APOD - The Witch Head Nebula

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2018 December 31

The Witch Head Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Digitized Sky Survey (POSS II); Processing: Utkarsh Mishra

Explanation: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble .... maybe Macbeth should have consulted the Witch Head Nebula. A frighteningly shaped reflection nebula, this cosmic crone is about 800 light-years away though. Its malevolent visage seems to glare toward nearby bright star Rigel in Orion, just off the upper left edge of this frame. More formally known as IC 2118, the interstellar cloud of dust and gas is nearly 70 light-years across, its dust grains reflecting Rigel's starlight. In this composite portrait, the nebula's color is caused not only by the star's intense bluish light but because the dust grains scatter blue light more efficiently than red. The same physical process causes Earth's daytime sky to appear blue, although the scatterers in planet Earth's atmosphere are molecules of nitrogen and oxygen.

Free Download: 2019 APOD Calendar (v5)
Tomorrow's picture: galaxy hat

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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Cronyism, 'Wasteful' Spending Accusations Roil Government Publishing Office

Cronyism, 'Wasteful' Spending Accusations Roil Government Publishing Office NPR has obtained an internal investigative report that alleges mismanagement at a little-known federal agency in charge of producing and distributing official documents, including 2020 census forms. Read More You received this message because you're subscribed to our Breaking News Alerts emails. |  Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002

Sen. Elizabeth Warren Launches Exploratory Bid For President In 2020

Sen. Elizabeth Warren Launches Exploratory Bid For President In 2020 The 69-year-old law professor turned consumer advocate is a liberal icon — but faces a crowded field of Democrats eager to challenge President Trump in 2020. Read More You received this message because you're subscribed to our Breaking News Alerts emails. |  Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002

APOD - The Galaxy Tree

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2018 December 30

The Galaxy Tree
Image Credit & Copyright: César Vega Toledano ; Rollover Annotation: Judy Schmidt

Explanation: First came the trees. In the town of Salamanca, Spain, the photographer noticed how distinctive a grove of oak trees looked after being pruned. Next came the galaxy. The photographer stayed up until 2 am, waiting until the Milky Way Galaxy rose above the level of a majestic looking oak. From this carefully chosen perspective, dust lanes in the galaxy appear to be natural continuations to branches of the tree. Last came the light. A flashlight was used on the far side of the tree to project a silhouette. By coincidence, other trees also appeared as similar silhouettes across the relatively bright horizon. The featured image was captured as a single 30-second frame earlier this month and processed to digitally enhance the Milky Way.

Free Download: 2019 APOD Calendar (v5)
Tomorrow's picture: space witch

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

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10 Health Stories You Don't Want To Miss From 2018

From lyme disease to the high cost of health care: the issues readers cared about in 2018

