Our Eyes on the Skies

As our universe gets smaller via technology, it's more important than ever to know what’s coming and going out there.

The skies of northern Chile are considered the best in the world for astronomy.

https://www.astronomictourism.com/astronomical-observatories-chile.html

The world's largest telescope is going to be built in Chile

https://www.vox.com/2014/12/5/7339349/extremely-large-telescope

The Universe Through Hubble's Eye

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/universe-through-hubbles-eye/

Mayan explorations: Evidence suggests El Caracol was a lookout onto the heavens.

https://www.exploratorium.edu/ancientobs/chichen/HTML/caracol.html

For decades, Arecibo was Puerto Rico’s pride and joy and our ears for intelligent life in the universe

https://www.space.com/arecibo-radio-telescope-collapse-anniversary

Egyptians used the merkhet, sun dial, and water clock to design, build, tell time and bury their dead.

https://astronomerguide.com/ancient-egyptian-astronomy/

NASA's DART spacecraft hits a target asteroid. How did they make it happen?

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/nasas-asteroid-deflecting-dart-spacecraft-nears-planned-impact-with-its-target-2022-09-26/

https://www.space.com/dart-asteroid-mission

Do you take time to look up?

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Tricky Insects: Insights into Evolution

Whether it’s for mating, self-defense, or finding a meal, insects have evolved in surprising ways.

Thanks to Tony Spagnuolo, Calcutt Middle School, Central Falls, RI, for this installment’s origin.

Membracidae- The “thorn mimic”

https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/17034758

https://www.si.edu/stories/beautiful-and-bizarre-treehopper

Bird droppings? Nope, clever moths and caterpillars

https://bugoftheweek.com/blog/2021/8/9/bird-droppings-nope-clever-moths-and-caterpillars-looking-like-poop-beautiful-wood-nymph-eastern-tiger-swallowtail-black-swallowtail-red-spotted-purple

Crafty Caterpillar Puts Flowers on Back

https://twistedsifter.com/2012/05/wavy-lined-emerald-moth-camouflaged-looper-info-pics/

https://roadsendnaturalist.com/tag/camouflaged-looper/

The hawkmoth: These critters mimic snakes

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2254257/The-caterpillars-mimic-snakes-grow-spiky-spines-eat-toxic-flowers--predators-away.html

How about twigs?

http://www.urbanwildlifeguide.net/2013/05/twig-mimic-caterpillar.html

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/life/columnists/carol-cloud-bailey/2020/07/29/those-little-clusters-twigs-your-house-and-trees-actually-caterpillars-port-st-lucie-stuart-vero/5517313002/

The Giraffe Weevil

https://www.madamagazine.com/en/der-giraffenhalskaefer/

https://www.sfzoo.org/giraffe-weevil/

The Amazonian ant species Allomerus is monogamous, likes only one food, and builds traps

https://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/trap-building-ants.php

https://whyfiles.org/shorties/177ant_traps/

Can You Find The Mimics In America's Largest Insect Collection?

https://www.npr.org/2018/04/03/598240941/video-can-you-find-the-imposter-bugs-in-americas-largest-insect-collection

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Frank Vassen - Flickr: Giraffe Weevil, Andasibe, Madagascar CC BY 2.0

Visitors to Our Galaxy?

The Mysteries of Interstellar Visitors

Interstellar visit from a cigar-shaped thing named 'Oumuamua still confounds astronomers

https://www.wired.com/story/oumuamua-was-neither-comet-nor-asteroid-so-what-was-it/

Astronomers spent decades looking for objects from outside our own solar system. Then two arrived at once.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210506-the-interstellar-voyagers-that-visited-our-sun

Harvard’s Avi Loeb Argues That ‘Oumuamua’ Was Really An Interstellar Alien Probe

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2021/02/11/harvard-astronomer-views-interstellar-interloper-as-humanitys-wake-up-call/?sh=6e11bf8a4a21

Mystery of ‘Oumuamua Gets Trickier

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mystery-of-interstellar-visitor-oumuamua-gets-trickier/

