tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/the-sun-2315/articlesThe Sun – The Conversation2024-03-27T17:09:15Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2258662024-03-27T17:09:15Z2024-03-27T17:09:15ZThe April 8 eclipse provides a rare opportunity to witness the sun’s superhot corona<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584383/original/file-20240326-16-cpzqx3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2%2C1888%2C1057&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The corona of the sun can be clearly seen in this image taken in 2007.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.nasa.gov/details/PIA09320">(NASA/JPL-Caltech/NRL/GSFC)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Being within a narrow path across Mexico, the United States and eastern Canada on April 8 will give a rare chance to see the hottest thing any human ever sees: the corona surrounding the sun.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/on-april-8-2024-parts-of-ontario-quebec-the-maritimes-and-newfoundland-will-see-a-total-eclipse-of-the-sun-heres-how-to-get-ready-for-it-203382">On April 8, 2024, parts of Ontario, Québec, the Maritimes and Newfoundland will see a total eclipse of the sun. Here's how to get ready for it.</a>
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<p>The word “corona” means “crown” — during the eclipse, it becomes visible, and streaming plasma leaving the sun appears in amazing patterns.</p>
<p>This outer atmosphere shines with a strange whitish light, and is safe to look at once the bright surface of the sun is fully obscured. However, it is not safe to look at partial phases of the eclipse without <a href="https://theconversation.com/total-solar-eclipses-while-stunning-can-damage-your-eyes-if-viewed-without-the-right-protection-221381">suitable eye protection</a> such as an approved filter or a <a href="https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14391/">shadow box</a>. </p>
<p>Humankind has been awed by this spectacle <a href="https://www.wired.com/2008/05/may-28-585-bc-predicted-solar-eclipse-stops-battle/">for a very long time without understanding it</a>. Astronomers now know the sun’s corona is heated to up to <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/nasas-parker-solar-probe-and-the-curious-case-of-the-hot-corona/">two million degrees Kelvin</a>, numerically almost equivalent to Celsius for such high temperatures. </p>
<p>What astronomers haven’t figured out yet is why the corona is so hot.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">NASA scientists describe photographing the sun’s corona during the 2015 eclipse.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Heat and density</h2>
<p>The surface of the sun has a temperature of <a href="https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/sun-space-weather/surface-of-the-sun">only about 5,800 kelvins</a> (5,500 C). The reason that we can safely look at the corona but must avoid looking at the surface has to do with density: <a href="https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/sun-corona/en/">the corona is very thin</a>, and most of the light we see is reflected sunlight from the surface. </p>
<p>The sun’s surface has enough density that, at its temperature, it emits about <a href="https://www.pveducation.org/pvcdrom/properties-of-sunlight/solar-radiation-in-space">65 megawatts for each square meter</a>. Even diluted by <a href="https://earthsky.org/space/what-is-the-astronomical-unit/">distance from the sun of 150 million kilometres</a>, this is enough to cause immediate eye damage.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/total-solar-eclipses-while-stunning-can-damage-your-eyes-if-viewed-without-the-right-protection-221381">Total solar eclipses, while stunning, can damage your eyes if viewed without the right protection</a>
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<p>Since the corona is such thin gas, despite its high temperature, it does not emit nor reflect much light. For this reason, we can see it only when the body of the sun is completely blocked by the moon. Otherwise the scattered light in our atmosphere completely overwhelms it.</p>
<p>The mystery of the corona’s heat <a href="https://www.americanscientist.org/article/revealing-the-true-solar-corona">puzzled 19th-century astronomers</a>. At the time, new instruments had been developed to study <a href="https://www.azooptics.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=1984">the composition of celestial bodies</a>.</p>
<p>In 1704, Sir Isaac Newton had discovered that “white” light could be split into colors, a result <a href="https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/optickstreatise00newta">published in <em>Opticks</em></a>. Unfortunately, his basic views about light were wrong and likely set back the development of optical science 100 years! </p>
<p>Only in the early 1800s were instruments developed, largely setting the stage for the <a href="https://www.zeiss.com/corporate/en/about-zeiss/past/history/locations.html">immensely profitable German optical industry</a>. This allowed scientists to find out what materials were made of by the light they emitted when heated. </p>
<p>A staple of such studies was the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Bunsen-burner">Bunsen burner</a>, originally developed not to have a colour like other flames do.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582669/original/file-20240318-16-fmoksh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a black circle surrounded by wispy white light against a navy background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582669/original/file-20240318-16-fmoksh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582669/original/file-20240318-16-fmoksh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582669/original/file-20240318-16-fmoksh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582669/original/file-20240318-16-fmoksh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582669/original/file-20240318-16-fmoksh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582669/original/file-20240318-16-fmoksh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582669/original/file-20240318-16-fmoksh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A total solar eclipse in 2015 over Svalbard, Norway, reveals the streaming shapes in the solar wind pillars.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(M. Druckmüller, S. Habbal, P. Aniol, P. Štarha)</span></span>
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<h2>Photography and astrophysics</h2>
<p>The parallel development of photography also helped <a href="https://history.aip.org/exhibits/cosmology/tools/tools-spectroscopy.htm">astronomy to turn into the science of astrophysics</a>, and the sun was an ideal first target for early instruments due to being very bright. </p>
<p>During the solar eclipse of 1868, emissions like the bright red known to be <a href="https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/guide-to-observing-the-sun-in-h-alpha092321050923/">from hydrogen were observed</a>. But when this light was broken down with a spectroscope, it also showed a yellow light that had never been observed on Earth. </p>
<p>This was determined to be a new element, named for its association with the sun (Greek <em>helios</em>). Only in 1895 was helium found on Earth, and in the strangest of places: <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-scientists-discovered-helium-first-alien-element-1868-180970057/">radioactive ores</a>. </p>
<p>Almost all helium now used on Earth comes from natural gas fields, where it is trapped as it comes up from uranium and other decaying radioactive ores. The helium in the sun later became strong evidence for the Big Bang, in which the first nuclei, which were hydrogen, quickly underwent nuclear fusion to produce helium, but its discovery in the sun set the stage for expecting new elements there.</p>
<h2>A new mystery</h2>
<p>Once spectroscopy developed further in the late 19th century, indeed another mystery arose. Many elements had been discovered on Earth and put in systematic order by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev as the “<a href="https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/periodic-table">periodic table</a>.”</p>
<p>Surprisingly, many elements were also detected in solar spectra, usually when they absorbed specific wavelengths from the pure light coming from deep layers in the sun, <a href="https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/toolbox/spectra1.html">leaving absorption lines</a>. Although the sun is made mostly of hydrogen and helium, these are not prominent in its spectrum. </p>
<p>However, in the corona, completely unknown lines were found. Following the lead of helium, it was felt that the sun must contain an element never observed on Earth, <a href="https://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2006/locations/coronium.php">promptly dubbed coronium</a>. Only in the 1940s was it realized that the emissions actually came from familiar elements, including iron. These were not initially recognized due to being highly stripped of the normal number of electrons going around their nuclei (normally 26 in iron), indicating extreme temperatures that rip atoms apart. </p>
<p>Even stranger, the further out one observed from the sun, the hotter the corona became.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582445/original/file-20240318-20-t6q0rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a black circle surrounded by wisps of red and green" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582445/original/file-20240318-20-t6q0rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582445/original/file-20240318-20-t6q0rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582445/original/file-20240318-20-t6q0rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582445/original/file-20240318-20-t6q0rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582445/original/file-20240318-20-t6q0rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582445/original/file-20240318-20-t6q0rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582445/original/file-20240318-20-t6q0rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The 2015 eclipse imaged in the light given off by highly ionized iron. The red indicates a temperature about one million degrees C, green about two million degrees C.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/abe775">(SOURCE)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<h2>Solar winds and weather</h2>
<p>In the late 1950s, the physicist Eugene Parker found that such high temperatures for the solar corona meant that it could not be static: it had to <a href="https://news.uchicago.edu/explainer/what-is-solar-wind">be blowing off into space</a>. This prediction was verified by <a href="http://www.phy6.org/Education/whsolwi.html">spacecraft measurements in 1959</a>. </p>
<p>Since then, we have known that there is a solar wind, and that the magnetic field shown by coronal structures is carried off into space with it. The solar wind can bring energy to Earth, which penetrates near us when the magnetic field is opposed to that of our planet, bringing auroras and potentially hazardous “<a href="https://theconversation.com/space-weather-is-difficult-to-predict-with-only-an-hour-to-prevent-disasters-on-earth-159895">space weather</a>.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/larger-and-more-frequent-solar-storms-will-make-for-potential-disruptions-and-spectacular-auroras-on-earth-219183">Larger and more frequent solar storms will make for potential disruptions and spectacular auroras on Earth</a>
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<p>NASA’s <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/parker-solar-probe/">Parker Solar Probe</a> is now nearing the inner regions of the corona, still trying to determine the exact origins of the solar wind. Parker, who passed away in 2022, saw initial results from this spacecraft trying to find exactly how the outrageously hot corona propels the solar wind. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, April 8 is a rare opportunity to safely view the sun’s glorious super-heated corona.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225866/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Connors receives funding from NSERC. </span></em></p>The solar corona can be seen during the solar eclipse on April 8. Astronomers are still trying to figure out the mysteries of the corona, including why it’s so hot.Martin Connors, Professor of Space Science and Physics, Athabasca UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2195462024-01-02T16:49:57Z2024-01-02T16:49:57ZPrivatised Moon landings: the two US missions set to open a new era of commercial lunar exploration<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566549/original/file-20231219-23-qde9s6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2%2C1839%2C984&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10836">Photograph: Nasa (Goddard Space Flight Center)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two commercial spacecraft are scheduled to launch to the Moon early in 2024 under a Nasa initiative called the Commercial Lunar Payload Service <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/commercial-lunar-payload-services/">CLPS</a>. This programme is intended to kickstart a commercial transportation service that can deliver Nasa experiments and other payloads to the lunar surface.</p>
<p>If successful, these missions will represent the first landings on the Moon by spacecraft designed and flown by private companies. They could potentially open up a new era of commercial lunar exploration and science. </p>
<p>CLPS was inaugurated by Nasa in 2018. An initial pool of nine companies received an invitation to join the programme. They included <a href="https://www.astrobotic.com/">Astrobotic</a> and <a href="https://www.intuitivemachines.com/">Intuitive Machines</a>, the two companies behind these missions. Both missions expect to land within a week after lift-off.</p>
<p>The first launch, and the first Nasa flight of 2024, is the Peregrine lunar lander, built by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic. It is scheduled to launch at the earliest on January 8. Broadly speaking, the lander is a box the size of a medium-sized garden shed containing several separate experiments. </p>
<p>These include a set of mirrors called a laser retro-reflector array, used for accurate positioning of the lander from orbit. There are also a number of spectrometers – instruments that separate and measure the distinct colours found in light. These will measure radiation on the lunar surface and look for signatures of water in lunar soil.</p>
<p>One of them, the <a href="https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experiment/display.action?id=PEREGRN-1-02">Neutron Spectrometer System</a>, will look for hydrogen-containing materials on the surface, which can indicate the presence of water below ground. This water could one day be used by human explorers.</p>
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<img alt="Astrobotic Peregrine lander." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566548/original/file-20231219-19-i3ffem.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1917%2C1279&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566548/original/file-20231219-19-i3ffem.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566548/original/file-20231219-19-i3ffem.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566548/original/file-20231219-19-i3ffem.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566548/original/file-20231219-19-i3ffem.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566548/original/file-20231219-19-i3ffem.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566548/original/file-20231219-19-i3ffem.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander will touch down near the Gruithuisen Domes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.nasa.gov/details/KSC-20231114-PH-ILW01_0100">Isaac Watson/Nasa</a></span>
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<p>There are two principle sources of dangerous radiation for humans in space. One is the Sun, which unleashes electrons, protons and heavier ions that are accelerated to a significant fraction of the speed of light. </p>
<p>These solar energetic particle events (SEPs) are more likely to occur during the Sun’s peak of activity (solar maximum), which occurs every 11 years. However, that does not mean there is a respite during the solar minimum.</p>
<p>The other source of harmful radiation is galactic cosmic rays (GCRs). These energetic particles originate outside the Solar System, probably in explosive phenomena such as exploding stars (supernovas).</p>
<p>During periods of lower solar activity (including the solar minimum), the Sun’s magnetic field, which extends throughout the Solar System, weakens. This enables <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Solar-cycle-%20modulation-and-anti-correlation-of-GCR-flux-with-solar-activity-Shown-are_fig6_257343697">more GCRs</a> to reach us instead. </p>
<p>Another spectrometer on Peregrine will measure both SEPs and GCRs on the Moon. This is important for examining how dangerous the radiation environment at the lunar surface will be for future human explorers.</p>
<h2>Polar landing</h2>
<p>The second spacecraft to launch early in 2024 is the <a href="https://www.intuitivemachines.com/im-1">Nova-C lander</a>. It is designed by Houston-based Intuitive Machines and has a similar volume to Peregrine, but in the shape of a tall, hexagonal cylinder. It will carry several instruments including its own laser retro-reflector array. Nova-C is currently scheduled to launch in mid-February.</p>
<p>Other instruments include a suite of cameras for producing a 3D image of Nova-C’s landing site. This will allow scientists to estimate how much material is blown away by the landing rocket’s exhaust plume during the descent. Potentially, any material blown away can be imaged to get an idea of the composition of surface material. </p>
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<img alt="Nova-C lander." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566583/original/file-20231219-23-2hpa5p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566583/original/file-20231219-23-2hpa5p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566583/original/file-20231219-23-2hpa5p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566583/original/file-20231219-23-2hpa5p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566583/original/file-20231219-23-2hpa5p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566583/original/file-20231219-23-2hpa5p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566583/original/file-20231219-23-2hpa5p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A model of the Nova-C lander.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.nasa.gov/details/NHQ201905310022">Nasa (Goddard Space Flight Center)</a></span>
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<p>The “radio observations of the lunar surface photo-electron sheath” (<a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2102.02331.pdf">Rolses</a>) instrument is designed to measure how the extremely tenuous lunar atmosphere and the Moon’s surface dust environment affect radio waves. </p>
<p>The behaviour of electrically charged dust particles on the Moon is a technical challenge which future explorers will need to deal with, as the abrasive particles can attach themselves to surfaces and mechanical devices and potentially cause harm if <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/the-%20next-big-challenge-for-lunar-astronauts-moon-dust/">inhaled</a> by astronauts.</p>
<p>A privately built experiment onboard Nova-C is the International Lunar Observatory <a href="https://iloa.org/ilo-x-precursor/">ILO-X</a>, which will aim to capture some of the first images of the Milky Way galaxy from the Moon’s surface. This would demonstrate the concept of lunar-based astronomy.</p>
<h2>Landing locations</h2>
<p>Peregrine’s landing site is a bay on the west side of Mare Imbrium, known as Sinus Viscositatis (Bay of Stickiness). Here, two volcanic mountains called the <a href="https://moon.nasa.gov/resources/482/a-lunar-%20mystery-the-gruithuisen-domes/">Gruithuisen Domes</a> are made of a different material to the surrounding plains. </p>
<p>The plains are a form of basalt, while the domes are composed of silica. Both are volcanic in origin, but one appears to have been formed by lava with a viscosity of mango chutney (the silica), and the other by runnier lava (the basalt). </p>
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<img alt="Gruithuisen Domes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566614/original/file-20231219-29-7x7oaq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566614/original/file-20231219-29-7x7oaq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566614/original/file-20231219-29-7x7oaq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566614/original/file-20231219-29-7x7oaq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566614/original/file-20231219-29-7x7oaq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566614/original/file-20231219-29-7x7oaq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566614/original/file-20231219-29-7x7oaq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Gruithuisen Domes appear to have been formed by silica lavas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://moon.nasa.gov/resources/482/a-lunar-mystery-the-gruithuisen-domes/">Nasa (GSFC)/Arizona State University</a></span>
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<p>On Earth, silica lavas typically require the presence both of water and plate tectonics. However, plate tectonics are not known to be present on the Moon, and neither is water in the quantities necessary for silica lavas. The Gruithuisen Domes thus present a geological enigma which Peregrine could go some way to resolving.</p>
<p>The landing location for Nova-C is Malapert A crater – which is of particular interest for lunar exploration, as it lies close to the Moon’s south pole. The surrounding mountains permanently shield this depression from sunlight, leaving it in constant darkness. </p>
<p>Consequently, it is one of the coldest locations in the Solar System and, given the lack of sunlight, a place where water ice delivered by comets hitting the surface over the aeons could remain stable. Future human explorers could use it for life support and making rocket fuel.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Lunar south pole." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566615/original/file-20231219-27-888tuc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566615/original/file-20231219-27-888tuc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566615/original/file-20231219-27-888tuc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566615/original/file-20231219-27-888tuc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566615/original/file-20231219-27-888tuc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566615/original/file-20231219-27-888tuc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566615/original/file-20231219-27-888tuc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An image of the Moon’s South Pole showing the Malapert crater (foreground).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5127">Nasa's Scientific Visualization Studio</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>There are additional payloads on both spacecraft from private investors. Peregrine contains the “DHL Spacebox”, which will carry personal items from paying customers, while Nova-C contains “The Humanity Hall of Fame” – a list of names to be sent to the Moon for posterity. Such payloads can generate additional funding for the launch companies.</p>
<p>Several other companies are due to launch their first payloads to the Moon in the next couple of years. With greater input from private companies – assuming the these first few missions succeed – we may soon witness a new era in lunar exploration.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219546/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Peregrine and Nova-C landers are due to carry out valuable science at two diverse lunar locations.Gareth Dorrian, Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Space Science, University of BirminghamIan Whittaker, Senior Lecturer in Physics, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2151402023-10-06T01:53:35Z2023-10-06T01:53:35Z6 reasons why global temperatures are spiking right now<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552428/original/file-20231006-27-7ho178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C10%2C3424%2C2286&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/6gVvfQEnWtY">Jonas Weckschmied/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The world is very warm right now. We’re not only seeing record temperatures, but the records are being broken by record-wide margins.</p>
<p>Take the preliminary September global-average temperature anomaly of 1.7°C above pre-industrial levels, for example. It’s an incredible 0.5°C above the previous record.</p>
<p>So why is the world so incredibly hot right now? And what does it mean for keeping our Paris Agreement targets? </p>
<p>Here are six contributing factors – with climate change the main reason temperatures are so high.</p>
<h2>1. El Niño</h2>
<p>One reason for the exceptional heat is we are in a <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/#tabs=Pacific-Ocean">significant El Niño</a> that is still strengthening. During El Niño we see warming of the surface ocean over much of the tropical Pacific. This warming, and the effects of El Niño in other parts of the world, raises global average temperatures by <a href="https://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2023/01/2022-updates-to-the-temperature-records/">about 0.1 to 0.2°C</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-el-nino-and-la-nina-27719">Explainer: El Niño and La Niña</a>
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<p>Taking into account the fact we’ve just come out of a triple La Niña, which cools global average temperatures slightly, and the fact this is the first major El Niño in eight years, it’s not too surprising we’re seeing unusually high temperatures at the moment.</p>
<p>Still, El Niño alone isn’t enough to explain the crazily high temperatures the world is experiencing.</p>
<h2>2. Falling pollution</h2>
<p>Air pollution from human activities cools the planet and has offset some of the warming caused by humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions. There have been efforts to reduce this pollution – since 2020 there has been an <a href="https://sdg.iisd.org/news/imo-advances-measures-to-reduce-emissions-from-international-shipping/">international agreement</a> to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions from the global shipping industry.</p>
<p>It has been speculated this cleaner air has contributed to the recent heat, particularly over the record-warm <a href="https://climate.copernicus.eu/record-breaking-north-atlantic-ocean-temperatures-contribute-extreme-marine-heatwaves">north Atlantic</a> and Pacific regions with high shipping traffic.</p>
<p>It’s likely this is contributing to the extreme high global temperatures – but only on the order of hundredths of a degree. <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-how-low-sulphur-shipping-rules-are-affecting-global-warming/">Recent analysis</a> suggests the effect of the 2020 shipping agreement is about an extra 0.05°C warming by 2050.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552429/original/file-20231006-15-4t8dca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A smog shrouded road with motorcycles, trucks and cars barely visible through the pollution" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552429/original/file-20231006-15-4t8dca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552429/original/file-20231006-15-4t8dca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552429/original/file-20231006-15-4t8dca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552429/original/file-20231006-15-4t8dca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552429/original/file-20231006-15-4t8dca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552429/original/file-20231006-15-4t8dca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552429/original/file-20231006-15-4t8dca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">People pass through the rising pollution on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway in Gurgaon, Haryana, India, on November 12 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/people-pass-through-rising-pollution-on-2073480677">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>3. Increasing solar activity</h2>
<p>While falling pollution levels mean more of the Sun’s energy reaches Earth’s surface, the amount of the energy the Sun emits is itself variable. There are different solar cycles, but an 11-year cycle is the most relevant one to today’s climate.</p>
<p>The Sun is becoming <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/14/world/solar-maximum-activity-2024-scn/index.html">more active</a> from a minimum in late 2019. This is also contributing a small amount to the spike in global temperatures. Overall, increasing solar activity is contributing only hundredths of a degree at most to the recent global heat. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/this-solar-cycle-the-suns-activity-is-more-powerful-and-surprising-than-predicted-209955">This solar cycle, the sun's activity is more powerful and surprising than predicted</a>
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<h2>4. Water vapour from Hunga Tonga eruption</h2>
<p>On January 15 2022 the underwater <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia26006-hunga-tonga-hunga-haapai-eruption">Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai volcano erupted</a> in the South Pacific Ocean, sending large amounts of water vapour high up into the upper atmosphere. Water vapour is a greenhouse gas, so increasing its concentration in the atmosphere in this way does intensify the greenhouse effect.</p>
<p>Even though the eruption happened almost two years ago, it’s still having a small warming effect on the planet. However, as with the reduced pollution and increasing solar activity, we’re talking about hundredths of a degree.</p>
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<h2>5. Bad luck</h2>
<p>We see variability in global temperatures from one year to the next even without factors like El Niño or major changes in pollution. Part of the reason this September was so extreme was likely due to weather systems being in the right place to heat the land surface.</p>
<p>When we have persistent high-pressure systems over land regions, as seen recently over places like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/01/autumn-heat-continues-in-europe-after-record-breaking-september">western Europe</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-19/australia-weather-september-heat-records-tumble/102870294">Australia</a>, we see local temperatures rise and the conditions for unseasonable heat.</p>
<p>As water requires more energy to warm and the ocean moves around, we don’t see the same quick response in temperatures over the seas when we have high-pressure systems.</p>
<p>The positioning of weather systems warming up many land areas coupled with persistent ocean heat is likely a contributor to the global-average heat too.</p>
<h2>6. Climate change</h2>
<p>By far the biggest contributor to the overall +1.7°C global temperature anomaly is human-caused climate change. Overall, humanity’s effect on the climate has been a global warming of <a href="https://www.globalwarmingindex.org/">about 1.2°C</a>.</p>
