[URL="https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/astronomers-find-the-closest-known-black-hole-to-earth"]Near-by quiescent black hole.[/URL]

Near-by in this case is 340 ± 30 parsec.

[url]https://www.quantamagazine.org/john-conway-solved-mathematical-problems-with-his-bare-hands-20200420/[/url]

"On April 11, Conway died of COVID-19. The Liverpool, England, native was 82."

I had asked Ernst to remove me from the membership list, I'm glad he didn't so that I could express my surprise and a sense of loss especially since he passed from contracting Covid, something preventable.

[URL="https://www.quantamagazine.org/new-math-measures-the-repulsive-force-within-polynomials-20200514/"]Mathematician Measures the Repulsive Force Within Polynomials[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200508112903.htm"]How does the brain link events to form a memory? Study reveals unexpected mental processes[/URL]

[URL="https://www.gemini.edu/pr/gemini-gets-lucky-and-takes-deep-dive-jupiter-s-clouds"]Gemini Gets Lucky and Takes a Deep Dive Into Jupiter’s Clouds[/URL]

[URL="https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/news/blind-adults-were-able-to-see-letters-traced-on-their-brain-using-electrical-stimulation-334881"]Blind Adults Were Able To "See" Letters Traced on Their Brain Using Electrical Stimulation[/URL]

[URL="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/history-of-toilet-paper"]A Brief History of TP, From Silk Road Hygiene to Pandemic Hoarding[/URL]

[URL="https://www.knowablemagazine.org/article/technology/2020/how-owls-fly-without-making-a-sound"]The silence of the owls[/URL]

[URL="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/05/health/brain-records-memories-scn-wellness/index.html"]For the first time, scientists can see how the brain records our memories as we sleep[/URL]

[URL="https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/watching-how-the-brain-plans-movement-could-help-develop-mind-controlled-smart-homes-334520"]Watching How the Brain Plans Movement Could Help Develop Mind-controlled Smart Homes[/URL]

[URL="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/did-galileo-truly-say-and-yet-it-moves-a-modern-detective-story/"]Did Galileo Truly Say, ‘And Yet It Moves’? A Modern Detective Story[/URL]

[URL="https://hbr.org/2020/05/digital-transformation-is-about-talent-not-technology"]Digital Transformation Is About Talent, Not Technology[/URL]

[URL="https://increment.com/open-source/the-lingua-franca-of-latex/"]The lingua franca of LaTeX[/URL]

[URL="https://phys.org/news/2020-05-law-metamaterials.html"]A new law for metamaterials[/URL]

[URL="https://www.mensafoundation.org/about-the-mensa-foundation/foundation-voices/the-advocates-parents-need-to-transform-education/"]The Advocates Parents Need to Transform Education[/URL]

[URL="https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/dna-differences-may-shape-gene-expression-in-the-brain-before-birth/"]DNA differences may shape gene expression in the brain before birth[/URL]

[url=https://www.businessinsider.com.au/nancy-grace-roman-biography-wfirst-space-telescope-observatory-name-2020-5]NASA’s powerful new space telescope will be named after Nancy Grace Roman — the agency’s first female executive, known as the ‘mother of Hubble’[/url] Business Insider

Here is her [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Roman]Wikipedia bio[/url] - very impressive stuff. oman died in late 2018 - one week ago would've marked her 95th birthday.
[quote]At a lecture by Harold Urey at NASA, Roman was approached by Jack Clark, who asked whether she knew someone interested in creating a program for space astronomy at NASA. She interpreted that as an invitation to apply, and was the applicant who accepted the position. While the position nominally allowed for 20% of her time to be used for scientific research, she recognized that such a position would effectively mean she was giving up research, but, as she said in 2018, “the chance to start with a clean slate to map out a program that I thought would influence astronomy for fifty years was more than I could resist.” Roman arrived at NASA in late February 1959 as Head of Observational Astronomy. She quickly inherited a broad program which included the Orbiting Solar Observatories and geodesy and relativity. In early 1960, Roman became the first astronomer in the position of Chief of Astronomy in NASA's Office of Space Science, setting up the initial program; she was also the first woman to hold an executive position at the space agency.

