AZERBAIJAN/ARMENIA
‘Reasonable’ to believe genocide against Armenians being committed, former ICC chief prosecutor says

Eve Brennan, CNN

Fri, August 11, 2023

A former International Criminal Court chief prosecutor has said there is “reasonable basis to believe that genocide is being committed against Armenians” in the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“There are no crematories and there are no machete attacks. Starvation is the invisible genocide weapon. Without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks,” said Luis Moreno Ocampo in an expert opinion letter on Monday.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked area between Eastern Europe and Western Asia that is home to a large Armenian population but is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been battling over the region for decades. Ocampo worked at the Netherlands-based ICC until 2012.


On Monday, UN experts urged Azerbaijan to lift a blockade on the Lachin corridor, the sole road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. The blockade has been in place for the past seven months.

In a press release, the UNHCR called on Azerbaijan to end “the dire humanitarian crisis” in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which it said had resulted in shortages of food, medication, and hygiene products.

“The blockade of the Lachin corridor is a humanitarian emergency that has created severe shortages of essential food staples including sunflower oil, fish, chicken, dairy products, cereal, sugar and baby formula,” it said.

Medical supplies were also “rapidly depleting,” it added.

An Azerbaijani checkpoint at the entry of the Lachin corridor, the Armenian-populated breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region's only land link with Armenia, on July 30. - 

KAren Minasyan/AFPGetty Images/FILE

The UNCHR urged the Azerbaijani government to “uphold its international obligations to respect and protect human rights,” and called on Russian peacekeeping forces in the region to protect the corridor.

Both requests are in accordance with the ceasefire agreement of November 2020.

“It is essential to ensure the safety, dignity, and well-being of all individuals during this critical time,” they added.

The issue was raised at a UN Security Council meeting on August 3, with the Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, Vahe Gevorgyan, warning that Azerbaijan’s blockade had affected 2,000 pregnant women, around 30,000 children, 20,000 older persons and 9,000 persons with disabilities.

In July, the European Union foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the EU was “deeply concerned about the serious humanitarian situation” in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, arguing that it is “incumbent on the Azerbaijani authorities to guarantee safety and freedom of movement along the Lachin corridor imminently and not to permit the crisis to escalate further.

A spokesperson for US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month that Blinken had spoken to Azerbaijan’s president to “express deep concern for the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabak” and underscored the “urgent need for free transit of commercial, humanitarian, and private vehicles through the Lachin corridor.”

UN finishes removing oil from decaying Yemen tanker

Amal Mohammed with Robbie Corey-Boulet in Riyadh
Fri, August 11, 2023

Workers prepare to transfer oil from the dilapidated Yemeni tanker FSO Safer (L) to a replacement vessel in a UN-funded operation to avert an environmental catastrophe in the Red Sea (-)

The United Nations said Friday it had successfully transferred more than one million barrels of oil from a dilapidated Yemeni tanker, removing the imminent risk of a spill.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres "welcomes the news that the ship-to-ship transfer of oil from the FSO Safer to the Yemen replacement vessel has been safely concluded today, avoiding what could have been a monumental environmental and humanitarian catastrophe," a statement said.

The milestone means that "the core aspect" of a years-long effort to address the threat posed by the Safer, often referred to as a "ticking time bomb", is now finished, said UN Development Programme head Achim Steiner.

"That removes the imminent and immediate threat that had become the focus of attention across the whole world: a tanker that could break apart or explode in the Red Sea," Steiner told AFP.

Yemeni doctor Main Ahmed, 49, told AFP Friday's news was like "a weight lifted off our shoulders" for residents of the port city of Hodeida.

"I was always thinking about the risks of just going for a walk, especially since I live near the coast," he said.

Yet the saga is not over.

The UN has previously warned that even with its cargo removed, the Safer "will pose a residual environmental threat, holding viscous oil residue and remaining at risk of breaking apart".

The project's next phase, stripping and cleaning the Safer's tanks and preparing it for towing and scrapping, is expected to take "anywhere between two to three weeks", Steiner said.

The Safer, a floating storage and offloading facility, has been moored around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Hodeida since the 1980s.

It has not been serviced since war broke out more than eight years ago between Yemen's Huthi rebels, who control the capital Sanaa and the waters where the Safer is positioned, and a Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognised government based in the southern port city of Aden.

The ageing vessel, with its corroding hull, was carrying 1.14 million barrels of Marib light crude, four times as much oil as was spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.

- 'Absence of accountability' -

Now its oil has been pumped to a new, smaller tanker known as the Yemen that the UN purchased in March.

As the operation began on July 25, experts warned that success was far from certain given scorching summer temperatures, ageing pipes and naval mines lurking in surrounding waters.