<p>The record-high rate of greenhouse gas emissions means we should expect global warming to accelerate too.</p>
<p>While humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions explain the trend seen in September temperatures over many decades, they don’t really explain the big difference from last September (when the greenhouse effect was almost as strong as it is today) and September 2023.</p>
<p>Much of the difference between this year and last comes back to the switch from La Niña to El Niño, and the right weather systems in the right place at the right time.</p>
<h2>The upshot: we need to accelerate climate action</h2>
<p>September 2023 shows that with a combination of climate change and other factors aligning we can see alarmingly high temperatures.</p>
<p>These anomalies may appear to be above the 1.5°C global warming level referred to in the Paris Agreement, but that’s about keeping <a href="https://climateanalytics.org/briefings/understanding-the-paris-agreements-long-term-temperature-goal/">long-term global warming</a> to low levels and not individual months of heat.</p>
<p>But we are seeing the effects of climate change unfolding more and more clearly.</p>
<p>The most vulnerable are suffering the biggest impacts as wealthier nations continue to emit the largest proportion of greenhouse gases. Humanity must accelerate the path to net zero to prevent more record-shattering global temperatures and damaging extreme events.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/net-zero-by-2050-too-late-australia-must-aim-for-2035-213973">Net zero by 2050? Too late. Australia must aim for 2035</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215140/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew King receives funding from the National Environmental Science Program. </span></em></p>The preliminary global-average temperature anomaly for September is a shocking 1.7°C. These are the drivers of current record-breaking heat.Andrew King, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2132832023-09-21T15:54:12Z2023-09-21T15:54:12ZRupert Murdoch and the rise and fall of the press barons: how much power do newspapers still have?<p>Global media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/21/business/media/rupert-murdoch-fox-retire.html">announced his retirement</a> as chairman of Fox and News Corp, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-sky-takeover-and-the-next-generation-of-the-murdoch-dynasty-97889">making way for his son Lachlan</a>. He has been demonised as a puppet master who would pull the strings of politicians behind the scenes, as a man with too much power. But what influence did he and his fellow media moguls really wield?</p>
<p>The day after the 1992 UK general election, Murdoch’s tabloid <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0049089X15001854">The Sun claimed credit</a> for the Tory victory with the notorious headline “It Was The Sun What Won it”. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/apr/25/rupert-murdoch-sun-wot-won-it-tasteless">Murdoch subsequently denied</a> he had such influence.</p>
<p>But in 1995, and with another general election on the horizon, Labour leader Tony Blair certainly thought it was worth courting the media mogul. Blair, along with his chief press secretary Alistair Campbell, <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/389153/diaries-volume-one-by-alastair-campbell/9780099493457">travelled to Hayman Island</a>, Australia, to address a News Corp. conference. Two years later The Sun turned its back on the Conservatives and backed New Labour, which emerged victorious from that year’s general election. </p>
<p>Commentators have argued that Murdoch’s US media empire, notably Fox News, gave Donald Trump significant public support in his quest for presidential power. Although Murdoch now seems to have gone cold on Trump, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/19/rupert-murdoch-dominion-suit-trump-fox-michael-wolff-book">his latest biography</a> quotes the tycoon’s ex-wife Jerry Hall as telling him: “You helped make him president.”</p>
<p>More than a century ago, commentators were worrying about the power of the “press barons”. The archetype of this malign figure was Lord Northcliffe, who as <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/59794">Winston Churchill put it</a>, “felt himself to be possessed of formidable power” after helping to unseat a prime minister and install the next one. According to Churchill, “armed with the solemn prestige of The Times in one hand and the ubiquity of the Daily Mail in the other”, during the first world war Northcliffe “aspired to exercise a commanding influence on events”.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>This article is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> derived from interdisciplinary research. The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
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<p>Of course, the media landscape has changed dramatically since then. Indeed, it has even been transformed in the years since The Sun’s political interventions of the 1990s. Today’s press barons have had to come to terms with a digital revolution which has uprooted the traditional business model of newspapers: readership has declined and advertising revenues have collapsed, hoovered up by tech giants such as Google and Meta. Local newspapers have borne the brunt of the financial damage caused by this and by collapsing print sales, but national newspapers have struggled too.</p>
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<img alt="Four frontpages from The Sun newspaper" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549421/original/file-20230920-31-4aptm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549421/original/file-20230920-31-4aptm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549421/original/file-20230920-31-4aptm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549421/original/file-20230920-31-4aptm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549421/original/file-20230920-31-4aptm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549421/original/file-20230920-31-4aptm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549421/original/file-20230920-31-4aptm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Front pages of The Sun backing - and mocking - different political leaders.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">wikipedia</span></span>
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<p>One good example is the Telegraph Media Group: bought by the Barclay Brothers for £665m in 2004, but valued at just £200m by 2019. The group is now <a href="https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/the-telegraph-proves-a-difficult-sale/">up for sale again</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile “alt truthers”, like Russell Brand, amass huge followings on social media while railing against a “media elite” that seems to include most of the traditional newspaper press. </p>
<p>As the 2024 election looms, it is timely to consider how the power and influence of newspapers – and newspaper owners – has waxed and waned, and to ask what this history might tell us about the state of the press and public life in the UK today.</p>
<h2>A ‘free press’ is born</h2>
<p>By the middle of the 19th century, the British newspaper industry was one of the most diverse and sophisticated in the world. Campaigners had, over the previous decades, successfully lobbied to see the dismantling of government restrictions and taxes on the press. Britain now had a “free press”, with no prior censorship of what could be printed and an essentially free market with little state regulation. Campaigners hoped this would usher in a period of democratic political expression in print. The free market would supposedly give everyone a voice, allowing a multiplicity of viewpoints to be published each day.</p>
<p>For a fleeting moment, this seemed to be borne out in an immediate flourishing of new titles. In the six years after the 1855 repeal of the newspaper stamp duty, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Powers-of-the-Press-Newspapers-Power-and-the-Public-in-Nineteenth-Century/Jones/p/book/9781138276796#:%7E:text=Aled%20Jones%20addresses%20the%20problem,explores%20the%20social%20and%20intellectual">492 new newspapers were established</a>, many of them in provincial towns and cities which had never previously had their own newspapers. The reforming Manchester Liberal MP John Bright applauded the <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/dawn-of-the-cheap-press-in-victorian-britain-9781472511546/">“great revolution of opinion on many public questions”</a> that was taking place thanks to “the freedom of the newspaper press”. </p>
<p>However, many of the new titles quickly went to the wall and during the later 19th century a very different type of newspaper industry emerged. A new generation of entrepreneurs realised that they could benefit financially from market opportunities by applying novel technologies and techniques to newspaper production and distribution. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-election-wot-the-sun-and-the-rest-of-the-uk-tabloids-never-won-79208">The election wot The Sun (and the rest of the UK tabloids) never won</a>
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<p>Recently constructed national and international telegraph networks allowed them to bring in the latest news from around the country, and around the world, scooping their rivals. Steam engines could be used to power printing presses, allowing them to print vast numbers of newspapers quickly enough to sell them the same day. And steam trains provided a way to get those newspapers to readers across the country using the new rail network. Fleet Street became the centre of a truly national industry. </p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Levy-Lawson,_1st_Baron_Burnham">Edward Levy</a> (later Levy-Lawson) led the way. From 1855 he owned The Daily Telegraph: the name of the paper was itself a reference to the new technologies being deployed in the newspaper industry. </p>
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<img alt="Full length photo of a balding man with glasses taken in the 1900s." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547481/original/file-20230911-28-3n6j88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547481/original/file-20230911-28-3n6j88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547481/original/file-20230911-28-3n6j88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547481/original/file-20230911-28-3n6j88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547481/original/file-20230911-28-3n6j88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547481/original/file-20230911-28-3n6j88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547481/original/file-20230911-28-3n6j88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Edward Levy Lawson 1st Baron Burnham. Image taken in the early 1900s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/use-this-image/?agreed=true&email=&form=cc&mkey=mw177321">NPG</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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<p>Levy-Lawson’s Telegraph combined serious, up-to-date news reporting with American-style journalistic innovations, including lurid crime reporting, plenty of sports coverage and publicity stunts, such as backing H. M. Stanley’s <a href="https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/library_exhibitions/schoolresources/exploration/stanley">1874 expedition across Africa on the Congo River</a>.</p>
<p>The purpose of all this was to sell more newspapers. By 1877, the Telegraph’s circulation approached 250,000 – the highest daily sales figure for any newspaper anywhere in the world. </p>
<p>Levy-Lawson saw newspapers primarily as a business, not as a route to political influence or social advancement. Although he was made Lord Burnham in 1903, the established elite looked down on his commercial origins. That snobbery was reinforced by antisemitic prejudice. The most disgusting public attacks on Levy-Lawson came from Henry Labouchere, editor of a newspaper called Truth, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20082684">who raved against the influence</a> of “Hebrew barons” on British public life.</p>
<p>Levy-Lawson established a template for a new type of press proprietor who was, first and foremost, a businessman. These entrepreneurs formed public companies to raise the vast sums of capital required to build their newspaper empires. They priced their newspapers aggressively low to attract the largest possible readership. </p>
<p>As a result, sales revenue fell well below enormous running costs. They made up the shortfall by raking in money from advertisers attracted by the large circulations and national reach of their papers. The battle was now for scale. Each press baron wanted to control the biggest possible newspaper empire.</p>
<h2>The Napoleon of Fleet Street</h2>
<p>By the late 19th century, a fortune could be made from owning newspapers. Alfred Harmsworth came from a modest background but built up a stable of publications aimed at entertaining, amusing and interesting the enormous new literate public created by Victorian universal primary education and rapid urbanisation.</p>
<p>Harmsworth used a range of eye-catching schemes to publicise his papers, including a competition that awarded the winner a pound a week for the rest of their life. By 1894, his newspapers and periodicals had a <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1831895.The_Life_and_Death_of_the_Press_Barons">combined circulation of almost two million</a>, constituting the world’s largest publishing business.</p>
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<img alt="Sepia photo of a gentleman reading a newspaper in 1896." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547489/original/file-20230911-17-e89b6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547489/original/file-20230911-17-e89b6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547489/original/file-20230911-17-e89b6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547489/original/file-20230911-17-e89b6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547489/original/file-20230911-17-e89b6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547489/original/file-20230911-17-e89b6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547489/original/file-20230911-17-e89b6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe in 1896, the year he launched The Daily Mail.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw111194/Alfred-Harmsworth-1st-Viscount-Northcliffe?">NPG</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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<p>In 1896 Harmsworth launched the Daily Mail, a daily paper selling for a halfpenny. It targeted an aspirational lower-middle-class national readership, made up of women as well as men – an attractive demographic for advertisers. The paper was to contain everything that could be expected from a “serious” daily, presented in a respectable-looking package, but with more life, human interest and entertainment.</p>
<p>Content was condensed into short articles, presented in a punchy, accessible style, aimed at the new breed of office workers and commuters. Harmsworth’s brother Harold (later Lord Rothermere) ran the commercial side of the business on efficient, industrial lines.</p>
<p>In 1905, Harmsworth was made Lord Northcliffe. He chose this title in part because it allowed him, half-jokingly, to initial his correspondence “N”, in the style of Napoleon. He became infamous for his dictatorial, erratic, pedantic, obsessive and abusive management style. He would sometimes appoint two people to the same post and make them compete with one another to keep their job. Employees faced lavish rewards, alternating with frequent threats of dismissal. Fleet Street journalists <a href="https://archive.org/details/greatoutsidersno0000tayl_a3p6">warned prospective job applicants</a> that Northcliffe would “suck out your brains, then sack you”.</p>
<p>Northcliffe cultivated informers in the Daily Mail office to tell him what was going on behind the scenes and to monitor private telephone conversations. He liked his staff to be his “creatures”. A later <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Dangerous_Estate.html?id=P_Y2AAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">newspaper editor thought</a> that there was “something more than a little nauseating about his relations with many of his chief associates; one wonders how they could stomach the humiliations he imposed and retain their self-respect.” </p>
<p>The political elite, and many journalists, <a href="https://archive.org/details/greatoutsidersno0000tayl_a3p6">looked down on Northcliffe</a> and his popular papers. Lord Salisbury famously dismissed the Mail as being produced “by officeboys for officeboys”. Northcliffe’s former employee, E.T. Raymond, thought that the press baron had “an uncanny way of arriving at the results of thought without thought itself”. Another contemporary described Northcliffe as “brainless, formless, familiar and impudent”. </p>
<p>Northcliffe’s purchase of The Times in 1908 marked an attempt to expand his political influence, but some contemporaries still doubted whether he was very important. <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Journals_and_Letters_of_Reginald_Viscoun/dmRZngEACAAJ?hl=en">Lord Esher remarked</a> that “he evidently loves power, but his education is defective, and he has no idea to what uses power can be put”. Many of Northcliffe’s press crusades seemed harmlessly apolitical, such as his campaigns to promote the consumption of wholemeal bread or to grow better sweet-peas.</p>
<p>However, others worried about the consequences of allowing a small number of very rich men, running enormous corporate conglomerates, to dominate the British newspaper industry. The writer and journalist <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Influence_of_the_Press.html?id=mG9AAAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">R. A. Scott-James</a> lamented in 1913 that “privilege” now dominated public debate, and that the press had become “a vehicle for false notions and antisocial ideas”. </p>
<p>The writer Norman Angell (a former Northcliffe employee who subsequently became a Nobel-prize-winning peace activist) similarly argued that the “modern industrialised Press” had become the most powerful instrument for the “capture of the mind by our industrial aristocracy”. Newspapers, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Press_and_the_Organisation_of_Societ.html?id=fjJAAAAAYAAJ&redir_esc=y">Angell claimed</a>, now worked to “exploit human weaknesses” for the purpose of profit, corrupting public debate. </p>
<h2>Press, politics and the first world war</h2>
<p>Concern about the power of press barons grew exponentially during WWI. From 1914, Northcliffe used his newspapers <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11063463/Daily-Mail-founder-Alfred-Harmsworths-blistering-denunciation-Lord-Kitchener.html">constantly to critique</a> the Liberal government’s coordination of the war effort. His main targets were Prime Minister Herbert Asquith and the secretary of state for war, Lord Kitchener. In 1915, Northcliffe accused Kitchener, in print, of failing to supply the army with enough high explosive artillery shells. Initially, this made the Mail unpopular. Circulation dropped dramatically and the paper was ceremonially burned on the floor of the London Stock Exchange.</p>
<p>However, as its claims about government mismanagement began to seem justified, the Mail’s popularity recovered. The “shell scandal” contributed to the fall of the Liberal government and the establishment of a reconstituted coalition under Asquith’s leadership.</p>
<p>The ambitious Liberal politician David Lloyd George worked closely with Northcliffe in order to further his own career and Lloyd George was rewarded when he was made Minister of Munitions in the wake of the shell scandal.</p>
<p>But Northcliffe’s criticism of the government continued and Cabinet members worried that German propagandists were exploiting his public attacks on the British war efforts to undermine morale. Northcliffe’s campaigning finally helped precipitate the resignation of Asquith in December 1916. The Daily News (a national newspaper founded in 1846 by none other than Charles Dickens) branded Northcliffe a <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6711394-northcliffe">“press dictator”</a> for his role in the prime minister’s downfall. </p>
<p>Northcliffe’s ally Lloyd George took Asquith’s place as prime minister. However, Lloyd George now cannily kept the press baron at arm’s length, giving him relatively minor official jobs that came with little power while making it difficult for him to attack a government with which he was now identified. At the end of the war, <a href="https://archive.org/details/greatoutsidersno0000tayl_a3p6">Lloyd George finally broke openly with Northcliffe</a>, attacking the press baron in a vitriolic speech delivered in the House of Commons. Northcliffe was deluded, Lloyd George suggested, in thinking that as part of his “great task of saving the world” he had the right to dictate the terms of the <a href="https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/key-dates/treaty-versailles-1919#:%7E:text=After%20four%20years%20of%20devastating,break%20out%20twenty%20years%20later.">1919 peace settlement</a> with Germany. Lloyd George spoke of Northcliffe’s “diseased vanity” and tapped his own forehead meaningfully as he delivered the speech to the assembled MPs.</p>
<p>By this point Northcliffe had become a serious liability to Lloyd George, and was indeed ill, both physically and mentally. His behaviour had become more erratic and aggressive than ever, and his language increasingly foul and paranoid. At one point he was reported to have brandished a revolver at his doctor. </p>
<p>Northcliffe died in 1922 leaving no legitimate heirs, although he had had several mistresses and two secret families. Management of his media empire passed to his brother, Lord Rothermere, who sold The Times and went on to expand in more profitable directions, conducting vicious commercial warfare against his rivals. Rothermere later became a prominent public supporter of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists and an admirer and personal acquaintance of Hitler.</p>
<h2>The rise of Beaverbrook</h2>
<p>The first world war also saw the rise to prominence of another archetypal press baron, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maxwell-Aitken-Beaverbrook">Max Aitken</a>. Like Northcliffe, Aitken came from a humble background. He was born in Ontario, raised in New Brunswick, and made his fortune through somewhat dubious Canadian business dealings. He came to England in 1910, forged new political connections and was elected as a Conservative MP.</p>
<p>By the end of 1916 Aitken had purchased a controlling interest in the Daily Express, the main rival to the Daily Mail. He was involved in the behind-the-scenes political intrigue that toppled Asquith as prime minister and brought Lloyd George to power that year, though his exact role was never made clear. Lloyd George treated Aitken more generously than he had Northcliffe: Aitken was made Lord Beaverbrook and in 1918 was appointed minister of information, taking charge of British wartime propaganda and entering the cabinet.</p>
<p>During the 1920s and 1930s, Beaverbrook turned the Daily Express into the biggest-selling newspaper in the UK. The paper adopted an aspirational, aggressive, populist tone to appeal to a broad audience and maximise advertising revenue. Beaverbrook used the Express to support his political allies, and to attack enemies like the Conservative leader, Stanley Baldwin. </p>
<p>Following the Wall Street Crash, Beaverbrook launched his “Empire Crusade” in the Express, seeking to turn the British empire into a tariff-protected economic union (a little like an English-speaking version of the later European Union). This campaign, also supported by Lord Rothermere of the Daily Mail, constituted a further direct threat to the leadership of Baldwin, now prime minister. </p>
<p>In a speech in parliament, Baldwin famously <a href="https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/quotation/quotes_harlot.htm">used words provided by his cousin Rudyard Kipling</a> to castigate Rothermere and Beaverbrook. He argued that by weaponising “direct falsehoods, misrepresentation, half-truths” the press barons aimed at “power without responsibility – the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages”. </p>
<p>Baldwin eventually defeated Beaverbrook’s crusade, but the press baron continued to prosecute his personal vendetta. In supporting the embattled Edward VIII during the abdication crisis of 1936, Beaverbrook admitted in private that his main aim was to <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Walter_Monckton_The_Life_of_Viscount_Mon.html?id=0ssYxgEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">“bugger Baldwin”</a>. </p>
<h2>Conrad Black - the ‘moneylogue’</h2>
<p>Half a century later another wealthy Canadian, Conrad Black, used his fortune to build his own press empire. Black inherited substantial Canadian business holdings from his father, which he refocused on newspaper ownership. During the 1980s and 1990s he built up a vast portfolio of media investments in north America, the UK, Israel and Australia. In Britain, his key possession was the Telegraph Group.</p>
<p>Unlike some other notable press barons, Black revelled in the glamorous lifestyle that his wealth brought him. Newspapers were, for him, partly a status symbol. “The deferences (sic) and preferments” that the UK’s political culture “bestows upon the owners of great newspapers are satisfying,” <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/max-hastings/editor/9781447269809#:%7E:text=Editor%3A%20A%20Memoir%20is%20above,Hastings%20is%20a%20brilliant%20reporter.">as he once put it</a>. But his press investments also helped fund his lavish spending. By the early 1990s, The Daily Telegraph was generating substantial profits and supporting Black’s other businesses interests. </p>
<p>Max Hastings, editor of The Daily Telegraph <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/max-hastings/editor/9781447269809#:%7E:text=Editor%3A%20A%20Memoir%20is%20above,Hastings%20is%20a%20brilliant%20reporter.">between 1986 and 1995</a>, concluded from his time working for Black that it was, at root, all about the money.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Whatever the professed convictions of proprietors, most are moneylogues rather than ideologues. Their decisions are driven by commercial imperatives. Stripped of their own rhetoric, the political convictions of most British proprietors throughout history add up to an uncomplicated desire to make the world a safe place for rich men to live in.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>True to form, Black anticipated the coming slump in the newspaper industry and sold off many of his press interests while their value was still high, including the Telegraph Group in 2004. </p>
<p>In 2007, Black was sentenced for fraud in the US and served 37 months in prison. In 2019, US President Donald Trump granted him a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/conrad-black-pardon-trump-1.5137985">full pardon</a>. The previous year Black had published a flattering biography: <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/05/book-excerpt-donald-trump-a-president-like-no-other-conrad-black/">Donald J. Trump: a President Like No Other</a>. Commentators were left to draw their own conclusions.</p>
<h2>Enter the ‘Dirty Digger’</h2>
<p>The preeminent press baron of our time has, of course, been <a href="https://theconversation.com/rupert-murdoch-how-a-22-year-old-zealous-laborite-turned-into-a-tabloid-tsar-204914">Rupert Murdoch</a>, who from the 1960s extended his Australian newspaper empire to the UK (buying The Sun and The News of the World in 1968 and The Times in 1981). From the 1970s he also made inroads into the US newspaper industry.</p>
<p>Murdoch established a reputation for selling newspapers using previously unacceptable levels of sensationalism and sex (Private Eye magazine labelled him the “Dirty Digger”). He later bought into the global film and television industry, building a US$17bn (about £14bn) fortune and establishing a reputation <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/04/rupert-murdoch-cover-story">for meddling in politics</a> around the world.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rupert-murdoch-how-a-22-year-old-zealous-laborite-turned-into-a-tabloid-tsar-204914">Rupert Murdoch: how a 22-year-old 'zealous Laborite' turned into a tabloid tsar</a>
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<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/books/review/Carr-t.html">Biographer Michael Wolff</a> has suggested that Murdoch does <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/193219/the-man-who-owns-the-news-by-michael-wolff/">not greatly value</a> his personal wealth or relationships, writing: “Working isn’t the means to an end; it’s the end. It’s one man’s war – a relentless, nasty, inch-by-inch campaign.”</p>
<p>According to Wolff, what Murdoch loves is playing the game of high-stakes business, being in the room where it happens, doing the deal, owning more newspapers, and destroying his rivals. He enjoys gossip and gathering information about those with political power, using it to protect his commercial interests and to support the political agendas of those he favours. Beneficiaries have included Margaret Thatcher, Blair and Trump. </p>
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<p>In running his media concerns, like Northcliffe and Beaverbrook before him, Murdoch is aggressive, interventionist and hands-on. Wolff claims that Murdoch did not want his employees to be partners but would rather they serve him as subordinates, and so surrounds himself with sycophants. He is seemingly willing to accept short-term financial losses to secure long-term market dominance. This approach is rooted in the golden age of the press barons, when the dominant business strategy was to take over or shut down the competition, allowing the victor to rake in windfall profits unopposed.</p>
<p>Perhaps this strategy still makes sense: as the profits made by traditional newspapers dwindle, the remaining rewards might go to the last man standing.</p>
<p>Murdoch’s media empire has endured its periods of commercial crisis. The disastrous failures of journalistic ethics at the News of the World embroiled the newspaper in the phone hacking scandal and the paper was closed down by Murdoch in 2011. In the US in 2023, Fox News settled a lawsuit over on-air accusations concerning the role of voting machines during the US elections of 2020, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fox-news-dominion-lawsuit-trial-trump-2020-0ac71f75acfacc52ea80b3e747fb0afe">costing the network</a> almost US$800m (£650m). </p>
<p>However, other elements in Murdoch’s empire continue to produce a profit. After an initial near-disaster, Murdoch’s takeover of The Wall Street Journal has proved a financial success. He paid US$5.6bn (about £4.4bn) for it in 2007. Now thanks to a stunningly successful drive for subscribers (3.78m of them, 84% digital-only) the paper is worth around US$10bn (£8bn). In the UK, successful management of the digital transformation has similarly meant that The Times and The Sunday Times have gone from a £70m annual loss in 2009 to a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/apr/28/murdoch-empire-succession-fox-news-settlement">£73m profit in 2022</a>.</p>
