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  • Windrush generation: Your stories and reminiscences

    Empire Windrush arriving in the UK in June 1948 Image copyright Keystone/Getty Photographs

    In June 1948, a group of West Indians embarked on a adventure aboard the Empire Windrush passenger liner across the Atlantic to help rebuild conflict-torn Britain – had been you on board?

    The British government had marketed within the Caribbean for people to return to the aid of the mother country.

    Ahead of the 70th anniversary on 22 June, we might love to pay attention from those who were on board the Empire Windrush, their descendants, and those who have been impressed by way of the Windrush era.

    We need to percentage your stories on BBC radio programmes and on the BBC Information website online to mark the anniversary.

    Are you a Windrush pioneer? How did you’re making successful of lifestyles within the UNITED KINGDOM? Are you a relative of a Windrush passenger?

    in case you have a story in regards to the Windrush era, you’ll email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a touch phone number in the event you are glad to talk to a BBC journalist.

    you’ll be able to additionally contact us in the following techniques:

    Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay WhatsApp: +FORTY FOUR 7555 173285 Upload your footage/video here Textual Content an SMS or MMS to 61124 (UNITED KINGDOM) or +FORTY FOUR 7624 800 ONE HUNDRED (world)

  • Twitter hashtags are 10 years vintage – so listed here are 10 of probably the most well-liked

    Earlier Than Twitter got here along, no-one truly knew what the purpose of the hash key used to be at the keyboard (excluding possibly laptop programmers).

    The social media network remodeled its use, making it a way to tag tweets and the hashtag become a thing.

    Ten years on, the # image is used ONE HUNDRED TWENTY FIVE million times on the platform each and every day.

    Here are some of the largest hashtags ever, mentioning massive occasions, controversies and creating Twitter moments in the procedure.

    #BlackLivesMatter

    Video caption Nesta McGregor investigates what ’s behind the Black Lives Subject protests throughout Britain.

    Black Lives Topic is an international motion that first mobilised on Twitter, bringing folks together to paintings in opposition to making a fairer society for black people.

    BLM now has an online forum and charity, which it says is “meant to build connections among black people and our allies to combat anti-black racism, to spark dialogue amongst black folks, and to facilitate the categories of connections necessary to encourage social action and engagement”.

    #EdBallsDay

    https://twitter.com/edballs/standing/63623585020915713

    Politicians should not have the most productive popularity while it comes to using Twitter, regardless of Ed Miliband’s best possible efforts to take a look at to change all that.

    On The Grounds That 28 April 2011, the arena has celebrated former Labour MP Ed Balls’ Twitter fail, whilst he simply tweeted his personal name.

    Other People obviously nonetheless find it humorous, that’s most probably why it has its own anniversary yearly.

    #TheDress

    The dress

    Is it blue and black? Is it white and gold? Two years on, the talk nonetheless rumbles on.

    It began over this photograph of a dress and the arena couldn’t agree at the color of it.

    It in fact turned in to an enormous scientific experiment about how people see colour. However on the time it made you delete part your Fb pals record and forget about each and every member of the family that didn’t accept as true with you.

    #HeForShe

    HeForShe is a United Nations Women’s marketing campaign for gender equality, which began in 2014 and is subsidized via the likes of Emma Watson and Simon Pegg.

    The campaign goals to inspire males to know and finish inequalities skilled by means of girls and show how gender equality affects folks in all social, economic and political situations.

    People used the hashtag as a platform to precise their very own battles with gender inequality in daily life and marketing campaign for modification.

    #PutYourBatsOut

    Twenty-five-yr-old Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes’ unexpected loss of life in 2014 shocked lovers round the sector and caused tribute messages on Twitter the usage of the hashtag #PutYourBatsOut.

    It began while fan Paul Taylor put a cricket bat outside his area as a mark of admire.

    It then began trending on Twitter, with present and former cricket stars, celebrities and lovers from round the sector additionally striking out their bats as tribute.

    #CupforBen

    Remaining yr, a dad from north Devon made an urgent plea on Twitter to find a replacement sippy cup for his autistic son Ben.

    The tweet – with spawned the hashtag #CupForBen – used to be retweeted more than 12,000 instances.

