Goodable

NASA just picked a solar scientist to become the agency's science chief. Nicola Fox, the former top scientist on the Parker Solar Probe mission, has been named as NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate. In her previous role, Fox lead groundbreaking research on the sun, including a better understanding of solar wind and how it affects planets and satellites. Now, she'll be leading the charge overseeing some of the agency's most exciting and high-profile missions.
But that's not all - Fox will also be heading up a NASA study group on UFOs (that’s Unidentified Flying Objects). NASA chief Bill Nelson praised Fox's appointment, saying that she has been instrumental in making the complex world of heliophysics accessible to the public. With an annual budget of roughly $7 billion, the Science Mission Directorate plays a vital role in NASA's efforts to explore the mysteries of the universe, from probing for past life on Mars to studying distant galaxies with the James Webb Space Telescope.

Nicola Fox Just Became the First Female Head of Science at NASA

The Guardian

For a week, Molly the border collie was somewhere out in New Zealand’s alpine backcountry, missing after her owner fell 55 metres during a hike. On Tuesday, she was finally found sitting near the foot of a waterfall, and brought home.

The rescue happened after public donations paid for a volunteer helicopter team to search for the dog in the Campbell Range in the Arahura Valley, on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island.

Molly had been missing since 24 March, when her owner, Jessica Johnston, tumbled down the drop and was seriously injured. Johnston was rescued by helicopter, but Molly was nowhere to be seen.

Finding the dog again was always going to be difficult. The accident happened in a remote part of the New Zealand wilderness, and there is no official funding to rescue animals lost there.

Lillian Newton, of Precision Helicopters, said she still believed Molly might be alive.

“The chances of finding the border collie were slim given the remote location of the accident on the Campbell Range in the Arahura Valley, in the West Coast region of New Zealand’s South Island. But Lillian Newton, of Precision Helicopters, said she had ‘a gut feeling’ that Molly was still alive.”

Newton said the small family business wanted to help, but could not afford to pay for a private search itself. Helicopters cost about $50 a minute to run.

“We rang Jess and made sure she was okay for us to put it to the public,” Newton said. “The goal was to get $2,400 and some volunteers that were experienced to come along.”

The response was fast. Within eight hours, the appeal had raised $11,500 from what Newton called “complete strangers across New Zealand”, and donations were closed. After that, the rescue plan came together.

Newton described the southern alps, where Molly went missing, as “extremely remote, rough, bushy and wet.” Even so, a team of experienced volunteers stepped in and used their human search-and-rescue skills for a dog mission.

Georgia, a volunteer, flew in from Christchurch with thermal imaging gear. Wayne, a helicopter crewman, also joined the mission. He brought his Jack Russell, Bingo, as emotional support in case Molly was frightened. Newton’s father, Matt, a former rescue helicopter pilot, flew the helicopter.

“They went directly to the spot where the owner, Jessica, had fallen. And much to our surprise, Molly was there,” Lillian Newton said.

Molly was found at the foot of the waterfall, in what Newton called a “challenging little spot”. She was surrounded by sharp, mossy rocks and spraying mist.

The rescue team thought Molly may not have fallen down the waterfall with Johnston. Instead, they believed she may have spent the week slowly making her way back toward the last place she had been with her owner.

To get her out, Matt Newton hovered the helicopter low while Wayne climbed out. He offered Molly a bit of sausage, then picked her up and carried her back to the aircraft. Video of the rescue shows Molly under Wayne’s arm, while Bingo is tucked under the other.

None of the people involved knew Johnston or Molly before the mission. But Newton said the mood changed quickly once they were able to pass on the news that the dog had been found.

“Someone told me that I would be ‘lotto lucky’ to find her, so for it all to pay off is just amazing,” Lillian Newton said.

Newton said Johnston had been lucky that water broke her fall, but her injuries were still serious. She suffered a split elbow and was bruised from head to toe. At the same time, she had spent the week dealing with not knowing what had happened to Molly.

“I’d say she’ll heal up a lot better now,” Newton said.

In a Facebook post, Johnston said it had been “a bloody rough week, but with both of us back home I can add this adventure to the list. Still a great trip before our lives got turned upside down.”

