
On occasions like this I recall a Private Eye spoof newspaper report of court proceedings, from the 1970s, which included the subheading: “Who are The Beatles?, judge asks.”.
Pinball1970
Valued Senior Member
I forget you are always potentially watching from the expensive seats sometimes.
The guys have given you references
My son liked the program and he was studying physics so I watched it. First impressions were that it was American sit com junk, then I remembered that "Friends" gave me that impression also.
I eventually got into it and found that it was funny if aimed at a young audience, "Young Sheldon" is also well written.
I think Stephen Fry said he thought it was really good.
I liked it a lot better than Friends which I found really cringy ,but still a waste of time.
Was Sheldon based on Spock?
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
My first thought was of that woomeister Sheldrake (the “morphic resonance” guy), but then I realised the name was wrong.
TheVat
Valued Senior Member
Wasn't a big fan (too heavy-handed with the nerd stereotypes and caricatures), but the ones I saw did seem to get their science stuff right. I note that "Amy" who plays a PhD in neuroscience had an actual PhD in neuroscience IRL. Now that's casting. The bit about Sheldon hating Wil Wheaton was funny. Somewhere after the second season or so, we pulled the plug on broadcast tv, so that broke the habit. Now it's just hooked up to a dvd player. Somewhere in a drawer, there's a Roku stick, in case guests want to stream something. I generally dislike "appointment tv."
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
It wasn't based on Spock, but it was aimed at the Star Trek generation. I think the time was right for a show about awkward, nerdy, sci-fi-loving, comicbook-reading yet still highly-intelligent and academically-successful young men.
A lot of us science nerds damn near cried at the idea that someone out there cared about getting the science right in TV shows.
(Imagine having a movie about baseball - like Bull Durham or Major League - and having them keep saying "and the batter slides into fourth plate!") Jocks would effing lose it.