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/comets/oumuamua/in-depth/

Why Can’t We Find Planet Nine? Planetary scientists have declared that a ghost planet is hiding in the depths of the solar system, well beyond the orbit of Pluto.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-worlds-extraordinary-orbit-points-to-planet-nine-20180515/

https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-cant-we-find-planet-nine-20180703/

2I/Borisov, the first known interstellar comet

https://earthsky.org/space/comet-21-borisov-comets-red-dwarf-stars-hubble-space-telescope/

Pluto's Sputnik Planitia glacier contains thousands of pits suspected to be caused by floating islands of water ice

https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/solar-system/eternal-ice-age-unusual-ridges-near-plutos-sputnik-planitia-formed-by-ancient-glaciers/

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/sputnik-planitia-drives-plutos-wandering-heart/

The Six Most Likely Places to Find Alien Life

https://www.space.com/15702-alien-life-solar-system-places.html

Fermi Paradox: Where are the aliens?

https://www.space.com/25325-fermi-paradox.html

The many major hurdles to becoming an interplanetary species.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter

https://www.scifuture.org/the-great-filter-a-possible-explanation-for-the-fermi-paradox-interview-with-robin-hanson/

The Great Filter: a possible solution to the Fermi Paradox.

https://astronomy.com/news/2020/11/the-great-filter-a-possible-solution-to-the-fermi-paradox

The Great Filter Theory | Genius by Stephen Hawking

https://mass.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/hawking_genius_ep02_clip05/are-we-alone-ch-5-the-great-filter-theory-genius-by-stephen-hawking/

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By Arne Nordmann (norro), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=365130

Healers and Herbs Throughout History

Throughout the ages, people have depended on plants and those who understood them.

An Historical Review of Medicinal Plants’ Usage 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3358962/

https://www.planetnatural.com/herb-gardening-guru/history/

The Original Medicinal Plant Gatherers & Conservationists

https://unitedplantsavers.org/the-original-medicinal-plant-gatherers-conservationists/

The Hope of Psychedelic Medicines for Mental Health: Massachusetts General Hospital Establishes New Center To Study Psychedelic Mental Health Treatment

https://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/2021/03/10/mass-general-hospital-center-psychedelic-medicine

https://time.com/5278036/michael-pollan-psychedelic-drugs/

Aboriginal bush medicine heals body and soul

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-aborigines-medicine/aboriginal-bush-medicine-heals-body-and-soul-idUSSYD26920420070903

https://hipages.com.au/article/build_a_healing_garden_with_australian_native_plan

Mexico's Curandero Healers Keeping Indigenous Culture Alive

https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/mexico/articles/meet-mexicos-curandero-healers-enacting-surgical-miracles/

Traditional Healing in the Contemporary African Context

https://afro.com/traditional-healing-in-contemporary-context/

23 Medicinal Plants the Native Americans Used Daily

https://efotg.sc.egov.usda.gov/references/public/GA/23MedicinalPlantstheNativeAmericansUsedonaDailyBasis.pdf

Health and Medicine in the Viking Age

http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/health_and_medicine.htm

Ancient medicinal plants of South America

https://www.pnas.org/content/116/23/11087

Ancient Ayahuasca found in 1,000-year-old shamanic pouch

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/ancient-hallucinogens-oldest-ayahuasca-found-shaman-pouch

Mesopotamia

https://www.ancient.eu/article/687/health-care-in-ancient-mesopotamia/

Ayurvedic Healing Traditions

https://www.britannica.com/science/Ayurveda

https://www.copperh2o.com/blogs/blog/ayurvedic-medicine-origin-history-and-principles

10 Great Additions Into Your Daily Recipe

https://www.permaculturenews.org/2016/06/29/top-10-herbs-and-their-health-benefits/

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Ann Kimmerer

https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass

http://www.doebay.net/appeal/Honorable%20Harvest.pdf

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The Growing Need for Astrobiology

How was life created in the universe? Can other planets sustain life (or do they already?). Increasing space exploration could make this era the ‘time of the astrobiologists.’ These folks explore the origins, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe.

