Researcher's groundbreaking work exploring juvenile crime wins Grawemeyer psychology award




Wed, December 8, 2021

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For her work shedding new light on the nature of juvenile crime, psychologist Terrie Moffitt has won the 2022 Grawemeyer Award in psychology.

Moffitt, a Duke University psychologist and King’s College, London, social development professor, discovered two types of antisocial behavior in juveniles.

One persists from early childhood to adulthood, is relatively rare and is seen mostly in males, while the other occurs only in adolescence and is seen in both males and females, the University of Louisville said in a release.

Although both types appear to be the same on psychological tests and in illegal behaviors, Moffitt found they are distinctly different, an insight that has changed the way the courts prosecute juveniles, U of L said.

Before Moffitt’s initial research paper in 1993, most psychologists thought antisocial behavior in young people resulted from poor parenting or social stress such as poverty, and therefore was essentially unchangeable.

But Moffitt's studies of teenagers showed antisocial behavior often is part of normal adolescent development, U of L's release said.

Her research has generated hundreds of empirical tests in the social, biological and health sciences over the past 25 years that have supported her findings.

"She and her colleagues studied the life trajectories of people with both types of antisocial behavior and built models to identify and rehabilitate them," award judges said. "Her work has become a cornerstone of how courts decide to sentence juvenile offenders."

More: Composer's gender-switching opera wins U of L's prestigious Grawemeyer music award

The research carries special weight in American cities such as Louisville, which has seen a glut of youth violence during the pandemic.

More than 80 children and teens ages 17 and younger have been wounded in shootings across Louisville this year, already surpassing all of last year.

In the 2020 book “The Origins of You: How Childhood Shapes Later Life,” Moffitt and three other psychologists shared their research on 4,000 children through adulthood. The team found although genetics and environment affect how young people develop, neither factor alone determines their behavior as adults, U of L said.

Moffitt, a licensed clinical psychologist, was elected to the National Academy of Medicine and has received distinguished career awards from the American Psychological Association.

Recipients of next year’s Grawemeyer Awards are being named this week pending formal approval by university trustees. The annual, $100,000 prizes also honor seminal ideas in music, world order, education and religion. Winners will visit Louisville in April to accept their awards and give free talks on their winning ideas.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Duke psychologist's look at juvenile crime wins Grawemeyer award

THE CRONE

Study Says Grandmas May Feel More Connected To Grandkids Than Their Own Kids

Brittany Wong
Wed, December 8, 2021


A new study out Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, suggests that grandmothers relate to their grandchildren differently than they do to their own offspring. (Sorry, parents: That suspicion you’ve long held that your mom feels closer to your kids? It might be true after all!)

Interested in studying the evolutionary value of grandmothering, James Rilling, a professor of anthropology, psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory, measured the brain function of about 50 women with at least one biological grandchild age 3-12.

The study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to scan the grandmothers’ brains as they stared at photos of a grandchild, the child’s parents and images of an unrelated child and adult.

“When grandmothers viewed pictures of their grandchildren, they particularly activated brain regions that have been implicated in emotional empathy, such as the insular and secondary somatosensory cortices,” said Rilling of his findings, which were published last month in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Simply put, “emotional empathy” is the ability to feel the emotions that another person is feeling, Rilling said.

Something else happened when the group of grandmas looked at photos of their offspring (the grandkids’ parents).

“When viewing pictures of the grandchild’s same-sex parent, who was often but not always the grandmother’s own adult biological child, they particularly activated areas of the brain involved with cognitive empathy such as the precuneus,” he said.

Cognitive empathy (also called theory of mind) is understanding at a cognitive level what someone is thinking or feeling and why ― maybe you even attempt to put yourself in their shoes ― but there’s less of a shared emotional experience than with emotional empathy.

Previously, Rilling and his team performed a similar study where they had fathers look at pictures of their children. Compared to data from that group of dads, grandmothers showed stronger activation than dads within areas of the brain implicated in emotional empathy and areas involved in reward and motivation.

