Written by Calla Cofield, Space.com
Summer’s end is on the horizon, and the arrival of autumn will be heralded by a Harvest Moon on Sept. 16, when there will also be a penumbral lunar eclipse.
The term “Harvest Moon” refers to the full moon that falls nearest to the autumnal equinox, which will take place on Sept. 22. This full moon will also be a penumbral lunar eclipse, although the effects may not be visible to the naked eye.
Written by Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Overview: It has long been widely accepted that the sun is absolutely critical to all weather and climate here on Earth and yet there are still some aspects of this connection that are not too well understood and even controversial.
For example, there has been the belief by many atmospheric scientists that cosmic rays which penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere from outer space can play a significant role in the formation of clouds which, in turn, has a direct impact on climate. Solar activity has a direct impact on the ability of cosmic rays to actually reach the Earth’s atmosphere. A just published study has confirmed the notion that cosmic rays can indeed be an important player in Earth’s weather and climate and the role of the sun is critical.
Written by www.the-american-interest.com
A U.S. energy company just discovered a “world class” oil and gas resource in west Texas, out on the fringes of the already prolific Permian basin. The WSJ reports on Apache Corp.’s encouraging new find:
The discovery, which Apache is calling “Alpine High,” is in an area near the Davis Mountains that had been overlooked by geologists and engineers, who believed it would be a poor fit for hydraulic fracturing. It could be worth $8 billion by conservative estimates, or even 10 times more, according to the company. […]
The company has begun drilling in the area and says the early wells, which produce more natural gas than oil, are capable of providing at least a 30{154653b9ea5f83bbbf00f55de12e21cba2da5b4b158a426ee0e27ae0c1b44117} profit margin at today’s prices, including all costs associated with drilling. Some are so prolific that they can break even at a price of 10 cents per million British thermal units, according to the company. Natural gas futures closed Tuesday at $2.72. […]The new play is a short distance from extensive drilling operations and is likely to stoke the speculative fever that has recently engulfed the Permian, a vast swath of geology in West Texas and New Mexico that has been gushing oil and gas for almost 100 years. The Permian has become popular again because producers have found ways to use newer technologies to extract oil from the area at a profit, even at current below-$50-a-barrel prices.
Written by Anthony Cox with Ken Stewart and Chris Gillham
Diurnal Temperature Range (DTR) is the difference between the maximum and minimum temperatures over a period typically a 24 hour period. The alarmists regard DTR as an essential part of AGW. Karl Braganza, a prominent alarmist at the BoM, for instance describes DTR as afingerprint of AGW. Braganza says:
greater global warming at night and during winter is more typical of increased greenhouse gases, rather than an increase in solar radiation.
Written by Maria Popova
A slim and near-forgotten but altogether fantastic 1991 book by Denise Shekerjian titled Uncommon Genius: How Great Ideas Are Born (public library | IndieBound) synthesizes insights on creativity from conversations with 40 winners of the MacArthur “genius” grant — artists, writers, scientists, inventors, cultural critics.
Written by Michael Crichton (September 15, 2003)
I have been asked to talk about what I consider the most important challenge facing mankind, and I have a fundamental answer. The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a challenge to mankind, but in the information age (or as I think of it, the disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and importance.
Written by Jerry L Krause PhD
Principia Scientific International (PSI) is ostensibly a scientific news site which allows readers to comment upon what they read. But if you read what it is about, its objective is to return the practice of science to that founded by Galileo with the support of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler.
And to that of Sir Isaac Newton who built on the new intellectual foundation prepared by the efforts of these three men. But before Galileo there was Nicholaus Copernicus who dared question the wisdom of Aristotle which had been accepted for nearly 2000 years.
Written by PSI staff
In this latest of a series of articles about retired science writer, Edsel Chromie, we feature a further example where Chromie demonstrates that natural phenomena can be neatly explained by strong magnetic field current flow, as proven in 1900’s laboratory experiments overlooked today: Electromagnetism on Saturn.
From those same laboratory experiments Chromie has identified how Saturn’s rings and “geysers” of Enceladus also exhibit strong magnetic field current flow that is consistent and reproducible.
In 1980 when the dark fingers within the rings of Saturn were first discovered, Dr. Bradford Smith said: “We just don’t know what to make of them, except they look dark. And that would suggest that it’s a diminution of material”
Written by Dr Klaus L E Kaiser
A generation ago, few people had tattoos and those were mostly hidden beneath clothes. More recently, tattoos (both having and showing them) appear to have become common accoutrements of parts of modern society. Just walk down any street in summer temperature and you’ll see all kinds of personal embellishments “engraved” on skins of various ages and colors.
Some of these ancient designs are going to be replaced (??) soon by more modern designs, like those also functioning as electronic signaling devices for your hand-held phone, tabloid, or whatever. Their big feature is supposed to be your ability to control your fridge, home lights, or other electric home gadgets – just by touching your shiny gold-leaf-tattoo as in the pics below.