📸 credit: Precision Helicopters

A Missing Border Collie Was Just Rescued Near a Waterfall After a Week On The Run

ABC7 - LA

Orange County has its first adult wheelchair softball team, giving players a new way to compete and connect.

With help from the Angels Baseball Foundation, the Miracle League of Orange County now has an ADA-accessible baseball field at Pioneer Park in Anaheim. The Miracle League organizes baseball teams for developmentally and physically challenged children, and it has now added its first adult team.

The softball team uses a bigger ball, and players do not use gloves. Coach Michael Rosenkrantz said the game takes skill.

"If you've never hit a softball, a large softball from a seated position, it's really, really difficult. So, all the people have the skills to play and play well to the best of their ability," Rosenkrantz said to ABC7.

For players, the team is also about getting back to a sport they love.

"To be playing softball again is a great thing for me. I played in high school all 4 years. I played a little bit in college. I feel like I'm used to being who I was, so to be able to play again is everything," player Amber Machowski said to ABC7.

Rajesh Garg said the friendships matter as much as the game.

"Playing the sport is one thing, and having this community and wonderful friends is totally another thing. They are family," Garg said.

Rosenkrantz said the team is helping make sports more inclusive.

"I don't like using the word 'normal,' but we're normalizing people being able to play no matter what their ability level is. That's the important stuff to us, and I see that," he said.

The team's goal is to see other inclusive softball teams join them so they can start a league of their own.

📸 credit: socal_adaptive_sports

Orange County Launches First Adult Wheelchair Softball Team

Fox News 29 San Antonio

A heart attack behind the wheel sent an SUV swerving across Loop 410 in San Antonio this month, and a stranger’s split-second move brought it to a stop.

New details are emerging about the incident in early March near Harry Wurzbach, where a driver lost control of his SUV after suffering a heart attack.

Video shows the SUV weaving across lanes of traffic and narrowly missing other vehicles, including an 18-wheeler. Moments later, it crashed into a concrete barrier, then bounced back into moving traffic.

People watching quickly realised something was seriously wrong.

“Oh no! No! No! Somebody needs to stop him,” one person can be heard saying in the video.

That is when Rene Villarreal stepped in. Villarreal, a 29-year-old welding and construction business owner who lives on the Northeast Side, said he pulled his pickup truck in front of the out-of-control SUV and hit the brakes, forcing it to stop.

“I just acted off instinct,” Villarreal said to Fox News 29. “It was too fast to really process. I’m shocked.”

A nurse who saw the crash pulled over and started CPR. Paramedics arrived within 15 minutes.

The driver, identified only as Ben for privacy reasons, had suffered a heart attack caused by 100 percent blockage. He spent six days in hospital.

His family said he is alive because of Villarreal’s actions. "Man, I feel good. It feels great,” he said.

Villarreal said he is still processing what happened. “Ben, I hope you’re doing good, man,” he said. “I faced it that day, and I’m glad you’re alright.”

📸 credit: Fox News 29

This Man Stopped a Runaway SUV, Saving a Stranger’s Life

Science Daily

Lasers have been around since the 1960s, and now researchers are trying to do something similar with sound.

Scientists at the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology say they have developed a new type of squeezed phonon laser that can precisely control tiny vibrations, known as phonons, at the nanoscale.

Traditional lasers work by controlling photons, which are individual particles of light. In recent decades, researchers have extended that idea to other kinds of particles, including phonons, which are tiny units of vibration or sound.

The team said controlling phonons could open the way to new capabilities, including access to quantum effects such as entanglement.

Their findings were published in Nature Communications. The researchers said they guided these minute vibrations to act in a coordinated, laser-like way.

Nick Vamivakas, the Marie C. Wilson and Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Optical Physics with the URochester Institute of Optics, had previously demonstrated a phonon laser in 2019. That work used an optical tweezer in a vacuum to trap and levitate vibrations.

The new work focused on a problem common to all lasers: noise.

The researchers said unwanted fluctuations interfere with signals and limit accuracy, making it harder to use the system for precise measurements.

"While a laser looks to the naked eye like a steady beam, there's actually a lot of fluctuation, which causes noise when you're using lasers for measurement," Vamivakas says. "By pushing and pulling on a phonon laser with light in the right way, we can reduce that phonon laser fluctuation significantly."