<h2>Press barons of the future</h2>
<p>The figure of the press baron has recently found a new fictional archetype in <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/logan-roy-111726">Logan Roy</a>, the dark heart of HBO’s series Succession. Roy has a number of reasons for wanting to own newspapers and other media outlets. Primarily, he simply needs to acquire more stuff, compulsively buying new titles to build an empire capable of eradicating all challengers. </p>
<p>Like Murdoch, expansion – doing the deal – is for Roy a reward in and of itself. He also loves the influence his media interests bring and wants to dominate those with political power, partly to protect his business, but largely because he craves control. The wealth and the lifestyle that accompany his media empire, in contrast, seem to give him little pleasure. </p>
<p>Succession reflects continuing concerns about who owns the media, how they make their money, and what they want to get out of their media outlets. As the show’s British writer, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/may/27/jesse-armstrong-on-the-roots-of-succession-bum-rush-trump-presidency">Jesse Armstrong</a>, reflected:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Sun doesn’t run the UK, nor does Fox entirely set the media agenda in the US, but it was hard not to feel, at the time the show was coming together, the particular impact of one man, of one family, on the lives of so many. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>But does the press still have such influence over politics and public life? The many challenges facing traditional newspapers do seem to threaten their historical role. The UK’s newspaper industry has been <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/leveson-inquiry-report-into-the-culture-practices-and-ethics-of-the-press">rocked by scandals</a> about phone hacking, professional ethics and behind-the-scenes links between journalists, politicians and the police. </p>
<p>And then there is the declining readership and advertising revenue. In 2019, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-cairncross-review-a-sustainable-future-for-journalism">a somewhat uninspired official report</a> on the future of British journalism summarised some of the challenges, but offered few meaningful solutions. That was the same year the Telegraph Media Group was valued at just £200m.</p>
<p>London’s Evening Standard is meanwhile facing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/aug/11/evening-standard-reliant-owner-evgeny-lebedev-funding-losses-widen-newspaper">an annual loss of £16m</a>, and relies on loans from its Russian-British proprietor, Evgeny Lebedev, to stay afloat. The same Lebedev who was <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61163446">controversially given a peerage</a> in 2020 by then prime minister, Boris Johnson. </p>
<p>Newspapers are also in danger of being dismissed as “mainstream” or “legacy” media: old-fashioned, obsolete and unable to counter the mendacities and conspiracy theories of online “alt truthers”. Recently, following allegations presented in newspapers and on television, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/russell-brand-investigation-what-good-journalists-should-have-to-go-through-to-report-sexual-assault-allegations-213815">comedian Russell Brand</a> immediately sought to discredit “coordinated media attacks” which he claimed served some shadowy hidden agenda.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, as their own profits dwindle and they <a href="https://pressgazette.co.uk/media_business/2023-journalism-news-job-cuts-redundancies/">lay off more journalists</a>, the capacity of newspapers to investigate public lies and misdeeds is drastically reduced. Some worry that the newspapers themselves are having a damaging effect on public debate – apparent, for example, in the polarising and sometimes <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jun/24/mail-sun-uk-brexit-newspapers">inaccurate press coverage</a> and comment that accompanied the Brexit referendum and its aftermath. Fuelling culture wars, rather than mounting an informed defence against them, seems to be a key tactic in staying afloat for some titles.</p>
<p>Yet the reasons why press barons want to own newspapers remain much the same today as they did for Northcliffe, Beaverbrook, and Black: making money, securing a place in the national (or global) economic and social elite, generating political influence, and delivering the thrill of the great corporate deal.</p>
<p>And the old media dynasties endure: in 2022 the 4th Lord Rothermere, great-grandson of the Daily Mail’s co-founder, took the Daily Mail & General Trust group out of public ownership, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/22/lord-rothermere-take-over-daily-mail-chairman">became its chief executive</a>. </p>
<p>Above all else, traditional newspaper titles retain their appeal to potential owners because, in a crowded marketplace for online news, they can represent a trusted and prestigious brand. The <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/04/how-buzzfeed-news-went-bust.html">fate of Buzzfeed</a> has demonstrated <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/16/vice-bankruptcy-buzzfeed-news-dead-digital-age-revenue">the difficulties</a> of creating a viable online presence without such an established base. </p>
<p>Traditional newspapers will continue to scale back print runs over the coming years. Probably, at some point, they will just stop printing newspapers. But some of these companies will live on as profitable online brands. </p>
<p>In a post-Murdoch age, future press barons – digital media emperors – will want to invest in these brands because they offer recognition and respectability, following the early example set by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/aug/05/washington-post-sold-jeff-bezos-amazon">purchased The Washington Post</a> in 2013. </p>
<p>Potential buyers for the Telegraph Media Group take in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jun/07/daily-telegraph-and-sunday-telegraph-newspapers-to-be-put-up-for-sale">UK businesses</a>, including <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/daily-mail-proprietor-rothermere-in-talks-with-investors-over-telegraph-bid-12938653">the Mail’s Rothermere</a> and the owner of the <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/hedge-fund-tycoon-marshall-hires-bankers-to-plot-daily-telegraph-raid-12959685">rightwing GB News</a>. But there is also interest from <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/07/17/mike-mctighe-appointed-telegraph-chairman-sale-lloyds/">Europe and the US</a>, as well as the <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/yorkshire-post-owner-signals-interest-in-buying-daily-telegraph-12937353">Gulf states</a>. Surprisingly, perhaps, the Barclay family has itself assembled a portfolio of potential Middle Eastern finance to try to buy the business back from Lloyds. </p>
<p>Some of these international players may see the Telegraph Group as offering a respectable voice in the British media landscape and a route to political and popular influence, something that only a traditional newspaper business can provide. And they are no doubt interested in the brand’s asset of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jul/25/telegraph-media-group-paying-subscribers-chelsea-magazine-company">nearly one million subscribers</a>, many of them digital – data being the be all and end all in today’s market. </p>
<p>Whichever way that sale goes, we are still a long way from the dream of a democratic utopia promoted by 19th-century campaigners for press freedom. They believed that the free market would liberate the press and, by doing so, liberate us all. Sadly, it seems like Logan Roy was closer to the truth when he said to his wannabe successors: “Money wins. Here’s to us.”</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/my-home-city-was-destroyed-by-war-but-i-will-not-lose-hope-how-modern-warfare-turns-neighbourhoods-into-battlefields-211627">‘My home city was destroyed by war but I will not lose hope’ – how modern warfare turns neighbourhoods into battlefields</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/beatrix-potters-famous-tales-are-rooted-in-stories-told-by-enslaved-africans-but-she-was-very-quiet-about-their-origins-202274">Beatrix Potter’s famous tales are rooted in stories told by enslaved Africans – but she was very quiet about their origins
</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/invisible-windrush-how-the-stories-of-indian-indentured-labourers-from-the-caribbean-were-forgotten-206330">Invisible Windrush: how the stories of Indian indentured labourers from the Caribbean were forgotten
</a></em></p></li>
</ul>
<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213283/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Potter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Newspaper owners used to wield huge political influence – but as Rupert Murdoch steps down for his son Lachlan can the same be said of today’s?Simon Potter, Professor of Modern History, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2036592023-07-03T12:06:01Z2023-07-03T12:06:01ZAncient Egyptians measured the first hour, and changed how we related to time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529468/original/file-20230531-25771-bncig1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C15%2C2048%2C1174&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A detail from the astronomical ceiling at the Dendera temple in Egypt.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/14826645968">(kairoinfo4u/flickr)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Humanity’s relationship with telling time began before the first written word, making it a challenge today to investigate the origin of many timekeeping units. </p>
<p>However, some time measurement units that derive from astronomical phenomena are quite easy to explain and likely were independently observed in many different cultures across the world. For example, measuring how long a day or a year is uses apparent motions of the sun relative to Earth, while measuring months comes from the phases of the moon.</p>
<p>Yet there are some measurements of time that do not have clear connections with any astronomical phenomena. </p>
<p>Two examples are the week and the hour. One of the most ancient written traditions, <a href="https://pcarlsberg.ku.dk/publishedtexts/">Egyptian hieroglyphic texts</a>, gives us new insight into the origin of the hour. It originated in the area of North Africa and the Middle East, and adopted in Europe before spreading around the world in the modern era.</p>
<h2>Time in Ancient Egypt</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt14jxv34">The Pyramid Texts</a>, written before 2400 BCE, are the earliest writings from Ancient Egypt. Included in the texts is the word <em>wnwt</em> (approximately pronounced “wenut”), and the meaning-hieroglyph associated with it was a star. From this we gather that <em>wnwt</em> is associated with the night.</p>
<p>To understand the word <em>wnwt</em> and why it is now translated as “hour,” we go to the city of Asyut around 2000 BCE. There, the inside of wooden rectangular coffin lids are <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/decoding-the-star-charts-of-ancient-egypt/">sometimes decorated with an astronomical table</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="astronomical procession on a temple ceiling" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534602/original/file-20230628-4980-4u2v1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534602/original/file-20230628-4980-4u2v1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534602/original/file-20230628-4980-4u2v1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534602/original/file-20230628-4980-4u2v1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534602/original/file-20230628-4980-4u2v1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534602/original/file-20230628-4980-4u2v1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534602/original/file-20230628-4980-4u2v1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sopdet and Sahu (Sirius and Orion) shown in the left and right-hand boats, respectively, from the East Osiris Chapel on the roof of the temple in Dendera.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Sarah Symons)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The table contains columns representing 10-day periods of the year; the Egyptian Civil Calendar had 12 months each having three 10-day “weeks,” all followed by five days of festivals. In each column, 12 star names are listed, making 12 rows. The whole table represents the changes in the star sky over the course of a whole year, similar to a modern star chart.</p>
<p>Those 12 stars are the earliest systematic division of the night into 12 time-areas, each governed by one star. However, the word <em>wnwt</em> never appears in association with these coffin star tables. </p>
<p>But around 1210 BCE in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Egypt/The-New-Kingdom-c-1539-1075-bce">New Kingdom</a> — the period of ancient Egypt between the 16th and 11th centuries BCE — the link between the number of rows and the word <em>wnwt</em> is made explicit. </p>
<h2>Astronomical instructions</h2>
<p>One temple, <a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL13488676M/The_Osireion_at_Abydos">the Osireion at Abydos</a>, contains a wealth of astronomical information, including instructions on how to make a sundial and a text describing the motions of stars. It also contains a star table of the coffin type where, uniquely, the 12 rows are labelled with the word <em>wnwt</em>.</p>
<p>By the New Kingdom, there were 12 night-<em>wnwt</em> and also 12 day-<em>wnwt</em>, both clearly time measures. The idea of the hour is almost in its modern form but for two things. </p>
<p>First, although there are 12 day-hours and 12 night-hours, they are always expressed separately but not together as a 24-hour day. Day time was measured using shadows cast by the sun, while night hours were primarily measured by the stars. This could only be done while the sun and stars were visible, respectively, and there were two periods around sunrise and sunset that did not contain any hours. </p>
<p>Second, the New Kingdom <em>wnwt</em> and our modern hour differ in length. Sundials and water clocks demonstrate very clearly that the length of the <em>wnwt</em> varied throughout the year: long night hours around the winter solstice, long day hours around the summer solstice.</p>
<p>To answer the question of where the number 12 or 24 comes from, we have to find out why 12 stars were chosen per 10-day period. Surely, this choice is the true origin of the hour. Was 12 just a convenient number? Perhaps, but the origin of the coffin star tables suggests another possibility. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531361/original/file-20230612-206189-jorbr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="ancient remains of an Egyptian temple in the desert" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531361/original/file-20230612-206189-jorbr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531361/original/file-20230612-206189-jorbr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531361/original/file-20230612-206189-jorbr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531361/original/file-20230612-206189-jorbr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531361/original/file-20230612-206189-jorbr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531361/original/file-20230612-206189-jorbr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531361/original/file-20230612-206189-jorbr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Osireion temple in Abydos, Egypt provided a wealth of astronomical information.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Timekeeping stars</h2>
<p>The ancient Egyptians chose to use the bright star Sirius as a model, and selected other stars based on their behavioural similarity to Sirius. The key point seems to be that the timekeeping stars disappeared for 70 days each year, just like Sirius, even though the other stars were not as bright. The Osireion star text gives dates such that every 10 days, one Sirius-like star disappears and one star reappears, for the whole year.</p>
<p>Depending on the time of year, between 10 and 14 of these stars are visible each night. If recorded at 10-day intervals throughout the year, a table very much resembling the coffin star table emerges. By 2000 BCE, the table became more schematic than (in our sense) accurate, <a href="http://aea.physics.mcmaster.ca/">and a table with 12 rows had emerged</a>, resulting in the coffin tables we can see in museums in Egypt and elsewhere.</p>
<p>It is therefore possible that the choice of 12 as the number of hours of the night — and eventually 24 as the total number of hours from noon to noon — may be related to a choice of a 10-day week. </p>
<p>And so our modern hour originates from a confluence of decisions that happened more than 4,000 years ago.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203659/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Cockcroft received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Symons' research related to this article was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the McMaster Arts Research Board.</span></em></p>Some time measurements, like months and years, use the movements of the moon and sun, respectively. But other time measurements, like the hour, aren’t clearly connected to astronomical phenomena.Robert Cockcroft, Assistant Professor, Physics and Astronomy, McMaster UniversitySarah Symons, Professor, Interdisciplinary Science, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2005522023-04-06T06:16:02Z2023-04-06T06:16:02ZSince the late 19th century, adventurous female ‘eclipse chasers’ have contributed to science in Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519222/original/file-20230404-18-nwlh6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=135%2C0%2C708%2C378&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Elizabeth Campbell operating the Floyd Telescope, 1922 total solar eclipse. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library Western Australia 4131B/3/8, enhanced detail</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A total solar eclipse is a remarkable alignment of our Sun, Earth and the Moon, as the latter casts a perfect shadow across the former.</p>
<p>If you’re in the narrow path of the shadow of the Moon, at the moment of totality you are plunged into darkness. Stars and planets emerge in the sky, and the entire atmosphere changes. This immersion in a total solar eclipse is unforgettable. </p>
<p>As 21-year-old Australian Miriam Chisholm <a href="http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1924MmBAA..24...94C">reported in 1922</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I looked up from the telescope just an instant before totality and thought I saw the Corona, a pale fringe around the Sun […] and then the light went out and we saw it in all its glory.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516169/original/file-20230319-16-7iduc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photograph of the black totally eclipsed sun in the centre with a white haze of corona around it. The image was encapsulated in a glass plate slide to project for teaching at Sydney Observatory." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516169/original/file-20230319-16-7iduc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516169/original/file-20230319-16-7iduc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516169/original/file-20230319-16-7iduc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516169/original/file-20230319-16-7iduc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516169/original/file-20230319-16-7iduc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516169/original/file-20230319-16-7iduc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516169/original/file-20230319-16-7iduc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Photograph of the solar corona taken using the Floyd Camera by Elizabeth Campbell, 21 September 1922. The image was later used for teaching at Sydney Observatory. Collection Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Historically, total solar eclipses were a unique opportunity to conduct scientific research about our Sun, the closest star. Using special instruments called spectroscopes, it was possible to decipher the chemical composition of the gases emitted by the Sun – but only during a total eclipse. </p>
<p>As I write in my recently co-authored book <a href="https://ebooks.publish.csiro.au/content/eclipse-chasers#tab-info">Eclipse Chasers</a>, perhaps the best-known eclipse experiment was the proof of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. In the early 20th century this theory could only be tested during the minutes of totality, requiring a clear sky around the covered Sun so you could photograph the stars. </p>
<h2>Women in the field</h2>
<p>Accounts of well-known historic discoveries in astronomy might leave the impression this work was only undertaken by men. But in the late 19th and early 20th century, women in Australia already participated in astronomy as <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/publications-of-the-astronomical-society-of-australia/article/making-visible-the-first-women-in-astronomy-in-australia-the-measurers-and-computers-employed-for-the-astrographic-catalogue/AD35E9CECEBC784E926D7B8F35E3D4E0">female “computers”</a> and amateur astronomers. They were deeply involved in scientific expeditions to view total solar eclipses, but it was not easy. </p>
<p>The living conditions were rough, in tents with poor amenities open to the weather, and little or no privacy. The months needed to travel on solar eclipse expeditions meant leaving family responsibilities, one of the reasons it was unusual to find women in the field. When women did participate, they were usually the wives and daughters of male astronomers. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A young woman in a mortar board hat and gown." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516151/original/file-20230318-4441-paqzir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516151/original/file-20230318-4441-paqzir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1033&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516151/original/file-20230318-4441-paqzir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1033&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516151/original/file-20230318-4441-paqzir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1033&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516151/original/file-20230318-4441-paqzir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1298&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516151/original/file-20230318-4441-paqzir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1298&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516151/original/file-20230318-4441-paqzir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1298&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Annie Louisa Virginia Dodwell (1870-1924) graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Adelaide. Collection University of Adelaide. This image was taken with a group of other graduands around 1905. Enhanced.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The first Australian woman whose total solar eclipse observations were officially reported was Annie Louisa Virginia Dodwell. She had a Bachelor of Science from the University of Adelaide and gained astronomy knowledge working with her husband George Dodwell, the South Australian Government Astronomer.</p>
<p>Together, they organised the Adelaide Observatory expedition to Bruny Island in Tasmania for the 1910 total solar eclipse. The party arrived by ship and for a month they camped in tents in almost constant rain to prepare. The eclipse day was clouded, nonetheless Annie successfully recorded the change in temperature, the only science of value that was achieved. </p>
<p>In the following years she presented <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page4558317">talks about astronomy</a>, published poems and participated in the <a href="https://www.iau.org/science/meetings/past/general_assemblies/87/">inaugural International Astronomical Union assembly</a> at the Vatican Observatory in 1922. She arranged the logistics for her husband’s total solar eclipse expedition later that year, during which she <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page4558314">transcribed his observations</a> to the newspapers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-century-ago-australia-was-ground-zero-for-eclipse-watchers-and-helped-prove-einstein-right-172605">A century ago, Australia was ground zero for eclipse-watchers – and helped prove Einstein right</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Seasoned eclipse chasers in the 1920s</h2>
<p>In 1922 an international team of astronomers, led by William Campbell, Director of Lick Observatory, and assisted by the Australian Navy, travelled to a remote location in Western Australia to confirm Einstein’s general theory of relativity during the September 21 total solar eclipse.</p>
<p>There were five women participating in this expedition: Elizabeth Campbell, Jean Chant with her daughter Elizabeth, Eleanor Adams and Mary Acworth Evershed. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Four women in 1922 aboard a ship." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516172/original/file-20230319-5719-57kj8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516172/original/file-20230319-5719-57kj8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516172/original/file-20230319-5719-57kj8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516172/original/file-20230319-5719-57kj8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516172/original/file-20230319-5719-57kj8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516172/original/file-20230319-5719-57kj8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516172/original/file-20230319-5719-57kj8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Four of the women who participated in the total solar eclipse expedition led by Lick Observatory to Wallal Downs on their way from Broome to Ninety Mile Beach, Western Australia, 1922. Left to right: Elizabeth Chant (1899-1982), Jean Chant (1870-1940), Mary Acworth Evershed (1867-1949), Elizabeth Ballard Campbell (1869-1961). Collection State Library Western Australia, 4131B/1/24. Colourised.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library Western Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While they were the wives and daughter of respective male astronomers, each woman was a seasoned eclipse observer in her own right. They knew how to operate and use technical equipment and contributed substantially to reporting the scientific work.</p>
<p>Elizabeth Campbell organised the supplies and operated spectroscopic and photographic telescope equipment during the eclipse. Eleanor Adams worked with her husband on the large 12-metre eclipse camera. Jean Chant observed the shadow bands and changing brightness of the sky, and Elizabeth Chant operated a prism that polarised light.</p>
<p>Mary Acworth Evershed was an established expert in solar physics and worked alongside her husband, director of the Kodaikanal solar observatory in India. She photographed the spectra of the Sun’s corona. In 1896, on return to England, she published a pocket-sized Easy Guide to the Southern Stars with star maps of the constellations visible from the southern hemisphere. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man and a woman in tent adjusting a piece of equipment that has a circular mirror and pivots on one axis." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517483/original/file-20230326-1899-vtbhf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517483/original/file-20230326-1899-vtbhf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517483/original/file-20230326-1899-vtbhf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517483/original/file-20230326-1899-vtbhf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517483/original/file-20230326-1899-vtbhf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517483/original/file-20230326-1899-vtbhf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517483/original/file-20230326-1899-vtbhf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mary Acworth and John Evershed adjusting a problematic instrument called a coelestat used to track the Sun. Lick Observatory Photographs. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, UC Santa Cruz. Photograph: Ernest Brandon-Cremer.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A long drive across the country</h2>
<p>On the other side of the continent, a very different eclipse expedition was organised by 21-year-old Miriam Chisholm with her school friend Frida Tindal. Chisholm’s father, Frank, drove them over 950 kilometres from Goulburn to southern Queensland.</p>
<p>They lost four days when their car was bogged in mud and almost didn’t make it to the line of totality. Thankfully, due to excellent time-keeping and navigation they had a successful eclipse. They drew the Sun’s corona, measured the temperature, observed how animals and birds became quiet and timed the shadow bands. <a href="http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1924MmBAA..24...94C">Their report</a> is descriptive, inspiring and filled with detailed observations. It is still a useful guide on how to make the most of a total solar eclipse experience.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Father and daughter stand in front of a car in 1922. He is drinking from a cup. A telescope is strapped to the side of the car." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516147/original/file-20230318-3576-mt1qvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516147/original/file-20230318-3576-mt1qvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516147/original/file-20230318-3576-mt1qvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516147/original/file-20230318-3576-mt1qvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516147/original/file-20230318-3576-mt1qvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516147/original/file-20230318-3576-mt1qvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516147/original/file-20230318-3576-mt1qvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Miriam and Frank Chisholm with their eclipse-chasing car. You can see her telescope strapped to the side of the car. Courtesy History Goulburn. Photograph: Miriam Chisholm, self-timer. Colourised image.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">History Goulburn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On April 20 2023 a total solar eclipse will be visible from Exmouth in Western Australia. This is the first total solar eclipse in Australia since 2012, when thousands of people flocked to northern Queensland. I was there, and for two minutes and five seconds of totality, I experienced a beautiful “diamond ring” effect as the Moon totally covered the Sun, revealing its misty corona. </p>
<p>There are four more total solar eclipses in the next 17 years. Following in the footsteps of early 20th century eclipse chasers, large numbers of Australians will soon be able to share a total solar eclipse experience they will treasure, record and retell throughout their lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200552/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Toner Stevenson is affiliated with the University of Sydney, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, School of Humanities.
