Sunday, March 23
Mysterious ‘Gravity Hole’ discovered at the center of the Indian Ocean
The ground beneath your feet may feel solid, but Earth is constantly shifting. While we have mapped the surface in detail, its deep interior remains a mystery. Even with modern technology, no probe has ever reached beyond the thin crust, which is only about 35 kilometers deep. To study the Earth's core and mantle, scientists must rely on indirect methods.
From space, Earth appears as a smooth blue sphere, but its shape is far from perfect. Beneath the surface, unevenly distributed mass creates gravitational variations, distorting its form. The movement of tectonic plates further reshapes the planet, building mountains, carving valleys, and adding to its irregularity.
These distortions extend to the oceans, which cover 71% of the surface. Without tides or currents, seawater would settle into a shape known as a geoid—a wavy, gravity-defined surface. Some areas rise where gravity is stronger, while others dip where it is weaker. These variations, called "geoid anomalies," reveal how mass is distributed deep within the Earth.
Saturday, March 22
Robert Reich and Heather Lofthouse
Today Heather and I delve into the forces holding Trump back — specifically, the federal courts, Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post, and Republican constituents in Republican town halls. Which of these, if any, is likely to be most effective over the long term in preventing Trump and Musk from doing their worst?
We also have a special guest — Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, who this week was illegally fired by Trump for no reason other than … well, we’ll talk with her about that.
Please grab a cuppa, pull up a chair, take our poll, and join the conversation.
At A Glance
Bookkeeping
> $1.1M: The selling price of a 1-of-1 baseball card featuring Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes (only five baseball cards have sold for more).
> 19 minutes: How long it took San Antonio Spurs' Sandro Mamukelashvili to score 34 points, becoming the first NBA player to do so in such a short time.
Browse
> Parade of nearly 900 dachshunds breaks world record.
> Washington, DC's Cherry Blossoms are almost in bloom.
> Interactive simulator predicts individual life spans.
> Ten US cities with the most green space.
> Reimagining movies as old, worn books.
Listen
> A Toronto police officer, involved in an affair with a government worker, discovers an elderly man had died with a large estate—and no will.
Watch
> Rare red sprite lightning strikes above the Himalayas.
> Slow motion flight comparison of 23 different insects.
> The three cognitive scripts that rule over your life.
> ... and why your brain blinds you for 2 hours each day.
Long Read
> A statistical analysis of the perfect song length.
> How eastern North America formed and lessons for how continents are built.
> The man who finds melodies inside mushrooms. (w/video)
Most Clicked This Week: The worst US cities for allergy sufferers.
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> NCAA women's basketball tournament kicks off in earnest today; see full preview (More) | ... and see latest men's tourney bracket (More)
> Mariah Carey wins lawsuit against songwriter who alleged copyright infringement on Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" (More) | "Coco" sequel in the works at Disney with a 2029 release date (More)
> Kirsty Coventry, two-time swimming gold medalist and current Zimbabwe Minister of Sport, elected as the first woman and first African president of the International Olympic Committee (More)
Science & Technology
> AI startup Anthropic adds web search in preview to Claude 3.7 Sonnet for paid US users, enabling the chatbot to automatically search for information across the internet (More) | Everything you need to know about generative AI (1440 Topics)
> Babies form episodic memories in hippocampus, study finds, challenging long-held belief that infantile amnesia is due to inability to store memories; finding suggests issue may instead be an inability to access those memories (More)
> Scientists successfully replace defective gene in mice to alleviate symptoms of Dravet syndrome—a rare form of epilepsy—without adverse side effects or death (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.2%, Dow -0.0%, Nasdaq -0.3%) (More) | Fintech startup Klarna inks deal with DoorDash to offer US customers deferred and installment food delivery payments; comes ahead of initial public offering (More)
> Tesla recalls 46,000 Cybertrucks manufactured from November 2023 to February 2025 due to an exterior trim panel that can detach from the vehicle (More) | US charges three people accused of using Molotov cocktails to set fire to Tesla cars, dealerships, or charging stations (More)
> US existing home sales rose 4.2% month over month in February, beating estimates of 3.2%; median home price of $398,400 is up 3.8% from a year ago and is the highest median home price for any February (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> At least 85 dead from expanded Israeli strikes in Gaza, while Hamas fires rockets back at Tel Aviv, with no casualties reported; Israeli military says Palestinians will no longer be allowed to enter northern Gaza from the south (More)
> European Union delays implementing first retaliatory tariffs on US goods, including a 50% levy on whiskey, to mid-April for more time to negotiate (More)
> Delta plane that crashed and overturned upon landing at Toronto's international airport last month descended too quickly, preliminary report finds (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Summer is Coming
I remember watching the Game of Thrones where the statement was made over and over again that WINTER WAS COMING... it was supposed to be a ominous statement full of warnings and forebodings... it was to set the stage for something bad to happen, designed to get us concerned and worried...
