D.C. area forecast: Slowly but steadily marching toward spring

TODAY’S DAILY DIGIT 8/10: EXPRESS FORECAST Today: FORECAST IN DETAIL While we can’t rule out winter returning at some point during March, the short-term is definitely a solid step toward spring. We didn’t quite hit 5o yesterday, but starting today that shouldn’t be a problem. Sunshine and 50s today and tomorrow continue to melt the snowpack, with an even milder day on tap for Wednesday. Before then we may have some Tuesday rain to deal with. Today (Sunday): Tonight: For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Keep reading for the forecast into midweek… Tomorrow (Monday): Tomorrow night: Moon rise behind the Capitol. (Kevin Ambrose) A LOOK AHEAD Low pressure approaches the region from the southwest on Tuesday. This time, there’s really no question as to precipitation type. It’s going to be rain. A 30% chance in the morning increases to about 70% later in the day. Even with the cloud cover and likely rain showers, highs should make it to the low-to-mid 50s. Showers remain possible (50% chance) Tuesday night with lows in from near 40 to the low 40s. Confidence: Medium Wednesday SNOW POTENTIAL INDEX 1/10 (→):


Report slams cycling union for protecting Lance Armstrong

it criticized the UCI for accepting such large sums from an athlete, particularly one under suspicion for drug use. The report also notes that Armstrong’s doping wasn’t much different from the kinds of practices that had become endemic to the sport. Most of the commission’s criticism is directed not at Armstrong but at UCI leadership. Two former UCI presidents, Hein Verbruggen and McQuaid, are accused of prioritizing business over sporting conduct. The position of president is described as “autocratic” in the report, while McQuaid is termed a “weak leader.” Verbruggen, who read an advanced copy of the report, told the Dutch news agency ANP that he considered it unfair, according to the New York Times. “There is a lot of what we could have done better, but that’s easy to say 25 years later,” he said. “And there is a lot of criticism of me; I was a dictator and was too close to Armstrong. They had obviously come up with something.” Both Verbruggen and McQuaid were among those interviewed by the commission. Cycling’s increased visibility and commercial success under Verbruggen and McQuaid’s leadership paralleled the rise of synthetic hormones like EPO. The use of these drugs made it impossible for clean riders to compete, and by the end of the 1990s, the report said, athletes faced the decision of doping or dropping out. That culture persists today, even in the wake of the Armstrong scandal. One cycling professional told the commission he suspected that 90 percent of the peleton (the main crowd of cyclists in a given race) was doping, though it was impossible to tell who. The report concludes with more than 10 pages of recommendations to combat cycling’s drug culture, including the establishment of a whistleblower desk, the creation of a more effective anti-doping strategy, working with pharmacies and national governments to secure supply chains and combat illegal drug use, and the implementation of nighttime drug tests (which prevent “micro-dosing”). Armstrong, who was interviewed by the commission and is fighting to overturn a lifetime ban from cycling imposed by the USADA, welcomed the report. “I am grateful to [the commission] for seeking the truth and allowing me to assist in that search. I am deeply sorry for many things I have done,” he said in a statement. “It is my hope that revealing the truth will lead to a bright, dope-free future for the sport I love,


Federal employees who worked during the 2013 shutdown can join this lawsuit

The Justice Department on Monday will notify legions of federal employees that they can sue the government for not paying them on time during the partial shutdown of 2013. The alerts, required under a court order, will inform personnel who worked during the budget lapse that they can join a lawsuit claiming the government owes them damages under the Fair Labor Standards Act. If the plaintiffs prevail, shutdowns could become more costly for the government, putting pressure on Congress to avoid budget lapses or amend federal law so that agencies can pay their employees on time during partial closures. National Park Service personnel remove the barricades from the World War II Memorial as the government reopens in 2013. (Astrid Riecken/Washington Post). The lawsuit seeks compensation of $7.25 per hour for work between Oct. 1 and Oct. 5 of 2013, the period for which the government had to delay paychecks because of the budget lapse. “Many workers took months to recover financially from the impact of the government shutdown,” said Heidi Burakiewicz, an attorney with the D.C. law firm representing the plaintiffs. “They should not be financially punished for circumstances beyond their control.” The executive branch was dealing with circumstances beyond its control as well. The Antideficiency Act requires all agencies to cease operations during a budget lapse unless they are vital to national security or funded through sources beyond appropriations. Nonetheless, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Chief Judge Patricia E. Campbell-Smith ruled in August that the government violated the Fair Labor Standards Act with its failure to pay the employees on time. The judge has not yet decided whether the employees in the lawsuit are entitled to damages. The plaintiffs plan to file for a summary judgment by late June. Five U.S. Bureau of Prisons personnel brought the original claim in October 2013, but about 5,000 federal employees have joined the action since then. Monday’s notices are required under an order last year from Campbell-Smith. About 1.3 million federal employees worked during the 2013 shutdown, but some are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act, including executives, high-level supervisors and other salaried personnel. Those individuals would not qualify to join the lawsuit. Here's a look back at the main characters, events and oddities during the 16-day government shutdown. Clarification:


Spyware vendor may have helped Ethiopia target journalists – even after it was aware of abuses, researchers say

Ethiopian Satellite Television, which is commonly known as ESAT. "This is a really tenacious attempt to crack down on freedom of expression." Zeleke became suspicious when a message arrived in his inbox in December with an attachment claiming to have information about upcoming elections. Normally, that's the sort of information ESAT is eager to get its hands on: Ethiopia is ruled by a government notoriously unfriendly to the press — leaving much of the independent journalism on local affairs to outfits such as ESAT that operate outside of the country but rely on sources from inside Ethiopia. But editors and reporters at ESAT have become wary of e-mails from unknown senders in recent years — and for good reason. In 2013, the computer of one of Zeleke's colleagues was infected with malware after the colleague opened what appeared to be a Microsoft Word file. They later learned that it was probably a commercial spying tool sold to governments around the world by the Italy-based vendor Hacking Team, according to researchers at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs. So after receiving the recent suspicious e-mail, Zeleke said he forwarded it to the Citizen Lab researchers instead of opening the attachment. The e-mail, along with other messages to Ethiopian journalists, show that Ethiopia appears to be continuing to wage a digital campaign against independent journalists — including some based within the United States — with the help of updated versions of Hacking Team software, according to the report's authors Bill Marczak, John Scott-Railton and Sarah McKune. Sophisticated surveillance tools on a budget While the debate over cyberattacks has been dominated by disclosure about National Security Agency capabilities and alleged cyberespionage campaigns of Chinese and Russian hackers, a booming commercial spyware market has put high-tech surveillance tools within the reach of governments worldwide. In the hands of repressive regimes, this can mean a wave of cyberattacks on journalists, human rights workers and political activists. The Internet, instead of being a tool for organizing and spreading information about government abuse, can become a tool for oppression able to even reach those who have fled the physical borders of a country. And the latest Citizen Lab report suggests that Hacking Team may continue to support its software to nations even after abuse was identified. Hacking Team declined to comment on whether it sells its services to Ethiopia. "We do


This plant can feel bugs eating it alive. Can scientists improve its self defense?

set out to prove a hypothesis that plants not only know when they’re being eaten, but that they tell several different insects apart even when they eat at the same time. This could allow agriculturalists who breed and design cash crops to give them the skills to fend off farm pests. “If we are breeding plants to be more insect resistant,” Appel said, it would be helpful to know how they respond to different insects that prey on them. Like other plants, Arabidopsis are able to handle predators one-on-one, but fights are rarely that fair in the wild. Pests often come in waves, and have horrible manners. Before developing into colorful butterflies, caterpillars are as plump and sloppy as Homer Simpson. They don’t close their mouths when they chew and they slobber. As the insects dine, the plant’s genes spring into action, hashing out the chewing motion and the drool to say, for example, that this one here is a cabbage butterfly caterpillar and that one is a beet army worm. To prove this, Appel and her co-authors — Jack Schultz, a University of Missouri researcher who led the study, and Joerg Bohlmann, a University of British Columbia researcher who performed genetic studies, along with six others — planted Arabidopsis seeds in a lab and allowed them to grow to a size that caterpillars and worms love. Jack Schultz and Heidi Appel hold model Arabdiposis plants used in many of their experiments. Credit: Roger Meissen Then they sacrificed them. They herded up a bunch of cabbage butterfly caterpillars and beet army worms and let them go to town on the plants. They took picture of the insects having dinner and even posted them online the way people do on Facebook. The experiment took a year. Plants lose water while being chewed on by some insects that bite and poked by other insects with a needle for a mouth that suck out their innards. In the process, they lose tissue and, worse, might get infected with some sort of ghastly bacteria, but generally they live to see another day. It’s hard to tell with the naked eye how they respond to prey, but they are known to react to pests with a suite of defenses — pretty much chemicals that give them the spicy and pungent flavors humans love (and hate) — to repel them. In order to know for sure,


William and Mary gets another shot at history after wild win over Hofstra

Marcus Thornton during a game earlier this season. (Nikki Fox/AP) After a wild, 92-91 double-overtime win over Hofstra in the semifinals of the CAA tournament on Sunday in Baltimore, one game separates William and Mary from its first NCAA tournament bid in 322 years of school history. “I can, without a doubt, say that was the loudest, most fun game I’ve ever played in my basketball career,” Tribe senior guard Marcus Thornton told ESPN 980’s Tim Murray after scoring a CAA tournament record 37 points against Hofstra. It was certainly more fun than last year’s CAA title game, in which William and Mary blew a six-point lead to Delaware with 1 minute 20 seconds left and Thornton missed a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer. Thornton scored the final five points of regulation on Sunday, erasing a five-point Hofstra lead and giving William and Mary new life. With the Tribe trailing by two in the final seconds of the second overtime, Thornton found sophomore teammate Daniel Dixon on the wing for the game-winning three-pointer. Jay Colley's Call on Daniel Dixon's Game-Winner William and Mary is one of five original Division I schools to never make the NCAA tournament. (The NCAA established divisions before the 1947-48 season.) The Tribe is 0-4 in CAA title games, but gets another chance Monday at 7 p.m. against Northeastern. “This team can make history, right here,” Tribe coach Tony Shaver told his team after the game. “Bring history here.” “In the past, I’ve tried to shield them from the pressures of our past, and I’ve talked about how that is not this team’s burden, to be the first,” Shaver told reporters. “Well, this team wants to be the first. They’re embracing the opportunity we have here and the success this team’s had this year. We want to go after it.” Exhausted Tribe coach Tony Shaver greets boosters in the hallway. “One of these days I’ll watch the tape and find out what happened." Unbelievable. #NotDoneYet