She is currently Vice President of Sydney City Skywatchers, an amateur astronomy society, not-for-profit, and in voluntary capacity. The society was previously called the British Astronomical Association, NSW Branch. This society will be mentioned in the article. She is on the Board of the Australian National Committee of the International Council of Museums, voluntary role.
She is a co-author of the recently published 'Eclipse Chasers' book, the research for which informed this article.
</span></em></p>History might give you the impression astronomical discoveries were only done by men. But women were participating in scientific expeditions of eclipses too, even though it wasn’t easy.Toner Stevenson, Honorary history affiliate in the School of Humanities, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1821722022-05-06T14:45:41Z2022-05-06T14:45:41ZWhat the Gazza documentary gets wrong about domestic violence<p>The new BBC two-part documentary, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0016f03">Gazza</a>, opens with the solitary figure of former international football star and fallen hero, Paul Gascoigne, fishing alone in a deserted lake. Taking as its title Gascoigne’s nickname, Gazza presents the footballer as a man more sinned against by the press than guilty of his own actions. </p>
<p>Using archival footage and voice-over interviews with friends, family, colleagues and teammates, as well as the journalists who pursued him, the documentary tells the familiar – and persuasive – story of a sportsman of humble origins who is destroyed by global fame and media intrusion. </p>
<p>Gascoigne was the fun-loving, fragile football star, who famously sobbed when given a yellow card at the 1990 World Cup semi-final. In an era notorious for circulation wars and cheque-book journalism, he is portrayed as a young scamp beleaguered by the British tabloids of the day, with the Daily Mirror under the editorship of Piers Morgan and the News of The World under Rebekah Brooks (née Wade). </p>
<p>Gazza details how the footballer was among the celebrities targeted amid the <a href="https://theconversation.com/hackgate-the-impact-of-rebekah-brooks-arrest-5833">phone hacking scandal</a>, news of which broke in 2011. It concludes with footage of his 2015 high-court appearance, in which he received substantial damages from Mirror Group Newspapers and News UK, owners of The Sun newspaper.</p>
<p>But it is in its handling of Gascoigne’s well-documented violence towards his ex-wife, Sheryl Gascoigne, that the documentary fails. Contrary to much of current mainstream fiction and film, which <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230801523%20https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781786605184/Writing-the-Modern-Family-Contemporary-Literature-Motherhood-and-Neoliberal-Culture">refuses</a> to sympathise with abusive men and instead tells their stories in a more realistic way, Gazza perpetuates dangerous and inaccurate views on domestic violence, views that have <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/089124301015002006">long been discounted</a> by research.</p>
<h2>A sympathetic account</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/apr/13/gazza-review-classy-unobtrusive-and-gruesome">Critics</a> have rightly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2022/apr/09/gazza-documentary-paul-gascoigne-footballer-tabloid-press">noted</a> that Gazza does not shy away from Gascoigne’s violence towards Sheryl. It is first mentioned, at just under an hour into the first episode, by the footballer’s ex-assistant, Jane Nottage. </p>
<p>Sheryl, Nottage says, “would phone me up night and day and pour out her troubles about Paul going to pin me against the wall … I remember going to the villa and finding the wall had marks on it where he’d been kicking it or punching the doors.”<br>
The second episode details the news articles which broke the abuse story and the subsequent interviews in which Gascoigne admitted as much. In one segment, after a night spent with Paul at a Scottish hotel, Sheryl appears with a damaged arm and bruises. Another segment includes an interview with her, after her separation from Gascoigne, in which she discusses the importance of speaking out about domestic abuse. </p>
<p>Throughout the documentary, however, the only person to condemn domestic abuse, and Gascoigne’s violence towards Sheryl, is his former Spurs teammate, Paul Stewart. Instead, rather than depicting Sheryl as the victim, and Gascoigne as the perpetrator, Gazza reinforces age-old myths used to justify domestic violence. </p>
<h2>Myths about domestic violence</h2>
<p>The first myth the documentary promotes is that some women actively provoke men. In one sequence, after an interview in which Gascoigne himself wonders aloud whether he’s “taking out” his insecurities “on the person closest” to him, TV producer Don Perretta talks about Gascoigne being upset at his relationship with Sheryl falling apart. “I certainly got a sense,” Perretta says, “that she made him angry. And I got a sense that he would need to express that anger.” </p>
<p>The second myth is that women who report abuse cannot be trusted. Sheryl’s character is undermined by comments made by family members, players and Gascoigne’s friend, Linda Lusardi. Recalling an evening with the couple during Gascoigne’s stint playing for Lazio football club, in Rome, she says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I remember he scored but Sheryl wasn’t really interested. She was more worried about getting to the restaurant. I think Sheryl enjoyed the attention, she enjoyed the money, but I never felt there was an awful lot of love there.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Most damning of all, Sheryl is consistently portrayed as being close to Wade and Morgan, who are positioned as the true villains of the piece. Much is made of her close friendship with Wade, in particular. </p>
<p>The final sequence of the documentary states that Sheryl, Wade and Morgan all “declined to be interviewed for this film”. No mention is made, however, of the fact that the documentary includes no present-day interviews from Paul Gascoigne either. All we have are those silent shots of him fishing by the lake.</p>
<p>The documentary largely focuses on the pressure Gascoigne was under. His former assistant, Jane Nottage, states that, “Paul wasn’t prepared for the pressure cooker of the media.” And Perretta concurs, saying, “Gazza’s life was one of pressure. Pressure from the club for him to perform, pressure from his friends to go out and have a good time, pressure from his family to provide for them, pressure from Sheryl … pressure from the media … How do you cope with that?”</p>
<p>This kind of sympathetic framing is often used by people who perpetuate a third myth about domestic abuse: that extreme stress causes or excuses violent behaviour.</p>
<h2>Attitudes towards women</h2>
<p>These myths have been roundly denounced by agencies working with abused women, such as <a href="https://www.womensaid.org.uk/information-support/what-is-domestic-abuse/myths/">Women’s Aid</a>. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/001112878102700215?journalCode=cadc">Decades</a> of <a href="https://www.filia.org.uk/latest-news/2021/1/20/dr-jessica-taylor-why-women-are-blamed-for-everything">research</a> have demonstrated that domestic abuse is a product of deeply held patriarchal values and attitudes towards women. It is not due to external pressures or provocation from a particular type of woman. </p>
<p>Footballers are role models for young men. Clubs such as Leeds United are now attempting to change the culture of violence associated with the sport by actively supporting the White Ribbon campaign, which encourages men and boys to prevent male violence towards women. One of their slogans is: “If you see it, show support, call it out or report.” </p>
<p>But even as women’s football <a href="https://theconversation.com/womens-football-record-crowds-and-soaring-popularity-heres-how-to-keep-it-this-way-180718">flourishes</a> and progressive masculinities are on the rise, misogyny remains <a href="https://theconversation.com/women-in-sport-misogyny-among-male-fans-is-rife-but-progressive-masculinities-are-on-the-rise-175091">rife among male fans</a>. And domestic violence more broadly is increasingly recognised as a major socio-cultural problem worldwide, incidents of which <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/domesticabuseinenglandandwalesoverview/november2020">have increased worryingly</a> during <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/in-focus-gender-equality-in-covid-19-response/violence-against-women-during-covid-19">the pandemic</a>. </p>
<p>In this context, male violence should not be excused or dismissed. From so-called domestic noir thrillers, such as The Girl on the Train and The Girl Before, to soap operas, including The Archers and Eastenders (both of which have highlighted spousal abuse), much of contemporary fiction on screen incorporates an informed, feminist analysis of the patriarchal power dynamics at work in gaslighting, coercive control and domestic violence. Gazza, conversely, shows no such awareness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182172/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Contemporary fiction on screen increasingly tells the stories of abusive men in a realistic way. This documentary does not.Roberta Garrett, Senior Lecturer in Literature and Cultural Studies, University of East LondonDavid Lashbrook, Senior Lecturer and Co-Course Leader of Media Foundation, University of East LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1740192022-01-20T15:17:36Z2022-01-20T15:17:36ZAre the northern lights caused by ‘particles from the Sun’? Not exactly<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440264/original/file-20220111-23-19p1ssc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5406%2C3599&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/northern-lights-on-night-sky-aurora-1908662476">PhotoVisions/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What a spectacle a big aurora is, its shimmering curtains and colourful rays of light illuminating a dark sky. Many people refer to aurora as the northern lights (the aurora borealis), but there are <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/2020/05/electric-dreams-where-to-see-the-southern-lights">southern lights</a> too (the aurora australis). Either way, if you’re lucky enough to catch a glimpse of this phenomenon, it’s something you won’t soon forget.</p>
<p>The aurora is <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11214-021-00798-8">often explained simply</a> as “particles from the Sun” hitting our atmosphere. But that’s not technically accurate except in a few limited cases. So <a href="https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/what-causes-northern-lights/">what does happen</a> to create this <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/aurora">natural marvel</a>?</p>
<p>We see the aurora when energetic charged particles – electrons and sometimes ions – collide with atoms in the upper atmosphere. While the aurora often follows explosive events on the Sun, it’s not quite true to say these energetic particles that cause the aurora come from the Sun.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-what-causes-the-northern-lights-111573">Curious Kids: what causes the northern lights?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Earth’s magnetism, the force that directs the compass needle, dominates the motions of electrically charged particles in space around Earth. The <a href="https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_01.html#Ch1-S2">magnetic field</a> near the surface of Earth is normally steady, but its strength and direction fluctuate when there are displays of the aurora. These fluctuations are caused by what’s called a magnetic substorm – a rapid disturbance in the magnetic field in near-Earth space.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440886/original/file-20220114-23-1o904tp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440886/original/file-20220114-23-1o904tp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440886/original/file-20220114-23-1o904tp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440886/original/file-20220114-23-1o904tp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440886/original/file-20220114-23-1o904tp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440886/original/file-20220114-23-1o904tp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440886/original/file-20220114-23-1o904tp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many people travel to high-latitude countries every year in the hope of seeing the northern lights.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Douglas Cooper</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To understand what happens to trigger a substorm, we first need to learn about plasma. Plasma is a gas in which a significant number of the atoms have been broken into ions and electrons. The gas of the uppermost regions of Earth’s atmosphere is in the plasma state, as is the gas that makes up the Sun and other stars. A gas of plasma flows away continuously from the Sun: this is called the <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/nmp/st5/SCIENCE/solarwind.html">solar wind</a>.</p>
<p>Plasma behaves differently from those gases we meet in everyday life. Wave a magnet around in your kitchen and nothing much happens. The air of the kitchen consists overwhelmingly of electrically neutral atoms, so it’s quite undisturbed by the moving magnet. In a plasma, however, with its electrically charged particles, things are different. So if your house was filled with plasma, waving a magnet around would make the air move.</p>
<p>When solar wind plasma arrives at the earth it interacts with the planet’s magnetic field (as illustrated below – the magnetic field is represented by the lines that look a bit like a spider). Most of the time, plasma travels easily along the lines of the magnetic field, but not across them. This means that solar wind arriving at Earth is diverted around the planet and kept away from the Earth’s atmosphere. In turn, the solar wind drags the field lines out into the elongated form seen on the night side, called the magnetotail.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440887/original/file-20220114-27-1lpyj1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440887/original/file-20220114-27-1lpyj1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440887/original/file-20220114-27-1lpyj1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440887/original/file-20220114-27-1lpyj1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440887/original/file-20220114-27-1lpyj1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440887/original/file-20220114-27-1lpyj1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440887/original/file-20220114-27-1lpyj1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A coronal mass ejection leaves the Sun, travelling towards the Earth’s magnetic field (this image is not to scale).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/gallery/images/large/sunearth01_prev.jpg">SOHO (ESA & NASA)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sometimes moving plasma brings magnetic fields from different regions together, causing a local breakdown in the pattern of magnetic field lines. This phenomenon, called <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/science-of-magnetic-reconnection">magnetic reconnection</a>, heralds a new magnetic configuration, and, importantly, unleashes a huge amount of energy. </p>
<p>These events happen fairly often in the Sun’s outer atmosphere, causing an explosive energy release and pushing clouds of magnetised gas, called coronal mass ejections, away from the Sun (as seen in the image above).</p>
<p>If a coronal mass ejection arrives at Earth it can in turn trigger reconnection in the magnetotail, releasing energy that drives electrical currents in near-Earth space: the substorm. Strong <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11214-008-9373-9">electric fields</a> that develop in this process accelerate electrons to high energies. Some of these electrons may have come from the solar wind, allowed into near-Earth space by reconnection, but their acceleration in the substorm is essential to their role in the aurora.</p>
<p>These particles are then funnelled by the magnetic field towards the atmosphere high above the polar regions. There they collide with the oxygen and nitrogen atoms, exciting them <a href="http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/aurorawatchuk/2017/05/10/the-vivid-lights-what-causes-the-colour-of-the-aurora/">to glow</a> as the aurora.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/northern-lights-to-death-rays-how-electromagnetism-haunts-our-everyday-life-85129">Northern lights to death rays: how electromagnetism haunts our everyday life</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Now you know exactly what causes the northern lights, how do you optimise your chances of seeing it? Seek out dark skies far from cities and towns. The further north you can go the better but you don’t need to be in the Arctic Circle. We see them from time to time in Scotland, and they’ve even been spotted in the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-59929434">north of England</a> – although they’re still better seen at higher latitudes.</p>
<p>Websites such as <a href="https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/">AuroraWatch UK</a> can tell you when it’s worth heading outside. And remember that while <a href="http://sidc.oma.be/">events on the Sun</a> can give us a few days warning, these are indicative, not foolproof. Perhaps part of the magic lies in the fact that you need a little bit of luck to see the aurora in all its glory.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174019/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander MacKinnon has previously received funding from the STFC, for research on energetic phenomena on the Sun.</span></em></p>It’s often said that the aurora, or the northern lights, is caused by ‘particles from the Sun’. But in reality things are more complicated.Alexander MacKinnon, Honorary Research Fellow, Physics and Astronomy, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1714082021-11-11T14:41:57Z2021-11-11T14:41:57ZCurious Kids: Why does cold air go down and hot air go up?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430738/original/file-20211108-9897-12uhqlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The land surface heats up during the day because of solar radiation coming in from the sun.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ed Connor/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Curious Kids is <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa/topics/curious-kids-36782">a series</a> for children in which we ask experts to answer questions from kids.</em></p>
<p><strong>Does cold air go down because the earth’s core is made out of magma and does hot air go up because it’s cold out in space – and does the circle repeat? (Neo, 10, Boksburg, South Africa)</strong></p>
<p>Thank you, Neo, for this great question! You’ve clearly got a very analytical mind, and would make an excellent <a href="https://academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Atmospheric_physics">atmospheric physicist</a> – that’s a researcher who looks at the physical processes happening in our atmosphere – one day. </p>
<p>The rising of hot air and sinking of cool air is important for almost every aspect of our day to day weather and our long term climate. It affects which way the wind blows and how fast it blows. It also affects whether we are likely to have rain, and the type of rainfall. Over larger areas of the earth, and over longer time periods, it even influences our seasons. So this is a really important question, and one which climatologists like myself work on in many aspects of our jobs.</p>
<p>I want to start by describing what’s happening in the earth’s core, then tell you a little bit about the temperature of space. Once I’ve done that, I’ll explain the real reasons hot air rises and cold air sinks.</p>
<h2>The Earth’s core and outer space</h2>
<p>If you were to cut a slice out of the earth, you would see four clear layers. The crust is the thin outer layer – much like an orange skin. The crust is hard, made up of solid rock. It’s the part of the earth that we walk on. Below that is a thicker layer called the mantle; it’s a <a href="https://coolscienceexperimentshq.com/viscosity-of-a-liquid-experiment/">viscous</a> layer of molten (melted) rock. Below that is the outer core, and right at the centre of the earth the inner core. These are very hot layers of molten rock and metal.</p>
<p>And you are quite right –- the earth’s core is <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/core/">very, very hot</a>. The inner core, made up of iron, is approximately 6,000°C. Even the upper mantle, just below the crust, has an average temperature of 2,000°C. That’s 100 times hotter than most daytime temperatures during spring in South Africa.</p>
<p>But the temperatures at the top of the crust are controlled far more by the sun than by the temperature of the centre of the earth. We’ll come back to that shortly.</p>
<p>Now, let’s talk about the temperature of space.</p>
<p>The earth is surrounded by an atmosphere – a layer of gases that we breathe in and out, and that control our temperatures by absorbing some of the heat, and reflecting the rest. Beyond the atmosphere is what is called “outer space”.</p>
<p>The temperature of outer space just outside the earth’s atmosphere is <a href="https://sciencing.com/temperatures-outer-space-around-earth-20254.html">about 10.17°C</a>. Outer space is heated directly by the sun. The areas in the sun are as warm as 120°C, while areas shaded by the earth are as cold as -100°C. Again, you’re right: this is a lot cooler than the earth’s inner core.</p>
<p>It’s correct that the earth’s core is very hot and space is much cooler. But that’s not the reason hot air rises and cool air sinks. </p>
<h2>Thermodynamics</h2>
<p>To come to the real reason, let’s turn to a field of science called <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/thermodynamics">thermodynamics</a>. This is the branch of physics which studies heat and energy. Thermodynamics allows us to understand exactly what’s happening to individual bubbles of air. Did you know that the air around us is made of millions and millions of tiny air bubbles that sit very closely together?</p>
<p>Heating of the air can occur via conduction or convection – transferring heat to these air bubbles, and sharing it between them. The land surface heats up during the day because of solar radiation coming in from the sun. This incoming solar radiation is absorbed by the earth, warming it up. It is then released from the earth as long wave radiation, and heats up the air above the ground.</p>
<p>Those air bubbles then move around and bump into each other, sharing their heat between themselves.</p>
<p>When the ground heats up an air bubble above it, that air bubble expands – much like our feet swell up when they’re very hot in our shoes. As the air bubble heats up, the weight of that bubble is spread over a bigger area and so it becomes less dense.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vSXTBnnx4OA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">This is how density works.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As these air bubbles become less dense, they rise because they weigh less than what’s next to them. This is the same when you let go of a helium balloon and it floats away: the helium gas in the balloon is less dense than the air in our atmosphere (which is made up of a large amount of much heavier nitrogen). </p>
<p>The opposite happens when air cools down. The air bubbles contract, their weight takes up much less space and so they become more dense, and sink. This can happen if the air particles move away from the source of heat; they might have risen very high, or moved to an area over a cool lake or over some shade.</p>
<p>So, there’s no link between the earth’s core, space’s temperature and the behaviour of cold air versus hot air. But you definitely think like a scientist, Neo, because you are interested in how one thing influences another. Maybe one day you’ll study thermodynamics, too!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171408/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Fitchett receives funding from the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence (GENUS). </span></em></p>This is a really important question, and one which climatologists work on in many aspects of their jobs.Jennifer Fitchett, Associate Professor of Physical Geography, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1581332021-05-11T06:52:06Z2021-05-11T06:52:06ZCurious Kids: why does the sun’s bright light make me sneeze?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399903/original/file-20210511-21-1pbei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5760%2C3837&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>Why does the sun’s bright light make me sneeze? — Orlo, age 5</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291898/original/file-20190911-190031-enlxbk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=90&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="100%"></a></p>
<p>Dear Orlo,</p>
<p>Thanks for your lovely question. Very smart people have been wondering about this very question <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150623-why-looking-at-the-light-makes-us-sneeze">for thousands of years</a>.</p>
<p>To tell you the truth, Orlo, nobody knows for sure why this happens. But it’s probably got to do with the fact that signals from your eyes and your nose go to the same part of your brain.</p>
<p>Let me explain.</p>
<h2>The sneeze centre</h2>
<p>Your nose can be used to smell and breathe. But sometimes, things get into our nose that shouldn’t be there. The list of things that should <em>not</em> be in our nose is very long, so I will not include all of them here. But it includes things like peas, sweetcorn and Lego, as well as viruses and bacteria, which are tiny germs that sometimes make us sick.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-do-we-smell-104772">Curious Kids: How do we smell?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>When you have something in your nose that shouldn’t be there, it’s best to call on the “sneeze centre”. The sneeze centre is the place in your brain that makes sneezes. It’s in your brainstem, which is at the bottom of your brain.</p>
<p>It can do this because it contains instructions on how to switch your breathing muscles on in just the right order to produce a sneeze.</p>
<p>So, while you might think of sneezing as something that happens inside your nose, a lot of it happens inside your brain.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399912/original/file-20210511-17-185jv4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The brain and brain stem" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399912/original/file-20210511-17-185jv4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399912/original/file-20210511-17-185jv4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399912/original/file-20210511-17-185jv4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399912/original/file-20210511-17-185jv4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399912/original/file-20210511-17-185jv4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=706&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399912/original/file-20210511-17-185jv4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=706&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399912/original/file-20210511-17-185jv4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=706&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The sneeze centre is located in a part of your brain called the ‘brainstem’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Switching on the sneeze centre</h2>
<p>When you have things inside your nose that shouldn’t be there, they will switch on nerve cells on the inside of your nose. These nerve cells send a signal to the brain, which is conveniently located just inside your head and not very far away from your nose.</p>
<p>When the brain gets this signal, it is relayed to the sneeze centre inside your brain so as to say “we could really use a sneeze now”. The sneeze centre will then produce a sneeze that pushes the unwelcome things out of your nose.</p>