The UN had even arranged for a plane to be on standby "within a 90-minute flight radius" so it could "deploy chemicals from the air" in response to a spill, Steiner said.

All told, the UN has priced the operation at $143 million, a fraction of the estimated $20 billion clean-up costs in the event of a spill, to say nothing of billions lost to shipping disruptions through the Bab al-Mandab strait to the Suez Canal.

The UN is still roughly $20 million short, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the international community and the private sector Friday to step up with funds needed to "finish the job and address all remaining environmental threats".

Greenpeace said oil giants that previously used the Safer "and are the likely owners of some of the transferred oil" needed to contribute to the project's next stages.

"It is imperative to address the absence of accountability exhibited by the oil industry that has recorded staggering profits, but hasn't yet shown any sense of responsibility," a Greenpeace statement said.

- Next steps unclear -

Officials are still trying to sort out where the oil might go next.

A long-term agreement between Yemen's warring parties on "future maintenance and management" is needed, Steiner said.

One possibility is a follow-up project in which UN experts would train staff of the Yemeni oil and gas company SEPOC in "how to safeguard the vessel", he said.

However authorities in Sanaa and Aden have appointed rival executive general managers of SEPOC, underscoring how Yemen's conflict could continue to pose complications.

Hundreds of thousands of people have died in the fighting or from indirect causes such as lack of food or water, in what the UN calls one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Clashes between the Iran-backed Huthis and the Saudi-led coalition have reduced sharply since a UN-brokered truce began in April last year, even though it lapsed in October.

David Gressly, the UN resident coordinator in Yemen, said on Friday that while the Safer crisis was separate from talks on ending the war, the fact that opposing factions cooperated on the oil transfer "does create a bit of hope that there is a way forward".

rcb/srm

SPACE

After 17 years away, NASA's sun-studying spacecraft will visit Earth on Aug. 12

Robert Lea

SPACE. COM
Fri, August 11, 2023 

An illustration shows NASA's STEREO-A probe making a close approach to Earth after 17 years.

A groundbreaking NASA spacecraft will return to Earth on Saturday (Aug. 12) after 17 years away from home.

One-half of the agency's STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) mission, STEREO-A will fly close to our planet for the first time since its launch on Oct. 25, 2006, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. STEREO-A will pass between Earth and the sun this weekend.

STEREO-A is the lead component of a dual-spacecraft mission, which also includes the STEREO-B spacecraft. This was the first mission to capture a multiple-perspective or "stereoscopic" view of the sun. The STEREO mission also made history in February of 2011, when the two spacecraft achieved a 180-degree separation in their orbital pathway, taking positions on opposite sides of the sun and offering humanity its first glimpse of our star as a complete sphere. Akin to their titles, STEREO-A's "A" stands for "ahead" and STEREO-B's "B" stands for "behind."


"Prior to that, we were 'tethered' to the sun-Earth line — we only saw one side of the sun at a time," STEREO program scientist, Lika Guhathakurta, said in a statement. "STEREO broke that tether and gave us a view of the sun as a three-dimensional object."

Related: Sun blasts out highest-energy radiation ever recorded, raising questions for solar physics

The STEREO mission had achieved a number of other scientific feats since leaving Earth 17 years ago, and both spacecraft were providing views of space until STEREO-B broke contact with mission control in 2014 after a planned reset (B's mission officially ended in 2018). STEREO-A, however, has remained in contact with Earth since the loss of its compatriot, and this brief return home won't see it rest on its laurels.

Instead, the spacecraft will team up with some newer NASA missions during its visit.

By synthesizing its view of the sun with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), STEREO-A will once again provide a stereoscopic 3D picture of our host star, just like it used to with STEREO-B. The fact that STEREO-A will be changing its distance from Earth during its visit also means it'll be able to offer views of solar features with differing sizes. This would be kind of like changing the focus of a telescope with a million-mile-wide field of view.

That should allow researchers to make vital solar measurements, identify active regions of the sun and even obtain 3D information about complex magnetic structures underlying sunspots. These structures are usually unavailable for study with 2D imagery.

Further, this visit by STEREO-A could help solar physicists decode some longstanding mysteries regarding the sun. "There is a recent idea that coronal loops might just be optical illusions," STEREO project scientist, Terry Kucera, said.

This refers to the fact that some scientists have suggested our limited viewing angles of massive bands of plasma emerging from the sun make them appear to have shapes they may not truly have. "If you look at them from multiple points of view, that should become more apparent," Kucera added.

A gif showing the trajectory of STEREO-A's flyby of Earth.

(Image credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio/Tom Bridgman)


Star I used to know...

