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TRAPPIST-1...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 23, 2017 at 6:00am
This artist's illustration of the TRAPPIST-1 system depicts the ultracool dwarf star and its seven small planets. The potential for water throughout the system is also shown as notional clouds of steam, pools of water, and flakes of frost surrounding the planets, in accordance with their distance from the star. Credit: NASA, R. Hurt, T. Pyle
Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Exoplanets, James Webb, Planetary Science, Space Exploration

For planet-hunting astronomers seeking twins or even cousins of Earth around other stars, the universe has just become much less lonely.

To qualify as close planetary kin, another world must be rocky and reside in the not-too-hot, not-too-cold “habitable zone” of its star, bathed in approximately as much starlight as Earth. There—if it possesses an atmosphere neither crushingly thick nor vanishingly thin—such a world could harbor a temperate climate where life-giving liquid water might pool in lakes, seas and oceans. Statistics from ongoing planet surveys suggest billions of worlds in our galaxy could meet these meager criteria, but so far less than a dozen candidates have been found that merit spine-tingling speculations about mirror Earths.

At least, that was the case until today. Writing in Nature, an international group of researchers details the discovery of seven worlds comparable with our own, orbiting a star 40 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius called TRAPPIST-1. Three of the planets orbit in TRAPPIST-1’s habitable zone and the other four could also conceivably sustain liquid water and life under certain atmospheric conditions. All appear to be roughly the same size, mass and composition as Earth.

For now the planets of TRAPPIST-1 are known only by their catalogue notations—TRAPPIST-1 b, c, d, e, f, g and h, labeled in order of their distance from their star. Soon that may change—the worlds will cry out for names as astronomers revel in their study and come to know them. TRAPPIST-1 is so cosmically close to us, so rich with promising worlds, that it is destined to be a touchstone for all future searches for habitable planets. And within a decade, some optimists say, studies of TRAPPIST-1 could provide compelling evidence for the existence of life beyond our solar system.

Scientific American: Nearby Star Hosts 7 Earth-Size Planets [Video], Lee Billings
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Hidden History 22 February 2017...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 22, 2017 at 7:57am
Image Source: Ironically, The Wharton School of Business
Topics: African Americans, History, Diaspora, Diversity in Science, Women in Science

In the era of "alternative facts" (i.e. lies), it's good to go over the actual history of how we got a lot of the free trade agreements that did affect directly our labor force. However, the other thing that has and will continue to dwindle the amount of jobs Americans without a college degree can attain: automation, computer science and robotics. Not being "college material" is beginning to have slimmer and slimmer options.

Our representatives simply haven't thought much beyond their next election cycle how to resolve these problems. It's the blatant, political equivalent of "magical thinking," which makes you feel good for a moment and ultimately produces nothing. Demonizing people of color is far easier than working, apparently.

The impetus for NAFTA began with President Ronald Reagan, who proposed a North American common market in his campaign.

In 1984, Congress passed the Trade and Tariff Act. That gave the president "fast-track" authority to negotiate free trade agreements. It removes Congressional authority to change negotiating points. Instead, it allows Congress only the ability to approve or disapprove the entire agreement. That makes negotiation much easier for the administration. Trade partners don't have to worry that Congress will nitpick specific elements.

Canadian Prime Minister Mulroney agreed with Reagan to begin negotiations for the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. It was signed 1988 and went into effect 1989. NAFTA has now replaced it. (Source: "NAFTA Timeline," NaFina.)

Reagan’s successor, President H.W. Bush, began negotiations with Mexican President Salinas for a liberalized trade agreement between the two countries. Before NAFTA, Mexican tariffs on U.S. imports were 250 percent higher than U.S. tariffs on Mexican imports.

In 1991, Canada requested a trilateral agreement, which then led to NAFTA. In 1993, concerns about the liberalization of labor and environmental regulations led to the adoption of two addendums.

In 1992, NAFTA was signed by President George H.W. Bush, Mexican President Salinas and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

It was ratified by the legislatures of the three countries 1993. The U.S. House of Representatives approved it by 234 to 200 on November 17, 1993. The U.S. Senate approved it by 60 to 38 on November 20, three days later.

President Bill Clinton signed it into law December 8, 1993. It entered force January 1, 1994. It was a priority of President Clinton's, and its passage is considered one of his first successes. (Source: "NAFTA Signed Into Law," History.com, December 8, 1993.)

The Balance: The History of NAFTA and Its Purpose, Kimberly Amadeo
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Imaging Neurotransmitters...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 22, 2017 at 7:53am
The nanosensor array is composed of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) deposited on a microscope slide. These nanotubes fluoresce in the near infrared when excited with laser light and are wrapped in single-stranded DNA to make them fluoresce brightly in the presence of dopamine. Courtesy: D Salem
Topics: Carbon Nanotubes, Biology, Nanotechnology

Chemical signalling between biological cells is the very essence of life, but it is difficult to measure such signals using existing techniques – such as those that rely on microfabricated electrodes, for example. A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have now succeeded in imaging how the neurotransmitter dopamine is released from a single cell using an array of 20,000 individually addressable sensors. The spatiotemporal resolution of the new technique is several orders of magnitude larger than that of previously reported electrode-based approaches.

