See interstellar comet Borisov on its way toward the Sun – Astronomy Magazine

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In August, astronomers discovered interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov a visitor from outside our solar system. On Sunday, the space rock passed its closest point to the sun, and it will makes its closest approach to Earth later this month.

In the meantime, astronomers around the world have turned their telescopes to get a good look at this interstellar visitor while it's here.

Here are some of our favorite shots.

NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (UCLA)

Comet 2I/Borisov passed perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, in December 2019. The Hubble Space Telescope captured this shot of the comet on December 9, just after perihelion. At the time, the comet was near the inner edge of the asteroid belt, about 185 million miles from Earth.

NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (UCLA)

Hubble captured this shot of Borisov passing a distant background galaxy in November, when the comet was just over 200 million miles from Earth. Because the telescope was tracking the fast-moving comet, the galaxy (which seems stationary due to its distance) appears somewhat smeared.

Composite image by Travis Rector/Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA)

The Gemini Observatory in Hawaii caught this first-ever color image of the interstellar comet Borisov and its faint tail in September.

In October, the Hubble Space Telescope captured this shot of 2I/Borisov, which distinctly shows the concentration of dust around the comet's nucleus, separate from the rest of the comet's fuzzy appearance. The nucleus itself is too small to see with Hubble.

P. van Dokkum, G. Laughlin, C. Hsieh, S. Danieli/Yale University

Astronomers captured this shot of Comet 2I/Borisov, an interstellar space rock passing through our solar system, with the Keck Observatory, Hawaii, in November. According to astronomers who captured this image, the comet's tail was several times longer at this point than Earth is across.

NSFs National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory/NSF/AURA/Gemini Observatory

Astronomers used the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii to capture this view of the interstellar comet Borisov along with some background galaxies in November. Because they combined multiple images to create the shot, they needed to average the location of the comet in the photos since it had moved relative to the galaxies.

NASA, ESA, J. Olmsted, F. Summers (STScI)

This illustration shows comet Borisov's path through our solar system in the panel on the left. The panel on the right shows where Borisov was relative to Earth when the Hubble Space Telescope observed it in October.

ESA/Hubble, NASA, ESO, M. Kornmesser

This artist's illustration depicts Oumuamua, the first-known interstellar space rock to visit our solar system. While 'Oumuamua was different from rocky objects in our solar system in many ways, the interstellar comet Borisov seems similar to solar system comets, astronomers have found.

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See interstellar comet Borisov on its way toward the Sun - Astronomy Magazine

The Sky This Week from December 6 to 15 – Astronomy Magazine

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Friday, December 6A lone bright star now hangs low in the south during early evening. First-magnitude Fomalhaut often called the Solitary One belongs to the constellation Piscis Austrinus the Southern Fish. From mid-northern latitudes, it climbs 20 above the horizon at its best. How solitary is Fomalhaut? The nearest 1st-magnitude star to it, Achernar at the southern end of Eridanus the River, lies some 40 away.

Saturday, December 7The variable star Algol in Perseus reaches minimum brightness at 7:07 p.m. EST, when it shines at magnitude 3.4. If you start watching it after darkness falls this evening, you can see it more than triple in brightness, to magnitude 2.1, over the course of a few hours. This eclipsing binary star runs through a cycle from minimum to maximum and back every 2.87 days. Algol appears in the northeastern sky after sunset and passes nearly overhead around 10 p.m. local time.

Sunday, December 8Although people in the Northern Hemisphere wont experience the shortest day of the year for another two weeks (at the winter solstice December 21), those at 40 north latitude will see the Sun set earlier today than at any other time this year. Tomorrows sunset will arrive about two seconds later and, by the solstice, our star will set three to four minutes later than today. The date of earliest sunset depends on latitude the farther north you live, the closer it occurs to the solstice.

Monday, December 9Uranus reached opposition and peak visibility in late October, but it remains a tempting target in December. The outer planet appears in the southeastern sky after darkness falls and climbs highest in the south around 9 p.m. local time. The magnitude 5.7 world lies in southwestern Aries the Ram, near that constellations border with Pisces the Fish and Cetus the Whale. Although Uranus shines brightly enough to glimpse with the naked eye from a dark site, youll need binoculars to locate it this week with a gibbous Moon sharing the sky. The closest guide star is magnitude 4.4 Xi1 (1) Ceti, which lies 4 to the southeast. A telescope reveals Uranus disk, which spans 3.7" and shows a distinct blue-green hue.

Tuesday, December 10Venus gleams in the southwestern sky after sunset. The brilliant planet stands out just a half hour after sunset, when it appears 15 above the horizon. Wait another 30 minutes and you should see magnitude 0.6 Saturn just 1.8 to Venus north (upper right). Although magnitude 3.9 Venus stands out to the naked eye, binoculars deliver the best views of the pretty conjunction. Target the planets individually through a telescope and youll see Venus 12"-diameter disk and 87-percent-lit phase, as well as Saturns 15"-diameter globe surrounded by a ring system that spans 35".

The nearly Full Moon sits among the background stars of Taurus the Bull early this evening, just west of the Hyades star cluster. As the night wears on, Earths only natural satellite slides through the northern fringes of this V-shaped star group. The conjunction affords a good opportunity to witness the Moons motion.

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The Sky This Week from December 6 to 15 - Astronomy Magazine

Mars 2020’s landing site could be a good place to hunt for fossils – Astronomy Magazine

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Silica is a crystalline structure made of silicon and oxygen that can be found in quartz, glass and sand. Hydrated silica holds water within its crystal structure. On Earth, hydrated silica can form in a variety of environments, like in volcanic glass and on the ocean floor.

The oldest evidence definitive evidence of microfossils that we have on Earth are usually found in silica, said Jesse Tarnas, a planetary scientist at Brown University and one of the authors of the paper.

The researchers found evidence for hydrated silica in Jezero Crater when data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft matched up with similar measurements taken of hydrated silica in the lab. Once the rover lands in 2021, scientists will be able to study the minerals up close and figure out how they formed and whether they might contain signs of past life.

Jezero Crater was once home to rivers that carved a delta into the planets surface. Its possible that the hydrated silica formed in these deltas, Tarnas said. Other possibilities are that it formed in volcanoes or rocks upriver, and that wind or water carried it into the delta. Some of these scenarios are more promising for preserving signs of life than others.

The Mars 2020 rover is scheduled to launch in July 2020 and land on Mars in February 2021. Once its there, the rover's instruments can carefully analyze the chemistry of the hydrated silica and surrounding rocks. These observations will let scientists figure out how the hydrated silica formed and if they contain complex organic molecules.

If the rovers on-site analysis looks promising, it can pack samples that a future Mars mission could try to bring back. Scientists would likely need to study the samples in person, Tarnas said, to confirm or deny whether they contain signs of life.

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Mars 2020's landing site could be a good place to hunt for fossils - Astronomy Magazine

‘Monster Black Hole’ Discovery Found to be Incorrect But That’s How Science Progresses – Space.com

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Apparently, that "monster black hole" that researchers found isn't so monstrous after all. But finding errors and working to correct them in how science pushes forward.

In a recent study (a peer-reviewed study published Nov. 27), a team of scientists reported the discovery of the binary system LB-1, which contains a star and, according to the findings, a black hole companion 70 times the mass of our sun. This was major news, a stellar-mass black holes (black holes formed by the gravitational collapse of a star) are typically less than half that massive. But while the study, led by Jifeng Liu, of the National Astronomical Observatory of China (NAOC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was exciting, it was also wrong.

Three new papers came out this week that reexamined the findings from Liu's study, and these studies say that LB-1's black hole isn't actually all that massive.

Video: Monster Black Hole 15,000 Light-Years Away? Likely NotRelated:Images: Black Holes of the Universe

Stellar-mass black holes are typically identified by the bright X-ray emissions that come from the gas that the objects accrete, or pull in, from their companion stars. But the black hole spotted in LB-1 is "noninteracting"; in other words, it doesn't accrete gas from its star, so it can't be found through bright emissions. Scientists think that there are many examples of this type of black hole in the universe, but because these objects are tough to spot, there are few observations to show just how many might be out there.

So, to determine that the system had a black hole, Liu's team had to find and study the object indirectly, by observing movement in the Doppler shift of the system's star and a deep-red emission line.

Under the Doppler phenomenon, objects moving toward Earth appear blue, because the light wavelengths are getting shorter, and red when moving away from us, because the wavelengths are getting longer. The emission line, known as an H-alpha emission line, is a spectral line, or a dark line in a spectrum. Spectral lines are often used to identify atoms or molecules and this specific line is created by hydrogen electrons. Liu's team completed their work under the presumption that this line was coming from the accretion disk around the black hole.

Related: Why Are Black Holes So Weird?

By measuring changes in the Doppler shift, researchers could determine the velocity of the objects and, therefore, their mass. "If the star and the companion were accelerating the same amount, that would mean they have the same mass, and if one is accelerating much less, it would be much heavier," University of California, Berkeley, astronomy doctoral student Kareem El-Badry, a co-author on one of the three papers analyzing these results, said. So, in measuring the wiggling movement of the emission coming from (what Liu's team assumed was) the black hole, Liu's team determined that the velocity of the black hole must mean it was extremely massive for a stellar-mass black hole.

Now, if the emission was, in fact, coming from a black hole and moving as they reported, that indeed would mean that there was an extremely massive object in the system, El-Badry explained.

The main problem with this conclusion? It turns out that that this emission line, the motion of which served as the main evidence for the proposed ultramassive object, wasn't wiggling. In fact, it wasn't moving at all, the new papers addressing Liu's team's conclusions found.

The claim of a strangely massive black hole discovery first struck El-Badry as strange, because this type of black hole has never before been observed with such a mass. "My first thought when the paper came out is this is such a bold claim that the evidence better be really good," El-Badry told Space.com. "You should always keep an open mind, but in this case, the claim was definitely extraordinary and the evidence was a bit more shaky."

The main issue that El-Badry found was that the emission line only appeared to be moving; it wasn't actually wiggling.

El-Badry and Eliot Quataert, a professor of astronomy and physics at UC Berkeley, published their analysis on Monday (Dec. 9) to the preprint server arXiv. Their paper has also been submitted for publication in the journal the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Related: The Strangest Black Holes in the Universe

So, how can an emission line only "appear to be moving"? Well, it just so happened to line up on top of an absorption line, which created the illusion.

