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Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) is warning about a proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services that could force foster parents to accept gender ideology and harm religious liberty. Led by Marshall‚ a group of Republican senators sent a letter on Thursday to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra expressing concern over a proposed placement rule from HHS that would dictate that minors who identify as LGBT are placed with providers who agree to affirm a child’s gender identity‚ pronouns‚ and provide them with “services that are necessary to support their health and wellbeing.” “Foster care providers’ top priority should be matching vulnerable children with a safe and loving home. Unfortunately‚ under the Biden Administration‚ moral and religious values are under attack by the far Left’s endless pursuit to further their LGBTQ+ agenda‚” Marshall told The Daily Wire. “We are fighting back against the Biden Administration’s woke gender ideology and pronoun politics. Their new proposed rule aims to exclude faith-based foster care providers from helping children in need — not on my watch.” Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR)‚ Markwayne Mullin (R-OK)‚ Mike Lee (R-UT)‚ Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS)‚ and John Barrasso (R-WY) also signed on to the letter‚ first obtained by The Daily Wire‚ which urges HHS to rescind the rule. The Republicans say that the proposal would make foster parents who want to shield children from gender ideology guilty of “child abuse.” “The premise of this proposal is that any foster care provider who does not ‘affirm’ a child’s sexual orientation or gender that differs from his or her biological sex is perpetuating and committing child abuse and will be shunned for failing to support the foster child’s ‘health and wellbeing‚’” the letter said. “All children in foster care‚ regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity‚ deserve a safe and proper placement. However‚ this proposal goes beyond statutory requirements to force states to adopt extreme gender ideology in their placement decisions. Congress intentionally gave states the authority to make those determinations‚ but HHS has usurped that authority to impose its own woke ideology in place of states’ judgments‚” the senators added. Additionally‚ the senators noted that the rule from the Biden administration would require states to place children with sex-specific facilities in line with their “self-identified gender.” The letter said that this “undermines the safety and security of foster youth and is inappropriate‚ as children are in different stages of their development.” The letter also raised concerns about what the rule would do for states that work with faith-based foster care organizations. If faith-based organizations do not comply with the proposed placement rule for kids who identify as LGBT‚ they may be prohibited from working to provide homes for children any longer. CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP The lawmakers also noted that the rule could cause conflict in states where transgender procedures on children have been banned. “These procedures can cause irreparable harm to children‚ many of whom have inconsistent parental guidance and lack the physiological development that is necessary to make an informed decision of such consequence. States should not be penalized for acting to protect the children of their state‚” the letter said. Over a dozen Republican attorneys general have already written to HHS in opposition to the proposed rule. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said that he would consider suing the administration if the rule goes into effect.

This Complete List Of Mac DeMarco Albums And Songs presents the full discography of Mac DeMarco  studio albums. Mac DeMarco was born on April 30‚ 1990‚ in Duncan‚ British Columbia‚ and raised in Edmonton‚ Alberta. He began his music career under the alias Makeout Videotape in the late 2000s‚ releasing several self-produced recordings. However‚ he rose to prominence after adopting his real name and releasing his debut solo album‚ Rock and Roll Night Club‚ in 2012. Mac DeMarco Studio Albums Rock and Roll Night Club Released: March 13‚ 2012 Rock and Roll Night Club is the debut studio album by The post Complete List Of Mac DeMarco Albums And Songs appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

