Geomagnetic Storm Likely This Week

Source - Space Weather News for Feb. 27, 2017: http://spaceweather.com

SOLAR WIND, INCOMING: A canyon-shaped hole in the sun's atmosphere is spewing a stream of solar wind toward Earth. Polar geomagnetic storms could begin as early as Feb. 28th when the leading edge of the stream reaches our planet. NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% chance of G1-class storms on March 1st when Earth is fully enveloped by the fast-moving solar wind. More information @ Spaceweather.com

SUNSET PLANETS: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look west.  The skinny crescent Moon is approaching Venus for a side-by-side gathering on Feb. 28th. 

Visit Spaceweather.com for sky maps.

Big Picture Science for Monday February 27, 2017 - Skeptic Check: Not So Sweet

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Not So Sweet

Obesity, diabetes, heart disease … maybe even Alzheimer’s.  Could these modern scourges have a common denominator?  Some people believe they do: sugar.

But is this accusation warranted?  We talk with a journalist who has spent two decades reporting on nutrition science, and while he says there’s still not definitive proof that sugar makes us sick, he can make a strong case for it.

Also, how a half-century ago the sugar industry secretly paid Harvard scientists to shift the culprit for heart disease from their product to dietary fat.  We hear how the companies borrowed from the playbook of Big Tobacco.

So is your sweet tooth a threat to your health?

Guests:

• Gary Taubes – Investigative reporter and the author of The Case Against Sugar.
• Cristin Kearns – Postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco.
• Naomi Oreskes – Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, and the co-author of Merchants of Doubt.

Download postcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/skeptic-check-not-so-sweet

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

"Ring of Fire" Solar Eclipse on Feb. 26th

Source - Space Weather News for Feb 25, 2017: http://spaceweather.com

"RING OF FIRE" SOLAR ECLIPSE: Something strange is about to happen to sunbeams in the southern hemisphere. On Sunday, Feb. 26th, the Moon will pass directly in front of the sun, covering as much as 99% of the solar disk.  This will turn the sun into a "ring of fire" over parts of South America and Africa. Crescent-shaped sunbeams and thin rings of light will dance across the ground of more than a dozen countries. 

Visit Spaceweather.com for more information and photos.

Solar Wind Advisory

Source - Space Weather News for Feb. 22, 2017: http://spaceweather.com

SOLAR WIND ADVISORY: Earth is about to enter a stream of solar wind flowing from a hole in the sun's atmosphere. NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Feb. 23rd as the solar wind speed quickens to 550 km/s or more. Arctic sky watchers should be alert for auroras on Thursday and Friday nights. Updates and sightings @ Spaceweather.com

AURORA ROCKET LAUNCH: On Feb. 22nd, researchers from Dartmouth College launched a rocket directly into auroras dancing above Alaska. See the launch and find out why they did it on today's edition of Spaceweather.com.

A Gash in the Sun's Atmosphere

Source - Space Weather News for Feb 19, 2017: http://spaceweather.com

A GASH IN THE SUN'S ATMOSPHERE: An unusually wide and sinuous hole has opened in the sun's atmosphere, and it is stretching like a gash across the sun's southern hemisphere. A roughly fan-shaped stream of solar wind flowing from the hole is gently buffeting Earth's magnetic field, and it could keep polar magnetic fields in an unsettled state for the rest of February.  Long range forecasts suggest the month could end with a moderately strong (G2-class) geomagnetic storm. This is all good news for Arctic sky watchers, who can expect regular episodes of Northern Lights in the nights ahead.

Visit today's edition of Spaceweather.com for more information and sightings.

Big Picture Science for Monday February 20, 2017 - Thinking About Thinking

Big Picture Science - Thinking About Thinking

ENCORE: Congratulations, you have a big brain.  Evolution was good to Homo sapiens.  But make some room on the dais.  Research shows that other animals, such as crows, may not look smart, but can solve complex problems.

Meanwhile human engineers are busily developing cogitating machines.   Intelligent entities abound – but are they all capable of actual thought?

Hear how crows fashion tools from new materials and can recognize you by sight.  Also, how an IBM computer may one day outthink the engineers who designed it.

Plus, scientists who simulated a rat brain in a computer, neuron-by-neuron, look ahead to modeling the human brain.  And, what brain disorders teach us about the brain and our sense of self.

