Library of America publishes Herman Melville: Complete Poems
The Library of America edition of Herman Melville: Complete Poems arrived on my porch last month. Its texts are those of the three related Northwestern-Newberry Edition volumes. I was one of four co-editors of “Billy Budd, Sailor“ and Other Uncompleted Writings, the last and final volume to be published of the fifteen-volume Northwestern-Newberry edition of The Writings of Herman Melville. It was an honor to be invited by the Library of America volume editor, Hershel Parker, and Thomas Tanselle to write the “Note on the Texts,” a bibliographical essay included in each Library of America volume that describes the editorial procedures used to establish accurate texts. The LOA volume editor, Hershel Parker, wrote new, expansive explanatory notes for each of the poems, as well as a detailed up-to-date chronology based on his research for his two-volume biography of Herman Melville. This LOA volume is one that will very likely be bought, read, and consulted for many years to come. It is a happy coincidence that it is being published in the month and year of Melville’s 200th birthday, August 1, 1819.
BILLY BUDD, SAILOR AND OTHER UNCOMPLETED WRITINGS – Publication of the Final Volume of the Northwestern-Newberry Series: The Writings of Herman Melville
As of today, October 29, the paperback edition of “Billy Budd, Sailor“ and Other Uncompleted Writings is available on Amazon as well as the Northwestern University Press website. The hardcover is still in production, but should be available by the end of November. Click here for the NUP catalog page, or here for the book on Amazon.
It has taken a very long time (more than 45 years) to process the 1,000 or so manuscript leaves for publication in the final volume of the fifteen-volume Northwestern-Newberry Writings of Herman Melville series. It was just over 35 years ago that I sat daily as a graduate student from June 8 through August 6, 1982, Monday through Saturday, at the Houghton Library at Harvard transcribing the 335 leaves of the Parthenope (formerly “Burgundy Club”) poems and prose pieces contained in fifteen folders (including the folder containing “Pausilippo” removed by Melville for publication in Timoleon). From July 30 to August 2, 1982, I transcribed what I eventually came to realize was the theretofore unknown and untranscribed, “House of the Tragic Poet.” At the time, I thought surely someone had transcribed this piece previously. But as I worked in the following years on my dissertation with my advisor, Harrison Hayford, we finally determined that “House of the Tragic” poet was in fact a new piece. In the summers of 2013 and 2015, to prepare the reading and transcription texts for the now published final volume, I did a fresh literal transcription of these same manuscripts, as well as new transcriptions of the manuscripts of “Rammon,” “Story of Daniel Orme,” “Under the Rose,” and around 36 uncollected poems unpublished at the time of Melville’s death on September 28, 1891.
Many funding issues delayed the work needed to complete the final volume of the Northwestern-Newberry Writings of Herman Melville series. Sadly, the series General Editor, Harrison Hayford — who began the Northwestern-Newberry publishing project in 1965 — passed away in 2001. But happily by 2010 Northwestern University Press could commit the funds needed to print the final volume, and the editors of the final volume — Hershel Parker, Thomas Tanselle, Alma A. MacDougall, and I — found time in our personal schedules, over a five-year period beginning in 2012, to bring to a successful conclusion the project of publishing the final volume.
Completion of the volume was the result of a sustained collaboration among the editors. Hershel Parker, General Editor, wrote the “Historical Note,” coordinated the editorial process, and negotiated the restart of the project with Northwestern University Press. G. Thomas Tanselle, Bibliographical Editor, who has contributed to each of the NN volumes, was again tireless in the effort he devoted to this final volume. He wrote the “General Note on the Text, produced all of the editorial appendices for BILLY BUDD and WEEDS AND WILDINGS, proofed and checked for accuracy the components of all the other the editorial appendices (discussion notes, lists of emendations, all transcriptions, notes on individual pieces, related documents), and corrected and revised the heretofore standard reading and transcription texts of BILLY BUDD (Harrison Hayford and Merton M. Sealts, Jr., Univ. of Chicago, 1962) and WEEDS AND WILDINGS (Robert C. Ryan, dissertation, 1967). Alma A. MacDougall has acted as the supervising editor for all the NN volumes published since 1982 [ISRAEL POTTER (1982), THE CONFIDENCE-MAN (1984), THE PIAZZA TALES (1987), MOBY-DICK (1988), JOURNALS (1989), CLAREL (1991), CORRESPONDENCE (1991), and PUBLISHED POEMS (2009)]. For this final volume, Alma served as Executive Editor and reviewed for accuracy all reading and transcription texts, historical notes, discussion notes, emendation lists, illustrations, created the index, and prepared the final printer’s copy for the press.