<h2>The sun</h2>
<p>While the nose is very important, it’s not the only part of your body that has nerve cells which talk to the brain. Another part is your eyes.</p>
<p>Let’s imagine you look at something very bright, which can be the sun but doesn’t have to be the sun. When you do, nerve cells in the eye send this information to the brain which tells your eyes to blink or squint in order to deal with the light.</p>
<p>Orlo, for some reason, in <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3665024/">about a quarter of people</a> (including you!) the bright light can also produce a sneeze.</p>
<p>Why?</p>
<p>Well, scientists disagree about this, but I will tell you what I think is the most likely explanation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Person sneezing" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399914/original/file-20210511-20-nw8zml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399914/original/file-20210511-20-nw8zml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399914/original/file-20210511-20-nw8zml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399914/original/file-20210511-20-nw8zml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399914/original/file-20210511-20-nw8zml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399914/original/file-20210511-20-nw8zml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399914/original/file-20210511-20-nw8zml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bright light can produce a sneeze in around a quarter of people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some of the nerve cells in your nose and in you your eye talk to the same region of the brain: a place called “the trigeminal nucleus”.</p>
<p>This means the signals from the nose (the ones that would usually produce a sneeze) and the signals from the eye (the ones that would usually produce squinting or blinking) <a href="https://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2186609">arrive into the same part of the brain</a>.</p>
<p>If the number of signals coming in from the eye is very high (like it might be if you happen to look at the sun), they can end up <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14144120/">switching on the sneeze centre</a> <em>as well as</em> the parts of the brain that cause blinking. This makes you sneeze, even without you having put something up your nose!</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-do-whales-fart-and-sneeze-159636">Curious kids: do whales fart and sneeze?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, Curious Kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158133/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Farmer was previously employed on grants from the NHMRC and ARC</span></em></p>To tell you the truth, nobody really knows. But it’s probably got to do with the fact that signals from your nose and your eyes arrive in the same area of your brain.David Farmer, Researcher, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1564782021-03-08T11:56:02Z2021-03-08T11:56:02ZNo More Page 3: how a feminist collective took on a media behemoth to challenge everyday sexism<p>The daily image of a topless woman on page three of the Sun newspaper was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/feb/07/dominic-mohan-leveson-sun-page-3">considered by some</a> to be a “British institution”. Yet it was also increasingly seen as a relic of institutionalised sexism in the media and society.</p>
<p>Then in 2015, nearly 50 years after it was first introduced, the feature was quietly removed from the publication. This decision was credited, in part, to the online campaign efforts of the “No More Page 3” (NMP3) movement, which gained the support of 140 members of parliament and numerous charities, including Women’s Aid and Girlguiding. It also attracted more than <a href="https://www.change.org/p/david-dinsmore-take-the-bare-boobs-out-of-the-sun-nomorepage3">240,000 petition signatures</a>.</p>
<p>The campaign, which helped to force change at one of the UK’s most popular and powerful media companies, was widely acclaimed, described by one MP as a “seismic victory”. Activist Katherine Sladden <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/20/sun-scrapping-page-3-topless-victory-women">wrote</a>, “No other campaign has done as much to inspire a new generation of young feminists,” adding that it “became the gateway for women finding the courage to speak out on issues they care about”.</p>
<p>But beneath this success story lies a complex tale of how emotional energy sustained the NMP3 campaigners through personal and painful trolling. </p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0170840621994501">Our research</a> into the campaign reveals how supporters were met with online abuse on a daily basis. They regularly encountered rape and death threats aimed at themselves and their families.</p>
<p>Campaign founder <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/110/1109964/how-to-start-a-revolution/9781473526570.html">Lucy-Anne Holmes has told</a> how she suffered an “overwhelming feeling of helplessness” and “burnout”, recalling:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It was terrifying. I was spent: financially, emotionally, creatively. Just going on Twitter with all of those voices coming at me would bring on a panic attack. I felt like I was being strangled by invisible hands.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Her experience was far from unique. For while the liberating potential of social media to mobilise collective action is widely valued, <a href="https://theconversation.com/trolling-stays-with-you-long-after-the-abuse-21905">the toxic climate</a> many experience on social media is all too familiar, and can lead to stress, anxiety and depression. </p>
<p>Yet the relentless online abuse aimed at the NMP3 campaigners – who deliberately tried to engage with their opponents through reasoned and polite posts – was tempered by messages of encouragement, both from each other and from supporters of their cause. </p>
<p>This complex interplay of positive and negative emotions led us to dig deeper into the campaigners’ survival story, and investigate the powerful techniques which kept them going in the face of such overwhelming adversity.</p>
<p>One important element was the underlying sense of solidarity which became a powerful force in helping the campaigners to recharge and replenish, sustaining momentum through emotional highs and lows. Faced with trolling and harassment, many campaigners felt energised simply by being online with other women with shared experiences. This feeling of alignment with others created a valuable store of emotional energy.</p>
<p>As one campaigner told us: “It wasn’t just a campaign … it was a space where we could go and feel completely confident, we could share anything with each other, and work out what we thought about things.” </p>
<h2>Stepping back to move forward</h2>
<p>Interestingly, this solidarity led to the coordinated and tactical use of a relay system adopted by the team. An exhausted campaigner wrestling with a hostile social media thread would “pass the baton” on to a colleague via a system of online messaging or “tagging” across platforms. </p>
<p>This system became a vital part of keeping the campaign’s momentum at times when some members felt the need to retreat from the front line. There was time and space for activists to step away from their screens, to disengage with the onslaught of social media. </p>
<p>Usually temporary, these moments of stepping away were deliberate and empowering – they offered protection. And in preserving individual wellbeing, they also ensured the continuation of the campaign.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"690623792574550017"}"></div></p>
<p>Retreating, far from being seen as a form of weakness or defeat, was supported by the campaigners. It was a strategy which allowed for recovery of emotional energy and healing and, crucially, it rejuvenated the campaigners to return to campaigning. </p>
<p>A genuine connection to the roots of the campaign was also something that sustained the (mostly female) volunteers. They drew on their aligned personal experiences, often reminiscing about teenage shame they experienced related to their bodies or of later episodes of sexual harassment. The emotions related to these experiences meant the campaigners didn’t just “think” shame or anger, they felt it deeply.</p>
<p>One explained to us: “The feminist stuff still remains the thing that really lights me up.” She continued: “I feel it’s personal, it’s maternal, because I have a daughter, and a son who’s affected by toxic masculinity. It’s in my experience of abuse in relationship. I’m angry about it and passionate about it because it’s personal to me and people that I love.” </p>
<p>Another said: “Standing up for what is right is enough to make your legs go weak, your voice grow hoarse, and your hands shake with rage.”</p>
<p>Six years on from the NMP3 victory, more action is needed to fight inequality in both our online and offline worlds – there is still plenty to campaign for. Digital platforms certainly need to better police social media channels which continue to tolerate and excuse trolling and hate speech, particularly that directed towards women.</p>
<p>But we should be encouraged by NMP3’s story of grassroots collective strength, and its journey to success. And we should also consider the lessons it provides about activism and the common advice for women to always “lean in”. Sometimes, it seems, it’s better to simply retreat, replenish and come back stronger.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156478/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The campaign to stop newspapers publishing topless photos of women relied on a special brand of emotional energy.Sarah Glozer, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Business & Society, University of BathLauren McCarthy, Senior Lecturer in Strategy and Sustainability, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1554232021-02-17T14:48:28Z2021-02-17T14:48:28ZBritain’s right-wing tabloids have turned to ‘green nationalism’ to sell climate action<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384743/original/file-20210217-13-hr1ugk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lenscap Photography / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Britain’s right-wing tabloids have historically not been champions of action on climate change and other environmental issues. In fact they have prominently opposed such action, regularly providing space for <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4503006/global-warming-sums-experts-bullies-james-delingpole-opinion/">climate scepticism</a> and running frontpage stories that <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/leo-mckinstry/370670/Global-warming-is-nothing-more-than-an-expensive-con">challenged the existence of global warming</a> and <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/146138/100-reasons-why-climate-change-is-natural">its relationship to human activity</a>. </p>
<p>In this context, the recent launch of a “major new” environmental campaign by the Daily Express for a “<a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/1394652/Green-Britain-campaign-daily-express-pollution-wildlife-nature-boris-johnson">Green Britain Revolution</a>” has generated an understandable mix of surprise, distrust and <a href="https://twitter.com/LeoHickman/status/1358724099179167744">wary welcome</a> from long-term supporters of environmental change.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1358724099179167744"}"></div></p>
<p>The Sun has also launched a less prominent but similarly focused “Green Team” campaign encouraging its readers to make “<a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/12904172/green-team-campaign-changes-save-money-planet/#comments">small lifestyle changes to help save the planet</a>”. The paper has also <a href="https://www.news-future.com/p/as-environmental-concerns-grow-the">appointed a dedicated correspondent</a> to provide sustained coverage of the run up to the UN’s COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow in November 2021.</p>
<p>Whatever the reason for their <a href="https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/gary-jones-express-long-way-as-paper-surprises-with-climate-change-campaign/">new-found concern for environmental action</a> (and it’s still not clear how much the <a href="https://twitter.com/ColinBaines1/status/1360604961755852801">overall editorial line</a> has changed), UK tabloids require new kinds of storytelling. Climate change is a notoriously difficult story to tell. Many of the existing frames have been seen as too negative, too reliant on doom and gloom and apocalyptic scenarios, or perceived as elitist and “holier-than-thou”, too eager to blame unthinking ignorant consumers. </p>
<p>I have researched environmental storytelling in <a href="https://www.keele.ac.uk/humanities/study/mcc/ourpeople/pawasbisht/">my work</a> for the past ten years. So, how have historically right-wing tabloids, that in the past denied and belittled climate change, framed the issue so that it is relevant to their largely conservative readerships?</p>
<h2>Framing environmentalism as patriotic duty</h2>
<p>The campaigns – and the reporting accompanying them – demonstrate astute understanding of the need to make environmentalism resonant with the moral and emotional values of their readership. Nationalism, invoking a history of global leadership on the part of the UK, and green entrepreneurialism, the promise of a prosperous future for the nation powered by a green economy, are two key components of the storytelling. </p>
<p>The Daily Express campaign for instance is presented as a national mission, a “green crusade”. The headline accompanying the launch invites readers to <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/1394685/green-britain-dale-vince-ecotricity-daily-express-campaign">get behind the “Green Industrial Revolution”</a> positioning the industrial revolution as a glorious heritage of “ingenuity and ambition” that will engender the new green future.</p>
<p>The narrative is further personified in the choice of “green entrepreneur” <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1397855/Green-Britain-campaign-plant-trees">Dale Vince</a> as a key spokesperson for the campaign. Vince is a former hippy who now owns the electricity company Ecotricity, and his life story of making millions from green energy companies emphasises a “can do” optimism and a focus on technological solutions to environmental crises. The pandemic is also used as part of the narrative. Britain’s role in the development of the COVID vaccine is cited to strengthen the claim the country should lead the global environmental challenge. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1361236506178895872"}"></div></p>
<p>Overall, the climate crisis is presented as a problem that is eminently solvable through green energy technologies and entrepreneurial innovation. These are areas where Britain has existing global strengths, and therefore it is seen as an opportunity for a glorious national revival that is both morally sound and materially prosperous.</p>
<h2>Limits and dangers of green nationalism</h2>
<p>What we are seeing is the development of a story about environmentalism informed by nationalistic pride and the promise of a materially better future. If successful, this kind of storytelling would allow an older and more conservative readership to feel part of the wider environmentalism narrative, and as a result they might even put their weight behind demands for urgently required policy action. </p>
<p>In the long term, it may help to gradually shift some established conservative political orthodoxies that have prevented climate action. For instance, a key demand of the Daily Express campaign is for the UK government to <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/1394662/green-britain-zero-for-zero-explained-sign-express-petition">actively intervene in the economy</a> – using taxes, subsidies and regulations to favour greener enterprises and penalise those that harm the environment. This idea of active intervention from the state in the market in favour of a green economy is a significant shift in conservative political values. </p>
<p>On the other hand there remain significant problems. The invocation of the national frame, here presented as global leadership motivated by ecological concerns, could easily slip into a more problematic and exclusionary vision of <a href="https://theconversation.com/green-nationalism-how-the-far-right-could-learn-to-love-the-environment-76035">preserving “a green and pleasant land”</a>. A linked problem of a retreat into the local, already evident in the Sun’s urge to “<a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/JS-Graphic-ECO-Part4.jpg">go local, buy local</a>”, is that it removes focus from the systemic and global issues underpinning climate change and pollution. </p>
<p>Finally, the uncritical narrative of a glorious national past and prosperous green future silences issues around inequalities in the experiences and effects of environmental degradation both <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920919300392#!">within the UK</a> and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/climate-change-reinforces-inequalities-even-in-developed-countries/a-50596957">globally</a>. Neither the Express nor the Sun afford much space to global climate justice and the narratives and demands of <a href="https://www.redpepper.org.uk/an-open-letter-to-extinction-rebellion/">environmental movements from the global south</a>. Ultimately, these are significant limitations that should temper our enthusiasm.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155423/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pawas Bisht receives funding from the British Academy's Humanities and Social Sciences’ Tackling Global Challenges Programme, supported under the UK Government's Global Challenges Research Fund.</span></em></p>An academic expert in environmental storytelling reads the Sun and the Express.Pawas Bisht, Lecturer in Media, Communications and Culture, Keele UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1512782021-01-06T19:04:43Z2021-01-06T19:04:43ZCurious Kids: how does the Sun make such pretty colours at sunsets and sunrises?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372423/original/file-20201202-13-8wbwpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Light from our setting sun reflecting off storm clouds can give off a some vivid shades of pinks, purples and oranges.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jake Clark</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p><strong>How does the Sun make such pretty colours at sunsets and sunrises? — Aisling, age 7, Mount Gambier, South Australia</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291898/original/file-20190911-190031-enlxbk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=90&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="100%"></a></p>
<p>Hi Aisling. Thank you for this super interesting question! </p>
<p>We love watching all the pretty colours of sunsets and sunrises. But why does this happen, when most of the time the sky is just blue?</p>
<p>Well, it’s all because of light and the fact that light has colour. Believe it or not, the light around you is a combination of all the colours in the world. </p>
<p>But if this is true, why do we only see some colours in the sky at certain times, and not all of them? </p>
<p>To know this, we first need to know how day turns into night.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372776/original/file-20201203-23-heriyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372776/original/file-20201203-23-heriyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372776/original/file-20201203-23-heriyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372776/original/file-20201203-23-heriyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372776/original/file-20201203-23-heriyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372776/original/file-20201203-23-heriyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372776/original/file-20201203-23-heriyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372776/original/file-20201203-23-heriyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Australia, we get beautiful views of the sun setting on most days — as long as we have a good spot to watch from. The sky lights up with bright reds and oranges.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jake Clark</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Earth goes dancing through space</h2>
<p>Our planet, Earth, moves in space with seven other planets nearby. They all spin in circles on the spot, but also move in much larger circles around the Sun. </p>
<p>When the Sun is setting in Australia, this means our side of the planet is turning away from the Sun. During sunrise, we’re turning towards it.</p>
<p>Night time happens when we’re no longer facing the Sun at all. Daytime happens when we have twirled to <a href="https://youtu.be/l64YwNl1wr0">face the Sun</a> directly — so its sunbeams travel (very fast) directly to us. </p>
<p>Although you can’t tell by looking at them, beams of light from the Sun come in different sizes. Scientists measure these sizes using something called “wavelength”. </p>
<p>Each different wavelength of light has its own unique colour. </p>
<h2>Earth is wrapped in its atmosphere</h2>
<p>So we know why the sky is bright during the day and dark at night. And we know sunbeams come in different sizes, or “wavelengths”. </p>
<p>But how does it become the gorgeous colours we see during sunset and sunrise?</p>
<p>This happens because of an important blanket of air wrapped around Earth, called the atmosphere. </p>
<p>Earth’s atmosphere is made up of many very tiny objects called molecules. In fact, all things are made of molecules, including you and me. </p>
<p>But each molecule is much, much smaller than a grain of sand. They’re so small you can’t see them without a microscope — you can only see the bigger things they make.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372778/original/file-20201203-17-19n1dhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372778/original/file-20201203-17-19n1dhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372778/original/file-20201203-17-19n1dhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372778/original/file-20201203-17-19n1dhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372778/original/file-20201203-17-19n1dhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372778/original/file-20201203-17-19n1dhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372778/original/file-20201203-17-19n1dhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372778/original/file-20201203-17-19n1dhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If you were an astronaut onboard the International Space Station, you’d have crossed Earth’s atmosphere to get there.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How the atmosphere plays with light</h2>
<p>When the Sun’s beams reach Earth, they meet the molecules in Earth’s atmosphere. The molecules then begin to play with the light — bouncing it back and forth between themselves. This is called “scattering”.</p>
<p>The longer a wavelength of light is, the longer it can keep scattering between the molecules in our Earth’s atmosphere before “tiring out” and going back into space. </p>
<p>Blue light has a shorter wavelength than red or pink light. This means it can only bounce between the molecules for a shorter distance.</p>
<p>When Australia is directly facing the Sun (daytime), there’s less atmosphere for the light to pass through. Blue light can easily come out the other side — giving us a <a href="https://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/blue-sky">blue sky</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372960/original/file-20201204-19-1uaccj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Picture of Sydney Harbour Bridge, Australia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372960/original/file-20201204-19-1uaccj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372960/original/file-20201204-19-1uaccj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372960/original/file-20201204-19-1uaccj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372960/original/file-20201204-19-1uaccj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372960/original/file-20201204-19-1uaccj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372960/original/file-20201204-19-1uaccj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372960/original/file-20201204-19-1uaccj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Although the sky and ocean are both blue, the reasons for why they’re blue are different.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jake Clark</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The colours of sunrise and sunset</h2>
<p>We already know Earth spins in its place. Remember that during sunset in Australia, we are circling away from the Sun and no longer facing it directly.</p>
<p>This means sunlight has to travel through a thicker slice of the atmosphere to reach us. This happens during sunrise too, when Australia is moving towards the Sun. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377324/original/file-20210106-15-qztr4o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A digram showing light hitting Australia at two different times of the day." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377324/original/file-20210106-15-qztr4o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377324/original/file-20210106-15-qztr4o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377324/original/file-20210106-15-qztr4o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377324/original/file-20210106-15-qztr4o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377324/original/file-20210106-15-qztr4o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377324/original/file-20210106-15-qztr4o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377324/original/file-20210106-15-qztr4o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Here we can see how, to reach Australia, light has to travel through Earth’s atmosphere for a longer distance during sunrise and sunset, when we’re not directly facing the Sun.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With this larger distance of atmosphere to cover, the blue light gets tired. It can’t keep up anymore, so it mostly bounces back out into space.</p>
<p>But the red, orange and yellow light have longer wavelengths. This means they can scatter for longer and travel through the atmosphere to reach us.</p>
<p>And this is why we have beautiful bright sunsets and sunrises.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151278/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jake Clark is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nataliea Lowson is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship.</span></em></p>It’s all to do with the light from the Sun and a blanket of air wrapped around Earth called the ‘atmosphere’.Jake Clark, PhD Candidate, University of Southern QueenslandNataliea Lowson, PhD Candidate, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1512452020-12-07T13:13:13Z2020-12-07T13:13:13ZSubstack isn’t a new model for journalism – it’s a very old one<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372930/original/file-20201203-19-4gko9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C8%2C2946%2C1971&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Author Andrew Sullivan has gone from blogging to writing for mainstream publications to blogging again, this time on Substack.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/andrew-sullivan-editor-of-the-dish-leads-a-discussion-with-news-photo/482797587?adppopup=true">T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you haven’t heard of Substack – you probably will soon.</p>
<p>Since 2017, the platform has provided aspiring web pundits with a one-stop service for distributing their work and collecting fees from readers. Unlike many paywall mechanisms, it’s simple for both writer and subscriber to use. Writers upload what they’ve written to the site; the readers pay from <a href="https://on.substack.com/p/your-guide-to-going-paid#:%7E:text=Here%20are%20a%20few%20pricing,%2410%2Fmonth%20or%20%24100%2Fyear">US$5 to $50 a month</a> for a subscription and get to read the work.</p>
