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☆ White House releases report on reflecting sunlight to cool the earth, no formal study planned now
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The Biden-Harris administration has no plans underway to launch a comprehensive research program into solar radiation modification, according to a senior administration official. 'Risk vs risk'For decades, solar radiation modification has been relegated to the realm of science fiction. The White House report focuses on two methods of solar geoengineering. But it also has a lot of unknown risks — what the White House report called "known unknowns." Critically, solar radiation modification is not a permanent solution.

Persons: Harris, Chelsea Thompson Organizations: Biden, White, Office of Science, Technology, Consolidated, NOAA, SRM, European Union, European Commission Locations: United States

☆ Powerful solar flares have been causing radio blackouts on Earth — here's a time-lapse video of 4 years of intense storms on the sun
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The sun is about to enter a peak activity period, letting off space weather-causing solar flares. These solar flares aren't dangerous but have caused sporadic radio blackouts on Earth. A few powerful solar flares have already sent space weather towards our planet in recent months. NOAA/InsiderHere's what this looks like:In the time-lapse video, solar flares appear as an intense brightening of a region on the sun. How solar flares can lead to radio blackoutsDuring certain space weather events, such as solar flares, solar energetic particles travel down geomagnetic field lines in the polar regions.

Persons: —, Mathew Owens, We're, aren't Organizations: Service, NOAA, NASA, University of Reading, Federal Aviation Administration, Riverton Locations: Riverton , Utah, New Mexico, Belgium

The skin care and beauty industry is booming and bringing in over $90 billion worldwide. On average, Americans spend $722 on their appearance, including skin care, each year, according to a November 2022 survey of over 1,000 people from Advanced Dermatology. Ashleigh MitchellAshleigh Mitchell was walking out of a Sephora store in Times Square NYC when we stopped her to inquire about her daily skin care routine. Hyram YarbroHyram Yarbro is a well-known skin care influencer who's amassed 4.5 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. As an influencer and founder of her own skin care line, beauty products are one thing Louise doesn't mind spending a lot on.

Persons: Adeline Kikam Dr, Adeline Kikam, Dr, Ciara, Ashleigh Mitchell Ashleigh Mitchell, Ashleigh, Hyram, who's, it's, It's, Georgia Louise Georgia Louise, Louise doesn't, Louise, Toner, Charlotte Tilbury, Fallon Fonrose Fallon Fonrose, Fonrose, Natasha Caddy Organizations: Dermatology, CNBC, YouTube, Crown Locations: New York City, Square, Georgia, Korean

☆ A brilliant cosmic burst 100 times as bright as our galaxy came from 2 black holes circling each other, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Chris Panella | Jessica Orwig | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Huge cosmic bursts are coming from two black holes circling each other in a distant galaxy. In this case, the flare came from a binary system consisting of two black holes trapped in a rapid dance. A cosmic burst 100 times brighter than our galaxyThe recorded burst, which astronomers observed in February 2022, occurred when the smaller black hole crashed into a disk of gas surrounding the larger black hole, the study's scientists said. Up to this point, its presence was only predicted through observations of its gravitational influence on the larger black hole. An illustration of the binary black hole system, OJ 287, showing the massive black hole surrounded by an accretion disk.

Persons: —, Mauri Valtonen, Valtonen, Swift, Cruz, they've Organizations: Service, Royal Astronomical Society, ESO, ESA, Hubble, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, NASA, OJ, University of Turku Locations: OJ287

☆ Time-lapse video shows increasingly powerful solar storms raging as the sun becomes its most active in a decade
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A time-lapse video shows the sun getting more chaotic over the past four years. That's because solar activity could impact Earth, creating bursts of electromagnetic energy that can affect everything from the power grid to GPS signals. NOAA/InsiderAs solar activity ramps up, more sunspots and eruptions have been appearing on the sun's surface, sending solar winds into the universe that can hit our planet. Here's what this looks like:In the time-lapse video, solar flares appear as an intense brightening of a region on the sun. Meanwhile, the sun's surface appears gradually less homogenous, indicating more magnetic activity at the surface.

