- Chilling Revelations: Ancient Landscape Discovered Beneath East Antarctic Ice Sheet SciTechDaily
- Scientists have discovered an ancient river landscape hidden beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet Yahoo! Voices
- Scientists discover hidden landscape “frozen in time” under Antarctic ice for millions of years CBS News
- Scientists discover hidden landscape ‘frozen in time’ under Antarctic ice The Guardian
- This river landscape was ‘frozen in time’, hidden for millions of years, but global warming revealed it WION
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: Landscape
Sharpest Earth-Based Images of Jupiter’s Moons Europa and Ganymede Reveal Their Icy Landscape
Jupiter’s moon Europa captured by ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). Credit: ESO/King & Fletcher
The most detailed images ever taken of two of
Europa is named for a woman who, in Greek mythology, was abducted by the god Zeus – Jupiter in Roman mythology. It may be the most promising place in our solar system to find present-day environments suitable for some form of life beyond Earth. With an equatorial diameter of 1,940 miles, Europa is about 90 percent the size of Earth’s Moon. It orbits Jupiter every 3.5 days.
As some of the sharpest images of Jupiter’s moons ever acquired from a ground-based observatory, they reveal new insights into the processes shaping the chemical composition of these massive moons – including geological features such as the long rift-like linae cutting across Europa’s surface.
Ganymede and Europa are two of the four largest moons orbiting Jupiter, a quartet known as the Galilean satellites. While Europa is quite similar in size to our own Moon, Ganymede is the largest moon in the entire Solar System.
The Leicester team, led by PhD student Oliver King, used the European Southern Observatory’s
The new observations recorded the amount of sunlight reflected from Europa and Ganymede’s surfaces at different infrared wavelengths, producing a reflectance spectrum. These reflectance spectra are analyzed by developing a computer model that compares each observed spectrum to spectra of different substances that have been measured in laboratories.
The images and spectra of Europa, published in the Planetary Science Journal, reveal that Europa’s crust is mainly composed of frozen water ice with non-ice materials contaminating the surface.
Jupiter’s moon Ganymede captured by ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). Credit: ESO/King & Fletcher
Oliver King from the University of Leicester School of Physics and Astronomy said: “We mapped the distributions of the different materials on the surface, including sulphuric
“The modeling found that there could be a variety of different salts present on the surface, but suggested that infrared spectroscopy alone is generally unable to identify which specific types of salt are present.”
Ganymede is not only Jupiter’s largest moon, but the largest moon in our solar system. In fact, it is bigger than the planet Mercury and the dwarf planet
Oliver King adds: “This has allowed us to carry out detailed mapping of Europa and Ganymede, observing features on their surfaces smaller than 150 km across – all at distances over 600 million kilometers from the Earth. Mapping at this fine scale was previously only possible by sending spacecraft all the way to Jupiter to observe the moons up-close.”
Professor Leigh Fletcher, who supervised the VLT study, is a member of the science teams for ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) and NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which will explore Ganymede and Europa up close in the early 2030s. JUICE is scheduled to launch in 2023, and University of Leicester scientists play key roles in its proposed study of Jupiter’s atmosphere, magnetosphere, and moons.
Professor Fletcher said: “These ground-based observations whet the appetite for our future exploration of Jupiter’s moons.”
“Planetary missions operate under tough operating constraints and we simply can’t cover all the terrain that we’d like to, so difficult decisions must be taken about which areas of the moons’ surfaces deserve the closest scrutiny. Observations at 150-km scale such as those provided by the VLT, and ultimately its enormous successor the ELT (Extremely Large Telescope), help to provide a global context for the spacecraft observations.”
References:
“Global Modelling of Ganymede’s Surface Composition: Near-IR Mapping from VLT/SPHERE” by Oliver King and Leigh N. Fletcher, Accepted, JGR: Planets.
arXiv:2209.01976“Compositional mapping of Europa using MCMC modelling of Near-IR VLT/SPHERE and Galileo/NIMS observations” by Oliver King, Leigh N. Fletcher and Nicolas Ligier (2022), 31 March 2022, Planetary Science Journal.
DOI: 10.3847/PSJ/ac596dThis work was funded by a Royal Society Enhancement Award number 180071 to Professor Leigh Fletcher in the School of Physics and Astronomy, entitled “The diversity of Jupiter’s Galilean moons: Earth-based pathfinder observations in preparation for JUICE.”
USC and UCLA to join Big Ten conference, shaking up college sports landscape
Both universities announced their intentions to swap conferences in separate statements on Thursday. The Pac-12 said it was “extremely surprised and disappointed” by the move.
They will be joining a conference with the likes of the University of Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State, creating a 16-member conference to rival the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
Less than a year ago, a similar move shook the college football world when the Universities of Texas and Oklahoma accepted invitations to join the SEC from the Big 12.
According to USC, the Big Ten voted to accept both universities as members effective August 2, 2024.
The shift has major implications for upcoming media rights agreements. USC says it will see out its current deal with the Pac-12 until it expires in 2024.