    Marc Carter

    Symbol caption Marc Carter has been crushed by means of the response to his attraction

    Ben Carter

    Image caption Ben, who’s from Torrington, Devon, refuses to drink from another cup

    The 14-year-antique had best drunk from the double-treated cups, which might be no longer produced, for the reason that age of two.

    It all led to luck when Northumberland-based Tommee Tippee mentioned it will produce 500 new cups after it searched factories worldwide and located the original mould.

    https://twitter.com/tommeetippee_UK/standing/803734514728128513

    #IceBucketChallenge

    The Ice Bucket Challenge went viral in 2014.

    It involved other folks pouring chilly water over themselves and posting the video on social media.

    ALS victim Pete Frates made it in style while he had freezing water poured over him but the development itself began with this video…

    It raised on the subject of £100m for charity and funded crucial medical gene discovery in the progressive neurodegenerative illness ALS.

    #JoinIn

    This one was started by comedian Sarah Millican.

    She created a web-based neighborhood for someone feeling lonely in 2011 and followed it up with more than a few Twitter campaigns, especially at Christmas.

    https://twitter.com/SarahMillican75/status/548040315152912384

    She instructed the Evening Same Old how the idea took place: “It began as a result of I’m a big softie and cannot bear the concept of individuals being alone on Christmas Day.”

    #FollowFriday

    This hashtag was once the first to actually take off on Twitter.

    Basically, you advertise folks’s handles who you think that your followers might want to follow.

    The first #FollowFriday used to be on SIXTEEN January 2009 and there were greater than half one thousand million #FF (or #followfriday) uses due to the fact that then.

    #barcamp

    Not one you might have heard of?

    Maybe that’s because it used to be the first hashtag ever used on Twitter and was published by means of former Uber and Google engineer, Chris Messina.

    https://twitter.com/chrismessina/standing/223115412

  • #MeToo, #TakeAKnee and #Covfefe: Hashtags that dominated in 2017

    hands holding a hashtag Image copyright CurvaBezier

    From terrorist attacks and prime-profile deaths, to discussions about social issues, hashtags have given social media customers the opportunity to take part in the massive conversations taking place online.

    In 2017, Twitter also increased its personality duration for tweets from 140 to 280, giving the platform’s 300 million lively users an opportunity to specific their evaluations in much more detail.

    From #MeToo to #TakeAKnee vie #Covfefe listed here are a few of the hashtags that have emerged in 2017.

    #MeToo

    Image copyright @taraobrienillustration Image caption Tara O’Brien’s illustration has been shared throughout Instagram

    One In All essentially the most distinguished hashtags of 2017 impressed an international motion of men and ladies to proportion their stories of sexual abuse and harassment.

    In 2007, the us activist Tarana Burke started the Me Too motion that may be rekindled in 2017 by means of the hashtag #MeToo.

    Symbol Copyright @Alyssa_Milano @Alyssa_Milano Image copyright Reuters Image caption A Bunch of players have joined Colin Kaepernick (centre) considering he started his protest

    In September 2017 the hashtag #TakeAKnee generated 1.2 million tweets within the house of best 3 days.

    The hashtag was used to describe the action taken through NFL avid gamers who, prior to the start of yank Soccer fits, kneeled throughout the nationwide anthem.

    The motion was began by way of NFL player Colin Kaepernick in August 2016 in protest over racial injustice.

    on the time, Kaepernick mentioned “Police brutality is an enormous factor that needs to be addressed. There are so much of problems that want to be mentioned and wish to be brought to existence.”

    Alternatively, many enthusiasts believed the sports celebrity was disrespecting the american charter.

    At a rally in Alabama, President Trump condemned the actions of the expanding collection of NFL gamers becoming a member of the movement.

    Via the tip of September 2017 the hashtag #TakeAKnee was dependent as a rallying cry by people assisting the protest.

    #Covfefe

    Image copyright EPA

    on the end of May a peculiar new word used to be trending on social media as customers started debating the that means of the word covfefe.

    The phrase first appeared in a tweet via US President Donald Trump: “Despite the constant terrible press covfefe,” he tweeted simply after midnight, Washington time on 31 Would Possibly.

    He then looked as if it would have long gone to mattress, without completing his concept or correcting the phrase which many believe was a typo for the phrase coverage.

    hours later Mr Trump’s covfefe tweet were retweeted 70,000 instances as social media users joked and speculated on what the word may imply.