STEREO-A won't just be collecting visual data as it makes its flyby of Earth over the weekend. The spacecraft will also feel eruptions from our star, called coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

When blasted out into space, these massive plumes of charged particles can disrupt satellites orbiting Earth, interfere with radio signals across the planet and even damage power infrastructure. The influence of CMEs, in terms of whether they cause damage or disruption upon reaching Earth, is dictated by magnetic fields carried along with them. These fields can change dramatically as the charged particles cross the 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) of space between the sun and Earth.

A black and white video showing a CME, taken by STEREO-A.

This coronagraph image shows a coronal mass ejection escaping the Sun, which is occluded behind the black circle at the center of the image. STEREO-A imaged this Earth-directed CME eruption on July 17, 2023. (Image credit: NASA/STEREO-A/SECCHI)



Scientists can build models of CMEs and their magnetic fields, but these models are limited when observations come from a single spacecraft.

"It's like the parable about the blind men and the elephant — the one who feels the legs says 'it’s like a tree trunk,' and the one who feels the tail says 'it’s like a snake,'" University of New Hampshire professor and principal investigator for one of STEREO-A’s instruments, Toni Galvin, said. "That's what we're stuck with right now with CMEs, because we typically only have one or two spacecraft right next to each other measuring it."

In the months before it flies by our planet, STEREO-A has been collecting data about Earth-directed CMEs — and it will continue to do this for months after it leaves our planet's vicinity again. As it has been doing this, so have other near-Earth spacecraft. Put together, these datasets should give solar scientists different views of the same CMEs, revealing the ejections' magnetic innards.

A 3D view of the sun, spinning toward the right.

This composite view shows the Sun as it appeared on Jan. 31, 2011, with simultaneous views from both of NASA’s STEREO spacecraft and NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. These three distinct viewpoints allowed scientists to capture almost the entire sun at once, with only a small gap in data. (Image credit: NASA/Goddard/STEREO)



RELATED STORIES:

— NASA's STEREO mission: A quest to learn more about the sun

— NASA's Parker Solar Probe to make closest flyby of Venus on Aug. 21

— Powerful sun storm knocks out radio transmissions across North America

It won't be all familiar territory when STEREO-A returns to Earth.

Last time the NASA craft was so close to our planet, in 2006, the sun was in a phase called "solar minimum." This means is was in a relatively quiet phase, with little activity and few sunspots.

By contrast, the sun STEREO-A will see this weekend is approaching a period of solar maximum in its roughly 11-year cycle, which should peak in 2025.

"The sun was so quiet at that point! I was looking back at the data, and I said, 'Oh yeah, I recognize that active region’ — there was one, and we studied it," Kucera said, "OK, it wasn’t quite that bad — but it was close."

That means that STEREO-A will experience a "fundamentally different" star than it did some 17 years ago. "There is so much knowledge to be gained from that," Guhathakurta concluded.

Course correction keeps Parker Solar Probe on track for Venus flyby

NASA/GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

 

IMAGE: ARTIST’S CONCEPT OF PARKER SOLAR PROBE. view more 

CREDIT: NASA’S GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe executed a short maneuver on Aug. 3, 2023, that kept the spacecraft on track to hit the aim point for the mission’s sixth Venus flyby on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. ​

Operating on preprogrammed commands from mission control at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, Parker fired its small thrusters for 4.5 seconds, enough to adjust its trajectory by 77 miles and speed up – by 1.4 seconds – its closest approach to Venus. The precise timing and position are critical to that flyby, the sixth of seven approaches in which Parker uses the planet’s gravity to tighten its orbit around the Sun.

“Parker’s velocity is about 8.7 miles per second, so in terms of changing the spacecraft’s speed and direction, this trajectory correction maneuver may seem insignificant,” said Yanping Guo, mission design and navigation manager at APL. “However, the maneuver is critical to get us the desired gravity assist at Venus, which will significantly change Parker’s speed and distance to the Sun”.

Parker Solar Probe will be moving 394,742 miles per hour when it comes within just 4.5 million miles from the Sun’s surface – breaking its own record for speed and solar distance – on Sept. 27, 2023. Follow the spacecraft’s journey through the inner solar system on the Parker Solar Probe website.

By Michael Buckley
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Space weather and satellite security: Graz University of Technology and University of Graz supply new forecasting service for the ESA's Space Safety Programme

The effects of solar storms on the Earth's atmosphere can cause satellites to crash. To prevent this from happening, the European Space Agency (ESA) is now using SODA, a forecasting service developed in Graz

Business Announcement

GRAZ UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: IMAGE OF THE SUN FROM THE ESA/NASA SOLAR ORBITER MISSION. THE DIAGRAM SHOWS THE DENSITY INCREASE IN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE SUBSEQUENT LOSS OF ALTITUDE OF A SATELLITE AT 490 KM - BOTH CAUSED BY A CORONAL MASS EJECTION ON 21 NOVEMBER 2003. view more 

CREDIT: IMAGE SOURCE: ESA & NASA/SOLAR ORBITER/EUI TEAM - DATA: TU GRAZ & UNI GRAZ

After a successful test phase, the Satellite Orbit DecAy (SODA) service, which was jointly developed by TU Graz and the University of Graz, officially became part of the ESA’s Space Safety Programme in mid-July. SODA provides accurate forecasts of the effects of solar storms on low Earth orbiting satellites. This makes TU Graz only the third Austrian institution contributing to this ESA programme. Seibersdorf Laboratories, and the University of Graz, through the Kanzelhöhe Observatory and the Institute of Physics, have previously already been involved in the agency’s work.