Cells communicate with each other using waves of chemical concentrations that change in both direction and time. However, unlike electrical potentials, measuring this chemical signalling between cells and within cellular networks is more difficult – and especially at the spatial resolutions required to find out exactly from where on a cell chemicals are released.

Michael Strano and colleagues have now taken an important step forward to overcoming this problem. The researchers have developed fluorescent nanosensors based on single carbon nanotubes that can be placed under and around neuroprogenitor cells and image how the neurotransmitter dopamine is released from these cells. Thanks to their small size, as many as 20,000 sensors can be placed around an individual cell.

SWCNTs fluoresce brightly in the presence of dopamine
“The nanosensor array is composed of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) deposited on a microscope slide,” explains team member Daniel Salem. “These nanotubes fluoresce in the near-infrared (nIR) part of the electromagnetic spectrum when they are excited with laser light and we wrap them in single-stranded DNA to make them fluoresce brightly in the presence of dopamine.

“By imaging the surface beneath a cell with these sensors and making a movie of the nIR fluorescence, we are able to observe turn-on responses of individual pixels and correlate these with dopamine release from the cell.”

SWCNTs are versatile building blocks for biosensors, he says, and can detect down to the single-molecule level. The researchers chose to study dopamine in their work because it plays a central role in reward control and learning in humans.

Nanotechweb: Nanotube array images neurotransmitter signals, Belle Dumé
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3 unusual secrets for studying smarter not harder

Posted by Adam Turner on February 22, 2017 at 4:39am

The major role for the student is to well-study, work smarter not harder is a very common phrase which every student have to listen and also tried to follow that too. Every student has crowded schedule to complete their works, college, assignments, projects, social events and some other activates such make them too tired for study at home. For the smarter study, you need a perfect schedule including your all activities of the day which you have to follow strictly to cover up your studies. Instead of studying longer and harder, scientific research has proven ways on how the brain can process and learn information smarter and within shorter time spans. To study smarter UK Dissertation Help provider suggest some assure tips which help you

Concentrate on studies
Before the one or two months of exams students decide to study hard with the proper schedule, and that time they need more concentration towards their studies. Prepare a complete schedule and to-do list for a day and also to solve the previous year question paper which will help you to understand the pattern and also the efforts you have to give for that subject.

Create milestones
During exam time there is a lot of pressure and we have to manage all the things in the same time. Before starting any topic or subject just divide it into different parts which will help you complete your target and also have your own progress report that how much time taken to complete one task. Take a break of 5 min after every 30 min which will help you to get a refresh. Discipline yourself to study your toughest subject for 20-30 minutes a day or to solve 5-10 problems of your textbook every single day. A small daily effort piles up – after 30 days, just 5 problems a day pile up to 150 problems solved.

Smart study, instead of hard
Always study according to the timetable and when you study just completely concentrate on your subject avoiding all the destruction, keeping them and study for the whole day will never give you a positive result. Make sure before leaving the topic each and every concept should be clear, make proper and understanding notes with highlighting important points which help you during revision.


Keep track of your progress
Check you’re to do list daily before sleeping and make sure that have you completed your task of the day and it helps also to manage the time that which subject need more time to complete. Stay focus till your exams end it will help you to score more result.

Never give up
Practice, practice, practice until you don’t achieve your goal, never try to give up and remained focused on your goal. Never distract from any other thing until you achieve your goal.

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Hidden History 21 February 2017...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 21, 2017 at 10:34am
Image Source: Pinterest
Topics: African Americans, History, Diaspora, Diversity in Science, Women in Science

Television made Donald Trump president. The master of The Apprentice created a character named “Donald Trump”—a tough but fair business genius—and sold him to the country. That character, so different from the man who declared six business bankruptcies and stiffed his contractors, then grabbed the microphone to opine about politics. As he spouted nonsense about President Obama’s birth certificate, television fell for him again, featuring him on cable shows well after his claim had been proven an early case of fake news. And this addiction continued throughout Trump’s long-shot presidential campaign, as he spewed hate—and pumped up network ratings. CBS’s Leslie Moonves will go down in history for admitting that “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS…. The money’s rolling in.” He continued: “It’s a terrible thing to say, but bring it on, Donald. Go ahead. Keep going.”

When the old folks say television used to be different from the profit-driven, ratings-obsessed, news-as-entertainment industry of today, they don’t always have good counterexamples. But a few years back, I came across a perfect one: the week in February 1968 when, at the height of the Vietnam War’s Tet offensive, as riots were wracking major American cities and the Democratic Party was coming apart, Johnny Carson handed The Tonight Show over to the legendary Harry Belafonte, who proceeded to use the platform to introduce white America to his world of art and activism.

The week featured Belafonte’s searing, in-depth interviews with Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., just months before both were assassinated. Even before their deaths, America had begun to unravel. Big, bold changes like the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts still left black Americans behind economically, while whites were convinced they’d done enough. The most innovative efforts in the War on Poverty were already winding down, a casualty of white backlash and ballooning spending on the Vietnam War. Richard Nixon loomed ominously on the horizon. In conversation with Belafonte, King and Kennedy come across as thoughtful, admirable, heroic—but also battered and shaken. They don’t have the answers.