To understand the illusion, you first need to know what an absorption line is. The outer atmospheric layers surrounding stars serve as an absorbing material to absorb light coming from the star. So, when researchers study the spectrum of light coming from stars, they can see absorption lines, which are created by atoms in the atmosphere transitioning between atomic states.

With the star in LB-1, there was an absorption line "hidden" by the emission line, El-Badry said. Such a situation can create the illusion that the emission line is moving, producing the appearance of Doppler shift, which El-Badry and the scientists behind the other papers explained and showed in the studies. By simply subtracting the absorption line from measurements of the emission line, El-Badry and Quataert, who used the same data for their study as Liu's team did, found that the emission line wasn't moving at all.

Without the movement of this emission, Todd Thompson, a professor in the Department of Astronomy at The Ohio State University, who wasn't involved in any of these papers, explained to Space.com, there are two possible interpretations. Either the second object in the system is far more massive than has ever been observed (way more than 70 solar masses) or, much more likely, there could just an average-size black hole in LB-1 and the emission line is coming from somewhere else, Thompson said.

"There's something there. It's just that it's probably just a regular, stellar-mass black hole," Jackie Faherty, a senior scientist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and a co-host of "StarTalk Radio," told Space.com. Faherty wasn't involved in any of these papers.

However, because the emission line is probably not coming from the black hole, researchers can't get a super precise estimate of the black hole's mass. But the analysis of El-Badry's team suggests that the black hole is most likely between 5 and 20 solar masses, which, as they described in their paper, "seems most plausible."

Related: No Escape: Dive Into a Black Hole (Infographic)

Two additional papers have come out that also reexamine the claims made by Liu's team. One, a study led by New Zealand theoretical astronomer J.J. Eldridge, which has been published to arXiv, took a theoretical approach to analyzing the system. Researchers in that study simulated a large library of different kinds of binary systems to see if the scientists could find a binary that matched the observations reported for LB-1. They found several that could, but none with 70-solar-mass black holes.

The other study, also published to arXiv, and led by Michael Abdul-Masih of the Institute of Astronomy at the university KU Leuven in Belgium, took a similar approach to El-Badry's. However, instead of using the same data as Liu's team, these researchers collected their own spectrum of the binary system using a different telescope. They also did simulations in which they put an absorption line beneath an emission line to see if the emission appeared to move as the one in LB-1 did. In these simulations, Abdul-Masih's team found that the line did appear to move back and forth, providing further evidence that the emission line in the system only looks like it's moving.

"It did seem a little too exciting to be true," Faherty said. But, she added, "this is also the way science progresses."

Faherty emphasized that "This is OK for this kind of thing to happen. It's just a correction to a previous result it's OK to have this kind of situation," she added. "Science advances and moves forward."

These follow-up studies have provided evidence that the secondary object in LB-1 is not actually an ultrarare, ultramassive black hole. However, it is still an exceptionally interesting object and worth studying further, El-Badry said.

Because there has been so much attention on the original study, including with these follow-up analyses, it has increased interest in the study of the LB-1 system and systems like it.

By identifying and studying noninteracting black holes like the one associated with LB-1, scientists can learn more about these elusive objects. Said to be common in space, they are tough to spot, because they don't produce bright X-ray emissions.

"It's a very interesting time to go looking for these noninteracting black holes, and they definitely have found a very interesting system," Thompson said. There is a "population that must be out there of black holes in stellar binaries where there's no active interaction between the two components," he added.

Additionally, it could be interesting if scientists continue to investigate where exactly this H-alpha emission line is coming from. The papers reexamining LB-1 suggest "that it's possible that circumbinary material could account for it, but it's a slight mystery it's OK to have some mystery involved in a result," Faherty said.

Space.com reached out to Liu's team for comment, and Liu said that "We are writing a paper to address all these concerns." He added that his team expects that paper to be out sometime next week.

Follow Chelsea Gohd on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Can Astronomy Explain the Biblical Star of Bethlehem? – Snopes.com

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This article by David Weintraub is republished here with permission from The Conversation. This content is shared here because the topic may interest Snopes readers; it does not, however, represent the work of Snopes fact-checkers or editors.

Bright stars top Christmas trees in Christian homes around much of the world. The faithful sing about the Star of Wonder that guided the wise men to a manger in the little town of Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. Theyre commemorating the Star of Bethlehem described by the Evangelist Matthew in the New Testament. Is the stars biblical description a pious fiction, or does it contain some astronomical truth?

To understand the Star of Bethlehem, we need to think like the three wise men. Motivated by this star in the east, they first traveled to Jerusalem and told King Herod the prophecy that a new ruler of the people of Israel would be born. We also need to think like King Herod, who asked the wise men when the star had appeared, because he and his court, apparently, were unaware of any such star in the sky.

These events present us with our first astronomy puzzle of the first Christmas: How could King Herods own advisors have been unaware of a star so bright and obvious that it could have led the wise men to Jerusalem?

Next, in order to reach Bethlehem, the wise men had to travel directly south from Jerusalem; somehow that star in the east went before them, til it came and stood over where the young child was. Now we have our second first-Christmas astronomy puzzle: how can a star in the east guide our wise men to the south? The north star guides lost hikers to the north, so shouldnt a star in the east have led the wise men to the east?

And we have yet a third first-Christmas astronomy puzzle: how does Matthews star move before them, like the taillights on the snowplow you might follow during a blizzard, and then stop and stand over the manger in Bethlehem, inside of which supposedly lies the infant Jesus?

The astronomer in me knows that no star can do these things, nor can a comet, or Jupiter, or a supernova, or a conjunction of planets or any other actual bright object in the nighttime sky. One can claim that Matthews words describe a miracle, something beyond the laws of physics. But Matthew chose his words carefully and wrote star in the east twice, which suggests that these words hold a specific importance for his readers.

Can we find any other explanation, consistent with Matthews words, that doesnt require that the laws of physics be violated and that has something to do with astronomy? The answer, amazingly, is yes.

Astronomer Michael Molnar points out that in the east is a literal translation of the Greek phrase en te anatole, which was a technical term used in Greek mathematical astrology 2,000 years ago. It described, very specifically, a planet that would rise above the eastern horizon just before the sun would appear. Then, just moments after the planet rises, it disappears in the bright glare of the sun in the morning sky. Except for a brief moment, no one can see this star in the east.

We need a little bit of astronomy background here. In a human lifetime, virtually all the stars remain fixed in their places; the stars rise and set every night, but they do not move relative to each other. The stars in the Big Dipper appear year after year always in the same place. But the planets, the sun and the moon wander through the fixed stars; in fact, the word planet comes from the Greek word for wandering star. Though the planets, sun and moon move along approximately the same path through the background stars, they travel at different speeds, so they often lap each other. When the sun catches up with a planet, we cant see the planet, but when the sun passes far enough beyond it, the planet reappears.

And now we need a little bit of astrology background. When the planet reappears again for the first time and rises in the morning sky just moments before the sun, for the first time in many months after having been hidden in the suns glare for those many months, that moment is known to astrologers as a heliacal rising. A heliacal rising, that special first reappearance of a planet, is what en te anatole referred to in ancient Greek astrology. In particular, the reappearance of a planet like Jupiter was thought by Greek astrologers to be symbolically significant for anyone born on that day.

Thus, the star in the east refers to an astronomical event with supposed astrological significance in the context of ancient Greek astrology.

What about the star parked directly above the first crche? The word usually translated as stood over comes from the Greek word epano, which also had an important meaning in ancient astrology. It refers to a particular moment when a planet stops moving and changes apparent direction from westward to eastward motion. This occurs when the Earth, which orbits the sun more quickly than Mars or Jupiter or Saturn, catches up with, or laps, the other planet.

Together, a rare combination of astrological events (the right planet rising before the sun; the sun being in the right constellation of the zodiac; plus a number of other combinations of planetary positions considered important by astrologers) would have suggested to ancient Greek astrologers a regal horoscope and a royal birth.

Molnar believes that the wise men were, in fact, very wise and mathematically adept astrologers. They also knew about the Old Testament prophecy that a new king would be born of the family of David. Most likely, they had been watching the heavens for years, waiting for alignments that would foretell the birth of this king. When they identified a powerful set of astrological portents, they decided the time was right to set out to find the prophesied leader.

If Matthews wise men actually undertook a journey to search for a newborn king, the bright star didnt guide them; it only told them when to set out. And they wouldnt have found an infant swaddled in a manger. After all, the baby was already eight months old by the time they decoded the astrological message they believed predicted the birth of a future king. The portent began on April 17 of 6 BC (with the heliacal rising of Jupiter that morning, followed, at noon, by its lunar occultation in the constellation Aries) and lasted until December 19 of 6 BC (when Jupiter stopped moving to the west, stood still briefly, and began moving to the east, as compared with the fixed background stars). By the earliest time the men could have arrived in Bethlehem, the baby Jesus would likely have been at least a toddler.

Matthew wrote to convince his readers that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah. Given the astrological clues embedded in his gospel, he must have believed the story of the Star of Bethlehem would be convincing evidence for many in his audience.

David Weintraub, Professor of Astronomy, Vanderbilt University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Can Astronomy Explain the Biblical Star of Bethlehem? - Snopes.com

This Is How Astronomers Know The Age Of The Universe (And You Can, Too) – Forbes

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Our entire cosmic history is theoretically well-understood, but only because we understand the... [+] theory of gravitation that underlies it, and because we know the Universe's present expansion rate and energy composition. Light will always continue to propagate through this expanding Universe, and we will continue to receive that light arbitrarily far into the future, but it will be limited in time as far as what reaches us. We still have unanswered questions about our cosmic origins, but the age of the Universe is known.

Conceptually, it might seem like the simplest idea in existence to determine the age of the Universe.Once you figure out that the Universe is expanding, all you need to do is measure the expansion rate today and use the laws of physics to determine how the expansion rate must have changed over time. Instead of extrapolating forward to determine the fate of the Universe, you do the calculating backwards instead, and go all the way back until you achieve the conditions of the hot Big Bang itself.

This obvious method not only works, but it remains the best way we have to calculate the Universe's age even today. Yet it's very easy to go awry, as there are many simplifying assumptions you can make that will give you an easy answer that isn't necessarily correct, including errors that even a Nobel Laureate made earlier this year. Here's how you, too, can figure out the age of the Universe.

Standard candles (L) and standard rulers (R) are two different techniques astronomers use to measure... [+] the expansion of space at various times/distances in the past. Based on how quantities like luminosity or angular size change with distance, we can infer the expansion history of the Universe. Using the candle method is part of the distance ladder, yielding 73 km/s/Mpc. Using the ruler is part of the early signal method, yielding 67 km/s/Mpc.