The new forecast service is freely available via the ESA Space Weather Service and offers a warning with a lead time of around 15 hours. The commissioning of SODA is of particular interest at this stage since the solar activity is expected to reach its maximum within the next two years. The extent to which solar storms can affect satellite orbits has already been demonstrated in SWEETS, a project funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), on whose findings SODA is based. For the SWEETS project, atmospheric density data was combined with real-time measurements of solar wind plasma and the interplanetary magnetic field to calculate the effects of solar events. This research has shown that large coronal mass ejections have the capability to trigger satellite orbit decays of up to 40 metres for satellites at an altitude of 490 kilometres. In early February 2022, 38 Starlink satellites were even lost shortly after launch at an altitude of 210 kilometres due to a solar storm.

Solar activity reaches its maximum

Such losses of altitude largely occur because the charged plasma particles emitted by the Sun strike the Earth's magnetic field and cause a heating and expansion of the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere. As a result, the atmospheric drag increases and subsequently causes satellites to lose speed and altitude. In light of the upcoming solar maximum, the ESA has already increased the altitude of some of its satellites by a few kilometres to get through this period safely. Accordingly, the predictions provided by SODA are intended to add an additional level of security. TU Graz contributed its expertise in the processing of satellite data available at the Institute of Geodesy, while the University of Graz’s involvement was based on its experience in the field of solar and heliospheric physics as well as interplanetary magnetic field observation.

The team led by Sandro Krauss from the Institute of Geodesy at TU Graz reviewed atmospheric densities over a 20-year period. For this purpose, they processed data from several low Earth orbit satellite missions, including CHAMP, GRACE, GRACE Follow-on and Swarm. At the University of Graz, a group led by Manuela Temmer from the Institute of Physics analysed around 300 solar storms catalogued between 2002 and 2017 based on measurements of the interplanetary magnetic field by probes at the L1 Lagrange point, which is about 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth in the direction of the Sun. TU Graz afterwards used the information to relate the atmospheric density variations to these solar storms. The forecasting model SODA was developed from the joint analysis of these interdisciplinary datasets.

Space research – highly valued in Austria

"I am very pleased that, through SODA, TU Graz, together with Uni Graz and Seibersdorf Laboratories, is now the third Austrian institution to contribute to ESA's Space Safety Programme," says Sandro Krauss from the Institute of Geodesy at TU Graz. "Of the five Expert Service Centres that constitute the ESA Space Weather Service Network, Austria is now represented in four, with only the United Kingdom involved in all five. This clearly underscores just how highly valued space research is in Austria. The partnership with the University of Graz on this project also provides proof of how valuable interdisciplinary research work is. And we are already working together to further improve SODA."

Manuela Temmer from the Institute of Physics at the University of Graz explained: “For Uni Graz and TU Graz, supplying ESA with this service is a welcome recognition of our work. I am also pleased that our partnership will continue as we work to improve SODA together within the framework of the FFG-funded project CASPER. It will help us to gain a better understanding of more complex solar storms, such as situations where two storms overlap on their way to Earth. We would also like to calculate the atmospheric density at altitudes of 450 and 400 kilometres – 490 kilometres is the lowest altitude we can calculate the density for so far. Since the field of solar storm forecasting is not yet very well researched, we are looking forward to some interesting insights."

Illustration of the ESA service SODA developed at TU Graz and Uni Graz. The grey area shows the prediction of the expected altitude loss for satellites at 490 km before the Starlink event in early February 2022.

CREDIT

Graz University of Technology & University of Graz

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

Direct evidence for modified gravity at low acceleration from Gaia observations of wide binary stars

Dawn of a new scientific revolution

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SEJONG UNIVERSITY

A new study reports conclusive evidence for the breakdown of standard gravity in the low acceleration limit from a verifiable analysis of the orbital motions of long-period, widely separated, binary stars, usually referred to as wide binaries in astronomy and astrophysics. The study carried out by Kyu-Hyun Chae, professor of physics and astronomy at Sejong University in Seoul, used up to 26,500 wide binaries within 650 light years (LY) observed by European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescope. Kareem El-Badry, then at Harvard and now a faculty at Caltech, helped Chae so that he could use the Gaia database.