The Nation:49 Years Ago, Harry Belafonte Hosted the Tonight Show—and It Was AmazingJoan Walsh
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Aliens, Us...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 21, 2017 at 10:00am
Image Source: Futurism

Topics: Biology, Exobiology, Exoplanets, Futurism, Mars, Space Exploration

What would likely happen is Mars and any interplanetary missions to it and the outer planets would be a one-way trip. Science Fiction shows like The Expanse kind of hit the nail-on-the-head, so to speak. They mention the effect of less than 1 g on humans that lived in say, the asteroid mining belts a few centuries and how Earth's gravity could be as daunting to such beings as Jupiter's would be on us now. The Expanse is a space opera with actual science: momentum, thrust, gravity wells and absolutely not a single warp drive. The Trekkie in me mourns, of course.

This is a good Gedanken (Thought Experiment), but I could see if and when evolution started asserting itself a "Genesis Prime" group on Earth would start a counter assertion to maintain the cosmic "status quo." Think of a few scenes in "Contact" by Carl Sagan.

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Hidden History 20 February 2017...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 20, 2017 at 11:40am
A memorial plaque at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Addie Mae Collins and Carole Robertson were killed in a bombing at the church in 1963 [AP/File]

Topics: African Americans, History, Diaspora, Diversity in Science, Women in Science

I've seen this photo numerous times, but the date always grabs me: September 15, 1963 would have been my mother's 38th birthday. I would have been a budding toddler with Linus blanket and binky, a year an a month old. On this day in 1962, John Glenn would become the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth, thanks largely to African American female "computers," truly "Hidden Figures," since it would be decades before their courageous stories would be told.

In October of 1962, when I was two months old, we skated on the precipice of Armageddon with the Cuban Missile Crisis, when (ahem) Communists and Russians were considered the "bad hombres."

Two months later in 1963, President Kennedy would be assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

I understand why my mother said these were the years... she prayed a lot.

There will never be an acceptable explanation for what happened between Michael Brown and Darren Wilson in Ferguson but we will never fully grasp why the stage was set for such an encounter unless we know American history.

We cannot fully comprehend why Dylan Roof murdered nine parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston unless we study the Civil War and the Confederacy.

We cannot truly fathom how a minor traffic stop in Cincinnati could result in a white campus police officer blowing out the brains of an unarmed black man unless we delve into the role race has played in law enforcement from the enactment of the federal Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 to today's mandatory minimum sentencing statutes.

Examining American history provides us with the tools to analyse how the death of Michael Brown and the demonstrations on Florrisant Avenue became a tipping point and sparked a movement. Connecting the dots between the past and the present helps us to see the origins of our current national debate - about race, police misconduct, white supremacy, white privilege, inequality, incarceration and the unfinished equal rights agenda.

The Pendulum

The history of people of African descent in America - which is to say the history of America - is a pendulum of progress and setbacks, of resilience and retaliation, of protest and backlash. There have been allies and there have been opponents. There have been demagogues, who would divide Americans on the basis of colour and class, and visionaries who would seek to lead us to common ground.

The quest for "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" has been an American aspiration since the Declaration of Independence, but black Americans, Native Americans and women were not at the table in 1776. Forty of the 56 signers owned other people.

Lest there be any doubt about where the young nation's sentiments lay, the Supreme Court's 1857 Dred Scott decision made clear that people of African descent - whether enslaved or free - would not be considered American citizens and had no legal standing in the courts. It mattered not that some of their grandfathers had served in George Washington's Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.

Al Jazeera: Know your history: Understanding Racism in the US, A'Lelia Bundles
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Grace Under Pressure...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 20, 2017 at 11:34am
The sample appears as a dark area near the center of this micrograph of the diamond-anvil cell.
Credit: X. Dong et al. Nat. Chem. 2017

Topics: Chemistry, Chemical Physics, Materials Science


Helium doesn’t play well with others. Beyond its noble gas designation on the periodic table, it has the lowest electron affinity—zero—among the elements, and the highest ionization energy. Scientists have managed to mechanically pack He atoms with other elements, but the He has little effect on those compounds’ characteristics.

Now an international team has presented evidence for a compound whose electronic structure and thus its physical properties are influenced by its He components. Researchers led by Artem Oganov ran a crystal structure prediction algorithm to play matchmaker for He and found that the compound Na2He should form at high pressures. The researchers shared their prediction with Alexander Goncharov and colleagues, who loaded He gas and solid sodium into a diamond-anvil cell at the Carnegie Institution for Science. After increasing the pressure to 140 GPa and heating the sample, Goncharov’s team noticed a marked shift in material properties. New peaks appeared in x-ray diffraction patterns, and the sample’s melting point rose to more than 1500 K; pure Na melts at about 550 K.

Scientific American: Helium compound may form under pressure, Andrew Grant

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Godspeed, John Glenn...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 20, 2017 at 11:00am

It would literally be decades before we found out this was a part of African American History, as the book and movie "Hidden Figures" reveals. We have been, and always will be a part of the fabric of this nation's progress forward. Regarding us as lazy, stupid, useless can only lead to the United States regression into third world status. It has the logic of shooting oneself in the foot and expecting "the other" to feel the pain.