Hershel Parker, who succeeded Harrison Hayford as the series General Editor, suggested that we might think of the publication of the final volume as a birthday present for Harry Hayford on what would have been, on November 1st, his 101st birthday. Happy Birthday, Harry!
Harrison Hayford
Kant Confessed His Suspicions about the Limitations of His System, but Persisted Anyway
Immanuel Kant
It is a mark of courage or at least bold if not heroic confidence that Kant forged ahead with his attempt to describe the mechanisms and functions of human cognition, even though he suspected that some of the descriptive ideas he invented would probably never be scientifically verified.
In a section of the Critique of Pure Reason, titled “The Schematism of the Pure Concepts of the Understanding” (chapter 1 of book 2 of the “Transcendental Analytic”) he wrote:
This schematism of our understanding, in its application to appearances and their mere form, is an art concealed in the depths of the human soul, whose real modes of activity nature is hardly likely ever to allow us to discover, and to have open to our gaze.
Preceding this pessimistic observation, Kant had been explaining his hypothesized “schema” as rules for how to conjoin or link an a priori concept that is not dependent on sensual experience with an object of perception obtained through the senses. He uses several examples to illustrate. With the example of a triangle he asserts that associating the concept of triangle with an empirically apprehend image of a triangle is effected by means of set of innate rules or instructions that he calls a schema. A “schematism” according to Kant is an application of a set of rules whereby a pure, a priori concept of understanding such as space, time, triangle, or number is correlated with an empirically constituted object or idea.
But in the interjected “aside” to the reader quoted above, Kant expresses his suspicion that “nature is hardly likely ever to allow us to discover” the “real modes of activity” that constitute the functioning of those schema, or rules for linking the inner, mental world of pure concepts with sensibly perceived objects or empirically derived ideas.
Kant may have been trying with his schema — sets of rules for linking a priori concepts with sensually perceived objects — to (among other things) heal the body/mind split of Descartes. If Kant was right about “nature” being likely to never allow us to “gaze” upon schema, then neuroscientists who today address the hard problem of consciousness by mapping the areas of the brain that correlate with subjectively reported states of consciousness (qualia), observed behavior, or visible correlates of autonomic nerve activity, these neuroscientists may then, like Kant, worry that they too will likely never succeed in actually “gazing” on the mechanisms (schema, rules) that link inner consciousness experience with the exterior world of things.
More than 230 years following the publication of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, many philosophers and cognitive scientists working with or following the ideas of philosophers like Daniel Dennett, prefer not to invent and use terms or ideas like Kant’s “schema” — the hypothesized (invisible, postulated, unverifiable) rules for how we link or associate inner concepts with perceived objects. They avoid and argue against using scientifically unverifiable ideas or hypotheses. They, like Dennett, will for the sake of argument deign to take up for discussion ideas that are not susceptible to empirical proof (cf. the ether and phlogiston hypotheses), but then, after discussing and exposing their vacuousness and unusability, summarily drop them, and urge others to do the same.
Daniel Dennett
Knowing what terms or ideas to avoid using in attempting scientifically to solve the riddle and mystery of consciousness is important. Knowing what not to do or think is progress. But the hard problem of consciousness (what is like to be something; qualia; John Searle’s Chinese room; Mary the color-blind super scientist) is still unsolved. Notwithstanding his occasional use of non-verifiable ideas like “schema” and “schematism,” Kant’s attempts in the Critique to heal the mind-body split deduced by René Descarte in his Meditations, argue against the empirical skepticism expressed by David Hume in his Treatise and Enquiry, and correct or balance the radical empiricism of John Locke’s Essay surely contain many useable ideas that can be “operationalized” by neuroscientists, cognitive researchers, and philosophers of consciousness in their attempt to solve, understand, and explain the “hard problem” of consciousness.
