Comet Neowise, a 3-mile-wide chunk of space ice, is rocketing past our planet, creating a spectacle in the night: a brilliant ball of white light with long, colorful tails. The comet is a benign and beautiful sight, but it highlights a global vulnerability. Tens of thousands of potentially dangerous objects regularly careen past Earth undetected, and some of them inevitably crash into it. Comets — balls of space ice and dust — almost never pose a threat to Earth, but asteroids and meteors (smaller chunks of rock) come close more often. Although impacts are extremely rare, a space rock big enough to destroy a city (or worse) could hurtle towards Earth at any time, and scientists might not see it until it’s far too late.
Nobody even knew Comet Neowise existed until a NASA space telescope discovered it approaching just three months ago. The spacecraft was scanning for asteroids and comets (balls of space ice and dust) that fly too close to Earth. The mission is called the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) — that’s where the new comet gets its name.
A large asteroid impacted the Earth in March with no warning – and most people still haven’t heard about it.
Many “near-Earth objects” (NEOs) do not cross any telescope’s line of sight, and several potentially dangerous asteroids have snuck up on Earth in recent years. “Luck is not a plan,” Richard Binzel, an asteroid researcher and professor of planetary sciences at MIT, told Business Insider in September. In case scientists discover such an asteroid approaching Earth again, NASA has considered some ways to push it off its collision course: slamming a spacecraft into it, detonating an explosion near it, or firing lasers that heat and vaporize the rock enough to change its orbit. But that takes time and the technology is unproven. What if nobody spots the asteroid until it’s too late?
In recent years, scientists have missed plenty of large, dangerous objects approaching Earth. “We feel we’ve only found about a third of the population of asteroids that are out there that could represent an impact hazard to the Earth,” Johnson said. In 2013, a meteor measuring about 65 feet in diameter and traveling at 40,000 mph entered the atmosphere and exploded over Chelyabinsk in central Russia. The blast sent out a shock wave that broke windows and damaged buildings across the region, injuring more than 1,400 people. –Business Insider
Glacial volcanoes sound like an oxymoron. But Iceland’s Vatnajökull ice cap, Europe’s largest by volume, covers many active volcanoes, including the country’s most frequently erupting one, Grímsvötn. Nine years after its last eruption in 2011, which closed Icelandic airspace, Grímsvötn appears poised for yet another, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office’s (IMO). A Grímsvötn eruption—occurring roughly every 5-10 years—blasts through the glacial ice enclosing the volcano and the magma-ice interactions create a stunning explosion. “The lava melts the ice, it flashes into steam. There is a tremendous amount of energy being released in split seconds,” Ronni Grapenthin, a geophysicist at the University of Alaska, described to GlacierHub. Grímsvötn is also infamous as the source of the seven-month long Laki fissure eruption in 1783, which caused a famine that claimed 20 percent of Iceland’s population and lowered Northern Hemisphere temperatures by an estimated 1°C.
While scientists are fairly certain another eruption is coming, forecasting the timing, magnitude and nature of eruptions is challenging because “each volcano is different and they behave differently, and you can have different behavior from one eruption to the other,” said Sigrun Hreinsdottir, a geodetic scientist at GNS Science in New Zealand. However, because Grímsvötn erupts so frequently, scientists see patterns that suggest another eruption is imminent. “Currently we have a state of the volcano which is very similar to the pre-eruptive conditions before 2011 and 2004 [eruptions],” Benedikt Ofeigsson, a geoscientist at the IMO, told GlacierHub.
A team of scientists spanning Alaska to Iceland to New Zealand is carefully monitoring Grímsvötn. A high-precision GPS on the ground measures volcanic deformation—the movement of the ground—in real time. As magma flows into the volcano from below, the ground expands outwards from the magma chamber, like a balloon. According to Ofeigsson, Grímsvötn is “pretty much inflated to the same point as prior to 2011 [eruption] so it’s showing all the signs of an eruption well within the next month or year.” An additional piece of information suggests an impending Grímsvötn eruption: gas measurements. When magma nears the surface, the gases originally dissolved in the magma escape. “It’s a lot like opening a soda bottle. When you release the pressure, the gases come out,” said Terry Plank, a volcanologist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Since 2012, the IMO has periodically made gas measurements at Grímsvötn, but in early June, they “measured very high concentrations of SO2, CO2 and H2,” which Ofeiggson noted are unusual for Iceland. These measurements indicate that an eruption is near because the magma is just below the surface.
