Screenshot of Obama via WFAA YouTube Channel A new memoir, “Undercover Heartbreak: A Memoir of Trust and Trauma,” reveals that a top Secret Service agent breached protocol by inviting his then-girlfriend…

In the earliest moments of the Universe, the first photons were trapped in a sea of ionized gas. They scattered randomly with the hot nuclei and electrons of the cosmic fireball, like tiny boats in a stormy sea. Then, about 370,000 years after the big bang, the Universe cooled enough for the photons to be free. After one last scattering, they could finally ply interstellar space. Some of them traveled across 14 billion years of space and time to reach Earth, where we see them as part of the cosmic microwave background. The remnant first light of creation. The CMB is a central point of evidence supporting the Big Bang and the standard model of cosmology. By observing the scale of fluctuations within the CMB, we can measure things such as the shape of space, the distribution of matter and energy, and the rate of cosmic expansion. It’s that last one that has been troubling astronomers, thanks to the Hubble tension problem. Astronomers have several ways to measure the Hubble parameter, the value of which tells us the rate of cosmic expansion. The methods generally fall into two types: those based on observations of the CMB, and those based on astrophysical phenomena such as supernovae. The problem is that these two types of methods don’t agree on the value. They even contradict each other, leading some astronomers to argue there must be something wrong with the standard model. Polarization fluctuations within the CMB. Credit: SPT-3G Collaboration Of the two types, the CMB method is the one with the most limited data. The best CMB observations we have come from space telescopes such as Planck, which measured fluctuations in CMB intensity. One solution to the tension problem would be to argue that the CMB observations are somehow biased. But new observations gathered by the South Pole Telescope (SPT) throw that idea out of the water. Rather than measuring intensity fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background, the SPT observed variations in its polarization. All the CMB light we observe comes from a moment of last scattering, when photons scattered off an ion one last time before making the billion-year journey to reach us. When light is scattered, it is polarized relative to the distribution of ionized gas. So these observations are a truly independent measure of cosmic expansion. Different modes of CMB polarization. Credit: Sky and Telescope One challenge in working with polarized CMB data is that as the first light traveled through space, it interacted with matter, space, and time. Not only is the light red-shifted due to cosmic expansion, it is gravitationally lensed by galaxies, which changes the polarization. Some of the light scatters off interstellar gas, which gives a false polarization. Even ripples of gravitational waves can affect the light’s orientation. So the team looked at not just the raw polarization of the CMB, but also what are known as E-mode and B-mode polarization. Each of these is sensitive to different kinds of bias. For example, the E-mode is more sensitive to secondary scattering, while the B-mode is more sensitive to cosmic inflation and gravitational waves. By combining and contrasting these polarization modes, the team was able to calculate a new value for the Hubble parameter. Since it isn’t based on intensity fluctuations, it is free of any bias in the space-based CMB observations. Based on their data, the team got a value of H₀ at 66.0–67.6 (km/s)/Mpc. This agrees with the intensity-based observations of WMAP and Planck, which found a value of 67–68 (km/s)/Mpc. In comparison, the astrophysical methods find a value of 73–75 (km/s)/Mpc. This study confirms that earlier CMB observations are not biased. The Hubble tension is very real, and we currently have no clear way to resolve it. Reference: SPT-3G Collaboration. “Cosmology From CMB Lensing and Delensed EE Power Spectra Using 2019-2020 SPT-3G Polarization Data.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2411.06000 (2024). The post A New Look a the Most Ancient Light in the Universe appeared first on Universe Today.

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SYDNEY, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Adapting to a sea level rise of up to 0.5 metres (1.64 feet) will cost the three most vulnerable Pacific atoll nations nearly $10 billion - equivalent to about 20 years of gross domestic product - the World Bank said in a report on Thursday. Kiribati, Tuvalu and Marshall Islands are among the smallest, most remote and dispersed countries in the world, spread across 6.4 million square kilometres (2.47 million square miles) of Pacific Ocean, where residents live at an...

President-elect Donald J. Trump is wasting little time in taking on the three governmental institutions that most frustrated his political ambitions during his first term and making clear he will not brook resistance in his second. With his selections of lieutenants to lead the Justice Department, Pentagon and intelligence agencies, Mr. Trump passed over the sorts of establishment figures he installed in those posts eight years ago in favor of firebrand allies with unconventional résumés...

Dancing is one of those things that comes easier to some people than it does to others. Having no rhythm seems to be a lot like being tone deaf: no matter how hard you try it takes a herculean amount of effort just to get it remotely close to what you're trying to replicate. But some people have rhythm and are simply untrained on how to use it which is when dance teachers or tutorials come in handy. When TikTok was first developed, it was mainly an app where people made dancing trends and tutorials. You can still find dance videos on the app but it's mostly been taken over with skits, life advice, politics, trad wife content and more. But recently a content creator named Ace has been delighting people with random live videos of him teaching people from different parts of the world how to dance. It's unclear how or when it started since it looks like someone came across the live and decided to screen record it. Ace uploads the screen recordings onto his platform putting them all in one place. It is truly like watching a impromptu dance class because clearly some of the dancers are repeat attendees based on their interactions. The "classes" seem to be full of men from countries that don't speak English so the communication is a little spotty at times but they make it work. man jumping on the middle of the street during daytime Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash In one video Ace is teaching them how to do the "superman" from Soulja Boy's song "Crank That." It starts off a little rocky as Ace speaks loudly trying to convey the five men need to copy his moves. "Listen, follow me. What I do, you do. Got it? No own moves. Do not bring your own moves up here. I need you being precise" Ace shouts just before the music begins to play again.That's when one of the men seems to have a bit of a personal issue happening with his backside that the TikTok dance instructor has to tell him to leave alone. The entire interaction is comical but wholesome. The men appear to be really invested in learning this dance @thefvmousace I HAD TO TAKE EM BACK REAL QUICK? #trending #jokess #stream #fypシ #explorepage✨ ♬ original sound - Ace ♠️ In another video, Ace teaches a different group of men how to do Jackson 5's "ABC" dance. Of course the communication barrier had the instructor a little stressed. One man named Babar struggled to understand what Ace was asking him to do but eventually got it so the class could resume. People cannot get enough of these videos as they provide a form of escapism from stress. One person asks, "Is the world…. Healing ?!???"Another shares, "This is exactly what we need." @thefvmousace Babar had me stressed ????#jokes #streaming #trending #fypシ ♬ original sound - Ace ♠️ "TikTok gotta be the only place where u see America happy," someone else surmises. "TikTok is a real view into the world usually. The news would have you believe we're in an apocalypse. Irl, most people are chilling," another person chimes in.While Ace's dance classes won't actually bring world peace, it's certainly a nice break from the current stressors people are feeling. Besides, who doesn't like a little dance break?