NASA Explains the Field

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/what-is-astrobiology

Watch "Ask An Astrobiologist: NASA's Dragonfly Mission to Titan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Os67j7gNs&feature=youtu.be

Are We Alone in the Universe?

https://www.rutgers.edu/news/are-we-alone-universe-rutgers-professor-explores-possibility-life-mars-and-beyond

As a Career -One of the Hottest New College Majors… Exploring new worlds: U Illinois Alumna Kennda Lynch Creates a Career in Astrobiology

https://ise.illinois.edu/newsroom/article/kennda-lynch

https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/career-path-suggestions/

5 Incredible Breakthroughs in Astrobiology (And Why They Matter)

https://news.fit.edu/academics-research/5-incredible-breakthroughs-astrobiology/

The SETI Institute

https://www.seti.org/research/Astrobiology

Japan's Hayabusa2 mission delivers the first subsurface steroid samples to Earth

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/watch-japan-hayabusa2-mission-deliver-ryugu-asteroid-samples-earth-live-stream-today-2020-12-05/

How Hayabusa Gets it Done 

https://www.planetary.org/video/how-hayabusa2-will-return-samples-from-ryugu-to-earth

COMING UP SOON- Watch!!: A Rainbow of Exo Planets

https://www.seti.org/event/seti-talks-rainbow-exoplanets

Our Place in the Universe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3Sh9IjoPzQ

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Mars: More thinking about our planetary sidekick

Mars, the fourth planet from the sun. Could humans find ourselves living there someday? What makes it red in color, and how like Earth is it really? Why does it play a role in so many mythologies (and alien stories)? For thousands of years, the enduring and mysterious appeal of Mars has reflected our hopes and dreams (and, at times, our fears). What do you think YOU could learn from the Red Planet?

Can Mars exploration improve life on Earth?

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/could-mars-exploration-improve-life-on-earth/

Sibling Rivalry: A Mars/Earth Comparison

https://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/Sibling_Rivalry.html

Overview of Search for Life on Mars

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2019.00108/full

Interview: Countdown to Mars -Dr. Kennda Lynch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-FC-s4MXvE

Interview: Countdown to Mars: Dr. Mackenzie Day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d1OGKahk4g

Acid saline lakes are good Mars analogues

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23971647/

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2010JE003687

The enduring and mysterious appeal of Mars

https://www.powells.com/searchresults?keyword=sirens+of+mars

Interactive Map of Mars - the geographic features and objects humans have left there

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Features_and_artificial_objects_on_Mars

Halite from South Australia suggests Mars landscape.

https://www.mindat.org/locentries.php?m=1804&p=12222

The origin of acidity in southern Western Australia

https://www.geosociety.org/gsatoday/archive/25/6/article/i1052-5173-25-6-4.htm

Revealed: How a spacecraft will bring Mars rocks to Earth

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01114-0

Listen to the InSight Explorer Journey in this podcast from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

https://soundcloud.com/nasa/sets/on-a-mission

BBC Radio 4 explores the Red Planet of our dreams… and maybe, our futures…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04t360q

At Home on Mars

https://www.hillarys.co.uk/static/home-on-mars/

Mars Teacher Activity Resources

https://mars.nasa.gov/classroom/pdfs/MSIP-MarsActivities.pdf

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ESA & MPS for OSIRIS Team CC BY-SA IGO 3.0

What's Happening in the Cosmos?

In 1999, two amateur treasure hunters made a rare discovery at a small town in the Eastern German region of Saxony-Anhalt that shook the world of archeology. The remarkable find was in use from 1,800 to 1,600 BC, likely came from fmines in present-day Austria, England, and Romania, but was almost lost to black market traders.

To learn more, explore these links:

Astronomers Detect Biggest Explosion Since the Big Bang

https://futurism.com/astronomers-detect-biggest-explosion-since-big-bang

Earth formed much faster than previously thought

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200220130509.htm

35-year-old space riddle solved by Chilean astronomers

https://www.thisischile.cl/35-year-old-space-riddle-solved-by-chilean-astronomers/?lang=en