The first place to start is with the expanding Universe itself and the one parameter we've strived to measure longer than any other: the Hubble constant. On the largest scales, the galaxies we find in the Universe obey a very simple relation between the two observable quantities of distance and redshift, where the farther away an object is from us, the greater its measured redshift will be.

Remarkably, the law that relates them is extremely straightforward: the recession speed that you would infer from a galaxy's redshift equals the distance to that galaxy multiplied by the Hubble constant. Even more remarkably, that constant has the same value for pretty much every galaxy we measure, particularly for galaxies within a few billion light-years of us. Even though there are additional cosmic motions inherent to each galaxy induced by gravitational effects, this law remains true when you average over all the galaxies you can find.

The redshift-distance relationship for distant galaxies. The points that don't fall exactly on the... [+] line owe the slight mismatch to the differences in peculiar velocities, which offer only slight deviations from the overall observed expansion. The original data from Edwin Hubble, first used to show the Universe was expanding, all fit in the small red box at the lower-left.

So what do we measure the Hubble constant to be? It depends on how you measure it, since:

Why these two values don't match and why they give such different, mutually inconsistent answers is one of the major conundrums of modern cosmology.

A series of different groups seeking to measure the expansion rate of the Universe, along with their... [+] color-coded results. Note how there's a large discrepancy between early-time (top two) and late-time (other) results, with the error bars being much larger on each of the late-time options. The only value to come under fire is the CCHP one, which was reanalyzed and found to have a value closer to 72 km/s/Mpc than 69.8.

However, the very astute among you will notice something about the Hubble constant itself: it comes in units that are a speed (km/s) per unit distance (Mpc, where 1 megaparsec is about 3.26 million light-years). If you look at a galaxy that's 100 Mpc away, you'd expect it to recede away ten times faster than one only 10 Mpc away, but only one-tenth as fast as a galaxy 1,000 Mpc away. That's the simple power of the redshift-distance relation.

But there's another way to manipulate the Hubble constant: to recognize that a speed (distance-per-time) per (divided by) unit distance (distance) is the same as units of inverse time. What could the physical meaning of that "inverse time" correspond to? Perhaps, you might reasonably imagine, it could correspond to the age of the Universe.

The different possible fates of the Universe, with our actual, accelerating fate shown at the right.... [+] The specifics of the Universe's composition affect the age of the Universe, as you can see by looking at the 'start point' occurring at different values in the past for different cosmologies, even with the exact same expansion rate today.

There are approximately 3.1 1019 kilometers in one megaparsec, which means that if you turn the Hubble constant into an inverse time, you find some fascinating things.

These are both almost equal to the accepted age of the Universe, but not quite. In addition, they're both almost equal to one another, but differ by approximately the same amount that the two estimates for the Hubble constant differ by: 9% or so.

However, you cannot simply change the age of the Universe by changing the Hubble constant, and there's a subtle but vital reason why this is so.

A photo of me at the American Astronomical Society's hyperwall in 2017, along with the first... [+] Friedmann equation at right. The first Friedmann equation details the Hubble expansion rate squared on the left hand side, which governs the evolution of spacetime. The right side includes all the different forms of matter and energy, along with spatial curvature (in the final term), which determines how the Universe evolves in the future. This has been called the most important equation in all of cosmology, and was derived by Friedmann in essentially its modern form back in 1922.

The value of the Hubble constant today isn't simply the inverse of the value of the age of the Universe, even though the units work out to give you a measure of time. Instead, the expansion rate that you measure the Hubble constant today must balance the sum total of every form of energy that contributes to the Universe's composition, including:

The equation that governs the expanding Universe (shown above) can be solved exactly in some simple cases.

The scale of the Universe, on the y-axis, is plotted as a function of time, on the x-axis. Whether... [+] the Universe is made of matter (red), radiation (blue), or energy inherent to space itself (yellow), it decreases towards a size/scale of 0 as you extrapolate backwards in time. The age of the Universe multiplied by the Hubble constant will equal different values for Universes made up of different compositions.

If your Universe is exclusively made up of radiation, you find that the Hubble constant multiplied by the age of the Universe since the Big Bang equals , exactly. If your Universe is exclusively made up of matter (normal and/or dark), you find that the Hubble constant multipled by the age of the Universe equals, exactly. And if your Universe is entirely made of dark energy, you'll find that there is no exact answer; the value of the Hubble constant multiplied by the age of the Universe always continues to increase (towards infinity) as time goes on.

This means that if we want to accurately calculate the age of the Universe, we can do it, but the Hubble constant alone isn't enough. In addition, we also need to know what the Universe is made out of. Two imagined Universes with the same expansion rate today but made out of different forms of energy will have different expansion histories and, therefore, different ages from one another.

Measuring back in time and distance (to the left of "today") can inform how the Universe will evolve... [+] and accelerate/decelerate far into the future. We can learn that acceleration turned on about 7.8 billion years ago with the current data, but also learn that the models of the Universe without dark energy have either Hubble constants that are too low or ages that are too young to match with observations. If dark energy evolves with time, either strengthening or weakening, we will have to revise our present picture. This relationship enables us to determine what's in the Universe by measuring its expansion history.

So, to find out how old the Universe actually is since the onset of the hot Big Bang, all we have to do is determine the expansion rate of the Universe and what the Universe is made out of. There are a variety of methods that we can use to make this determination, but there's one vital thing we have to remember: many of the ways we have of measuring one parameter (like the expansion rate) are dependent on our assumptions about what the Universe is made out of.

In other words, we cannot assume that the Universe is made out of a certain amount of matter, a certain amount of radiation, and a certain amount of dark energy in a way that's independent of the expansion rate itself. Perhaps the most powerful way to illustrate this is to look at the leftover glow from the Big Bang itself: the Cosmic Microwave Background.

The leftover glow from the Big Bang, the CMB, isn't uniform, but has tiny imperfections and... [+] temperature fluctuations on the scale of a few hundred microkelvin. While this plays a big role at late times, after gravitational growth, it's important to remember that the early Universe, and the large-scale Universe today, is only non-uniform at a level that's less than 0.01%. Planck has detected and measured these fluctuations to better precision than ever before, and can use the fluctuation patterns that arise to place constraints on the Universe's expansion rate and composition.

This, above, is a map of the fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background. Overall, every direction in the Universe displays the same average temperature as every other direction: approximately 2.725 K. When you subtract that mean value out, you get the pattern that you see above: the fluctuations, or departures from the average temperature.

Where you see dark blue or dark red spots, those are regions where the temperature fluctuations are largest: approximately 200 microkelvin colder (for blue) or hotter (for red) than the mean value. These fluctuations exhibit particular patterns in their magnitude on a variety of angular scales, with the fluctuations rising in magnitude down to some particular angular scale of about 1 degree, then decreasing and increasing in an oscillatory fashion. Those oscillations tell us some vital statistics about the Universe.

Four different cosmologies lead to the same fluctuation patterns in the CMB, but an independent... [+] cross-check can accurately measure one of these parameters independently, breaking the degeneracy. By measuring a single parameter independently (like H_0), we can better constrain what the Universe we live in has for its fundamental compositional properties. However, even with some significant wiggle-room remaining, the age of the Universe isn't in doubt.

What's most important to realize is that there are many possible combinations of values that can fit any particular graph. For example, given the fluctuations we see, we can have a Universe with:

You will notice a pattern here: you can have a larger Hubble constant if you have less matter and more dark energy, or a smaller Hubble constant if you have more matter and less dark energy. What's remarkable about these combinations, however, is that they all lead to almost exactly the same age for the Universe since the Big Bang.

There are many possible ways to fit the data that tells us what the Universe is made of and how... [+] quickly it's expanding, but these combinations all have one thing in common: they all lead to a Universe that's the same age, as a faster-expanding Universe must have more dark energy and less matter, while a slower-expanding Universe requires less dark energy and greater amounts of matter.

The reason that we can claim the Universe is 13.8 billion years old to such enormous precision is driven by the full suite of data that we have. A Universe that expands more quickly needs to have less matter and more dark energy, and its Hubble constant multiplied by the age of the Universe will have a larger value. A slower-expanding Universe requires more matter and less dark energy, and its Hubble constant multiplied by the age of the Universe gets a smaller value.

However, in order to be consistent with what we observe, the Universe can be no younger than 13.6 billion years and no older than 14.0 billion years, to more than 95% confidence. There are many properties of the Universe that are indeed in doubt, but its age isn't one of them. Just make sure you take the Universe's composition into account, or you'll wind up with a naive and incorrect answer.

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This Is How Astronomers Know The Age Of The Universe (And You Can, Too) - Forbes

Milky Way’s Thick Disk is 10 Billion Years Old, Astronomers Say | Astronomy – Sci-News.com

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Our Milky Way Galaxy consists of two disk-like structures, known as thick and thin disks. The thick disk contains only about 20% of the Galaxys total stars, and, based on its vertical puffiness and composition, is thought to be the older of the pair. Using data from NASAs Kepler space telescope, astronomers have calculated that the thick disk is about 10 billion years old.

From a great distance, our Milky Way Galaxy would look like a thin disk of stars that orbits once every few hundred million years around its central region, where hundreds of billions of stars provide the gravitational glue to hold it all together. But this pull of gravity is much weaker in the Galaxys far outer disk. There, the hydrogen atoms making up most of the Milky Ways gas disk are no longer confined to a thin plane, instead they give the disk an S-like, or warped, appearance. Image credit: Xiaodian Chen.

This finding clears up a mystery, said lead author Dr. Sanjib Sharma, an astronomer at the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in Three Dimensions (ASTRO-3D) and the University of Sydney.

Earlier data about the age distribution of stars in the disk didnt agree with the models constructed to describe it, but no one knew where the error lay in the data or the models. Now were pretty sure weve found it.

Dr. Sharma and colleagues used a method known as asteroseismology, a way of identifying the internal structures of stars by measuring their oscillations from star quakes.

The quakes generate soundwaves inside the stars that make them ring, or vibrate, explained Dr. Dennis Stello, from ASTRO-3D and the University of New South Wales.

The frequencies produced tell us things about the stars internal properties, including their age. Its a bit like identifying a violin as a Stradivarius by listening to the sound it makes.

An artists impression of the Milky Way Galaxy, showing the thick and thin disks. Image credit: NASA / JPL Caltech / R.Hurt / SSC.

This age-dating allows the researchers to essentially look back in time and discern the period in the Universes history when the Milky Way formed a practice known as galactic archaeology.

