Monthly Archives: November 2017

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Long Range Sensors detect…

  • SOLAR SECTOR BOUNDARY CROSSING
  • GEOMAGNETIC STORM PREDICTED (G1-CLASS)
  • FIREBALL NETWORK REPORT 17 FIREBALLS NOV 6
  • A TWISTED TAIL OF MARTIAN MAGNETISM
  • CURIOSITY TESTS WORKAROUND FOR ITS BALKY DRILL

SOLAR SECTOR BOUNDARY CROSSING: On Nov. 6th, Earth will cross a fold in the heliospheric current sheet–a vast wavy structure in interplanetary space separating regions of opposite magnetic polarity. This is called a “solar sector boundary crossing,” and it could trigger geomagnetic activity around Earth’s poles. Arctic sky watchers should be alert for auroras when the crossing occurs. Free: Aurora Alerts.

GEOMAGNETIC STORM PREDICTED (G1-CLASS): Earth’s crossing of the heliospheric current sheet on Nov. 6th sets the stage for even more action on Nov. 7th. That’s when a high-speed solar wind stream is expected to reach our planet. Its source is a large northern hole in the sun’s atmosphere:

This is a “coronal hole”–a region where the sun’s magnetic field peels back and allows solar wind to escape. NOAA forecasters say there is a 45% chance of G1-class geomagnetic storms on Nov. 7th when the emerging wind reaches Earth. There is a similar chance of storms on Nov. 8th.

This is going to be a high-latitude event. Arctic sky watchers will almost certainly see auroras mixed with moonlight on Nov. 7th and 8th. Faint auroras may be seen as well from the northernmost tier of US states–e.g., Maine, the northern tip of Michigan, and Washington.

FIREBALL NETWORK REPORT 17 FIREBALLS NOV 6

Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth’s atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com.

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On Nov. 6, 2017, the network reported 17 fireballs.
(13 sporadics, 3 Northern Taurids, 1 Orionid)

In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point–Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue).
 

A TWISTED TAIL OF MARTIAN MAGNETISM

In its infancy, the Red Planet must have been an exciting place, with a sizable magnetic field, a much denser atmosphere, and liquid water gushing across its surface. But the magnetic field mysteriously collapsed, most of the atmosphere and water escaped to space, and the surface went into deep freeze.

These consequences are likely interrelated, and to help researchers puzzle things out NASA dispatched the MAVEN orbiter (short for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) four years ago. Since arriving at Mars in September 2014, its spectrometers and detectors for fields and charged particles have been gathering observations that bear on how Mars lost its atmosphere.

Read more, view colour diagrams

CURIOSITY TESTS WORKAROUND FOR ITS BALKY DRILL

It’s hard to place a repair call when your hardware is on Mars. Never mind the round-trip time delay for communication between the Red Planet and Earth — the difficulty of the call is just part of the lengthy process that occurs when equipment breaks down in the harsh Martian environment.

Now, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), located in Pasadena, California, have announced a possible solution to deal with the balky drill mechanism that has plagued the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover since late last year.

Read full report on the problem and possible solution

Science and technology

Montreal conference on Artificial Intelligence

 

AI poses ethical double-edged sword, experts tell Montreal conference

Montreal Gazette JACOB SEREBRIN

Artificial intelligence has the power to eliminate mundane jobs and create tremendous wealth, but it could also lead to widespread unemployment and reinforce existing inequalities.

That was the message at the forum on the socially responsible development of artificial intelligence, a two-day conference that ended on Friday.

Montreal has an opportunity to take a leading role in lead in ensuring AI technology is used responsibly, said Marie-Josée Hébert, the vice-rector of Research, Discovery, Creation and Innovation at the Université de Montréal and one of the organizers of the conference.

The forum was intended to bring academic researchers together with industry and government to exchange ideas about the responsible development and use of AI, she said. That’s important because the technology has the power to change the foundations of our society, she said.

Issues raised at the forum ranged from who is legally liable if a selfdriving car gets in an accident, to the possibility AI will lead to widespread unemployment.

Some of the issues are already here — like the ability for the creators of AI systems and the producers of data to introduce their own biases into AI systems.