The Sephora effect: How the cosmetics retailer transformed the beauty industry

drugstore. And yet they feel more accessible than a department store because shoppers can test out all the products for themselves. By occupying this middle ground, both brands have seen extraordinary growth. Since 2007, Bolingbrook, Ill.-based Ulta Beauty has more than tripled its store count to about 765. About 50 of those outposts were opened in the third quarter of 2014 alone. In that quarter, Ulta delivered blockbuster results: A 30 percent increase in profit and a 21 percent increase in revenue, growth that was fueled by an increase in the number of transactions at its stores and an uptick in the average value of those transactions. The impressive performance has driven its stock up nearly 59 percent in the last year. Sephora, which today has 360 North American stores and nearly 1,800 outposts worldwide, is owned by French luxury conglomerate LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. LVMH said in a February earnings announcement that Sephora “had an exceptional year and continued to gain market share.” The “selective retailing” division of LVMH, of which Sephora is a cornerstone brand, saw an 8 percent increase in revenue in 2014. With an announcement last week that it is opening an Innovation Lab in San Francisco, Sephora telegraphed its seriousness about continuing to grow its market share in this category. The company said the team there will be responsible for developing and testing new technology to be used in its stores and e-commerce operation. Experts say millennials have flocked to these stores because their setup and merchandise assortment is uniquely aligned with what research shows this generation of shopper prefers. Today’s cosmetics customer is not particularly loyal to any one brand, according to Kurt Jetta, the chief executive of Tabs Group, a consumer analytics firm that studies beauty shoppers. Instead, customers approach buying beauty products as more of a treasure hunt, and the mission is that much easier in a place where you can easily test virtually any product. Plus, both Sephora and Ulta carry a selection of niche, under-the-radar brands, which can be appealing to millennial shoppers who gravitate toward items that give them a sense of individuality. Karen Grant, a beauty industry analyst with NPD Group, said these specialty stores have also created an environment that is well-suited for customers who don’t need much help in making their purchases. “With the explosion of the Web, [shoppers have] more access, and the consumer


A new space race emerges as NASA prepares to award contract to ferry supplies to space station

Clockwise from top left: SpaceX’s Dragon V2 capsule (Robyn Beck/AFP, Getty), Sierra Nevada Corporation’s DreamChaser (NASA), Oribtal ATK's Cygnus cargo ship (NASA) and Boeing’s CST-100 capsule (Boeing via AP). Lugging groceries and supplies to the astronauts on the International Space Station may not be as cool as ferrying the astronauts themselves into orbit. But the NASA contract to fly cargo to the station in unmanned rocket ships has attracted bids from high-profile companies in what analysts say is another indication of commercial spaceflight’s recent renaissance. It appears that at least five space firms have submitted proposals for the work, including giants such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which didn't bother to bid on the work the last time. In a new sort of space race, the contract has touched off an intense competition between stalwart defense contractors and new space start-ups that have, in just a few years, shown they can compete. Years ago, NASA implemented a plan to outsource transportation to the space station in low Earth orbit, saying that, with a tight budget, it needed to be focused on bigger targets, such as Mars. Some members of Congress and others criticized the decision, saying that private industry could not be trusted with such high-stakes work and that the business of spaceflight should be left to NASA. But in the years since, NASA’s decision to rely on commercial companies helped ignite the commercial space industry, which, backed by new infusions of cash and with more launches to its credit, has grown more robust. For the past few years, two companies have been resupplying the space station, taking supplies and experiments to the orbital laboratory. Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s SpaceX won a $1.6 billion contract, and so far has had five successful trips, and is scheduled for a sixth in April. On Jan. 10, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 was launched from Florida's Cape Canaveral to deliver more than two tons of supplies and science experiments to the Expedition 42 crew aboard the International Space Station. The other company to win the cargo contract, Orbital Sciences, now Orbital ATK, had its unmanned rocket explode shortly after takeoff last year. That raised questions about whether NASA should be relying on the commercial sector so heavily. But at NASA, the explosion did not dampen enthusiasm for outsourcing the work. That’s in part because of SpaceX’s success. But also because given the NASA’s tight budgets,


It sounds like Pablo Sandoval couldn’t wait to get out of San Francisco

(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) Pablo Sandoval, last seen causing great alarm to a Red Sox Nation that was seemingly unfamiliar with his girth, talked to Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller about his departure from the San Francisco Giants, with whom he had spent the first seven years of his career and won three World Series titles. It was not a hard decision, it seems. “Not hard at all,” Pablo Sandoval told Bleacher Report during an early-morning conversation here the other day. “If you want me around, you make the effort to push and get me back.” The Giants did not make that effort, Sandoval said, reiterating that last spring’s aborted talks for a contract extension in San Francisco were pretty much the end of the line. “I knew early in spring training last year I was going to leave,” Sandoval said. “They didn’t respect my agent. Contract talks, everything. The way Brian Sabean (Giants general manager) talked to my agent.” Sandoval even said San Francisco offered him more money than the Red Sox. “The Giants made a good offer, but I didn’t want to take it,” he said. “I got five years (and $95 million) from Boston. I left money on the table in San Francisco. “It is not about money. It is about how you treat the player.” Will the Panda miss his former teammates? Eh, not really. “Only Bochy,” Sandoval said of Giants manager Bruce Bochy. “I love Boch. He’s like my dad. He’s the only guy that I miss. And Hunter Pence. Just those guys. “But now, I feel like I’m home.” It should be noted that the Red Sox aren’t scheduled to play the NL West in interleague play until next season. It’ll be curious to see what kind of reaction Sandoval gets.


In a first, senators plan to introduce federal medical marijuana bill

2, allowing doctors to recommend its use in some cases to veterans, expanding access to researchers and making it easier for banks to provide services to the industry. [What’s in the historic medical marijuana bill being unveiled on Tuesday] The Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States (CARERS) Act would “allow patients, doctors and businesses in states that have already passed medical marijuana laws to participate in those programs without fear of federal prosecution,” according to a joint statement from the senators’ offices. The bill will also “make overdue reforms to ensure patients – including veterans receiving care from VA facilities in states with medical marijuana programs – access the care they need.” The proposal will be unveiled at a 12:30 p.m. press conference on Tuesday, which will be streamed live here. Patients, their families and advocates will join the senators at the press conference. The announcement was met with praise by advocates. “This is a significant step forward when it comes to reforming marijuana laws at the federal level,” Dan Riffle, director of federal policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement. “It’s long past time to end the federal ban,” said Michael Collins, policy manager for the Drug Policy Alliance, said in a statement. Both describe the introduction of the bill as a first for the Senate. [The Republican argument to end marijuana prohibition] Advocates are riding a wave of success in recent years, with voters in four states — Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington — approving the legalization of the drug for recreational use. The idea has made significant gains in public opinion as well. In December, Congress for the first time in roughly a decade of trying approved an amendment that bars the Justice Department from using its funds to prevent states from implementing their medical marijuana laws — a significant victory for proponents of the practice. Potential Republican presidential candidates Rand, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) have all said they support states’ rights to legalize pot, though they themselves disagree with the policy. In recent years, several national polls have found majority support for legalizing marijuana. Differences are typically highly split by age — the young tend to disproportionately support such policies. Medical marijuana has been approved to varying degrees in 23 states and D.C. [A dozen ways to legalize the marijuana supply chain in any state]


What’s in the historic medical marijuana bill being unveiled

nut,” he said by e-mail. “Why not start work with scientists to incentivize research rather than open the floodgates to Big Marijuana? Most major medical organizations oppose smoked pot as medicine because the risks outweigh any benefits. This bill just isn’t supported by the science, plain and simple.” The following are five of the bill’s key provisions, according to several people familiar with it. - Under the bill, marijuana would be downgraded one level in the Drug Enforcement Agency’s five-category drug classification system. It is currently treated, along with heroin, LSD, and ecstasy, as a Schedule 1 drug—those deemed by the DEA to have “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” The bill would reclassify it as a Schedule 2 drug, joining cocaine, OxyContin, Adderall and Ritalin. - The bill would also make it easier to transport some forms of the drug between states. While medical marijuana is allowed in 23 states and D.C., another dozen states allow the drug on a much more limited basis. Those states typically allow restricted access to medicine derived from cannabis strains with low levels of THC, the drug’s primary psychoactive component, and high levels of CBD, which is believed to have medicinal benefits. But patients often have no way of accessing such drugs. The bill would therefore remove some CBD strains, used to treat epilepsy and seizure disorders, from the federal definition of marijuana. - The bill would also make it easier for banks to provide services to the marijuana industry as they do to any other. - It would reform the process by which private researchers can get access to medical marijuana. - And it would allow doctors working for the Department of Veterans Affairs in states where medical marijuana is legal to recommend it for certain conditions. The historic bill represents another in a long string of victories for marijuana advocates, who have seen voters legalize the drug for recreational use in four states since 2012: Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. Nearly half the states have legalized medical marijuana and the public support has been growing, with roughly half the nation supporting legalization according to several polls. The political winds have been shifting, too. Three potential Republican presidential candidates—Paul, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and former Florida governor Jeb Bush—have come out in support of state legalization laws, though they’ve hedged on their personal support of such policies.