“When the volcano is ready to erupt, the eruption can be triggered by the flood,” Ofeigsson added. Grímsvötn has “a hair-trigger sensitivity to pressure,” so the pressure release from the removal of the lake water can start the eruption, explained Dave McGarvie, a volcanologist at Lancaster University. Therefore, for the first time, scientists are monitoring Grímsvötn’s subglacial lake level in real time. Because jökulhlaups triggered many past Grímsvötn eruptions, including in 2004, scientists expect the next eruption will also follow the flood. Despite the short window of warning—and Grímsvötn’s history of devastating eruptions—the next eruption is not expected to be bad. Every 150-200 years, Grímsvötn has a large eruption. Since the last big one was in 2011, scientists expect the upcoming eruption to be fairly small. –Physics
A strange package has been sent to people in multiple states: random, unidentified seeds from China. Residents in Washington, Utah and Virginia have received small packages of seeds in the mail that appear to be sent from China, officials said. “Today we received reports of people receiving seeds in the mail from China that they did not order,” the Washington State Department of Agriculture said Friday. “The seeds are sent in packages usually stating that the contents are jewelry. Unsolicited seeds could be invasive, introduce diseases to local plants, or be harmful to livestock.”
The seeds often come in sealed packages, and people should not open the packages, officials said. It should be reported to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for agricultural smuggling. “Invasive species wreak havoc on the environment, displace or destroy native plants and insects and severely damage crops,” the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said in a statement Friday. “Taking steps to prevent their introduction is the most effective method of reducing both the risk of invasive species infestations and the cost to control and mitigate those infestations.” Lori Culley, who lives in Tooele, Utah, told Fox 13 that she found two small packages in her mailbox Tuesday that had Chinese writing on them.
“I opened them up and they were seeds,” Culley told the news station. “Obviously they’re not jewelry!” In Utah, at least 40 people had received mysterious seeds, Fox 13 reported. It is unclear how many people in Virginia and Washington were mailed a package of seeds, but officials said “several.” –News Tribune
Earthquake 7.8 magnitude – July 21, 2020: An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 struck off southern Alaska’s coast on July 21, 2020, shaking the Alaska Peninsula and briefly sparking tsunami concerns before officials said no destructive waves were coming. The earthquake was centered in the Pacific Ocean about 60 miles southeast of Perryville on the sparsely populated Alaska Peninsula, striking around 10:12 p.m. local time (2:12 a.m. Wednesday ET). The Alaska Peninsula protrudes from mainland Alaska and is flanked to the southwest by the Aleutian Islands.
Reports of significant damage, if any, weren’t immediately available. A tsunami warning initially was issued for south Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula, but was canceled by early Wednesday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The warning sent people to higher ground in cities like Sand Point, an island community of about 1,000 people off the peninsula, the Anchorage Daily News reported. People in Sand Point gathered at a high school until shortly after midnight, when officials gave an all-clear, Jordan Keeler, an Anchorage-based city administrator, told the newspaper. –CNN
4 simultaneous storms in the Northern hemisphere: TEXAS– Hurricane Hanna made landfall at 5 p.m. Saturday at Padre Island. The storm was moving west at 8 mph and producing up to 90 mph sustained winds. Hurricane Hanna is expected to produce 5 to 10 inches of rain with isolated totals of 15 inches through Sunday evening in South Texas. The western part of the eye of Hurricane Hanna is expected to arrive at 2 p.m., the weather service reported. The National Weather Service issued a hurricane warning and storm surge warning at 4 p.m. Friday for the Coastal Bend area. The warning states dangerous and damaging winds and life-threatening flooding are possible for the region. Both warnings are in effect all-day Saturday. – Caller Times
HAWAII – A hurricane warning has been issued for Oahu as Hurricane Douglas weakens but still heads on a course for the Hawaiian Islands. A warning means hurricane conditions are expected within 36 hours in the area. Hawaii County and Maui County remain under a hurricane watch which means hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours in the area. As of 11 a.m., the storm was located about 325 miles east of Hilo and about 520 miles east-southeast of Honolulu with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph, which means Douglas is now a Category 1 storm. This is down 15 mph since the 5 a.m. update and significant decrease in strength since Friday when Douglas peaked as a Category 3 major hurricane. Still, Douglas is expected to be at or near hurricane strength as it nears the islands late tonight and tomorrow and weather officials are urging the public to finish making storm preparations today. Douglas was moving toward the west-northwest near 18 mph at 11 a.m., and expected to continue in the same motion over the next couple of days with a slight decrease in forward speed today, forecasters said. –Star Adviser