“Ultimately, the Big Ten is the best home for USC and Trojan athletics as we move into the new world of collegiate sports,” USC Athletic Director Mike Bohn said in a statement. “We also will benefit from the stability and strength of the conference; the athletic caliber of Big Ten institutions; the increased visibility, exposure, and resources the conference will bring our student-athletes and programs; and the ability to expand engagement with our passionate alumni nationwide.”
UCLA’s statement noted increased NIL opportunities for athletes within the conference, a reference to Name, Image and Likeness deals. Last year, the NCAA permitted athletes to make money off signing autographs or endorsement contracts.
“Big Ten membership offers Bruins exciting new competitive opportunities and a broader national media platform for our student-athletes to compete and showcase their talents. Specifically, this move will enhance Name, Image and Likeness opportunities through greater exposure for our student-athletes and offer new partnerships with entities across the country,” said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and athletics director Martin Jarmond.
UCLA also highlighted “better television time slots for our road games” while acknowledging an increase in travel time to away games.
The current members of the Big Ten are Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Rutgers.
The Big Ten issued a statement saying it voted unanimously to accept both universities after weighing their applications to join.
“As the national leader in academics and athletics for over 126 years, the Big Ten Conference has historically evaluated its membership with the collective goal to forward the academic and athletic mission for student-athletes under the umbrella of higher education,” Commissioner Kevin Warren said. “I am thankful for the collaborative efforts of our campus leadership, athletics directors and Council of Presidents and Chancellors who recognize the changing landscape of college athletics, methodically reviewed each request, and took appropriate action based on our consensus.”
In its statement, the Pac-12 said it will “continue to thrive” despite the departure of the two colleges.
“We’ve long been known as the Conference of Champions, and we’re unwavering in our commitment to extend that title,” the Pac-12 Conference said in a statement. “We will continue to develop new and innovative programs that directly benefit our member institutions, and we look forward to partnering with current and potential members to pioneer the future of college athletics together.”
CNN’s Jacob Lev contributed to this report.
Nuclear Power on Moon, Changing Mars Landscape, Black Space Explorers
Looking to power surface exploration on the Moon …
New imagery from the surface of Mars ….
And our newest flight directors … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at 
NASA Announces Artemis Concept Awards for Nuclear Power on Moon
NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy have selected three design concept proposals for a fission surface power system design that could be ready to launch on a demo mission to the Moon by the end of the decade. Fission systems are relatively small, lightweight, and could enable continuous power regardless of location, available sunlight, or other environmental conditions. This technology would benefit future exploration under our Artemis program.
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this view of a sulfate-bearing region using its Mastcam on May 2, 2022. Dark boulders seen near the center are thought to have formed from sand deposited in ancient streams or ponds. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity Captures Stunning Views of a Changing
A photo of NASA’s 2022 class of flight directors who will oversee operations of the International Space Station, commercial crew, and Artemis missions to the Moon. The inductees from left to right: Heidi Brewer, Ronak Dave, Garrett Hehn, Diana Trujillo, Elias Myrmo, Chris Dobbins, Nicole McElroy. Credit: NASA
NASA Introduces New Flight Directors in Class of 2022
NASA has seven new flight directors. After completing a comprehensive training program, Heidi Brewer, Ronak Dave, Chris Dobbins, Garrett Hehn, Nicole McElroy, Elias Myrmo, and Diana Trujillo will oversee operations of the International Space Station, commercial crew, and Artemis missions to the Moon.
The Color of Space captures the personal stories of seven current and former Black astronauts, each selected to become part of NASA’s astronaut corps and train for space missions. Current NASA astronauts Stephanie Wilson, Victor Glover, Jeanette Epps, as well as retired astronauts Leland Melvin, Bernard Harris, Robert Curbeam, and Bobby Satcher, speak about their journeys and their motivations in a panel hosted by NASA Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche, the first Black woman to lead a NASA center. Credit: NASA
NASA Documentary Celebrates Black Space Explorers
On June 18, Howard University in Washington, D.C. hosted a screening of the NASA documentary, “The Color of Space.” The documentary features thought-provoking conversation between current and former Black astronauts recounting the influences and inspirations that put them on the path to NASA, and what they experienced on their journeys to the agency. Some of the astronauts also gave advice and shared personal stories of hope and resilience to students who have aspirations of following in their footsteps. The 50-minute documentary is available for free to the public on NASA TV, the NASA app, NASA social media channels, and YouTube.
Vice President Kamala Harris hugs children that participated in hands-on STEM activities on the grounds of the Vice President’s residence at the Naval Observatory, Friday, June 17, 2022, in Washington. The Vice President and Second Gentleman hosted an evening of NASA STEM activities at the Naval Observatory for military families and local STEM students and their families, including a special screening of Disney Pixar’s Lightyear. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Vice President Hosts NASA for Family STEM Event
Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff recently hosted an event at the Naval Observatory that included NASA STEM education activities for military families, and local students and their families. The event also featured a special screening of the Disney Pixar film, “Lightyear.” Several current NASA astronauts attended the event, including Tom Marshburn, who was the NASA technical consultant on the film, Stephanie Wilson, and Jasmin Moghbeli. Former astronaut and NASA associate administrator for Education, Leland Melvin was also there. Our Office of STEM engagement seeks to attract and engage a diverse group of students to STEM fields to contribute to NASA’s work and to build a diverse future STEM workforce.
