Magazine Posts

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The eggs from this gigantic chicken may form into stars. The featured emission nebula, shown in scientifically assigned colors, is cataloged as IC 2944 but known as the Running Chicken Nebula for the shape of its greater appearance. Seen toward the bottom of the image are small, dark molecular clouds rich in obscuring cosmic dust. Called Thackeray's Globules for their discoverer, these "eggs" are potential sites for the gravitational condensation of new stars, although their fates are uncertain as they are also being rapidly eroded away by the intense radiation from nearby young stars. Together with patchy glowing gas and complex regions of reflecting dust, these massive and energetic stars form the open cluster Collinder 249. This gorgeous skyscape spans about 60 light-years at the nebula's estimated 6,500 light-year distance.

Photo by Stefan Steve Bemmerl

The quiet of morning,
awakes from a blast
of insanity.
What words are lies?
What words are truths?
The difference will
affect us all.
The virus still lives on,
in the lives of others,
infecting all.
Receive the vaccines',
this is a must
unless it's a choice
for living a life
completely without trust.

What happened to life,
where did it fail?
My wife is confined
in a memory jail.
No more the friends
to visit with she,
as the word Dementia
caused most to flee.
What must I share?
Holding her tight
in my arms, to help
her to be not lonely at night?
I see her as often
as I can possibly do
and protect her from the harm
she has fallen into.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The mission was to document night-flying birds -- but it ended up also documenting a beautiful sky. The featured wide-angle mosaic was taken over the steppe golden fields in Mértola, Portugal in 2020. From such a dark location, an immediately-evident breathtaking glow arched over the night sky: the central band of our Milky Way galaxy. But this sky had much more. Thin clouds crossed the sky like golden ribbons. The planet Mars appeared on the far left, while the planets Saturn and Jupiter were also simultaneously visible -- but on the opposite side of the sky, here seen on the far right. Near the top of the image the bright star Vega can be found, while the far-distant and faint Andromeda Galaxy can be seen toward the left, just below Milky Way's arch. As the current month progresses, several planets are lining up in the pre-dawn sky: Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and Saturn. Did you know? Many APODs have links for adventure & humor

Photo by Miguel ClaroTWAN

Medicare finalized its decision to restrict its coverage of Aduhelm, Biogen’s new Alzheimer’s disease drug, on April 8, 2022.The decision means only patients who have enrolled in clinical trials , will receive Medicare coverage for Aduhelm which goes by the generic drug name of Aducanumab. Read more

Words flow
off her tongue, like honey.
Sweet words of love's
temptation and
promises made.

Am I embittered?
Yes I am.
Life was not to be
As ugly,
as today.
My loving friend
Has gone away.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What's that approaching? Astronauts on board the International Space Station in 2010 first saw it far in the distance. Soon it enlarged to become a dark silhouette. As it came even closer, the silhouette appeared to be a spaceship. Finally, the object revealed itself to be the Space Shuttle Endeavour, and it soon docked as expected with the Earth-orbiting space station. Pictured here, Endeavour was imaged near Earth's horizon as it approached, where several layers of the Earth's atmosphere were visible. Directly behind the shuttle is the mesosphere, which appears blue. The atmospheric layer that appears white is the stratosphere, while the orange layer is Earth's Troposphere. Together, these thin layers of air -- collectively spanning less than 2 percent of Earth's radius -- sustain us all in many ways, including providing oxygen to breath and a barrier to dangerous radiations from space. Coming up Friday: Earth Day 2022

Photo shared by Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American

Four forces are propelling the rising rates of depression among young people. Read more

Oh Vanity, thou have a name.
It has been said by others,
to those who appear vane.
" There is no conceit in your family,
as you have it all."

A frog, a fox
and a ring-tailed shrew,
were very bored,
having nothing to do
Until they encountered the
notorious fellow, Mr. Fitch.
He was a mean one, was he.
Often referred to as a son of,
ask him no questions,
he'll tell you no lies,
he is that type of a guy.