Guests:

• John Marzluff – Professor of wildlife science, University of Washington and the author of In the Company of Crows and Ravens
• Idan Segev – Professor of computation and neuroscience, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
• Jeff Welser – Vice president and Lab Director, IBM Almaden Research Center
• Anil Ananthaswamy – Science journalist, correspondent for “New Scientist,” and author of The Man Who Wasn't There: Investigations into the Strange New Science of the Self

This encore podcast was first released on November 9, 2105

Download this podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/thinking-about-thinking

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Amazing Display of Colorful Clouds in the Arctic Stratosphere

Source - Space Weather News for Feb 13th, 2017: http://spaceweather.com

AMAZING POLAR STRATOSPHERIC CLOUDS: Around the Arctic Circle, veteran sky watchers are reporting a remarkable outbreak of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs).  Floating high above Earth's surface in the normally transparent stratosphere, PSCs have filled the sky with brilliant colors that rival the aurora borealis. Some longtime residents of northern Sweden say it's the best display they've ever seen, continuing a trend in recent years of intensifying PSC activity.

Visit today's edition of Spaceweather.com to view photos of the outbreak and to learn more about these must-see wonders of the Arctic.

Above: Polar stratospheric clouds over Kiruna, Sweden, photographed by Mia Stålnacke on Feb. 13, 2017. Browse the photo gallery for more sightings

Big Picture Science for Monday February 13, 2017 - Going All to Species

Big Picture Science - Going All to Species

ENCORE: Meet your new relatives. The fossilized bones of Homo naledi are unique for their sheer number, but they may also be fill a special slot in our ancestry: the first of our genus Homo.   Sporting modern hands and feet but only a tiny brain, this creature may link us and our ape-like ancestors.

Some anthropologists hail the discovery as that of a new hominid species.  Not all their colleagues agree.  Find out what’s at stake in the debate.

Also, the scientist who helped retrieve the fossils describes her perilous crawl through a cave with only ten inches of elbow room.  And a radical theory about what these old bones might mean: could they be from a burial two million years ago?

Guests:

• Marina Elliott  – Paleoanthropologist, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
• Carl Ward – Biological anthropologist, University of Missouri
• John Hawks - Anthropologist, University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Tim White - Anthropologist, University of California, Berkeley

This encore podcast was first released on 11/02/2015

Download this encore postcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/Going-All-To-Species

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Lunar Eclipse this Friday Night

Source - Space Weather News for Feb. 8, 2017: http://spaceweather.com

LUNAR ECLIPSE THIS FRIDAY NIGHT: The full Moon will lose some of its usual luster on Friday night as a dusky shadow creeps across the lunar disk.  It's a penumbral lunar eclipse, visible from parts of every continent except Australia. The uneven dimming of the Moon will be easy to see if you know when to look.

Visit today's edition of Spaceweather.com for observing tips and more information



Penumbral Eclipse of the Moon February 10 - 11, 2017 from LarryKoehn on Vimeo.

Green Comet Approaches Earth

Source - Space Weather News for Feb. 6, 2017: http://spaceweather.com

GREEN COMET APPROACHES EARTH: This week, a small green comet named "45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova" (45P for short) is approaching Earth for one of the closest comet flybys of the Space Age. On the nights around Feb. 11th, Comet 45P will be an easy target for binoculars and small telescopes, revealing itself in eyepieces as an emerald colored fuzzball. Visit today's edition of Spaceweather.com for sky maps and to find out what makes this little comet so green.

Big Picture Science for Monday February 06, 2017 - Quantum: Why We Want 'Em

Big Picture Science - Quantum: Why We Want 'Em

Einstein thought that quantum mechanics might be the end of physics, and most scientists felt sure it would never be useful.  Today, everything from cell phones to LED lighting is completely dependent on the weird behavior described by quantum mechanics.

But the story continues.  Quantum computers may be millions of times faster than your laptop, and applying them to big data could be transformational for biology and health.  Quantum entanglement – “spooky” action at a distance – may not allow faster-than-light communication, but could be important in other ways.  And there’s even the suggestion that quantum mechanics defines the difference between life and death.

Quantum physics.  It’s weird and exotic.  But it’s how the universe works.

Guests:

• Seth Lloyd –  Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Johnjoe McFadden – Lecturer at the University of Surrey, and co-author of Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology
• Michael Raymer – Professor of physics at the University of Oregon, and author of Quantum Physics: What Everyone Needs to Know

Download postcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/quantum-why-we-want-em

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.