    Symbol Copyright @AnthonyBLSmith @AnthonyBLSmith Image Copyright @realDonaldTrump @realDonaldTrump Symbol copyright Getty Images Image caption Supporters of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani celebrated within the streets following a common election in Would Possibly

    In Would Possibly there was a presidential election in Iran. 3 televised presidential debates came about between the six applicants, including average President Hassan Rouhani, who was once looking for a 2d term in workplace.

    The hashtag #Third_debate began trending on the day of the general debate on 12 Might in spite of Twitter being banned within the us of a.

    By Way Of the tip of the day, the hashtag were used nearly A HUNDRED AND FIFTY,000 occasions via Iranian customers.

    Popular posts used the hashtag to query the salaries of workers of Tehran’s mayor and conservative candidate, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.

    The account of President Rouhani’s reputable campaign also published a record purporting to turn Tehran Municipality granting luxury properties to its senior group of workers at a reduced price.

    This in large part came as a response to Mr Qalibaf’s assault on Mr Rouhani’s management over revelations that a few executive executives have been paid “astronomical salaries”.

    On 19 Might, Mr Rouhani was re-elected to a 2nd time period with FIFTY SEVEN% of the vote.

    #YemenInquiryNow

    Image caption Meals shortages have made many kids extra liable to cholera

    In September, Yemen’s Al-Masirah TV urged its audience to post on Twitter the usage of the hashtag #YemenInquiryNow to lift consciousness of the humanitarian drawback affecting other folks in the conflict-torn us of a.

    A blockade has been imposed on Yemen given that 2015 by a Saudi-led multinational coalition. It has decreased the volume of food, help, medicines and gas allowed into the rustic and left thousands and thousands of individuals at the verge of collapse of sickness and starvation.

    The hashtag #YemenInquiryNow noticed a massive uptake in use on 25 September and was once used more than A HUNDRED AND TWENTY,000 instances in 24 hours through Twitter users. Many stressed the number of human rights abuses in the usa and referred to as for a reputable international research.

    “A delay in forming a world fee of inquiry paves the best way for brand spanking new crimes towards civilians in Yemen. #YemenInquiryNow” published one Twitter consumer.

    Folks used the hashtag to criticise Saudi Arabia and the UN, whilst others posted footage of injured and malnourished children.

    #ILoveYouChina

    Symbol copyright Nikada

    In October, during the lead-up to the People’s Congress, China’s most significant political adventure, the government rolled out social media propaganda and enlisted the country’s top musical acts to sing an antique patriotic song.

    I Like You China used to be the subject music to the 1979 film Hearts for the Motherland, the story of a woman’s struggle to conquer the prejudices she confronted at being the daughter of overseas-born Chinese parents.

    The unique film instructed non-mainland Chinese should forget about people who say they have got no proper to precise their love for the motherland.

    It used to be utilized by other people to turn they backed the Communist Birthday Celebration leader within the run-up to the election.

    When the video was published for the primary time on 1 October, it generated greater than 322,000 stocks and 35,000 comments on China’s social media web page Sina Weibo.

    Over the following weeks, the hashtag #ILoveYouChina was used greater than million instances.

    The campaign used to be efficient in cementing President Xi Jinping’s position in power for one more time period.

    #308Removed

    Symbol copyright Osama Hajjaj Image caption This caricature by Osama Hajjaj was shared through social media users whilst the controversial law allowing rapists to escape jail sentences in the event that they married their victim was once abolished

    Jordanian social media users praised the federal government for scrapping a debatable clause in August that allowed rapists to escape punishment if they married their victims.

    Human rights activists have been campaigning for months to take away Article 308 from the country’s penal code, pronouncing there had to be extra coverage for ladies within the usa.

    One Twitter person said that it was once a “society-extensive” drawback that Jordanians did not see ladies who have been raped and compelled into marriage as victims.

    On Twitter on my own the hashtag #308Removed generated more than 3,500 tweets in 24 hours following the vote to scrap the clause.

    The topic used to be an enormous talking element among Jordanian social media users despite the numbers being comparatively small.