Rilling said that it’s important to note here that there was some variation from person to person within the groups. For instance, some fathers scored higher on empathy than grandmothers.

“There is considerable evidence that grandmothers can contribute to grandchild well-being,” lead researcher James Rilling said. (Photo: Willie B. Thomas via Getty Images)

As an anthropologist, Rilling finds this topic utterly fascinating.

“I am interested in the ways in which humans are similar to and different from other primates,” he said. “One interesting difference is the way we raise our offspring. Great ape mothers raise their offspring all by themselves. Human mothers, on the other hand, typically receive help in raising their offspring.”

The source of that help can vary quite a bit across and within human societies, but grandmothers are an important source of help in many families, and Rilling said “there is considerable evidence that grandmothers can contribute to grandchild well-being.”

Building on the work of earlier biologists, in the 1980s and 1990s, anthropologist Kristen Hawkes proposed a theory that she and her team dubbed the “grandmother hypothesis.” It’s the idea that human females, unlike those of the other great apes, survive well past their reproductive years so they can help raise successive generations of children. (Sure, your mom loves to babysit your kids, but doing so also ensures the survival of her genes.)

As for the unique hold grandkids seem to have on their grandmas’ hearts, the reasoning behind that is still up for debate. A tired parent might hypothesize that it has something to do with the fact that grandma can spoil little Ezra or Eva all she wants and then send them back home to mom and dad at the end of the night. (Distance makes the heart grow fonder, especially when there are everyday tantrums involved.)

Rilling thinks that’s an interestingidea but pointed to something else.

“I think it may have more to do with the ‘cute’ phenotype of children, which is likely designed by evolution to make adults find them endearing and want to care for them,” he said.
We asked the experts: grandmas themselves.

Grandmas we spoke to had their own theories.

Marion Conway, a grandma of three and a blogger at The Grandma Chronicles, generally thinks there is more “growth, excitement and pleasure” to be experienced with her grandkids.

“Since you are not really an authority figure to your grandchildren ― rather you’re a promoter or supporter ― both of you are more open to a stress-free relationship,” she told HuffPost.

Donne Davis, the California-based founder of the grandma online community GaGa Sisterhood, said that she connects with her three grandchildren differently because she looks at them as a clean slate, as far relationships go.

“The different kind of closeness I feel with my kids versus my grandkids is based on our shared history,” she said. “Parenting can be a more adversarial relationship with power struggles, boundary-setting, some ego and definite responsibility for how your child will turn out.”

You don’t have that as much with your grandchildren, Davis explained.

“You just love them unconditionally and think everything they do and say is wonderful and exceptional,” she said.

The biggest difference [is that] my grandchildren tend to elicit strong feelings of joy and delight in me compared to my adult children.Lisa Carpenter, a grandma of six in Colorado and the author of “A Love Journal: 100 Things I Love About Grandma"

Lisa Carpenter, a grandma of six in Colorado and the author of “A Love Journal: 100 Things I Love About Grandma,” agrees that grandmas get to do “the fun stuff” and evade the “thorny issues of child-rearing.” (They’ve been there, done that with their own kids.)

Carpenter said the study rings true to her experiences to some degree, though she wouldn’t say she necessarily feels more connected to her grandkids compared to her adult children.

“I simply have different feelings overall about the two, besides loving and caring intensely about both,” she said.

“The biggest difference being that my grandchildren tend to elicit strong feelings of joy and delight in me compared to my adult children,” she explained. “Even an intense curiosity about who they are, what’s going on in their little minds, what interests them, who and what they will become.”

Exciting as that all is, Carpenter admits that at the end of a long, fun day with her grandkids, she’s glad to have her nights to herself.

“Usually, by the time the kids are tired and grandma’s tired, it’s time for the kids to leave, and the parents get to deal with crankiness and crying, while grandma gets a break,” she said. “That is when this grandma has stronger feelings for her adult children — feelings of gratitude.”