Nine new dwarf galaxies full of dark matter found just chilling around the Milky Way

away, but the most distant is more than 1 million light years off. The objects were found using data recovered by the Dark Energy Survey, a five-year effort to photograph a large portion of the southern sky in unprecedented detail supported by over 120 scientists around the world. In fact, two separate research groups made the discovery independently using the data, and released their reports jointly. Image of Eridanus 2, one of the three confirmed dwarf galaxies. (V. Belokurov, S. Koposov (IoA, Cambridge)) The team is actually only certain that three of the objects are indeed dwarf galaxies. The rest might be globular clusters, which are groups of stars not held together by dark matter like galaxies are. Instead, globular clusters of stars are kept in place by the gravity of a galaxy they orbit. But it's the dark matter that astronomers are most interested in. We can't see dark matter, but scientists are pretty sure that it makes up more than a quarter of the universe's mass. Dark matter is really just our term for the matter we know is there -- the stuff that takes up space not held by better understood objects, such as stars and planets -- but don't yet understand the properties or behavior of. We can observe its gravitational pull, keeping galaxies together and separate from each other, but that's about it. Unlike larger galaxies bursting with stars, dwarf galaxies have way more dark matter than normal matter. So for astronomers studying dark matter, they're basically an all-you-can-eat buffet. Image of Horologium 1, one of the three confirmed dwarf galaxies. (V. Belokurov, S. Koposov (IoA, Cambridge)) "The discovery of so many satellites in such a small area of the sky was completely unexpected," Sergey Koposov of Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy, the Cambridge study's lead author, said in a statement. "I could not believe my eyes." "Dwarf satellites are the final frontier for testing our theories of dark matter," Vasily Belokurov of the Institute of Astronomy, one of the study's co-authors, added. "We need to find them to determine whether our cosmological picture makes sense. Finding such a large group of satellites near the Magellanic Clouds was surprising, though, as earlier surveys of the southern sky found very little, so we were not expecting to stumble on such treasure." The closest object is so close to the Milky Way that it's being torn apart by


The liquor lobby raises a glass to its history at the National Archives

National Archives Foundation’s Chief Spirits Officer Derek Brown discusses the history of punch, and his recipe for the Spirited Republic signature punch served Monday night. (Pepe Gomez for the National Archives Foundation) Resolved: the whole “slap ‘chief’ in front of made-up title to make it sound wonky” meme is worn out. But in the curious case of local liquor hero Derek Brown the weighty title “Chief Spirits Advisor for the National Archives Foundation” (the organization’s first ever, obviously) fits. At an opening reception on Monday, Brown, a semifinalist for a James Beard Award in 2015, handcrafted a signature punch named for the Archives’s new history of hootch exhibit, “Spirited Republic: Alcohol in American History” — because we all know you can’t tell the story of America without a few shots. Brown’s concoction, a mix of rye whiskey, rum, peach liqueur, and hickory smoked cola syrup, was dubbed “dangerous” by one guest. “Spirited Republic” chronicles the federal government’s wins and losses in alcohol policy from the American Revolution to Prohibition and beyond. So no big surprise that Washington’s liquor lobby elite came out to celebrate their boozy multi-billion dollar industry. Reps from the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America, the Beer Institute, and the National Beer Wholesalers Association were all there. And since wine loosens the tongue, we hear convos over stirred drinks steered toward who would replace liquor honcho Peter Cressy, CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council. Cressy, who didn’t attend Monday night’s reception, plans to retire from his seven-figure gig at the top of the cocktail chain by the end of the year. [The best job in Washington will soon be open] Guests enjoy playing with props at the Spirited Republic photo booth. (Jeffrey Reed of the National Archives)


The Senate marijuana reform bill would bring federal policy in line with medical research

would bring federal policy more closely in line with the recommendations of major medical organizations. The American Medical Association, for instance, has recommended that "marijuana’s status as a federal schedule I controlled substance be reviewed with the goal of facilitating the conduct of clinical research and development of cannabinoid-based medicines." The American Cancer Society "believes that the classification of marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration imposes numerous conditions on researchers and deters scientific study of cannabinoids." It calls for federal officials to "examine options consistent with federal law for enabling more scientific study on marijuana." And the American Academy of Pediatrics has explicitly called for moving marijuana from Schedule 1 to Schedule 2. The organizations' recommendations on medical marijuana are especially significant given that all three steadfastly oppose the full legalization of cannabis. From the medical community's standpoint, rescheduling the plant represents a reasonable middle-ground approach that would enable more research into marijuana's effects without opening the floodgates to legalization and potential widespread use. Several surveys of doctors have found broad support among them for medical marijuana. The Senate bill would also help federal policy catch up with public sentiment. Large majorities of Americans have supported the use of medical marijuana for decades now. The most recent numbers show public support for medical marijuana approaching an astonishing 90 percent -- when's the last time 90 percent of the public agreed on anything? There are robust majorities in favor of medical marijuana even in the deepest of red states like Utah, where two thirds of voters supported a recent medical marijuana measure that ultimately failed to pass the state Senate by a single vote. Most importantly, the Senate bill would bring federal and state policies into closer alignment on the question of medical marijuana. Currently 23 states plus the District of Columbia have medical marijuana programs in place. 146 million Americans -- 46 percent of the population -- now live in a state with some form of legalized marijuana. For these people, the gap between lived experience and federal law grows wider by the day. The danger for federal authorities is that outdated laws that stand in opposition to science, medical research and public opinion will make scofflaws of us all. We are now closing in on two decades of real-world experience with medical marijuana at the state level, starting when California voters approved


Argument between U.S., Venezuela puts Cuba in awkward position

to Cuba blame rights abuses in Venezuela on a repressive security strategy that they say is being dictated from Havana. Since the White House announced the sanctions on Monday, Venezuela, Cuba and many in the region have reacted less to those measures than to language in the executive order characterizing the Maduro government as a threat to U.S. national security. U.S. officials say it's boilerplate language used whenever such sanctions are imposed, but Venezuela's government and its backers have seized on the "security threat" element to claim that it's some sort of prelude to an American attack. After defiantly bestowing promotions on one of the security officials named on the U.S. sanctions list, Maduro said Monday night that he'll seek emergency decree powers "to fight imperialism." Venezuela's opposition leaders say it's a naked power grab to further stifle dissent. Asked to respond to Maduro’s charge of U.S. plotting, State Department spokesman Jen Psaki said Tuesday that the administration’s “intention is not promoting unrest in Venezuela … or undermining its government.” Instead, she said, “it’s about making clear that we don’t accept human rights abusers or corrupt officials.” The “goal of sanctions,” Psaki said, “is to persuade the government to change their behavior.” She cautioned against focusing on the “national emergency” and security threat language in Obama’s executive order, noting that it is standard in such orders. “It’s important for everybody to understand that this is how we describe the process of naming sanctions,” Psaki said. Monday’s Venezuela order was “consistent with how we announce and how we describe putting sanctions and putting these executive orders in place.” Meanwhile, tensions in Venezuela were further inflamed Tuesday by a comment made on a pro-government talk show by Roy Chaderton, the Maduro government's ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), which is organizing the Panama summit. In response, apparently, to a question about how the government would handle new security threats, Chaderton told viewers that when snipers shoot opposition demonstrators in the head, a different sound is emitted. "Because their cranial cavity is empty," he said dryly, presumably trying to make a joke. Chaderton's comment appeared with the Twitter hashtag "ObamaYankeeGoHome." Anti-government street demonstrations in the country last year left 43 dead, and some of the victims were shot by Venezuelan security forces, who have since been granted additional latitude to use lethal force against protesters. Karen DeYoung contributed to this report.


Sens. Booker, Gillibrand and Paul unveil federal medical marijuana bill

join together to say enough is enough. Our federal government has long overstepped the boundaries of common sense,” Booker said at a news conference, flanked by advocates and patients, including a young girl, Morgan Jones, who suffered a mild seizure as the senators presented their bill, her mother said. Kate Hintz, a New Yorker, advocates for expanded access to medical marijuana for those, such as her daughter, who suffer from epilepsy and associated seizures. While the bill’s fate in the Republican-controlled Senate is unclear, it may appeal to a strain of conservative thinking that favors states’ rights. Already, three potential Republican presidential candidates — Paul, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and former Florida governor Jeb Bush — have said that they support states’ rights to legalize the drug, even if they do not personally support such policies. “We’re going to approach all our colleagues,” Gillibrand said. “This is the first step of a long process of advocacy.” Advocates see the bill as laying the groundwork for a public, high-level discussion about legalizing the drug, at least for medical use, for which public support has risen in recent decades and years. In addition to ending the federal prohibition on medical pot, the bill — the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States (CARERS) Act — also would recognize marijuana’s medical benefits by switching its classification from Schedule 1 to Schedule 2, under the federal government’s five-category drug classification system. The bill would expand research opportunities for the drug and let doctors with the Department of Veterans Affairs to recommend the drug to veterans. It would allow bankers to provide to the marijuana industry the same services they provide to other businesses. The bill would also expand access to the drug to patients in states that have approved limited medical marijuana laws. While medical marijuana is legal in 23 states and the District of Columbia, a dozen other states have approved use only of strains of the plant with high levels of Cannabidiol, which does not produce the high associated with the drug and is used in treating epileptic seizures. The bill would remove specific strains of CBD oil from the federal definition of marijuana, thereby expanding access for patients. Several advocacy organizations involved with passing state marijuana laws also were involved in discussions surrounding the crafting of the bill, including the Drug Policy Alliance, Marijuana Policy Project and Americans for Safe Access.