For a key improvement over other studies Chae’s study focused on calculating gravitational accelerations experienced by binary stars as a function of their separation or, equivalently the orbital period, by a Monte Carlo deprojection of observed sky-projected motions to the three-dimensional space. Chae explains on this point, “From the start it seemed clear to me that gravity could be most directly and efficiently tested by calculating accelerations because gravitational field itself is an acceleration. My recent research experiences with galactic rotation curves led me to this idea. Galactic disks and wide binaries share some similarity in their orbits, though wide binaries follow highly elongated orbits while hydrogen gas particles in a galactic disk follow nearly circular orbits.” Also, unlike other studies Chae calibrated the occurrence rate of hidden nested inner binaries at a benchmark acceleration as shown in the Figure.  

The study finds that when two stars orbit around with each other with accelerations lower than about one nanometer per second squared start to deviate from the prediction by Newton’s universal law of gravitation and Einstein’s general relativity. For accelerations lower than about 0.1 nanometer per second squared, the observed acceleration is about 30 to 40 percent higher than the Newton-Einstein prediction. The significance is very high meeting the conventional criteria of 5 sigma for a scientific discovery. In a sample of 20,000 wide binaries within a distance limit of 650 LY two independent acceleration bins respectively show deviations of over 5 sigma significance in the same direction.

Because the observed accelerations stronger than about 10 nanometer per second squared agree well with the Newton-Einstein prediction from the same analysis, the observed boost of accelerations at lower accelerations is a mystery. What is intriguing is that this breakdown of the Newton-Einstein theory at accelerations weaker than about one nanometer per second squared was suggested 40 years ago by theoretical physicist Mordehai Milgrom at the Weizmann Institute in Israel in a new theoretical framework called modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) or Milgromian dynamics in current usage. Moreover, the boost factor of about 1.4 is correctly predicted by a MOND-type Lagrangian theory of gravity called AQUAL, proposed by Milgrom and the late physicist Jacob Bekenstein. What is remarkable is that the correct boost factor requires the external field effect from the Milky Way galaxy that is a unique prediction of MOND-type modified gravity. Thus, what the wide binary data show are not only the breakdown of Newtonian dynamics but also the manifestation of the external field effect of modified gravity.

On the results, Chae says, “It seems impossible that a conspiracy or unknown systematic can cause these acceleration-dependent breakdown of the standard gravity in agreement with AQUAL. I have examined all possible systematics as described in the rather long paper. The results are genuine. I foresee that the results will be confirmed and refined with better and larger data in the future. I have also released all my codes for the sake of transparency and to serve any interested researchers.”

Unlike galactic rotation curves in which the observed boosted accelerations can, in principle, be attributed to dark matter in the Newton-Einstein standard gravity, wide binary dynamics cannot be affected by it even if it existed. The standard gravity simply breaks down in the weak acceleration limit in accordance with the MOND framework.

Implications of wide binary dynamics are profound in astrophysics, theoretical physics, and cosmology. Anomalies in Mercury’s orbits observed in the nineteenth century eventually led to Einstein’s general relativity. Now anomalies in wide binaries require a new theory extending general relativity to the low acceleration MOND limit. Despite all the successes of Newton’s gravity, general relativity is needed for relativistic gravitational phenomena such as black holes and gravitational waves. Likewise, despite all the successes of general relativity, a new theory is needed for MOND phenomena in the weak acceleration limit. The weak-acceleration catastrophe of gravity may have some similarity to the ultraviolet catastrophe of classical electrodynamics that led to quantum physics.

Wide binary anomalies are a disaster to the standard gravity and cosmology that rely on dark matter and dark energy concepts. Because gravity follows MOND, a large amount of dark matter in galaxies (and even in the universe) are no longer needed. This is also a big surprise to Chae who, like typical scientists, “believed in” dark matter until a few years ago.  

A new revolution in physics seems now under way. On the present results and the future prospects, Milgrom says, “Chae’s finding is a result of a very involved analysis of cutting-edge data, which, as far as I can judge, he has performed very meticulously and carefully. But for such a far-reaching finding -- and it is indeed very far reaching -- we require confirmation by independent analyses, preferably with better future data. If this anomaly is confirmed as a breakdown of Newtonian dynamics, and especially if it indeed agrees with the most straightforward predictions of MOND, it will have enormous implications for astrophysics, cosmology, and for fundamental physics at large.“

Xavier Hernandez, professor at UNAM in Mexico who first suggested wide binary tests of gravity a decade ago, says, “It is exciting that the departure from Newtonian gravity that my group has claimed for some time has now been independently confirmed, and impressive that this departure has for the first time been correctly identified as accurately corresponding to a detailed MOND model. The unprecedented accuracy of the Gaia satellite, the large and meticulously selected sample Chae uses and his detailed analysis, make his results sufficiently robust to qualify as a discovery.”