To reduce that noise, the team used a technique called squeezing. The researchers said squeezing cuts the natural thermal noise in the phonon laser, which allows much more precise measurements.

According to Vamivakas, the approach can measure acceleration more accurately than methods based on traditional light lasers or radio frequency technologies.

The researchers said that added precision could make phonon lasers useful for measuring gravity and other forces with exceptional accuracy.

They also said the technology may have a role in future navigation systems. Researchers have proposed quantum compasses as highly accurate, "unjammable" alternatives to GPS that do not rely on satellites, and the team said phonon lasers could help move those ideas closer to reality.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation.

📸 credit: Credit: University of Rochester / J. Adam Fenster

A New “Sound Laser” Could Measure Gravity With Stunning Precision — and Replace GPS Altogether

Talker News

For Spencer Pratten, slowing down did not mean stepping away from soccer.

The 71-year-old grandfather from Great Waltham, near Chelmsford in Essex, has been named walking soccer's top international player after captaining England's over-60s side to three major titles. Pratten, a semi-retired chartered surveyor and lifelong West Ham fan, has also led Chelmsford City and says he would like to see the sport reach the Olympics.

Pratten played semi-professional soccer for more than 20 years and carried on in veterans soccer until he was about 60. He turned to walking soccer about 10 years ago after finding 11-a-side too physical.

"11-a-side was getting a bit physical by that time," Pratten said.

"But walking soccer is nothing like people portray. They think it's old men stumbling around, but it's energetic and fun. All I wanted to do was carry on playing soccer, albeit at a slower pace."

He joined the England squad in 2018 and captained the team in its first match that year at the Amex Stadium in Brighton against Italy.

Pratten then led England to victory in the first European Nations Cup in about 2021, before the team won the first World Cup at St George's Park with a 3-1 win over France in the final. In October last year, England beat Ireland 1-0 in Spain to win a second World Cup.

"There's only been three major competitions and we've won all three," Pratten said.

He has now captained England over-60s in 55 matches and scored 44 goals.

Pratten was compared with Lionel Messi after receiving the player award, but he said the resemblance starts and ends with height. He joked that he and the Argentina great are both about 170 centimetres tall.

"I'm still getting my head around it," he said.

"I'm definitely Messi, that's what my partner Claire says I'm like around the house, anyway. I'm also a short arse... Both Lionel Messi and me are 5 feet 7 inches, so I'm more like Messi than Ronaldo. It is a nice label to have, though."

The Walking Football Association divides players into age groups by decade, including people in their 50s, 60s and 70s. Matches are played on pitches about a quarter the size of a full soccer field.

The sport has three main rules. Players must walk and not run, there is no physical contact, and the ball must stay below head height.

Pratten spent eight years with Chelmsford City's over-60s team and has recently moved into the over-70s side. He said that squad still includes five players in their 80s.

The game has grown quickly. England has more than 1,200 walking soccer clubs, and it is now played in 88 countries. Pratten said England had an early lead because the sport started there.

"Because it started in England, we were probably three or four years ahead of the game," he said.

"It's an incredible sport, but it's the camaraderie and health, both mental and physical, that's just brilliant for people in their 60s and 70s. It's a very inclusive game. It's like being back at school, with the banter and ribbing, which is what we miss most about soccer."

"Soccer has been a huge part of my life and now it continues to be."

Pratten said walking soccer gave him a way back into the game after he had to stop playing.

"Walking soccer has changed my life. Everybody's got something they loved but you get to an age where it fades out," he said.

"Soccer is my real love and when I had to stop playing, it was a real shock."

"But walking soccer came along and has opened up a whole new spectrum for people like me. My advice to anybody who's missing the game and wants to get back into fitness is to go on the WFA website, find a club and give them a ring. If you're over 50, you've got 20 or 25 years more soccer ahead of you."

He also believes the sport could one day make it to the Olympics.

"It's not an Olympic sport yet, but looking at some Olympic sports, I wouldn't be surprised if it did become one," Pratten said. I would like to see it as an Olympic sport."

Paul Carr, founder and president of the Federation of International Walking Football Associations, said Pratten stood out at the recent World Nations Cup. 