Excerpt extravaganza: If you don’t have time to read those books, just read this.

hoops and NBA highlights make this worth it — “Call it a Patric Young dunk, kid brought the funk” — but this particular excerpt feels a little awkward. Taken by the Hubble telescope, this is the deepest infrared image ever taken of the universe. HOW TO BUILD A UNIVERSE: From the Big Bang to the end of the Universe “Even the term Big Bang was coined by someone who didn’t believe in it and intended it as a disparaging putdown,” science writer Ben Gilliland writes in this breezy Space.com excerpt of his new book. Walking us from the ancient Greeks through Copernicus and Galileo all the way to Hubble and Einstein, he details how “rather than shooting through space, galaxies were actually being carried by the expanding fabric of space itself (like chocolate chips are carried apart on the surface of a rising cupcake).” If that metaphor sounds a little spacy, well, you try writing an explainer on the universe. ENGAGED JOURNALISM: Connecting with Digitally Empowered News Audiences Batsell, an assistant professor of journalism at Southern Methodist University, has written a book on how U.S. and British newsrooms connect with and understand their consumers — and how they can do it better. In a NiemanLab excerpt, he details the impact of a single blog post on CNN.com: “Where was God in Aurora massacre?” He shows where the idea came from, how it gained enormous resonance, and how CNN let the voices of commenters and outside experts take over. “Tapping into the power of a digital community requires shedding some of the work habits of a traditional reporter,” Batsell writes. “Today’s journalists can’t just gather facts and quotes and dispense them to the public; they must actively seek out their audience and create opportunities for interaction.” THE POWERHOUSE: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World Published by Quartz, where Levine is Washington correspondent, this “adapted excerpt” — which basically means it got a lot of editing and does not exactly reflect the original book — tells the story of John Bannister Goodenough, a legendary physicist and inventor behind the lithium-ion battery. Now 92, Goodenough is embarked on a new quest. “Thirty-five years after his blockbuster, the electric car still can’t compete with the internal combustion engine on price, ” Levine writes. “When solar and wind power produce electricity, it must be either used immediately or lost forever —


D.C. area forecast: Mild but rainy at times through the weekend

TODAY’S DAILY DIGIT 7/10: EXPRESS FORECAST Today: FORECAST IN DETAIL Radar loop over the past two hours. Refresh page to update. It certainly won’t rain all day every day. But we have at least a mention of rain in the forecast in four out of the next five days. Regardless of the rain, we’ll be enjoying mild temperatures in the 50s and 60s, except perhaps Friday, which may struggle to reach 50. Thursday looks like the brightest day of the bunch. Today (Wednesday): Tonight: For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Keep reading for the forecast through the weekend… Tomorrow (Thursday): Tomorrow night: A foggy Potomac River yesterday evening. (Christopher Jewell via Twitter) A LOOK AHEAD The way it looks now, Friday starts off dry through the morning, with cooler temperatures as highs head for the 40s to near 50. But then rain chances increase to around 50% for the afternoon, and up to 80% Friday night into Saturday morning. Can’t rule out showers lingering into Saturday afternoon and evening, though generally speaking rain chances should start to decrease later Saturday afternoon and more so Saturday night. Saturday highs surge to near 60, followed by Saturday night lows in the 40s. Confidence: Medium Sunday SNOW POTENTIAL INDEX 0/10 (→):


Three new markets in D.C. to check out now

Radici Market in Capitol Hill serves freshly baked pastries and Italian-made wine and fare. (Studio 3877) Supermarkets seem to be designed to keep customers shopping: no clocks, no windows and no easily accessible exits. Independent markets, on the other hand, provide a breezy browsing experience. There’s no shortage of these specialty markets in D.C., including the following three that opened within the past few months. Radici Market Stepping into Radici transports you to Italy, primarily because the terra-cotta floor tiles were imported from Florence. Same goes for many of the goods, including Italian honey and pates. Owner Bridget Thibodeau Sasso spent 13 years in Italy developing a crush on its cuisine. Shop her collection of baked goods like bread pudding, stop by for an all-Italian wine tasting, pick up white truffle mac and cheese to-go for dinner or grab an Illy coffee and linger on the spacious outdoor patio. Souk offers caneles, a notoriously difficult-to-make French pastry. (Joe Portnoy) Souk From the owner of nearby Sweet Lobby bakery comes this new, globally inspired market and cafe. More than 100 exotic spices line the walls, and there’s a small bazaar full of international cookbooks, Tunisian olive wood bowls and serving ware. Enjoy a baked good and free Wi-Fi at the huge farmhouse table. “We look for innovative ways to incorporate spices,” says owner Winnette McIntosh Ambrose. That means buns made with spinach, marjoram and Gruyere cheese; and scones with fresh ginger and sour cherry. Localteria Finding this market/cafeteria is half the fun. “The mailman stuck his head in and asked for the address,” owner Craig Nelsen says. “I told him, ‘If you don’t know …’ ” Tucked away in Blagden Alley, Localteria is stocked exclusively with locally made products (and a few bottles of wine from outside the District). Goodies include baked goods from Whisked!, candy from Capital Candy and Chocotenango chocolate. Photos of the producers line the windows. “I want people to see who’s making their food,” Nelsen says. You may also like: 3 food clubs in D.C. for charcuterie, wine and sandwich enthusiasts Good Food Markets brings affordable groceries to Woodridge Restaurant-run farms allow local chefs to control the quality of their ingredients


National Book Critics Circle finalists gather in New York

Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison will attend the NBCC awards ceremony on March 12 to receive a lifetime achievement award. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) A rich year of reading and deliberating comes to an end this week. All the finalists for the National Book Critics Circle awards — in autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, general nonfiction and poetry — are invited to read from their work at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Tishman Auditorium at the New School in New York. On Thursday at 6 p.m., again in the Tishman Auditorium, the winners will be announced. Both events are free and open to the public. (Tickets to the benefit after-party are $75.) The winners of two special awards were revealed earlier this year: • Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison will be at the Thursday evening ceremony to receive the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her many decades as an editor, professor and author of such celebrated novels as “Song of Solomon” (1977), for which she won an NBCC Fiction Prize, and “Beloved” (1987), for which she won a Pulitzer Prize. • Phil Klay has been named this year’s recipient of the John Leonard First Book Prize. Klay’s story collection, “Redeployment,” is informed by his service in the Marines during the Iraq war. Updates from both events will be posted on the Style blog. The full list of NBCC finalists follows. (To read The Post’s reviews, click on the titles or, where indicated, the category): (Courtesy of FSG) FICTION “An Unnecessary Woman,” by Rabih Alameddine (Grove). “A Brief History of Seven Killings,” by Marlon James (Riverhead). “Euphoria,” by Lily King (Grove). “On Such a Full Sea,” by Chang-rae Lee (Riverhead). “Lila,” by Marilynne Robinson (FSG). (Courtesy of Holt) NONFICTION “The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation,” by David Brion Davis (Knopf). “The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, & the Battle Over a Forbidden Book,” by Peter Finn and Petra Couvée (Pantheon). “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History,” by Elizabeth Kolbert (Henry Holt). “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” by Thomas Piketty (Belknap/Harvard). “Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free,” by Héctor Tobar (FSG). (Courtesy of Bloomsbury) AUTOBIOGRAPHY “The Splendid Things We Planned: A Family Portrait,” by Blake Bailey (Norton). “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?,” by Roz Chast (Bloomsbury). “The Other Side,” by Lacy M.


Canal Road reopens after being closed from downed wires, tree in Northwest D.C.

Updated at 9:06 a.m. All lanes of Canal Road near Reservoir Road have reopened. Part of the road in that area was closed because of downed trees and wires for much of the morning. But there are reports that some delays in the area remain. FINAL UPDATE: Utility Problem. Canal Rd. at Reservoir Rd., NW. Wash., DC. All travel lanes are reopened. Delays remain. Updated at 6:56 a.m. Part of Canal Road is open. Officials said the inbound lanes of Canal Road at Reservoir Road in Northwest Washington has reopened. The outbound lanes of Canal Road remain closed. The roadway was closed because of downed wires and a fallen tree. UPDATE: Utility Problem. Canal Rd at Reservoir Rd NW Wash., DC. inbound 1 rht ln is opn to traffic. Outbound remains blkd. Seek alt routes Original post at 5:37 a.m. Authorities closed Canal Road at Reservoir Road in Northwest Washington early Wednesday morning. Wires and trees are blocking all lanes of Canal Road in that area. Drivers are advised to avoid the area. Those who drive on Canal Road should expect to detour at Arizona Avenue for incoming traffic or at Foxhall Road for outbound traffic. It is not immediately clear how long it will take crews to remove the debris and reopen the road. fox5newsdc: RT AnnieYuFox5: BIG tree across Canal Road. Unfortunately a car hit the tree...car is on back of tow t… http://t.co/mn2SztDf4k


Breathtaking new image captures birth of countless stars

This image, taken by OmegaCAM on the VLT Survey Telescope at Paranal Observatory, shows a section of the Ara OB1 stellar association. In the center of the image is the young open cluster NGC 6193, and to the right is the emission nebula NGC 6188, illuminated by the ionizing radiation emitted by the brightest nearby stars. (ESO) By combining more than 500 individual pictures taken with four different color filters, astronomers at the European Southern Observatory have created the most detailed picture yet of a star cluster called NGC 6193. This cluster contains about 30 bright stars, with two large, hot giants forming its luminescent heart. [For the first time ever, a multistar system is caught during its earliest days] The cloudy haze surrounding the star cluster is full of hydrogen, a necessary ingredient in star formation. These clouds will give birth to new stars, but not very efficiently. Only 10 percent of the material there will actually go into new stars. The rest is constantly being bombarded by cosmic winds and stellar radiation, and will be gone within the next few million years. To the right of the bright cluster you can see the Rim Nebula (NGC 6188), which looks like a wall of swirled light and dark clouds. According to the ESO, the Rim Nebula may be in the early stages of "pillar formation". You've probably seen photos of the famous Pillars of Creation inside the Eagle Nebula, where the gas and dust that creates new stars has been eroded into dramatic, finger-like pillars. One day the Rim Nebula may have similar features. MORE READING: Stunning new picture of the Pillars of Creation The Hubble spotted this smiley face in space Nine new dwarf galaxies full of dark matter found just chilling around the Milky Way