That’s what’s up this week @NASA …
Models of Landscape Formation on Saturn’s Moon Titan Reveal an Earth-Like Alien World
These three mosaics of Titan were composed with data from Cassini’s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer taken during the last three Titan flybys, on October 28, 2005 (left), December 26, 2005 (middle), and January 15, 2006 (right). In a new study, researchers have shown how Titan’s distinct dunes, plains, and labyrinth terrains could be formed. Credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona
A new hypothesis reveals that a global sedimentary cycle driven by seasons could explain the formation of landscapes on
The presence of these materials – whose mechanical properties are vastly different from those of silicate-based substances that make up other known sedimentary bodies in our solar system – makes Titan’s landscape formation enigmatic. By identifying a process that would allow for hydrocarbon-based substances to form sand grains or bedrock depending on how often winds blow and streams flow, Stanford University geologist Mathieu Lapôtre and his colleagues have shown how Titan’s distinct dunes, plains, and labyrinth terrains could be formed.
Titan, which is a target for space exploration because of its potential habitability, is the only other body in our solar system known to have an Earth-like, seasonal liquid transport cycle today. The new model, recently published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, shows how that seasonal cycle drives the movement of grains over the moon’s surface.
This composite image shows an infrared view of Saturn’s moon Titan from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, acquired during the mission’s “T-114” flyby on November 13, 2015. The spacecraft’s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIMS) instrument made these observations, in which blue represents wavelengths centered at 1.3 microns, green represents 2.0 microns, and red represents 5.0 microns. A view at visible wavelengths (centered around 0.5 microns) would show only Titan’s hazy atmosphere. The near-infrared wavelengths in this image allow Cassini’s vision to penetrate the haze and reveal the moon’s surface. Credit: NASA
“Our model adds a unifying framework that allows us to understand how all of these sedimentary environments work together,” said Lapôtre, an assistant professor of geological sciences at Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth). “If we understand how the different pieces of the puzzle fit together and their mechanics, then we can start using the landforms left behind by those sedimentary processes to say something about the climate or the geological history of Titan – and how they could impact the prospect for life on Titan.”
A missing mechanism
In order to build a model that could simulate the formation of Titan’s distinct landscapes, Lapôtre and his colleagues first had to solve one of the biggest mysteries about sediment on the planetary body: How can its basic organic compounds – which are thought to be much more fragile than inorganic silicate grains on Earth – transform into grains that form distinct structures rather than just wearing down and blowing away as dust?
On Earth, silicate rocks and minerals on the surface erode into sediment grains over time, moving through winds and streams to be deposited in layers of sediments that eventually – with the help of pressure, groundwater, and sometimes heat – turn back into rocks. Those rocks then continue through the erosion process and the materials are recycled through Earth’s layers over geologic time.
On Titan, researchers think similar processes formed the dunes, plains, and labyrinth terrains seen from space. But unlike on Earth,
“As winds transport grains, the grains collide with each other and with the surface. These collisions tend to decrease grain size through time. What we were missing was the growth mechanism that could counterbalance that and enable sand grains to maintain a stable size through time,” Lapôtre said.
An alien analog
The research team found an answer by looking at sediments on Earth called ooids, which are small, spherical grains most often found in shallow tropical seas, such as around the Bahamas. Ooids form when calcium carbonate is pulled from the water column and attaches in layers around a grain, such as quartz.
What makes ooids unique is their formation through chemical precipitation, which allows ooids to grow, while the simultaneous process of erosion slows the growth as the grains are smashed into each other by waves and storms. These two competing mechanisms balance each other out through time to form a constant grain size – a process the researchers suggest could also be happening on Titan.
“We were able to resolve the paradox of why there could have been sand dunes on Titan for so long even though the materials are very weak, Lapôtre said. “We hypothesized that sintering – which involves neighboring grains fusing together into one piece – could counterbalance abrasion when winds transport the grains.”
Global landscapes
Armed with a hypothesis for sediment formation, Lapôtre and the study co-authors used existing data about Titan’s climate and the direction of wind-driven sediment transport to explain its distinct parallel bands of geological formations: dunes near the equator, plains at the mid-latitudes, and labyrinth terrains near the poles.
Atmospheric modeling and data from the
Reference: “The Role of Seasonal Sediment Transport and Sintering in Shaping Titan’s Landscapes: A Hypothesis” by Mathieu G. A. Lapôtre, Michael J. Malaska and Morgan L. Cable, 1 April 2022, Geophysical Research Letters.
DOI: 10.1029/2021GL097605
Lapôtre is also an assistant professor, by courtesy, of geophysics. Study co-authors are from
The Black Death Plague Didn’t Actually Kill Half of Europe, New Study Claims
In popular imagination, the Black Death is the most devastating pandemic to have ever hit Europe. Between 1346 and 1353, plague is believed to have reached nearly, if not every, corner of the continent, killing 30-50 percent of the population.