Pavel Kroupa, professor at Bonn University and at Charles University in Prague, has come to the same conclusions concerning the law of gravitation. He says, "With this test on wide binaries as well as our tests on open star clusters nearby the Sun, the data now compellingly imply that gravitation is Milgromian rather than Newtonian. The implications for all of astrophysics are immense."

The finding was published in the 1 August 2023 issue of the Astrophysical Journal.

Reference: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ace101 “Breakdown of the Newton–Einstein Standard Gravity at Low Acceleration in Internal Dynamics of Wide Binary Stars” (The Astrophysical Journal, 2023, Vol. 952, article ID 128)

---

JOURNAL

The Astrophysical Journal

DOI

10.3847/1538-4357/ace101 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

ARTICLE TITLE

Breakdown of the Newton–Einstein Standard Gravity at Low Acceleration in Internal Dynamics of Wide Binary Stars

SwRI micropatch algorithm improves ground-to-spacecraft software update efficiency

Team demonstrates novel software tool on International Space Station computer

Business Announcement

SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE

 

IMAGE: SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE DEVELOPED THE MICROPATCHING ALGORITHM ILLUSTRATED HERE TO IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF OVER-THE-AIR SPACECRAFT SOFTWARE UPDATES. THE TEAM SUCCESSFULLY TESTED SWRI’S MICROPATCHING SOFTWARE ON AN AXIOM SPACE-OPERATED COMPUTER ON THE ISS, UPLOADING THE PATCH VIA A TELEMETRY NETWORK. THE TOOL EFFICIENTLY FINDS AND PATCHES SOFTWARE ERRORS FROM FAILED UPDATES AND MALICIOUS ATTACKS INSTEAD OF REPLACING AN ENTIRE FILE OR OPERATING SYSTEM ON BANDWIDTH-LIMITED SPACE NETWORKS. view more 

CREDIT: SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE

San Antonio – August 10, 2023 – Southwest Research Institute developed an algorithm to remotely update and repair spacecraft software using less time and data than conventional techniques.

The tool not only improves the overall efficiency of satellite software transmissions but also can recover data from failed over-the-air updates and malicious cyberattacks. It works by identifying missing bytes and other errors before deploying a custom “micropatch” to the damaged or missing software.

“Instead of updating an entire file or operating system, which is typically required with over-the-air satellite software updates, our tool can find and patch smaller errors,” said Henry Haswell, a research engineer in SwRI’s Intelligent Systems Division. Haswell will present a research paper titled “Secure Micropatching on the ISS” at DEF CON 31, August 10-13, in Las Vegas.

The researchers successfully deployed and tested the tool on the International Space Station (ISS) on June 25. SwRI worked with Axiom Space Inc. and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to upload and evaluate the micropatch technology on an Axiom Space-operated computer on the ISS. Axiom Space collaborated with AWS to bring this AWS Snowcone computer to the ISS as part of the Ax-1 mission.

“This real-world demonstration proved the advantages of using this powerful technology,” said Diego Alducin, an SwRI computer scientist. “You can test for months in a lab on Earth, simulating all kinds of scenarios, but the true test happens in the harsh conditions of space.

Updating satellite software through sluggish telemetry networks with limited bandwidth and intermittent contacts can interrupt updates and corrupt files in the process. When that occurs, the current standard is to resend the entire file over the network. However, that typically requires waiting for a window when a satellite is aligned with a ground station. This window can be as short as eight minutes and might only occur once every few days.

“We focused our research on reducing the size of data retransmissions because that is critical in reducing mission downtime,” Alducin said.

While other technologies address network interruptions, they can be cost-prohibitive. Some spacecraft use error detection and correction, or EDAC software, to correct transmission errors, but these applications are power-hungry and have a large memory footprint.

Prior to ISS testing, SwRI lab-tested five algorithms, simulating several corruption modes. The lab research identified a double breakpoint search (DBS) algorithm as the most promising solution for Earth-to-space deployment. A DBS patch addresses a variety of complex file errors such as insertion, modification and deletion, while legacy systems can only fix simple issues.

SwRI is planning the next phase of research to reduce the number of messages needed to update a file while maintaining the same error correction capabilities. Researchers also hope to enhance micropatching continuity, enabling seamless file transfers in the event of temporary connection loss.

The space micropatching research builds on an automotive cybersecurity tool that SwRI developed for securing over-the-air, or OTA, updates on cars and trucks. SwRI’s High Reliability Systems Department develops mission-critical systems for the aerospace, automotive, oil and gas, critical infrastructure and transportation industries. SwRI’s Intelligent Systems Division is a leader in development of software, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data analytics and systems engineering solutions.

