week4- Pluto

Here’s the Latest News From Pluto


Three months after a landmark rendezvous with everyone's favorite little world, the first cache of findings are released


There’s an awful lot you can learn about planetary science from reading the compelling new paper about the New Horizons mission to Pluto, just released in the journal Science. Actually, there’s a lot you can learn before you even get past the bylines.

Getting your name on a journal paper is not easy, and it’s usually up to the lead author to determine who deserves the shout-out and who doesn’t. In this case, principal investigator Alan Stern did not have to give the matter too much thought: there are an extraordinary 150 co-authors listed after his name—a testament to the collaboration and choreography necessary to mount a mission as improbable as New Horizons.

The numbers alone tell why: the spacecraft was launched on January 19, 2006 and even traveling at an average speed in excess of 36,000 mph (58,000 k/h)—the fastest any spacecraft has ever left Earth orbit—it still needed six and a half years to cover the 3 billion mi. (4.76 billion km) to its rendezvous with Pluto and its large moon Charon. All the same, its arrival, on July 14, 2015 at 7:49 AM ET was precisely on-time, as the spacecraft skimmed by Pluto at the relative treetop level of just 7,800 mi. (12,500 km).

Ever since then, New Horizons has been streaming back the data it collected during its flyby of the Pluto system. While there is a great deal more still to come, there is now enough for Stern and his many collaborators to have released a preliminary report.

Easily the most visually pleasing feature of the dwarf planet was the huge heart-shaped region in its southern hemisphere, a formation the New Horizons team informally dubbed Tombaugh Regio, after Clyde Tombaugh, the amateur astronomer who discovered Pluto in 1930. But for geologists, Tombaugh Regio has a lot more to it than sentiment.

The western lobe of the heart, dubbed Sputnik Planum, is a relatively smooth plain, though isolated mountains do poke up to heights of 2 to 3 km (1.25 to 1.9 mi.) above the surrounding terrain. In the bitter cold so far from the sun, frozen nitrogen, carbon monoxide and methane make up part of the surface, but even in their solid state, those materials slump over time. For that reason, the investigators believe the mountains are built on a sort of bedrock of simple water ice, which is much stronger in deep-freeze temperatures.

Moons and planets get resurfaced all the time, but it is often the result of tidal squeezing that results from the gravitational influence of nearby worlds, which in turn leads to volcanic activity. Pluto, however, is a world without those solid tides. “As such,” the researchers concede, “the young surface units on Pluto present a puzzle.”

The eastern lobe of the Tombaugh heart is more rugged than the west, with a lower albedo—or reflectivity—as a result. Some of this might result from ice subliming from the surface during Pluto’s seasons—which result from an eccentric orbit carrying it periodically closer to and further from the sun. 

The atmosphere—made up mostly of nitrogen, methane and acetylene—that produces those winds is very real but very tentative. Its pressure at Pluto’s surface is less than 10 microbars, which is not an easy unit of measure to grasp, until you realize that that’s one one-hundred-thousandth of the pressure of Earth’s atmosphere.  

Charon, which is more than 85% of Pluto’s size and is thus seen less as a moon than as a companion dwarf planet, has more surface mottling than Pluto, with a dark polar spot measuring 153 mi. (250 km) across. It’s unclear what caused the formation but the best guess so far is that it’s an impact scar. Much of the rest of the surface is characterized by rolling planes and running fractures—a network of cracks likely caused by impacts as well. Little data about Charon’s atmosphere has been beamed back yet, with the exception that there isn’t much of it—significantly less than Pluto’s.

Nix and Hydra, two smaller, irregularly shaped moons, have so far yielded spottier data and grainier pictures, but their highly reflective surfaces do seem to indicate abundant water ice. For them, too, more information is still to come.

The spacecraft is now well past Pluto, having continued to put more than 36,000 clicks on its odometer every hour since mid-July, and is heading into the Kuiper Belt—the band of comets and Pluto-like objects beyond the orbit of the planets. The spacecraft’s mission was set to end in 2016, but as often happens when a ship has performed so exquisitely, that deadline has now been extended, so that it can continue on to a later rendezvous with another icy body, known simply as Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69.