I guess for my mother, it was t-minus six months and counting (I was happily gestating in her womb)...


It took chutzpah, moxie for a human being to consciously strap (at that time) himself to a large lit stick of dynamite with no guarantee that the procedure, though thoroughly calculated and considered, would not end in disaster.

So was this Marine Corp pilot, who confidently climbed into a Mercury rocket - Friendship 7, and took the first flight by an American to orbit the Earth.

Mercury - Gemini - Apollo: it would change our world with semiconductor-manufactured spinoff technologies that we now take for granted. It would change our focus, our nerve on what was possible. We would look to the stars and listen for signs of humanity's cousins.

50 years later: Godspeed, John Glenn

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Hidden History 17 February 2017...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 17, 2017 at 8:30am
Members of the Kappa Beta Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc perform a step show at the University of Memphis in 1999 Note that the average cane is about knee high (app. 2 feet), image source at site

Topics: African Americans, History, Diaspora, Diversity in Science, Women in Science

Stepping, like the blues, gospel, grits, jazz, be-bop, soul music, rock & roll and hip hop has its origins in traditions passed down from mother to daughter; father to son. It's originated in the 19th century in the form of South African gumboot dancing. The black miners were forbidden drums and traditional garb by the foremen, so they used as a way to break up the monotony, entertainment and communication with the only instruments they had: their rain boots and their bodies. It evolved from call-and-response sermons in black churches: "the rhythm of clap and tambourine, washboard and kettle drum." You can see certain tribes on the Mother Continent today that the only name you can give their rhythmic stomping, their pirouettes, their sheer expression of joy... is stepping.

It is an American art form, found in all of the Divine Nine, taught to undergrads and in some cases graduate initiates to carry on a tradition that on the outside looks almost stereotypical to the cynical, that usually will make snide and racist remarks out of ignorance because they do not understand.

They obviously haven't read "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley, nor understood the conditions under which he wrote his words:

Henley's literary reputation rests almost entirely upon this single poem.[7] In 1875 one of Henley's legs required amputation due to complications arising from tuberculosis. Immediately after the amputation he was told that his other leg would require a similar procedure. He chose instead to enlist the services of the distinguished English surgeon Joseph Lister, who was able to save Henley's remaining leg after multiple surgical interventions on the foot.[8]

While recovering in the infirmary, he was moved to write the verses that became "Invictus". This period of his life, coupled with recollections of an impoverished childhood, were primary inspirations for the poem, and play a major role in its meaning.[9] A memorable evocation of Victorian stoicism—the "stiff upper lip" self-discipline and fortitude in adversity, which popular culture rendered into a British character trait, "Invictus" remains a cultural touchstone.[6] Source: Wikipedia, see second Invictus link.

Invictus is memorized and recited by initiates to the Divine Nine as well as majority organizations, but not without the cultural backdrop of being and living in America as almost an afterthought. It's about pushing ahead through adversity; fighting against mighty streams of resistance to one's goal.

In a conversation I recounted with Dr. Ronald E. McNair (A&T physics graduate and sadly, Challenger astronaut casualty), "5 weeks before his dissertation defense, someone purged his data (also known as sabotage). Without data, he'd essentially have failed to get his PhD. He said he stayed up for 3 weeks and re-accomplished 5 years of research. He slept for a week after that." He was a proud member of Omega Psi Phi, a member of the Divine Nine. He obviously learned, and LIVED Invictus. I'll wager because he was a jazz saxophonist and an accomplished athlete (part of the Fighting Aggie Karate Team, and 5th Degree Black Belt) he STEPPED as an undergrad, too.

Most of the Founders of African American Fraternities and Sororities were men and women of letters, but also (at least for the initial organizations) as undergraduates servants within dominate frat and sorority houses. Due to segregation, they were not allowed to join majority organizations. It was under these and similar circumstances the germ of an idea: organizations of our own was born.

It is why such organizations step, while others do not.

It is an expression of triumph over adversity from a society designed against you to be at times vindictively cruel and punitive.

It is rising above bigoted circumstances; winning in spite of low expectations and outright, malicious sabotage.

It is, with or without canes, martial arts, break dancing, gymnastics, music and pirouettes the embodiment of Langston Hughes classic poem, I'm Still Here:

been scarred and battered.
My hopes the wind done scattered.
Snow has friz me,
Sun has baked me,

Looks like between 'em they done
Tried to make me

Stop laughin', stop lovin', stop livin'--
But I don't care!
I'm still here!

* * * * *

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Earnest Hensley, last stanza of "Invictus"

Still here, unconquered AND stepping to prove it!

Related Links:

Step Afrika: What is Stepping?
The Art of Stepping: History of the Art of Stepping
University of Florida Multicultural Guide: What is Strolling?
Wikipedia: Gumboot dance
Wikipedia: Stepping (African-American)

Kappas on YouTube (Hey, I'm a member, so I'm GOING to be partial):

Howard Homecoming
Maniac Drew Brown (Cane Master)
Southern Province Step Show
The Art of Twirling
University of Miami, TEDx

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A Real Drag...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 17, 2017 at 7:30am
The Sun as seen by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (Courtesy: Solar Dynamics Observatory/NASA)

Topics: Astrophysics, Heliophysics, NASA, Solar System

And in one post title, I've horribly dated myself again. Happy Friday, everyone!