Courtesy of Jean Couch This year, NPR's most popular health stories ranged from practical advice for avoiding back pain to a controversial new frontier in Alzheimer's research. Here are some of the  highlights: 1o stories that reflect the health issues that mattered to you in 2018.  1 - The Lost Art Of Bending Over: How Other Cultures Spare Their Spines When NPR's Michaeleen Doucleff was travelling in Liberia in 2014, she noticed when Liberian women bent over to work in their gardens, they kept their backs straight like a tabletop. Later she learned "table" bending is common in many places around the world except in Western societies where we tend bend our spines  into a C shape when we lean over. This habit puts more stress on the spinal disks and may lead to back pain. Doucleff's story includes expert instructions from movement and anatomy experts for how to spare your spine. 2 - His Heart Attack Left Him With A $109,000 Bill As though having a heart attack at age 44 wasn't bad enough, Drew Calver, father and high school teacher, was hit with a $109,000 bill when he got home. "They're going to give me another heart attack stressing over this bill," Calver said.  Our story, published in partnership with Kaiser Health News, detailed how Calver fell victim to twin medical billing practices that increasingly bedevil many Americans: surprise bills and balance billing. 3 - Could A Germ Cause Alzheimer's Disease? Millions have been spent on Alzheimer’s research without producing a cure, a method of prevention or even a clear understanding of what causes the disease. Now there’s a new push to investigate a radical theory: Could a germ be the cause? Some think a microbe could be the trigger leading to protein build up in the brain and a flare-up in the immune system.   Tara Moore/Getty Images  4 - Americans Are A Lonely Lot, And Young People Bear The Heaviest Burden Maybe the kids aren't alright. The results of a survey of 20,000 adults suggest a lot of Americans experience of loneliness and social isolation -- especially young adults. Using one of the best-known tools for measuring loneliness — the UCLA Loneliness Scale — the survey found that more than half of respondents felt isolated.  Those in Generation Z, born between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s, had the highest overall loneliness scores. This phenomena may be linked to social media use and screen time, according to other research.  5 - Lyme Disease Is On The Rise Again. Here's How To Prevent It Lyme disease was once unheard of in western Pennsylvania, where Barbara Thorne, now an entomologist at the University of Maryland, spent time as a kid. It wasn’t until she got bitten herself that she realized that ticks in that part of Pennsylvania had become widely infected with the bacteria that causes lyme, with symptoms that can range from fever, fatigue and a rash, to serious damage to the joints, heart and nervous Prevalence of lyme and other tick-borne diseases has been steadily increasing. But Thorne has advice for how to avoid getting bitten, and what to do if you are.   Meredith Rizzo/NPR               6 - My Grandmother Was Italian. Why Aren't My Genes Italian? When NPR editor Gisele Grayson and her mom Carmen Grayson decided to get their DNA tested, they were met with a little surprise. Carmen had 31 percent Italian and Southern European DNA, but Gisele had none. To find out what was up with that, they met with genetics expert Dr. Aravinda Chakravarti. They learned that the ways DNA testing companies analyze your genes leave lots of room for interpretation.  7 - A Nurse Was Denied Life Insurance Because She Carries Naloxone In this time of rising heroin and fentanyl overdoses, how do you make sure you’re prepared to save a life? Many states now allow anyone to buy the opioid overdose antidote, naloxone. But for a nurse named Isela, choosing to carry the drug nearly lost her the ability to buy life insurance. The insurance company denied her because it feared she was a drug user herself. "But I'm a nurse, I use it to help people," Isela remembers telling her agent.  Her struggles have led to a push to get insurance companies to change their policies. 8 - Vitamin D And Fish Oil Supplements May Not Do Much Good  Nearly 19 million Americans take fish oil supplements and some 37 percent of us take vitamin D. But long-awaited research on both supplements calls some of their health claims into question. Researchers found no protective benefit for cancer and overall cardiovascular events from taking the supplements. (They did find a benefit for heart attack prevention for African-Americans and people who eat little fish but more study is needed.) The story prompted a wave of questions from our readers and listeners. Many of you wrote in asking, essentially, should I stop taking these supplements?   Here are answers to that question and more 9 - Later School Start Time Pays Off For Teens As evidence grows that chronic sleep deprivation puts teens at risk for physical and mental health problems, there is increasing pressure on school districts around the country to consider a later start time. In Seattle, school and city officials recently shifted start  times for middle and high schools nearly an hour later to 8:45 a.m. Researchers studied teens from before and after the change and got hard proof that it helps: Start school later and teens get more sleep. 10 - Last Year, The Flu Put Him In A Coma. This Year He's Getting The Shot Charlie Hinderliter wasn't opposed to the flu shot. He just didn't think he was at risk of a bad case of the flu since he was healthy and in his 30s. Turns out, he was wrong. After 58 days in the hospital, a week in a medically induced coma, two surgeries and three weeks in a nursing home, he's now speaking out to encourage everyone to do something he'd never done before: Get a flu shot. If his story isn't motivating enough, here are 5 more reasons to get the flu shot.  * * * We hope you enjoyed these stories. Find more of NPR's health journalism on Shots and follow us for daily stories at @NPRHealth. Your Shots editor, Carmel Wroth   You received this message because you're subscribed to our Health emails. |  Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002

So long to a fierce and frustrating year

A new poll shows most Americans are feeling pretty good about the future, at least when it comes to their families, jobs and health. But a year of swerving politics was more disheartening.