I am more worried about SUMMER IS COMING than I would be about hearing WINTER IS COMING.
While winter is associated with cold, wind, snow, and ice... I would submit that summer is associated with heat, humidity, thunderstorms, tornadoes, riptides, sunburn, and hydroplaning.
Then you have insects, mosquitos, wasps, hornets, snakes, foxes, bears, and wild dogs... of course, a lot of this depends upon where one lives.
While we tend to get out of the house more in the summer, we still have to be careful when we do because of the heat and humidity, especially if we are older and already fighting a deadly disease.
Don't get me wrong, I much prefer summer over winter but just because that is my preference does not mean that summer is always ONE HUNDRED PERCENT WONDERFUL...
Oh... did I forget to mention that the grass really loves summer, and it is going to need mowing once a week and everyone mows one also needs to weed eat.
Nowadays, when I am outside mowing or weed eating, I have to wear long pants and a long sleeve shirt, otherwise I get all sorts of mosquito bites which are no fun at all.
I mowed yesterday and will continue to mow through October... I remember when it just used to be May through September...
The James Webb Telescope Discovers a Flaw in Our Theory of the Universe – Nothing is as We Thought
Scientists using the James Webb and Hubble space telescopes have confirmed one of the biggest head-scratchers in modern physics—the universe isn’t expanding at a single, consistent rate. Instead, its growth seems to vary depending on which direction we observe.
A cosmic puzzle that won’t go away
This issue, called the Hubble Tension, could shake the very foundations of cosmology. In 2019, data from the Hubble Space Telescope proved this wasn’t just a fluke. Then, in 2023, even sharper measurements from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) sealed the deal, making it clear that something about our understanding of the cosmos isn’t quite adding up.
Now, after a thorough triple-check using both the James Webb and Hubble telescopes, scientists have ruled out any chance that this mismatch is just a measurement mistake. The study, published on February 6 in Astrophysical Journal Letters, points to a much bigger issue —our understanding of the universe might be seriously off track.
“As we’ve eliminated errors in measurement, what we’re left with is the thrilling and unsettling reality that we may have been interpreting the cosmos all wrong,” said Adam Riess, a professor of physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University and the study’s lead author.
This issue, called the Hubble Tension, could shake the very foundations of cosmology. In 2019, data from the Hubble Space Telescope proved this wasn’t just a fluke. Then, in 2023, even sharper measurements from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) sealed the deal, making it clear that something about our understanding of the cosmos isn’t quite adding up.
Now, after a thorough triple-check using both the James Webb and Hubble telescopes, scientists have ruled out any chance that this mismatch is just a measurement mistake. The study, published on February 6 in Astrophysical Journal Letters, points to a much bigger issue —our understanding of the universe might be seriously off track.
“As we’ve eliminated errors in measurement, what we’re left with is the thrilling and unsettling reality that we may have been interpreting the cosmos all wrong,” said Adam Riess, a professor of physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University and the study’s lead author.
Friday, March 21
I Saw Today...
I saw today where celebrities in Hollywood, who are few months ago hated TRUMP FOR EVERYTHING HE STOOD FOR, now are courting him because they are hoping they will do something about AI stealing their images...
Now the A-listers will never admit they WANT OR NEED Trump's help, so they hide behind those who are not A-listers who don't mind swallowing their pride. Now, to be fair there are some A-listers who are asking Trump for help but not many...
It really amazes me when I see this kind of behavior because very few of these so-called intelligent people even think it through far enough to reach UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES.
Celebrities are so liberal in their way of thinking because they perceive LIBERALISM as a sound methodology for evoking the MUSES that inspire them to act, paint, direct, write, perform, sing, play a musical instrument, sing, throw a pot/clay, carve a sculpture, etc.
I remember one of the best percussionists of the day was GENE KRUPA who perceived he had to be high on heroine to play his drum set the way he did.
Many oil painters throughout history have felt that way as well...
LET EXPRESSION GO WILD
NO RESTRICTIONS
IF I NEED TO EMBRACE MY SEXUALITY THEN I NEED TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT
Those kinds of expressions are not the same as:
- balancing a budget
- paying down debt
- maintaining low taxes
- taxing the wealthy
- maintaining a strong military
Believe it or not, YOU CAN HAVE BOTH, but Hollywood celebrities don't think so until they need something from a conservative...
Moon landings are back, baby!
$1-2 million per kilogram. That’s approximately what you can expect to pay to transport cargo to the Moon. Firefly Aerospace is working to make lunar missions as cost-efficient as possible. Their Blue Ghost lander just nailed a soft, upright landing on the Moon, completing the first “fully successful” commercial mission on the lunar surface. Freethink’s Hard Reset team recently visited Firefly to get an up-close look at their technology — and what it will take to establish a lunar settlement.
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