That little world won’t inspire the love that has come Pluto’s way—and it surely won’t be stamped with the serendipitous heart to prove it. Good science isn’t always going to make good poetry—but as with the dispatches from Pluto, it’s awfully nice when it does.



http://time.com/4073193/pluto-results-new-horizons/


 Structure of the Lead：
  WHO- not given
  WHEN- July 14, 2015
  WHAT- finding the Latest News From Pluto
  WHY- not given
  WHERE- Pluto
  HOW- not given




Keywords：

rendezvous  匯合 約會
planetary  行星的 
compelling  令人信服的 不可抗拒的
bylines  署名
principal  首要的 本金的
investigator  調查者 研究者
extraordinary 特別的 非凡的
improbable  不大可能的 未必會發生的
collaboration  合作
choreography  舞蹈編排 編舞藝術 
spacecraft  宇宙飛船
streaming 流出
preliminary  預備的 初步的
hemisphere  半球 領域
nitrogen  氮

week3-Formosa Fun Coast, explosion

Taiwan Water Park Blaze: More Than 500 Injured in Formosa Fun Coast Fire

TAIPEI — The number of people injured in a fire at a Taiwan water amusement park rose to 516 on Sunday, government officials said, with more than 180 still in intensive care.

Media reported four mainland Chinese and two foreigners were among those injured after Saturday's fire, during a party where up to 1,000 revelers were sprayed with colored powder as they danced to music, seeking to escape the summer heat.

The blaze, which broke out around 8:30 p.m. at the Formosa Fun Coast water park on the outskirts of the capital, Taipei, is suspected to have been caused by an explosion of the powder, local government official Lin Chieh-yu told Reuters.

"It remains under investigation as to what made the powder explode," he added. Authorities have banned the use of the powder until the investigation is completed.

"The next few days will be a critical time for the injured," Taiwan Premier Mao Chi-kuo told reporters, adding that 410 people were still in hospital on Sunday, with 194 being treated for serious injuries.

In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, rescuers treated hundreds of people, most of them aged between 20 and 30, wearing wet swimsuits and lying on inflatable plastic doughnuts. Television showed images of people running from sky-high flames.

"There was blood and people were on fire," one injured man said.

No death has yet been reported, but victims of the incident suffered burns to the limbs, with some passing out from the pain while others had burned clothes stuck to their skin, media reports and pictures showed.

"She is young. A student," sobbed the father of an 18-year-old girl with burns on 80 percent of her body, according to television footage.

Soldiers, army vehicles and medical services joined the rescue effort, while hospitals in four municipal precincts, along with Taipei, are treating sufferers.

"We are very sorry about what happened and we will investigate the cause to find out who is responsible," Eric Chu, the mayor of New Taipei City, where the park is located, said on Saturday, adding that it had been ordered to shut down.

The amusement park has been closed temporarily, it said on its website on Sunday. Taipei has sweltered in temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) in recent weeks.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/tally-injured-rises-more-500-after-taiwan-water-park-fire-n383226

 Structure of the Lead：
  WHO-More Than 500 people
  WHEN-2015/6/27
  WHAT-The number of people injured in a fire 
  WHY-an explosion of the powder
  WHERE-at the Formosa Fun Coast water park 
  HOW- not given

intensive    密集的 加強的

mainland    大陸的

revelers     飲酒狂歡者

sprayed     噴灑 噴射

blaze         爆發 火焰

suspected  懷疑 猜想

investigation  調查

inflatable    充氣艇

sobbed     哭訴 哽咽地說

municipal   市政的

temporarily  暫時地

sweltered   熱得難受 汗流浹背

week2-Fifa corruption scandal

Fifa corruption scandal: Sepp Blatter's No 2 faces allegation over Brazil 2014 World Cup

Fifa Secretary General Jérôme Valcke has been accused of agreeing to help sell Brazil 2014 World Cup tickets on the black market to generate millions of dollars in personal profit, in a fresh scandal to engulf football’s governing organisation.

The allegation was made by Benny Alon, an Israeli former footballer who has worked as a ticketing and hospitality agent at every World Cup since 1990.

Emails said to be between him and Mr Valcke appear to show that Mr Valcke knew that Mr Alon intended to sell 8,750 tickets for 24 ‘creme de la creme’ matches at last year’s World Cup at several times their face value – a breach of Fifa’s rules on ticket sales.

The allegations have been denied by Mr Valcke.

Mr Alon has spent today briefing journalists on his claims, and said that in a meeting with Mr Valcke in 2013, the pair agreed that Mr Alon’s JB Sports Marketing (JBSM) would be provided with the tickets to matches featuring hosts Brazil and eventual champions Germany.

  

“I told him we’d like tickets to three Germany matches, and all the matches Brazil might play,” Mr Alon told the Daily Mail.

“It was clear we could make a good amount of money from selling these tickets if we got these games – the creme de la creme – and we agreed to split the profit.”