“If you have an algorithm that sees biased data, gender-biased, racially biased, biased based on economic status and so on, the algorithm is going to ingest that and result in a biased model,” Doina Precup, a professor of computer science at McGill and the head of Google-affiliated DeepMind’s Montreal research lab, said in a session at the conference.

While AI systems are currently tools used by people, in the future, there could be general AI systems that act on their own, she said, which raises further questions of responsibility.

“Are AIs ever going to get to a stage where they’re sufficiently complex to be responsible for what they do? That I think is an open question,” Precup said.

There are also issues related to monopoly power, Yoshua Bengio, a U de M professor and one of the founders of Element AI, which sells AI services to businesses, said in a speech at the event.

A handful of large companies could control the data required for AI systems to “learn” and hire the majority of top researchers, creating a situation where other businesses couldn’t catch up, Bengio said. He also raised the issue of autonomous robots with the ability to kill, calling on the Canadian government to take a similar approach to this technology as it took with landmines.

“We are really at the cusp of something that it is important,” Hébert said. “It’s important to initiate these conversations before it’s too late, but it’s going to be as important to maintain these conversations as we go.”

As part of that process, the forum has created what it calls the Montreal Declaration for a Responsible Development of Artificial Intelligence. Over the next few months, that document will be developed through a process of “co-creation” and consultation with the general public.

The goal is to “establish a consensus on basic principles that are representative of our values,” Hébert said, “that should all guide us to how we are going to live through this phase of innovation and transformation.”

We are at the cusp of something important. It’s important to initiate these conversations before it’s too late.

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Tributes

Paddy Russell 1928-2017

One of the great pioneering Television Directors of her generation, Paddy Russell, has died at the age of 89.

Patricia Russell, known to all as Paddy, had a long and distinguished career as one of the first female Directors in British television. She trained as an actor attending the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Before long she realised that she was more at home behind the scenes moving to become a stage manager.

In the 1950’s Television was crying out for theatre staff to work in the new medium and Russell was recruited as a production assistant, working with the famed director Rudolph Cartier. Acting as the director’s eyes and ears on the studio floor, Russell worked on some of the most innovative and pioneering dramas of the day including the Quatermass science-fiction serials as well as the 1954 adaptation of George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four starring Peter Cushing.

In 1963 she became a director herself, directing many episodes of the soap opera Compact. Over the next twenty years, she worked on many of the best known classic television series.
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Her first encounter with Doctor Who came in 1966 when she became the first female Director to work on the show. She helmed the First Doctor story The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve. One advantage the newish Director had when faced with the notoriously irascible William Hartnell was the fact that for the majority of the story he was not playing The Doctor, but another character, The Abbot of Amboise.

READ MORE about Paddy Russell and Dr Who

In a way, I still think ‘Invasion of the Dinosaurs’ was the best one I did. It was the hardest to do – a complete beast and I suppose I accepted it for the challenge. The biggest difficulty was deserted London which we got around by going out at five one Sunday morning.

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Space changes how genes are expressed

Space changes how genes are expressed

Astronaut Scott Kelly’s genes behaved differently while in space than those of his Earth-bound, identical twin brother.

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By Jake Parks
twins
Former astronaut Mark Kelly (left) attempts to keep a straight face while posing with his identical twin brother, astronaut Scott Kelly (right). As part of NASA’s Twins Study, Scott spent nearly a year in space, while Mark stayed here on Earth. This gave researchers a chance to study the health effects of long-term spaceflights.
Siblings compete; it’s pretty much a ubiquitous fact of life. So when astronaut Scott Kelly returned to Earth in March 2016 after nearly a year in space, it must have really irked his identical twin brother, former astronaut Mark Kelly, that Scott was temporarily two inches taller. However, Scott’s height was not all that changed during his time in space.

According to preliminary results from NASA’s Twins study, Scott’s year in space also drastically increased his rate of DNA methylation, the process responsible for turning genes on and off. By regulating gene expression, methylation is believed to play a major role in the development in many diseases, ranging from cancer to cardiovascular disease.

“Some of the most exciting things that we’ve seen from looking at gene expression in space is that we really see an explosion, like fireworks taking off, as soon as the human body gets into space,” said Chris Mason, principal investigator of the Twins Study, in a press release. “With this study, we’ve seen thousands and thousands of genes change how they are turned on and turned off. This happens as soon as an astronaut gets into space, and some of the activity persists temporarily upon return to Earth.”