Sunlight is slowing the rotation of the Sun’s outermost layers by stealing its angular momentum. That is the claim of researchers in the US and Brazil who have studied acoustic waves oscillating through the Sun’s visible surface – the photosphere – to determine how fast the Sun spins at certain depths.

It has been known since the 1980s that the outer 5% of the photosphere rotates more slowly than deeper layers. However, solar physicists do not understand why this slowdown occurs, its total extent and its effect on the Sun’s magnetic dynamo and solar wind.

To solve this puzzle a team led by Ian Cunnyngham and Jeff Kuhn of the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii has observed acoustic waves at the limb (edge) of the Sun’s disc using the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which orbits Earth.

Bell ringing

The Sun is ringing like a bell as acoustic waves driven by turbulence crash through the plasma within its interior. The waves themselves, known as p-mode oscillations, have very low frequencies in the region of 3000 µHz and their harmonic patterns form the basis of helioseismology.

Cunnyngham and Kuhn’s team observed the oscillations at the solar limb, where the viewing angle makes it possible to determine how deep in the photosphere each oscillation is, allowing measurements of the rotation velocity at each depth. They found that the greatest amount of braking was occurring in the outer 70 km of the photosphere and that layers closest to the surface were rotating more slowly than deeper layers. This differential rotation could potentially twist localized magnetic field lines, affecting magnetic phenomena such as sunspots, active regions and even the formation of the solar wind.

Physics World: Photons are a drag on the Sun, Keith Cooper

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Legends Parallel 2

Posted by Bill McCormick on February 16, 2017 at 3:46pm

Imagine an Earth where Africa was never colonized and ended up ruling the world. We did. Legends Parallel issue 2 is coming soon. Pre-order yours via the STORE link at www.LegendsParallel.com

Uzziah is a hero on Earth 2. The problem that Earth has with him is he keeps saving people nobody really wants to save. What will happen to his, and their, worldview when they find out the losers he's saving here are leaders elsewhere?

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Hidden History 16 February 2017...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 16, 2017 at 6:34am
Replica of Benjamin Banneker's clock at Brookhaven National Laboratory link below

Topics: African Americans, History, Diaspora, Diversity in Science, Women in Science

Without Benjamin Banneker, our nation's capital would not exist as we know it. After a year of work, the Frenchman hired by George Washington to design the capital, L'Enfant, stormed off the job, taking all the plans. Banneker, placed on the planning committee at Thomas Jefferson's request, saved the project by reproducing from memory, in two days, a complete layout of the streets, parks, and major buildings. Thus Washington, D.C. itself can be considered a monument to the genius of this great man.

Banneker's English grandmother immigrated to the Baltimore area and married one of her slaves, named Bannaky. Later, their daughter did likewise, and gave birth to Benjamin in 1731. Since by law, free/slave status depended on the mother, Banneker, like his mother, was---technically---free.

Banneker attended an elementary school run by Quakers (one of the few "color-blind" communities of that time); in fact, he later adopted many Quaker habits and ideas. As a young man, he was given a pocket-watch by a business associate: this inspired Banneker to create his own clock, made entirely of wood (1753). Famous as the first clock built in the New World, it kept perfect time for forty years.

During the Revolutionary War, wheat grown on a farm designed by Banneker helped save the fledgling U.S. troops from Banneker's clock starving. After the War, Banneker took up astronomy: in 1789, he successfully predicted an eclipse. From 1792 to 1802, Banneker published an annual Farmer's Almanac, for which he did all the calculations himself.

The Almanac won Banneker fame as far away as England and France. He used his reputation to promote social change: namely, to eliminate racism and war. He sent a copy of his first Almanac to Thomas Jefferson, with a letter protesting that the man who declared that "all men are created equal" owned slaves. Jefferson responded with enthusiastic words, but no political reform. Similarly, Banneker's attempts "to inspire a veneration for human life and an horror for war" fell mainly on deaf ears.

But Banneker's reputation was never in doubt. He spent his last years as an internationally known polymath: farmer, engineer, surveyor, city planner, astronomer, mathematician, inventor, author, and social critic. He died on October 25, 1806. Today, Banneker does not have the reputation he should, although the entire world could still learn from his words: "Ah, why will men forget that they are brethren?"

Banneker's life is inspirational. Despite the popular prejudices of his times, the man was quite unwilling to let his race or his age hinder in any way his thirst for intellectual development.

Benjamin Banneker, known as the first African-American man of science, was born in 1731 in Ellicott's Mills, Md. His maternal grandmother was a white Englishwoman who came to this country, bought two slaves and then liberated and married one of them; their daughter, who also married a slave, was Banneker's mother.

From the beginning, Banneker, who was taught reading and religion by his grandmother and who attended one of the first integrated schools, showed a great propensity for mathematics and an astounding mechanical ability. Later, when he was forced to leave school to work the family farm, he continued to be an avid reader.