Part of her job was traveling throughout the country and giving lectures at astronomy departments, where she discussed the fact that the program was in development. Roman also was looking to find out what other astronomers wanted to study and to educate them on the advantages of observing from space. Her visits set the precedent that NASA scientific research would be driven by the needs of the broader astronomical community, or in her words, the visits were “to tell them what we were planning at NASA and what the NASA opportunities were, but it was equally to try to get from them a feeling of what they thought NASA ought to be doing.” Her work was instrumental in converting what was then a ground-based astronomical community, hostile to the space science program, into supporters of astronomy from space. She established the policy that major astronomy projects would be managed by NASA for the good of the broader scientific community, rather than as individual experiments run by academic research scientists. As early as 1960, a year into her new position, Roman began publishing plans for NASA astronomy with policy statements, such as “A fundamental part of all of these plans is the participation of the entire astronomical community. NASA will act as a coordinating agency to enable astronomers to obtain the basic observations they need from outer space.”[/quote]

[url=https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/no-asteroids-or-volcanoes-needed-ancient-mass-extinction-tied-ozone-loss-warming]No asteroids needed: ancient mass extinction tied to ozone loss, warming climate[/url] | Science
[quote]The end of the Devonian period, 359 million years ago, was an eventful time: Fish were inching out of the ocean, and fernlike forests were advancing on land. The world was recovering from a mass extinction 12 million years earlier, but the climate was still chaotic, swinging between hothouse conditions and freezes so deep that glaciers formed in the tropics. And then, just as the planet was warming from one of these ice ages, another extinction struck, seemingly without reason. Now, spores from fernlike plants, preserved in ancient lake sediments from eastern Greenland, suggest a culprit: The planet’s protective ozone layer was suddenly stripped away, exposing surface life to a blast of mutation-causing ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Just as the extinction set in, the spores became misshapen and dark, indicating DNA damage, John Marshall, a palynologist at the University of Southampton, and his co-authors say in a paper published today in Science Advances. It’s evidence, he says, that ‘all of the ozone protection is gone.’ Scientists have long believed—at least before humanity became a force for extinction—that there were just two ways to wipe out life on Earth: an asteroid strike or massive volcanic eruptions. But 2 years ago, researchers found evidence that in Earth’s worst extinction—the end-Permian, 252 million years ago—volcanoes lofted Siberian salt deposits into the stratosphere, where they might have fed chemical reactions that obliterated the ozone layer and sterilized whole forests. Now, spores from the end-Devonian make a compelling case that, even without eruptions, a warming climate can deplete the ozone layer, says Lauren Sallan, a paleobiologist at the University of Pennsylvania. ‘Because the evidence is so strong, it will make people rethink other mass extinction events.'[/quote]

[URL="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-oxytocin-is-incredible-and-how-to-get-more-of-it"]Why Oxytocin Is Incredible and How to Get More of It[/URL]