Student discovers 17 new planets, including an Earth-sized world

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200228073146.htm

Discovering the universe in chile

https://www.thisischile.cl/discovering-the-universe-in-chile/?lang=en

This 'hot Jupiter' planet with an 18-hour year is dancing with death

 https://www.space.com/hot-jupiter-exoplanet-torn-apart-18-hour-year.html

how discoveries in astronomy apply to other challenges

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8vNTL16ogk

Astronomy in Everyday Life

https://www.iau.org/public/themes/astronomy_in_everyday_life/

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New Understandings About Sleep: One of Our Biggest Enduring Mysteries

Why do we sleep, anyway?

http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits-of-sleep/why-do-we-sleep

The science of our “internal” time

https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/05/11/internal-time-till-roenneber/?mc_cid=4940b25265&mc_eid=27d5bd322f

As we age and undergo a variety of developmental changes, sleep patterns change as well

http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/science/variations/changes-in-sleep-with-age

Recent findings suggest that sleep removes toxins in your brain that build up while you are awake. 

https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Understanding-Sleep

The science of sleep: Dreaming, depression, and how REM sleep regulates negative emotions

https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/08/13/the-twenty-four-hour-mind-rosalind-cartwright/

Why dreaming may be important for your health

https://time.com/4970767/rem-sleep-dreams-health/

There’s money to be made- $$$$ -tech titans and start-ups repackage rest as the ultimate wellness cure.

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/lifestyle/article/the-business-of-sleep

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The Sky's the Limit

Cool things in our skies, the galaxy, the universe, a clear view, telling time and more -- all made possible by just looking up!!

• How to stargaze

  • https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-to-stargaze

  • https://www.darksky.org/the-night-sky-and-you-9/

• Ten cool things about stars https://earthsky.org/space/ten-things-you-may-not-know-about-stars

• What's "up" this month? https://cosmicpursuits.com/night-sky-this-month/

• Imagine the universe!! https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/objects/milkyway1.html

• The physics of our stars https://physics.weber.edu/schroeder/ua/StarMotion.html

• Telling time with stars https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/tell-time-by-stars.html

• Pollution’s impact on watching the sky https://www.sciencealert.com/watch-the-dramatic-effect-light-pollution-has-on-our-view-of-the-night-sky

• If you happen to be in Maine! http://www.acadianightskyfestival.org/
  

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A Bronze Age Map of the Cosmos

In 1999, two amateur treasure hunters made a rare discovery at a small town in the Eastern German region of Saxony-Anhalt that shook the world of archeology. The remarkable find was in use from 1,800 to 1,600 BC, likely came from fmines in present-day Austria, England, and Romania, but was almost lost to black market traders.

To learn more, explore these links:

• https://www.ancient.eu/article/235/the-nebra-sky-disc---ancient-map-of-the-stars/

• https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nebra-sky-disc

• https://www.businessinsider.com/nebra-sky-disk-is-oldest-depiction-of-universe-2015-1

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By Dbachmann, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1500795

Humans Are Still Asking: Where Did Our Water Come From?

A heap of space rubble that might unlock the mysteries of water on Earth https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613137/ryugu-is-a-heap-of-space-rubble-that-might-unlock-the-mysteries-of-water-on-earth/

Japanese scientists think they know where the Ryugu asteroid came from https://bgr.com/2019/03/21/ryugu-asteroid-origins-hayabusa2-japan/

Too dry?? What does that mean for our planet? https://www.newscientist.com/article/2196990-asteroid-ryugu-is-so-dry-we-may-have-to-rethink-how-earth-got-water/

How come we HAVE water? https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-did-water-come-to-earth-72037248/

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Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57780984

Dim the Sun to Cool Our Planet?

Could spraying sunlight-reflecting particles into the stratosphere cool Planet Earth?

• https://www.technocracy.news/scientists-spray-the-stratosphere-dim-the-sun-cool-the-planet/

• https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07533-4

• https://www.perspectaweather.com/blog/2018/11/5/800-am-earths-upper-atmosphere-cooling-off-dramatically-and-cosmic-rays-continue-to-increase-as-deep-solar-minimum-approaches

• http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/plan-shoot-tiny-droplets-sky-would-cool-planet-it-wouldn-t-help-crops

Grand Challenge: Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet

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Photo by Quentin Rey on Unsplash

Pieces of Mars Are Among the Bodies Colliding with Earth

In order to understand meteorite impacts on Earth, it is important to know where the chunks of rock come from.