As part of the study, Scott spent a year in zero gravity working on the International Space Station. In the meantime, his brother Mark went about his daily life on Earth as an author, political activist, and aerospace consultant. Taking advantage of the Kellys’ identical genetics, the Twins Study monitored subtle genomic changes that were elicited by each brother’s environment — namely Earth and space — helping researchers investigate the long-term effects of extended spaceflights.

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The original Robby the Robot goes up for auction

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ON THE BLOCK. Robby the Robot is one of the star attractions in Bonham’s Out of This World auction which runs through November 21.

No price estimate has been released.

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There’s also a good article about Robby at New Atlas: “The original Robby the Robot goes up for auction”

Movies

Montreal Gazette review of THOR: RAGNAROK

HAMMER AND SNICKER

Thor shows his wisecracking side

  • Montreal Gazette 
  • cknight@postmedia.com twitter.com/chrisknightfilm Chris Knight reviews.

PHOTOS: MARVEL STUDIOS Chris Hemsworth has a rough ride in Thor: Ragnarok — he loses his hammer and, among other things, is forcibly barbered. But he does gain a sense of humour.

THOR: RAGNAROK

★★★ out of 5

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Tessa Thompson Director: Taika Waititi

Duration: 2 h 10 m

In Norse mythology, “Ragnarok” refers to an end-of-days cataclysm, like Armageddon, doomsday or Zac Efron films. But in the Marvel universe it may mean something akin to embarrassment or humiliation. In this movie, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) gets tied up, locked up, teleported, electric-shocked, captured, dumped, Hulked and forcibly barbered. He even loses his hammer, leaving him looking like a traveller whose Uber app just failed.

But somehow, he comes out of it all with a sense of humour, which is even more amazing when you recall that he didn’t go in with one. In other stand-alone outings, 2011’s Thor and 2013’s The Dark World, as well as various ensemble pictures, he’s the least jolly Avenger. Now he quips like he’s been taking lessons from Iron Man.

It’s hard to know which writer to praise for this — Ragnarok has three, as well as the various “based on the comics by” credits — so I’m going to suggest we all hail Taika Waititi, the New Zealand director of such fun low-budget buffoonery as Eagle vs. Shark, What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

Not only has Waititi made an impressive leap into the almost giga-dollar budget range (those other movies were made for about $5 million, combined), but he also appears as Korg, the deferential dungeon master on planet Sakaar, where the de-hammered Thor is taken to participate in gladiatorial games. Running the show there is Jeff Goldblum. He calls himself Grandmaster, though I don’t think he has the mental chops for chess. In fact, his greatest skill seems to be that of trailing off in mid-sentence, a talent he takes to new …

Anyway, Ragnarok is just the latest in 2017’s bumper crop of superhero flicks, which includes Marvel’s Logan, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming; DC’s Wonder Woman and the upcoming Justice League. Not to mention (do we have to?) the underwhelming Dark Universe curtain-raiser that was The Mummy.

And while I know these movies are planned out years in advance, it feels like Thor’s newest has lifted a page from Wonder Woman’s playbook, with the inclusion of Tessa Thompson as SR-142, a hard-drinking Valkyrie from Thor’s home world. Not only that, but Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song, used in two separate battle sequences, sounds a lot like a certain Amazonian princess’s theme music.

Ragnarok also introduces that Marvel rarity, a female villain, although Cate Blanchett’s Hela looks to have built her wardrobe and decorating choices on those of Angelina Jolie in Maleficent — same basic costume with a bigger rack of antlers. She’s Thor’s twisted sister, but can’t really compete with Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, back from the dead and proving once again that if duplicity were a sport he would somehow both win and lose while cheating, playing by the rules and also making up his own.

Hela is the main plot driver, arriving on Thor’s planet and threatening to take over, even as another more computer-generated baddie prepares to destroy the whole place. Thor has to get home and stop them.

All this and I haven’t even gotten to Mark Ruffalo’s turn as Hulk, who like Thor gets to be more loquacious and wittier within Ragnarok’s shambolic buddy-picture framework.

He does not, alas, get to say: “Hulk more loquacious and wittier!”