Not that they actually hear the sound generated by star-quakes. Instead, they look for how the internal movement is reflected in changes to brightness.

Stars are just spherical instruments full of gas, but their vibrations are tiny, so we have to look very carefully, Dr. Sharma said.

The exquisite brightness measurements made by Kepler were ideal for that. The telescope was so sensitive it would have been able to detect the dimming of a car headlight as a flea walked across it.

The data delivered by Kepler during the four years after it was launched in 2009 presented a problem for astronomers.

The information suggested there were more younger stars in the thick disk than models predicted.

The question confronting scientists was stark: were the models wrong, or was the data incomplete?

A fresh spectroscopic analysis revealed that the chemical composition incorporated in the existing models for stars in the thick disk was wrong, which affected the prediction of their ages.

Taking this into account, the researchers found that the observed asteroseismic data now fell into excellent agreement with model predictions.

The results provide a strong indirect verification of the analytical power of asteroseismology to estimate ages, Dr. Stello said.

The results are published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

_____

Sanjib Sharma et al. 2019. The K2-HERMES Survey: age and metallicity of the thick disc. MNRAS 490 (4): 5335-5352; doi: 10.1093/mnras/stz2861

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Milky Way's Thick Disk is 10 Billion Years Old, Astronomers Say | Astronomy - Sci-News.com

Science needs true diversity to succeed — and Australian astronomy shows how we can get it – The Conversation AU

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Australian astronomy punches well above its weight, in terms of the research it leads and the facilities it houses.

We have made remarkable discoveries in the past year alone. Our scientists have recently narrowed down the time frame for the first light in the universe. We have established that the black hole in the Milky Way had a massive explosion just 3.5 million years ago.

Our facilities from the Murchison Widefield Array in Western Australia to the Anglo-Australian Telescope in New South Wales are important parts of the worlds astronomical ecosystem.

But to make the most of the next wave of stargazing technology, we will need true diversity in our astronomical community.

As I argue in a paper published this week in Nature Astronomy, Australias astronomers have made great strides in improving diversity in recent years and the way we have achieved this offers lessons for other scientific communities.

Read more: Science prizes are still a boys' club. Here's how we can change that

Very soon, however, even more impressive stargazing hardware is due to start operating. The Australian segment of the Square Kilometre Array, and the Extremely Large Telescope in Chile will be part of a new generation of mega-telescopes.

These new super-tools will be capable of revealing the universe in unprecedented detail, and gathering data in unprecedented bulk. As a discipline, we must be prepared to extract maximum benefit from them.

Sifting maximum signal from this fresh collection of noise will not simply require more astronomical hands on deck. It will require different types of hands, and different ways of seeing.

There is ample evidence from other fields particularly business to show the benefits of diversity within organisations, at all levels. It results in higher productivity, more profits, and more robust outcomes.

And its not just in social work or education. Even in number-crunching science, personal history and lived experience influence decisions, how questions are framed, and how networks are built.

In recent years, Australian astronomy has made striking progress towards gender equity, in large part because of a system known as the Pleiades Awards operated by the Astronomical Society of Australia.

There are about 500 working astronomers in this country. The 2016-25 Australian Astronomy Decadal Plan, commissioned by the Australian Academy of Science, sets a target of 33% of positions at all levels to be filled by women within the next six years.

The Pleiades provide a structured approach to improving equity. Given the enthusiastic participation of almost all the 14 universities, two Centres of Excellence and three organisations that house Australias astronomical communities, I have little doubt that this marker will be achieved.

However, we need to broaden our thinking, and our ideas of what constitutes a fair and empathetic workplace, beyond simple questions of binary gender.

Read more: Why I joined #500queerscientists

The next generation of telescopes will be huge international collaborations with intense competition between partner countries. To extract the maximum benefit from the extraordinary power of these telescopes, we need to look beyond traditionally conservative hiring practices.

We will need to draw on people from every possible background and experience, and inject new ideas. We need to draw from the academic talent and insight to be found among LGBTIQA+ astronomers, Indigenous astronomers, disabled astronomers, chronically ill astronomers, and astronomers who hail from non-Western cultures.

There are skilled and highly gifted scientists who fall within these categories, yet for some the prospect of a stable long-term career with steady support and funding seems faint. Science research organisations and institutions are as guilty as those in any other field of not building proper structures around understanding, inclusion and empathy.

As female astronomers not too many years ago would often testify, sometimes the welcome and support inside the Australian faculties and organisations could have been a bit warmer.

Thanks to the schemes such as the Pleiades, women in my field can reasonably expect to be recognised for their skills, and to be promoted according to their merits.The same cannot yet be said for people in other, more heterogeneous categories, and that must now start to change. Fairness demands it, but just as importantly the science requires it.

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Science needs true diversity to succeed -- and Australian astronomy shows how we can get it - The Conversation AU

Astronomers Discover MAMBO-9, Most Distant Dusty Star-Forming Galaxy We Were in Doubt if It Was Real – SciTechDaily

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Artist impression of what MAMBO-9 would look like in visible light. The galaxy is very dusty and it has yet to build most of its stars. Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF, B. Saxton

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have spotted the light of a massive galaxy seen only 970 million years after the Big Bang. This galaxy, called MAMBO-9, is the most distant dusty star-forming galaxy that has ever been observed without the help of a gravitational lens.

We were in doubt if it was real, because we couldnt find it with other telescopes. But if it was real, it had to be very far away. Manuel Aravena

Dusty star-forming galaxies are the most intense stellar nurseries in the universe. They form stars at a rate up to a few thousand times the mass of the Sun per year (the star-forming rate of our Milky Way is just three solar masses per year) and they contain massive amounts of gas and dust. Such monster galaxies are not expected to have formed early in the history of the universe, but astronomers have already discovered several of them as seen when the cosmos was less than a billion years old. One of them is galaxy SPT0311-58, which ALMA observed in 2018.

Because of their extreme behavior, astronomers think that these dusty galaxies play an important role in the evolution of the universe. But finding them is easier said than done. These galaxies tend to hide in plain sight, said Caitlin Casey of the University of Texas at Austin and lead author of a study published in The Astrophysical Journal. We know they are out there, but they are not easy to find because their starlight is hidden in clouds of dust.

ALMA radio image of the dusty star-forming galaxy called MAMBO-9. The galaxy consists of two parts, and it is in the process of merging. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), C.M. Casey et al.; NRAO/AUI/NSF, B. Saxton

MAMBO-9s light was already detected ten years ago by co-author Manuel Aravena, using the Max-Planck Millimeter BOlometer (MAMBO) instrument on the IRAM 30-meter telescope in Spain and the Plateau de Bure Interferometer in France. But these observations were not sensitive enough to reveal the distance of the galaxy. We were in doubt if it was real, because we couldnt find it with other telescopes. But if it was real, it had to be very far away, says Aravena, who was at that time a Ph.D. student in Germany and is currently working for the Universidad Diego Portales in Chile.

Thanks to ALMAs sensitivity, Casey and her team have now been able to determine the distance of MAMBO-9. We found the galaxy in a new ALMA survey specifically designed to identify dusty star-forming galaxies in the early universe, said Casey. And what is special about this observation, is that this is the most distant dusty galaxy we have ever seen in an unobstructed way.

The light of distant galaxies is often obstructed by other galaxies closer to us. These galaxies in front work as a gravitational lens: they bend the light from the more distant galaxy. This lensing effect makes it easier for telescopes to spot distant objects (this is how ALMA could see galaxy SPT0311-58). But it also distorts the image of the object, making it harder to make out the details.

In this study, the astronomers saw MAMBO-9 directly, without a lens, and this allowed them to measure its mass. The total mass of gas and dust in the galaxy is enormous: ten times more than all the stars in the Milky Way. This means that it has yet to build most of its stars, Casey explained. The galaxy consists of two parts, and it is in the process of merging.

Casey hopes to find more distant dusty galaxies in the ALMA survey, which will give insight into how common they are, how these massive galaxies formed so early in the universe, and why they are so dusty. Dust is normally a by-product of dying stars, she said. We expect one hundred times more stars than dust. But MAMBO-9 has not produced that many stars yet and we want to find out how dust can form so fast after the Big Bang.

Observations with new and more capable technology can produce unexpected findings like MAMBO-9, said Joe Pesce, National Science Foundation Program Officer for NRAO and ALMA. While it is challenging to explain such a massive galaxy so early in the history of the universe, discoveries like this allow astronomers to develop an improved understanding of, and ask ever more questions about, the universe.

The light from MAMBO-9 traveled about 13 billion years to reach ALMAs antennas (the universe is approximately 13.8 billion years old today). That means that we can see what the galaxy looked like in the past (Watch the video above to learn how ALMA works as a time-machine). Today, the galaxy would probably be even bigger, containing one hundred times more stars than the Milky Way, residing in a massive galaxy cluster.

Reference: Physical Characterization of an Unlensed, Dusty Star-forming Galaxy at z = 5.85 by Caitlin M. Casey, Jorge A. Zavala, Manuel Aravena, Matthieu Bthermin, Karina I. Caputi, Jaclyn B. Champagne, David L. Clements, Elisabete da Cunha, Patrick Drew, Steven L. Finkelstein, Christopher C. Hayward, Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe, Kirsten Knudsen, Anton M. Koekemoer, Georgios E. Magdis, Allison Man, Sinclaire M. Manning, Nick Z. Scoville, Kartik Sheth, Justin Spilker, Johannes Staguhn, Margherita Talia, Yoshiaki Taniguchi, Sune Toft, Ezequiel Treister and Min Yun, 11 December 2019, The Astrophysical Journal.DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab52ff

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

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Astronomers Discover MAMBO-9, Most Distant Dusty Star-Forming Galaxy We Were in Doubt if It Was Real - SciTechDaily

Merging Pair of Dusty Star-Forming Galaxies Spotted 13 Billion Light-Years Away | Astronomy – Sci-News.com

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Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international team of astronomers has spotted an unlensed, dusty star-forming galaxy system in the early Universe. Dubbed MAMBO-9 (also known as MM J100026.36+021527.9), the system is composed of a pair of galaxies separated by approximately 20,000 light-years. The light from MAMBO-9 traveled about 13 billion years to reach Earth.

An artists impression of what the dusty star-forming galaxy MAMBO-9 would look like in visible light. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF / B. Saxton.

Dusty star-forming galaxies are the most intense stellar nurseries in the Universe. They contain huge amounts of gas and dust and form stars at a rate up to a few thousand solar masses per year.