This account is based on texts and documents written by state or church officials and other literate witnesses.
But, as with all medieval sources, the geographical coverage of this documentation is uneven. While some countries, like Italy or England, can be studied in detail, only vague clues exist for others, like Poland.
Unsurprisingly, researchers have worked to correct this imbalance and uncover different ways for working out the extent of the Black Death’s mortality.
In our new study, we used 1,634 samples of fossil pollen from 261 lakes and wetlands in 19 European countries. This vast amount of material enabled us to compare the Black Death’s demographic impact across the continent.
The result? The pandemic’s toll was not as universal as currently claimed, nor was it always catastrophic.
Natural archives
Lakes and wetlands are wonderful archives of nature. They continuously accumulate remains of living organisms, soil, rocks and dust. These (often “muddy”) deposits can record hundreds or thousands of years of environmental change.
We can tap these archives by coring them and analyzing samples taken from the cores at regular intervals, from the top (present) to the bottom (past).
We relied on pollen analysis in our study. Because pollen grains are built of durable polymer and differ in shape between plants, they can be counted and identified in each sediment sample. These grains allow us to reconstruct the local landscape and changes over time. They shine a light on human land use and the history of agriculture.
For more than a century, paleoecologists – people who study past ecosystems – have been amassing data. In several world regions, the quantity of evidence available is overwhelming and certainly enough to ask questions about big historical events, like the Black Death. Did its mortality affect land use? Were arable fields turned into pasture or deserted and left to rewild?
If a third or half of Europe’s population died within a few years, one might expect a near collapse of the medieval cultivated landscape. By applying advanced statistical techniques to available pollen data, we tested this scenario, region by region.
Palaeoecology approach to verifying Black Death mortality.
The ecology of the Black Death
We discovered that there were indeed parts of Europe where the human landscape contracted dramatically after the Black Death arrived. This was the case, for instance, in southern Sweden, central Italy and Greece.
In other regions, like Catalonia or Czechia, however, there was no discernible decrease in human pressure on the landscape. In others yet, such as Poland, the Baltic countries and central Spain, labor-intensive cultivation even increased, as colonization and agricultural expansion continued uninterrupted throughout the late Middle Ages.
This means the Black Death’s mortality was neither universal nor universally catastrophic. Had it been, sediment records of Europe’s landscape would say so.
Black Death’s demographic impact
This new narrative of a regionally variable Black Death fits well with what we know about how plague can spread to and between people, and how it can circulate in urban and wild rodents and their fleas. That plague did not equally devastate every European region should not surprise us.
Not only will societies be affected and be able to respond differently, but we should not expect plague to always spread in the same way or for plague pandemics to be easily sustained.
Plague is a disease of wild rodents and their fleas. Humans are accidental hosts, who are generally thought to be incapable of long sustaining the disease. Although how plague outbreaks spill out of wild rodent reservoirs and spread to and within human populations is a subject of ongoing study, in human societies we know it can spread via several means.
People may most often contract it through flea bites, but once successful spillovers occur, multiple means of transmission can play a role, and so human behavior, as well as living conditions, lifestyle and the local environment, will affect plague’s capacity to disseminate.
While plague transmission in the Black Death remains to be untangled, historians have tended to focus on rats and their fleas since the early 20th century, and to expect plague to have behaved in the Black Death in very similar ways in many places.
But as scholars have rethought the pandemic’s map and timeline, we must also rethink how it spread. Local conditions would have influenced plague’s diffusion through a region and thereby its mortality and effect on the landscape.
How people lived – 75 percent to 90 percent of Europeans lived in the countryside – or how much, how far and by what means they moved around, could have influenced the pandemic’s course. Patterns of grain trade, which would have helped rats get around, could have been another important factor, as could have been weather and climate when the plague began.
Victims’ health and regional disease burdens were yet other variables, two also partially shaped by weather, not to mention nutrition and diet, including the sheer availability of food and how it was distributed.
Pandemic lessons
Our discovery of stunning regional variability in the Black Death has consequences, potentially in and beyond the study of plague’s past. It should prevent us from making quick generalizations about the spread and impact of history’s most infamous pandemic.
It should also change how the Black Death is used as a model for other pandemics. It may still be the “mother of all pandemics”, but what we think the Black Death was is changing. Our discovery might also prevent us from drawing easy conclusions about other pandemics, notably those less studied and with narratives based on fragmentary evidence.
Context matters. Economic activity can determine routes of dissemination, population density can influence how quickly and widely a disease spreads, and pathogen “behavior” can differ between climates and landscapes.
Medical and popular theories about disease causation will shape human behavior, as trust in authorities will affect their ability to manage disease spread, and social inequalities will ensure disparities in an outbreak’s toll.
While no two pandemics are the same, the study of the past can help us discover where to look for our own vulnerabilities and how to best prepare for future outbreaks. To begin to do that, though, we need to reassess past epidemics with all the evidence we can. 