Although he had no previous training, when he was only 22 he invented a wooden clock that kept accurate time throughout his life. According to "Gay & Lesbian Biography," Banneker "applied his natural mechanical and mathematical abilities to diagrams of wheels and gears, and converted these into three-dimensional wooden clock-parts he carved with a knife." People from all over came to see the clock.

Brookhaven National Laboratory: Benjamin Banneker
Banneker Store: About Benjamin Banneker

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Neutron Stars and Quantum Physics...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 16, 2017 at 6:30am
An electromagnetic wave traveling from left to right (positive x direction).
Image Credit: Supermanu (CC BY-SA 3.0)


Topics: Astrophysics, Electromagnetic Wave, Neutron Stars, Quantum Electrodynamics


Recently, scientists made some impressive measurements of light emitted by an isolated neutron star. The results support an 80-year-old prediction, made during the early days of quantum electrodynamics (QED), of a phenomenon known as vacuum birefringence.

Radio signals, microwaves, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays are all types of electromagnetic waves. All electromagnetic waves travel through empty space at the same speed, the speed of light (~300,000,000 m/s). More energetic electromagnetic waves have higher frequencies and shorter wavelengths.

In the diagram below above, the electric field is shown in blue. It points along the z axis, moving back and forth in the z direction as the wave travels to the right. Similarly, the magnetic field oscillates in the y direction. The changing electric field gives rise to the magnetic field, and the changing magnetic field gives rise to the electric field, so the two travel together.

When scientists say that light is polarized, they are referring to the direction of the electric field, depicted in the above diagram by the blue arrows. In the diagram, the electromagnetic wave is polarized in the z direction. That is to say: all of the electric field vectors are aligned (whether up or down) with the z axis.

When scientists make measurements on electromagnetic waves, they measure many waves. Most light is randomly polarized, so if you try to collect some light headed in the x direction, you’ll find just as many electromagnetic waves on the z axis as on the y axis, and at all angles in between. This type of light would be called unpolarized.

Most typical low- and medium-mass stars (anywhere from 0.1 to 3 times the mass of our Sun) use up their fuel in nuclear fusion then quietly cool off, usually forming a white dwarf. More massive stars have a lot more gravitational pull, so they burn up their fuel faster, resulting in a shorter life span and an explosive finale called a supernova. A supernova spews much of the material of the star outward, but what is left (which again depends on the initial mass of the star) becomes either a neutron star (if the initial mass was between 8 and 24 times the mass of our Sun) or a black hole (initial mass 25 or more times the mass of our Sun).

Although neutrons are neutrally charged, they are composed of charged particles that cause the neutron to have a magnetic dipole—that is, neutrons act like little magnets. Collectively, the number of neutrons that make up a 12- to 20-mile-diameter ball put out an incredible magnetic field. As a neutron star rotates, its rotating magnetic field creates radio waves that are emitted like beacons from the magnetic poles of the star. To our observatories, these signals appear to pulsate. As a result, neutron stars are sometimes called pulsars. Neutron stars don’t emit very much visible light, but they emit some.



 Physics Central: Neutron Stars: Cosmic Laboratories for Quantum Physics, H.M. Doss

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Hidden History 15 February 2017...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 15, 2017 at 9:56am
Tim Wise, whom scholar and philosopher Cornel West calls, “A vanilla brother in the tradition of (abolitionist) John Brown," more in the bio below.


Topics: African Americans, History, Diaspora, Diversity in Science, Women in Science


"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thankfully, this one is not, though unless you caught him on an interview, you may never have heard of him.

In the ongoing catharsis of combating "alternative facts" (lies) with actual knowledge, know that stereotypes go both ways.

Since the 2016 elections, I've been guilty of stereotyping white Americans. Right after the election, I was silent in grocery or department stores; only speaking when spoken to, not conversational; not friendly. The fact that ~ 80% of evangelicals voted for a man that is anathema to their stated beliefs was stunning and hurtful. It was easy out of anger to lump a large portion of the electorate and humanity into an admittedly bigoted, judgmental box.

As I've freely shared, I looked at my coworkers through a different lens as well, one focused on privileges I yet have full access to. I also had to remind myself that just like black culture, white America is not monolithic. I reminded myself of some of my college professors at a Historically Black College and University were also white; how some of them were the friendliest, approachable people I still know. That I'm friends with a Jewish physics professor and his lovely wife at the University of Texas. I am encouraged at the awakening from the young and old of all colors across the nation. I am encouraged that Tim Wise is not an anomaly among humanity.

It is stalwarts like Tim Wise that give me hope: hope that humans will discard this insane stratification by Melanin; that we will survive our own stupidity and hubris; that we won't let a few use divisiveness, jingoism and rhetorical flourish (as much as an eight-year-old can tweet) to divide us.

From his bio on his web site:

Tim Wise, whom scholar and philosopher Cornel West calls, “A vanilla brother in the tradition of (abolitionist) John Brown,” is among the nation’s most prominent antiracist essayists and educators. He has spent the past 25 years speaking to audiences in all 50 states, on over 1000 college and high school campuses, at hundreds of professional and academic conferences, and to community groups across the nation. He has also lectured internationally in Canada and Bermuda, and has trained corporate, government, law enforcement and medical industry professionals on methods for dismantling racism in their institutions.