[URL="https://www.quantamagazine.org/out-of-sync-loners-may-secretly-protect-orderly-swarms-20200521"]Out-of-Sync ‘Loners’ May Secretly Protect Orderly Swarms
[/URL]
[URL="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/national-museum-of-natural-history/2020/05/21/notorious-asian-giant-hornet-finds-home-smithsonian"]Notorious Asian Giant Hornet Finds Home in Smithsonian
[/URL]
[URL="https://www.wired.com/story/brain-model-artificial-intelligence"]Is the Brain a Useful Model for Artificial Intelligence?
[/URL]
[URL="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/05/bumblebees-bite-plants-flower-early/"]Bumblebees bite plants to make them flower early, surprising scientists
[/URL]
[URL="https://singularityhub.com/2020/05/22/a-new-bionic-eye-could-give-robots-and-the-blind-20-20-vision"]A New Bionic Eye Could Give Robots and the Blind 20/20 Vision
[/URL]
[URL="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/05/grand-old-trees-are-dying-leaving-forests-younger-shorter/"]The grand old trees of the world are dying, leaving forests younger and shorter
[/URL]
[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200521151921.htm"]New Army 3-D printing study shows promise for predictive maintenance
[/URL]
[URL="https://scitechdaily.com/nasa-wants-to-go-nuclear-on-the-moon-and-mars-for-astronaut-settlement"]NASA Wants to Go Nuclear on the Moon and Mars for Astronaut Settlement
[/URL]
[URL="https://mindmatters.ai/2020/05/is-intelligence-common-or-rare-in-the-universe"]IS INTELLIGENCE COMMON OR RARE IN THE UNIVERSE?
[/URL]
[URL="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/forced-social-isolation-causes-neural-craving-similar-to-hunger"]Forced Social Isolation Causes Neural Craving Similar to Hunger
[/URL]
[URL="https://www.us.mensa.org/read/bulletin/features/viral-words"]Viral Words
[/URL]
[URL="http://news.mit.edu/2020/machine-learning-map-ocean-0529"]Machine learning helps map global ocean communities[/URL]

[FONT="Arial Black"][COLOR="DarkOrange"]All of the "Fingerprints of Humanity" related posts spun off in their own new thread.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[url]https://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=25598[/url]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200611183916.htm"]Discovering how the brain works through computation[/URL]

[URL="https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-useless-perspective-that-transformed-mathematics-20200609"]The ‘Useless’ Perspective That Transformed Mathematics
[/URL]
[URL="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hope-resilience/202006/the-power-mindfulness-and-contemplation"]The Power of Mindfulness and Contemplation
[/URL]
[URL="https://www.livescience.com/issac-newton-plague-toad-vomit-auction.html"]Newton's recipe for 'toad vomit lozenges' up for auction
[/URL]
[URL="https://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/infographic-the-power-of-sleep/medical-allied-healthcare"]Infographic: The power of sleep
[/URL]
[URL="https://aeon.co/essays/lateral-thinking-is-classic-pseudoscience-derivative-and-untested"]Beware of lateral thinking
[/URL]
[URL="https://www.quantamagazine.org/in-math-it-often-takes-a-good-map-to-find-answers-20200601"]In Mathematics, It Often Takes a Good Map to Find Answers
[/URL]
[URL="https://www.livescience.com/physicists-entangle-15-trillion-hot-atoms.html"]Physicists entangle 15 trillion hot atoms
[/URL]
[URL="https://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/museum-educators-a-fill-critical-need-for-students/education"]Museum educators fill a critical need for students
[/URL]
[URL="https://www.fastcompany.com/90512770/how-to-do-thoughtful-work-when-you-just-cant-focus"]How to do thoughtful work when you just can’t focus
[/URL]
[URL="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/202006/how-dreaming-helps-the-brain-consolidate-memories"]How Dreaming Helps the Brain Consolidate Memories
[/URL]
[URL="https://aeon.co/essays/new-therapies-offer-hope-for-people-trapped-by-disorders-of-consciousness"]Consciousness regained
[/URL]
[URL="https://www.us.mensa.org/read/bulletin/features/do-nonhuman-animals-have-rights"]Do Nonhuman Animals Have Rights?
[/URL]
[URL="https://www.quantamagazine.org/graduate-student-solves-decades-old-conway-knot-problem-20200519"] Graduate Student Solves Decades-Old Conway Knot Problem[/URL]

Continued fractions puzzle solved:
[url]https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs40993-020-0187-5[/url]

[QUOTE=rogue;548176].[/QUOTE]

Any reason why all of them contain referral links? You used to do this occasionally in the past, but never for all links... Crisis there around? :razz:

[QUOTE=LaurV;548261]Any reason why all of them contain referral links? You used to do this occasionally in the past, but never for all links... Crisis there around? :razz:[/QUOTE]
Flex your muscles and fix them.