<p>Enticed by the independence from editorial oversight Substack offers, several media figures with large followings – including <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/07/18/andrew-sullivan-leaves-new-york-magazine-blasts-colleagues/">Andrew Sullivan of New York magazine</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/oct/29/journalist-glenn-greenwald-resigns-the-intercept">Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/annehelen/status/1295374665477627904?s=20">Buzzfeed’s Anne Helen Peterson</a>, and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/substack-and-medias-groupthink-problem/617102/">Vox’s Matthew Yglesias</a> – are now striking out on their own. </p>
<p>Substack has also elevated a few commentators – perhaps most notably Heather Cox Richardson, the Boston College historian whose “<a href="https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/">Letters from an American</a>” is currently Substack’s most-subscribed feature – to near-celebrity status.</p>
<p>Hamish McKenzie, Substack’s co-founder, has <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/11/as-journalists-flock-to-substack-is-there-a-limit-to-the-newsletter-boom">compared his company’s promise</a> to an earlier journalistic revolution, likening Substack to the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405186407.wbiecp018">penny papers” of the 1830s</a>, when printers exploited new technology to make newspapers cheap and ubiquitous. Those newspapers – sold on the street for 1 cent – were the first to exploit mass advertising to lower newspapers’ purchase prices. Proliferating throughout the United States, they launched a new media era.</p>
<p>McKenzie’s analogy isn’t quite right. I believe journalism history offers more context for considering Substack’s future. If Substack is successful, it will remind news consumers that paying for good journalism is worth it. </p>
<p>But if <a href="https://yirla.substack.com/p/how-much-does-substack-cost-all-your">Substack’s pricing</a> precludes widespread distribution of its news and commentary, its value as a public service won’t be fully realized. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372937/original/file-20201203-21-43hzpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="James Gordon Bennett, editor of penny paper the New York Herald." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372937/original/file-20201203-21-43hzpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372937/original/file-20201203-21-43hzpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372937/original/file-20201203-21-43hzpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372937/original/file-20201203-21-43hzpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372937/original/file-20201203-21-43hzpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372937/original/file-20201203-21-43hzpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372937/original/file-20201203-21-43hzpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">James Gordon Bennett, editor of penny paper the New York Herald.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004664107/">Mathew Brady, photographer/Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Mass advertising subsidized ‘objective’ journalism</h2>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YxTJsxoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">journalism scholar</a>, I believe Substack’s subscription-based plan is, in fact, closer to the model of journalism that preceded the penny papers. The older versions of U.S. newspapers were relatively expensive and generally read by elite subscribers. The penny papers democratized information by mass-producing news. They widened distribution and lowered the price to reach those previously unable to buy daily newspapers.</p>
<p>Substack, on the other hand, isn’t prioritizing advertising revenue, and by pricing content at recurring subscription levels, it’s restricting, rather than expanding, access to news and commentary that, for a long time, news organizations have traditionally provided free on the web. </p>
<p>History has shown that the economic basis of American journalism is deeply entangled with its style and tone. When one primary revenue source replaces another, much larger evolutions in the information environment occur. The 1830s, again, offer an instructional example.</p>
<p>One morning in 1836, James Watson Webb, the editor of New York City’s most respected newspaper, the Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer, chased down James Gordon Bennett, the editor of the New York Herald, and beat Bennett with his cane. For weeks, Bennett had been insulting Webb and his newspaper in The Herald.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814756140/just-the-facts/">his study of journalistic independence and its relationship to the origins of “objectivity</a>” as an established practice in U.S. journalism, historian David Mindich identifies Webb’s assault on Bennett as a revealing historical moment. The Webb-Bennett rivalry distinguishes two distinct economic models of American journalism. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372951/original/file-20201203-19-115ktb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Newspaper headquarter buildings on Printing House Square in New York City, 1868." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372951/original/file-20201203-19-115ktb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372951/original/file-20201203-19-115ktb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372951/original/file-20201203-19-115ktb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372951/original/file-20201203-19-115ktb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372951/original/file-20201203-19-115ktb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372951/original/file-20201203-19-115ktb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372951/original/file-20201203-19-115ktb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Penny paper The Sun’s headquarters on Printing House Square in New York City, 1868.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Printing_House_Square,_New_York_City.png#/media/File:Printing_House_Square,_New_York_City.png">Lithograph by W. C. ROGERS & CO. FOR JOS. SHANNON'S MANUAL 1868/Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Before the “penny press” revolution, U.S. journalism was largely subsidized by political parties or printers with political ambition. Webb, for example, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23153652?seq=1">coined the name “Whig”</a> for the political party his newspaper helped organize in the 1830s with commercial and mercantile interests, largely in response to the emergence of Jacksonian democracy. Webb’s newspaper catered to his (mostly) Whig subscribers, and its pages were filled with biased partisan commentary and correspondence submitted by <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23153652?seq=1">his Whig friends</a>. </p>
<p>Bennett’s Herald <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001533489">was different</a>. Untethered from any specific political party, it sold for one penny (though its price soon doubled) to a mass audience coveted by advertisers. Bennett hired reporters – a newly invented job – to capture <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9780807844724/froth-and-scum/">stories everyone wanted to read</a>, regardless of their political loyalty. </p>
<p>His circulation soon tripled Webb’s, and the profits generated by The Herald’s advertising offered Bennett enormous editorial freedom. He used it to attack rivals, publish wild stories <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9780807844724/froth-and-scum/">about crime and sex</a>, and to continually stoke more demand for The Herald by giving readers what they clearly enjoyed.</p>
<p>Huge circulation propelled newspapers like Bennett’s Herald and Benjamin Day’s New York Sun to surpass Webb’s Morning Courier and Enquirer in relevance and influence. Webb’s newspaper cost a pricy 6 cents for far less timely and exciting news. </p>
<p>It should be noted, however, that the penny papers’ nonpartisan independence didn’t ensure civic responsibility. To increase sales, the Sun, in 1835, published entirely fictional “reports” claiming a fantastic new telescope <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/great-moon-hoax-was-simply-sign-its-time-180955761/">had detected life on the Moon</a>. Its circulation skyrocketed.</p>
<p>In this sense, editorial independence encouraged publication of what’s now called “fake news” and sensationalistic reports unchecked by editorial oversight. </p>
<h2>Substack: A blogging platform with a toll gate?</h2>
<p>Perhaps “<a href="http://www.ifstone.org/weekly_searchable.php">I.F. Stone’s Weekly</a>” offers the closest historical antecedent for Substack. Stone was an experienced muckraking journalist who began self-publishing an independent, subscription-based newsletter in the early 1950s. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372955/original/file-20201203-19-474hkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Journalist I.F. Stone in his office, Washington, D.C., in 1966." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372955/original/file-20201203-19-474hkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372955/original/file-20201203-19-474hkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372955/original/file-20201203-19-474hkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372955/original/file-20201203-19-474hkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372955/original/file-20201203-19-474hkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372955/original/file-20201203-19-474hkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372955/original/file-20201203-19-474hkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Journalist I.F. Stone in his office in Washington, D.C., in 1966.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-isidor-feinstein-journalist-better-known-as-news-photo/90197034?adppopup=true">Rowland Scherman/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet unlike much of Substack’s most famous names, Stone was more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYOh3he6eRk">reporter than pundit</a>. He’d pore over government documents, public records, congressional testimony, speeches and other overlooked material to publish news ignored by traditional outlets. He often proved prescient: His skeptical <a href="http://www.ifstone.org/weekly3-4-68.pdf">reporting on the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident</a>, questioning the idea of an unprovoked North Vietnamese naval attack, for example, challenged the U.S. government’s official story, and was later vindicated as more accurate than comparable reportage produced by larger news organizations.</p>
<p>There are more recent antecedents to Substack’s go-it-yourself ethos. Blogging, which proliferated in the U.S. media ecosystem earlier this century, encouraged profuse and diverse news commentary. Blogs revived the opinionated invective that James Gordon Bennett loved to publish in The Herald, but they also served as <a href="https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8XG9Z7C">a vital fact-checking mechanism</a> for American journalism.</p>
<p>The direct parallel between blogging and Substack’s platform <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2020/11/is-the-substack-revolution-here-to-stay/">has been widely noted</a>. In this sense, it’s not surprising that Andrew Sullivan – one of the most successful early bloggers – is now returning to the format.</p>
<h2>Information doesn’t want to be free</h2>
<p>Even if Substack proves simply an updated blogging service with an uncomplicated tollbooth, it still represents improvement over the “tip jar” financing model and reader appeals that revealed the financial weakness of all but the most famous blogs.</p>
<p>This might be Substack’s most important service. By explicitly asserting that good journalism and commentary are worth paying for, Substack might help retrain web audiences accustomed to believing information is free. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/10/newspapers-digital-first-214363">Misguided media corporations</a> persuaded the web’s earliest news consumers that big advertisers would sustain a healthy news ecosystem that didn’t need to charge readers. Yet that economic model, pioneered by the penny papers, has clearly failed. And <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/democracy-without-journalism-9780190946753?cc=us&lang=en&">journalism is still sorting out</a> the ramifications for the industry – and democracy – of its collapse.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>It costs money to produce professional, ethical journalism, whether in the 1830s, the 1980s or the 2020s. Web surfing made us forget this. If Substack can help correct this misapprehension, and ensure that journalists are properly remunerated for their labor, it could help remedy our damaged news environment, which is riddled with misinformation.</p>
<p>But Substack’s ability to democratize information will be directly related to the prices its authors choose to charge. If prices are kept low, or if discounts for multiple bundled subscriptions are widely implemented, audiences will grow and Substack’s influence will likely extend beyond an elite readership.</p>
<p>After all: They were called “penny papers” for a reason.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151245/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. Socolow does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>High-profile media figures are defecting to Substack, where readers will have to pay a subscription to read their work. Could Substack remind news consumers that paying for journalism is worth it?Michael J. Socolow, Associate Professor, Communication and Journalism, University of MaineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1508092020-11-26T11:59:35Z2020-11-26T11:59:35ZIPSO: press regulator’s ‘guidance’ for reporting on Muslims is not fit for purpose<p>It shouldn’t be controversial to say journalists have failed in reporting on Muslims and Islam in the UK. Inaccurate use of terms and frequently negative constructions can make the religion seem strange, dangerous, or simply not British. Scholars <a href="http://orca.cf.ac.uk/53005/">have shown how</a> journalists frequently associate Islam with terrorism and extremism. Though the news is often “bad”, it is exceptionally so when it concerns Muslims.</p>
<p>This is not a new phenomenon. Postcolonial literary critic Edward Said, writing about news coverage in the 1970s and 1980s, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/159777/covering-islam-by-edward-w-said/">argued that</a> as far as most news reports are concerned: “Islam is a threat to Western civilisation.” This assessment came two decades before 9/11, which steeply ramped up the media interest in and suspicion of Muslims in the UK. </p>
<p>This has endured, leading to a double standard evident in the contrasting reporting of the murder of MP Jo Cox by a white man with far-right views, and that of soldier Lee Rigby. Cox’s killer was described as a <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/uk/daily-mail/20160617/281599534784997">“timid gardener”</a> while the men who killed Rigby were branded <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2329791/Blood-hands-hatred-inside-London-terror-suspect-obsessed-Islam-schoolboy.html">“Islamic fanatics”</a>.</p>
<p>For British Muslims, this has led to a feeling of unease in the country where they live and where most were born. Islamophobia monitoring group <a href="https://tellmamauk.org/">TellMAMA</a> has argued there is a link between <a href="https://tellmamauk.org/tell-mama-annual-report-2018-_-normalising-hate/">media narratives and hate crimes</a> in Britain. Individuals at the centre of high-profile news stories can lose <a href="https://pressgazette.co.uk/times-apologises-and-pays-libel-damages-to-imam-who-appeared-on-bbc-debate/">their reputations</a>, <a href="https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/governors-moseley-trojan-horse-school-9593307">their jobs</a>, or even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jun/11/shamima-begums-uk-citizenship-should-be-restored-court-told">their citizenship</a>.</p>
<p>Knowing this, scholars have advocated for improved reporting practices. Civil society groups <a href="https://cfmm.org.uk/">monitor the press</a> and can equip communities to <a href="https://www.mend.org.uk/resources-and-publications/media-toolkit/">manage press queries and complain about poor coverage</a>. But the private press isn’t answerable to such groups but to regulators. </p>
<p>The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) was created following the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/leveson-2804">Leveson Inquiry</a> to replace the Press Complaints Commission. To the dismay of groups such as <a href="https://hackinginquiry.org/a-response-to-the-leveson-consultation-part-5-the-public-benefits-of-section-40/">victims’ rights advocates</a>, government regulation of the press was not adopted. </p>
<p>Instead, <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/medialse/2016/10/25/press-regulation-post-leveson-where-are-we-now/">a new voluntary regime was established</a>. News organisations chose their regulator, agreed to follow their code of practice, and faced penalties for breaches. IPSO was the biggest and, for critics, <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/medialse/2015/03/16/moses-theory-for-ipso-less-independence-not-more/">the friendliest to publishers</a>.</p>
<p>IPSO has just published its long-promised <a href="https://www.ipso.co.uk/member-publishers/guidance-for-journalists-and-editors/guidance-on-reporting-of-muslims-and-islam/">guidance for reporting on Muslims and Islam</a>. The document discusses how to apply the Editors’ Code of Practice to articles on these subjects, with a focus on accuracy and discrimination. </p>
<p>This effort has been mounting for a couple of years. In autumn 2018, I joined a working group that was consulted as IPSO drafted the guidance. I’ll keep the text of draft documents and group conversations confidential, as requested, but I will contrast the form I hoped the document would take with what was eventually published. </p>
<p>IPSO’s Code is what binds the members. Bespoke guidance doesn’t add to or supersede the code. Rather, it highlights with specific examples where journalists might trip up in reporting a complex, sensitive and newsworthy topic. For IPSO to provide guidance on Muslims and Islam is a sensible response to a social fact.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ruling-on-fatima-manji-is-further-proof-that-ipso-fails-as-a-press-regulator-64923">Ruling on Fatima Manji is further proof that IPSO fails as a press regulator</a>
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<p>But in September 2019, the thinktank Policy Exchange, which had obtained a copy of the guidance, <a href="https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/eroding-the-free-press/">published a report</a> calling it an erosion of press freedom. IPSO <a href="https://www.ipso.co.uk/news-press-releases/news/responses-to-spectator-and-telegraph-articles-on-draft-guidance-on-reporting-of-islam/">defended its decision</a> to prepare guidance and rejected the claim it was setting new rules for reporting on Muslims.</p>
<p>But at that point, the work seemed to stop. IPSO had planned to publish its guidance in 2019. Instead, 2020 came with no further news. A new chair took over at the regulator. And of course, COVID-19 disrupted everything. Yet I believe the attack from Policy Exchange also disrupted this work, delaying it and contributing to a significantly different product. The “chilling effect” that Policy Exchange worried would bind journalists has instead bound the regulator.</p>
<h2>Toothless tiger</h2>
<p>The guidance provides basic demographic details on Muslims in Britain and explains key terms. It identifies questions for journalists to consider as they prepare their stories. This is welcome.</p>
<p>But it says little about sourcing practices, and given a lack of familiarity with Islam for both journalists and their readers, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0163443716686941">the choice of sources</a> has a big impact on the story. Journalists are reminded of diversity among Muslims and encouraged to consider a source’s track record in public statements. But the guidance doesn’t ask journalists to consider a source’s claim to authority or how representative their views might be – and these are essential questions for reporting a complex topic such as Islam.</p>
<p>What the guidance does offer, and in abundance, are soothing statements that journalists are free to write what they wish, so long as it’s accurate and doesn’t discriminate against an individual. The right to shock and offend is noted several times in different ways. Journalists are reminded that the code “does not prohibit prejudicial and pejorative references to a particular religion” and that they are free to publish comment and even conjecture – so long as it is distinguished from fact.</p>
<p>The substance of this is to say: “Don’t worry – you can still be nasty to Muslims in general.” And this has been baked into a document intended to provide guidance for what IPSO’s CEO <a href="https://www.ipso.co.uk/news-press-releases/news/responses-to-spectator-and-telegraph-articles-on-draft-guidance-on-reporting-of-islam/">Matt Tee described as</a> “local papers, often produced with a small, less experienced staff who may value such assistance”.</p>
<p>In his foreword to the Policy Exchange report, <a href="https://policyexchange.org.uk/author/trevor-phillips/">Sir Trevor Phillips</a> – a former journalist and chair of the Runnymede Trust when it prepared its <a href="https://www.runnymedetrust.org/companies/17/74/Islamophobia-A-Challenge-for-Us-All.html">1997 report on Islamophobia</a> – worries that IPSO “is well on the way to becoming a servant of a small, unrepresentative element of Muslim opinion”. </p>
<p>On the contrary, the regulator is once again behaving like the servant of private news organisations, taking pains to assure them they can continue the business-as-usual practice of reporting on Muslims. The kind of reporting that <a href="https://theconversation.com/ruling-on-fatima-manji-is-further-proof-that-ipso-fails-as-a-press-regulator-64923">left Channel 4 presenter Fatima Manji without satisfaction</a> when she complained about a column in The Sun she alleged was discriminatory.</p>
<p>Deference to the news industry is what led <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17228561">to the abolition of the PCC</a> and was a key question for the Leveson Inquiry. Those reforms are still wanting – and wanted.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150809/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Munnik receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p>Press reports about Islam have often been misleading or discriminatory. This new advice does little to help journalists avoid that.Michael Munnik, Lecturer in Social Science Theories and Methods, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1374572020-04-30T18:03:21Z2020-04-30T18:03:21ZThe Sun: study shows it’s less active than sibling stars – here’s what that could mean<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331567/original/file-20200429-51457-ll2phm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The sun emitting a sudden flash of light—a solar flare.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>All stars emit varying amounts of light over time – and the Sun is no exception. Such changes in starlight can help us understand how habitable any planets around other stars are – a very active star may bombard its planets with harmful radiation. Now a new study, <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.aay3821">published in Science</a>, shows that the Sun is significantly less active than other, similar stars. </p>
<p>In many stars, the observed variation in brightness is driven by their internal magnetic field. When parts of the magnetic field breaks out through a star’s surface, it can cause dark regions known as <a href="https://aasnova.org/2018/12/12/what-are-starspots-like-on-sun-like-stars/">starspots</a> or brighter regions (known as <a href="https://www.isf.astro.su.se/highlights/faculae-explained/">faculae</a>) in the star’s atmosphere. As a star rotates on its axis, so the bright and dark regions pass across the face of the star from our viewpoint, causing a periodic change in brightness of the star as a result.</p>
<p>Some of the most extreme examples of variable stars are <a href="https://britastro.org/vss/EBHandbook11.pdf">eclipsing binary stars</a> and <a href="https://www.atnf.csiro.au/outreach/education/senior/astrophysics/variable_pulsating.html">pulsating stars</a>. In the former, the light variation is due to an external effect: a pair of stars orbit around their common centre of mass, repeatedly blocking some of their partner’s light from our point of view. If the orbit is viewed edge-on, the brightness of the star will appear to decrease significantly at regular intervals.</p>
<p>In a pulsating star, the light variation has an intrinsic cause: the star literally pulses in and out, becoming larger then smaller, brighter then fainter, with a regularly repeating pattern of changing brightness. Pulsating stars can change in brightness by a factor of ten or more with each cycle. Both of these classes of stars are favourite targets for astronomers, as their light variation may be used to probe the dynamics or structure of a stellar system.</p>
<h2>Calm before the storm?</h2>
<p>The stellar brightness variations due to bright and dark spots rotating across our line of sight are generally of much lower amplitude though. The Sun’s brightness only varies by a fraction of a percent as it rotates once every <a href="https://www.livescience.com/32894-does-the-sun-rotate.html">24 days</a>. Even such small changes can affect the Earth’s climate on timescales of decades or its atmospheric chemistry on timescales as short as months or days. </p>
<p>We have <a href="https://www.space.com/42702-400-years-solar-observations.html">records of sunspots</a> dating back to 1610, and they show that the Sun regularly goes through a cycle every 11 years during which the number of sunspots alternately reach a maximum and then virtually disappear entirely. When sunspots are at their most prevalent, the Sun is particularly active – outbursts of light known as <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/spaceweather/index.html">solar flares and coronal mass ejections</a> are more common. These can have significant impact on our lives here on Earth. As well as causing the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/about-auroras">northern lights</a>, they can also disrupt satellites and damage power lines. </p>
<p>In the new study, researchers compared a detailed 140-year record of the Sun’s brightness with the light curves of a set of solar siblings observed by the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/overview/index.html">Kepler satellite</a> over the course of four years. They looked at stars whose temperature, mass, radius and age were all similar to the Sun, and selected 349 stars for which the rotation period could be measured as between 20 and 30 days. </p>
<p>The astronomers measured a range of variability from 0 (no change in brightness) to 0.75%, with an average around 0.36%. By taking random four-year segments of the Sun’s light curve, they found the typical variability of the Sun’s brightness was only 0.07% – and even at its greatest was no more than 0.20%. They therefore concluded that most stars of the same type as the Sun are more active than the Sun.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331566/original/file-20200429-51461-f4gb0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331566/original/file-20200429-51461-f4gb0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331566/original/file-20200429-51461-f4gb0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331566/original/file-20200429-51461-f4gb0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331566/original/file-20200429-51461-f4gb0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331566/original/file-20200429-51461-f4gb0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331566/original/file-20200429-51461-f4gb0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brightness variations of the Sun in comparison with the star KIC 7849521.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">MPS / hormesdesign.de</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So does this mean that the Sun is genuinely different to other stars in the same class? Astronomers know that, as stars age, their <a href="https://www.astrobio.net/cosmic-evolution/gyrochronology/">rotation slows</a> and they become less magnetically active. At some point they may transition to a new phase of very low activity - but we don’t know exactly when that transition occurs. Perhaps the Sun is approaching such a stage in its life. Alternatively, could it simply be that, in the 140 years of solar data used, we have only sampled a relatively quiet period of the Sun’s activity – might it have been more active at other times?</p>