Adam Izdebski, Independent Max Planck research Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History; Alessia Masi, Researcher, Palaeobotany, Sapienza University of Rome, and Timothy P Newfield, Professor, Environmental History and Historical Epidemiology, Georgetown University.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Bronze Age women altered genetic landscape of Orkney
An international team led by researchers at the University of Huddersfield has used ancient DNA to rewrite the history of the Orkney islands to show that Orkney actually experienced large-scale immigration during the Early Bronze Age, which replaced much of the local population.
The project was a close collaboration between genetic researchers in Huddersfield and Edinburgh, led by Professor Martin Richards and Dr. Ceiridwen Edwards, and archaeologists living and working on Orkney.
Orkney is world-famous for its archaeological heritage. Around 5,000 years ago, during the Neolithic period when farming first took hold, it was a hugely influential cultural center. With many superbly preserved stone dwellings, temples and megalithic monuments, and a style of ceramics that appears to have spread out across Britain and Ireland, it has even been described as “Britain’s ancient capital.”
Over the thousand years that followed however, as Europe moved into the Bronze Age, it has been widely viewed that somehow Orkney became left behind. Its influence dwindled and the islands became more insular. But with fewer archaeological remains to study, much less was known about this time.
By combining archaeology with the study of ancient DNA from Bronze Age human remains from the Links of Noltland site, on the remote northern island of Westray, researchers now know much more about this time than ever before, and the results have come as a great surprise to geneticists and archaeologists alike.
Firstly, despite the supposed insularity, the team has shown that Orkney experienced large-scale immigration during the Early Bronze Age, which replaced much of the local population. The new arrivals were probably the first to speak Indo-European languages, and carried genetic ancestry derived in part from pastoralists living on the steppe lands north of the Black Sea.
This mirrored what was happening in the rest of Britain and Europe in the third millennium BC. But the researchers found a fascinating difference that makes Orkney highly distinctive.
Across most of Europe, the expansion of pastoralists on the eve of the Bronze Age was typically led by men, with women being sucked into the expanding populations from local farming groups. But in Orkney the researchers found exactly the opposite. The Bronze Age newcomers were mainly women, while male lineages from the original Neolithic population survived for at least another thousand years—something not seen anywhere else. These Neolithic lineages, however, were replaced from the Iron Age and are vanishingly rare today.
But why was Orkney so different? Dr. Graeme Wilson and Hazel Moore of the Orkney-based EASE Archaeology, who excavated the Links of Noltland, argue that the answer may lie in the long-term stability and self-sufficiency of farmsteads on Orkney, which the genetic data suggests may have already been male dominated by the peak of the Neolithic. When a Europe-wide recession hit towards the end of the Neolithic, they may have been uniquely placed to weather harsher times and maintain their grip on the population as newcomers arrived.
This implies that Orkney was much less insular than has long been assumed, and that there was a protracted period of negotiation between the indigenous males and the newcomers from the south, over many generations.
“This shows that the third-millennium BC expansion across Europe was not a monolithic process but was more complex and varied from place to place,” explained Dr. George Foody, one of the lead researchers on the project from the University of Huddersfield.
The results have been surprising for both the archaeologists and geneticists on the team, although for different reasons: the archaeologists did not expect such large-scale immigration, whereas the geneticists did not foresee survival of the Neolithic male lineages.
The University’s Director of the Evolutionary Genomics Research Center Professor Martin Richards said: “This research shows how much we still have to learn about one of the most momentous events in European prehistory—how the Neolithic came to an end.”
The research has been published by the official journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and is titled “Ancient DNA at the edge of the world: Continental immigration and the persistence of Neolithic male lineages in Bronze Age Orkney,” by Katharina Dulias, George Foody, Pierre Justeau et al.
Archaeologists discover almost 40 new monuments close to Newgrange
More information:
Ancient DNA at the edge of the world: Continental immigration and the persistence of Neolithic male lineages in Bronze Age Orkney, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2108001119.
Ancient DNA at the edge of the world: Continental immigration and the persistence of Neolithic male lineages in Bronze Age Orkney, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2108001119.
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NASA’s Perseverance rover beamed back beautiful landscape views of Mars
Hi from Mars! Wish you were here!
These new views of Mars captured by NASA’s Perseverance wouldn’t be out of place on a postcard. Space watchers who have grown accustomed to close-ups of rover tracks and laser-zapped Mars rocks get a much more expansive look at the Red Planet in these new images.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
All of the images were captured by the right and left “Navcams” (navigation cameras), which also serve the purpose of helping the autonomous Perseverance find its way around. There’s nothing in particular of note in the newly captured images, beyond them being visuals from a planet that no human has ever visited (no big deal).
Perseverance completed its seven-month journey to Mars back in February, with a dramatic descent to the surface on Feb. 18 that made it NASA’s fifth rover to arrive there. This one came with an extra-special package in the form of Ingenuity, a remote-operated mini-copter. Perseverance initially spent some time monitoring Ingenuity’s spate of flight tests, but the rover’s actual mission — what it’s doing now — is to hunt for signs of past life and gather samples for future study back on Earth.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA intends for Perseverance to stay on top of its primary mission for at least one Martian year, or 687 days. That means it’s expected to be running, and beaming back data, until at least Jan. 2023. The rover regularly sends back batches of Mars looks, which NASA’s team diligently uploads to an image gallery dedicated to its findings.