Waititi snags most of the best lines for his own character, including a naughty joke that will sail over the heads of any youngsters not versed in New Zealand or British sexual slang, and this lovely little axiom: “The only thing here that makes sense is that nothing makes sense.” That’s Ragnarok in a nutshell. Put your brain in neutral and enjoy!

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Montreal Area Event / Convention

HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN™ IN CONCERT

Tickets go on sale November 4th at noon.

HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN™ IN CONCERT

June 1 and 2, 2018

Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier

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In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, return for their third year at Hogwarts™, and must face the darkest forces of magic yet. They spend the year learning about Hippogriffs, Boggarts, and Dementors™, how to use the Marauder’s Map and the Patronus Charm, all while the threat of escaped prisoner Sirius Black™ looms large. With his best friends, Harry masters advanced magic, crosses the barriers of time and changes the course of more than one life.

Original film will be shown with French subtitles.

 

On sale : November 4 at noon

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A Couple of Star Wars stories

IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR. TIME Magazine anointed this pair the winners of the internet’s Halloween costume contest:  “This Couple Won Halloween By Pranking People With Their ‘Levitating’ Star Wars Bike”.

The Force is strong in this video. So let the world know if you think we won halloween and share the video!!! How we built the bikes: http://bit.ly/2xyTYMn

TALESPINNER. Ken Liu’s Star Wars book is out today.


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Star Wars: Legends of Luke Skywalker [is] a set of tall tales about the Jedi Knight that have been passing from cantina to freighter and from mouth to audio receptor ever since a certain farm boy left Tatooine for the wider galaxy far, far away…

Devan Coggan interviews me for Entertainment Weekly: “Ken Liu Tells Star Wars Tall Tales in The Legends of Luke Skywalker”:

Legends follows a number of young deckhands working aboard a ship bound for Canto Bight (a casino world featured in the upcoming The Last Jedi). Together, they swap six different stories about Luke, each passed down from a different storyteller. One comes from a droid who claims to have witnessed Luke singlehandedly lead a droid rebellion, while another comes from a tiny, flea-like creature who claims to have had a pivotal role in Luke’s escape from Jabba’s palace. One of the particular highlights is the tale told by a former Imperial engineer, who says that Luke Skywalker was nothing but a piece of propaganda made up by the Rebellion. The real Luke is a con artist named Luke Clodplodder, who orchestrated a massive scam with his friends aboard a ship called the Century Turkey.

 

Astronomy News, Dinosaurs

Asteroid impact plunged dinosaurs into catastrophic ‘winter’

Scientists say they now have a much clearer picture of the climate catastrophe that followed the asteroid impact on Earth 66 million years ago.

The outer rim (white arc) of the crater lies under the Yucatan Peninsula itself, but the inner peak ring is best accessed offshore

The event is blamed for the demise of three-quarters of plant and animal species, including the dinosaurs.

The researchers’ investigations suggest the impact threw more than 300 billion tonnes of sulphur into the atmosphere.
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This would have dropped average global temperatures below freezing for several years.

Ocean temperatures could have been affected for centuries. The abrupt change explains why so many species struggled to survive.

“We always thought there was this global winter but with these new, tighter constraints, we can be much more sure about what happened,” Prof Joanna Morgan, from Imperial College London, told BBC News.

READ MORE

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New from Dr Who Big Finish Audio Adventures

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2017/10/river-song-to-meet-fourth-doctor.html

River Song as played by Alex Kingston, is to meet the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker, in a new set of audio adventures released by Big Finish.

Series Four of The Diary of River Song, to be released in August 2018, will see the archaeologist encounter Doctor Number Four, in a set of new adventures alongside the longest serving Doctor.

Meanwhile Series Three of the Diary of River Song will released in January 2018, and will feature the Fifth Doctor, as played by Peter Davison, battling against the most evil midwife in Doctor Who history, Madame Kovarian, played by Frances Barber.

This box set will contain four hour-long adventures where the Doctor’s wife, archaeologist, crack shot with an intoxicating kiss and time traveler will have to face the demons of her past, present, and future.

The Diary of River Song – Series Three

When River Song goes shopping for a whole load of unclaimed loyalty points, she uncovers secrets linked to her tangled past.

The Doctor arrives, and the mystery deepens. He is already exploring the universe with another companion – someone River knows nothing about.

Madame Kovarian has been busy, and this time she will not accept failure…

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A fifth series is planned for release in January 2019