Persons: —, Mathew Owens, We're, aren't, Owens Organizations: Service, NOAA, University of Reading, NASA Locations: Riverton , Utah, New Mexico, Belgium

☆ No Shame. No Sorrow. Divorce Means It’s Party Time in Mauritania.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Ruth Maclean | Laura Boushnak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Under a sliver of brightening moon, the young woman, Iselekhe Jeilaniy, sat gingerly on a mat, careful that the wet henna on her skin would not smudge, just as she had on the eve of her wedding day. But she was not getting married. She was getting divorced. The next day would be her divorce party. She was busy posting henna pictures on Snapchat — the modern version of a divorce announcement.

Persons: Iselekhe Jeilaniy, Iselekhe, Jeilaniy’s, “, ” Ms, Jeilaniy Locations: West African, Mauritania

☆ From diversity to accessibility, can technology change the way we think about beauty for the better?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Flo Cornall | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —When Bold Glamour launched on TikTok earlier this year, it started a storm on social media. Some on social media were impressed by the technology, but many expressed concern about the way filters can promote unrealistic beauty standards. While there is growing unease about the way technology is impacting our ideas of beauty, some believe it can also change our attitudes to beauty for the better. Social media and filtersDigital filters and augmented reality (AR) have become an intrinsic part of how people represent themselves online. “Thanks to social media we’ve been able to access a multi-diverse pool of representation of what beauty looks like,” she said.

☆ Positive Alzheimer's drug trial data pushes Eli Lilly shares to another all-time high and brightens our outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

LLY 1Y mountain Shares of Eli Lilly over the past 12 months. The FDA granted accelerated approval to an anti-amyloid drug — developed by Japanese pharmaceutical firm Eisai and U.S.-based partner Biogen (BIIB) — in early January. For Eli Lilly, specifically, Seigerman said the donanemab data appears to be a "home run." Eli Lilly said two participants in the Phase 3 trial died due to ARIA side effects, while a third patient did after a serious ARIA incident. The Eli Lilly logo is shown on one of the company's offices in San Diego, California, September 17, 2020.

☆ To my son, born in the climate crisis: I see signs of hope
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Bill Weir | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

The first looked at the twin crises of Covid and climate change as River was born; the second introduced him to Earth Day and what he could do. Watch Weir investigate “How to Unscrew a Planet,” on CNN’s “The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper,” Sunday at 8 p.m. Energy from clean sources, like this windmill in Texas, is heating and cooling more homes in America than ever before. “We call it climate intervention,” Kelly Wanser told me as we sat under bluebird skies and the Washington Monument. So far, it feels like your future will be marked in new stories to frame our wants and needs, and new tools to build Life As We Know It Could Be.

☆ Webb telescope takes striking image of planet Uranus
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a new stunning image of ice giant Uranus, with almost all its faint dusty rings on display. Uranus has 13 known rings, with 11 of them visible in the new Webb image. A November Hubble image of Uranus (left) captured the planet's bright polar cap, while the recent Webb image displayed more detail, with a subtle enhanced brightness at the cap's center. With the exact mechanism behind the haze unknown, scientists are studying the polar cap using telescope images such as this new Webb image. In this new Webb image, similar to other recent images by the Hubble Space Telescope, storm clouds can be seen at the edge of the polar cap.

☆ Oil rises 2% in retreat from 15-mth low as banking fears subside
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Fears of a banking crisis and a recession have eased, brightening the oil demand outlook at least for now," said Fiona Cincotta, Senior Financial Markets Analyst at City Index. Wall Street indexes also closed sharply higher on Tuesday as fears over liquidity in the banking sector abated and market participants eyed the Fed. Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil inventories rose by about 3.3 million barrels last week, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures. OPEC+ sources told Reuters the drop in prices reflects banking fears rather than supply and demand. The CEO of energy trader Gunvor, Torbjorn Tornqvist, said he expected oil prices to move higher toward year end as rising Chinese demand tightens the market further.

It exceeds in being a smart alarm clock, and it can you give control of your smart devices. It's meant to function as a very smart alarm clock while giving you the ability to control your smart home, video chat, see pictures of cute animals, and stream video. Lowest Price Amazon Echo Show 5 The second-gen Echo Show 5 is a compact smart display that's perfect for use as a smart alarm clock on your bedside table. And while it works as a decent smart alarm clock, it won't blow you away as anything beyond that. The Amazon Echo Show 8 offers a much larger screen and better speakers than the Amazon Echo Show 5.