Future iPads Might Finally Get a Landscape Camera
After years of waiting and complaining, it looks like iPads might finally get the thing we’ve all been asking for: a front-facing camera in a useful spot.
Right now, the iPad’s front-facing camera is located on the shorter side of the device—or the top of the tablet in portrait mode. The problem is while you might use the iPad in portrait mode to read, most people use it in landscape mode to watch movies, work, and FaceTime.
But according to prolific leaker @dylandkt, that could soon change. Dylan tweeted that the iPad Pro will not only get a camera placed above the screen in landscape mode, but that Apple will made landscape mode the default. They also noted the Apple logo on the back would also be flipped from portrait mode to landscape. It’s not clear whether this will be ready in time for the next-gen iPad Pros, but it is purportedly in the works.
While it makes sense to hold your phone vertically while FaceTiming, it’s less intuitive for the iPad. Most iPad cases or stands assume that you want to use the device in landscape mode, as you would a computer. This is especially true if you’re using an accessory like the Magic Keyboard, which basically turns the iPad into a laptop. This is probably at least half the reason why grandparents and parents the world over never know where to look when FaceTiming. (Whom amongst us hasn’t spent an hour looking at grandma’s forehead, and only her forehead?) It certainly doesn’t help that we’ve been trained the past few decades with webcams that attach to the top horizontal side of our laptops and monitors. Newer iPads have a Center Stage feature that automatically keeps you in the center of the frame while FaceTiming, which sort of helps, but it still doesn’t fix the problem of knowing where to look.
Is this also perhaps Apple suggesting that the landscape mode is the “correct” way to use the iPad? Maybe. It would certainly lend credence to the idea that Apple really wants you to use its tablets as laptop replacements—though attempts to do so have been incredibly mixed thus far. Apple has also slowly but surely begun nixing the home button on its iPads, most recently on the 2021 iPad Mini. It’s yet another sign that the line between iPads and MacBooks has blurred even further.
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In any case, the iPad has seen stellar sales during the pandemic—a time when media consumption and Zoom calls have been at an all-time high. Perhaps Apple’s design team has finally had enough of the iPad’s vertical front-facing camera. I know I have.
Feinberg Forecast: The Landscape Heading In to Oscar Shortlist Voting
PLEASE NOTE: This forecast, assembled by The Hollywood Reporter‘s awards columnist Scott Feinberg, reflects his best attempt to predict the behavior of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not his personal preferences. He arrives at these standings by drawing upon consultations with voters and awards strategists, analysis of marketing and awards campaigns, results of awards ceremonies that precede the Oscars, and the history of the Oscars ceremony itself. There will be regular updates to reflect new developments.
*BEST PICTURE*
Frontrunners
Nomadland (Searchlight)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
Minari (A24)
Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Sound of Metal (Amazon)
One Night in Miami (Amazon)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
Promising Young Woman (Focus)
Soul (Pixar)
Mank (Netflix)
Major Threats
Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros.)
News of the World (Universal)
The Father (Sony Classics)
Tenet (Warner Bros.)
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Amazon)
Possibilities
Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Focus)
First Cow (A24)
The Midnight Sky (Netflix)
Palm Springs (Hulu/Neon)
Malcolm & Marie (Netflix)
Long Shots
The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Paramount)
The White Tiger (Netflix)
The Way Back (Warner Bros.)
The Invisible Man (Universal)
*BEST DIRECTOR*
Frontrunners
Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)
Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7) — podcast
Lee Isaac Chung (Minari)
Spike Lee (Da 5 Bloods) — podcast
Darius Marder (Sound of Metal)
Major Threats
David Fincher (Mank)
Regina King (One Night in Miami) — podcast
George C. Wolfe (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)
Possibilities
Paul Greengrass (News of the World) — podcast
Christopher Nolan (Tenet)
Eliza Hittman (Never Rarely Sometimes Always)
Kelly Reichardt (First Cow)
Long Shots
Florian Zeller (The Father)
Lee Daniels (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)
Pete Docter & Kemp Powers (Soul)
Ramin Bahrani (The White Tiger)
*BEST ACTOR*
Frontrunners
Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) — podcast
Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) — podcast
Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods) — podcast