Such monster galaxies are not expected to have formed early in the history of the Universe, but astronomers have already discovered several of them as seen when the cosmos was less than a billion years old.

Because of their extreme behavior, astronomers think that these dusty galaxies play an important role in the evolution of the Universe.

These galaxies tend to hide in plain sight. We know they are out there, but they are not easy to find because their starlight is hidden in clouds of dust, said Dr. Caitlin Casey, an astronomer at the University of Texas at Austin.

MAMBO-9 was first detected 10 years ago by the Max-Planck Millimeter BOlometer (MAMBO) instrument on the IRAM 30-m telescope in Spain and the Plateau de Bure Interferometer in France. But those observations were not sensitive enough to reveal the distance.

We were in doubt if it was real, because we couldnt find it with other telescopes. But if it was real, it had to be very far away, said Dr. Manuel Aravena, a researcher at the Universidad Diego Portales in Chile.

ALMA radio image of MAMBO-9. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Casey et al / AUI / NSF / B. Saxton.

Thanks to ALMAs sensitivity, the team has now been able to determine the distance of MAMBO-9.

We found the galaxy in a new ALMA survey specifically designed to identify dusty star-forming galaxies in the early Universe. And what is special about this observation, is that this is the most distant dusty galaxy we have ever seen in an unobstructed way, Dr. Casey said.

The scientists saw MAMBO-9 directly, without a gravitational lens, and this allowed them to measure its mass.

The total mass of gas and dust in the galaxy is enormous: 10 times more than all the stars in the Milky Way. This means that it has yet to build most of its stars, Dr. Casey said.

The astronomers hope to find more distant dusty galaxies in the ALMA survey, which will give insight into how common they are, how these massive galaxies formed so early in the Universe, and why they are so dusty.

The discovery of MAMBO-9 is described in a paper in the Astrophysical Journal.

_____

Caitlin M. Casey et al. 2019. Physical Characterization of an Unlensed, Dusty Star-forming Galaxy at z = 5.85. ApJ 887, 55; doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab52ff

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Merging Pair of Dusty Star-Forming Galaxies Spotted 13 Billion Light-Years Away | Astronomy - Sci-News.com

Bitcoin Cash will go up post-halving, claims Roger Ver – AMBCrypto

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In a recent interview, Bitcoin Cashs Roger Ver, hailed by many as Bitcoin Jesus in the community, spoke about the use of cryptocurrencies in times of financial crises, the upcoming Bitcoin halving and the challenges cryptocurrencies face today.

During the interview, Ver said that he thinks financial crises are not inevitable, adding that they are caused by small groups of people manipulating the worlds money supply. He also said that if we brought cryptocurrencies to the world, we would have a lot less of these financial crises.

With regard to the use of cryptocurrencies in times of recession, Ver said that people prefer stable, reliable, and traditional hard assets, while also claiming that the public doesnt view cryptocurrencies as something like that as of now. While conceding that he would love to see more cryptocurrency adoption among people, Ver added that this isnt likely to happen soon. However, Ver said that he is hopeful of adoption rising in the near future.

With respect to the upcoming Bitcoin halving event, the early Bitcoin investor said that basically nothing much happened at all the first two times. According to Ver, thats likely to be the case this time.

I think itll be kind of like Y2000. Everybody was all worked up about it, and then nothing happened.

However, Ver did mention that the halving would push the price of Bitcoin Cash upwards, before advising viewers to buy more of BCH now. He also added that as more halvings happen, the inflation rate would fall. Ver also claimed that the rise in price and market cap with growing adoption would lower the amount of inflation per year.

The Bitcoin.com CEO also spoke about how user awareness is the biggest challenge for cryptocurrencies right now, adding that a lot of people have the misconception that cryptocurrencies are meant to be held, not spent.

The only reason you would save anything is that you can spend it later, right? Or so itll have more value later. But what actually causes that, is adoption in commerce. A lot of people dont understand that, or havent had it pointed it out to them. Theres no point in holding a cryptocurrency that you cant spend.

Further, Ver explained how the ability to pay dividends to the equivalent of anonymous bearer shares on the Bitcoin Cash network is one of the most important inventions in cryptocurrencies over the last few years. Subsequently, he spoke about a tool which enables users to pay dividends to holders of Bitcoin Cash-based tokens.

The dividends can be paid either in Bitcoin Cash directly, or any other Bitcoin Cash-based tokens. That enables all sorts of things like receiving interest on stablecoins while maintaining custody at the same time.

Ver also said that there is a whole lot more potential upside from an investment and holding standpoint for Bitcoin Cash, more than for any other cryptocurrency. As time passes, there will be more security token offerings leveraging the Bitcoin Cash platform, Ver concluded.

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Bitcoin Cash will go up post-halving, claims Roger Ver - AMBCrypto

A Tale of Three Coins: The Ongoing Saga of BTC, BCH and BSV – Finance Magnates

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The launch of Bitcoin in 2009 was undoubtedly a defining moment for the modern financial industry. The biggest of all cryptocurrencies, BTC is the brainchild of a visionary computer scientist (possibly) who launched the coin under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto published the legendary Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008, and the coin was officially launched on January 3, 2009.

Bitcoin was launched with the vision to present a new P2P decentralized electronic cash based on state-of-the-art blockchain technology. Bitcoin isnt governed by any government or a central authority or even a financial institution. Bitcoin has a limited supply (21 million), and the coins are generated through a process called mining. Bitcoin miners have to solve challenging computational problems and are rewarded with newly generated Bitcoins upon successful completion of these problems.

Discover iFX EXPO Asia 2020 in Macao The Largest Financial B2B Expo

As Bitcoin is backed by a decentralized infrastructure, no single authority can control or own the coin. All BTC transactions are stored in a global decentralized blockchain ledger, which is immutable and guarded by cutting-edge encryption. Thus, BTC transactions cant be censored or altered ever, which makes it safer than regular fiat money. During its historic launch, Bitcoin also promised faster transactions worldwide and at lower fees compared to regular cash transaction systems.

Bitcoin was launched with a block size limit of 1 MB. The initial developers stuck to the 1 MB limit to eliminate risks of spam transactions that might jam pack the whole BTC network. But that very limitation started creating issues in the Bitcoin network over time.

With Bitcoin rising in popularity, the volume of transactions began to increase dramatically over time. And that 1 MB block size seemed to be inadequate to handle the growing numbers of transactions every day. Bitcoin could only manage 4.4 transactions a second, and that limit left numerous users waiting in line. Many of them were forced to pay higher fees to get their transactions prioritized over others.

The crisis created an uproar in the BTC community, with one group demanding an immediate hard fork. It wanted to enhance block size through a hard fork so that the network could handle more transactions per second and keep the costs low. Roger Ver, popularly dubbed Bitcoin Jesus, was the spearhead of the Bitcoin community group that demanded an increase in block size. His argument was that Bitcoin had strayed from its primary vision and was fast becoming a reserved currency with such expensive transaction fees. He wanted Bitcoin to stay the everyday currency that was outlined in the original BTC whitepaper.

The debate finally culminated in a Bitcoin hard fork in 2017, which led to the creation of Bitcoin Cash or BCH. Roger Ver, the former CEO of Bitcoin.com, is one of the chief advocates of Bitcoin Cash. BCH was developed with an 8 MB block size to handle an increased amount of transactions per second compared to BTC and all that with far lower fees. As a result, BCH seemed to be affordable as a regular currency for payments of goods and services. Over time, the limit of BCHs block size has been raised to 32 MB.

Pure Markets' CEO Talks Business Model, 2020 OutlookGo to article >>

In 2018, the BCH community witnessed a serious civil war between two competing camps that led to a split in BCH and the formation of Bitcoin SV (Satoshi Version). The first group was led by Ver and Bitmains Jihan Wu while the other one (that advocated for SV) was headed by computer scientist Craig S Wright, as well as business tycoon Calvin Ayre. According to Wrights group, BCH too strayed from its original values and was fast becoming a reserved currency. It calls for an immediate split to create a version that would embody the actual vision of Nakamoto, as outlined in his BTC whitepaper.

Bitcoin SV was launched in November 2018 with a huge block size limit of 128 MB. The massive block size allows it to handle ever more transactions per second compared to Bitcoin Cash.

There is no denying of the fact that the civil war is still on between the BCH and BSV camps. Roger Ver is still emphasizing on the huge potential of Bitcoin Cash while Craig Wright is urging to look beyond BCH and focus on the SV coin. The Bitcoin Jesus recently declared that BCH holds all the potential to witness a 100,000 percent rise in the near future. On the other hand, Craig Wright is tirelessly advocating for the authenticity of SV.

But, despite all the debates and controversies, one thing is clear: both coins show immense potential in the contemporary crypto space. At present, BCH is the 4th largest cryptocurrency, while Bitcoin SV is the 5th one.

Both BCH and Bitcoin SV show a bright future and are doing an excellent job in BTC adoption and are poised for a brilliant growth in the coming months. Both coins have got solid ground to claim and maintain their niche in the crypto scene. After all, both are working with the same goal in mind increase BTC adoption and improve the BTC network. it would only be better if both camps join hands to work together. Their liaison will help to bring in the best parts of platforms, which can culminate to bring the ultimate BTC.

Last but not least, one thing is undeniable, and that is that BTC is still and will always remain the publics favorite. No hard fork like BCH or BSV (despite their own unique appeal) can ever rival the supreme command of Bitcoin over the crypto industry and the financial market overall. We cant forget that every hard fork we have witnessed to date was all about upholding the original ethos of Bitcoin.

Sydney Ifergan is the CEO of The Currency Analytics

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A Tale of Three Coins: The Ongoing Saga of BTC, BCH and BSV - Finance Magnates

Eugenics Is Influencing Dating Apps and Other Forms of Tech – Wear Your Voice

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Guest Writer x Dec 10, 2019

CW/TW: this article contains mentions of anti-Black racism, anti-Semitism, ableism, forced sterilization, and chattel slavery.

By Vanessa Taylor

With apps like Tinder and Bumble, dating has taken on a new appearance. We like to think that were in total control of our intimate lives, making our own decisions when it comes to swiping left or right, but thats not the case. A recent 60 Minute story followed a Harvard scientist named George Church working on a dating app that matches people by DNA to eliminate all genetic diseases. Its both cisheternormative and pro-natalist. The story not only illuminates how future plans for dating apps are flirting with eugenics but the role of tech in legitimizing terrible sciences.