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A mere 200 million years ago‚ the supercontinent of Pangea split apart and created the continents we see on Earth today‚ separated by vast oceans. It’s easy to think these mighty landmasses are here to stay‚ but it’s likely that another supercontinent will grace our planet in the future. It’s very hard to predict what this supercontinent might look like‚ but scientists suspect that all the continents except Antarctica could join together around the north pole around 200 million years from now‚ forming the new supercontinent "Amasia".Alternatively‚ all the continents might come together around the equator in about 250 million years‚ a theoretical supercontinent called "Aurica".Depending on which of these scenarios actually occurs‚ the global climate of Earth will be very‚ very different. In 2020‚ scientists at Columbia University's Earth Institute showed what the climate of potential supercontinents might look like in the deep future. Their study was presented online at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union in December 2020.How land could be distributed in the Aurica supercontinent (top) versus Amasia. The future land configurations are shown in gray‚ with modern-day outlines of the continents for comparison.Image credit: Way et al. 2020Under the Amasia scenario‚ where the land is gathered at the north pole‚ the whole planet will enter an Ice Age. The Earth’s current set-up allows heat to transfer from the equator to the poles through winds and ocean currents‚ but without any land in the way‚ the heat is not easily transferred to the poles. In turn‚ the poles would be significantly colder and covered in ice all year round.Furthermore‚ the increase in ice sheets would also act a bit like a mirror and reflect sunlight back out of the atmosphere‚ known as ice-albedo feedback‚ making the planet even cooler. With Amasia‚ "you get a lot more snowfall‚" Dr Michael Way‚ lead researcher and a physicist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies‚ an affiliate of Columbia University’s Earth Institute‚ said in a statement."You get ice sheets‚ and you get this very effective ice-albedo feedback‚ which tends to lower the temperature of the planet‚" noted Dr Way.In the Aurica scenario‚ it would be a very different picture. The land gathered closer to the equator would absorb the stronger sunlight there‚ leading to higher temperatures. This effect would also be amplified by the absence of polar ice caps‚ which reflect heat out of Earth's atmosphere. The result would be a landmass that perhaps looks like the beaches of South America with drier inlands. The modeling also indicated that liquid water would exist on around 60 percent of Amasia's land‚ as opposed to 99.8 percent of Aurica's. The researchers say this insight could help to inform astronomers when looking for potentially habitable planets in our galaxy that can harbor liquid water.An earlier version of this article was published in January 2021.

Since we found out about energy‚ right up until the point we found out it violated the laws of physics‚ people have dreamed of creating a perpetual motion machine. Perpetual motion machines are devices that‚ once started‚ could theoretically remain in motion forever without adding any additional energy to them. Many people have strived to create such a machine‚ all with zero success. Early designs for such a device include the Perpetuum Mobile of Villard de Honnecourt. This device‚ proposed between 1225 and 1235‚ was supposed to sustain the motion of a wheel by attaching weights to it "For a long time the masters have been discussing how to make the wheel turn on its own‚" Villard wrote. "Here’s how the thing can be done by a fixed number of mallets or with quicksilver."The problem was‚ of course‚ that the amount of force required to lift the mallets to the top of the arc is more than the wheel gains from those mallets dropping down on the other side. This video demonstrates how it works in practice.             As you can see‚ rather than delivering free energy forever‚ it just sort of stops immediately without additional energy (a big push) being put into the system.Such machines were dismissed instinctively as absurd long before Newton's pesky laws ruled them out."Oh‚ ye seekers after perpetual motion‚ how many vain chimeras have you pursued?" Leonardo da Vinci supposedly said of those attempting to make such devices. "Go and take your place with the alchemists".Da Vinci could be accused of playing both sides‚ as his notebook contained designs for several different perpetual motion machines (though it's unlikely he thought they would work)‚ including a slightly different version of a spinning wheel with weights. It works pretty well‚ albeit with the constant energy input of a finger.         Perpetual motion machines do not work because they would violate the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The first law – that energy cannot be created or destroyed‚ only changed in form – means that you cannot get out more energy than you put in‚ rendering this pursuit useless to anyone hoping to use a perpetual motion machine to generate energy.If you wanted a device to spin by itself forever‚ you are also out of luck courtesy of that second law‚ which states that the entropy of an isolated system increases over time‚ and that heat always flows "downhill" from hotter to colder regions. In practical terms‚ it tells us that as energy is transferred and transformed‚ some of that energy is spread out and "wasted"‚ e.g. through heat loss via friction. As the machine goes around‚ the system will lose energy as heat and through friction‚ making even the most well-designed "perpetual motion machine" stop eventually‚ if not immediately as above.That doesn't mean that people haven't pretended to have invented machines through the years‚ with the result that patent offices do not accept claims of perpetual motion machines anymore. One fun example of a "perpetual motion machine" housed in the Royal Society was created by scientist David Jones under the pseudonym "Daedalus".    The wheel has moved around for decades‚ though it does require undisclosed adjustments now and then. The machine‚ made for fun by Jones‚ of course does violate the laws of physics. Some hidden mechanism‚ likely concealed within the black boxes on the wheel's spokes or the pipes and boxes beneath it‚ must provide additional energy to keep the wheel moving. However‚ the real method is kept secret‚ and won't be revealed for three decades."Many have tried to discern the disguised workings of Daedalus’s perpetual motion machines‚" Virginia Mills of the Royal Society‚ which houses the device‚ wrote of it in 2018. "But I’ve heard that only one person ever suggested the right answer to its creator."All “explainer” articles are confirmed by fact checkers to be correct at time of publishing. Text‚ images‚ and links may be edited‚ removed‚ or added to at a later date to keep information current.