Anthony Hopkins (The Father)
Ben Affleck (The Way Back) — podcast
Major Threats
Gary Oldman (Mank)
Steven Yeun (Minari) — podcast
Tom Hanks (News of the World) — podcast [one and two]
Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) — podcast
Possibilities
John David Washington (Malcolm & Marie)
Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night in Miami)
Eli Goree (One Night in Miami)
Long Shots
LaKeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah)
George Clooney (The Midnight Sky) — podcast
Tahar Rahim (The Mauritanian)
Adarsh Gourav (The White Tiger)
*BEST ACTRESS*
Frontrunners
Frances McDormand (Nomadland)
Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman) — podcast
Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Sophia Loren (The Life Ahead) — podcast
Zendaya (Malcolm & Marie)
Major Threats
Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)
Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman)
Meryl Streep (The Prom) — podcast
Meryl Streep (Let Them All Talk) — podcast
Possibilities
Nicole Beharie (Miss Juneteenth)
Sidney Flanigan (Never Rarely Sometimes Always)
Kate Winslet (Ammonite) — podcast [one and two]
Michelle Pfeiffer (French Exit) — podcast
Long Shots
Yeri Han (Minari)
Radha Blank (The 40-Year-Old Version)
Rachel Brosnahan (I’m Your Woman) — podcast
Julia Garner (The Assistant) — podcast
Elisabeth Moss (The Invisible Man) — podcast
*BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR*
Frontrunners
Chadwick Boseman (Da 5 Bloods) — podcast
Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7) — podcast
Leslie Odom Jr. (One Night in Miami) — podcast
Paul Raci (Sound of Metal)
Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah)
Major Threats
David Strathairn (Nomadland)
Aldis Hodge (One Night in Miami)
Mark Rylance (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Glynn Turman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Possibilities
Bill Murray (On the Rocks)
Bo Burnham (Promising Young Woman) — podcast
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Long Shots
Colman Domingo (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Will Patton (Minari)
Frank Langella (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Rajkummar Rao (The White Tiger)
*BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS*
Frontrunners
Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)
Youn Yuh-jung (Minari)
Amanda Seyfried (Mank) — podcast
Olivia Cooke (Sound of Metal)
Ellen Burstyn (Pieces of a Woman)
Major Threats
Olivia Colman (The Father) — podcast
Jodie Foster (The Mauritanian)
Candice Bergen (Let Them All Talk)
Helena Zengel (News of the World)
Possibilities
Priyanka Chopra-Jonas (The White Tiger)
Dominique Fishback (Judas and the Black Messiah)
Saoirse Ronan (Ammonite) — podcast
Long Shots
Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy) — podcast
Talia Ryder (Never Rarely Sometimes Always)
Alexis Chikaeze (Miss Juneteenth)
*BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY*
Frontrunners
Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)
One Night in Miami (Kemp Powers)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Ruben Santiago-Hudson)
The Father (Christopher Hampton & Florian Zeller)
News of the World (Luke Davies & Paul Greengrass) — podcast [Greengrass]
Major Threats
The Life Ahead (Edoardo Ponti)
The Midnight Sky (Mark L. Smith)
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Peter Baynham, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jena Friedman, Anthony Hines, Lee Kern, Dan Mazer, Erica Rivinoja & Dan Swimer) — podcast [Cohen]
Possibilities
First Cow (Jonathan Raymond & Kelly Reichardt)
I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman) — podcast
The White Tiger (Ramin Bahrani)
Long Shots
The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Suzan-Lori Parks)
Shirley (Sarah Gibbons)
The Personal History of David Copperfield (Armando Iannucci)
Emma. (Eleanor Catton)
*BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY*
Frontrunners
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin) — podcast
Minari (Lee Isaac Chung)
Sound of Metal (Derek Cianfrance, Abraham Marder & Darius Marder)
Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell)
Soul (Pete Docter, Mike Jones & Kemp Powers)
Major Threats
Mank (Jack Fincher)
Da 5 Bloods (Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo, Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee) — podcast [Lee]
Malcolm & Marie (Sam Levinson)
The Forty-Year-Old Version (Radha Blank)
Possibilities
Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman)
Judas and the Black Messiah (Will Berson, Shaka King, Keith Lucas & Kenny Lucas)
Palm Springs (Andy Siara)
On the Rocks (Sofia Coppola)
Long Shots
Miss Juneteenth (Channing Godfrey Peoples)
I’m Your Woman (Julia Hart & Jordan Horowitz)
Ammonite (Francis Lee)
Tenet (Christopher Nolan)
*BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE*
Frontrunners
Crip Camp (Netflix)
Time (Amazon)
Collective (Magnolia/Participant)
Welcome to Chechnya (HBO)
