Atmospheric Science at NASA

Honorable Mention, 2008 ASLI Choice Awards. Atmospheric Science Librarians InternationalThis book offers an informed and revealing account of NASA’s involvement in the scientific understanding of the Earth’s atmosphere. Since the nineteenth century, scientists have attempted to understand the complex processes of the Earth’s atmosphere and the weather created within it. This effort has evolved with the development of new technologies—from the first instrument-equipped weather balloons to multibillion-dollar meteorological satellite and planetary science programs. Erik M. Conway chronicles the history of atmospheric science at NASA, tracing the story from its beginnings in 1958, the International Geophysical Year, through to the present, focusing on NASA’s programs and research in meteorology, stratospheric ozone depletion, and planetary climates and global warming. But the story is not only a scientific one. NASA’s researchers operated within an often politically contentious environment. Although environmental issues garnered strong public and political support in the 1970s, the following decades saw increased opposition to environmentalism as a threat to free market capitalism. Atmospheric Science at NASA critically examines this politically controversial science, dissecting the often convoluted roles, motives, and relationships of the various institutional actors involved—among them NASA, congressional appropriation committees, government weather and climate bureaus, and the military

Blind Landings

When darkness falls, storms rage, fog settles, or lights fail, pilots are forced to make "instrument landings," relying on technology and training to guide them through typically the most dangerous part of any flight. In this original study, Erik M. Conway recounts one of the most important stories in aviation history: the evolution of aircraft landing aids that make landing safe and routine in almost all weather conditions. Discussing technologies such as the Loth leader-cable system, the American National Bureau of Standards system, and, its descendants, the Instrument Landing System, the MIT-Army-Sperry Gyroscope microwave blind landing system, and the MIT Radiation Lab's radar-based Ground Controlled Approach system, Conway interweaves technological change, training innovation, and pilots' experiences to examine the evolution of blind landing technologies. He shows how systems originally intended to produce routine, all-weather blind landings gradually developed into routine instrument-guided approaches. Even so, after two decades of development and experience, pilots still did not want to place the most critical phase of flight, the landing, entirely in technology's invisible hand. By the end of World War II, the very concept of landing blind therefore had disappeared from the trade literature, a victim of human limitations

Nadejście Wieku Półcienia

Historyk z przyszłości, żyjący w Drugiej Chińskiej Republice Ludowej przywołuje wydarzenia Okresu Półcienia (1988–2093), które doprowadziły do Wielkiego Upadku i Masowej Migracji (2073–2093). Zastanawia się on, dlaczego przedstawiciele tzw. Cywilizacji Zachodniej w XX oraz na początku XXI wieku zignorowali solidną wiedzę naukową na temat zmiany klimatycznej, dopuszczając do katastrofalnych zdarzeń, które przesądziły o ich upadku. Jak doszło do tego, że samooszukiwanie zakorzenione w ideologicznym zafiksowaniu na idei rzekomo „wolnego” rynku obezwładniło najpotężniejsze narody świata w obliczu tragedii destabilizacji klimatu?This article describes the coming of the Penumbral Period, and the fall of Western civilization. Historians view 1988 as the start of the Penumbral Period, when world scientific and political leaders created a new, hybrid scientific-governmental organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to communicate relevant science, and form the foundation for international governance to protect the planet and its inhabitants. But critics claimed that the scientific uncertainties were too great to justify the expense, and the inconvenience of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change denial spread widely by the end of the millennium. The year 2009 is viewed as the “last best chance” for the Western world to save itself, as leaders met in Copenhagen, Denmark, to try to agree on a binding, international law to prevent disruptive climate change. However, in 2023, the leaders still refused to accept that what lay behind the increasing destructiveness of disasters was the burning of fossil fuels

Dismay, Dissembly and Geocide:Ways Through the Maze of Trumpist Geopolitics

Written in the still-unfolding aftermath of Donald Trump's accession to the office of President of the United States, this article picks up and expands upon some of the key points raised by Kyle McGee's Heathen Earth, particularly concerning the forms of political violence emergent in an age ever-increasingly defined by climate change and the strategies of analysis, theorisation and critique that these geohistorical developments demand. Much like McGee's book, it takes a particularly troubling contemporary political event as a spur to develop thoughts deriving from more long-term projects concerning the way we have come to divide up the world and the manner in which these divisions are contestedpublishersversionNon peer reviewe

An Absolute Flux Density Measurement of the Supernova Remnant Casseopia A at 32 GHz

We report 32 GHz absolute flux density measurements of the supernova remnant Cas A, with an accuracy of 2.5%. The measurements were made with the 1.5-meter telescope at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory. The antenna gain had been measured by NIST in May 1990 to be $0.505 \pm 0.007 \frac{{\rm mK}}{{\rm Jy}}$. Our observations of Cas A in May 1998 yield $S_{cas,1998} = 194 \pm 5 {\rm Jy}$. We also report absolute flux density measurements of 3C48, 3C147, 3C286, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.Comment: 30 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication by AJ. Revised systematic error budget, corrected typos, and added reference

A nonsynonymous mutation in PLCG2 reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia, and increases the likelihood of longevity