"Having seen a number of excellent walking footballers at the recent World Nations Cup, our view was that Spencer by far was the best," Carr said.

"The sport was only invented 13 years ago, but it's now being played in 88 countries, which is pretty amazing."

📸 credit: Talker News

Walking Soccer Granddad, 71, Compared to Lionel Messi for Remarkable Skills

Even with a moon mission on the clock, Reid Wiseman had time for a dad photo.

The NASA astronaut posed with his two daughters, Ellie and Katherine, in front of the SLS rocket that is expected to be launched this evening. Wiseman is commander of the Artemis II mission.

Wiseman lost his wife to cancer in 2020 and raised his teenage daughters while training for the mission.

In a post shared on Tuesday, he wrote: "Dad, we can’t leave the rocket without a .5 together!!” I love these two ladies, and I’m boarding that rocket a very proud father."

A ".5" is a type of image taken with the ultra-wide-angle lens on a smartphone or camera, usually at 0.5x zoom. It captures a broader field of view than a standard photo.

NASA said on Monday: "The countdown for NASA’s Artemis II test flight is underway at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with members of the launch team arriving at their consoles inside the Rocco Petrone Launch Control Center.

Artemis II is the first crewed launch of NASA’s SLS, or Space Launch System, rocket and Orion spacecraft.

The test flight will take Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, along with Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency, around the Moon and back to Earth.

NASA Astronaut Shares Family Selfie Before Today's Lunar Mission

Science Alert

Water gets stranger the colder it gets, and researchers now say they have pinned down a hidden turning point in supercooled water that refuses to freeze.

In a new study, an international team reports more direct evidence that water can split into two liquid phases under extreme conditions, one high-density liquid and one low-density liquid. The researchers also found evidence of a critical point beyond which those two phases give way to a single liquid state with highly unstable molecular structure.

Scientists have long theorised about this behaviour in supercooled water, liquid water kept well below its usual freezing point through pressure and temperature controls. But getting a clear look at it has been difficult because these states sit right at the edge of freezing. The study describes that region as a kind of “no man’s land” for measurements.

“What was special was that we were able to X-ray unimaginably fast before the ice froze and could observe how the liquid-liquid transition vanishes and a new critical state emerges,” said chemical physicist Anders Nilsson, from Stockholm University in Sweden.

“For decades there has been speculations and different theories to explain these remarkable properties and one theory has been the existence of a critical point. Now we have found that such a point exists.”

To capture the changes, the team used rapid heating with infrared lasers and ultra-fast X-ray snapshots. The researchers engineered ice, then pushed it through the liquid-liquid state, across the critical point, and into the fluctuating single-liquid state while tracking what happened on extremely short timescales.

The exact location of the critical point still has not been pinned down, but the new work narrows the search. The researchers think it sits around minus 63 degrees Celsius and about 1,000 atmospheres of pressure.

The study also found that the critical point behaves in a way the researchers compared to a black hole. As water gets closer to that point, the liquid’s internal dynamics slow down and changes in structure take much longer. According to the researchers, that means the liquid cannot avoid the transition.

The findings add to a long list of odd behaviour in water. One familiar example shows up in a glass. Most matter shrinks and becomes denser as it cools, but water does not behave that way, which is why ice cubes float instead of sinking.

The researchers say this latest work gives physicists a stronger basis for explaining those unusual properties. It also points to wider questions, because water is involved in physical, chemical, biological, geological, and climate-related processes.

“Researchers studying the physics of water can now settle on the model that water has a critical point in the supercooled regime,” Nilsson said.

“The next stage is to find the implications of these findings on water's importance in physical, chemical, biological, geological, and climate-related processes.”

The study also points to another reason water keeps attracting attention. The researchers said water differs from other liquids not only because of its unusual physics, but also because it is essential to life, as far as we know.

“I find it very exciting that water is the only supercritical liquid at ambient conditions where life exists and we also know there is no life without water,” said chemical physicist Fivos Perakis, from Stockholm University.

The research has been published in Science.

📸 credit: POSTECH University, South Korea

Water Has a Hidden Critical Point Just Before Freezing, Scientists Find

ABC17 Pheonix

For 11-year-old Miles Boyd, a Florida vacation meant boats, beaches and buckets of fun. It also gave him something he had never had before, his first trip to the ocean and a close look at baby sea turtles on the beach at night.