The second-generation Google Nest Hub compact design that's perfect for a nightstand. Deal Google Nest Hub (2nd gen) Released in 2021, the second-generation Google Nest Hub is a cameraless smart display that can automatically track your sleep habits, making it ideal for the bedroom. Steph Coelho/InsiderThe second-generation Google Nest Hub looks pretty similar to its predecessor, with just a few minor tweaks that make it more aesthetically pleasing. Privacy featuresSince the Google Nest Hub is geared towards bedside use, there isn't a camera like with many other smart displays. The Google Nest Hub is worth the price, especially for Google Home fans.

☆ Shares skid, bonds face worst February since 1981 as US rates set to rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Samuel Indyk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The concern now is not so much over global recession, but over the prospect of there being little respite any time soon from higher interest rates. MSCI's All-World index of global shares (.MIWD00000PUS) was last roughly steady on the day, but still close to Friday's seven-week low. Since then, a slew of U.S. and euro area economic data has reinforced the view that interest rates will rise further and stay high for longer. U.S. two-year Treasury yields , the most sensitive to shifts in expectations for interest rates, have risen by 60 basis points this month to almost 5%. Fed funds futures are fully pricing in a 25-bps rate rise from the Fed next month, with around a 20% chance of a larger 50-bps hike.

☆ Reflecting sunlight to cool the Earth must be studied before climate change gets much worse, urges group of 60 scientists
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Greenhouse gas emissions must be immediately and urgently reduced, as that's the only permanent way to limit global warming. "Even with aggressive action to reduce GHG emissions it is increasingly unlikely that climate warming will remain below 1.5-2°C in the near term," the scientists wrote. "Aerosols from human activities are currently estimated to be offsetting about a third of greenhouse gas climate warming," the scientists wrote. Cirrus cloud thinning, CCT, which involves putting aerosols into cirrus clouds to reduce the amount of infrared radiation that the Earth retains. In some cases, they might be less harmful if used in some combination, the scientists wrote.

☆ After Mexican government cracked down on solar geoengineering, startup lets off balloons in Nevada
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Essentially, solar geoengineering is mimicking what happens when a volcano erupts, and it's known to work. Solar geoengineering is not a solution to climate change, and nobody who studies it rigorously suggests it should be. Injecting sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere could damage the ozone layer, cause respiratory illness and create acid rain. The White House is coordinating a five-year research plan into solar geoengineering, the quadrennial U.N.-backed Montreal Protocol assessment report included an entire chapter addressing stratospheric aerosol injection (more colloquially called solar geoengineering), and Dustin Moskovitz, a co-founder of Facebook , is funding solar geoengineering research via his philanthropic organization, Open Philanthropy. The Nevada launch was previously detailed by Time reporters, who were there.

LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto (RIO.AX), (RIO.L) posted a 38% drop in annual profit and more than halved its dividend on Wednesday, hurt by weaker iron ore prices as demand from China slowed, while higher labour and material costs also ate into earnings. Strict COVID-19 curbs in top steel producer China curtailed economic activity last year, dragging down iron ore prices from lofty levels a year earlier. The world's top iron ore producer said China consumption showed signs of rebounding and commodity prices had found support in recent months, although the economy remained volatile. Rio Tinto last year earned an average realised price of just $106.10 per dry metric tonne (dmt) of iron ore, down from $143.80 per dmt in 2021. Rio Tinto reported underlying earnings of $13.3 billion for 2022, compared with a record $21.4 billion in 2021.

As a result, the world's largest listed miner reported underlying profit attributable from continuing operations of $6.6 billion, down from $9.72 billion a year earlier. That missed a Vuma Financial estimate of $6.82 billion, as earnings from copper and coal came in lower than analysts had expected. Shares of the global miner fell as much as 2.8% to A$47.11, their lowest since Jan. 6 and were down 2% at 0138 GMT in a broader market (.AXJO) that was down 0.5%. BHP also said it expected aggressive global interest rate hikes from last year to slow growth sharply across the developed world. BHP has threatened not to invest in Queensland after the state hiked its coal royalties to the highest rate in the world.