Robert Paul Wolff
A book published many years ago by Robert Paul Wolff, Kant’s Theory of Mental Activity: A Commentary on the Transcendental Analytic of the Critique of Pure Reason (Harvard University Press, 1963; Kindle [Society for Philosophy and Culture, 2013]) is the best commentary I have yet read on Kant’s Critique. Wolff has also recorded and published on YouTube a very helpful nine-part lecture series on the Critique.
Politics, Culture, Philosophy
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By Matt Lewis Read at Daily Beast Yes, Americans are losing faith in almost all institutions these days, but the decline in church attendance has reverberations that will last a long time. As Christians gather... The post via Daily Beast: America’s Losing Faith, and That Makes the Next Trump All But Inevitable appeared first on Frank Schaeffer - Official Blog. [...]
I grew up in the Evangelical right-wing, and my evangelist father was one of the architects of religious right, which went on to wage so many of the culture wars of the 1970s and 1980s,... The post Bio-Denial Evangelicals are America’s Problem appeared first on Frank Schaeffer - Official Blog. [...]
In the 1970’s and 1980’s, I was an evangelical right-wing activist fighting against women’s rights and gay rights and the rise of what we called, “secular humanism.” My father, a famous evangelical leader, has been... The post Frank Schaeffer’s Warning: Fundamentalist Christians Are Overtly Trying to Destroy Democracy appeared first on Frank Schaeffer - Official Blog. [...]
In the 70’s and 80’s, I was part of a movement that sold fake family values, which helped define the evangelical movement and which I’ve spent the last 30 years speaking up and speaking out... The post EVANGELICAL COMPANY PERSECUTES A PREGNANT WOMAN WHO WANTS TO KEEP HER BABY appeared first on Frank Schaeffer - Official Blog. [...]
Opinion by Michael Gerson Read at Washington Post It is the sign of a sickness deeper than covid-19 that the defiance of public health guidance has become a political selling point in the Republican Party.... The post via Washington Post: Opinion: The GOP is facing a sickness deeper than the coronavirus appeared first on Frank Schaeffer - Official Blog. [...]
The Rev. Rick Joyner has called on Christians to arm themselves for civil war. But his children would be on the other side. By Nicholas Kristof Read at New York Times The Rev. Rick Joyner... The post via New York Times: He’s a Famous Evangelical Preacher, but His Kids Wish He’d Pipe Down appeared first on Frank Schaeffer - Official Blog. [...]
by Frank Schaeffer Karla was 14 when she was almost killed in Honduras for refusing to join a gang. Her story is the story, not if Biden got a bed ready for her in time... The post The media must tell migrants’ stories- not just quote idiots on FOX about “crisis” appeared first on Frank Schaeffer - Official Blog. [...]
By Frank Schaeffer • President Biden has his eye on the most urgent short and long term issues of the moment—not just on what pundits, the Republicans or the most vocal Democrats want. • President Biden... The post Here’s what’s most impressive about President Biden so far: appeared first on Frank Schaeffer - Official Blog. [...]
By Frank Schaeffer The Boulder gunman, 21, who has history of ‘paranoia’ and mental illness HAD NO PROBLEM BUYING A MILITARY STYLE MASS MURDER WEAPON just days before using it. This was because a Republican... The post Guns-n’-God White Evangelicals Just Don’t Care appeared first on Frank Schaeffer - Official Blog. [...]
By Shadi Hamid Read at The Atlantic The united states had long been a holdout among Western democracies, uniquely and perhaps even suspiciously devout. From 1937 to 1998, church membership remained relatively constant, hovering at about... The post via The Atlantic: America Without God appeared first on Frank Schaeffer - Official Blog. [...]
After having been unjustly convicted of the bogus charges brought against him in that most infamous and influential of trials, Socrates was asked to propose a penalty for himself. Defying everyone's expectations (exile, paying a fine, delivering a public apology, etc.), Socrates claimed he should be rewarded with free room and board at the Prytaneum. This response upset the Athenians so much that an even greater number than those who had originally found him guilty decided the proper sentence should now be death.In the Crito, and against all sorts of arguments—moral, prudential, political, philosophical—urging him to escape this unjust punishment,… [...]