Through the purple haze: Marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles

Clockwise from top left: West Sunset Boulevard, Echo Park; Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood; Sepulveda Boulevard, Van Nuys; and Beverly Boulevard. (Rick Bolton) North Cahuenga Boulevard, Hollywood. (Rick Bolton, 2013) On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill that seeks to end the federal ban on medical marijuana. The measure would prevent the Drug Enforcement Administration from enforcing a ban on the substance by growers, patients, dispensaries, doctors and their patients and would reclassify marijuana’s status from a schedule 1 to 2, forcing the federal government for the first time to acknowledge the medical benefits of marijuana. Medical marijuana is already legal in 23 states, and if the Senate bill passes all would be protected under the new law. Medical marijuana dispensaries have been cropping up across the country for years. Nearly every city has one. In Minnesota, construction is underway for the state’s first dispensary, and Washington, D.C., opened its first medical marijuana dispensary two years before legislation made the substance legal in the District. Three years ago, Rick Bolton, a self described “long-suffering Los Angelino,” came across what was then a new business in Los Angeles — a medical marijuana dispensary — opening near his office in Hollywood. “Not long afterwards, I noticed one in my neighborhood, on a residential street in Northeast Los Angeles,” Bolton tells In Sight. “Soon, I was noticing them everywhere. Confusing legislation at the city level had created a gold rush. At one point, there were more than 800 dispensaries in the greater Los Angeles area. There were more pot shops than there were Starbucks outlets.” And so he began to photograph them. “I love Los Angeles, and this phenomenon was unique to our city,” he says. “Due to legal uncertainties, most of the dispensaries were to be found in provisional areas, “in-between” sections of the city, not completely poor, but not rich, either. In the time since I started this project, I’ve photographed over 250 dispensaries, watching as they open, and close, and open again. Some of these shops have changed hands — and facades — several times. Others have moved from neighborhood to neighborhood. Still others, well-located, with their paperwork in order, haven’t moved.” Clockwise from top left: West Pico Boulevard, Pico Union; Burbank Boulevard, Sherman Oaks; South Vermont Avenue, University Park; and Ocean Front Walk, Venice. (Rick Bolton) Eagle Rock Boulevard, Eagle Rock. (Rick Bolton, 2013) This series of


Cathal Armstrong will open an Asian restaurant near the Southwest Waterfront. In 2018.

Chef Cathal Armstrong is crossing the river. The Northern Virginia chef has plans to open his first D.C. restaurant in the Wharf development in Southwest -- but fans will have to wait a while, as it's not expected to open until 2018. Restaurant Eve's Asian tasting menu features Filipino, Thai and Korean cuisine. (Restaurant Eve) The chef announced the news at a media dinner last night, and said that the future restaurant will be more casual than his flagship, Restaurant Eve. But the concept will borrow from his current menu -- a tasting menu of mostly Filipino food (so hot right now) -- a promotion that he recently decided to make permanent. The new restaurant will draw heavily from Filipino cuisine, but will feature food from all over Asia. By the time it opens, D.C. will have several other Filipino restaurants to choose from: The opening of the Purple Patch in Mount Pleasant is imminent, and Bad Saint in Columbia Heights is forthcoming. So how did this Irish-born chef become so interested in Filipino food? His wife, Meshelle, is of Filipino descent. It's also what he eats when he's off the clock: "When I go out to eat, my first choice is always going to be Asian," Armstrong told The Post's Becky Krystal last week. For now, you can try Armstrong's tasting menu nightly at Restaurant Eve for $65, with an optional $40 beverage pairing.


After losing at the ballot box, marijuana opponents make a hail mary pass to the courts

those spectacular views, but now they are marred by the sight of an illegal drug conspiracy at our doorstep. The impact of this on our property is devastating.” The aim of the RICO act is "the elimination of the infiltration of organized crime and racketeering into legitimate organizations operating in interstate commerce." The idea is that if an illegal operation is harming your business or property interests, you can sue to protect them. In the Colorado cases the plaintiffs contend that marijuana businesses are illegal operations under federal law, and hence can be prosecuted under RICO for harming their interests. Legal scholars say the RICO claims are more complicated than the CSA lawsuits. A RICO case might have a chance of succeeding if brought by the right claimants, according Robert Mikos. But courts have been very particular about the types of plaintiffs who they've allowed to bring RICO suits. "It’s not clear that [the current plaintiffs] are actually the ones who Congress meant to benefit through RICO or CSA. It is very difficult to satisfy the civil RICO standing requirements, and I am very skeptical that these plaintiffs would be," he said. Rather, he thinks that a plaintiff like a large drug company could argue that a medical marijuana dispensary is selling "drugs" not approved by the FDA, which would be harmful to its business. But even then, the plaintiffs would face an uphill battle in the courts. Most of the cases above are being financed by hardline anti-drug organizations that in recent years have found themselves well outside of the mainstream criminal justice debate. The sheriffs' lawsuit, for instance, is bankrolled by the Drug Free America Foundation. Among other things, this group advocates for broadening mandatory drug tests for public school students. The Foundation arose from the ashes of "Straight, Incorporated," a coercive "drug rehabilitation" program for teens that faced numerous allegations of abuse and settled out of court to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars before closing its doors in 1993. And the RICO cases are funded by the Safe Streets Alliance, a tough-on-crime organization that aims to increase prison sentences in an era of deep skepticism over the merits of lengthy prison terms. "This is the last hurrah for a lot of individuals in the anti-marijuana community," according to the Brookings Institution's John Hudak. "It's pretty clear that they’ve lost the battle for public opinion."


Saturday marathon will disrupt D.C. traffic

‘n’ Roll Marathon is always on a Saturday, a busy day for local traffic, and it goes through all four quadrants of the District. Each year, the marathon generates complaints from D.C. residents who feel trapped in their homes while the streets are closed and the runners pass by, and from visitors who encounter unexpected traffic, even outside the typically congested areas downtown. Here’s what you need to know to participate in or avoid the marathon. The event — a marathon, a half marathon and a 5K run — draws about 30,000 participants. The marathon and half marathon start at 7:30 a.m. on Constitution Avenue NW just east of 14th Street. The 5K starts at Lot 7 by RFK Stadium. The finish lines are at RFK Stadium. Most of the street closings are from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Streets reopen as the last runners pass. Capitol Hill, Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, Southwest Waterfront and Anacostia are among the communities where streets will close. Major roadways affected include Constitution Avenue NW, Arlington Memorial Bridge, Rock Creek Parkway, Calvert Street NW, Columbia Road NW, Harvard Street NW, North Capitol Street, K Street NE, H Street NE, East Capitol Street, Minnesota Avenue SE, South Capitol Street and Maine Avenue SW. See a pdf listing of the street closings. D.C. police temporarily open some access points during the event when no runners are present. Metro The weekend schedule on some lines will be affected by Metro’s rebuilding program. Green Line trains will operate every 16 minutes. Blue Line trains will operate normally between Franconia-Springfield and Stadium-Armory and Silver Line trains will operate normally between Wiehle-Reston East and Stadium-Armory. But Blue and Silver Line riders traveling to or from stations to the east of Stadium-Armory will find the trains are about 20 minutes apart. Metrobus When the race begins, Metro said, buses on the affected routes north of Constitution Avenue NW will turn back at a point near a rail station, if possible. They will resume their regular routes into downtown D.C. as streets reopen. South of Constitution Avenue, Metro said, there will be no regular service on the affected routes from the start of the race until the runners are clear of downtown. Service will be restored as streets reopen. During the marathon hours, riders can transfer from Metrobus to Metrorail for free if they ask the bus driver for a special transfer.


PM Update: Clearing this evening and cool tonight, but still mild on Thursday

Two-hour satellite loop. Refresh page to update. Despite some morning showers and only a slow clearing trend today, temperatures rose above 60 across much of the area for the second time this week. As the storm system that impacted us yesterday and last night moves off, we’ll see more in the way of clear skies ahead. Slightly cooler as well, but about what we might expect for this time of year. Through Tonight: Tomorrow (Thursday): See Dan Stillman’s forecast through the weekend. And if you haven’t already, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter Winter to spring: The view into D.C. from Virginia, March 7 to March 11. (National Park Service, modified by CWG)


BSO (the Baltimore one) announces centennial season

to have a special relationship with every American orchestra, and who will be along for the celebration. In a press statement, Alsop called the season — which includes a high percentage of big names and notable events (the orchestra’s first performances in 50 years of Bach’s b minor Mass; the Brahms Requiem under the BSO’s new principal guest conductor, Markus Stenz) — “more spectacular, meaningful and innovative than any other in our history.” Hyperbole aside, there’s a lot here to sink your teeth into, whether your interest is more piqued by Rachmaninoff’s Third Concerto with Denis Matsuev and Temirkanov; a new concert series, called “Pulse,” that brings together ensembles of musicians from the orchestra with indie bands; or a semi-staged performance of “Porgy and Bess.” Marking the actual anniversary on February 11 will be a special gala concert led by Alsop and featuring Joshua Bell, who recorded “The Red Violin Concerto” with the orchestra in 2006 and here will appear in his own arrangement of excerpts from Bernstein’s “West Side Story.” Slightly marring the celebratory tone of the announcement was the disgruntled note struck by the orchestra’s musicians, who announced on Monday that they had retained a publicity firm — usually a move indicating unrest and possible labor disputes ahead. At issue is the fact that the orchestra has a number of vacant positions and isn’t offering a base pay sufficient — musicians claimed in the Baltimore Sun — to attract top candidates. The dissent is notable given that such things are usually aired in public only around the time of contract negotiations, and the orchestra’s contract isn’t up until 2016. The BSO has seemed to work well with its musicians in weathering some challenging financial periods by means of voluntary cuts that almost certainly helped keep the orchestra alive, but despite a certain amount of restoration — the orchestra’s annual budget is up to $27 million after a dip down to around $23 million — the musicians’ annual base pay of about $75,000 makes the orchestra far less attractive to applicants than, say, the National Symphony Orchestra, which, although no better an ensemble than the BSO, has a base pay of more than $126,000. The musicians’ timing means they get exactly what the BSO didn’t want: a note of discord marring the announcement of this gala season. Nonetheless, Baltimore has plenty to be excited about in the year ahead.