Although the word eugenics is never explicitly used by 60 Minutes, its legacy is clear within Churchs work. If youre unfamiliar, eugenics intends to improve the genetic quality of humans through selective breeding. That means not only looking to pair people who have desirable traits, but also getting rid of the undesirables, like by force sterilizing poor people, disabled people, and people of color.

According to 60 Minutes, Churchs dating app intends to screen out matches that would result in a child with an inherited disease. Church told interviewer Scott Pelley that, You wouldnt find out who youre not compatible with. Youll just find out who you are compatible with.

While the plan to combine eugenics with dating apps may surprise some, Churchs own quote shows why it shouldnt. The algorithms behind many popular dating apps are digital matchmakers filtering who you see. In 2016, Buzzfeed reporter Katie Notopoulos found that the dating app CoffeeMeetsBagel would only show users potential partners of the same race, even if users said they had no preference. Then, a 2018 study by Cornell researchers found further racial discrimination on the 25 highest-grossing dating apps in the US.

The idea that dating apps opened a new door to eugenics is not really shocking, Jevan Hutson, a researcher at the University of Washington and lead author on the Cornell study, told Wear Your Voice. At the higher level, the intimate realm is inextricably tied to relationships of power, and has historically been a crucial locus for the production of social hierarchy and state control.

Examples of this can be found within Harvards own history. Author Adam Cohen described Harvard as more central to American eugenics than any other university. In August 1912, Harvards president emeritus Charles William Eliot talked about the grave danger of immigration and the threat of mixing racial groups. Each nation should keep its stock pure, Eliot said. There should be no blending of races.

Anxieties around racial mixing were captured in miscegenation laws that banned Black peopleand sometimes other people of colorfrom marrying or having sex with white people. Teen Vogue reported that the laws started in the late 1600s and in slave-holding colonies like Maryland directly addressed white women, who forgetful of their free condition and to the disgrace of our Nation do intermarry with Negro slaves.

Dating apps are in the business of facilitating individual preferences [along the lines of race, disability, and more] regardless of the individual or structural outcome, Hutson said. However, to describe this lack of concern as a phenomenon limited to dating apps would be inaccurate because the problem spans across tech as an industry.

While touting tech advancements as being explicitly based in eugenics or scientific racism may be out of fashion, that doesnt mean its not happening. For example, Hutson pointed out the surge of physiognomic AI, where artificial intelligence makes inferences or predictions about a persons internal state or character on the basis of their external characteristic. Take Faception which offers facial personality analytics. As I wrote before, Faception claims that its technology is objective because of machine learning, but all mentions of mental illness correlate with categories of criminal offense, or undesirable behavior, such as white-collar offenders, terrorists, and pedophiles.

Phrenologyan offshoot of physiognomyis packed into tech despite it providing the scientific justification for many prejudices. For example, U.S. physician James W. Redfields 1852 Comparative Physiognomy featured gems like of Negroes to Elephants, of Jews to goats, and more. And again, as I wrote previously, is it than any coincidence that Google Images once classified Black people as gorillas?

Although 60 Minutes reported that Church is dyslexic with attention deficit and narcolepsy, this doesnt mean he cant participate in eugenics. Church says he works with an ethicist but that alone doesnt mean much. Ethics by itself isnt a neutral field, either, and if Western history has marked eugenics as a benefit to society, then why wouldnt some ethicists, too?

Both science and tech have adopted the idea that neither needs to consider the broad human implications of a project and if the after-shocks are unpleasant, it isnt their responsibility. This cavalier attitude is not only seen with the development of facial recognition and other surveillance technologies but with big tech companies like Amazon who provide the technological backbone for ICE. The reality is, science and tech are not exceptional, and not everything that you can imagine needs to exist.

Vanessa Taylor is a writer based out of Philadelphia, although the Midwest will always be home. She has work in outlets such as Teen Vogue, Racked, and Catapult. Her work focuses on Black Muslim womanhood and the taboo. You can follow her across social media at @bacontribe.

Every single dollar matters to usespecially now when media is under constant threat. Your support is essential and your generosity is why Wear Your Voice keeps going! You are a part of the resistance that is neededuplifting Black and brown feminists through your pledges is the direct community support that allows us to make more space for marginalized voices. For as little as $1 every month you can be a part of this journey with us. This platform is our way of making necessary and positive change, and together we can keep growing.

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Eugenics Is Influencing Dating Apps and Other Forms of Tech - Wear Your Voice

CVTC eugenics victims: ‘I always wanted children and never could have them’ – Lynchburg News and Advance

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Over the years, The News & Advance has told the stories of those who were involuntarily sterilized at what now is known as the Central Virginia Training Center.

At least 3,800 sterilization procedures were done as part of the now-discredited eugenics movement at the training center. About 8,000 Virginians were sterilized statewide.

Here are some of their stories:

Janet Ingram remembered the day in 1965 she was taken to what now is the Central Virginia Training Center.

She was 16 years old, living in a Nelson County foster home with a woman who made her care for babies assigned to the home by the welfare system.

The social worker came and got us and took us to the training school, and told Janet she and other girls were going to get a physical examination.

They said, get in bed, and we did, Janet told The News & Advance in 2014.

Then the nurse came back, and she had a needle. She gave us a shot, and we went to sleep.

And then my stomach was hurting. I looked down there, and it was stitches in it.

The nurse came in and said, Why are you crying?

I said, Ive got stitches in my stomach.

She said, Oh, youve just been sterilized. You didnt want a baby, because they are nasty.

I told her, I would love to have a kid, I like kids.

I thought about how it would look just like me, Janet remembered.

Janet befriended a nurse at the training center and eventually went to live at her familys farm in Campbell County where, at 19, she took on a nanny-type role with the nurses 5-year-old daughter, Hope Wright, andended up caring for the sisters.

Neither Sadie nor Janet went beyond the 6th grade in a Nelson County elementary school.

Sadie was sterilized in 1960 and Janet five years later. Their mother, two sisters and an aunt all were sterilized at the Madison Heights facility.

The reason court documents list for Janet and Sadies sterilization is cultural familial mental retardation.

Lewis Reynolds began having seizures at 3, after an older cousin hit him in the head with a rock during play.

He was admitted to the institution at age 12 and sterilized on Jan. 30, 1942 at age 13. The doctor wrote the procedure will take a big burden off him in the future.

Sometimes I cry when I see a lady pregnant or something like that. I always wanted children and never could have them, he told The News & Advance in 2012. Sometimes I get off by myself and cry.

Reynolds joined the Marines, serving in Korea and Vietnam. He became a licensed electrician later in life. He was married twice.

During his time in Korea, Reynolds received a dear-John letter from his first wife. One reason she gave for leaving was his inability to have a family.

Later, he married Deloris Layne of Lynchburg. He said he suggested they adopt children, but she refused. She said, If I cant have my own, Im not going to have somebody elses children and be responsible for them, he said.

Deloris Reynolds died in 2007, after they had been married 47 years.

Still, Reynolds wished he could have been a father.

Sarah Pack Wiley understood little of what the operation meant, but she remembers one part.

They gave me ether, she told The News & Advance in 2012. Wileys discharge documents from the training school confirm a sterilization procedure in 1959 when she was 24 years old.

Wiley, Shirley and their older brother, Marvin, were taken from their parents in Patrick County and admitted to the training school in March 1948, according to documents she has kept.

Wiley was diagnosed as having a moderate mental deficiency upon admission to the institution at age 11.

Training-school officials sent Wiley to work in peoples homes, doing housekeeping or babysitting. In many cases, the homes were owned by the institutions staff members.

She was discharged from the training school in 1976.

At age 51, she met and married James Wiley, who cooked chili at the Texas Inn. Their marriage lasted until his death 11 years later.

One of the medical documents confirms SarahWiley underwent the sterilization procedure in 1959. It reads MEDICAL EVENTS IN THE INSTITUTION: In 1948 she had acute tonsillitis, in 1949 pharyngitis, 1959 sterilization, and in 1974 arrhythmia.

Sidener is the special publications editor for The News & Advance. Reach her at (434) 385-5539.

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CVTC eugenics victims: 'I always wanted children and never could have them' - Lynchburg News and Advance

What to Read During the Holiday Break – Georgia Tech News Center

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Campus and Community

ByVictor Rogers | December 9, 2019 Atlanta, GA

Click image to enlarge

Book jackets of What to Read recommendations.

The guests are gone, the dishes have been cleared, and you have some quiet time to yourself. So, wheres a good book when you need one?

We asked several avid readers for recommendations. The books range from a story of the reflections and adventures of a failed novelist to a how-to on bullet journaling.

By Andrew Sean Greer, Little, Brown and Company (2017)

This national bestseller and winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is the story of Arthur Less, a failed novelist about to turn 50, who responds to an ex-lover's wedding invitation by embarking on a trip around the world for a series of literary events. Regrets and reminiscences of past loves are interspersed with new adventures both endearingly awkward and deeply graceful. This was the perfect novel to read in my 49th summer. I recommend it for anyone who has ever been in love, or who wonders what a year of saying yes could be.

Marlee Givens, librarian for Modern Languages and Psychology

By Charles King, Doubleday Publishers (2019)

An inspiring group biography told within the context of the social, cultural, and political events of the 20th century. Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ruth Benedict developed revolutionary methods and theories that challenged eugenics, the prevailing scientific theory at that time. The scientific community considered them a group of misfits but later they were recognized as the founders of cultural anthropology. Their courageous explorations of disparate cultures debunked absolutist ideas that there is a superior people. Interwoven in the chronicle of their professional lives, the author also shares personal tales of romance, friendships, and rivalries within the group of anthropologists.

Cathy Carpenter, head of Campus Engagement and Scholarly Outreach, Georgia Tech Library

By Bill Courtney, Weinstein Books (2014)

The author is the high school football coach featured in the Oscar-winning documentary Undefeated as well as Esquire magazines 2012 Coach of the Year. Bill Courtney coached the downtrodden Manassas High School football team in North Memphis to success after everyone else had given up on them. Not only were his coaching skills imperative to the teams success, but they also made a deep impact on the individual lives of his players, including overcoming drug addiction, earning college acceptances at places such as West Point, and lifting up their communities. His core values of service, civility, leadership, character, commitment, and forgiveness are an example for all of us.

Jamison Keller, Assistant Dean of Students and director of Fraternity and Sorority Life

Engineering and Chemistry Librarian Isabel Altamirano recommended two books:

By Ryder Carroll, Fourth Estate Publishers (2018)

I was looking for a new method to keep track of my work and personal activities and decided to do it by the 21st-century learning method, YouTube. I found videos on bullet journaling, but they were too complicated too many decorations and drawings.