A worsening global pandemic of COVID-19: The virus, which causes the respiratory infection Covid-19, was first detected in the city of Wuhan, China, in late 2019. It then spread quickly across the globe in the first months of 2020, reaching more than 15 million confirmed cases by the second half of July. Europe and North America saw the first major outbreaks in April but as they began to ease, Latin America and Asia started seeing an increase in cases. North America has seen a resurgence of infections in recent weeks, mostly driven by new outbreaks in the US. Latin America is now the epicenter of the pandemic. Brazil is the worst-hit in the region so far, with more than 85,000 deaths. The U.S. has seen 146,000 dates, as of late July 2020. The University of Washington predicts the death toll could hit more than 220,000 by the beginning of November – though it says this could be reduced to about 180,000 if 95% of Americans wear masks in public. – BBC
Ebola outbreak intensifying in DRC: In the latest World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa situation report on the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Equateur Province, western Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), three more cases, along with two more deaths, have been confirmed, according to an organization tweet. This puts the total cases at 65, 29 deceased, and 21 recovered. In addition, UNICEF reported this week that more than 32 children have lost or have been separated from one or both parents due to Ebola since a new outbreak was declared on 1 June. “As we have seen in previous epidemics, Ebola affects children in a number of ways beyond the immediate risk of infection and death,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF’s Representative in DRC. “Whether children are infected themselves, or see parents or other family members infected, they require specialized care and support, both physically and psychologically. – ONT
Bunny Ebola spreading fast in US Southwest:A deadly virus is spreading with alarming speed among wild and domestic rabbits in seven southwestern states. The contagion causes an illness called rabbit hemorrhagic disease that has earned the nickname “bunny Ebola” because the disease causes massive internal bleeding and bloody discharge around the nose and mouth. The virus kills swiftly—as happened in February, when pet rabbits boarding at a veterinary practice in Manhattan suddenly began to die without warning, The New Yorker reported last month.
The disease is deeply worrying for domestic rabbit owners and could also have consequences for wild rabbit, hare, and pika populations. An outbreak last year in northwestern Washington state had devastating impacts on both feral and pet rabbits. Now animal health officials are tracking its spread and trying to protect their most endangered rabbits from a disease that is very contagious and has a high mortality rate. “They both represent a longtime fear that has come true,” says Susan Kerr, an education and outreach specialist at the Washington State Department of Agriculture. Public health officials have worried about a pandemic, while rabbit owners have watched the virus spread across Europe for years. “Rabbit enthusiasts have always been terrified of this disease.”
Rabbit hemorrhagic disease was first recognized in China in 1984. It’s caused by several pathogens that belong to a family called caliciviruses, which are unrelated to the ones that cause Ebola. In 2010, a new version of the disease arose in France that spread among domestic and wild rabbits and eventually traveled as far as Australia. Known as rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2), it can kill infected rabbits within a few days by causing widespread inflammation, problems with blood clotting and bleeding, and organ failure. “The organs can’t do their functions anymore because there is so much blood in them,” Kerr says. –Popular Science
Plagues of locust swarms: As if 2020 hasn’t thrown enough curveballs already, desert locusts are setting off a global panic. From Kenya to Pakistan to, most recently, Yemen, China, Italy, and Argentina, locust swarms have been on the move. The infestation is most advanced in East Africa, which is experiencing the worst locust outbreak in generations. There has been six major locust plagues in the last century, one of which lasted nearly 13 years, according to the U.N. But the current infestation in East Africa is technically an upsurge, as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization. Depending on locust control efforts and favorable breeding conditions in terms of moisture and soil, the upsurge could spread even further and get upgraded to a plague. –Vice
Global protests and social anarchy: 2019 saw a spate of protests sweep across the globe. From Latin America, to the Middle East, to Europe, a wave of dissatisfaction with the status quo engulfed the developed and developing world alike. The question is whether that will continue in 2020 and if so, what form will it take? Fueling the anger of many, and entrenching divisions between people and power, have been the violent response of many governments to the largely peaceful demonstrations. Police brutality, mass arrests, assault, tear-gas protesters, and even killings have become commonplace. In Latin America, governments have thrown blame on each other, closing borders to neighbors for fear of foreign influence. The new Bolivian government has expelled 725 Cuban nationals, many of whom are doctors and medical staff working there under an agreement with the Morales government.