For more information, visit https://www.swri.org/industries/cyber-security-services and https://www.swri.org/space-avionics-systems/.

‘A lack of respect’: Catalonian nudists campaign against clothed tourists


Ashifa Kassam in Madrid
Updated Fri, 11 August 202

Photograph: Prisma by Dukas Presseagentur GmbH/Alamy

It was on a sun-kissed stretch of beach in Catalonia that Segimon Rovira began to feel self-conscious. For as long as the 56-year-old could remember, the area’s turquoise waters had primarily been frequented by nudists. Now, he was painfully aware of being surrounded by sunbathers – in their swimsuits.

“Before, people would arrive at a nude beach and either leave or strip down,” said Rovira. “Now they stay and keep their swimsuit on. But what they don’t realise is that if there are a lot of them, they end up making us uncomfortable. It’s a lack of respect.”

Now Rovira and other naturists in Catalonia are fighting back, with a campaign aimed at protecting the decades-long tradition associated with 50 or so of the region’s beaches.

“Nudism is not banned in Spain, you can do it on any beach,” said Rovira, who leads the Naturist-Nudist Federation of Catalonia. “But so as not to bother people, we prefer to go to beaches that have traditionally been nudist and where most people are naked. We want people to respect this.”

Recently the association sent a letter to the Catalan government asking for a meeting to address what it described as “the discrimination that nudists face on the beaches of Catalonia”. The collective has already starting mulling potential requests, from beefed-up signage for nude beaches to a public awareness campaign that could help foster respect for naturism. They have yet to receive a response.

At the heart of what the local media call the “textile invasion” is the boom in tourism and explosion of social media. As an ever-growing trove of blogs and travel guides vie to lead sun-seekers off the beaten path, they’ve highlighted the region’s most pristine and hidden beaches, often leaving out their longstanding ties to nudism.

Other times beachgoers themselves have chosen to overlook these ties, traipsing past the signs that read “nudist beach” in order to secure a spot on the golden sands. “We’ve lost a bit of civility,” said Rovira.

The result threatens to steadily erode naturism. “There are nudists who have stopped going to some beaches because they are too crowded and there are too many people wearing swimsuits and they feel uncomfortable,” he said.

Others have chosen to remain clothed, dissuaded by the throngs of smartphone-wielding visitors eager to share the beautiful backdrop with their online followers, said Rovira. “People that are naked don’t want to end up with their photos on social media.”

Some nudists have persevered, only to find themselves the focus of giggles, prolonged stares and, at times, disparaging remarks. “Unfortunately the women are usually more stared at or harassed,” said Rovira. “So they are discriminated against twice over; for being nudists and for being women.”

The hope is that the campaign will help ensure that certain beaches remain safe spaces for naturists and help to keep the tradition going. “Starting to practise naturism when you’re surrounded by people in clothing is very complicated,” said Rovira. “That’s why we think it’s important to have nudist spaces where the majority of people are nude so that people are encouraged to try it.”

The message is at the crux of a video, recently published by his association, that depicts two tourists who stumble across a nudist beach and soon go from gawking to stripping down.

The video seeks to capture the pair’s journey as they come to embrace all that enthusiasts say nudism offers. “We do it for the feeling of freedom,” said Rovira. “There’s no comparison between swimming in the nude and in swimwear. You’re more free, more calm and relaxed.”

MENS HEALTH
Prostate cancer: Having sex multiple times a week could stop cancer from developing, study suggests


David George
Fri, 11 August 2023 

There are numerous health benefits to intercourse, according to resaerchers. (Picture: Kei / Adobe Stock)

Having sex multiple times a week could help to prevent prostate cancer, according to researchers.

Prostate cancer has hit headlines this week after both BBC Midlands Today presenter Nick Owen and former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan opened up about their diagnoses.

Owen revealed that he has been diagnosed with an "extensive and aggressive" form of prostate cancer - while Jordan spoke about his surgery on TalkSport after spending a few weeks off the air.


According to Prostate Cancer UK, the proportion of patients diagnosed with the disease when it is too advanced to treat varies significantly depending on where patients live, with a greater percentage of stage four cases in Scotland, the north east and Yorkshire.

There are ways of checking for prostate cancer, but the causes of it are largely unknown.

Now, researchers from Boston University have inversely linked sexual activity to prostate cancer, suggesting that the more sex you have, the less likely you are to end up with it. They recommend that men have sex an impressive five times a week - in a lifestyle change that sounds far more fun than walking 4,000 steps every day, or eating an abundance of fruit and veg.

Dr Jennifer Rider said: "We evaluated whether ejaculation frequency throughout adulthood is related to prostate cancer risk in a large US-based study. We found that men reporting higher compared to lower ejaculatory frequency in adulthood were less likely to be subsequently diagnosed with prostate cancer.