As 2019 approaches, most Americans are feeling pretty good about the future — at least when it comes to their families, jobs and health. Politics, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll, was more disheartening, and watching the news didn't make many feel better. But many in the U.S., including the majority of young people, are entering the new year committed to improving themselves, and NPR's new Life Kit podcasts offer a couple of guides: the smartest ways to save more money and invest it wisely, and how to start and stick with a well-rounded exercise routine. If being better-informed is also on your to-do list, here are some of the trends that defined 2018 and will influence the 12 months to come. NPR As the stock market seesaws into 2019, these are some factors that Planet Money's The Indicator sees driving the economy The year opened with the #MeToo movement reverberating loudly across U.S. workplaces — and the low unemployment rate, now 3.7 percent, is one reason workers may have felt safer speaking up. Another effect is that employers are more open to helping employees through opioid addictions — a factor in the U.S. life expectancy's falling to 78.6 years in 2018 — and hiring workers who need or are in treatment. Foreign competition for skilled jobs, as measured by H-1B visa applications, fell 16 percent this year to 199,000 — also good for U.S. workers, but worrisome for businesses. But while more Americans have jobs, the housing industry’s sluggish recovery from the 2008 crash seems to be plateauing, with new builds dropping 13 percent from 2017 and credit still tight. Marvel Studios On movie screens, ladies took the lead and threw down In 2018, Hollywood offered a range of explorations of women and power: how they wield it, fight for it and abuse it, and what it costs them. "Ultimately, they are coming alive because they are finding rage and finding their empowerment and pushing back," Gillian Flynn, screenwriter of Widows says. "And that ... has been so much of what the #MeToo movement has been about." Check out 50 things NPR’s Linda Holmes loved in 2018 and Pop Culture Happy Hour's resolutions and predictions for the coming year. Alex Brandon/AP A year of massive political movement — except on climate change November saw the Democratic Party end one-party rule in Washington by wresting control of the House from Republicans. That election produced an even stronger public consensus against gerrymandering, the practice of letting politicians redraw political districts. The courts largely agreed, but politicians will keep pushing their case in 2019. Another broad move saw gun-control advocates, newly galvanized by a mass shooting at a Florida high school, turning their focus away from the federal level and toward the states, more than half of which passed new laws. Immigration also continued to be a flashpoint, with the Trump administration halving refugee resettlement and rejecting more legal immigrants than ever before. And despite it being the fourth-hottest year on record and ever more precise and dire warnings on the looming impact of climate change, politicians in Washington spent another year choosing not to act. Dig in: Some of the stories and series NPR focused its efforts on this year Maternal mortality: The United States has the worst outcomes for new mothers in the developed world. Working with ProPublica, we examined why that is and how the health care system can improve. Black lung: NPR investigative journalist Howard Berkes found confirmation that the disease once again is spiking in coal country — and that U.S. regulators could have prevented it. Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria: NPR’s Adrian Florido spent a year detailing the island's struggle — exacerbated by FEMA failures — to recover from the catastrophic September 2017 storm. How to raise a human: We collected the best parenting lessons from cultures around the world. Bill of the month: In collaboration with Kaiser Health News, NPR investigates some of the astronomical sums the U.S. health care industry demands from those it treats. How China is reshaping the world: The country has grown more comfortable wielding its influence around the world, buying up Western assets, investing in developing countries and quashing dissent beyond its borders. American Anthem: These are the songs that challenge and unite us. 1968: How we got here: NPR looks back at the critical moments — both unforgettable and forgotten — of a year that transformed America. Thank you for subscribing to and reading this newsletter in 2018. We look forward to bringing you more of the best that NPR has to offer next year. You received this message because you're subscribed to our Best of NPR emails. |  Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002

APOD - New Horizons at Ultima Thule

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2018 December 29

New Horizons at Ultima Thule
Illustration Credit: Carlos Hernandez for NASA, Johns Hopkins Univ./APL, Southwest Research Institute

Explanation: When we celebrate the start of 2019, on January 1 the New Horizons spacecraft will flyby Ultima Thule. A world of the Kuiper belt 6.5 billion kilometers from the Sun, the nickname Ultima Thule (catalog designation 2014 MU69) fittingly means "beyond the known world". Following its 2015 flyby of Pluto, New Horizons was targeted for this journey, attempting the most distant flyby for a spacecraft from Earth by approaching Ultima Thule to within about 3500 kilometers. The tiny world itself is about 30 kilometers in size. This year, an observing campaign with Earth-based telescopes determined the shape of the object to be a contact binary or a close binary sytem as in this artist's illustration. New Horizons will image close up its unexplored surface in the dim light of the distant Sun.

Tomorrow's picture: galaxy tree

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Check out our list of what NPR Music fell in love with this year that isn't exactly brand new.