The genetic variant rs72824905-G (minor allele) in the PLCG2 gene was previously associated with a reduced Alzheimer's disease risk (AD). The role of PLCG2 in immune system signaling suggests it may also protect against other neurodegenerative diseases and possibly associates with longevity. We studied the effect of the rs72824905-G on seven neurodegenerative diseases and longevity, using 53,627 patients, 3,516 long-lived individuals and 149,290 study-matched controls. We replicated the association of rs72824905-G with reduced AD risk and we found an association with reduced risk of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). We did not find evidence for an effect on Parkinson's disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple sclerosis (MS) risks, despite adequate sample sizes. Conversely, the rs72824905-G allele was associated with increased likelihood of longevity. By-proxy analyses in the UK Biobank supported the associations with both dementia and longevity. Concluding, rs72824905-G has a protective effect against multiple neurodegenerative diseases indicating shared aspects of disease etiology. Our findings merit studying the PLC?2 pathway as drug-target

Genome-wide association and HLA fine-mapping studies identify risk loci and genetic pathways underlying allergic rhinitis

Allergic rhinitis is the most common clinical presentation of allergy, affecting 400 million people worldwide, with increasing incidence in westernized countries1,2. To elucidate the genetic architecture and understand the underlying disease mechanisms, we carried out a meta-analysis of allergic rhinitis in 59,762 cases and 152,358 controls of European ancestry and identified a total of 41 risk loci for allergic rhinitis, including 20 loci not previously associated with allergic rhinitis, which were confirmed in a replication phase of 60,720 cases and 618,527 controls. Functional annotation implicated genes involved in various immune pathways, and fine mapping of the HLA region suggested amino acid variants important for antigen binding. We further performed genome-wide association study (GWAS) analyses of allergic sensitization against inhalant allergens and nonallergic rhinitis, which suggested shared genetic mechanisms across rhinitis-related traits. Future studies of the identified loci and genes might identify novel targets for treatment and prevention of allergic rhinitis

A nonsynonymous mutation in PLCG2 reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia, and increases the likelihood of longevity

The genetic variant rs72824905-G (minor allele) in the PLCG2 gene was previously associated with a reduced Alzheimer’s disease risk (AD). The role of PLCG2 in immune system signaling suggests it may also protect against other neurodegenerative diseases and possibly associates with longevity. We studied the effect of the rs72824905-G on seven neurodegenerative diseases and longevity, using 53,627 patients, 3,516 long-lived individuals and 149,290 study-matched controls. We replicated the association of rs72824905-G with reduced AD risk and we found an association with reduced risk of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). We did not find evidence for an effect on Parkinson’s disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple sclerosis (MS) risks, despite adequate sample sizes. Conversely, the rs72824905-G allele was associated with increased likelihood of longevity. By-proxy analyses in the UK Biobank supported the associations with both dementia and longevity. Concluding, rs72824905-G has a protective effect against multiple neurodegenerative diseases indicating shared aspects of disease etiology. Our findings merit studying the PLCγ2 pathway as drug-target.Fil:  van der Lee, Sven J.. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Países BajosFil: Conway, Olivia J.. Mayo Clinic Cancer Center; Estados UnidosFil: Jansen, Iris. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Países BajosFil: Carrasquillo, Minerva M.. Mayo Clinic Cancer Center; Estados UnidosFil: Kleineidam, Luca. Universitat Bonn; Alemania. German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases; Alemania. University Hospital Cologne; AlemaniaFil: van den Akker, Erik. Leiden University. Leiden University Medical Center; Países Bajos. Delft University of Technology; Países BajosFil: Hernández, Isabel. Universitat Internacional de Catalunya; España. Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red en Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas ; EspañaFil: van Eijk, Kristel R.. University of Utrecht; Países BajosFil: Stringa, Najada. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Países BajosFil: Chen, Jason A.. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Zettergren, Anna. University of Gothenburg; SueciaFil: Andlauer, Till F. M.. Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry; Alemania. Universitat Technical Zu Munich; Alemania. German Competence Network Multiple Sclerosis; AlemaniaFil: Diez Fairen, Monica. University Hospital Mutua de Terrassa; España. Fundacio per la Recerca Biomedica I Social Mutua Terrassa; EspañaFil: Simon Sanchez, Javier. Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen; Alemania. Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; AlemaniaFil: Lleó, Alberto. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; España. Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red en Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas ; EspañaFil: Zetterberg, Henrik. Sahlgrenska University Hospital; Suecia. University of Gothenburg; Suecia. University College London; Estados UnidosFil: Nygaard, Marianne. University of Southern Denmark; DinamarcaFil: Blauwendraat, Cornelis. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; Estados UnidosFil: Savage, Jeanne E.. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Países BajosFil: Mengel From, Jonas. University of Southern Denmark; DinamarcaFil: Moreno Grau, Sonia. Universitat Internacional de Catalunya; EspañaFil: Wagner, Michael. Universitat Bonn; Alemania. Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen; AlemaniaFil: Fortea, Juan. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; España. Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red en Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas ; EspañaFil: Keogh, Michael J.. University of Newcastle; Reino Unido. University of Cambridge; Reino UnidoFil: Blennow, Kaj. Sahlgrenska University Hospital; Suecia. University of Gothenburg; SueciaFil: Skoog, Ingmar. University of Gothenburg; SueciaFil: Friese, Manuel A.. German Competence Network Multiple Sclerosis; Alemania. Universitätsklinikum Hamburg‐Eppendorf; AlemaniaFil: Pletnikova, Olga. University Johns Hopkins; Estados UnidosFil: Zulaica, Miren. Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red en Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas ; España. Instituto Biodonostia; EspañaFil: Dalmasso, Maria Carolina. University Hospital Cologne; Alemania. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; Argentin