Saturn’s moon suggests the question of life beyond Earth may soon be answered

old rules about where and how life can survive. The discovery of so-called extremophiles … has vastly increased the set of conditions under which we can imagine life existing on this planet.” Then there is the rapidly emerging number of exoplanets. The first was discovered in 1995, when Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of the University of Geneva spotted 51 Pegasi, dozens of light years away. “After that, the floodgates opened,” wrote Michael D. Lemonick in National Geographic. Researchers have since found nearly 2,000 of these planets. And some of them seem ripe for life. One in particular was discovered in June last year, only a dozen light years away, parked smack in the “Goldilocks” zone. This zone specifies the requisite distance from a sun a planet must be for there to be liquid water, considered vital by scientists for the existence of life. Thus, not too hot, not too cold: Goldilocks. Then this year, astronomers announced the discovery of eight additional Goldilocks planets. And that’s only the start. In the coming years, a slew of what may be revolutionary telescopes will swivel skyward. There’s the appropriately named European Extremely Large Telescope. There’s the NASA-approved Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, which should start hunting for planets in 2017. And the James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled for a 2018 start. The search for extraterrestrials long ago transitioned from the realm of science fiction to scientific pursuit. At first blush, it seemed a hopeless one. Life on Earth seemed a product of hundreds of factors that miraculously went our way. Take Jupiter. If it hadn’t existed, exerting its massive gravity on the solar system, comets would have pulverized Earth, throwing a wrench into the wheels of creation. Take the moon. If it hadn’t been around, the Earth wouldn’t have its seasons or tides. Plus, we’re squarely in the Goldilocks zone. “By considering each of these many factors and imagining the probability of each separately, one can imagine that the combination is statistically very unlikely, or impossible,” Krauss wrote of Earth’s chances. But that’s not so, he said. Rather, recent research and the discovery of these extremophiles indicate how life can sprout in ways scientists never imagined. “On Earth, these are niche environments,” Lisa Kaltenegger, of Harvard University and Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, told National Geographic. “But on another planet, you can easily envision that they could be the dominant scenarios.”


No, cosmic rays aren’t causing global warming

Image provided by the European Space Agency ESA on Wednesday April 3, 2013, showing the International Space Station in the sunlight. The station contains a $2 billion cosmic ray detector. (AP Photo/NASA/European Space Agency ESA. Keystone) Climate change contrarians have sought all sorts of explanations for why humans aren’t causing global warming, ranging from changes in solar activity to natural cycles in Earth’s own wobbly climate system. Another increasingly popular reason given is cosmic rays — highly energetic particles from outer space sources that are constantly bombarding our planet. Scientists have long considered this argument to be baseless, and now a new study hammers that point home further. Changes in how many cosmic rays hit Earth could affect temperatures in the short term, but not in the long term, researchers reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Cosmic rays are theorized to help form clouds, which can alter temperature by bouncing sunlight back to space. The more rays that hit our atmosphere, the more clouds that form. And the more clouds that form, the more that sunlight gets bounced back to space, cooling the planet. The opposite would hold true, as well: The fewer rays that hit us, the fewer clouds that form and the less that sunlight gets reflected, warming the planet a bit. [Related: Florida officials’ ‘ban’ of the term climate change is straight out of the Bush playbook] A key factor influencing how many cosmic rays hit us to begin with is the sun. Our star undergoes a roughly decade-long cycle where its power output fluctuates up and down just a tick. And when that happens there’s a corresponding change in the solar wind, a stream of particles that can deflect cosmic rays from hitting the Earth. Some climate contrarians have suggested that the solar cycle, by altering the solar wind’s strength, and thus how many cosmic rays hit the Earth, may be responsible for recent temperature trends, including 20th century warming. Multiple studies show that this argument is flat-out baseless. Not only might cosmic rays not be very good at boosting cloud formation, but even if they are good at it, the resulting effects on temperature would be pretty small. A 2011 paper, for instance, found that our planet’s dose of cosmic rays could only account for eight percent of the 20th century’s warming. And a 2013 paper also found at most a


Main Street Morning: Powdered alcohol

The U.S. has approved alcohol powder sales. (Julia Ewan/Washington Post) Welcome to Main Street Morning, The Washington Post’s daily collection of news affecting entrepreneurs, start-ups and small businesses, with a special focus on policy and government. Here’s what’s affecting my small business, my clients and other entrepreneurs today. Washington • • Abercrombie is defending itself in the Supreme Court after refusing to hire a girl who wore a hijab to an interview. • The size of the government’s contracting workforce? Anyone’s guess. The Economy • Here’s what’s holding back entrepreneurs – in one chart. • Start-up • Entrepreneurs • • Six • • • Restaurants • Ideas • Technology • • Retail • • Management • • • • Finance • • • Marketing • Here are • People • • • • History • Taxes • Around the Country • • • • • • • Around the World • • • • Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. Follow Gene Marks and On Small Business on Twitter. News we should know about? Email us here.


NASA discovers an underground ocean on Jupiter’s largest moon

confirm a liquid ocean. “This discovery marks a significant milestone, highlighting what only Hubble can accomplish,” John Grunsfeld, assistant administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, said in a statement. “In its 25 years in orbit, Hubble has made many scientific discoveries in our own solar system. A deep ocean under the icy crust of Ganymede opens up further exciting possibilities for life beyond Earth.” Scientists have already confirmed the existence of an ocean on Europa, another moon orbiting Jupiter, and NASA has announced plans to send an unmanned mission there searching for the life that might come with liquid water. [Hubble catches a rare three-moon-parade in front of Jupiter] This animation, based on images taken by NASA's Galileo orbiter, shows what Jupiter's moon, Ganymede, looks like, with each color indicating a different type of terrain. "Brown regions are those that are heavily cratered and much older than the light shaded regions that are smoother with few craters. These lighter shaded regions are believed to be formed by flooding of the surface with water coming from faults or even cryo-volcanos that have taken place over billions of years. Perhaps even tectonic processes are at work with some crustal ice sheets being forced downward by the emergence of newer icy material." The Hubble is a telescope that orbits Earth, but because of these analyses of its magnetic field, it can be used to study the interior of planets far off in the distance. Using these same principles, project contributors said during a NASA news conference on Thursday, scientists could theoretically detect oceans on distant exoplanets as well. [From the Hubble, a new image of a glittering cosmic wonderland with stars] "It may require a telescope larger than the Hubble, it may require a new space telescope, but nevertheless it is a tool we have now," executive vice president of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Heidi Hammel said. This news comes just a day after the announcement that one of Saturn's moons might have hydrothermal activity in its subsurface ocean -- a phenomenon that could allow it to support life. It seems that water may be relatively common in our solar system, making the search for life all the more exciting and mysterious. More Reading: Remastered image shows the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon in One of Saturn’s moons could have the ingredients necessary for life CORRECTION:


Iowa Christian leader backs cannabis oil production

Marijuana plants grow at Perennial Holistic Wellness Center medical marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles. (David McNew/Getty Images) UPDATE 5:30 p.m.: This piece was updated to include more information on cannabidiol, the compound found in cannabis. Iowa Christian leader and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats on Wednesday said that he supports a deal to allow the growing and harvesting of cannabis for limited medicinal use. In a Wednesday news conference, Vander Plaats said that he — and, he noted, not the organization he leads, The Family Leader — supported the successful campaign in 2014 to allow patients access to cannabidiol, a compound also known as CBD found in cannabis. CBD does not produce the high typically associated with the plant and used in medicines to treat a variety of ailments, including seizures and neurological disorders. While 23 states have passed more sweeping medical marijuana legislation, a dozen states, including Iowa, have approved more limited access to CBD-based medicines. But most of those laws lack allowances for growing or harvesting marijuana, thereby making use of the drug legal without setting up the infrastructure for its production. One of the key provisions in the historic Senate medical marijuana bill announced this week would solve that problem, but Vander Plaats wants Iowa to pass a solution of its own. “I believe in Iowa we have the resources right here to take care of it, where we could grow it, we could harvest it, we could process it, we could manufacture it and we could dispense it,” he said, according to audio posted online by Radio Iowa. “And we could do it the Iowa way with a high regard for ethics and integrity. So what we’re encouraging the legislators right now and the governor is to finish the job. Last year you granted access to medical cannabis oil, now lets make sure that these parents and children have access to it.” Vander Plaats said he and his wife were “applauding and cheering silently from the sidelines” as the law allowing access to cannabis oil-based medicine wended its way through the state legislature in 2014 because they sympathized with the parents pushing for it. Like those parents, their son Lucas suffers from a seizure-inducing rare brain disorder, he said. If the medicine became available, and Lucas could benefit, they would consider it for him, Vander Plaats added. “We’ve seen what happens when children have