1. Crone Goddess
   https://www.goddess-guide.com/crone.html

   The Crone Goddess or dark mother is the last aspect of the Triple Goddess, together with the 

2. Mother and the Maiden she represents part of the circle of life. In today's society where

3.  we worship youth and beauty, this aspect of the Goddess is the most frightening 

4. and misunderstood of the three, as she represents our destruction, decay and death.

The Crone: Woman of Age, Wisdom, and Power

• Look inside

Goodreads

4.2/5

A probing account of the honored place of older women in ancient matriarchal societies restores to contemporary women an energizing symbol of self-value, power, and respect.

1. 
   

THE MAMMALIAN GRANDMOTHER & MENOPAUSE

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/orcas-killer-whales-menopause-grandmothers

Plumber who discovered money in wall of Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church gets $20,000 reward

Marlene Lenthang

Wed, December 8, 2021, 

A plumber who discovered stacks of cash and checks inside a wall at celebrity televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church last month has been awarded $20,000 by Crime Stoppers of Houston.

The envelopes were discovered behind a loose toilet by the plumber while he was doing repairs at the Houston church on Nov. 10 — seven years after the church reported $600,000 in cash and checks stolen from a safe.

"Evidence from the recovered checks suggests that the discovery of was connected to the March 2014 theft," Crime Stoppers of Houston said in a statement. The Houston Police Department is still investigating the case.

Back then, Crime Stoppers of Houston offered a cash reward of up to $5,000, and Lakewood Church added a supplemental reward of $20,000, bringing the total to $25,000 to anyone with information that led to an arrest. After years of no word on the case, Lakewood turned that sum into a charitable donation to Crime Stoppers of Houston.

Following news of the discovery behind the church wall, Crime Stoppers CEO Rania Mankarious asked the Crime Stoppers Executive Committee if the organization could gift $20,000 to the “Good Samaritan” who turned in the money and received approval, the statement said.

"In 2014, Lakewood Church gave us $20,000 to work on this case. In 2016, they chose to gift us those funds for operations," Mankarious said in the statement. "Today, we are gifting that same [amount] of money to this Good Samaritan and wishing he and his family a wonderful holiday season."

"Crime Stoppers of Houston is a public safety organization that thrives on the public safety of all communities. We believe that it takes all of us, working together, to keep Houston safe and thriving," she added.

The plumber behind the discovery, Justin Cauley, told NBC affiliate KPRC, "This money is going to help tremendously."

"Bills are stacking up," he said. "I’m trying to make the best of it, and today, the light shined through."

Lakewood responded to the news in a statement to KPRC: “In 2016, Lakewood Church made a $20,000 charitable donation to Crime Stoppers of Houston to help solve this case and support them for all they do for the community. We are appreciative of the plumber and we hope he pays the gift forward.”

The Houston Police Department said in a statement last week that "an undisclosed amount of money was inventoried, documented and left in the custody of Lakewood Church since it was property found on its premises.

THE CHURCH GAVE HIM NOTHING

THEIR DONATION TO CRIME STOPPERS WAS TAX DEDUCTABLE

CRIME STOPPERS RIPPED THE PLUMBER OFF FOR $5000 THEY PROMISED

10% FINDERS FEE OF $600,000 WOULD BE $60,000 THREE TIMES WHAT HE GOT. 

THE MONEY WAS INSURED, SO THE CHURCH MADE OUT LIKE BANDITS.

YA THINK IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN AN INSIDE JOB?

 

Apple's Tim Cook signed $275 billion deal to placate China - 

The Information

Tue, December 7, 2021, 

(Reuters) - Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook signed an agreement with Chinese officials, estimated to be worth about $275 billion, to placate threats that would have hobbled its devices and services in the country, The Information reported on Tuesday. 

  Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. 