    “As Of Late marks the day our parliament made us proud… For as soon as! Crime can’t be treated with a bigger crime of humanity,” commented some other Twitter consumer.

    Similar regulation had not too long ago been abolished in both Tunisia and Lebanon.

    #ItsABlackThing

    Image copyright Montes-Bradley

    In November, Twitter customers in Brazil reacted to photos of a well-identified TV anchor announcing “coisa de preto” Portuguese for “it is a black factor” in response to loud honking from a nearby car.

    William Waack was getting ready for a are living broadcast to talk about the u.s. presidency with a guest on TELEVISION Globo.

    The video soon went viral and following the statement, 145,000 social media customers published the hashtag #ÉCoisaDePreto to laud the achievements of black Brazilians.

    “#ÉCoisaDePreto Raíssa Santana, became the second one black girl within the history of Brazil to win the Leave Out Brazil awards awards!” commented one Twitter person.

    Many also shared pictures of Rafaela Silva, a black judo athlete, who earned Brazil’s first gold medal throughout the 2016 Rio Olympics.

    Outdoor Nigeria, Brazil is house to the most important black population in the world.

    The presenter has due to the fact been fired for his feedback.

    Via Rozina Sini, BBC’s UGC and Social Information Group. Additional reporting by way of BBC Tracking

  • The hidden historical past of the hashtag

    The hidden historical past of the hashtag

  • Has a hashtag modified your life?

    social media icons Symbol copyright Getty Images

    Has your existence been modified by way of a hashtag or a social media motion?

    among the photos of cats and avocadoes on toast, there are some important conversations taking place approximately health, politics, family, society and far more.

    have you ever had your outlook altered by means of a social media interplay? have you ever been inspired to make a metamorphosis after a hashtag went viral? have you ever turn out to be part of a social media neighborhood?

    Hashtags as numerous as #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatters and #IceBucketChallenge had been huge topics on-line, however how have you ever been suffering from a social media trend?

    in the event you have a story about how social media or a selected hashtag has changed your life, use the shape beneath to get involved.

    you’ll also touch us within the following tactics:

    Electronic Mail: haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay WhatsApp: +FORTY FOUR 7555 173285 Please read our phrases & prerequisites and privateness policy

  • Nobel laureate joins every other unique club

    Richard Henderson Symbol copyright MRC Symbol caption Dr Henderson is affiliated to the well-known Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge

    A UNITED KINGDOM molecular biologist who shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2017 is to enroll in another elite grouping.

    Dr Richard Henderson has been made a Companion of Honour in the Queen ’s Birthday Honours.

    The order is a distinct award held by means of most effective SIXTY FIVE other folks at any one time.

    Dr Henderson, who lives in Cambridge, received the Nobel for serving to to advance cryo-electron microscopy – a technique that allows the difficult systems of organic molecules to be imaged.

    King George V established the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1917.

    It recognises people who have made a rare contribution to British existence over an extended length.

    The molecular biologist will stay company with the likes of author JK Rowling, DNA profiling pioneer Sir Alex Jeffreys, actor Dame Maggie Smith and the BBC TV presenter and naturalist Sir David Attenborough.

    Dr Henderson is one in all a snatch of high-profile scientists honoured through the Queen on Saturday.

    there’s a damehood for Angela McLean, an Oxford College professor who is an international chief in modelling the expansion of viruses inside people.

    And there are knighthoods for Prof James Hough from Glasgow School; Prof Chris Dobson from Cambridge; and Prof Steven Cowley from Oxford.

    James Hough is regarded for his vital contributions to the search for gravitational waves. Their first detection in 2015 is thought to be considered one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of latest a long time.

    Chris Dobson is a chemist who studies proteins, the molecules that construct and take care of our bodies. he is in particular curious about how they fold and the way they turn out to be misshapen, which will result in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

    Steven Cowley is a plasma physicist, who has held a host of most sensible nuclear analysis posts; he’s recently CEO of the Uk Atomic Energy Authority. But his analysis has also complicated the improvement of fusion reactors, which are looking for to ship energy by squeezing atoms in combination.

  • Could an emoji keep your lifestyles?

    The thinking emoji Image copyright Getty Images

    Emoji won’t be your first line of verbal exchange in a crisis…

    But researchers feel they may make a distinction right through emergencies like earthquakes, where every second counts.

