30 August 2026
Hello again, fans of science,
फेरि नमस्कार, विज्ञानका प्रशंसकहरू,
[In Nepal, 90% of the population speak Nepali as a first or second language. It is also spoken by many in India and Bhutan.]
SPACE
A hand-me-down went to space Sunday morning. The Nancy Grace Roman Telescope with a decades-old mirror donated by The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is on its way to Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 2. The mirror is basically the same as the one in the Hubble Space Telescope, which also came from the NRO. Those two mirrors were intended to be used in spy satellites developed by Boeing (with insane cost overruns, of course). Fittingly, Ms. Roman initiated the program to create the Large Space Telescope (later named the Hubble Space Telescope) and led the design of its mission and instruments.
¿What will the Roman Space Telescope be doing? It has a large field of view which lends it to find thousands of exoplanets, study the nature (or infer the non-existence) of Dark Energy, and survey billions of galaxies for interesting stuff that JWST and Hubble could then study in greater detail.
Publicity video: NASA’s Roman Space Telescope: Go For Launch – 3 minutes
Science video: Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope – 20 mins
There are three other observatories around Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 2: James Webb Space Telescope (NASA infrared observatory), Euclid (ESA space telescope mapping dark matter), Gaia (retired ESA space observatory), and Spektr-RG (Russian-German X-ray observatory).
EARTH
Some of the videos of the dramatic destruction in Nepal and Tibet this week reached the Internet before being edited. It was gut-wrenching to see individuals engulfed and swept away while desperately trying to flee.
Deadly floods have been a common feature throughout the history of life on Earth. However, avalanches and floods from melting glaciers are increasing in frequency – as expected due to global warming. Hopefully none will be as deadly as we witnessed this last week. [Last year i wrote about the destruction of the Swiss village of Blatten by a rock-ice avalanche.]
Glacial and rock collapse video – 1.5 minutes
Humanitarian video – 2 minutes
RAFFLE
The winner gets to choose from dozens of science-themed t-shirts in different styles and colors. Just send an email to david<dot>almandsmith@gmail<dot>com before noon Friday with your guess of an integer from 1 to 1,000. In our previous Raffle, the eOracle chose 382. Of the 31 entrants, Carolyn was closest with her guess of 379, winning a “Science Is Not A Liberal Conspiracy” hat.
CLIMATE
Just so you know:
- A West Point professor was fired after refusing to stop referring to the human causes of climate change;
- NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) pulled its support of the annual Arctic Report Card;
- The National Academies, the nation’s top scientific body, removed the chapter on climate science from its reference manual for judges;
- Although other factors are involved, political party affiliation continues as the strongest predictor of attitudes toward climate change.
GEOLOGY
Checking Google Maps for a planned camping trip, an amateur astronomer spotted what looked like a meteor impact crater. Geologists went to check it out and confirmed his suspicion. The 15 km (9.3 mi) diameter crater in the Côte-Nord region of Québec is about 390 million years old. [I’m trying to imagine a 15 km crater in the Bay Area.]
GOOD NERDY VIDEOS
Continuous videos: Move the cursor anywhere on the red line to explore earlier views.
— ISS Earth Cam
— Namib Desert Cam zebra, oryx, ostrich, porcupine, jackal, hyena, giraffe, & more
The Everglades – 250 to 250 – Jack E. Davis – 1 min
4 Billion Celestial Objects – Berkeley Lab – 2 mins
Invention of the Shipping Container – Hannah Fry – 2 mins
Frog Bacteria Killed a Cancer – Dr. Ben Miles – 2 mins
Peruna “Patent Medicine” – Cup o’Joe – Joe Schwarcz – 4.5 mins
¿Is Gravity an Entropy Phenomenon? – Sabine Hossenfelder – 5.5 mins
‘Gravity from Entropy’ is gaining support!
64 km Brenner Base Tunnel – Giga Builds – 11 mins
Thwaites Glacier Dynamics – SciShow – Madelyn Leembruggen – 13.5. Mins
The Uncomfortable Truth about Ozempic – Kurzgesagt – 14 mins
Wonderful potential but . . .
How HIV Started – PBS Stay Curious – Joe Hansen – 27 mins
Amazing Jumping Spiders – Stephanie Sammann – 37 mins
Tiny brains but big abilities
Silicon – Tales from the Periodic Table – Ron Hipschman – 47 mins
Have a great week,
Dave Almandsmith
“We really have the most beautiful planet in our solar system. None other can sustain life like we know it. None other has blue water and white clouds covering colorful landmasses filled with thriving, beautiful, living things like human beings.”
Sunita Williams (1965 – ) former NASA astronaut, retired U.S. Navy Captain