Why measles could be worse for West Africa than Ebola

Mothers wait for their children to receive vaccinations last month at Redemption Hospital, formerly an Ebola holding center in Monrovia, Liberia. (John Moore/Getty Images) As the unprecedented Ebola outbreak slowly fades in West Africa, it has left plenty of other public health worries in its wake. One of the biggest threats: measles. The massive disruptions Ebola caused to the health-care systems in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone led to a significant drop in the number of children getting vaccinated for a range of diseases, including whooping cough and polio. In a study published Thursday in the journal Science, a group of researchers has calculated the potential fallout in the region if there was a measles outbreak. The measles virus is highly contagious and has surfaced in the wake of other humanitarian crises. "It's so transmissible, and it's one of the first diseases you often see when there are crises leading to reductions in the vaccination rates," Justin Lessler, an assistant epidemiology professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the study's lead author, said in an interview. Lessler and his colleagues used data-backed mathematical models to simulate how quickly a measles outbreak could spread through vulnerable West African populations. Before the Ebola epidemic, they estimated, the region had about 778,000 children between 9 months and 5 years old who had not received a measles vaccine. Eighteen months after the Ebola outbreak began, there could be more than 1.1 million unvaccinated children — an increase of 45 percent. The researchers found that a large measles outbreak could affect 100,000 more people in West Africa than it might have before the Ebola outbreak, or more than 200,000 overall, with most of the victims being young children. They estimated that such a catastrophe could cause 2,000 to 16,000 deaths. By contrast, the Ebola outbreak, which triggered a slow but massive global response last year, officially has led to 24,247 confirmed or suspected cases and 9,961 deaths, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization. Lessler acknowledged that the measles estimates in the Science study amount to an educated guess. As with Ebola, it's nearly impossible to predict whether a measles outbreak will happen, whether it would originate in crowded cities or rural countrysides, and how long it might last. In addition, he said researchers initially assumed in their models that 75 percent fewer children in West Africa were


The scary idea that won’t go away: Global warming messing with the jet stream and your weather

— who is familiar with the work but was not involved in the research — not only confirms her broad idea, but does so by examining a new and more detailed mechanism. The Potsdam researchers looked at an atmospheric feature called “eddy kinetic energy,” which, as Francis explained, basically refers to the winds swirling around regions of high and low pressure. Those winds have decreased, the paper finds. “That’s why they’re saying that it’s more likely to have summer extreme events,” Francis said. “Because the weather just is not changing as much, and the weather systems themselves are just more stagnant and lethargic.” The new study points in particular to the devastating 2010 summer heat wave in Russia. “By late July and early August, numerous cities witnessed a crescendo of record breaking daily readings near 40ºC, more than +10ºC warmer than what would normally have been experienced at this warmest time of year,” noted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the time. The resulting death toll could have been as high as 55,000. So how did such an extreme come about? The new paper notes that “the record breaking July temperatures over Moscow were associated with extremely low [eddy kinetic energy].” In other words, there was just not enough circulation of air to bring in cooler temperatures. “If this whole circulation slows down and there’s less energy in these storms, then basically we get more persistent weather situations, which can lead to some extreme heat waves,” said Stefan Rahmstorf, also a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research but not one of the study’s authors. So what’s the upshot for the ongoing debate over whether the Arctic is, indeed, messing with weather in the mid-latitudes all over the globe? “I think the balance of evidence is kind of moving towards confirming that there is this influence of the Arctic,” said Rahmstorf. “It’s making the pile of evidence I think look pretty substantial,” added Francis. That doesn’t mean the debate is over or clinched. But it does mean that questions over precisely how the rapidly melting Arctic is feeding back into the weather we all experience are getting more pressing and pertinent than ever. Rutgers University's Jennifer Francis, who published a paper linking Arctic amplification to extreme weather in mid-latitudes, explained her theory that may have something to do with extreme winter, like what we’ve seen this week.


‘Scandal’ recap Season 4, Episode 15: ‘The testimony of Diego Muñoz’

an eviction notice on Lois’s door because she hasn’t paid her rent. Liv, watching through the peephole in her door, has vivid memories of what happened to poor Lois, but she can’t bring herself to tell Rose. [Why Marla Gibbs of “Scandal" and “The Jeffersons" won’t tell you her age] Instead, Olivia reminds the messenger that Lois has five more days to pay her debt before they can legally evict her. When Rose asks if she’s talking to the nice lady that looks after Lois, Olivia lets her in. Rose explains that she and Lois talk every day and that she knows something is wrong. She asks Olivia to help her find out what happened to her friend. That sends Olivia, begrudgingly, into the office, where Huck and Quinn gingerly applaud her for leaving her apartment. She tells them about Lois being shot and how the kidnappers placed her in the same body bag to get her out of apartment building unnoticed. She asks them to track the ambulance so they can find Lois’s body. Rose offers another lead — the serial number on Lois’s replacement. Olivia figures out that Rose and Lois were more than friends. They’d fallen in love as teenagers, but were separated when Lois’s parents found out. “It was hard enough being black, let alone black and gay,” Rose tells Olivia. It was only after Lois’s husband died that they were reunited, with Rose moving to be close to Lois. She had a key to her apartment, but would’t move in because they disagreed on where to keep the temperature on the thermostat. When Liv tells Rose that she needs time to find out what happened to Lois, Rose tells her: “I’ve waited over 40 years for my Lois, Ms. Pope. Believe me I can wait a bit longer.” While Olivia focuses her efforts on finding Lois, Abby channels her former boss — helping Susan navigate her way to the vice presidency. Susan has pretty clear directives from The White House — play up the single mom thing and all the ways she relates to the American people. She’s doing great — until she gets the giggles at a press conference. Enter Leo, who helps spin Susan’s annoying laugh/snort as part of the relatability that makes her such a great VP pick. But Leo, being Leo, takes it too far and Susan calls it all off.


House of the Week | Wesley Heights Colonial for $1.95M

when his father, Winston Lord, former ambassador to China, served as an assistant secretary of state in the Clinton administration. It was during their time living in the home that his mother, Bette Bao Lord, published her fifth book, “The Middle Heart.” (Photo by Piers Lamb) The living room An item in The Post’s Reliable Source about the book noted that Lord had a seven-foot-tall, 17th-century Burmese statue of Buddha in the foyer of her home. At the Buddha’s feet, the Shanghai-born American had tucked a copy of her novel. Asked if the Chinese pieces in the home were family heirlooms or objects collected during their years in Beijing, Bette chuckled and shook her head no. “I got them all at Woodies!” she said. Lord moved in with his parents about the time the book came out and stayed in the home after they moved to New York. He bought the home from them in 2007. Over the years, it has been the perfect setting for his bashes. From large fundraising events — Lord is on the boards of D.C. Central Kitchen, the Washington Ballet and Urban Alliance — to get-togethers with a few friends, the house adapts well, regardless of the size of the crowd. (Photo by Piers Lamb) The breakfast room One of his more memorable soirees was an engagement party for Washington Nationals star Ryan Zimmerman in 2012 when top chef Spike Mendelsohn cooked dinner for 35 friends. “I’m a great sous chef,” Lord said. “I get my friends who can cook and I tell them that I’ll buy the ingredients, I’ll cut up all the vegetables, and they can have free use of my kitchen.” Lord has mixed feelings about saying goodbye to the home, but he and his fiancee have put in an offer on a place in the Atlas District in Northeast Washington where he promises the parties will continue. The five-bedroom, five-bathroom home is listed at $1.95 million. An open house is scheduled for Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. Listing: 3211 Foxhall Rd. NW, Washington, D.C. Listing agents: Susan Berger and Ellen Sandler, Evers & Co. Real Estate For Mortgage rates resume their upward climb Drilling down on neighborhood data can help in buying or selling in a hot area What home buyers can expect this spring in three hot D.C. neighborhoods D.C. region’s housing market is off to an encouraging start


Hundreds of medical workers have been killed in Syria, almost wiping out health care

also the civilians they treat. “For every additional doctor killed or hospital destroyed, there are hundreds — even thousands — of Syrians who have nowhere to turn for health care,” the report said. In major cities such as Aleppo, Homs and Deir al-Zour, more than 75 percent of medical professionals have been forced to leave, Syrian American Medical Society President Zaher Sahloul told Cousins. Those who remain are adopting fake names and working in secrecy, fearing reprisals for treating someone with the wrong political affiliations, he added. The massive exodus of health professionals has left Syria with 15,000 fewer doctors — half the total number of certified physicians in the country. “The brain drain of Syrian doctors … is one of the worst untold stories of the crisis,” Sahloul said. The toll on Syria’s health-care system is evident in clinics and operating rooms across the country, where Cousins reports that newborn babies are dying in their incubators during power outages and patients are being knocked out with metal bars in the absence of anesthetics. It’s also evident in Syria’s rising rates of illness. Vaccination rates have dropped from 90 to 52 percent, Physicians for Human Rights reported, contributing to outbreaks of scabies, typhoid and tuberculosis. In the last year the country has reported 4,200 cases of measles, after not reporting a single lab-confirmed case in either 2010 or 2011. Polio, which hadn’t been seen in Syria since the 1990s, reemerged in 2013. A massive immunization campaign halted reports of new cases, but health experts told Cousins that the challenges of reporting and confirming cases lead them to believe that the outbreak may not have been completely reversed. And in a country with such poor vaccination rates, it may be only a matter of time until the disease returns, epidemiologist Martin Eichner said. The conflict has also contributed to hundreds of thousands of deaths from non-communicable diseases, many of them preventable, Cousins said. The scarcity of doctors, medication and money to spend on them means typically non-life-threatening conditions such as diabetes and asthma can become deadly. Meanwhile, the 3.3 million refugees who have fled to neighboring countries have strained those nations’ own health systems. “People are fed up with Syria,” Evelyne Devaud, the Lebanon medical coordinator at Doctors Without Borders, told Cousins. “We need to have a solution tomorrow, but it won’t happen. The long-term current health situation is not sustainable.”