Wise’s antiracism work traces back to his days as a college activist in the 1980s, fighting for divestment from (and economic sanctions against) apartheid South Africa. After graduation, he threw himself into social justice efforts full-time, as a Youth Coordinator and Associate Director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism: the largest of the many groups organized in the early 1990s to defeat the political candidacies of white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. From there, he became a community organizer in New Orleans’ public housing, and a policy analyst for a children’s advocacy group focused on combatting poverty and economic inequity. He has served as an adjunct professor at the Smith College School of Social Work, in Northampton, MA., and from 1999-2003 was an advisor to the Fisk University Race Relations Institute in Nashville, TN.

Wise is the author of seven books, including his highly-acclaimed memoir, White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, as well as Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority, and his latest, Under the Affluence: Shaming the Poor, Praising the Rich and Sacrificing the Future of America. He has contributed chapters or essays to over 25 additional books and his writings are taught in colleges and universities across the nation. His essays have appeared on Alternet, Salon, Huffington Post, Counterpunch, Black Commentator, BK Nation, Z Magazine and The Root, which recently named Wise one of the “8 Wokest White People We Know.”

Wise has been featured in several documentaries, including “White Like Me: Race, Racism and White Privilege in America” (from the Media Education Foundation), which has been called “A phenomenal educational tool in the struggle against racism,” and “One of the best films made on the unfinished quest for racial justice,” by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva of Duke University, and Robert Jensen of the University of Texas, respectively. He also appeared alongside legendary scholar and activist, Angela Davis, in the 2011 documentary, “Vocabulary of Change.” In this public dialogue between the two activists, Davis and Wise discussed the connections between issues of race, class, gender, sexuality and militarism, as well as inter-generational movement building and the prospects for social change. He is also one of five persons—including president Obama—interviewed for a video exhibition on race relations in America, featured at the newly opened National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC. Additionally, his media presence includes dozens of appearances on CNN, MSNBC and NPR, feature interviews on ABC’s 20/20 and CBS’s 48 Hours, as well as videos posted on YouTube, Facebook and other social media platforms that have received over 20 million views.

Wise graduated from Tulane University in 1990 and received antiracism training from the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, in New Orleans.

And just Tim being Tim (there's a longer version on YouTube if you're interested):
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Crib Notes...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 15, 2017 at 9:51am

Topics: Einstein, General Relativity, Special Relativity


Sometimes I get questions clear out of the blue that are a joy to answer, as curiosity should be rewarded with a sincere response.

A friend emailed me (I left their name out to protect their privacy) and said: "I'm interested in many different things - I love How The Universe Works and Secrets of the Universe type programs. Of course there are things I don't understand but I get the basics. Anyway, I am watching one entitled 'Was Einstein Wrong?' and they talk about his General Theory of Relativity AND his Special Theory of Relativity. My question is are they the same theory and are names the interchangeable? When I search online for General it refers to E=mc2. When I search for Special, E=mc2 is the only equation that's displayed."

My friend also asked about this:


The program periodically shows this...but doesn't say what it is and no, I have no idea what it means, but is this the Special theory?

I have to admit, it's a refreshing thing not being trolled and actually asked questions about science.

I purposely didn't go into the math (but I left reference links below for the stout-of-heart), this was my reply:

Dear (friend's name omitted),

1905: The Special Theory of Relativity – think speed. Prior to Einstein, everything was in a slower, Newtonian universe, and Newton’s 3 Laws of Motion applied to things like inertia, acceleration and recoil.

However, as we started discovering things like the speed of light (186,232 miles per second, 300,000,000 meters per second), measured in the Michelson-Morley Experiment. “C” is just shorthand. It’s kind of lazy, but everyone knows what you mean when they see it or say it.

Alpha particles, electrons and measuring their speeds at some fraction of c, the Newtonian rules didn’t apply anymore. Special Relativity deals with objects or observers (or, frames of reference) that are moving with uniform velocities relative to each other, hence “relativity.”

Albert Einstein determined that the laws of physics are the same for all non-accelerating observers, and that the speed of light in a vacuum was independent of the motion of all observers. This was the theory of special relativity. It introduced a new framework for all of physics and proposed new concepts of space and time, coining a new term for the public lexicon: space-time.

This was also called Einstein’s annus mirabilis, or “Miracle Year.” He published four papers: The Photoelectric Effect, Brownian Motion, Special Relativity and Mass-Energy Equivalence (E = mc-squared). A video: https://youtu.be/91XI7M9l3no

1915: Einstein then spent ten years trying to include acceleration in the theory and published his theory of general relativity in 1915. In it, he determined that massive objects cause a distortion in space-time, which is felt as gravity. Think of a bowling ball on a trampoline, in this case, space-time is the trampoline, the stars, planets, brown dwarfs, white dwarfs, black holes the bowling balls. One of the applications of General Relativity is Global Positioning Systems (GPS). This theory was confirmed in 1919 during a solar eclipse where Gravitational Lensing (bending of starlight) was observed.