  The five-year agreement was made when Cook made visits to China in 2016 to quash a host of regulatory action against the company, the report said, citing interviews and internal Apple documents. 

  Cook lobbied Chinese officials, who believed the company was not contributing enough to the local economy, and signed the agreement with a Chinese government agency, making concessions to Beijing and winning key legal exemptions, the report added. 

  Some of Apple's investment in China would go toward building new retail stores, research and development centers and renewable energy projects, the report said, citing the agreement. 

  China is one of Apple's largest markets with annual sales growth of 83% in the country in its fiscal fourth quarter. 

  As part of the agreement, Apple promised to use more components from Chinese suppliers in its devices, sign deals with Chinese software firms, collaborate on technology with Chinese universities and directly invest in Chinese tech companies, the Information report said. 

  (Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel) 

TIRED OLD TORIES GOTCHA POLITICS

Conservatives reject Liberals' compromise deal on Winnipeg lab documents over firing of scientists

Ryan Tumilty 

OTTAWA — The Conservatives are rejecting a proposed deal over access to documents related to the firing of two scientists from Canada’s National Microbiology lab, arguing the Liberals’ efforts are too little too late.

© Provided by National Post 

The National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, were escorted out of the lab in July 2019, and later fired.

Liberal House Leader Mark Holland offered the compromise last week. It called for striking an all-party committee to review the confidential documents, with a panel of judges enlisted to settle any disputes over whether the documents should be made public or kept secret.

The documents surround the mysterious firing of two scientists from the national lab two years ago. Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, were escorted out of the Winnipeg lab in July 2019. The government has consistently refused to reveal why they were dismissed.

Liberals offer deal to allow select MPs to see documents on fired Winnipeg lab scientists

Fired Winnipeg lab scientist listed as co-inventor on two Chinese government patents

Conservative House Leader Gérard Deltell said the new deal is insufficient and the Liberals should respect four separate votes from the last Parliament that called for the documents to be released.

“Regrettably, your government’s efforts to find a suitable arrangement are many months too late,” he said in a letter to Holland. “The will of Parliament is clear, September’s election has not changed its composition to the point where you might hope for a different outcome in a fifth vote.”

The documents were first demanded by the House of Commons committee on Canada-China relations, but the government essentially ignored the request. A motion was then passed in the House calling for them to be presented but Iain Stewart, then president of the Public Health Health Agency of Canada, repeatedly argued that he was prevented by law from releasing material that could violate privacy or national security laws.

The battle culminated in June with Stewart being hauled before the bar of the Commons to be reprimanded by the Speaker. A few days later, the government asked a Federal Court to intervene to stop the release of the documents, arguing they must be kept secret to protect national security. That case was then dropped when the Liberals called an election for September.

Deltell charged the Liberals have consistently avoided parliamentary accountability.

“We have little faith that your letter represents an actual change in any way, shape or form to the government approach given your pattern of behaviour concerning parliamentary accountability over the past few years.”

Holland said he was deeply disappointed to see the Conservatives respond as they did, especially because his proposal was modelled on one adopted by the Harper government in 2010 to allow opposition MPs to read unredacted documents detailing the treatment of detainees turned over to Afghan authorities by the Canadian military.

“I was hopeful their posture would be a reasonable one, and confused because the mechanism that we suggested was created by them. It was a mechanism that Stephen Harper called reasonable.”

Deltell in his letter contends the two situations are not the same, because the Liberals initial motion on Afghanistan had no safeguards for protecting sensitive information and the demand was coming as NATO troops remained on the ground in Afghanistan.

Under Holland’s rejected proposal each party and one alternate would sit on a panel to review the documents and decide what information should be made public. The MPs would be selected by their parties, but they would have to pass a security clearance and read the documents in a secure room.

Any disagreements about what should be made public would be decided by a panel of three judges, who would be selected by MPs from all parties.

Holland said the documents and the secrets within have to be protected and the Conservative proposal doesn’t achieve that.