A long-lost species of orchid had scientists scrambling over the summit of Mount Nok on Waigeo – a remote island in West Papua‚ Indonesia – in the hopes of tracking it down. The successful expedition not only rediscovered the blue beauty Dendrobium azureum‚ but also stumbled upon a new-to-science species that was bright red.The blue orchid hadn’t been seen in 80 years‚ motivating a team joined by Kew orchidologist Dr André Schuiteman to go in search of it in 2020. In their search for D. azureum‚ they summited the extinct volcano Mount Nok on Waigeo‚ which is the largest of the four main islands in the Raja Ampat archipelago.Their efforts were rewarded as the volcanic hunt yielded not one but two orchid discoveries: the blue orchid was alive and well‚ and they got a second new-to-science species to boot.The newly discovered orchid species was related to the blue one as a fellow Dendrobium sp. orchid‚ but instead of azure flowers‚ it had bright red ones. It was named Dendrobium lancilabium‚ subspecies wuryae‚ in honor of Hj. Wury Estu Handayani Ma’ruf Amin for her contributions to the conservation of orchids and other local flora in West Papua province.    It joins nine other orchid subspecies to be named from Indo-China and Southeast Asia since December 2022 by Schuiteman and his local partners. The search for “lost” species like D. azureum is something that scientists worldwide are doing for a host of animal‚ plant‚ and fungi species. Success stories in recent times include bioluminescent fairy lanterns and tap-dancing spiders‚ but finding a lost and new species together is a double win in the context of climate change.“It is imperative now‚ more so than ever‚ that we do everything in our power to go out into the field with our partners and work out which species of plants and fungi we haven't given a scientific description yet‚” said Dr Martin Cheek‚ Senior Research Leader in RBG Kew’s Africa Team in a release sent to IFLScience. “Without doing so‚ we risk losing these species without ever even knowing they existed.”“That is not to say the outlook is completely bleak. It is an incredibly exciting time to be a scientist but even as we make these wonderful new discoveries‚ we must remember that nature is under threat‚ and we have the power to do something about it.”The study is published in Orchideen Journal.

China's Zhurong rover was the first Chinese mission to land on Mars‚ exploring one of the Red Planet’s largest impact basins: Utopia Planitia. This area was first visited by Viking 2 in 1976 and thanks to decades of technological advancement‚ Zhurong has delivered new insights into the planet's make-up. It turns out‚ the rover found 16 polygonal structures buried beneath the Martian surface.The formation was discovered 35 meters (115 feet) underground using Zhurong's ground penetratingradar. Scientists believe these polygons were formed by freeze-thaw cycles that led to the formation of cracks in the terrain‚ which was originally on the surface. As seen in other areas on Mars‚ sublimation and freezing can carve the terrain in peculiar ways; just look at the so-called spiders on Mars. This process may have been going on for billions of years.Previous work has focused on the vertical layers of the region‚ which indicate that there have been several episodic floods that filled the basin‚ roughly around 3 billion years ago. The new study uncovered what the layers are like horizontally by looking at the radar analysis across the 1.9 kilometers (1.2 miles).Formation scenario for the polygonal structure buried under Utopia Planitia.Image credit: Zhang et al‚ Nature Astronomy 2023 (CC BY 4.0)Mars used to be a volcanic world: the tallest volcano in the Solar System is on Mars. Some geological activity persists to this day‚ with marsquakes recorded on the Red Planet by NASA’s InSight. So‚ the researchers considered the possibility that the buried structure had a lava origin. On Earth‚ there are several examples of these‚ such as the Giant's Causeway. However‚ there was no evidence of basaltic extrusions where Zhurong had explored. The team is confident that the structures are sedimentary‚ formed from thermal processes in varying climates.And that’s an intriguing consequence of this study. If the polygonal structures required freezing-and-thawing events‚ the climate of ancient Mars ought to have been a lot more variable. Utopia Planitia is at low-to-mid latitudes. The area is 25 degrees north of the Martian equator. But the planet might have had had a higher obliquity‚ so the region might have experienced wildly different seasons.The layers indicate more has happened in the past. The polygonal structures were buried in layers of material that look nothing like them. Maybe the wet environment that formed them stopped existing‚ or some other unknown geological event took place.  “Occurring at low latitudes (∼25° N)‚ the polygonal terrain‚ which is interpreted as having most likely formed by thermal contraction cracking‚ makes a compelling case for the high obliquity of early Mars. The subsurface structure with the covering materials overlying the buried palaeo-polygonal terrain suggests that there was a notable palaeoclimatic transformation some time thereafter‚” the authors wrote.The study is published in Nature Astronomy.