Ever since I first watched Memento and its fascinating exploration of the philosophical question of personal identity as constituted by memory through time, film director Christopher Nolan has been on my radar. And, Insomnia aside, he has consistently managed to set the bar higher and higher to the point where he stands on a category of cinematographic and philosophical genius all by himself.In addition of being a master of character development, non-linear storytelling and building hair-raising suspense—not to say anything about the pure aesthetic beauty of his films—Nolan is a director of big ideas. There's virtually no film in which he… [...]
The philosophical problem of evil—the question of how the existence of unnecessary suffering is possible in a world created and sustained by an all-powerful, all-knowing and benevolent deity—has vexed theologians and philosophers for millennia.Apologists have attempted to vindicate God's goodness in various versions of what is known as theodicy. One of the most famous was articulated by the Enlightenment polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Given that he thought the existence of contingent beings requires an explanation that is itself not contingent, Leibniz deployed a really clever argument to prove the metaphysical necessity of the existence of God. Since God was for… [...]
Life is hard enough as it is. Existence, in many ways, is suffering. Obviously, some have it much worse than others, and that matters, but at some point in our lives we all experience pain, disease, loss, betrayal. We struggle with existential angst, with the fear of meaninglessness, with questions of character, with the impending coming of oblivion. We struggle to pay rent, to put food on the table, and to have enough energy at the end of the day to make a positive difference in the world.And we don't all find love. Few things make the loneliness of existence… [...]
If you are a geek, you are likely to get excited over things others might find boring, laughable, lame, etc. You still like what you like, but you also know when to keep that to yourself.But sometimes you stumble upon something so incredibly brilliant that, no matter what else may be going on in your life, you just have to let your inner geek go nuts. And the following parody of 'Despacito' is just such an instance... [...]
James Baldwin, the great essayist, poet, civil rights activist, writer and orator, would have turned 93 this week. In order to commemorate the importance of his memory and legacy, we are showcasing today the very famous Cambridge debate in which—while surrounded by an overwhelmingly white audience—he courageously and adeptly defended the proposition that “The American Dream is at the expense of the American negro” against the influential conservative writer William F. Buckley, Jr.Prior to this debate, Buckley had made his reputation as a leading American conservative, at least partly, through his writings opposing the civil rights movement and desegregation, and by… [...]
Few figures have been more important and influential in the history of civilization than the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. And it's not simply that he was a philosopher either. Despite the importance of the intellectual contributions made by his predecessors, and despite the vast differences between them (just think Thales, Anaximander, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus, Democritus, etc.), virtually all philosophers who preceded him were ultimately consigned to the category of Pre-Socratics.So what exactly was so special about Socrates that it would be he, and not any of his forerunners, who would be generally recognized to be the first master of philosophy?… [...]
Anyone who's ever contemplated Raphael's celebrated painting The School of Athens knows that the painting centers, quite literally, around Plato and Aristotle (the former pointing up toward his transcendent Realm of the Forms, while the latter attempts to ground his understanding of reality on a much more naturalistic conception). A quick glance also reveals a few other obvious personalities: Socrates, Diogenes the Cynic, Pythagoras, and Euclid (or perhaps Archimedes?). But if you look even closer, you can see that this painting is also paying homage to the Presocratics, those thinkers who dared to imagine the cosmos might be intelligible to… [...]
As his presidency sadly comes to an end, President Obama delivered last night what is sure to become one of the most powerful and memorable speeches in his already admirable history of powerful and memorable speeches.In a time when democracy, justice, freedom, equality and human rights have come under threat in America—as a right-wing administration inspired by unabashed hatred, divisiveness, racism, xenophobia and greed prepares to take office—President Obama's message is a sober and thoughtful reminder that this experiment in self-governing is not a foregone conclusion but a process that requires permanent work, vigilance and cooperation.Thank you for being an… [...]