“These are documents that could endanger our national security operations globally. Our relationships with our Five Eyes partners. It could endanger the lives of those that serve us.”

Holland said he hopes the Conservatives change their view, but he is prepared to work with the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to find a reasonable compromise.

“I am absolutely committed to continue to work with reasonable parties in the House and I’m very hopeful that the NDP and the Bloc won’t make a similar determination.”

• Email: rtumilty@postmedia.com | Twitter: ryantumilty

Serbia moves to defuse protests over Rio Tinto lithium mine

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Trying to defuse large protests by environmentalists, Serbia's populist government decided Wednesday to suspend two key laws that would help mining giant Rio Tinto launch a lithium mine in western Serbia.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

For two consecutive weekends, thousands of protesters in Belgrade and other Serbian towns have blocked main roads and bridges to decry the planned lithium mine despite an intimidation campaign launched by authorities against the demonstrators.

The protests are the biggest challenge yet to the increasingly autocratic rule of President Aleksandar Vucic, who has denounced the road blockades as illegal and claimed they are being financed from abroad to destabilize the Balkan country.

Vucic said the suspension of the laws does not represent his “defeat and weakness” or his caving in to pressure from the protesters “who want my head."

“I apologize to citizens for the terror of irresponsible people," Vucic said at a press conference, adding that he expects more protests despite the law suspension.

Serbian environmental groups and civil society organizations were angry that Serbian authorities lowered a referendum threshold on major projects in the country and wrote another law that would lead to the swift expropriation of private property near major construction projects. Activists argue this would pave the way for Rio Tinto to quickly launch the lithium mine.

The Serbian government said in a statement Wednesday that the expropriation law will be withdrawn for further public discussion while the referendum law would be amended.

Protest organizers have also demanded that the government’s financial deal with Rio Tinto be made public. The multinational company has pledged it will put $2.4 billion into the Serbian lithium mine project.

Throughout its almost 150-year history, Rio Tinto has faced accusations of corruption, environmental degradation and human rights abuses at its excavation sites.

Lithium, which used in batteries for electric cars, is considered one of the most sought-after metals of the future as the world shifts to more renewable energy sources.

Environmentalists are also upset in general at the Serbian government's lack of response to rising pollution in the country.

Russian Propaganda  MEDIA Brags of Putin’s Military Blackmail  REDLINE Against the U.S.

Julia Davis
Tue, December 7, 2021

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Photos Getty

Before U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin sat down for a virtual summit on Tuesday morning, Russian state media broadcast its own predictions about the goals of the meeting—and the outcome of the talks.

The latest Russian media tirades have made one point very clear: that gone are the days when Putin’s Russia sought to be treated as an equal with the West. Today, the Kremlin strives to dictate its terms to the world’s leading superpower, using military blackmail to make a point.

The U.S. recently revealed its intelligence assessments that Russia could be planning to invade Ukraine as soon as early 2022. This data has been shared with EU and NATO allies, bringing them up-to-date on Moscow’s ongoing military scheme. On Sunday’s state TV show Vesti Nedeli, notorious propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov scoffed at Biden’s statement about not recognizing Russia’s “red lines” when it comes to Ukraine, and predicted that over the course of the summit, Putin will snap Biden “back to reality.”

Ukraine: America Dropped the Ball on Russia’s Invasion Threat

Kiselyov claimed that by signing the U.S.-Russia Presidential Joint Statement on Strategic Stability in June of this year, Biden essentially acknowledged that he “does not want the United States to be reduced to radioactive ash.” The statement read, in part: “Today, we reaffirm the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.”

“Here it is: the red line for Biden, set by Putin,” Kiselyov exclaimed. He declared that Biden’s cooperation revealed “America’s fears” and the U.S.’s recognition of Russia’s nuclear “trump card.”

On the state TV show Sunday Evening with Vladimir Soloviev this weekend, the host and his panelists did their best to lower expectations for the meeting.