    Now, a global group of scientists are lobbying for an earthquake emoji to be delivered to the Unicode set – the standard workforce of icons available on digital gadgets worldwide.

    However can one emoji really make a distinction in a problem?

    Emoji-quake

    “Maybe as much as one third of the sector’s population could be exposed to a couple seismological danger,” explains College of Southampton seismologist Dr Stephen Hicks, a founder of the Emoji-quake marketing campaign.

    Image copyright JMA Symbol caption A catfish icon appears with Japan’s signals, echoing the country’s earthquake mythology

    “you may also have seconds to get below a table or to protect yourself,” explains Dr Hicks. “That Can be lifestyles saving in lots of cases. if you happen to send a textual content message as a part of that provide you with a warning do not want too much wording in there.”

    Being (rather) younger as a language, there are not any conclusive studies on emoji and reaction instances in emergency situations.

    On The Other Hand, pictographs and other visuals have a observe report of being faster and more uncomplicated to know than written knowledge – which is why the safety card on the back of your aeroplane seat seems to be the way it does.

    Symbol copyright Getty Photographs

    “A Couple Of studies do suggest that the use of emoji decreases the time it takes to mentally digest information,” says Dr McBride. “However… we always want extra data.”

    However, the emoji wouldn’t just play a role in warning techniques – it might actually assist seismologists to figure out where and whilst earthquakes are happening.

    Currently, persons are in all probability to tweet a model of “did I just feel an earthquake?” of their own language.

    However with one earthquake emoji being used across the world, it will be the equivalent of getting an unlimited inhabitants of seismometers.

    “Tweets will also be geotagged… we will continuously then detect the earthquake the use of social media faster than we will be able to via seismic waves travelling throughout the Earth. So if we know that an earthquake’s took place quicker, then we know the way to reply to it and send assist groups in there,” Dr Hicks instructed the BBC.

    Could emerji be a specific thing?

    the potential usefulness of emoji in emergencies may extend well beyond earthquakes.

    “They Are the nearest factor we have to a common language,” says Sara Dean, a designer and architect in San Francisco.

    “Certainly One Of the large bottlenecks in the use of social media as an emergency reaction software is language… bridging that gap and decreasing that bottleneck is especially important during the first couple of days after an emergency.”

    Ms Dean and a team of other designers came up with emerji – a complete set of emoji dedicated to local weather and environmental occasions.

    Symbol copyright Sara Dean/Beth Ferguson

    Unicode are these days making an allowance for Emerji’s flood and earthquake designs.

    “persons are already the usage of emoji to speak about emergencies all of the time. However because we do not have climate disaster emoji they are piecing them together from different emoji,” commented Ms Dean.

    Twitter users have mixed the fireplace and tree emoji to proportion information about California wildfires. However Ms Dean points out that this is complicated as it is tough to predict what emoji combos other people will choose to use.

    Skip Twitter publish by @FireChiefT

    It ’s Wildfire Consciousness Week in California. Are You Prepared? Take The Stairs for #ReadySetGo. Have a Plan. Apply It. 🔥 🌲 🚒 💨@IAFC @IAFC_WFP @NVFC @IAFC_VCOS @IAFC_SHS @IAFCPresident pic.twitter.com/kW5w94BVCB

    — Nathan Trauernicht (@FireChiefT) Would Possibly EIGHT, 2018

    File

    Finish of Twitter publish through @FireChiefT

    For her, it feels essential that people have a method to percentage resources throughout language limitations on social media in a drawback scenario.

    “These are global issues and we’d like to have the opportunity to have world conversations approximately them,” she advised BBC News.

    Follow Mary on Twitter.

  • Climate modification: Pope urges action on blank energy

    Pope Francis arrives to lead the Wednesday general audience in Saint Peter's square at the Vatican, on 23 May 2018 Image copyright Reuters Image caption The Pope has taken the trade global to activity on issues ranging from poverty to tax haven

    Pope Francis has said local weather change is a challenge of “epochal proportions” and that the world will have to convert to scrub gasoline.

    “Civilisation calls for power, however power use must never break civilisation,” he said.

    He was once chatting with a gaggle of oil corporate executives on the end of a two-day conference within the Vatican.