One of first TargetExpress stores in the nation to open in College Park

a 14,617-square-foot TargetExpress there later this summer, hopefully before University of Maryland students return from summer break. Though the store will be only about one-tenth the size of the average Target, it will feature a grocery section plus health, beauty and household products. It will be one of the first TargetExpress stores in the nation. There are three right now: one in Minneapolis, near Target headquarters, and two others that opened last week in the Bay Area. The company plans to open eight total in 2015, including locations in San Diego, Chicago, the Bay Area and another in the Washington area besides College Park. The smaller stores are aimed at being able to serve Target customers as they move into “densely populated areas that Target wasn’t traditionally a part of,” said company spokeswoman Erika Winkels. Other big box stores, such as Wal-Mart, and grocery stores including Wegmans and Whole Foods Market, have been experimenting with smaller store designs as well. “We basically said, look, we are seeing guests move to urban areas. We are seeing this influx of the population … so what we’re doing is really responding to that guest shift,” Winkels said. The planned interior of TargetExpress. (Courtesy Target) The developer, David A. Israel, senior vice president at CA Ventures, said he visited the store in Minneapolis before leasing the College Park space to Target. “The store was bustling with activity and the students loved the convenience of being able to grab everyday essentials and shop for their groceries with ease,” he said. “Having a TargetExpress in our building will be a great amenity for University of Maryland students and residents in the surrounding neighborhood.” [Related: Can College Park ever become a good college town?] Since opening its first store in the District, in the Columbia Heights neighborhood in 2008, Target has been poking around in search of other spaces in urban neighborhoods. It considered properties downtown, at a new shopping center in Northeast, at the Shops at Georgetown Park and around Nationals Park, but didn’t open any stores. In College Park, TargetExpress will be part of an effort by the university and city officials to bring new shops, entertainment and restaurants to Route 1 and the neighborhoods surrounding the campus. Through a private foundation, the university has bought or leased $20 million of property between campus and the center of town. Follow Jonathan O’Connell on Twitter: @oconnellpostbiz


Meet NASA’s new expandable space habitat

Bigelow Aerospace is expected to begin testing these space habitats aboard the International Space Station in September, 2015. (Bill Ingalls/NASA/Reuters) NASA’s newest space habitat looks sort of like a kids’ moon bounce, a big, shiny, inflatable sphere that could be lots of fun to play in. Soon astronauts on the International Space Station could get the chance to try. The expandable habitat made by Bigelow Aerospace recently passed NASA’s rigorous certification requirements and is scheduled to be flown to the station in September. Called the BEAM (and acronym for Bigelow Expandable Activity Module), the habitat would be attached to the space station, where it would stay for two years. While there, it would be tested to see how it handles the rigors of space — the radiation, the station’s movement and even how it stands up to the debris flying around in orbit. The private Las Vegas company, founded by millionaire real estate mogul Robert Bigelow, won a $17.8 million contract from NASA to provide the module to the space station. “Today is the first step, but it’s a big step,” said Bigelow’s George Zamka. Bigelow plans to send bigger inflatable habitats to space, which could replace or augment the space station. It also hopes to build the habitats on the moon. Its B330 module would be even bigger, with 330 cubic meters of internal space. The modules could be connected, creating research facilities, the company says, or even space hotels. In an interview, NASA’s William Gerstenmaier, said he was eager to see how the module performs, and said he was especially pleased “to see how the private sector can step up and help us meet our requirements.” The module will be flown to the space station by SpaceX, the first commercial company to resupply the space station. Check out an animation of the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module's extraction and installation on the International Space Station. Read more


NASA launches four spacecraft to study a phenomenon called magnetic reconnection

help us know how storms from the sun can hurt our machines and electricity on Earth. Now that we've all digested the 5-year-old version, let's bump things up a few grade levels. At it's most basic, magnetic reconnection occurs when two field lines come together and realign into a new configuration. It happens all over the universe and is the catalyst for aurora near Earth, giant explosions on the sun such as solar flares, and even giant jets streaming out of supernovae. (NASA/Goddard/Duberstein) The Earth and the sun both produce magnetic fields, and those fields interact with each other. When they do, magnetic reconnection occurs. The mismatched magnetic fields realign with each other, which causes explosive bursts of heat and light energy. [One of Saturn’s moons could have the ingredients necessary for life] When reconnection happens, some of the sun's radioactive energy can come close to Earth, breaking past the protective magnetic bubble called the magnetosphere. These solar storms can cause disruptions in satellites and radio communications. Severe space weather can even harm the electrical grid, especially at our planet's polar regions. NASA scientist John Dorelli explains how the orbit and tetrahedron formation of the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission's four identical spacecraft allow scientists to gather data about magnetic reconnection in 3D. NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (or MMS) uses four spacecraft so that scientists can fly them in a unique orbit (shown in the video above). The four identical MMS crafts stacked and prepped for launch. (NASA/Ben Smegelsky) By flying them in a pyramid shape with only 10 kilometers between them, NASA scientists hope to catch magnetic reconnection happening right inside their little group. That way they can get a 3-D view of the phenomenon. Artist concept of MMS. (NASA) “MMS is a crucial next step in advancing the science of magnetic reconnection – and no mission has ever observed this fundamental process with such detail,” Jeff Newmark, interim director for NASA’s Heliophysics Division, said in a statement. “The depth and detail of our knowledge is going to grow by leaps and bounds, in ways that no one can yet predict.” More from Speaking of Science: Scientists discover nine new dwarf galaxies full of dark matter just hanging around the Milky Way Breathtaking new images captures birth of countless stars Ancient giants are a clue to the evolution of today’s insects After timeout, Mars Curiosity rover is back in the game


How to observe Pi Day 2015

Tomorrow is 3/14/15, which is a super-special Pi Day that comes around only once a century. (That is, if you ignore that 3/14/15 is only special using standard American date-writing conventions. But why not?) While traditionally, Pi Day is celebrated on 3/14 at 1:59, this year you can celebrate on 3/14/15 at 9:26. What can you do to celebrate the greatest mathematical constant? A start would be to bake a pie in a “pi” pan (e.g., something like this or this; this is the type of pan that I have at home). Then, bust out the mnemonics and poetry! Let me remind everyone of my own contribution to pi: a mnemonic for 167 digits of pi, which I developed with some friends in the mid-’90s. Many people know the common mnemonic: “How I need a drink, alcoholic of course, after the tough lectures involving quantum mechanics.” Count the number of letters in each word and stick a decimal point after the 3, and you get: 3.14159265358979, which is already more than you need for most purposes. The thirty-second digit after the decimal point is a zero, which in this mnemonic we represent by the end of a sentence. Here’s 167 digits’ worth: How I need a drink, alcoholic of course, after the tough lectures involving quantum mechanics; but we did estimate some digits by making very bad, not accurate, but so greatly efficient tools! In quaintly valuable ways, a dedicated student — I, Volokh, Alexander — can determine beautiful and curious stuff, O! Smart, gorgeous me! Descartes himself knew wonderful ways that could ascertain it too! Revered, glorious — a wicked dude! Behold an unending number: pi! Thinkers’ ceaseless agonizing produces little, if anything! For this constant, it stops not — just as e, I suppose. Vainly, ancient geometers computed it — a task undoable. Legendre, Adrien Marie: “I say pi rational is not!” Adrien proved this theorem. Therefore, all doubters have made errors. (Everybody that’s Greek.) Today, counting is as bad a problem as years ago, maybe centuries even. Moreover, I do consider that variable x, y, z, wouldn’t much avail. Is constant like i? No, buffoon! Note that the word “greatly” in the first sentence was originally “f**king”, but this is (sometimes) a family blog. This was written up in the March 18, 1996 issue of The Scientist magazine (at the link you’ll also find a picture of


Lockheed Martin unveils a new spacecraft to go to the international space station — and beyond

laboratory. As the second round of contracts, potentially worth billions, is expected to be awarded in June, the competition has become especially fierce. Lockheed and Boeing, neither of which bid last time, offered proposals. And they face stiff competition from other smaller space companies that have grown quickly and demonstrated the ability to serve space missions for NASA. In addition to the cargo launches, NASA last year awarded contracts to SpaceX and Boeing to take astronauts to the space station. At the announcement Thursday evening, Lockheed executives said their offering to take cargo to space was markedly different from any of the other proposals. Its Jupiter system, which includes a cargo container called an Exoliner, would launch on an Atlas V rocket. Once in space, Jupiter would detach and fly to the space station. After delivering the cargo, and then filling up with trash from the station, Jupiter would disembark. "And here's where things get different," said Jim Crocker, vice president and general manager of Lockheed's Space Systems International division, while explaining the chronology Thursday. Instead of coming straight back to Earth, Jupiter would remain in orbit and carry out other missions, such as deploying commercial satellites. Then, some months or weeks later on the next cargo mission, another Atlas V would launch with another Exoliner container filled with supplies. Once in space, the container would deploy on the rocket's second stage and meet up with the container filled with trash. And then the two containers would swap places using a robotic arm. The one filled with cargo would deploy from the second stage, connect with Jupiter and fly to the space station. The one filled with trash would connect with the second stage. Then it would fly back to Earth, ultimately crashing in the ocean. But Jupiter has other capabilities as well, Lockheed says. "This takes us beyond the space station," Crocker said. The system could also carry humans, Lockheed says, and is big enough to hold big pieces of equipment that astronauts need for extended stays in space. It could hold treadmills, for example, which astronauts would need for exercise, as well as the systems needed to support life in space. "Although our priority is going to be serving the ISS . . . we're also designing this system from the beginning to do deep space missions," said Josh Hopkins, a space exploration architect at Lockheed. (Lockheed Martin)