• https://www.space.com/33695-thousands-meteorites-litter-earth-unpredictable-collisions.html

• https://earthsky.org/space/heres-how-often-small-asteroids-enter-earths-atmosphere

• https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2018/09/28/pieces-of-mars-have-landed-on-earth/

• https://nineplanets.org/

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Rohit Bhartia of NASA's Mars 2020 mission holds a slice of a meteorite scientists have determined came from Mars. One of two slices will be used for testing a laser instrument for NASA's Mars 2020 rover while it's still on Earth; the other slice will go to Mars onboard the rover.

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Oceans of Earth

Without an explosion 4.5 billion years ago, the planet Earth might have been a blue marble, without much water and lacking the conditions for life to thrive.

To learn more, explore this link: https://medium.com/@kurtcagle/the-oceans-of-earth-3c63e01cd08d

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Double the Rubble (Artist Concept) - Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Can we colonize the galaxy without going ourselves?

Colonizing the Galaxy Is hard, but may be vital. Why not send bacteria instead?Seeding alien worlds with terrestrial life is now being discussed

To read more, click here.

  Grand Challenge: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe

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Bacteria (Wikipedia)

Saving the Earth with Help from NASA

There are a slew of Earth Science missions that NASA has planned for the future. We need all of them (and more) for a thriving planet. 

To read more, click here. 

Grand Challenge: Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet

Increase knowledge of the evolutionary and ecological history of species and ecosystems, and the processes responsible for population declines and extinction.

Grand Challenge: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe

·         Understand the formation, geological diversity, and dynamics of the Earth, the Moon, and other rocky bodies in our solar system.

Understand how stellar processes change clouds of gas and dust into stars and planets, including the Earth, and how life emerged here and perhaps elsewhere.

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Photo Credit: NASA

Scientists literally brought out the big gun to study the origins of water

Did planets like Earth, Mars, Venus, and Mercury form dry out of the dust and heat of the inner solar system, only to be drenched in water delivered from ice-laden comets later on? Or did drier asteroids and asteroid collisions bring the wet stuff?

To really understand how this water delivery system works, you need to watch it happen. But meteorite strikes are notoriously unpredictable, so researchers decided to create their own with the help of a super-sized gun at NASA’s Ames Research Center. 

To read more, click here.

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe

Understand how stellar processes change clouds of gas and dust into stars and planets, including the Earth, and how life emerged here and perhaps elsewhere.

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An artist's impression of an asteroid collision in space. NASA/JPL-Caltech

InSight - Studying the 'Inner Space' of Mars

InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to give the Red Planet its first thorough checkup since it formed 4.5 billion years ago.

To read more, click here.

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe

Understand the formation, geological diversity, and dynamics of the Earth, the Moon, and other rocky bodies in our solar system.

Understand how stellar processes change clouds of gas and dust into stars and planets, including the Earth, and how life emerged here and perhaps elsewhere.

Photo Credit: NASA.gov

Rare Metals on Mars And Earth Implicate Colossal Impacts - Astrobiology

New research has revealed that a giant impact on Mars more than four billion years ago would explain the unusual amount of “iron loving” elements in the Red Planet.

Planets form as small dust grains stick together and agglomerate with other grains, leading to bigger bodies termed “planetesimals.” These planetesimals continue to collide with each other and are either ejected from the Solar System, gobbled up by the Sun, or form a planet. This is not the end of the story, as planets continue to accrete material well after they have formed. This process is known as late accretion, and it occurs as leftover fragments of planet formation rain down on the young planets.

To read more, click here.

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe

Understand the formation, geological diversity, and dynamics of the Earth, the Moon, and other rocky bodies in our solar system.

ERC Grand Challenges Network: for inquiry, for project design, for activism. 

Photo credit: UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA/LPL/SWRI

Early Life Had Adaptive Powers to Survive Radical Change

Life on Earth could have originated in cold conditions near the surface, before spreading to warmer environments, according to research that analyzes the possible gene sequences belonging to the earliest life.

To read more, click here.

IMAGE CREDIT: MARJORIE D. CANTINE.