Learning

The early stage of an #Easter #Lily bloom #art #blackandwhite #photography #fineart #photo

As the closest planet to Earth, Venus is a relatively easy object to observe. However, many mysteries remain, not least the super-rotation of Venus' atmosphere, which enables high altitude winds to circle the planet in only four days. Now images of cloud features sent back by ESA's Venus Express orbiter have revealed that these remarkably rapid winds are becoming even faster.

I just learned* that Ken Wilson died a few days ago (Just 15th). Wilson is another of the giants that you don't hear much about in the popular media coverage of the great ideas in Physics that form the bedrock of so much of what we do. You still get people saying utter nonsense about "hiding infinities" in physics and so forth (often in discussions on blogs and various similar forums (fora?)) because what he taught us all about effective field theory and the renormalization group still is only taught in some advanced classes on quantum field theory (and still not as well or frequently as it should be in such classes ... it has only relatively recently begun to be put at the forefront in textbooks on the subject, such as Tony Zee's). In the cut and thrust of the mainstream of research though, I'm happy to see that so much of Wilson's legacy is in the most basic fabric of the language we use to discuss results and ideas in particle physics, condensed matter physics, quantum gravity, string theory, and so forth. I had the distinct privilege of having Joe Polchinski as a mentor for some of my postdoc years, who is known as being one of the current giants on the scene who [...]

OAKLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The latest possible resting place of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa is an overgrown farm field where the normal calm of chirping crickets is being drowned out by a beeping backhoe, the chop of an overhead news helicopter and the bustle of reporters and onlookers.

RT @SPACEdotcom: See Saturn in Stunning HD in Live Webcast Tonight

NASA on Tuesday unveiled a multipurpose initiative to find, track and potentially relocate asteroids that may be on a collision course with Earth. Continue reading ?

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Congressional Budget Office says a sweeping immigration bill before the Senate would cut deficits by $197 billion over 10 years.

Adafruit COO Molly Thorkelson spoke on a panel today at the CityAge Global Metropolis conference called “the startup metropolis:how to catelyze the next generation of companies.”

In this episode of #ISS Science Garage, @Astro_Mike & @Astro_Pettit discuss aurora's as seen from space:

A once useful barn which has fallen on hard times and succumb to the ravages of the weather #blackandwhite #photo