Then I found the original source. Carroll's book shows that you just need a blank journal, a writing instrument, and a ruler.

His method involves yearly, monthly, and daily planning with simple setups for repetitive tasks (like exercising or eating fruit), and a reflection section. By keeping up with the index, you can plan and execute different activities with just one journal.

By Eric M. Scott and David R. Modler, North Light Books (2012)

Start 2020 by doing creative work that does not require extensive training. This paperback book shows how to be artistic with collage, simple stencils, watercolors, and markers.

Each activity has a writing prompt, recommended page layouts, and step-by-step instruction on how to achieve a cohesive look. And you don't need to start on New Years Day; the work can happen at any time.

Its also perfect to have this book on hand if the electricity goes out during an ice storm. If children complain that theyre bored you can entertain them with the techniques found in this book.

Some of these books are available by searching the Librarys online catalog. Visit library.gatech.edu. You can also search other libraries, using Techs interlibrary loan system. Visit library.gatech.edu/borrow-other-libraries. Or visit your local book store.

Happy reading!

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What to Read During the Holiday Break - Georgia Tech News Center

An Oregon Couple Can Get Their Kids Back From Foster Care. But Many Disabled Parents Don’t Get That Chance. – Rewire.News

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Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced an agreement with the state of Oregon to develop a system to ensure the states child welfare agency does not discriminate against parents with disabilities, a move that could benefit one in ten parents in the United States.

The agreement stems from a case involving Amy Fabbrini and Eric Ziegler. Fabbrini and Ziegler endured a five-yearbattle with the state of Oregon to regain custody of their two sons, who were both taken into foster care after their respective births following concern that Fabbrini and Ziegler would be unable to care for them.

No abuse was alleged against Fabbrini and Ziegler, who say their below-average scores on state-sanctioned IQ tests are why Oregon held the children in foster care until their court-ordered releases in late 2017 and early 2018.

Fabbrini and Zieglers case is not unique. At least 40 percent to 80 percent of parents in the United States with intellectual disabilities will lose custody of their children, according to a 2012 report from the National Council on Disability, on which I was the primary author.

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This discrimination is not only harmful to familiesit is also unlawful. Indeed, both Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibit child welfare agencies and courts from discriminating against disabled parents.

These federal laws also require child welfare agencies and courts to provide reasonable modifications in policies, programs, and procedures to ensure disabled parents are offered an equal opportunity. For example, Deaf parents must be provided sign language interpreters, and parents with intellectual disabilities should receive individualized services based on the familys needs.

Yet, nearly 50 years since the Rehabilitation Act was passed and 30 years since the ADA became law, discrimination continues to persist. As a result, families are being torn apart.

Such discrimination is a long-standing issue in U.S. history, rooted in eugenics practices like intelligence tests and other standards that, historically, have resulted in children being removed from families and forced sterilization of those withor those perceived to havedisabilities.

Roughly two-thirds of state child welfare laws still allow for a parents disability to be considered for the purposes of terminating parental rights, according to the National Council on Disability. Tellingly, researchers from the University of Minnesota found that nationally, 19 percent of children in foster care had been removed from their homes at least in part because they had a disabled parent. That same study found parents with disabilities had 22 percent higher odds of having their parental rights terminated, compared to other parents. And, a recent study found that parents with psychiatric disabilities were eight times more likely than other parents to have involvement with the child welfare system.

The belief that disabled people are unfit parents dates back to the eugenics movement in the early 20th century, when people with disabilities and others who were deemed unfit to procreate were forcibly sterilized. This barbaric treatment even gained the blessing of the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1927 Buck v. Bell case, which held it was constitutional to sterilize people with disabilities forcibly. This alarming decision led to more than 30 states enacting laws that permitted involuntary sterilization, and an estimated 70,000 Americans, many of whom had disabilities, sterilized against their wishes.

But studies do not indicate that parents with disabilities are more likely than nondisabled parents to abuse or neglect their children. In fact, research has consistently found that most disabled parents and their families fare quite well when provided the chance. Studies have shown that a lower IQ has nothing to do with ones fitness as a parent. IQ scores themselves are rooted in flawed methodology and have been used to justify racist and eugenics practices. Further, some scholars contend that there are ways in which children actually benefit from having a disabled parent, such as exhibiting increased empathy.

Thus, the overrepresentation of parents with disabilities within the child welfare system is most often based on prejudice rather than actual harm. But the federal government largely has been silent about the rights of parents with disabilities, which makes OCRs recent action notableand long overdue.

As a result of the new agreement, the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) must now review ten other cases concerning parents with disabilities to discern if each were handled properly. In the voluntary resolution agreement, the state agency promises to make decisions about removing children from their parents based on actual risks that pertain to the individual parent and not on mere speculation, generalizations, or stereotypes about individuals with disabilities. In other words, the state should only remove children if there is actual abuse or neglect, and not simply because their parent is disabled.

Such reasoning led to the removal of Fabbrini and Zieglers first-born son, Christopher, in September 2013. Within days of bringing him home from the hospital, Fabbrinis family contacted DHS, expressing concerns that the couples intellectual disabilities made them unable to care for their infant. DHS agreed and placed Christopher in foster care.

In order to regain custody, DHS required the couple to complete parenting and nutrition classes, and learn CPR and first aid, and they did. They also underwent psychological evaluations and participated in supervised visitation with Christopher.

Despite the parents resolve, the then-1-year-old remained in foster care. In 2015, the couples lawyer filed a motion to return him to his parents, arguing there was no current threat of serious loss or injury to the child. It was denied.

Four years later, in February 2017, the couple gave birth to their second child, Hunter. This time, DHS immediately put him in foster care while Fabbrini was still in the hospital. Meanwhile, the parents battle for custody of their children persisted.

In court, the states arguments centered on the parents cognitive and executive functioning skills. The average IQ scoreis between 90 and 110; Zieglers IQ tested at 66, Fabbrinis at 72.DHS focused in court proceedings on the parents cognitive skills and executive functioning, citing, among other things, the parents failure to read to their sons or use sunscreen on the boys, and feeding them chicken nuggets as a snack. The state also accused the parents of asking both too many and too few questions about parenting matters.

In the agreement, OCR says it found systemic deficiencies related to how DHS works with parents with disabilities, emphasizing that removing children from parents with disabilities based on IQ scores, and similar arbitrary measures, is not acceptable.

According to the settlement, DHS promises to give parents with disabilities the same opportunities to reunify their families as nondisabled parents, such as ensuring they have access to family supports. DHS will also update its nondiscrimination policy, designate an employee to oversee compliance with the ADA, provide training about working with disabled parents to all staff, establish a grievance procedure for complaints alleging disability discrimination, and provide regular progress reports on its efforts to OCR.

While this is not the first time the federal government has investigated a case involving discrimination by the child welfare system against parents with disabilities, it is the first time they have done so in three years.

In November 2012, the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) placed a newborn baby in foster care after Sara Gordon, a mother with an intellectual disability, experienced trouble with feeding and diapering. While many new parents have similar challenges, state officials determined that Gordon was not able to comprehend how to handle or care for the child due to the mothers mental retardation.

Such actions were discriminatory and unlawful, according to a January 2015 joint letter of findings issued by the OCR and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Specifically, the departments investigated Gordons case and found DCF violated both the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA by discriminating against Gordon based on her disability and denying her support and services to assist her in caring for her daughter.

Two months later, Gordon and her daughter were reunited.

In August 2015, DOJ and OCR issued technical assistance to child welfare agencies and courts detailing the legal obligations of the child welfare system when working with disabled parents and their families. According to the guidance, both federal agencies had received several complaints of discrimination by the child welfare system, and that the frequency of such complaints was rising. Further, the guidance noted that child welfare agencies and courts greatly varied in how they support disabled parents and their families.

By the end of the year, OCR entered into a voluntary agreement with the Georgia Department of Human Services related to foster parents with disabilities.

Groups such as the Arc and the National Council on Disability have praised OCR for its recent agreement with Oregon. We are glad to see federal regulators reject stereotypical and discriminatory beliefs about the abilities of parents with [intellectual and developmental disabilites] to care for their children, particularly when considering the history of discrimination, including involuntary sterilization, said Peter Berns, CEO of the Arc.

While efforts like the agreement are important, however, questions remain about how much change it can really effectuate.

Attention to the rights of parents with disabilities is, of course, significant. And involvement by the federal government should hold some weight. Nonetheless, the Oregon agreement is voluntary and does not establish any sort of legal precedent. So far, its unclear if there are penalties if Oregon were to fail to adhere.

Further, unlike the letter of findings issued in the Gordon case, this agreement explicitly states it should not be construed as an admission that the state violated federal disability rights laws.

What happened to Fabbrini and Ziegler, as well as Gordon and countless other couples, must end. Families shouldnt be torn apart because of antiquated beliefs about the fitness of disabled people to raise children. Further, states must be held accountable when they break federal law.

But under the Trump administration, disability rights have been under constant siege. And, by not explicitly stating that Oregon violated both the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA, the federal governments silence in this case may be just another example of the administration not doing enough.

Originally posted here:

An Oregon Couple Can Get Their Kids Back From Foster Care. But Many Disabled Parents Don't Get That Chance. - Rewire.News

Even Taylor Swift Can’t Escape ‘When Will You Have Kids?’ – The Daily Beast

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I am 24, which is roughly 12 in New York years. No one expects me to have a kid or own a home. The same cannot be said for the small town I grew up in. There, Times up! is less of a #MeToo rallying cry and more of something a friends father tells his oldest daughter upon learning shes still single.

There comes a time in young womanhood where people who once really didnt want you to get pregnant suddenly start to care a lot about the babies you must have, right now. I cannot fathom why anyone at my familys Christmas dinner table would want to talk about freezing my eggs in between bites of mashed potatoes. And yet.

Despite what her poreless skin and dumb lyrics like spelling is fun might make you believe, Taylor Swift will turn 30 this week. The milestone means next to nothing, except that I hope she has a very nice birthday party. But of course, that means peoplenamely, menare falling over themselves to remind her she should spawn at once, or else shell almost certainly die alone and unloved.

One of those men happens to be Stefan Molyneux, an alt-right personality who boasts over 900,000 YouTube subscribers. He regularly spouts social Darwinist bullshit to his followers, and the Southern Poverty Law Center added him to its Extremist Files. Leave it to this guy to have thoughts on Taylor Swifts uterus.