“This will be a difficult and strained summit,” Soloviev predicted. Andrey Sidorov, deputy dean of world politics at Moscow State University, concurred. “They [Biden and Putin] won’t be able to reach any agreements,” Sidorov said. “All of this is leading to the disintegration of Europe… the [U.S.] won’t be able to expand their military forces to Cold War levels, because they have to contain China.” He added: “Ukraine will be the main topic of conversation on December 7, and the main source of contention, because we can’t agree on anything.”

Sidorov went on to argue that nothing good can come out of the summit, since the United States and Russia don’t recognize each other’s red lines. Soloviev followed up: “What then, war?” Sidorov replied: “We’re already waging it. It’s ongoing.” He went on: “We should have taken all of Ukraine back in 2014. If there was no Ukraine, there would be no problem.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov contributed his own gloomy outlook in the run-up to the summit. On Monday, he told reporters that it was important not to anticipate any breakthroughs and cautioned the public against developing any “emotional” expectations. Peskov added that Putin isn’t planning to provide any public statements at the conclusion of his exchange with the U.S. president.

The attitude of belligerence and hostility permeated state media’s hot takes on the meeting. The head of the State Duma Committee on Defense, Andrei Kartapolov, mocked Biden’s dismissal of Putin’s red lines: “Let him try to cross them... The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation remain in a state of military readiness and are ready to carry out any orders of our commander-in-chief. Makes no difference to us how many of their [U.S.] advisers are there.” He compared the situation with Ukraine to Russia’s war with Georgia in 2008 and cautioned: “Don’t play with fire. Don’t mess with us.”

Appearing on the state TV show 60 Minutes on Monday, Igor Korotchenko, member of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Public Council and editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine, nervously addressed the possibility that new U.S. sanctions against Russia might include disconnecting Russia from the SWIFT international payment system. Korotchenko threatened: “Disconnection of Russia from SWIFT, if that happens, I believe should be considered as a declaration of war against us—and acted upon accordingly. À la guerre comme à la guerre.”

The Russian Public Is Being Primed for Another of Putin’s Wars

Notorious nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia in the State Duma, was invited to participate in last Thursday’s broadcast of 60 Minutes. Known for his deliberately provocative statements, Zhirinovsky delivered another outrageous diatribe. “The smell of war is in the air,” he asserted, warning the West: “Stop yapping in the direction of Russia.” Zhirinovsky predicted: “We will meet the new year 2022 with a smile on our face, while NATO, Ukraine and others will be trembling in anticipation of war. If Ukrainians start it, we will destroy them.”

Host Olga Skabeeva expressed her hope that the escalating tensions wouldn’t ultimately lead to nuclear war, but quickly reiterated Putin’s earlier assertion that if that were to happen, the Russians “will go to heaven, as martyrs,” while the other side will simply die. Zhirinovsky retorted: “That’s exactly what is going to happen.” Grimacing, Skabeeva replied: “I hope not. I would like to live a while longer.”

Moon to align with 3 planets on Friday evening
By Brian Lada, Accuweather.com

Jupiter, Saturn and Venus have lined up in the evening sky and will continue to be prominent features throughout most of December, but this week, the trio will get a visitor.

The easy-to-find planets, paired with the approaching peak of the Geminid meteor shower, make December a great month for evening stargazing. The only caveat is that the weather can be fickle during the long December nights, often offering frosty conditions on nights that are not cloudy.

This week in particular will provide a good opportunity to view the planetary alignment as the crescent moon will join the show, eventually falling in line with Jupiter, Saturn and Venus.

The moon started off the week next to Venus, and as the week progresses, it will continue to move up the chain, passing by Saturn and Jupiter. These close encounters will be great opportunities for photographers and stargazers with a telescope hoping to see a planet and the moon in the same field of view.

By Friday evening, the moon will be at the top of the line, appearing in the southwestern sky shortly after nightfall.

