Anna Richards @MsHouseMD@qoto.org

“French voters turned out in numbers not seen in decades to stop the far-right National Rally from taking power in the French National Assembly. Polls predicted a first-place finish for National Rally, which instead came in third …” 🇫🇷 🎉

https://www.npr.org/2024/07/07/nx-s1-5032011/france-elections-emmanuel-macron-marine-le-pen

Hey y’all, don’t forget that the ugly dry dirt parts of your garden are habitat for your wild bees! #gardening #bees

"Top Climate Scientist Sums Up Second Donald Trump Term With 2 Chilling Words" by @Leemoran for @HuffPost: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/climate-expert-donald-trump-second-term-warning_n_667939fae4b0bd985dc51f69

In a move so douchey even his critics didn't expect it, twisted, hollowed-out GOP freak Ron DeSantis vetoes all arts grants previously approved by state legislators. Remember, IF YOU HATE THE ARTS, VOTE REPUBLICAN. [gift link] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/21/arts/ron-desantis-veto-arts-funding-florida.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1k0.YsxU.ytPMGyrnWTt5&smid=url-share

When the James Webb Space Telescope was launched at the end of 2021, we expected stunning images and illuminating scientific results.

So far, the powerful space #telescope has lived up to our expectations.

The #JWST has shown us things about the early #universe we never anticipated.

Some of those results are forcing a rewrite of #astronomy textbooks.

#astrophysics #cosmology
https://phys.org/news/2024-06-jwst-rewriting-astronomy-textbooks.html

RT by @EUClimateAction: #SaharanDust events can have impacts for solar energy output. So what can be done to better manage the problem?

This latest #ClimateNow episode explores the growing issue of Saharan dust hitting solar energy production using CAMS & #C3S data.

▶️ https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/06/17/how-is-saharan-dust-impacting-solar-power

[2024-06-21 13:20 UTC]

a massive panorama, made of 225 images, freshly transmitted from Mars by the Curiosity rover

June 20, 2024 (Sol 4220)
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk

#Curiosity #Mars #Sol4229 #rover #CuriosityRover #space #science #Martian #landscape #panorama #photography #STEM #Astrodon

Plato wrote that thought “is a silent inner conversation of the soul with itself.” And yet recent studies on the brain find no evidence that we use language to think. Here’s my story on this fascinating debate. [Gift link] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/19/science/brain-language-thought.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1U0.Kfbn.cWqiYcis-fKE&smid=url-share

Tiny garden insect of the day: a cinnamon bug (Corizus hyoscyami) venturing out for a while in a gap between the on-off rain we’ve had this evening.

#iPhone15 📱
#Photography 📷
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲

Not all astronomical are dripping with gorgeousity, yet they can still contain amazing and wonderful information in them.

Like, evidence for the existence of an intermediate-mass black hole, one of the biggest goals of modern astronomy.

https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/middleweight-black-hole-finally-revealed-maaaaybe

"Our "fingerprints" are all over climate change, research on warming ocean temperatures finds" by Matthew Rozsa for Salon

https://www.salon.com/2024/03/21/our-fingerprints-are-all-over-climate-change-research-on-warming-ocean-temperatures-finds/

For the past nine months, mean land and sea surface temperatures have overshot previous records each month by up to 0.2 °C — a huge margin at the planetary scale.

A general warming trend is expected because of rising greenhouse-gas emissions, but this sudden heat spike greatly exceeds predictions made by statistical #climate models.

#planet #habitability #Earth
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00816-z

The exceptionally luminous #galaxy GN-z11 existed when the #universe was only about 430 million years old.

Astronomers studying it with #JWST found clear evidence that the galaxy is hosting a central, supermassive black hole that is rapidly accreting matter, the most distant active supermassive black hole spotted.

They also found a gaseous clump of #helium in the halo surrounding GN-z11. The lack of elements beyond helium suggests that this clump must be pristine.

https://phys.org/news/2024-03-webb-secrets-primeval-galaxy.html

Middle kiddo did a thing with a pumpkin. It's pretty dang cool, and I thought @neilhimself might like it, too. Happy Fall/Halloween/apocalypse, everyone!

Seeing our world right now, where so many people are hurting, words can provide comfort sometimes, as well as do some good:

'What you need to be warm'
"This book of poetry is about our right to feel safe, whoever we are and wherever we are from. It is about holding out a hand to welcome those who find themselves far from home.

Sales of every copy of the book – including all author proceeds – help support the work of UNHCR."

Written by @neilhimself
https://www.unhcr.org/about-unhcr/our-partners/prominent-supporters/what-you-need-to-be-warm

#ChemicalsGlow as a #Meteor Disintegrates
#Astronomy #Picture of the Day

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230724.html

#APOD

Coming to Mastodon from Twitter feels like busting in the door loudly brandishing a half drunk bottle of tequila and finding everyone sitting in horrified silence holding cups of tea and academic papers

really digging #Twitter 's new look

Artist Ralph McQuarrie was born #OTD in 1929. He is probably best know as the primary concept artist for the Star Wars movies, but he also did work for Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and E.T., and he won an Academy Award for his work on Cocoon.

Image: Ralph McQuarrie

New optics blog post! So, what is “structured light?”https://skullsinthestars.com/2023/05/27/so-what-is-structured-light/