    Firms present incorporated ExxonMobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Norway’s Equinor and Pemex of Mexico.

    ‘Dodgy’ greenhouse gas information threatens Paris accord Hurricane Irma: Pope Francis condemns local weather amendment sceptics Pope Francis blames ‘human selfishness’ for international warming

    Modern society with its “large movement of knowledge, individuals and issues requires a big supply of energy”, he advised the collection.

    Pope Francis on climate modification

    2017

    “you can see the consequences of climate change with your personal eyes and scientists let us know clearly the best way ahead.

    “All of us have a responsibility. All people. A Few small, a few large. a moral accountability, to simply accept reviews, or make decisions. i think it is now not something to shaggy dog story approximately.”

    Quoting from the Antique Testomony, he then stated: “Guy is stupid, a cussed, blind man.

    “individuals who deny it climate change will have to go to the scientists and ask them. they’re very transparent, very precise.”

    2015

    “We Now Have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her the Earth at will.

    “The violence found in our hearts, wounded via sin, may be mirrored within the symptoms of illness obtrusive within the soil, in the water, in the air and in all kinds of life.

    “we want only take a frank look on the information to look that our commonplace house is falling into severe disrepair.

    “I urgently attraction, then, for a new discussion approximately how we are shaping the future of our planet.”

    The unparalleled convention introduced in combination oil executives, buyers and Vatican professionals who, like the Pope, back clinical opinion that climate amendment is caused by human task and that global warming must be curbed, Reuters reports.

    It is being held in the back of closed doors on the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, in a secluded 16th-Century villa within the Vatican gardens.

    Called Power Transition and Take Care Of Our Common House, it has been organised by means of the Catholic University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.

    Growing energy demands

    Consumption of oil and gas is predicted to develop, in step with analysts, ultimate the world’s largest assets of power for the foreseeable long term.

    ExxonMobil alone has introduced plans to increase oil production in the US and begin greater than two dozen tasks around the globe, including more than one million oil-an identical barrels in step with day.

    The company says it has taken steps to cut back emissions in its personal operations, spending $9bn on the attempt when you consider that 2000.

    But it continues that rising demand for energy cannot be met by choices like wind and solar power on my own.

    Renewable resources provided about 18% of energy ate up in 2015, with forms like sun, wind and hydropower representing lower than 10%, in step with the Global Power Agency.

    That proportion is predicted to develop to only 15% by 2030, it said.

    The US Energy Information Administration expects oil and different beverages to continue to account for just about a third of energy till 2040.

  • Aeolus: Wind satellite weathers technical storm

    Tips On How To degree the wind from area

    Symbol copyright ESA Aeolus will hearth a laser through the atmosphere and degree the return sign the sunshine will scatter backpedal air molecules and particles shifting in the wind Meteorologists will adjust their numerical fashions to compare this information the largest advantages must be in medium-range forecasts – a couple of days hence Aeolus should pave the way in which for operational climate satellites with lasers

    These Days, we measure the dynamics of the atmosphere using an eclectic mixture of equipment – the whole thing from whirling anemometers to other forms of satellite tv for pc that judge wind behaviour from the choppiness of seawater. However these are all limited signs, telling us what is happening in particular puts or at particular heights.

    Aeolus, on the other hand, will attempt to build a truly world view of what the winds are doing on earth, from the surface of the planet all the way in which up in the course of the troposphere and into the stratosphere (from 0km to 30km).

    “The Shortage of wind profile observations is one among essentially the most essential gaps to fill in order to improve numerical climate prediction,” Dr Florence Rabier, the DG on the Eu Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), informed BBC News.

    “The Aladin Doppler wind lidar software onboard Aeolus will probably be the first satellite instrument that provides wind profiles from area.

    “we’ve got very top expectancies in regards to the high quality of the Aeolus wind profile information, and we are anticipating forecast high quality to extend through 2-FOUR% within the additional-tropics and as much as 15% in the tropics. Aeolus is paving the way for vital improvements in climate forecasting”.