This celestial alignment will be visible around the world and even from cities where light pollution washes out dimmer stars. The only thing that is needed to enjoy the show is cloud-free weather, but using a telescope or pair of binoculars can reveal some of the bigger moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

Unfortunately, clouds are a concern for large areas of the central and eastern United States on Friday evening due to a far-reaching storm that will extend from the Rockies to the Appalachians.

Folks stepping outside to see the celestial alignment should also keep their eyes peeled for a few shooting stars.

The Geminid meteor shower peaks on the night of Monday into Tuesday, but some meteors will streak through the sky in the nights leading up to the shower's culmination. It is also one of the only annual meteor showers that is active all night long with some meteors appearing as early as nightfall.

However, unlike the planetary alignment, the Geminids cannot be easily viewed in an area where there is human-created light pollution, so people are encouraged to take a trip to a darker area to enjoy the astronomical light show.''

1. Dark Sky Guide | Alberta Parks
   https://albertaparks.ca/albertaparksca/learning/parks-blog/dark-sky-guide

   2018-10-23 · Dark Sky Preserves are designated areas located all over the world where artificial lighting is reduced to a minimum and the reduction of light pollution is promoted and encouraged. Find out how light pollution affects wildlife and ecosystems, and lots …

Loud fireball streaks across central Alberta night sky

Karen Bartko and Phil Heidenreich 

© Courtesy: Kaitlyn Kostyniuk Image from a front-porch camera near Rocky Mountain House, Alta., on Dec. 7, 2021. A number of Albertans reported seeing a bright flash of light in the sky.

A fireball that lit up the night and emitted a loud boom heard by people across central Alberta was likely a meteor breaking up as it sped across the Tuesday night sky, according to at least one expert.

"What people got to see would have been a really bright meteor — something we call a fireball or a bolide," said Frank Florian, the Telus World of Science director of planetarium and space sciences.

A meteor is a piece of space dust or debris that burns up in the atmosphere and only becomes a meteorite once it hits the ground. A bolide is an exceptionally bright meteor that explodes. It can also be interchangeably called a fireball.

"This one here was quite spectacular, from what I understand, in terms of its brightness, as well as the booms that certain individuals in certain regions actually heard," Florian said.

Video: Bright meteor lights up the Alberta sky on Monday morning

The fireball created a stir on social media Tuesday night, with multiple people from Edmonton to Red Deer saying they heard a distinctive loud boom and saw a glow light up the sky.

Kaitlyn Kostyniuk, who lives about a 10-minute drive north of Rocky Mountain House, caught a glimpse of the flash on camera shortly before 9 p.m.

"I was getting ready for bed and my notification went off on my phone that there was a motion captured on our front-porch camera, which is weird because we're out in the middle of nowhere," she told Global News.

"I went to open up the video and check it out and I got a nice light show."

"To me at first it kind of looked like someone was holding a flashlight right outside my window because the light was just so bright and vivid. But then when I rewatched the video a few times, I could see that it was just something going through the sky."

Video: ‘My windows all shook’: Bright light streaks across Alberta night sky with loud boom

Read more:
Lighting up the sky: Canada’s history of meteorites

Florian said meteors can come from any direction.

"We get stuff falling on the Earth every single day — tons of it — but again, just being in the right place and right time to see something like this and getting these really large ones that create a very loud bang, you know, it's reminiscent of what happened to Chelyabinsk in Russia," he said.

That bright fireball on Feb. 15, 2013 lit up the morning sky, several times brighter than the sun, casting moving shadows as it crossed the sky.

Against the enormous stresses as it entered the atmosphere, the massive piece of rock began to break apart 30 kilometres above earth, sending out a sonic boom that shattered windows and injured nearly 1,000 people.

"This one here wasn't as powerful because it did rattle things, from what I understand," Florian said. "People further south of Edmonton did actually hear their windows rattling, their house kind of shake a bit."