"I had never been to the ocean before," Miles said to ABC17 Phoenix. "So seeing that just wowed me. It was amazing!"

Miles said the experience stayed with him.

"The ocean is so mysterious," says Miles. "It's such a big place, and the fact that these turtles can move but are so tiny, and when they go in the ocean, they get to hundreds of pounds."

The trip to Palm Beach County, Florida, came through Make-A-Wish Arizona. For Miles and his family, it was a dream vacation after what his mother described as a living nightmare.

"I couldn't imagine losing him," Miles' mom, Natasha, said.

Natasha said that fear hit when she learned her son had a cancerous brain tumor.

"The world just stopped," Natasha says about the moment she found out the devastating news. "I just sat on the floor and cried."

Miles said he was scared too.

"I'm just a kid, you know what I mean?" he says. "It's a lot to handle all at once."

Miles went through three brain surgeries, countless hours of therapy and rehab, and he had to take a chemo medication twice daily. After all of that, his family’s trip to Florida became a break they said meant much more than a getaway.

The vacation gave Miles a chance to do things he had not done before, including seeing the ocean for the first time and watching baby sea turtles on the beach at night. He said it also changed how he looked at what he had been through.

"It showed me that... I can keep going," he says. "I started at the lowest of lows, and now, I'm on a beach - it just gave me confidence and motivated me that I could keep going."

The trip was granted through Make-A-Wish Arizona, which fulfilled 476 wishes last year alone. Since it was founded in 1980, the organization has granted more than 8,500 wishes.

Across the globe, Make-A-Wish has granted more than 650,000 wishes since 1980.

Miles is now set to help the group that helped him. He and Nick Ciletti will co-host Make-A-Wish Arizona's Wish Ball on Saturday.

"It showed me that... I can keep going," he says. "I started at the lowest of lows, and now, I'm on a beach - it just gave me confidence and motivated me that I could keep going."

📸 credit: ABC17 Phoenix

Make-A-Wish Arizona Creates Sea Turtle Adventure for San Tan Valley Boy

Frontier

A legged robot that can size up several rocks in one go, instead of waiting for humans to guide every step, has passed an early test for future Moon and Mars missions.

Dr Gabriela Ligeza, a former PhD student at the University of Basel who is now a postdoctoral researcher at the European Space Agency, recently tested a semi-autonomous exploration system with colleagues. The team equipped a quadrupedal robot with measurement tools designed to investigate multiple targets quickly and collect mineralogical data.

The results, published in Frontiers in Space Technologies, showed the system could quickly investigate several targets, identify promising rocks, and return data useful for astrobiology and in-situ resource utilization, or “living off the land”.

Ligeza said the work tested a different model from current planetary surface missions, which tend to operate cautiously. On Mars, communication delays between Earth and rovers are typically between four and 22 minutes. Limits on uplink and downlink data transfer also mean scientists must plan operations in advance.

Rovers are also built to save energy, stay safe, and move slowly across hazardous terrain. That limits exploration to a small part of the landing site. According to the article, rovers typically travel up to a few hundreds of meters per day, making it harder to collect geologically diverse data.

The team instead tested a semi-autonomous robotic explorer that could investigate multiple targets one by one and collect data without constant human intervention. Their results showed that semi-autonomous robots fitted with compact instruments could speed up resource prospecting and the search for “biosignatures”, meaning evidence of life, on planetary surfaces.

Rather than stopping to investigate a single rock under continuous supervision, the robot could move to multiple targets and perform measurements at each location on its own.

The researchers asked a simple question: could a robot with a relatively simple scientific payload quickly study several targets and still produce meaningful scientific results? Their answer was yes. The study found that compact instruments could still meet the full scientific objective of identifying rocks relevant for astrobiology and resource exploration.

To test the concept, the team used the quadrupedal robot ANYmal. It carried a robotic arm fitted with two instruments: the microscopic imager MICRO and a portable Raman spectrometer developed for the ESA-ESRIC Space Resources Challenge.

The work involved the Robotic Systems Lab at ETH Zurich, ETH Zurich | Space, the University of Zurich, and the University of Bern.