Nerd Trivia: 3/14/2015 was Einstein’s birthday, and such was used as National Pi Day (3.14159 – get it?), and 100 years on November 25th of his paper on General Relativity, but you can’t get Pi out of 11/25/15, o_9.



On the symbolic equation above:

This is Tensor Calculus, or Differential Geometry. Einstein learned it from Grossmann (a mathematician) to describe space-time curvature in General Relativity. The Mu (μ) and Nu (ν) are Tensor coordinates; G in the numerator next to 8π is Newton's gravitational constant (“c” in the denominator you know). Believe it or not, Einstein struggled a little bit as Grossmann taught him; Einstein in turn taught him physics. His related quote:

“Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics. I can assure you that mine are greater.”

One of my favorite quotes from Einstein. Albert Einstein was a contemporary of Paul Robeson, and due to the way Jews were treated (and exterminated) in Germany by the Nazis, he was a champion of Civil Rights:

From "Ideas and Opinions," by Albert Einstein:

"It seems to be a universal fact that minorities--especially when the individuals composing them can be recognized by physical characteristics--are treated by the majorities among whom they live as an inferior order of beings. The tragedy of such a fate lies not merely in the unfair treatment to which these minorities are automatically subjected in social and economic matters, but also in the fact that under the suggestive influence of the majority most of the victims themselves succumb to the same prejudice and regard their kind as inferior beings. This second and greater part of the evil can be overcome by closer association and by deliberate education of the minority, whose spiritual liberation can thus be accomplished.

"The resolute efforts of the American Negroes in this direction deserve approval and assistance."

Mein Weltbild (my conception of the world), Amsterdam: Querido Verlog, 1934, pp 117-118.

Einstein’s advice to a little girl that wanted to be a scientist: Dear Professor Einstein

As you can tell, I'm a BIG fan. :-)

Blessings,



Reggie

The long answer on “c”: http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/SpeedOfLight/c.html


Helpful math reference links:

Wikipedia: Einstein Field Equations (EFE), not to be confused with "BFE," of course.

Wolfram Physics

Special Relativity
General Relativity


"Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world." Malala Yousafzai

"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge." Albert Einstein
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Hidden History 14 February 2017...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on February 14, 2017 at 8:30am
Image Source: Link below
Topics: African Americans, History, Diaspora, Diversity in Science, Women in Science
Although this post mentions Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Hayden Planetarium Director in New York City, this is not an African American/Black History Month post about him per se. It is apparently, the 25th time I've posted his name on this blog.
It is about something he advocates for - science literacy - and where he said it, Greensboro, North Carolina. (Probably more times than I've posted about him, I've mentioned my "old stomping grounds.")
The inaugural post for this month concerned the latest Orwellian phrase forced into the Zeitgeist: "alternative facts," which permeates history, mathematics under extreme duress (see link at "inaugural post") and sadly, science - both physical and social.
Pretty much the photo above is a summation of his comments to a sold-out crowd. In North Carolina...
- Home of the HB2 Bill the previous governor rode down to his eventual electoral defeat and lost revenue for the state (and it's apparently still in effect);
- Home of the "pizza parlor" shooter, motivated by an erroneous story he believed to be true, enough to take a gun to Washington, D.C.;
- Home to the "Greensboro Massacre," which happened my senior year in high school before I matriculated to A&T.
Each bullet (ironic phrasing in the last two examples) are stances and actions birthed from ignorance.
A continuation of Dr. Tyson's remarks:
"Americans overall are bad at science. Scared of math. Poor at physics and engineering. Resistant to evolution. This science illiteracy is a threat to the nation.
"The consequence of that is that you breed a generation of people who do not know what science is nor how and why it works. You have mortgaged the future financial security of your nation. Innovations in science and technology are the (basis) of tomorrow’s economy."
He goes on to point out that Algebra originated in a more enlightened time in the Near East, specifically Muhammad al-Khwarizmi, al-jabr translating to "the act of completion." That was pooh-poohed as unimportant by a cleric ten centuries ago with no appreciation of the future, or the impact of prolonged myopia. Science has missed the mark quite often (which is why peer review is relentless), the most recent reference to the Doomsday Clock is due to an artifact that physics in particular created with the Manhattan Project, occupying silos, kept at bay hopefully by diplomacy and sanity. Tyson could be the "voice of one calling in the [willfully ignorant] wilderness," or like Cassandra - Paris' sister in Helen of Troy - foretelling the doom of civilization for the folly of selective, "alternative facts," and neglected real ones.
It could happen so easily. It could happen so quickly. Like a mudslide, we could be under the weight of an avalanche; buried under a warm mound smothering us.
It's not just Dr. Tyson or African American cultural history: it's a fealty or phobia with reality; the inherent ability to discern fact from fiction.
One can be evidence-based, course-correcting, resource conserving; limiting only unplanned births and progressing knowledge within the species. Or, one can be self-blindfolded, deaf to new information; deluded, soothed, comfortable: and deadly.
Soothing and deadly: That is the consistency and characteristics of hog slop.

“Frederick Douglass taught that literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. There are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom, but reading is still the path.”
― Carl Sagan
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