<p>This possibility is more worrying. It might suggest that the Sun could undergo periods when its variability is much higher, with a corresponding increase in magnetic activity and stronger outflows that could disrupt life here on Earth. </p>
<p>Perhaps comfortingly, measurements of certain isotopes – variants of chemical elements with lighter or heavier nuclei – on Earth can be used to <a href="https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2018/12/aa32956-18.pdf">track solar activity</a> over the last 9000 years. They reveal that the variation of the Sun’s brightness has not changed significantly on this timescale either.</p>
<p>Understanding stellar variability is vital for assessing the habitability of exoplanets. In extreme cases, stellar flares may strip the atmosphere from an otherwise habitable exoplanet, rendering it unsuitable for life. The recently discovered planet orbiting the nearest star, <a href="https://theconversation.com/possibly-habitable-planet-found-around-our-nearest-neighbour-star-64321">Proxima b</a>, for example, is in its star’s habitable zone, but Proxima Centauri itself is a very active star and the planet is most likely bathed in harmful radiation from stellar flares.</p>
<p>This new study may indicate that only very inactive stars such as the Sun are likely to host habitable exoplanets. Perhaps we should be grateful that the Sun is among the more sedate of its siblings.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137457/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Norton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Has the Sun entered a stage of old age?Andrew Norton, Professor of Astrophysics Education, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1302292020-01-20T14:45:04Z2020-01-20T14:45:04ZTelegraph’s new tactic: will offering a Fitbit be enough to attract new readers?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310900/original/file-20200120-69606-ip9bok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C33%2C4466%2C2465&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lenscap Photography</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The news that UK printed newspapers are <a href="https://pressgazette.co.uk/national-newspaper-abcs-full-figures-december-2019-observer/">continuing to lose circulation</a> comes as no surprise, extending – as it does – a trend that has been gathering pace for two decades after digital media began to cannibalise print sales.</p>
<p>But the latest release of Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) circulation figures came with a postscript. The ABC <a href="https://www.abc.org.uk/newslink/113-abc-news/909-abc-statement-regarding-the-telegraph">announced</a> it had been informed that the Telegraph Media Group would no longer take part in the ABC’s audit that, for decades, has been the Holy Grail for the industry and advertisers.</p>
<p>The Telegraph justified its decision by explaining that the ABC metric was not how it measured its success. In its <a href="https://corporate.telegraph.co.uk/2020/01/16/company-announcement/">press release</a> the company said it was focused on a subscriber-first strategy underpinned by “long term investment in digital transformation”.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The ABC metric is not the key metric behind our subscription strategy and not how we measure our success.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What is surprising isn’t The Telegraph’s decision to leave, but that it took this long for a national heavyweight to make this move, given the growing and increasing reliance on digital in today’s multi-channel news consumption marketplace. Of course, while The Telegraph’s stated aim is <a href="https://www.newsworks.org.uk/news-and-opinion/the-telegraph-launches-new-vision-to-reach-1-million-paying-subscribers-">10 million registrations and one million paying subscribers by 2023</a>, transforming the available digital eyeballs into long-term paying subscribers won’t be easy.</p>
<p>Inevitably, more publishers are trying to charge for content to sustain their newsrooms in the face of falling advertising revenue. But the <a href="http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/">Reuters Digital News Report 2019</a> highlighted the battle they face, revealing only 7% of those surveyed in the UK said they had committed to ongoing payments for online news in January/February 2019. Compare that to top-of-the-league Norway where it was a heady 27% of those sampled.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310876/original/file-20200120-69547-i5ss8t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310876/original/file-20200120-69547-i5ss8t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310876/original/file-20200120-69547-i5ss8t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310876/original/file-20200120-69547-i5ss8t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310876/original/file-20200120-69547-i5ss8t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310876/original/file-20200120-69547-i5ss8t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310876/original/file-20200120-69547-i5ss8t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310876/original/file-20200120-69547-i5ss8t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">UK national newspaper circulation December 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Interestingly, The Telegraph reported <a href="https://corporate.telegraph.co.uk/2020/01/16/company-announcement/">44% growth in digital subscriptions in 2019</a>, taking it to 213,868 and for the first time exceeding its 209,443 print subscriptions. Last month the Telegraph achieved record subscriptions and a record number via mobile. Those encouraging statistics may have prompted the decision to leave the ABC.</p>
<p>The group is aggressively marketing its digital subscriptions. Currently enlisting for an annual <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/customer/subscribe/">high-end Telegraph digital subscription</a> – which offers access to all articles on telegraph.co.uk and digital editions of the paper each day to read on a mobile device (£200) – comes with a sweetener of a high-end Fitbit which is worth close to £200. That’s attractive. The challenge will be persuading these subscribers to stick around after 12 months.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310892/original/file-20200120-69547-ij0u5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310892/original/file-20200120-69547-ij0u5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310892/original/file-20200120-69547-ij0u5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310892/original/file-20200120-69547-ij0u5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310892/original/file-20200120-69547-ij0u5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310892/original/file-20200120-69547-ij0u5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310892/original/file-20200120-69547-ij0u5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A new digital strategy for The Telegraph?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">urbanbuzz via Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Guardian has shown how brokering these new relationships (as well as pursuing an aggressive cost-cutting strategy) can be effective, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/gnm-press-office/2019/may/01/guardian-media-group-announces-outcome-of-three-year-turnaround-strategy">announcing last May</a> it had broken even at operating EBITDA level. The group’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/gnm-press-office/2016/jan/25/the-guardian-outlines-three-year-business-plan-to-staff">three-year-strategy</a> reduced costs by 20% (partly as a result of redundancies) and boosted the newspaper’s digital presence, with an increase in its total monthly page views from 790 million in April 2016 to 1.35 billion page views in March 2019.</p>
<p>Importantly, the Guardian revealed that 55% of its revenues were now digital, highlighting “good growth in digital advertising, digital subscriptions and reader contributions”. And it confirmed more than <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/gnm-press-office/2019/may/01/guardian-media-group-announces-outcome-of-three-year-turnaround-strategy">655,000 monthly paying “supporters”</a>, plus an additional 300,000 people who had made a one-off contribution in the previous year under its <a href="https://support.theguardian.com/uk/contribute">“Support the Guardian’s journalism” scheme</a>. </p>
<h2>Print v digital</h2>
<p>The downward trend in print circulation that all publishers are battling has gathered pace in the past decade. The <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/tv-radio-and-on-demand/news-media/news-consumption">Ofcom News Consumption Report</a> for 2019 released last summer reported <a href="https://whatsnewinpublishing.com/how-people-in-the-uk-are-accessing-news-6-key-findings">a fall of 52.5% for UK national newspaper print circulation</a>, down from 22 million in 2010 to 10.4 million in 2018.</p>
<p>And as anyone working in newspapers knows, online audiences have become increasingly important, as well as facing head-on the challenge from social media as a news source, with nearly half of all adults in the Reuters report saying they <a href="http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/">use it for news</a>.</p>
<p>Inevitably, as online audiences get bigger, the drive to grow digital advertising revenues gathers pace. Advertising clients already expect to be quoted digital success figures, from the number of page views a site receives each month to unique user numbers or the average engagement time.</p>
<p>And, as many in the industry agree, focusing on growing audience numbers is just as important as managing newspaper sales numbers to maintain the ABC figures. As one senior newspaper executive said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s a bold move [by The Telegraph] to step away from the ABCs but their decision to focus on digital registered users and online subscribers is a strong nod towards their belief in the growing success of digital journalism.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Of course as The Sun and The Daily Mail vie for top slot it suits both to stay within the current ABCs. There’s bragging rights at stake. But, for The Telegraph, where was the value in staying? In December 2002 it sold around 933,525 papers each day. After 17 years, showing the seismic shift seen across the industry, its total average print circulation for December 2019 was 317,817, down 12% year on year.</p>
<p>The Times fared better in the latest audit, but only just, dropping by 11% to 370,005 with 53,284 bulk sales – meaning those given away in hotels, airports and the like. Over the same period, the Financial Times fell 10% to 162,429, with 29,783 bulk sales and the Guardian’s circuation fell by 5% to 133,412.</p>
<p>It was the same story for the Sunday “quality” rivals. Again the Telegraph stable experienced the highest percentage fall, the Sunday Telegraph’s 12% drop to 248,288 was 3% worse than The Sunday Times whose 9% took them to 648,812, with 50,808 bulks, while the Observer had the greatest cause for encouragement with an overall fall of only 2% and figures of 163,449.</p>
<h2>It was the Sun wot won it – just</h2>
<p>It remains to be seen if ABC methodology will change. The ABC statement was conciliatory, acknowledging the Telegraph’s wish to promote “growing subscription numbers across print and digital”, but adding the best route would be “an industry-agreed ABC standard”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310894/original/file-20200120-69535-19u1xmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310894/original/file-20200120-69535-19u1xmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310894/original/file-20200120-69535-19u1xmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310894/original/file-20200120-69535-19u1xmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310894/original/file-20200120-69535-19u1xmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310894/original/file-20200120-69535-19u1xmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310894/original/file-20200120-69535-19u1xmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Sun newspaper’s circulation fell by 13% during 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michaelpuche via Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>ABC <a href="https://www.abc.org.uk/newslink/113-abc-news/909-abc-statement-regarding-the-telegraph">said it was</a>: “open to working with the Telegraph, as with all publishers, on developing metrics which support their strategies”.</p>
<p>Interestingly, December’s traditional ABC figures were accompanied by a new metric – measuring <a href="https://www.abc.org.uk/newslink/113-abc-news/908-abc-figures-show-1-68-billion-national-newspapers-circulated-in-2019">total circulated copies</a>, which refers to “the complete number of copies distributed by media owners” and is calculated by multiplying each title’s number of issues by their monthly ABC figure, then aggregating across the year.</p>
<p>Under that metric, The Telegraph ranked fifth in national daily newspapers with 97.1 million for January to December 2019 – only beaten among daily broadsheets by The Times, which sold 115.5 million copies. Achieving a new industry-agreed ABC standard to capture subscription numbers across print and digital would be progress, albeit long overdue – the only surprise is it hasn’t happened sooner.</p>
<p>But until the ABC metrics change, the most fascinating aspect will be whether The Sun can retain the accolade of the UK’s top-selling newspaper. With the red top newspaper’s total average circulation of 1,215,852 declining 13% year-on-year – compared to a fall for the Daily Mail of just 7% to 1,141,178, there well be change at the top in 2020.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130229/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s a bold move, but publishers are increasingly desperate to attract digital readers to offset the fall in print sales.Mary Williams, Principal Lecturer in Journalism, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1289582020-01-03T09:36:44Z2020-01-03T09:36:44ZSpace milestones: here are the missions to look forward to in 2020<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307415/original/file-20191217-58344-fwxt4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">SpaceX's Dragon 2 will carry humans for the first time in 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA/SpaceX</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last year was an excellent year for space exploration, with the icing on the Christmas cake the first ever image acquired of a black hole by the <a href="https://eventhorizontelescope.org/">Event Horizon Telescope</a>. </p>
<p>This year, 2020, is set to be interesting too. Here’s what to look out for.</p>
<h2>Human spaceflight</h2>
<p>The year 2020 is set to be quite a big one for human spaceflight, especially for private companies. Both SpaceX’s <a href="https://www.spacex.com/dragon">Dragon 2</a> and Boeing’s <a href="https://www.boeing.com/space/starliner/">CST-100 Starliner</a> spacecraft are due to conduct their first crewed missions to the International Space Station (ISS). Both of these projects have been beset with delays, however in recent months both companies have completed a series of successful pre-flight tests.</p>
<p>These include multiple parachute drop tests and the ability of the capsules to rocket themselves free of their launcher in the event of some catastrophic failure. That said, an uncrewed orbital test flight for the Starliner in December <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2228665-boeings-starliner-hiccup-could-delay-us-plans-for-crewed-spaceflight/">failed to reach the ISS as planned, due to a software problem</a>. SpaceX, on the other hand, has already completed an uncrewed orbital test flight of the Dragon 2, and currently expect to launch their first crewed ISS mission in the first quarter of 2020.</p>
<p>Not to be outdone, NASA is scheduled to launch <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-1">Artemis-1</a> in November. This will be the first attempted flight of its new <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html">Space Launch System</a>, and the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/orion/index.html">Orion spacecraft</a> built jointly by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). </p>
<p>This flight, though uncrewed, will take a human-rated spacecraft well beyond the orbit of the moon, before returning to Earth several weeks later. This will be a vital milestone on the road to returning people to the moon. It will also, if successful, be the furthest distance from Earth that a spacecraft which is capable of carrying humans has ever flown. The Orion spacecraft is comprised of the crew capsule, built by Lockheed Martin, with sufficient space to accommodate up to six people, and a service module built in Europe, by Airbus. </p>
<p>China is also planning to launch the first section of a <a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-07/08/c_137310103.htm">new orbital space station</a> in 2020. When complete, China’s new space station is expected to have about the same dimensions as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir">the former Russian <em>Mir</em></a>, including a number of orbital laboratory modules and enough space to comfortably accommodate three crew members for extended periods in orbit. </p>
<h2>Life on asteroids?</h2>
<p>The Japanese Space agency (JAXA) launched the <a href="http://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/en/">Hayabusa 2</a> mission in 2014, which managed to collect a few samples from the asteroid 162173 Ryugu. This should be arriving back at Earth this year. The procedure for achieving this was incredible. As the gravity of the asteroid is tiny, <a href="https://www.wired.com/2013/10/a-closer-look-at-newtons-third-law/">no force</a> can hold a lander to the surface. The first sample of the surface involved firing a small pellet at the asteroid which caused regolith (soil) to be ejected from the surface. At the same time, the satellite approached the surface to collect the dust. </p>
<p>The mission also collected a sample from the inside of the asteroid – a region that hasn’t been exposed to the interstellar medium or the solar wind. This trickier task involved firing a 2.5kg object at high speed into the asteroid from a safe distance and then <a href="https://www.planetary.org/explore/space-topics/space-missions/hayabusa2.html">briefly landing to collect the material</a>.</p>
<p>The samples will allow a detailed look at asteroid composition, giving us some idea of where they might have come from and whether they are capable of carrying life. This is important as it could provide evidence for or against the <a href="https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/in-search-of-panspermia/">panspermia theory</a> – the idea that life exists throughout the universe, and is spread by asteroids and meteorites. </p>
<h2>Magnetic Mars</h2>
<p>The China National Space Administration’s (CNSA) plans for 2020 are extensive. One of their most ambitious projects is a <a href="https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/11/19/chinese-mars-rover-completes-landing-trial-ahead-of-2020-launch/">Mars rover</a> – despite having not sent an orbiter to Mars to date. </p>
<p>The rover is aimed for launch in the summer, and should arrive in 2021. It has ground penetrating radar to give a view of the internal structure of Mars. This type of radar is also planned for NASA’s <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/instruments/rimfax/for-scientists/">Mars 2020 rover</a>, due to launch in July. A combination of subsurface information from multiple sites and rovers will boost our knowledge of how Mars was formed. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307419/original/file-20191217-58311-xyhzxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307419/original/file-20191217-58311-xyhzxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307419/original/file-20191217-58311-xyhzxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307419/original/file-20191217-58311-xyhzxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307419/original/file-20191217-58311-xyhzxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307419/original/file-20191217-58311-xyhzxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307419/original/file-20191217-58311-xyhzxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mars 2020 rover.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rawpixel Ltd/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mars 2020 is set to be the first in a series of missions which will eventually <a href="https://theconversation.com/life-on-mars-europe-commits-to-groundbreaking-mission-to-bring-back-rocks-to-earth-128328">return samples</a> of Martian soil to Earth. The rover will also be measuring the climate and magnetic conditions of Mars. The planet lacks a global protective magnetic field, which <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast31jan_1">leaves its atmosphere vulnerable</a> to the effects of the solar wind.</p>
<p>ESA’s <a href="http://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Exploration/ExoMars/All_instruments_onboard_Rosalind_Franklin_rover">Rosalind Franklin Rover</a>, Europe’s first ever attempted landing of a rover on the red planet, is also scheduled to launch in July. The rover will carry a suite of instruments designed to look for <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-rover-could-discover-life-on-mars-heres-what-it-would-take-to-prove-it-89625">signs of past and present life</a> on Mars. It will include a large drill which can burrow down to two metres to extract samples from well beneath the surface. Here, delicate organic structures are much better protected from the harsh radiation environment of the Martian surface. </p>
<h1>A close up look at our star</h1>
<p>In <a href="http://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Solar_Orbiter/Solar_Orbiter_launch_campaign_begins">February</a>, ESA will be launching a flagship solar mission: <a href="https://sci.esa.int/web/solar-orbiter">Solar Orbiter</a>. </p>
<p>This spacecraft will join NASA’s <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe">Parker Solar Probe</a> as a dedicated close range solar observatory. While not getting as close to the Sun as Parker, the Solar Orbiter will still spend much of its life well inside the orbit of Mercury, enduring temperatures of hundreds of degrees. </p>
<p>It will also, by way of numerous gravity assists from Venus, incline its orbit by up to 30° – enabling its array of instruments to peer at higher latitude regions of our star. It will conduct detailed observations of the sun’s magnetic field, and the outflow of plasma into the surrounding solar system called the solar wind.</p>
<p>These higher latitude observations should help scientists to more fully understand the magnetic <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/the-suns-magnetic-field-is-about-to-flip/">solar activity cycle</a>, which is still not fully understood. It is also hoped that by observing active regions in detail that extreme space weather event <a href="https://spacenews.com/researchers-bemoan-limited-space-weather-prediction-capabilities/">prediction can be improved</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128958/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From alien life to human spaceflight, 2020 may deliver some exciting news.Gareth Dorrian, Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Space Science, University of BirminghamIan Whittaker, Lecturer in Physics, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1271332019-11-15T16:41:18Z2019-11-15T16:41:18ZUK election 2019: partisan press is pulling out all the stops against Labour<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302011/original/file-20191115-66957-gx47uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C0%2C4571%2C2584&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lenscap Photography via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The idea that there’s no such thing as bad publicity could well be tested in the UK’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/uk-election-2019-75714">2019 election campaign</a>. So could the proposition that the only worse thing than people talking about you is people not talking about you, if our research into press coverage of the election is any indication.</p>
<p>Our analysis of the first week of the campaign shows that the Labour Party and its leadership are getting more press exposure than their rivals so far. But this isn’t necessarily good for Jeremy Corbyn and his colleagues, when so many of those stories have involved headlines such as <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7660183/Jewish-Chronicle-delivers-devastating-attack-Jeremy-Corbyn.html">this one</a> in the Daily Mail on November 7: “‘The vast majority of British Jews consider Jeremy Corbyn an anti-Semite:’ Jewish Chronicle delivers devastating attack on Labour leader warning he must NEVER be PM”. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301968/original/file-20191115-66925-1yucm69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301968/original/file-20191115-66925-1yucm69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301968/original/file-20191115-66925-1yucm69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301968/original/file-20191115-66925-1yucm69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301968/original/file-20191115-66925-1yucm69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301968/original/file-20191115-66925-1yucm69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301968/original/file-20191115-66925-1yucm69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301968/original/file-20191115-66925-1yucm69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Daily Mail headline, November 15.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daily Mail</span></span>
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<p>Or <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10301484/mire-anti-jewish-racism-labour/">this one</a> in The Sun the following day: “IAN AUSTIN ‘I’ve given 40 years of my life to Labour, but EVERYONE should vote for Boris’. Here’s why Corbyn is unfit for No10”.</p>
<p>Analysing press partisanship in the current UK general election might seem an exercise in investigating the stark, staring obvious. </p>
<p>If there is one predictable feature of British electioneering it is that most national newspapers titles will support the Conservative party.</p>
<p>But partisanship is a matter of degree as well as allegiance and close analysis of its basis and extent reveals important nuances. Take, for example, the apparent replacement of the “Tory press” with the “<a href="https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/">Tony press</a>” between 1997 and 2005, when in three consecutive campaigns most press opinion supported Tony Blair and the Labour party. </p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=aZa0AQAAQBAJ&pg=PT165&lpg=PT165&dq=David+Deacon+Dominic+Wring+Partisanship&source=bl&ots=gwJMRT20Cf&sig=ACfU3U0GCKQ6ta7OKPImsCHeXtUUvGyHag&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjFnM-HzMjkAhWTiVwKHXgDBhg4ChDoATAAegQIBxAB#v=onepage&q=David%20Deacon%20Dominic%20Wring%20Partisanship&f=false">Research shows</a> these endorsements were uncharacteristically equivocal, offering tepid personal support for the then prime minister rather than his party. This period represented dealignment rather than a realignment in press opinion. </p>
