Monthly Archives: September 2019

“Lieber ein bisschen besser gelebt, dafür ein bisschen länger”

37 Grad: Mit 100 ist noch nicht Schluss. (YouTube, 29min) “Drei Menschen über 100: voller Tatkraft, Humor und Lebenserfahrung. Auch, wenn alles nicht mehr so leicht ist, mischen sie sich ins Leben ein. Wie machen sie das in diesem hohen Alter?”

Zeig mir deine Welt: Die Weisheit der 100jährigen Folge 1 und Die Weisheit der 100jährigen Folge 2. (YouTube, je 44min)

“Kai Pflaume besucht 6 Menschen, die 100 Jahre und älter sind, um sich mit ihnen über ihr Leben, ihre Träume und Ziele zu unterhalten. Ist es überhaupt attraktiv so alt zu werden und gibt es einen Tipp, was man tun kann, um so alt zu werden. In der 1. Folge trifft Kai Hedwig aus Arnsberg, Walter aus Bad Segeberg und Lilo aus Hamm.” “In der 2. Folge trifft Kai Anny aus Überlingen, Willi aus Gummersbach und Ilse aus Detmold.”

USA 224

NPR: Amateurs Identify U.S. Spy Satellite Behind President Trump’s Tweet.

“Amateur satellite trackers say they believe an image tweeted by President Trump on Friday came from one of America’s most advanced spy satellites.

The image almost certainly came from a satellite known as USA 224, according to Marco Langbroek, a satellite-tracker based in the Netherlands. The satellite was launched by the National Reconnaissance Office in 2011. Almost everything about it remains highly classified, but Langbroek says that based on its size and orbit, most observers believe USA 224 is one of America’s multibillion-dollar KH-11 reconnaissance satellites.
[…]
Melissa Hanham, a satellite imagery expert and deputy director of the Open Nuclear Network in Vienna, Austria […] says she is amazed a satellite can provide such clear imagery. Spy satellites must peer down through Earth’s atmosphere, which is a bit like trying to look at objects in the bottom of a swimming pool. They also must snap their pictures while whizzing across the sky. Both effects can blur the fine details in images.

“I’m now scratching my head and curious about how they account for the effects of the atmosphere and motion of the objects,” she says.

And she says she thinks she’s not alone. Others will be trying to use the image to learn more about how USA 224 works. “I imagine adversaries are going to take a look at this image and reverse-engineer it to figure out how the sensor itself works and what kind of post-production techniques they’re using,” she says.

Hanham questions whether Trump’s tweet zinging the Iranians was worth the information this image provides to other nations, but she adds: “It’s his decision as the president.””

Uranium from a footnote in the history books

NPR Science: Have You Seen Any Nazi Uranium? These Researchers Want To Know.

“Timothy Koeth’s office is crammed with radioactive relics — old watches with glowing radium dials, pieces of melted glass from beneath the test of the world’s first nuclear weapon.

But there is one artifact that stands apart from the rest: a dense, charcoal-black cube, 2 inches on a side. The cube is made of pure uranium metal. It was forged more than 70 years ago by the Nazis, and it tells the little-known story of Germany’s nuclear efforts during World War II.”

See also:

Physics Today: Tracking the journey of a uranium cube. (01 May, 2019)

“In the summer of 2013, a cube of uranium two inches on a side and weighing about five pounds found its way to us at the University of Maryland. If the sudden appearance of the unusual metal cube wasn’t intriguing enough, it came with a note that read, “Taken from the reactor that Hitler tried to build. Gift of Ninninger.“ “