Read more:
The Chelyabinsk meteor explosion, one year later

He did not hear or see it from his home on the northside, adding the reports he heard came from the southside and Leduc and Beaumont areas.

"I would kind of be leaning towards this thing coming down somewhere south or east of Leduc," he said, adding he watched the Rocky Mountain House doorbell camera and believes it was heading east from that community towards the Edmonton region.

Video: Loud fireball streaks across central Alberta night sky

Florian said the University of Alberta has cameras that can sometimes detect where space rocks fall, but they need a clear sky to operate properly and it was cloudy Tuesday night.

"We're really just going by what we see from doorbell cameras and, you know, eyewitness accounts of what they may have seen and if they actually heard anything from their location."

Read more:
Scientists hunting for meteorites after fireball reported in northern Alberta

Florian said because it gave off a loud boom, it most likely broke up into pieces.

"It's probably within a 60-kilometre radius from Leduc. There might be fragments on the ground and if people are out and about, they might see some little black rocks sitting on top of the snow."

Florian said there might be a couple of recoverable meteors that fall over Alberta each year.

"They're not totally rare — but they're rare enough that you have been right place, right time," he said, adding they also have to land in an open space to be easily found.

"These pieces have to land somewhere where you're not going to be going through, you know, dense bush and really rugged terrain.


"So the recovery of anything from these events is always a bit of a task."

Read more:
Dash-cam video shot in Edmonton area captures strange bright light falling from the sky

The American Meteor Society posted on its website that it had received a report "about a fireball seen over Alberta" from someone in Edmonton just after 9 p.m. The person reported that the light lasted about 7.5 seconds.

- with files from Nicole Mortillaro

WEATHER WARS
China successfully modified the weather to create clear skies, researchers say

Joshua Hawkins

© Provided by BGR weather modification

Researchers at a Beijing university say China’s weather authorities successfully used weather modification to ensure clear skies during a major celebration this year.

The Chinese Communist party celebrated its centenary on July 1 with a major celebration. The celebration took place in Tiananmen Square and included tens of thousands of attendees. According to a research paper from Tsinghua University, the Chinese weather authorities used weather modification to ensure the sky was clear and lower air pollution.

Chinese government used weather modification to lower air pollution

© Provided by BGR

What if you could summon rain to a location or clear out dark rain clouds by using technology and science? Weather modification isn’t a new idea. In fact, the Chinese government has reportedly been working on modifying the weather since 2008. That’s when it hosted the Olympic Games. Based on a new paper from Tsinghua University researchers, it has now managed to create artificial rain and bring down air pollution.

The paper was published on November 26, in a Chinese peer-reviewed journal called Environment Science (via South China Morning Post). The research shows that the Chinese government used cloud-seeding techniques to force rainfall the evening before the celebration event. This rainfall lowered the amount of PM2.5 pollution by more than two-thirds. That helped improve the air quality at the time from “moderate” to “good”, the South China Morning Post reports.

According to the paper, the event included tens of thousands of people packed into the square. Weather modification attempts began the evening before, and when the event began at 8 a.m. it included overcast conditions. Following the ceremony, a massive downpour settled over the square.
Using cloud seeding to force rainfall

Cloud seeding is a weather-modification technique that has been around for years. There are several different methods that can be used, including the use of salts, electric charges, and even infrared laser pulses. The researchers at Tsinghua University believe that the Chinese government used cloud seeding to try to lower the levels of pollution in the air.

In the months leading up to the event, air pollution in the Beijing area had increased. While many of the factories around the area had production halted, the air circulation in the region was slower than normal. This meant that a large amount of the pollution created by people and the factories began to stagnate around the region.

By forcing rainfall in the hours before the event, the Chinese government was able to lower the levels of pollution. Unfortunately, the Chinese government has not shared any details about what type of cloud seeding it used. Nor has it shared any future plans for weather modification at this time.

The post China successfully modified the weather to create clear skies, researchers say appeared first on BGR.