“This is the new face of inequality,” says Achim Steiner, an Administrator at the UNDP, as he reflected on the protests. The UNDP’s report, released in December, painted a damning portrait of the entrenched levels of inequality that not only persist, but whose roots are becoming more embedded in the face of unchecked global growth. The 2019 Inequality-Adjusted Human Development Index, the sister index of the Human Development Index, revealed that 20 per cent of human development progress was lost through inequalities in 2018. Without action from the top-down, we can expect to see more and more movement from the bottom-up. The coming decade will bring with it even more challenges to the people, as the automation of work risks mass unemployment, and the effects of climate change threaten the displacement of millions. –The Article
The rise in church burnings: The fire that ripped through the Gothic Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul in Nantes July 18 was reported around the world. But suspected arson attacks on French churches usually do not make international headlines. Since 2010, the Paris-based L’Observatoire de la Christianophobie (Observatory of Christianophobia) has chronicled anti-Christian incidents in France and around the world. It has recorded these events month by month on interactive maps since 2017, placing them in six categories: arson, murder/assault, vandalism, theft, bombing, and abduction.
Following Saturday’s fire at Nantes, the organization has reported several less well-publicized incidents, including the destruction of a crucifix on the Île-d’Arz in Brittany, the slashing of paintings in a church in Auxerre, and the decapitation of a statue of the Virgin Mary in Montaud. Statistics suggest there are nearly three such attacks a day in France, which is sometimes described as the “eldest daughter of the Church” because the Frankish King Clovis I embraced Catholicism in 496. The French Interior Ministry recorded 996 anti-Christian acts in 2019 — an average of 2.7 per day. The true figure may be higher, as it is thought that officials do not count fires of undetermined cause at churches across the country. –CNA
Rise in Satanism: Exorcist Father Francois Dermine for the Archdiocese of Ancona-Osimo in Italy said the problems of society can be blamed on a rise in “aggressive Satanism” in an article in Crux. Dermine said young people can be especially affected by demonic energies because of secularism, imagery in video games and a lack of role models. “Secularization leaves a void,” Dermine said. “Young people do not have anything to satisfy their spiritual and profound needs. They are thirsting for something, and the Church is not attractive anymore.”
Dermine called the involvement of young people in a culture that celebrates the demonic a “Satanist mentality,” saying that those who are engaged with that culture “can become evil themselves very easily.” Young people are in greater danger according to Dermine because of the instability of modern families. “Education of young people is poorer and poorer,” Dermine said. “Couples are collapsing. Children are left alone; they are destabilized, and they don’t have any defenses.” –Newsweek
The drug epidemic is worsening: In West Virginia, they are bracing for the second wave. The epidemic that hit the Appalachian state harder than any other in the US finally looked to be in retreat. Now it’s advancing again. Not coronavirus but opioid overdoses, with one scourge driving a resurgence of the other. Covid-19 has claimed 93 lives in West Virginia over the past three months. That is only a fraction of those killed by drug overdoses, which caused nearly 1,000 deaths in the state in 2018 alone, mostly from opioids but also methamphetamine (also known as meth). That year was better than the one before as the Appalachian state appeared to turn the tide on an epidemic that has ravaged the region for two decades, destroying lives, tearing apart families and dragging down local economies. Now coronavirus looks to be undoing the advances made against a drug epidemic that has claimed close to 600,000 lives in the US over the past two decades. Worse, it is also laying the ground for a long-term resurgence of addiction by exacerbating many of the conditions, including unemployment, low incomes and isolation, that contributed to the rise of the opioid epidemic and “deaths of despair.” “The number of opioid overdoses is skyrocketing and I don’t think it will be easily turned back,” said Dr Mike Brumage, former director of the West Virginia office of drug control policy.
