The Government's own watchdog tells us that delaying climate action will increase energy and transport costs for UK households. We want to see Rishi Sunak's sums to see what he based his decision on. As we approach the next general election all political parties must pledge their continued commitment to follow the science and listen to the independent advice of the Climate Change Committee." Most Read

To celebrate International Astronomy Day, Assistant Curator Matthew Howles takes an in-depth look at the most iconic of astronomical instruments: the telescope. Making a historically sympathetic telescope mirror involves two key processes: first, the metal is cast in the shape of a disc; then, the surface of the disc is ground and polished to a smooth, accurate mirror finish. Speculum metal is now virtually obsolete as a material, but thanks to the virtuoso skills and tireless efforts of some truly talented contemporary artists, we were able to meet this somewhat unpredictable challenge head-on. Transformed: our speculum metal mirror before (left) and after (right) polishing. Even though some light pitting remains in the mirror’s surface, this doesn’t affect its optical quality. Credit: Matthew Howles. Albert says: "I don't know when Cheryl's birthday is, but I know that Bernard does not know too," and Bernard states: "At first I don't know when Cheryl’s birthday is, but I know now." This then prompts Albert to say: "Then I also know when Cheryl's birthday is." The mind-melting maths puzzle seems like a basic logic question on the surface, as you're given a bunch of information on some made-up people - these ones are called Albert, Bernard, and Cheryl - and asked to come up with a solution to the question using the information given in the question itself.Cheryl's birthday is July 16. The geniuses at Singapore's Study Room worked out the answer to provide the solution, and said it has to be July 16 as there's no other solution that would allow both Albert and Bernard to know the answer without conferring with each other. Many functionalities are demanded to this subsystem. Since it is under rotation, the mechanical balancing must be assured through an adequate stabilization to take care of the deformation which may affect the reflective surface. Modern LIDAR systems for aerospace applications require complex optical elements whose performance and lighter weight must be improved to meet growing application requirements. Metallic optics are a good choice to achieve the desired performance. Following that statement, Bernard knows that May and June are ruled out. Then, Bernard is able to know which month it is. So it must be either July 16, August 15, or August 17 (not the 14th as then he can't know for sure whether it's July or August). Since Albert subsequently can also be sure of the date, he must know it's July. If it's August, he can't be sure as it could be August 15 or 17." A static balancing of this lightened mirror was provided. In particular, the original mass of 205 g was reduced to 154 g. Therefore, the mirror total mass was cut by 25% (from 415 to 311.8 g).

Field doesn’t want to carpet the Arctic in glass. Instead, she plans on distributing it strategically to protect some particularly fast-melting, vulnerable areas, like the Fram Strait, a thin passage between Greenland and Svalbard. According to results of a climate model she presented last December at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, treating the Fram Strait could lead to large-scale ice regrowth across parts of the Arctic.

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This measurement principle is usually referred to as time of flight (ToF). ToF can be obtained by sending through a laser a pulsed signal, and by measuring the phase and frequency of the reflected light signal with respect to a reference. A tweet with almost 7,000 likes said: "How is a zombie virus get buried in a frozen lake? And why did they dig it up? That doesn't even make sense". Xu C, Peng X, Liu J et al (2022) (2022) A high efficiency and precision smoothing polishing method for NiP coating of metal mirror. Micromachines 13:1171. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13081171 The interferometric measurement pointed out that the fabricated mirror must be finished and measured in the same way as the final assembled configuration; otherwise, it exceeds the required limits, as evidenced in the free arrangement.