"These findings provide additional evidence of a beneficial role of more frequent ejaculation throughout adult life in the etiology of prostate cancer, particularly for low-risk disease."

The study, conducted over a period of 10 years, found that men aged 20 to 29 who climaxed 21 times a month were a third less likely to suffer from prostate cancer, with a similar trend in 40-49 year olds.

WILHELM REICH FUNCTION OF THE ORGASM PDF

 

Polyurethane widely used in Daily Life: Eco-Friendly Synthesis Boosts Utilization!

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DGIST (DAEGU GYEONGBUK INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY)

 

IMAGE: COVER OF JOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE view more 

CREDIT: COVER OF JOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE

Senior Researcher Lim Sang-gyu, leading a team of researchers at the Department of Energy Convergence Research, DGIST (President Kuk Young), achieves a remarkable milestone with the development of an eco-friendly thermoplastic polyurethane boasting a staggering biocarbon content of 97%. This groundbreaking technology, created in collaboration with Jung Jae-hoon from the New Product Development Team and Jeon Cho-hyun from the New Business Planning Team at the Korea Textile Development Institute (KTDI, President Ho Yo-seung), holds immense significance as it presents a sustainable alternative to conventional petroleum-based thermoplastic polyurethanes.

 

□ Thermoplastic polyurethane is a remarkable material renowned for its outstanding mechanical properties[1], including abrasion resistance, resilience, tensile strength, and tear strength. Its versatility makes it widely used in various life and industrial applications such as industrial sheets, screen protection films, cases, footwear, artificial leather, and apparel materials.

 

□ Currently, the majority of thermoplastic polyurethanes are synthesized using petroleum-based polyols[2], isocyanates[3], and diols[4]. Despite their exceptional properties, the extraction, manufacturing, use, and disposal of petroleum-based raw materials contribute to environmental pollution. This has spurred worldwide efforts to explore eco-friendly alternatives based on biomass materials. However, developing biomass-based products that can match the properties of conventional thermoplastic polyurethanes presents significant challenges.

 

□ In a remarkable collaboration with the KTDI, Lim’s research team achieved a significant breakthrough by developing an eco-friendly thermoplastic polyurethane. To synthesize this environmentally friendly material, they utilized biomass-based[5] polyester polyols and butane diols, moving away from traditional petroleum-based materials.

 

□ The resulting biomass-based thermoplastic polyurethane exhibits exceptional properties, including a remarkable biocarbon content of up to 97%, a weight average molecular weight of approximately 120,000 g/mol, a tensile strength of 20 MPa, and an impressive tensile elongation of 587.2%. Remarkably, these properties are comparable to those of existing petroleum-based thermoplastic polyurethanes, making the developed material a versatile candidate for a wide array of applications in both daily life and various industries. The eco-friendly thermoplastic polyurethane is expected to find use in diverse fields, such as industrial sheets, screen protection films, cases, footwear, artificial leather, and clothing materials.

 

□ Researcher Lim highlighted that “to differentiate their research from existing studies on eco-friendly thermoplastic polyurethanes, they meticulously evaluated the chemical, thermal, and mechanical properties of biomass-based aliphatic isocyanates, varying their content ratio. These properties were then compared with those of petroleum-based thermoplastic polyurethanes.” With optimism, he expressed hopes for the commercialization and widespread use of the biomass-based thermoplastic polyurethanes developed through their research, particularly in various fields of high-functional fiber materials.

 

□ The research received support from the “Material Component Technology Development Project” of the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, along with the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology Evaluation and Management. Additionally, the “DGIST Institutional Project” by the Ministry of Science and ICT played a crucial role in enabling this research to materialize. The significant findings were published as the cover article in the July issue of the Journal of Applied Polymer Science, a renowned international journal specializing in the field of applied polymers.

 

Correspondence Author Email Address : limsk@dgist.ac.kr

 

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[1] Properties: the attributes of a substance.

[2] Polyol: an organic compound containing multiple hydroxyl groups (-OH).

[3] Isocyanate: a material extensively used in the manufacturing of polyurethanes and other related substances. (It serves as a general term for cyanuric acid or isocyanate esters.)

[4] Diols: Also known as glycols, diols are a group of compounds with two hydroxyl groups (OH) attached to different carbon atoms. (Ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, and pinacol are examples of diol.)

[5] Biomass: A term used to describe plant-derived products that can be converted into energy through processes such as combustion, chemical reactions, or biochemical conversions. It serves as a valuable resource for producing various fuels and chemicals, including biogas, biodiesel, ethanol, and methanol.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Applied Polymer Science

DOI

10.1002/app.54088 

ARTICLE TITLE

Synthesis and characterization of improved bio-based carbon content thermoplastic polyurethane with bio-aliphatic and petro-aromatic diisocyanate