The experiments took place in the “Marslabor” facility at the University of Basel. The site simulates planetary surface conditions using analogue rocks, regolith materials, and analog lighting conditions. In the tests, the robot autonomously approached selected targets, positioned its instruments with the robotic arm, and sent back images and spectra for analysis.

The system identified a range of rock types relevant to planetary exploration, including gypsum, carbonates, basalts, dunite, and anorthosite.

The article said many of those rocks are scientifically significant. It pointed to lunar-analog rocks such as dunite, which is rich in olivine and oxides, and anorthosite, which contains anorthite, along with oxides such as rutile, as possible signs of valuable resources for future space missions.

The team then compared two ways of working. One was a traditional single-target approach closely guided by scientists. The other was a semi-autonomous multi-target strategy in which the robot carried out measurements at several locations in sequence.

The semi-autonomous missions were faster. Multi-target missions took between 12 and 23 minutes. A human-guided mission took 41 minutes to complete comparable analyses.

The faster pace did not stop the robot from producing strong results. In one test run, all selected targets were correctly identified.

The study said this approach could let future missions survey large areas of planetary surfaces more quickly. Scientists could then review the incoming data and choose the most promising locations for closer study.

It also argued that future missions may not need to rely only on large, complex instrument suites. Agile robots using relatively simple instruments could rapidly scan the environment and flag promising targets for detailed investigation.

As space agencies prepare missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond, the study said semi-autonomous systems could help scientists survey larger areas in less time, while supporting resource prospecting and the search for possible signs of past life.

Here's How These 4-Legged Robots Could Speed Mars and Moon Exploration

She arrived with the clothes she was wearing and little else. Three months later, Tina Gomez says her apartment has furniture, kitchen items and some of the dignity she felt she had lost.

Gomez, 60, showed Fox SA's Ryan Wolf around her apartment at a Tarry Towne property on Vance Jackson Road, part of Opportunity Home San Antonio. The visit was emotional for her.

“I felt sad because I was coming to a place with nothing,” she told Fox News 29.

After being forced to leave her previous rental, Gomez said she had to start over without furniture, kitchen items or stability. She turned to a social worker for help, and that led her to Maria Ramos, a resident coordinator at the complex.

Gomez said Ramos did far more than she expected.

“She said, ‘Give me two, three days,’” Gomez recalled. “And sure enough, within those days, she had everything for me.”

Gomez said Ramos helped fill the apartment with a full kitchen set, living room and bedroom furniture, rugs, dishes and silverware. Some of those items, Gomez said, were bought by Ramos with her own money.

“I wish that there were more people like her,” Gomez said.

Ramos has worked with Opportunity Home San Antonio for nearly 30 years, helping residents in need rebuild their lives, according to Fox SA. Gomez wanted to thank her, but Fox SA had another surprise planned.

As part of the station’s Cash for Kindness contest, Ramos was surprised at her office. Gomez used the moment to tell her what the help had meant.

“I just want you to know I’m so grateful,” Gomez told her. “You’ve been a blessing.”

Then Wolf revealed the award.

“This $1,000 represents the Cash for Kindness prize on behalf of our new sponsors, Manuel & Sons A/C and Heating and FOX SA,” he said.

Ramos said she was stunned by the recognition.

“It just feels amazing. Thank you. I feel great,” she said. “Giving goes a long way. Even if it’s me using my own personal funds it pays off.”

Ramos said she plans to use part of the money to keep helping other people, something Fox SA said she has done for decades. She believes she has helped hundreds of residents like Gomez.

For Gomez, the help came at a time when she said she had almost nothing.

The apartment she showed Wolf was the same place she had entered three months earlier with no furniture and no household basics. Gomez said the change in that short time came from Ramos stepping in after she asked for help.

Gomez’s account of those first days was simple. She said she had nowhere else to turn after losing her previous rental and arriving at the new apartment empty-handed. Ramos asked for a few days, Gomez said, and then followed through.

The support covered the basics of daily life, from furniture for the bedroom and living room to dishes, silverware, rugs and a full kitchen set. Gomez said that gave her a home she could live in again.

“Giving goes a long way. Even if it’s me using my own personal funds it pays off,” she said.

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