Central Press/Getty Images As an outlet committed to music discovery, our team spends a lot of time seeking out brand-new songs, albums and artists. But as listeners, we also like to take recommendations from friends, fill in our blind spots and uncover classics we’ve somehow missed. And often, the music that moves us most in a given year isn’t a new release, but one of these new-to-us gems. So once we’d made it through the process of crafting our lists of the Best Music of 2018, we started thinking about all the music we couldn’t get enough of this year that wasn’t released in the last 12 months. We thought we’d share them with you: presenting a list of the gently used, pre-owned new favorites we loved this year. To friends and songs old and new, Marissa Lorusso and Lyndsey McKenna New (To Us) Favorites "Opportunity/Gotta Find a Way" by The Jewels, Lauren Onkey, Senior Director After moving to Washington, D.C. in January, I started digging into the city’s music history. It’s my way of finding my bearings. My favorite discovery was The Jewels, a D.C. girl group from the genre’s heyday in the early ‘60s. Sandra Bears, Margie Clark, Carrie Mingo and Grace Ruffin formed as The Impalas in 1961 and recorded sides for Checker, Start, Chess and other labels. They scored their biggest hit with “Opportunity” in 1964 (without Mingo), which made it to No. 37 on the R&B charts and No. 64 on the pop charts. With a sample-worthy drum track, propulsive hand claps and their joyous harmonies, “Opportunity” is in the top tier of girl group music — and yet more evidence that you should never stop digging. "A Case Of You" by Joni Mitchell, Madeline Clement, News Assistant  Yes, I only just got into Joni Mitchell. Where do you begin with an artist whose discography begins before your parents were even born? The answer, for me, was with “A Case of You.” Nearly fifty years after the song’s 1971 release, I — while riding in an Uber — finally heard the melody through “on the back of a cartoon coaster / in the blue TV screen light” and understood the magnitude of Mitchell’s songwriting. Blue has been on repeat since. Any Other City by Life Without Buildings Lars Gotrich, Producer and Writer As far as one-and-dones go, Glasgow’s Life Without Buildings scats, skitters and scrambles through an idiosyncratic punk record made for awkward kisses and delirious dance parties. So how the hell did I miss this record? In the early 2000s, I was a college radio DJ, spent way too much time on Audiogalaxy’s P2P network and gobbled up whimsical and weird punk like my life depended on it. Now 17 years later, Any Other City feels like the reckless moment just before splatter hit the canvas. Bonito Generation by Kero Kero Bonito, Daoud Tyler-Ameen, Assistant Editor We got a new Andrew W.K. album this year, but when it came to getting pumped up and ready for the world, I was helplessly drawn to 2016’s Bonito Generation by the pop trio Kero Kero Bonito, whose cracked cuteness and British-Japanese code-switching feels at first alarming, then charming, then irresistible. “Trampoline” and “Graduation” get a lot of the shine, but stick it out for closer “Hey Parents” — which, for all its absurdity, finds an emotional crescendo in aging into adult responsibility and realizing no one is ever truly ready for it. One Direction, Lyndsey McKenna, Assistant Editor, Social Media Strategist Look, I know: One Direction was inescapable from 2011-2016. As a living human with a pulse, of course I’d heard and heard of One Direction, the boy band forged in the fires of the U.K.’s version of The X Factor. But I was in school during the band’s heyday, and the Billboard charts don’t really depict what’s played at apartment parties. Earlier this year, I saw Harry Styles, whose solo debut I adored, and almost instantly, One Direction’s back catalogue became my companion on long runs. Does that make me a Directioner after the fact? Time (The Revelator) by Gillian Welch, Marissa Lorusso, Production Assistant  I found myself scrolling by cover after cover of Gillian Welch’s “Everything Is Free” this year — Courtney Barnett did a version, as did Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker; even Father John Misty. I wasn’t too familiar with Gillian Welch’s music, but I was curious enough to read Jonathan Bernstein’s lovely Rolling Stone interview with Welch about the song and the cover phenomenon. It got me listening, and then I was hooked. It's a stunning song — prescient and anxious, gentle and emotionally gutting, as relevant now as it was when Welch released it in 2001. And, as I discovered, it's the penultimate track on a perfect album that quickly became one of my most listened-to of the year. Aretha Franklin's discography, Sidney Madden, Assistant Music News Editor This year I learned to appreciate the wealth of Aretha Franklin’s catalog. I, of course, knew the Queen of Soul for her hits like “Respect,” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” I even knew about her strong connection to gospel. But when the team put our heads together in the wake of her death in August to compile a playlist of her deep cuts, I really got into her entire discography. “A Brand New Me,” “Spirit in the Dark” and “This Is for Real” are new favorites. One More Thing Ever wanted to take a cruise with Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton? Now you can…sort of. For this year’s All Songs Considered holiday show, our intrepid hosts used a little studio magic to voyage to the Bermuda Triangle and beyond, meeting friends like John Legend, Steve Martin and William Shatner along the way. The seasonal spoof unfolds like a gloriously bad high school production. And though the holiday’s over, the action’s more of a transmission from another dimension. You received this message because you're subscribed to our NPR Music emails. |  Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002