“Once the tsunami of Covid-19 finally recedes, we’re going to be left with the social conditions that enabled the opioid crisis to emerge in the first place, and those are not going to go away.” To Brumage and others, coronavirus has also shown what can happen when the government takes a public health emergency seriously, unlike the opioid epidemic, which was largely ignored even as the death toll climbed into the hundreds of thousands. The American Medical Association said it was “greatly concerned” at reported increases in opioid overdoses in more than 30 states although it will be months before hard data is available. –Guardian
Gun violence surges in major American cities in the midst of a pandemic: In Philadelphia over the past weekend, seven people were shot in a span of three hours, according to CNN affiliate KYW-TV. One person was killed and two others critically wounded. Shooting incidents in Philadelphia are up 57% from last year, the station reported, citing police records. Homicides, at 201 as of Monday, were up 24%. In Milwaukee, homicides have jumped 95% — to 82 — so far this year, according to police. In the first week of June alone, the Los Angeles Police Department reported that homicides increased 250% compared to the previous week. New York City has seen a 44% spike in shootings this year to 511, from 355 during the same period in 2019, according to the NYPD. There have been 176 murders, which is 23% higher than last year.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the NYPD is dispatching hundreds more officers in cars and on foot onto the streets this summer to deal with gun violence. We’re not going back to the bad old days when there was so much violence in the city, nor are we going back to the bad old days where policing was done the wrong way and, in too many cases, police and community could never connect and find that mutual respect,” de Blasio told reporters last week. Police blame the surge in gun violence on a combination of the early release of people from jail during the pandemic, the effects of a new state’s bail reform law and other factors. “More people not in jail,” NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan told CNN. “Rikers Island (jail) in New York is empty. Between Covid, between bail reform, the protests caused animosity towards the police, which took us out of neighborhoods that needed us the most.” – CNN
CHINA — Relentless heavy rains that began pummeling China last month is flooding more areas along the Yangtze River and causing anxiety further along the 2.3-km Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric power plant. Already, 40 million people have been uprooted. Now, the dam 300 km west of Wuhan is threatening to burst and flood the first city to be hammered by the novel coronavirus. More than 400 rivers have overflowed and authorities estimate the economic toll has already reached 64.4 billion yuan ($9.2 billion). –AN
The 1,000-kilometer river is a major waterway in China, is facing grim flooding risks over the next three days for parts of Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Anhui, and Jiangsu provinces. Massive flooding upstream on the Yangtze River has also caused concern that the Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric power station in the world, is being pushed to the limit under the strain of massive flows of water. Many regions along the Yangtze River have flooded in the past week due to torrential rains this monsoon season. At the moment, at least 400 Yangtze tributary rivers have overflowed, with at least a hundred dead and 15 million people evacuated from their homes in July alone. Rainfall totals in China are about 12% higher than the last monsoon season. The economic damage is already in the billions of dollars, according to government estimates the previous week. We noted last week rising floodwaters on the Yangtze River had caused fears the Three Gorges Dam has failed to prevent flooding downstream. –Zero Hedge
Public health officials have announced that a squirrel in Colorado has tested positive for the bubonic plague. The town of Morrison, Colorado, in Jefferson County, which is just west of Denver, made the startling announcement saying that the squirrel is the first case of plague in the county. “Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, and can be contracted by humans and household animals if proper precautions are not taken,” officials from Jefferson County Public Health (JCPH) said in a statement released to the public.
It is possible for humans to be infected with the bubonic plague through bites from infected fleas and by direct contact with blood or tissues of infected animals such as a cough or a bite. Jefferson County Public Health said that cats are highly susceptible to the plague from things like flea bites, a rodent scratch or bite, and ingesting an infected rodent. Cats can die if not treated quickly with antibiotics after contact with the plague.
Officials also said that dogs are not as susceptible to the plague as cats are but still may pick up and carry plague-infected rodent fleas. Any pet owner who suspects that their pet is ill should contact a veterinarian immediately. “Symptoms of plague may include sudden onset of high fever, chills, headache, nausea and extreme pain and swelling of lymph nodes, occurring within two to seven days after exposure. Plague can be effectively treated with antibiotics when diagnosed early. Anyone experiencing these symptoms should consult a physician,” said JCPH.
Risk for contracting the bubonic plague is extremely low as long as the proper precautions are taken and JCPH published a list of them including eliminating all sources of food, shelter and access for wild animals around the home, not feeding wild animals, maintaining a litter and trash-free yard to reduce wild animal habitats, having people and pets should avoid all contact with sick or dead wild animals and rodents, using precaution when handling sick pets and having them examined by a veterinarian, consulting with a veterinarian about flea and tick control for pets and keeping pets from roaming freely outside the home where they may prey on wild animals and bring the disease home with them. –ABC News
A new study suggests that there are around 700 quintillion planets in the universe, but only one like Earth. It’s a revelation that’s both beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Astrophysicist Erik Zackrisson from Uppsala University in Sweden arrived at this staggering figure — a 7 followed by 20 zeros — with the aid of a computer model that simulated the universe’s evolution following the Big Bang. Zackrisson’s model combined information about known exoplanets with our understanding of the early universe and the laws of physics to recreate the past 13.8 billion years.
Zackrisson found that Earth appears to have been dealt a fairly lucky hand. In a galaxy like the Milky Way, for example, most of the planets Zackrisson’s model generated looked very different than Earth — they were larger, older and very unlikely to support life. The study can be found on the pre-print server arXiv, and has been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal. –Discovery
The Extinction Protocol 