Parker Solar Probe – NASA
Hello again Science Fans!
ሰላም በድጋሚ የሳይንስ ደጋፊዎች!
(Many of the Bay Area’s 20,000 Ethiopians live in Oakland.)
The weekly SciSchmooze reliably delivers the latest in science, especially for the San Francisco Bay Area. Give friends and family a free subscription at https://www.bayareascience.org/.
As we cross over into the year 2025, it is a good time to look back at the significant stories we brought to you in 2024.
SPACE
A recent milestone was achieved by the Parker Solar Probe: it skirted just 6 million kilometers from our Sun’s surface. The next closest probe is HELIOS 2 some seven times farther out. Parker ‘phoned home’ to say it was still healthy and is sending data back home to our Earth which orbits 150 million kilometers from the Sun. ¿How fast was the Parker Solar Probe going at its closest approach? Think of a location about 190 kilometers (120 miles) from where you are right now. The probe covered that much distance each second. When Parker reaches its farthest distance from the Sun, it will be poking along at a mere 12 kilometers per second. Learn today’s story of the Parker Solar Probe in this 5 minute video.
Another event is one that did not happen. T Coronae Borealis is a binary system [Red Giant and White Dwarf] that flares up every 80 years and was expected to burst into naked-eye brightness in 2024. Did not happen. Some astronomical prognosticators believe it could blaze up as late as 2027.
NASA launched the Europa Clipper in October to understand the potential for life on Jupiter’s moon, Europa. Four minute video about the mission. Tune in again in April 2030 when it gets there.
Top 5 News Stories in Astronomy for 2024 – Dr. Becky – Becky Smethurst – 14.5 mins
ANTHROPOLOGY
The top ten 2024 revelations about Neanderthals include their affinity for fashion and the mysterious disappearance of Neanderthal male DNA. Also, children from matings of H. neanderthalensis with H. sapiens may have been quite common 47,000 years ago.
BIOLOGY
– 2024 brought a markedly more refined description of LUCA, the Last Universal Common Ancestor of humans, bacteria, and all current life on Earth.
– Research revealed a link between the brain and the immune system.
– AI enabled remarkable progress in the science of proteins.
All three of these topics are presented in this excellent 16-minute video from Quanta Magazine.
PHYSICS
The greatest breakthroughs in physics for 2024 were over my head. Regardless, here is another video from Quanta Magazine that attempts to communicate with us mere humans.
Not to be outdone, Big Think issued The 16 stories that shaped physics and astronomy in 2024.
CLIMATE
We wish climate news included some successes other than promises of increased funding arising from COP29. Sadly, the volume and scale of disasters related to climate change topped the news in 2024.
Perhaps most noteworthy is the passing of President Jimmy Carter. He established the Department of Energy to help move the country to a clean energy future. He expanded protections for Alaskan wilderness. He installed solar panels on the West Wing of the White House. He was an engineer who worked tirelessly toward making the world a better planet – a better place to live.
BOOKS
Hurrah! You dived into this SciSchmooze this deeply so i’m guessing you like to read. Here are the favorite books of Science News for 2024
FUN (?) NERDY VIDEOS
Coronograph of the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope – NASA – 2 mins
Mystery Drones over New Jersey – Mick West – 4 mins
Burnt Toast – The Right Chemistry – Joe Schwarcz – 4.5 mins
Quantum Tunneling – Perimeter Institute – – 5 mins
LUCA – Last Universal Common Ancestor – Sabine Hossenfelder – 5.5 mins
The Evolution of Spiders – Moth Light Media – 9 mins
Dinosaur Fossilization in North America – PBS Eons – Blake de Pastino – 9 mins
¿Is the World Broken? – Kurzgesagt – 9 mins
The Strangest Mathematician in History – NewsThink – Cindy Pom – 9.5 mins
How the Elephant Got Its Trunk – PBS Eons – Michelle Barboza-Ramirez – 12 mins
Demon Ducks of Australia – 7 Days of Science – Ben G Thomas – 12 mins
Methane & the Climate Emergency – Just Have a Think – Dave Borlace – 13 mins
¿What Is the Shape of the Universe? – Up & Atom – Jade Tan-Holmes – 17 mins
Quest to Make Unbreakable Glass – Veritaseum – Derek Muller – 22 mins
¿Can AI decode animal vocalizations? – The Future with Hannah Fry – 24 mins
Mercola – McGill Office of Science & Society – Jonathan Jarry – 55 mins
Here’s to a Happy New Year and to the hope that empathy is not on the cutting block of the coming administration,
Dave Almandsmith
Bay Area Skeptics
“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.”
Neil Gaiman (1960 – ) English author and screenwriter