I cant believe Taylor Swift is about to turn 30 - she looks so young! Molyneux began. Its strange to think that 90% of her eggs are already gone - 97% by the time she turns 40 - so I hope she thinks about having kids before its too late! Shed be a fun mom. 🙂

Yes, Stefan, it is strange, for you or anyone who is not Taylor Swift to spend even a moment thinking about her reproductive system. Please log off and factory reset your invasive man mind.

Swift has not responded to Molyneuxs tweet, and representatives for parties did not respond to my request for comment. But the singer addressed a similar topic last week.

In what she surely hoped would be a nice sound bite for an interview with People magazine, Swift said, The more women are able to voice their discomfort in social situations, the more it becomes the social norm that people who ask the questions at parties like When are you going to start a family to someone as soon as they turn 25 are a little bit rude.

Its good that were allowed to say, Hey, just so you know, were more than incubators. You dont have to ask that of someone just because theyre in their mid-20s and theyre a female, she added.

Molyneuxs trolling of Swift is less troubling than his enthusiastic promotion of scientific racism and eugenics. But its still concerning that many meneven otherwise lovely, well-intended menview a womans fertility as a point of friendly chatter.

Molyneux punctuated his tweet with a smile emoji, in what looks like an attempt at congeniality. Hes posed his unwarranted and unwanted message to Swift as a public service announcement, even beginning it with a complimentalbeit a seriously creepy one. (She looks so young! Seriously, my dude, close the tab on your computer thats just Google images of Taylor Swift and go take a walk.)

It brings me no joy to imagine Molyneux at his desk, stroking his chin, deep in thought imagining Taylor Swifts parenting abilities. Though, I guess it is probably one of his better thoughts, considering all the other abhorrent things hes said.

Still, when Youd be such a fun mom comes from the mouth not of a total stranger and internet conspiracy theorist, but a loved one, it seems innocuous, almost kind and caring.

But what if the man saying this is talking to one of the 6 million women in the United States struggling with infertility? They probably already know theyd be excellent mothers; after all, theyre trying. The women in my life who are struggling to get pregnant think about their situation nearly every day; why dont we give them some time off this holiday.

Maybe a woman just plain doesnt want to have a kid, now or ever. Thats her right, even as patriarchal laws attempting to control her sexual everything continue to arise.

So if you find yourself unable to control opening your mouth this holiday season to demand why a female family member is still childless, I beg you: find the nearest forkful of Christmas ham, and shove it there instead.

Originally posted here:

Even Taylor Swift Can't Escape 'When Will You Have Kids?' - The Daily Beast

Virtual Travel Could Change the WorldIf It Gets Off the Ground – The Wall Street Journal

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You strap on a slim, comfortable headset, pick up your controls and press a button. A drone takes off, whizzing down flooded city streets. Through the goggles, you see what the drone seesa crisp, live, 360-degree view of battered houses and uprooted trees. When you look down, you see whats below the drone. The full-color picture doesnt seize up; theres no latency. You are, essentially, digitally teleporting into the aftermath of a natural disaster.

At least, thats the goal. Digital teleportation, as the field is fancifully known, doesnt exist yet. But proponents of the technology, which some call live delivery, believe that in the coming years, a mix of virtual reality, fast wireless networks and machines like drones and rovers will allow people to immerse themselves in actual, far-flung environmentsin real time. Live delivery is a new type of tool that will reinvent the way we experience the world, that will allow us to be on the spot when things are happening, said Marc Carrel-Billiard, senior managing director at Accenture Labs, who advises businesses on VR and augmented reality.

While VR shows prerecorded scenes, live VR, which is starting to show up in classrooms and operating rooms, allows users to experience what is happening in situ. Companies are already starting to pair simplified versions of live VR with drones to give users a sense of being in another place.

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Virtual Travel Could Change the WorldIf It Gets Off the Ground - The Wall Street Journal

Google reveals the 10 most popular travel destination trends of 2019 – CNBC

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Google released its "Year in Search 2019" results this week, which showed the travel destinations that had the highest spikes in searches in the U.S. from this year to last.

The list shows what's trending not necessarily what's most popular so don't be surprised if your favorite Caribbean island or mouse-themed amusement park didn't make the list. Instead, Google taps into the changes in the travel zeitgeist, revealing the places where Americans went or simply aspired to go more in 2019 than previous years.

So what's hot in travel this year? Americans searched for "trip to" these 10 places:

The underwater glass master bedroom of the Muraka residence at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island.

Courtesy of Justin Nicholas

One photo of this small south Asian nation easily explains its popularity. It's simply beautiful. Made up of a chain of atolls, the Maldives is famous for its one-per-island resorts, translucent turquoise waters and pristine coral reefs.

A trip to the Maldives is not about exploration; it's about staying put, which makes choosing a hotel the most important decision of the trip. Google Trends shows newer properties, such as Kudadoo Maldives and Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi, were the most popular in terms of searches this year.

A stay in an over-water villa in the Maldives is de rigueur for many Americans. Then, the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island upped the ante with the world's first over-water villa with an underwater bedroom. A night there can set you back a cool $38,000 for a full-board package during peak season, which makes the low-season $10,000 bed-and-breakfast daily rate seem like a steal.

Japan's Mount Fuji and Lake Kawaguchi.

Marco Bottigelli | Moment | Getty Images

The world is fascinated by Japan, and Americans are no different. The United Nations World Tourism Organization reported that as of September 2019 Japan posted the second highest growth in international tourism receipts, after Australia.

Yes, the 2020 Summer Olympics are a half a year away. Yes, Japan has turned the basic requirement of eating into high art (which explains why its capital city, Tokyo, has the most Michelin-starred restaurants in the world). And yes, you can drive go-cartsthrough the streets of Tokyo dressed like Batman. And, any nation that has turned Kentucky Fried Chicken into an annual Christmas tradition is in good stead with the American populace.

But Japan has a softer side; it's home to dramatic temples, natural onsens, world-class skiing, seasonal seas of cherry blossoms and a people known for their politeness.

Sunset from the Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora.

ShutterRunner.com (Matty Wolin) | Moment | Getty Images

Bora Bora is the comeback kid of 2019. Starting in the 2000s, tourist arrivals to this French Polynesia jewel started to wane. In 2009, Club Med Bora Bora shuttered its doors.

But the past few years have been kind. Interest is on the rise. People are now searching for flights and resorts, though Google Trends shows recent surges relate to rapper Lil Durk's "Bora Bora" video and unretouched photos of Demi Lovato in a bikini.

Home to a crystalline lagoon and sugary sands, Bora Bora is a good spot to swim with sharks (the pleasant kind), rays and even whales. Diving is big business in this tropical paradise, which sits atop an extinct volcano.

Americans search for "all-inclusive" resorts as well as specific hotels, such as the Four Seasons and St. Regis properties. Luxury rooms top $1,000 per night, while more modest, grass thatched-and-drift-wood accommodations have daily rates of $300 or less. A third option is to cruise around on the Paul Gauguin, an all-inclusive deluxe vessel, named after the artist who spent the last years of his life in French Polynesia.

A portion of the Las Vegas strip.

Dennis Hohl / EyeEm | EyeEm | Getty Images

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who love Vegas and those who don't.

But make no mistake both groups go.

It's the spot for blackjack, showgirls, pre-wedding mayhem, musical residencies, epic club scenes and even more epic elderly slot playing. The city's history has been immortalized in Scorsese mobster filmsand now classic comedies. It's glitz, glam and gutter life rolled into one discount weekend package.

Google Trends cores into exactly what people want to know about Sin City. People search for hotels, flights, shows and Craigslist? The site is surprisingly popular in Las Vegas; proceed with caution.

Giving credit where credit is due, this desert city successfully attracts everyone from young families and celebrities to MICE travelers and the highest of high rollers. The sinners come as do the saints. Even the grasshoppers a top trending Vegas-related search term at the moment.

Mexico is the most popular international destination for Americans.

MM i m a g e s / 500px | 500px | Getty Images

Mexico may be the fifth most popular place to search for trips, but it will almost certainly be the No. 1 spot where Americans actually end up.

Mexico is the most popular international destination for Americans by a landslide and has been for many years. That's why it's no surprise that the most searched travel question in the U.S. in 2015 was: what to pack for Cancun?

It's close, warm, relatively affordable and offers everything from the ruins of Chichn Itz to tequila tours by train. Plus, Americans are obsessed with the food well, a version of it anyway.

And not only are Americans vacationing in Mexico, they are quietly moving across the border. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City estimates around 1.5 million Americans live in Mexico, more than seven times the number since 1990.

Costa Rica is popular for ecotourism.

Johner Images | Johner Images Royalty-Free | Getty Images

The second half of the top 10 list shows a domestic bent Alaska, New Orleans, California and New York, in that order with one exception, Costa Rica in the 10th spot.

Though Americans have a reputation for stateside travel, Google's "Year in Search 2019" data shows that Americans are setting their sights on international shores. And with the number of Americans with passports now at 42% up from just 4% in 1990 more people are poised to turn their search dreams into reality.

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Google reveals the 10 most popular travel destination trends of 2019 - CNBC

Nuffield Scholarship Program Funds World Travel for Farmers – AG INFORMATION NETWORK OF THE WEST – AGInfo Ag Information Network Of The West

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The Nuffield International Farming Scholarship Program offers funds for farmers to experience agriculture in other countries around the world. Started in 1947, the program just became accessible to Americans in the past four years. Nuffield Scholars travel to various countries as a group for six weeks, then individually to complete a research assignment. Commodity groups sponsor the scholars to pay for related expenses.

Brock Taylor, a long-time independent agronomist in Clovis was just named to the Nuffield USA Board of Directors.

TaylorFor me, it's, it's really leadership. Going back to their own community with all this experience and traveling and meeting other people and dealing with people while you travel and bringing that back to their own community. So that's, that's a really good thing. The commodity group funds it and sponsors it, but then they're coming back to their own community in a leadership role for the community, which I really like.

Taylor first became involved with Nuffield by planning visits to California for foreign scholars. He says most participants are farmers or ranchers in their 30s or 40s, and have someone who is able to takeover their management responsibilities while they travel.

Scholars choose their individual travel areas based on their research topic. They then bring that knowledge back to their local communities.

Nuffield is accepting applications and will be conducting interviews in the spring. Learn more and apply at http://www.NuffieldInternational.org.

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Nuffield Scholarship Program Funds World Travel for Farmers - AG INFORMATION NETWORK OF THE WEST - AGInfo Ag Information Network Of The West