Art critic John Berger's recent death has left a huge void in the world of art appreciation. While his career prompted numerous controversies and instances of outrage and public condemnation, Berger's attacks on what sometimes amounts to the condescending and elitist attitude of his own profession helped popularize the appreciation of art. His 1972 BBC documentary series Ways of Seeing, as well as its subsequent eponymous book, helped bring the world of thoughtful art appreciation to an entire generation of people who may have otherwise never gotten interested in the fine arts. Unlike conventional forms of art criticism and appreciation—which tend… [...]
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Following the police killing of Daunte Wright in Minnesota, Constance Kassor examines how calls to defund the police can be linked to the Buddhist call to eradicate causes of suffering. The post Commentary: It’s Time to Defund the Causes of Suffering appeared first on Lion's Roar. [...]
Diana Winston teaches a step-by-step meditation to practice in times of tragedy. The post Four Meditations to Practice in the Wake of a Tragedy appeared first on Lion's Roar. [...]
Walking meditation, says Sayadaw U Silananda, reflects the Buddha’s injunction to practice mindfulness while in all the four postures, and in all the activities of our lives. The post The Benefits of Walking Meditation appeared first on Lion's Roar. [...]
Not all habits are bad. Happiness is a habit too, says Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. Here’s how you can make it grow. The post Watering the Seeds of Happiness appeared first on Lion's Roar. [...]
Anushka Fernandopulle on how mindfulness reduces the suffering caused by our collective sense of separation. The post More Truth, Less Suffering appeared first on Lion's Roar. [...]
Sylvia Boorstein shares a meditation for deepening our sense of interconnectedness. The post Meditation for Interconnectedness appeared first on Lion's Roar. [...]
Pema Chödrön offers a bodhicitta practice for generating love and compassion for all human beings. The post Be Free of Suffering appeared first on Lion's Roar. [...]
Enjoy this introduction to the teachings and meditations of Tsoknyi Rinpoche. The post Cultivating the Carefree Self: The Teachings of Tsoknyi Rinpoche appeared first on Lion's Roar. [...]
The Buddha laid out a four-step path to freedom from difficult emotions. Anyen Rinpoche says the secret is understanding why our emotions cause suffering. The post The 4 Noble Truths of Emotional Suffering appeared first on Lion's Roar. [...]
Valerie Brown returns to gardening to recover her broken spirit, and discovers what really grows in a garden is love. The post Finding Myself in the Garden appeared first on Lion's Roar. [...]
(Natural News) According to the CDC Covid Data Tracker page, over 122 million Americans have already received at least one dose of a covid vaccine. That’s about 37% of the population, and it’s increasing by nearly 2 million people per day in the United States. Notably, as Americans are being killed by vaccines, globalists are... [...]
(Natural News) The globalist control freaks at the World Economic Forum have come up with the ultimate 21st century tracking device: So-called “smart masks” that come with a computer chip that ‘tells’ users things. “The World Economic Forum is at it again. The globalist titans behind ‘the Great Reset’ are now promoting a ‘smart face mask’... [...]
(Natural News) When our founding fathers were debating the Bill of Rights, they agreed that the new country should have a press free from government control. A free press, they said, was vital to keeping local, state and federal governments in check with a fully informed populace. In their wildest nightmares, none of them could ever have... [...]
(Natural News) The National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center (NCOSE), The Haba Law Firm and The Matiasic Firm are all suing Twitter on behalf of child survivors of sexual abuse who were trafficked on the far-left social media platform with Jack Dorsey’s blessing. A second survivor is joining the first, both young boys, in... [...]
(Natural News) CDMedia spoke the other day with former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne who stated that he believes the world will know within the next two months whether or not Donald Trump is returning to the White House to oust Joe Biden. Byrne has been leading a cyber investigative team that includes numerous well-known “patriots”... [...]
(Natural News) The Defense Advanced Research Program Agency (DARPA) has developed a new population control technology for infectious disease surveillance inside of humans. This technology consists of an implantable microchip that acts as a blood surveillance system. The implant contains a tissue-like gel and a sensor that is designed to detect for changes in the... [...]