The Truffle Hunters (Sony Classics)
Rest of Shortlist
Dick Johnson Is Dead (Netflix)
The Dissident (Briarcliff) — podcast [Bryan Fogel]
MLK/FBI (IFC)
City Hall (Zipporah) — podcast [Frederick Wiseman]
Boys State (Apple)
The Mole Agent (Gravitas)
On the Record (HBO Max)
The Social Dilemma (Netflix)
My Octopus Teacher (Netflix)
Notturno (Super LTD)
Possibilities
The Way I See It (Focus)
Acasa, My Home (Kino Lorber/Zeitgeist)
John Lewis: Good Trouble (Magnolia/Participant)
Totally Under Control (Neon) — podcast [Alex Gibney]
All In: The Fight for Democracy (Amazon)
The Human Factor (Sony Classics)
I Am Greta (Hulu)
Kingdom of Silence (Showtime)
The Fight (Magnolia/Topic)
Athlete A (Netflix)
Rebuilding Paradise (Nat Geo) — podcast [Ron Howard]
Long Shots
Be Water (ESPN)
Giving Voice (Netflix)
I Am Not Alone (self-distributed)
Searching for Mr. Rugoff (still seeking U.S. distribution)
Miss Americana (Netflix)
Kiss the Ground (self-distributed)
Dear Mr. Brody (still seeking U.S. distribution)
Oliver Sacks: His Own Life (Zeitgeist)
Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado (Netflix) — podcast [Cristina Costantini]
A Secret Love (Netflix)
Circus of Books (Netflix)
Still to See
40 Years a Prisoner (HBO)
76 Days (MTV)
Apocalypse ’45 (Discovery)
Assassins (Greenwich)
Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (still seeking U.S. distribution)
Beautiful Something Left Behind (MTV)
Belly of the Beast (PBS)
Belushi (Showtime)
Coded Bias (PBS Independent Lens)
Crock of Gold (Magnolia)
The Crying Steppe (Kazakhstan)
Desert One (Greenwich)
Disclosure (Netflix)
The Earth Is Blue as an Orange (still seeking U.S. distribution)
Father Soldier Son (Netflix)
Feels Good Man (Wavelength Productions/PBS Independent Lens)
Finding Yingying (MTV)
Fireball: Visitor from Darker Worlds (Apple TV+)
The Forbidden Reel (still seeking U.S. distribution)
The Go-Go’s (Showtime)
Gunda (Neon)
I Walk on Water (Grasshopper)
Mayor (Film Movement)
Me and the Cult Leader (still seeking U.S. distribution)
The Metamorphosis of Birds (still seeking U.S. distribution)
A Most Beautiful Thing (still seeking U.S. distribution)
Mr. SOUL! (self-distributed)
My People (still seeking U.S. distribution)
My Psychedelic Love Story (Showtime)
Napoli Eden (still seeking U.S. distribution)
Nasrin (Virgil Films & Entertainment)
Olympia (still seeking U.S. distribution)
Once Upon a Time in Venezuela (Topic)
The Painter and the Thief (Neon)
The Reason I Jump (Kino Lorber)
Reunited (still seeking U.S. distribution)
Rewind (Grizzly Creek)
Rising Phoenix (Netflix)
Softie (Icarus)
Stars and Strife (Virgil Films & Entertainment)
The State of Texas vs. Melissa (Filmrise)
Stray (Magnolia)
A Thousand Cuts (PBS)
‘Til Kingdom Come (Abramorama)
To See You Again (still seeking U.S. distribution)
Transhood (HBO)
Unapologetic (still seeking U.S. distribution)
The Viewing Booth (Roco)
Vivos (still seeking U.S. distribution)
Wild Daze (Cinedigm)
Wintopia (still seeking U.S. distribution)
With Drawn Arms (Starz)
Zappa (Magnolia)
*BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE*
Frontrunners
Another Round (Denmark)
Collective (Romania)
I’m No Longer Here (Mexico)
Two of Us (France)
Dear Comrades! (Russia)
Rest of Shortlist
Night of the Kings (Ivory Coast)
My Little Sister (Switzerland)
Apples (Greece)
Quo Vadis, Aida? (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Charlatan (Czech Republic)
La Llorona (Guatemala)
The Mole Agent (Chile)
Notturno (Italy)
A Sun (Taiwan)
Hope (Norway)
Other Official Submissions (alphabetical)
14 Days, 12 Nights (Canada)
Agnes Joy (Iceland)
And Tomorrow the Entire World (Germany)
Arracht (Ireland)
Asia (Israel)
Atlantis (Ukraine)
The Auschwitz Report (Slovakia)
Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (Brazil)
Beginning (Georgia)
Better Days (Hong Kong)
Blizzard of Souls (Latvia)
Broken Keys (Lebanon)
Bulado (Netherlands)
Causa Justa (Panama)
Charter (Sweden)
The Crying Steppe (Kazakhstan)
Dara of Jasenovac (Serbia)
Emptiness (Ecuador)
The Endless Trench (Spain)
Exile (Kosovo)
Extracurricular (Croatia)
The Father (Bulgaria)
Gaza Mon Amour (Palestine)
Heliopolis (Algeria)
Impetigore (Indonesia)
Jallikattu (India)
Land of Ashes (Costa Rica)
The Last Ones (Estonia)
Leap (China)
The Letter (Kenya)
Lunana a Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan)
The Man Standing Next (South Korea)
The Man Who Sold His Skin (Tunisia)
Mindanao (Philippines)
Miracle in Cell No. 7 (Turkey)
Nafi’s Father (Senegal)
Never Gonna Snow Again (Poland)
Nova Lituania (Lithuania)
Once Upon a Time in Venezuela (Venezuela)
Open Door (Albania)
Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (Hungary)
River Tales (Luxembourg)
Roh (Malaysia)
The Sleepwalkers (Argentina)
Song Without a Name (Peru)
Songs of Solomon (Armenia)
Stories From the Chestnut Woods (Slovenia)
Sun Children (Iran)
This Is Not a Burial (Lesotho)
Tove (Finland)
True Mothers (Japan)
Vitalina Varela (Portugal)
What We Wanted (Austria)
Willow (North Macedonia)
Working Girls (Belgium)
You Will Die at 20 (Sudan)