A new space telescope makes a spectacular debut after a troubled gestation
Seen with JWST’s midinfrared instrument, the newborn stars of the Tarantula nebula fade into the background while clouds of dust and gas take center stage, including hydrocarbons that will later form planets.NASA; ESA; CSA; STSCI; WEBB ERO PRODUCTION TEAM
Ukraine’s chiefs, in an unprecedented series of briefings, tell The Economist about the critical months that lie ahead
It must treat hospitals as a precious resource and start stockpiling drugs
Even when they say they want more prosperity, they act as if they don’t
These observations will address the most pressing questions about our changing planet. Taken together as a single Observatory, NASA will have a holistic, 3D view of Earth to better understand how our planet’s complex systems work together and improve our capability to predict how our climate may change.
NASA’s Open Source Science strategy is the key to bringing the data from these missions together into a single observatory to help understand the earth as a system and accelerate our ability to use this understanding. These observations will better inform decision-makers on how our planet is changing, with greater precision on previously unimaginable scales – from entire continents down to individual trees, from atmosphere to bedrock.
Nature Photographer of the Year is a Nature Photography contest that celebrates the beauty of nature photography.
A group of polar bears exploring an abandoned Soviet village in the Arctic has won Nature Photographer of the Year 2022.
Sascha Fonseca won the Mammals category with a fabulous photo of the endangered snow leopard.
Video timeline: 00:00 Introduction 02:10 The Aftermath of the Fire of Notre Dame 05:25 Current Efforts to Rebuild Notre Dame 07:13 Rebuilding the Roof of Notre Dame 14:12 Recreating Notre Dame’s Spire 19:40 The Use of Iron in the Structure of Notre Dame 26:00 Studying Notre Dame’s Stained Glass Windows 33:47 Hazards of Restoring the Burnt Cathedral 36:20 Cleaning the Limestone Vaulting 41:41 Carpentry Practices for Roof Restoration 45:06 Historic Changes to Stained Glass Window 49:47 Racing to Complete Notre Dame Before 2024
The program traces the dramatic human and technical challenges of the project’s first three years, going behind-the-scenes with carpenters shaping lumber for the new roof and spire, stone masons repairing gaping holes in the vault, and artisans who use traditional techniques to restore stained glass windows. A symbol of the nation’s identity and resilience, Notre Dame gradually rises from the ashes, thanks to a restoration project like no other.
The gardens, dating back to the 16th century, owe much of their dramatic beauty to landscape designer Humphry Repton who in 1798, who planted trees to make the most of the views. Repton’s legacy influences the way the National Trust cares for the gardens today.
Discover ornate courtyards, a vibrant rhododendron garden and a tree house – features when the 6th Marquess of Anglesey lived at Plas Newydd with his family. You’ll also pick up a gardening tip to help you keep your flower beds happy and healthy over winter. The gardens at Plas Newydd are only open at weekends during the winter.
It turns out reindeers’ amazing night vision is thanks to a strange ‘mirror’ in their eyes called the tapetum lucidum that is extra sensitive to UV light
The USS Monitor, an iconic piece of military history, sank 160 years ago. Now a marine sanctuary, the wreck has become an unlikely testbed for ocean conservation
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test aimed to change the orbit of the space rock Dimorphos, and it did so perfectly
Josh Fell, partner and CCO at Anomaly LA:
Like nearly everything coming out of the Party Land crew, this made me laugh. Not a normal laugh. A surprised laugh. An ugly laugh. The type of laugh that creeps out of the guilty part of your subconscious. A vocal acknowledgement of the fragility of existence amidst the looming specter of oblivion. A giggling acceptance of the collective unspoken—that all one can do in life is to embrace the absurdity of it all and smile. And then maybe eat some hot chicken.
Chris Garbutt, chief creative officer and co-president, Virtue:
Apple’s “The Greatest” is the anthem for innovation addressing accessibility. Apple knows that in order to inspire its community, it has to have the courage to let the audience lead. This work does exactly that.
Paul Caiozzo, co-founder and chief creative officer, Supernatural:
One ad stood way out to me. The perfect combination of product, culture and freshness. Great, simple extensions that didn’t look to do any “heavy lifting” but rather continued the fun. Doing all of those things isn’t easy and Ocean Spray did it brilliantly.
The Guardian Weekly (December 16, 2022): In Germany, 25 conspirators were arrested and accused of plotting to overthrow the government. The eclectic grouping, known as the Reichsbürger plotters, espoused a far-right ideology but hailed largely from the centre of respectable German society, headed up by an elderly minor aristocrat and including in their ranks family doctors, judges, a celebrity chef and an opera singer.
Three months have passed since fervent anti-regime demonstrations began in Iran. As more grim details emerged of public executions of protesters and the grotesque targeting of women by security forces, Christopher de Bellaigue takes a deep look at the movement, in particular the role played by women and young people, and asks what it might take for a popular revolution to succeed.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta (formerly Facebook) has spent $100bn building a virtual reality world known as the metaverse, which he believes will replace the conventional internet. The problem is, hardly anyone seems to prefer its clunky headsets and empty landscapes to the real world. With poor financial results and redundancies at Meta, has it all been a hugely expensive mistake? Steve Rose ventures into the metaverse, so you don’t have to.
December 15, 2022 – Iranian-made drones have been shot down in Kyiv. Plus: the race to become the US Republican presidential nominee, urbanism news and Japan’s choice of “war” as kanji of the year.
Boomers Daily 