(Natural News) Martin Luther King, Jr., once described racism as being as dumb as hating someone for the color of their eyes. It wasn’t about skin color or eye color, but for the content of your character that you might be judged. Now, public schools in the USA, including from elementary grades through college, are... [...]
(Natural News) A New Jersey man has been hospitalized after testing positive for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) despite receiving the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine less than a month before. His wife said he is in critical condition. Francisco Cosme, 52, received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at the Javits Center mass vaccination site in New... [...]
(Natural News) The Department of Defense stopped administering Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine to the military on Tuesday, April 13. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended the move earlier in the day, citing reports of blood clots in people who received the jab. “At the recommendation of the FDA and CDC,... [...]
(Natural News) The Department of Defense paid Air Force scientist Salvatore Pais to develop a “trans-medium” military craft modeled after unidentified flying objects (UFO) that can operate both in air and underwater. The Pentagon funded the project out of concern that China might already have advanced UFO technology at its disposal. Pais was formerly an aerospace engineer for the Naval... [...]
Science News
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Oxygen could indicate presence of life on another world, but for red dwarf planets finding oxygen isn't enough. The post Finding Oxygen on an Alien World Doesn't Always Mean There's Life There appeared first on Universe Today. [...]
The effects of ancient asteroid impacts on Earth are still evident from the variety of impact craters across our planet. And from the Chelyabinsk event back in 2013, where an asteroid exploded in the air above a Russian town, we know how devastating an “airburst” event can be. Now, researchers in Antarctica have discovered evidence … Continue reading "100-meter Asteroid Created a Strange Impact Event in Antarctica 430,000 Years Ago" The post 100-meter Asteroid Created a Strange Impact Event in Antarctica 430,000 Years Ago appeared first on Universe Today. [...]
A new study turns modern 'deep learning' techniques on Galileo's early sketches of the Sun. The post Galileo Sunspot Sketches Versus Modern ‘Deep Learning’ AI appeared first on Universe Today. [...]
Whenever I wipe the dust off my coffee table or catch a glimpse of dust motes floating in sunlight, my spacey mind always wonders, is any of that cosmic dust? It just might be. But the amount of space dust that lands on our planet every year might surprise you. Scientists have long known that … Continue reading "Earth Gains 5,200 Tons of Dust From Space Every Year" The post Earth Gains 5,200 Tons of Dust From Space Every Year appeared first on Universe Today. [...]
NASA's SHERLOC and WATSON, two spectrometers designed to look for biosignatures, could answer if there's life on Mars on inside the Solar System's icy moons. The post The Same Technology Could Search for Microbes in Mars Rocks or Under the ice on Europa appeared first on Universe Today. [...]
Space missions often have to go where the sun don’t shine. Or at least where it shines very faintly. That is particularly important if the mission draws its power from the sun. Luckily, engineers have a way of dealing with that problem – just make really really big solar panels. That is exactly what they … Continue reading "Trojan Mission Lucy Tested its Solar Panels for the First Time. Those Things are Huge" The post Trojan Mission Lucy Tested its Solar Panels for the First Time. Those Things are Huge appeared first on Universe Today. [...]
After examining data from the Gaia Observatory, a team of researchers found 12 more examples of the rare phenomenon known as "Einstein Crosses." The post Gaia Finds 12 Examples of Einstein Crosses; Galaxies Being Gravitationally Lensed so we see Them Repeated 4 Times appeared first on Universe Today. [...]
Some brown dwarfs rotate so fast that they are flattened spheres. If they rotate any faster they might fly apart. The post Brown Dwarfs can Spin so Fast They Almost Tear Themselves Apart appeared first on Universe Today. [...]
After more than two years in orbit around asteroid Bennu, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is ready to come home. It’s bringing with it a pristine sample of space rocks that geologists here on Earth are eager to study up close. The sample will arrive in September 2023, but we won’t have to wait nearly that long … Continue reading "OSIRIS-REx Did One Last Close Flyby of Asteroid Bennu. It’s Almost Time to Come Home" The post OSIRIS-REx Did One Last Close Flyby of Asteroid Bennu. It’s Almost Time to Come Home appeared first on Universe Today. [...]