The conventional wisdom holds that a resurgent China will be inflationary for the global economy as demand for energy, commodities and resources increases. The MSCI Asia ex-Japan index is on course for its third weekly fall, a cold reality check on the heels of a five-week winning streak. Chinese stocks are also on track for a third weekly fall, snapping a winning run of four. There are already indications that the outlook for Sands China is brightening - gambling revenue in Macau surged more than 80% in January and shares of Macau gaming companies like Sands China have more than doubled in the past three months. chartThe People's Bank of China (PBOC) has been ramping up liquidity injections this year to assist the post-COVID recovery, and loan growth is expected to continue also.

☆ Wall Street's biggest firms are warning their clients not to trust the stock market rally with trouble still on the way for the US economy and corporate earnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( William Edwards | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Stocks have responded positively, with the S&P 500 rising as much as 9.3% since the start of the year. "An improvement in US and global macro data has lifted the S&P 500 by 8% YTD and leads us to lift our 3-month S&P 500 target to 4000 (from 3600). Morgan StanleyMike Wilson, the bank's chief US equity strategist, has been warning of downside in the S&P 500 to fall for weeks now. In other words, this earnings recession is not priced, in our view." Wilson had the most accurate price target for the S&P 500 in 2022 among major Wall Street Strategists.

Jan 31 (Reuters) - Big investors are dipping their toes into crypto waters again after a bumper month for bitcoin. Bitcoin was far and away the biggest draw, with funds tracking it responsible for $116 million of that. They said shorter-term investors were selling their bitcoin at a profit, while longer-term "HODlers" were still sticking with their coin and not contributing to selling pressure. Additionally, bitcoin's "dominance" or share of the total crypto market has hovered around 41% this month, levels not seen since last July. Analysts at Citi said this mimicked a similar jump in bitcoin dominance in April 2019, when a bitcoin rally marked a crypto market bottom.

A new trading year kicked off just weeks ago. After languishing throughout last year, growth stocks have zoomed higher. Tesla Inc. and Nvidia Corp., for example, have jumped more than 30%. The outlook for bonds is brightening after a historic rout. Even bitcoin has rallied, despite ongoing effects from the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX.

☆ Germany Sees Its Economy Growing This Year Despite the Ukraine War
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Tom Fairless | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

German has avoided the worst-case scenarios for its economy, Economy Minister Robert Habeck says. FRANKFURT—The German economy will grow this year and might even avoid a shallow recession in the short term, the government said on Wednesday, the latest sign of brightening growth prospects in Europe despite the shock of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Europe’s largest economy is likely to expand by 0.2% this year, the German Economy Ministry said Wednesday in its annual economic report, revising up an autumn forecast for a 0.4% contraction.

☆ Oil rises, posts second week of gains on China demand outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Oil rose by about $1 a barrel on Friday and posted second straight weekly gain, spurred largely by brightening economic prospects for China and resulting expectations of a boost to fuel demand in the world's second-biggest economy. "The oil market has been down on global recession fears, but it is still showing signs it can remain tight a little while longer," he said. Oil rose despite U.S. inventory figures this week showing crude stockpiles rose by 8.4 million barrels in the week to Jan. 13 to about 448 million barrels, the highest since June 2021. A price cap on Russian oil, which has been rippling through the global market, is helping to boost crude prices, said Jim Ritterbusch of consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates. "Sanctions and caps on Russian crude are gradually acquiring some price impact and will become more of a bullish factor when last month's influx of Russian crude cargoes is absorbed into the global market," Ritterbusch said.

☆ CEOs around the world are bracing for a recession — but recent economic numbers leave some room for optimism
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Surveys indicate CEOs predict a recession and economic uncertainty in 2023. Insider's Matt Turner said he'd observed a "slight change in tone" from leaders at Davos this week. In a survey by PwC of some 4,400 CEOs in about 100 countries in October and November, nearly three-quarters said they believed global economic growth would slow over the next 12 months. The consultancy characterized the stark prediction as the most pessimistic CEOs have been about economic forecasts since it began asking this question a dozen years ago. "Many still expect a global recession that's more keenly felt in Europe.

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