Mr Valcke, a former television sports journalist, is the second most important man in Fifa after Sepp Blatter, and has been Secretary General since 2007. So far none of the various allegations against Fifa executives have suggested anyone sought to benefit from corrupt deals.

Mr Alon said that, in the end, the deal didn’t happen. Mr Alon claimed Mr Valcke asked him if it could be cancelled, ‘as a favour’, as Fifa already had an official ticketing partnership with a different company, Match.

In an email to Mr Alon on 12 December 2013, Mr Valcke allegedly wrote: “Benny, if you ask lawyers about [it] nothing will happen. You, we, have no choice. Otherwise [your] deal will be cancelled by Fifa or we all face as individuals criminal offence. It is not a joke. It is very serious. So avoid too many advice. Just do it, if I may say using a slogan from one company involved. All is clear and has to be finalized now. Thanks. Jérôme.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/fifa-corruption-scandal-sepp-blatters-no-2-faces-allegation-over-brazil-2014-world-cup-10506665.html

 Structure of the Lead：
  WHO-Fifa Secretary General Jérôme Valcke
  WHEN-December 2013
  WHAT-Jérôme Valcke is accused of agreeing to help sell black market tickets.
  WHY-to generate millions of dollars in personal profit.
  WHERE-not given

  HOW-not given

Keywords：

accused  被控告的
profit 利潤
engulf  捲入   
governing  統治 管理 支配
allegation 辯解 斷言 宣稱 
hospitality  殷勤 好客
agent 代理的
 briefing  簡要指示 
 split  使分離 

executives 實施的 行政的

 corrupt  賄賂  墮落

 finalized  最終確定

Week1 - Myanmar

Myanmar Rohingya migrants 'begging for help' from boat

 A group of 350 migrants from Myanmar have told an activist by phone that they have been abandoned by their crew and need help.

The migrants, including 50 women and 84 children, say they have had no food or water for three days.

The passengers were calling for help and crying down the phone, said Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project which works with the Rohingya ethnic minority.

The migrants are not sure where they are and their boat is drifting.

"They say the boat is a Thai boat and the crew and captain are Thai. They have been two months at sea. The day before yesterday crew and captain abandoned the boat, arranged a boat for themselves, and they took parts of the engine so it's not working," Ms Lewa told the BBC on Tuesday.

Signalling for help

The migrants' location is unclear but they think they may be close to the Malaysian island of Langkawi. They can see land and they said they have seen several ships in the area and have signalled for help but none has approached.

Earlier on Tuesday, Indonesia said it had turned away a boat the previous day carrying hundreds of migrants believed to be from Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Indonesia's navy said it provided the vessel with food and water on Monday before sending it back out to sea.

It said that it did so because the migrants wanted to reach Malaysia, but an international migration agency said the decision was "shocking".

---

Analysis - Jill McGivering, BBC News

So far, South East Asian countries have been reluctant to tackle this issue. For a start, they don't want to offend Myanmar whose poor treatment of the Rohingyas is at the heart of the problem. Thailand's plan to bring together officials from origin and destination countries is an important acknowledgement of the need for co-ordinated action.

But it is less clear what it might achieve. The timing of the meeting - still several weeks away - is a slow response to a very immediate crisis. Thousands of migrants are stranded at sea. The latest decision by the Indonesian military to push back several hundred is a worrying precedent. Even for those who arrive safely in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia and are classed as refugees, the future is bleak.

Many stay in overcrowded detention centres or community housing - but they remain marginalised with no access to formal education and work. The Rohingyas are seen as an unwelcome burden and, with the surge in numbers this year, only a tiny percentage will fulfil the dream of final settlement in a third country.

---

As many as 8,000 migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar are believed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to be stranded at sea.

Correspondents say people smugglers who ferry the migrants are now reluctant to follow their usual route through Thailand because of a government campaign there against them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-32701203



 Structure of the Lead：

   WHO-A group of 350 migrants from Myanmar

    WHEN-May 2015

    WHAT-The migrants were calling for help.

    WHY-Crew and captain abandoned the boat.

    WHERE-at sea

    HOW-not given

Keywords：
migrants 移居的 流浪的
drifting  漂流 遊蕩
abandoned 被遺棄的
arranged  安排 籌備
engine  引擎
signalled 示意  
 vessel  船
agency  代理 政府機構 中介
 reluctant  勉強的 不情願的 
precedent  在先的  先前的
smugglers  走私者 走私船
campaign   競選活動