The Perseverance rover just provided its first Martian weather report (it was cold!), which could help inform future missions involving astronauts. The post How’s the Weather in Jezero Crater? According to Perseverance: Cold appeared first on Universe Today. [...]
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A global science collaboration using data from NASA's Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) telescope on the International Space Station has discovered X-ray surges accompanying radio bursts from the pulsar in the Crab Nebula. The finding shows that these bursts, called giant radio pulses, release far more energy than previously suspected. [...]
Every year, our planet encounters dust from comets and asteroids. These interplanetary dust particles pass through our atmosphere and give rise to shooting stars. Some of them reach the ground in the form of micrometeorites. An international program conducted for nearly 20 has determined that 5,200 tons per year of these micrometeorites reach the ground. [...]
A research team has discovered that the Martian climate alternated between dry and wetter periods, before drying up completely about 3 billion years ago. [...]
Scientists have shown that coral structures consist of a biomineral containing a highly organized organic mix of proteins that resembles what is in our bones. Their study shows that several proteins are organized spatially -- a process that's critical to forming a rock-hard coral skeleton. [...]
A new study explains why people rarely look at a situation, object or idea that needs improving -- in all kinds of contexts -- and think to remove something as a solution. Instead, we almost always add some element, whether it helps or not. [...]
The fossil skull of a woman in Czechia has provided the oldest modern human genome yet reconstructed, representing a population that formed before the ancestors of present-day Europeans and Asians split apart. [...]
We are made of stardust, the saying goes, and a pair of studies finds that may be more true than we previously thought. [...]
Researchers have confirmed for the first time that Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica could cross tipping points, leading to a rapid and irreversible retreat which would have significant consequences for global sea level. [...]
A single 'super photon' made up of many thousands of individual light particles: About ten years ago, researchers produced such an extreme aggregate state for the first time. Researchers report a new, previously unknown phase transition in the optical Bose-Einstein condensate. This is a overdamped phase. [...]
A computer game that induces mice to experience hallucination-like events could be a key to understanding the neurobiological roots of psychosis, according to a new study. [...]
New distances to two dwarf galaxies with unusually spread-out stars support the idea that these galaxies have little to no dark matter. The post New Distances Support Idea of Dark Matter–less Galaxies appeared first on Sky & Telescope. [...]
New applications of machine learning have enabled astronomers to classify 27 million galaxies and pick out a dozen rare quadruply lensed quasars. The post Astronomers Use AI to Investigate Quasars and Galaxies Galore appeared first on Sky & Telescope. [...]
The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way released an unusual number of strong flares in 2019. Now, astronomers are trying to figure out why. The post Flares from the Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole appeared first on Sky & Telescope. [...]
Arcturus ascends in the east as Sirius sinks in the southwest. Orion tilts further as the Dipper rides high. And this week Mars threads the horntips of Taurus, closely followed by the crescent Moon. The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, April 9 – 17 appeared first on Sky & Telescope. [...]
The countdown has begun to a special total solar eclipse that will cross Mexico, the U.S. and Canada on April 8, 2024. The post T–3 Years Until the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse appeared first on Sky & Telescope. [...]
Bright comets will be scarce this year, but you can see one of the better ones this month as it races from Aquila to Canes Venatici. In other news, a new, bright nova has flared in Sagittarius. The post Make the Most of Comet ATLAS appeared first on Sky & Telescope. [...]
A recent study has identified the origins of many of the long streams of stars that encircle the Milky Way. These streams may contain hints about our galaxy's past. The post Seeking the Origins of Galactic Stellar Streams appeared first on Sky & Telescope. [...]
Light pollution is insidious in today’s world. This International Dark Sky Week, become inspired to see what you can do to raise awareness. The post Discover the Night: International Dark Sky Week is Here! appeared first on Sky & Telescope. [...]
A Tibetan cosmic-ray observatory has discovered high-energy particle accelerators within our galaxy. The post Tibet Observatory Confirms Existence of Galactic PeVatrons appeared first on Sky & Telescope. [...]
June 10th's annular eclipse of the Sun has a path that crosses southern Canada and the North Pole but will be a challenge to see. The post First Look at 2021’s First Solar Eclipse appeared first on Sky & Telescope. [...]