    Symbol copyright Getty Pictures Image caption There are sure commercial sectors that absolutely rely on wind forecasts

    there’s an example that meteorologists quote from March 2014 – storminess that ended in flooding in northern Europe.

    when they did the submit-experience analysis to work out why no-one had observed it coming, the conclusion was once that incorrect wind knowledge six days in the past had been used within the fashions. Dr Alain Dabas from MeteoFrance explained: “The Error used to be within the central Pacific at an altitude of about 11km. there was a mistake within the preliminary winds given to the models and that propagated to Europe.

    “The question now could be might Aeolus have solved this downside? More Than Likely, yes.”

    It goes with out announcing that realizing what the wind goes to do reaches past simply the nightly climate forecast on TV. the way it blows impacts the distribution and shipping of pollution, and how quickly dangerous air in a hazy town, say, can also be cleared away.

    Then there are the necessities of safety to consider – suppose sailors at sea, or construction on prime-rise buildings. and do not forget the sectors whose complete reason why to exist rests on the wind.

    “for instance, the wind energy trade,” said Dr Anne Grete Straume, Esa’s Aeolus venture scientist. “They Are exploiting the winds and so they want to know how much energy they are able to produce at any element in time. For that they want very accurate forecasts and we are hoping that our venture will help them with their management.”

    Image copyright Airbus Symbol caption Engineers needed to find a strategy to prevent the laser harmful its personal optics

    But all this relies at the UV laser doing its process. The engineers are very confident now that it could possibly. They lately placed the completed Aeolus satellite in an area chamber for six months to simulate the conditions of being in orbit. the entire device handed with flying colours.

    it’s value recalling some of the past frustrations. the first drawback used to be to find diodes to generate laser mild with an extended enough lifetime. While the ones were known, the challenge seemed in great form till engineers found out their layout would not in fact function in a vacuum – a vital barrier for a space challenge.

    Assessments revealed that in the absence of air, the laser used to be degrading its own optics; because the prime-energy gentle hit the lenses and mirrors, it will blacken them.

    Corporations across Europe have been driven to increase new coatings for a number of the elements. the important thing step forward, then again, was once to introduce a small quantity of oxygen to the instrument to forestall surfaces carbonising.

    it is a tiny puff of fuel – FORTY pascals’ worth; the similar drive you might be expecting to boost from the presence of a photosynthesising plant. however it is enough to oxidise contaminants and remove them.

    Image copyright Getty Pictures Symbol caption Saharan mud blown over London by way of the remnants of Typhoon Ophelia in 2017

    “When We started, the one references we had have been classified because those varieties of lasers are used to represent atomic bombs, and those applied sciences have been completely locked out,” mentioned Anders Elfving, Esa’s Aeolus venture manager.

    “the motivation for my workforce most of these years was that there’s no alternative, and after all the user group is still so enthusiastic for what we have constructed.

    “we wish to look what is invisible – to peer the wind in clear skies. And That I suppose active lidars like Aladin are the future – for far extra accurate measurements of CO2 and other trace gases in the atmosphere.”

    The release of Aeolus on a Vega rocket is lately set for 21 August.

    Media playback is unsupported for your software

    Media captionAnders Elfving: “There Were stages whilst i believed we wouldn’t get here”

    Jonathan.Amos-WEB@bbc.co.uk and observe me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

    (more…)

  • Scientists shocked by mysterious deaths of ancient timber

    Panke, the oldest known African baobab, in 1997 Symbol copyright Jocelyn Alexander Image caption Panke, the oldest identified African baobab, in 1997. The tree has in view that died.

    A tree considered the icon of the African savannah is death in mysterious circumstances.

    International scientists have found out that most of the oldest and largest African baobab timber have died over the earlier 12 years.

    They suspect the loss of life is also linked to local weather modification, although they have no direct proof of this.

    The tree can grow to a huge measurement, and will live hundreds if now not heaps of years.

    The researchers, from universities in South Africa, Romania and the u.s., say the lack of the timber is “an experience of an extraordinary significance”.

    Image copyright Getty Photographs Symbol caption Baobabs are timber recognisable via their unique swollen stems

    Additionally referred to as “useless-rat” bushes, after the form of their fruit, baobab timber have stout, branchless trunks.

    They retailer huge quantities of water inside their trunks to undergo the harsh stipulations of the arid spaces through which they are living.

    The trees additionally give a boost to wildlife; they are essential nesting websites for birds.

    Follow Helen on Twitter.