Written by www.lifesitenews.com
(Life Issues Institute) — All along I’ve felt somewhat suspect that the Zika virus is linked to microcephaly. The US Centers for Disease Control and the New England Journal of Medicine both concluded the link is there. Both are heavy hitters in the realm of research, however, they admit there’s no studied verification. 
Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry were quick to jump on the abortion bandwagon for pregnant women with confirmed or suspected cases of the Zika virus.
But a recent, expansive study has cast legitimate doubt on the Zika/microcephaly connection.
Written by Tom D. Tamarkin
Proposal for privately funded fusion energy experimental science, R&D leading to commercialization
The world will soon face an energy crisis of monumental proportions which many ignore. By 2050 we must significantly increase total energy production or face a need for worldwide redistribution of wealth and energy allocation coupled with population reduction. The only realistic solution to the production of much higher amounts of energy is the development and commercialization of fusion energy from which both electricity and synthetic liquid and gaseous fuels may be produced. 
This has been known for many years but contrary to public and political body’s misconceptions, comparatively little investment and effort has been made in the field since the mid to late 1970s. Government sponsored fusion programs have followed two “mainline” approaches; civilian controlled magnetic confinement and NNSA managed weapons based inertial confinement.
Whereas the United States was the world leader in fusion in the 1975-80 time frame, the U.S. gave up its lead and most of its fusion programs in 1985 based on the agreement between President Reagan and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in support of the Soviet Union’s suggestion of an international cooperative fusion effort which took 20 years to take shape as ITER in Southern France.
In the mid-1990s Drs. Irv Lindemuth, Richard Siemon and Kurt Schoenberg proposed a new way forward to much quicker and lower cost fusion development along with Dr. Francis Thio of NASA’s Marshal Space Labs. Today several private enterprise companies in the U.S. and Canada are pursuing this approach and other non-mainline approaches with financial funding from venture capital companies and a few national governments.
Given the time required to successfully demonstrate a sustained controlled fusion reaction producing net energy gain followed by the commercialization of “utility ready” regulator approved product, a new collaborative approach is needed. Funding must be significantly increased for all these private companies. This author is calling for the formation of a fusion consortium to be funded by the public and the utility industry. A comprehensive plan has been set forth to accomplish this and make the exploration of “inner-space” and fusion energy development America’s 21st Century moonshot project. The need and justifications are summarized in the concluding “Fusion Energy Elevator Pitch.”
Written by www.economist.com
THREE years ago Thomas Herndon, a young graduate student from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, made a splash among economists. Given an assignment to replicate the analysis behind a published academic paper, he pored over the data used for an influential study on government debt written by Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff, both professors at Harvard. Much to the authors’ embarrassment, Mr Herndon found the most elementary of mistakes: they had accidentally omitted five rows of their spreadsheet when calculating an average. When included, the missing figures weakened the paper’s conclusion substantially.
Written by www.yahoo.com
Its core collapsed within seconds, fused heavy metals, and hurled them into outer space in a cataclysmic blast. A supergiant — reduced to a cloud of dust and gas.
The crime went unreported for eons. Then, about 2.6 million years ago, evidence began to land on Earth. Heavy atoms ejected from the supernova broke through the planet’s atmosphere and settled on its surface as isotopes.
Now, scientists say they’ve uncovered clues to the crime. But something seems suspicious. Soon after the aftermath arrived on Earth, our planet fell into a major ice age — leading many investigators to see the supernova as both victim and accomplice.
Written by risk-monger.com
Here we go again!
Written by Alex Berezow
When I was still in school, the rule-of-thumb for the human microbiome — the sum total of microbes that live in and on our bodies — was that bacteria outnumbered human cells 10 to 1. Specifically, it was believed that the average person has 10 trillion human cells and carries 100 trillion bacteria.
Not so, say the authors of a new PLoS Biology paper, who re-crunched the numbers. According to their estimate, the human body actually consists of 30 trillion cells, and our bacterial allies only number 38 trillion. The ratio, therefore, is much closer to 1 to 1. The authors explain that the original estimates were little more than “back-of-the-envelope” calculations. As such, they served as useful reference points, but more accurate data is now available.
Written by Oliver K. Manuel
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to allow the public to understand better, and reap benefits from, Einstein’s 1905 discovery that rest mass (m) is energy (E) and to explain the chain of events in 1905-1945 that obscured knowledge of a power offering these benefits to all humanity:
1. Abundant energy to sustain human life and to advance human civilization;
2. A better understanding of the origin and evolution of the universe, the chemical elements, the solar system, and life on Earth; and
3. Empirical confirmation – in rest masses of ordinary atoms -of many earlier spiritual and scientific insights, including Aston’s 1922 promise of “powers beyond the dreams of scientific fiction,” Max Planck’s 1944 assertion that the force creating atomic matter was guided by “a conscious and intelligent Mind” (commonly attributed to God), and Kuroda’s 1945 insight into the “beginning of the world” from Hiroshima’s destruction.