<p>In 2010, majority press opinion again <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230305045_18">rallied behind the Conservatives</a> but the cheerleaders of this change, particularly The Sun and Daily Mail, seemed uncertain who to target: a foundering Labour prime minister in Gordon Brown or a vibrant, telegenic Liberal Democrat leader in Nick Clegg? They had no such doubts in the 2015 and 2017 campaigns, with the Labour party leaders Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn respectively being subjected to sustained, personal attacks from most of the highest-selling titles.</p>
<h2>‘Brexmas election’</h2>
<p>What can we expect in the 2019 UK general election where Brexit is likely to dominate the campaign landscape? Boris Johnson’s premiership has steered the Conservatives firmly into the Leave camp, aligning with the strong and established Eurosceptic orientations of many national titles.</p>
<p>But there have been industry changes since the last election that may be significant. A new editor, Geordie Greig, <a href="https://theconversation.com/daily-mail-new-editor-and-new-enemies-of-the-people-107202">has been appointed</a> at the Daily Mail, now vying with the Sun to be the highest selling daily newspaper in print terms, and he is widely perceived to be more liberal-minded and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/oct/11/paul-dacre-daily-mail-geordie-greig-letter-financial-times">less anti- Remain than his predecessor</a>, Paul Dacre.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/geordie-greig-what-to-expect-from-the-daily-mails-next-editor-98090">Geordie Greig: what to expect from the Daily Mail's next editor</a>
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<p>The Daily Express and Daily Star have been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/feb/09/trinity-mirror-buys-express-star-127m-deal-richard-desmond-ok">bought out by the Mirror group</a>, ending the influence of their previous proprietor, Richard Desmond, whose convinced Euroscepticism steered the Express <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0267323115612215?journalCode=ejca">to back UKIP in the 2015 election</a>.</p>
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<span class="caption">Still a partisan paper: Daily Express front page for November 8.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daily Express</span></span>
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<p>Elsewhere, the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50192912">Daily Telegraph</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45820672">the I paper</a> are both up for sale at a time when market conditions remain extremely challenging. National press circulation in the 2017 general election was nearly half of the levels in the 1992 campaign when the Sun newspaper sold more than 3.5 million copies and famously declared: “It’s the Sun wot won it!” The <a href="https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/national-newspaper-abcs-daily-mail-closes-on-suns-position-as-top-selling-title/">latest circulation figures</a> show the sector has lost a further 2 million readers since the 2017 campaign.</p>
<h2>Real-time audit</h2>
<p>The Centre for Research in Communication and Culture at Loughborough University will be <a href="http://electionheadlines.buzzsprout.com/720012/2085966-e1-2019-election-media-analysis-7-13-november-2019">monitoring press partisanship</a> throughout the campaign as part of its wider “real-time” audit of media coverage of the 2019 UK General Election. <a href="https://www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/general-election/report-1/">Our analysis</a> of reporting of the first week of the formal campaign suggests that Labour are once again facing a rough ride from many national titles, despite the recent changes noted above.</p>
<p>In terms of overall press exposure, leading Labour figures either matched or exceeded coverage given to senior government figures. For example, Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson were the joint most prominent politicians (appearing in 17.4% of all newspaper items) and John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, gained more prominence than the actual chancellor, Sajid Javid (13.5% of all press items versus 9%). Overall, all Labour party sources accounted for 40% of all politicians featured, exceeding Conservative party appearances by 5%.</p>
<p>But this greater exposure cannot be deemed good news for the opposition. Tellingly, ex-Labour MPs received as much press prominence as all Liberal Democrats sources, with Ian Austin, the former Labour MP for Dudley North, receiving three times more coverage than Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson.</p>
<p>Moreover, a large proportion of newspaper items that featured Labour sources had a clearly negative slant. The extent of this is demonstrated in the chart above. For every item, we assessed whether the information or commentary contained within it had positive or negative implications for any political party. The results are calculated by subtracting the total number of negative stories from the total of positive stories for the five main parties. These scores are then weighted by press circulation (where 1 = 1 million).</p>
<p>The results show that Labour have already accumulated a substantial proportion of negative stories in the national press, with only the Conservative party showing a positive balance in the press ledger. </p>
<p>One frequent manifestation of newspaper ambivalence towards Blair was the criticism that his party was <a href="https://www.economist.com/britain/2000/07/20/blair-in-a-spin">obsessed with presentation</a> rather than substance. In 2019, “spin” appears to have disappeared from the electoral lexicon and it is the supposed evil of conviction politics rather than confection politics that is the basis of many press attacks on Labour.</p>
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKGE2019&utm_content=GEBannerC">Click here to subscribe to our newsletter if you believe this election should be all about the facts.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127133/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Deacon has previously received funding from the ESRC, British Academy, Leverhulme Foundation, BBC Trust and Electoral Commission</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic Wring has previously received funding from the British Academy, Leverhulme Foundation, BBC Trust and Electoral Commission</span></em></p>Analysis of the first week of the campaign shows that not all publicity is good publicity.David Deacon, Professor of Communication and Media Analysis, Loughborough UniversityDominic Wring, Professor of Political Communication, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1244562019-10-02T12:34:14Z2019-10-02T12:34:14ZMeghan Markle, Ben Stokes, Gareth Thomas: three reasons why UK press needs help to understand ‘public interest’<p>The Duke and Duchess of Sussex <a href="https://sussexofficial.uk/">have announced</a> their intention to launch legal action against the Mail on Sunday for <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6686817/Letter-showing-true-tragedy-Meghan-Markles-rift-father.html">publishing a private handwritten letter</a> the Duchess had sent to her estranged father. Prince Harry <a href="https://sussexofficial.uk/">said in a statement</a>: “I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”</p>
<p>This latest episode follows two similar instances in September where high-profile sporting figures accused UK tabloids of insensitivity and invasion of privacy. The treatment of Ben Stokes and Gareth Thomas brings back to memory the litany of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/sep/14/leveson-inquiry-full-list-participants">press abuses</a> uncovered during the hearings of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/leveson-inquiry-report-into-the-culture-practices-and-ethics-of-the-press">Leveson Inquiry in 2011-12</a>. Taken together, these sorry stories show the need for tougher regulation of media processes to ensure fairness for people directly affected by publications.</p>
<p>Thomas, a former Wales international rugby union player, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-49739345">revealed</a> on September 18 that he had been compelled to publicly disclose that he was HIV positive after an unidentified tabloid had threatened to publish details of his diagnosis. This was essentially the same thing as threatening to reveal details of someone’s medical record or treatment. This type of information has always been <a href="https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/2004/22.html">seen by the courts</a> as being worthy of privacy protection.</p>
<p>What makes the conduct of the press particularly egregious in this case is the callous behaviour towards a person who belongs to a particularly vulnerable group. The right and opportunity to tell something so deeply personal appears to have been taken away by a journalist who, according to Thomas, informed his parents of his HIV-positive status before he had the chance to tell them himself.</p>
<p>The Sun’s <a href="https://imagevars.gulfnews.com/2019/09/18/The-Sun-tweet-Ben-Stokes_16d4512b8a3_original-ratio.jpg">front-page story</a> on the tragedy that affected the close family of Stokes, an England cricketer, about 30 years ago – before the player was born – was described by Stokes in a highly poignant <a href="https://twitter.com/benstokes38/status/1173893834377441280">statement</a> on Twitter as the “lowest form of journalism”.</p>
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<p>The newspaper defended its publication, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/49726913">stating</a> that the unfortunate events were already in the public domain following wide coverage in New Zealand at the time and that an estranged family member had shared details. Although Clause 2 of the <a href="https://www.societyofeditors.org/resources/editors-code-of-practice/">Editors’ Code of Practice states</a> that “in considering an individual’s reasonable expectation of privacy, account will be taken of … the extent to which the material complained about is already in the public domain”, this is not always easily reconciled with how privacy law works.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ben-stokes-v-the-sun-gross-intrusion-or-simple-reportage-how-media-privacy-law-works-123827">Ben Stokes v The Sun: gross intrusion or simple reportage? How media privacy law works</a>
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<p>The Sun’s explanation disregards the seminal 2016 Supreme Court judgment in PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd (known as the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/may/19/supreme-court-upholds-celebrity-threesome-injunction">“celebrity threesome”</a> case), in which the private information that a high-profile public figure (known only as PJS) sought to protect through an injunction had already been widely circulated in other jurisdictions – similar to the story concerning Stokes and his family. </p>
<p>The fact that the information was available was not decisive, the Supreme Court held. Such a proposition overlooked the invasiveness and distress which unrestricted publication by the English media would entail. The Sun should have known – not least because its own publisher was the defendant in the PJS case – that the same could apply to Stokes’ case. There was little doubt that publication in England would unleash, as the court put it, a “<a href="https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2016-0080-judgment.pdf">media storm</a>”, which would reproduce intimate details likely to add greatly to the intrusiveness felt by Stokes and his family, who had not courted any publicity.</p>
<h2>The public interest</h2>
<p>Occasionally journalists may act in a way that is incompatible with the Editors’ Code of Practice. Breaches of <em>some</em> of the code’s provisions may be justified if an editor can demonstrate that what was done was “<a href="https://www.societyofeditors.org/resources/editors-code-of-practice/">in the public interest</a>”. This includes (but is not confined to) exposure of serious impropriety. Intrusions into a person’s private life may also be warranted to <a href="https://www.editorscode.org.uk/downloads/codebook/codebook-2019.pdf">unmask hypocrisy and prevent the public from being misled</a>. But Stokes’ story and Thomas’ treatment were nowhere near these exemptions. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.societyofeditors.org/resources/editors-code-of-practice/">Clause 4</a> of the editors’ code places the onus of responsibility for appropriate sensitivity in cases involving trauma squarely on the press and requires journalists covering tragedy and suffering to make inquiries with “sympathy and discretion”. But Stokes’ <a href="https://twitter.com/benstokes38/status/1173893834377441280">tweet stated</a> that “serious inaccuracies” were included in The Sun’s article which, in his words, exacerbated the impact of the publication for his family. The same code also <a href="https://www.societyofeditors.org/resources/editors-code-of-practice/">makes it very clear</a> that a public interest defence <em>cannot</em> be put forward in cases which engage Clause 4.</p>
<p>Thomas’ public figure status cannot also, by and of itself, justify a threat to publish sensitive details such as his HIV status. The journalist who initially approached the athlete’s parents ought to have appreciated that it was not part of his role to break the news to his family, something which reportedly caused Thomas enormous upset.</p>
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<p>In both cases, in my view, the press flagrantly ignored its responsibilities towards the public interest, in whose name it exercises its privileged position in society. There is always of course a considerable role to be played by the courts, which maintain powers to order <a href="https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1964/1.html">exemplary damages</a> (if sought through a privacy claim) in order to punish outrageous press misconduct that disregards claimants’ rights for commercial profit.</p>
<h2>Wrecking ball</h2>
<p>The treatment of the two sportsmen’s deeply personal stories has swung a wrecking ball through responsible journalism. It raises serious questions as to whether the tabloid press has learned any lessons from the Leveson Inquiry, <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/leveson-statement-in-full-8368769.html">which concluded</a> “beyond doubt” that the British press had “damaged the public interest, caused real hardship and … wreaked havoc in the lives of innocent people” for many decades.</p>
<p>In 2018, the government <a href="http://merlin.obs.coe.int/cgi-bin/article.php?iris_r=2018%205%2019&language=en">regrettably decided</a> against putting into motion <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/22/section/40/enacted">section 40</a> of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, under which publishers not signing up to be members of a formally recognised regulator (for example <a href="https://impress.press/about-us/faq.html#what-benefits-impress-membership">IMPRESS</a>) would be hit with the potentially severe penalty of having all the costs of a complainant’s privacy (or defamation) action automatically awarded against them, irrespective of whether they won or lost the case. Although this provision remains on the statute books, it has been <a href="https://pa.media/2017/01/09/pa-bringing-section-40-force-will-simply-enact-expensive-pointless-injustice/">vehemently opposed</a> by much of the news industry.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-believe-what-you-read-section-40-will-protect-the-local-press-not-kill-it-71226">Don't believe what you read: section 40 will protect the local press, not kill it</a>
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<p>Whatever happens in the case of the threatened action by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, alongside the experiences of both Stokes and Thomas, one can now see less reason than in the past as to why this provision should not be put into effect. If it is implemented by a future government, it is likely to create an additional incentive for the press to think twice before publishing a story that unreasonably interferes with an individual’s privacy and lacks any meaningful public interest.</p>
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<p><em>The Conversation is a member of the independent press regulator IMPRESS.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124456/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandros Antoniou does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A number of recent controversial stories show why the UK media needs a regulator with teeth.Alexandros Antoniou, Lecturer in Media Law, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1238272019-09-19T08:59:04Z2019-09-19T08:59:04ZBen Stokes v The Sun: gross intrusion or simple reportage? How media privacy law works<p>When Ben Stokes celebrated his part in the England cricket team’s World Cup triumph, followed by his incredible match-winning innings during the Ashes, dubbed the “greatest ever”, he could not have anticipated that heightened interest in him would lead to the later unwelcome unearthing of an old family secret. </p>
<p>The day after the Ashes series ended, The Sun newspaper ran a story headlined “<a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/9941347/ben-stokes-cricket-brother-sister-killed/">Stokes’ Secret Tragedy</a>” recounting the 1988 murder of Stokes’ two siblings by his mother’s ex-partner in New Zealand.</p>
<p>In a highly charged response on Twitter, Stokes vehemently criticised The Sun, claiming its story was “immoral and heartless” and “contemptuous to the feelings and circumstances of my family”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1173893834377441280"}"></div></p>
<p>The Sun’s spokesperson has defended the newspaper’s actions, claiming that the murders were widely covered in the New Zealand media and that it had published with the co-operation of another family member, Jacqui Dunn, the killer’s other daughter.</p>
<p>These arguments broadly reflect the privacy versus free expression arguments that have recurred in many legal disputes between high-profile celebrities and the (usually tabloid) media. Such disputes are governed by <a href="http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/136661/">misuse of private information (MPI) law</a>, an area of law developed by judges following the passage of the <a href="https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/human-rights/human-rights-act">Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA)</a>, particularly the Article 8 right to respect for private life and the Article 10 right to free expression.</p>
<p>Though Stokes has not indicated any intention to bring a legal claim, wider questions have arisen as to the legality of The Sun’s actions. So, has The Sun breached privacy law?</p>
<p>When deciding whether a misuse of private information has occurred, the court would apply a two-stage test. First, it would consider whether Stokes had a “reasonable expectation” of privacy in relation to the information. If so, the court would then balance Stokes’ privacy right against The Sun’s free expression right and decide which one is stronger and ought to prevail. Both of these stages of the test take close account of the particular facts of the relevant case. In the context of misuse of private information, two issues in the Stokes case are particularly interesting because of their (legal) ambiguity.</p>
<h2>Public domain</h2>
<p>First is the question of whether this information was, as <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/ashes/ben-stokes-the-sun-newspaper-family-story-brother-ashes-2019-a9108401.html">The Sun claims</a>, already in the public domain? In older confidence actions in the pre-Human Rights Act, pre-digital era, a firm “public domain” exception applied. Once information was “out there”, it was “public” and there was no secret left to protect. </p>
<p>But this position has developed and a strict private/public binary no longer applies. An individual may still have a reasonable expectation of privacy in respect of information that is partly (or even widely) publicised. In Stokes’ case, the extensive publicity given to the murder of his siblings was more than 30 years ago in a country on the other side of the world. So this would not automatically be deemed “public” and The Sun’s reference to the story as “Stokes’ Secret Tragedy” tends to support this.</p>
<h2>Whose privacy?</h2>
<p>A second interesting issue is: whose privacy is it anyway? Stokes’ Twitter statement claimed: “I will not allow my public profile to be used as an excuse to invade the rights of my parents, my wife, my children or other family members.” This hinted perhaps at his acceptance that his sporting role will attract a degree of attention and interest. </p>
<p>Misuse of Public Information (MPI) law does indicate that being a “public figure” or “role model” is a relevant factor in MPI disputes and so-called “Ashes Hero” Stokes would fit the definition. But the law is also clear that public figures still enjoy a right to privacy, as successful litigants such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/mar/27/pressandpublishing.privacy">Naomi Campbell</a> and <a href="https://inforrm.org/2016/05/19/news-supreme-court-allows-appeal-in-pjs-celebrity-injunction-case/">“PJS”</a> demonstrate. Furthermore, Stokes’ “public figure” status would have only limited bearing on whether The Sun’s story was deemed to be in the public interest.</p>
<p>This statement also raises the trickier issue of how to deal with the privacy interests of an interrelated family group. Stokes’ primary concern was for the privacy of his family – and particularly his mother who lives in New Zealand. The privacy rights of family members may be included in claims where there is clear evidence they would be adversely affected by publication of private information.</p>
<p>But would Stokes have a reasonable expectation of privacy in relation to events that happened to other members of his family before his birth, particularly where another extended family member is willing to speak to the media about them? This case raises the problem of who (if anyone) can “own” or control shared family experiences – particularly when family members have different attitudes to the information. </p>
<p>In this sense, the case has broad parallels with the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/may/20/concert-pianist-james-rhodes-wins-right-to-publish-autobiography">James Rhodes dispute in 2014-15</a> where the Court of Appeal held that James Rhodes’ autobiography did not misuse private information about his son, because the information was about Rhodes rather than his son.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the Stokes-Sun dispute highlights some interesting grey areas in MPI law and, while a privacy claim would face a number of hurdles, it is also clear that The Sun’s claims about public domain should be treated with caution. Yet, irrespective of the strength of any legal claim, in light of widespread criticism of The Sun and support for Stokes, it seems that the morality of The Sun’s actions is perhaps more clear-cut.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123827/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Moosavian does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Was The Sun’s story about England’s Ashes hero an invasion of privacy?Rebecca Moosavian, Lecturer in Law, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1202162019-07-11T03:43:52Z2019-07-11T03:43:52ZCurious Kids: why is the Sun orange when white stars are the hottest?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283602/original/file-20190711-44466-tv2u4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1014%2C679&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's true the Sun often looks orange, but it isn't really orange. It is white.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/eyesplash/3467925820/in/photolist-6hs2wu-k77LBu-a6xiNf-3RKaR9-GRBzuS-m7G1jK-92K5ok-9UEC8N-eRL6v-Sd1MJN-6pcN3Q-a7Ckmk-4ykDA1-9ePErh-9fKnwr-9kL9bN-dcRRHg-fgniGX-n2Lvzn-4dknMC-9dJSX8-rk4qEj-f3hrGu-bErqh-53XnPS-pB2HVr-pAzSxh-pHZYsF-4owG7y-bPBjyt-oy8vbe-2fYxL1n-acPF7b-7FwQCX-rz22W7-v2BYW-Wy9bv-sanf42-D4YUKQ-7nPF3r-CXCGt-8wnNJ4-paidyD-fx38yJ-phnEh3-nqWqK5-5atreX-4wXWpc-8H3dR6-c79hBf">Flickr/Eyesplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might also like the podcast <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/kidslisten/imagine-this/">Imagine This</a>, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.</em> </p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Why is the Sun orange when white stars are hottest? – Rain, age 6, Toowoomba.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>Hi Rain. Thanks for sending in your excellent question. </p>
<p>The reason the Sun shines so bright is that it’s hot. And the colour it glows depends on how hot it is. </p>
<p>You are right that a star that glows white is hotter than one that glows orange. </p>
<p>And it’s true the Sun often <em>looks</em> orange. But it isn’t really orange. It is white. Well, it’s a bit on the yellow side but it’s mostly white. </p>
<p>But even white stars aren’t the hottest. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-what-existed-before-the-big-bang-did-something-have-to-be-there-to-go-boom-103742">Curious Kids: What existed before the Big Bang? Did something have to be there to go boom?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The blue giants that burn bright and briefly</h2>
<p>The very hottest stars actually glow blue. We call them blue giant stars. </p>
<p>These blue giants are around 80 times larger than our Sun – so they are really, really big. They live and die very quickly. They are so hot and so big they burn through their fuel very quickly and last just a few million years.</p>
<p>That might sound like a long time but it’s not much compared to how long our Sun will live. </p>
<p>When our Sun was a million years old, it was still just a child. It’s about 5 billion years old now and will live to about 10 billion years. So you could say the Sun is now middle-aged. It’s about halfway through its life.</p>
<p>So blue giants are hottest, white stars are very hot, but there are also orange stars that burn less hot. There are even red stars, which are a bit cooler again. They are a half or even a quarter the size of our Sun and while they are still burning hot, they are nowhere near as hot as our lovely Sun.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283604/original/file-20190711-44457-kj1bth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283604/original/file-20190711-44457-kj1bth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283604/original/file-20190711-44457-kj1bth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283604/original/file-20190711-44457-kj1bth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283604/original/file-20190711-44457-kj1bth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283604/original/file-20190711-44457-kj1bth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283604/original/file-20190711-44457-kj1bth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283604/original/file-20190711-44457-kj1bth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The hottest stars are actually blue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>So why does the Sun look orange, then?</h2>
<p>A lot of the pictures we take of the Sun make it look orange because of special filters we use to take the photo. The Sun is putting out so much light that we would not be able to photograph the detail on its surface unless we cut some of the brightness out. That’s what the filters do.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283607/original/file-20190711-44497-1oird5q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283607/original/file-20190711-44497-1oird5q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283607/original/file-20190711-44497-1oird5q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283607/original/file-20190711-44497-1oird5q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283607/original/file-20190711-44497-1oird5q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283607/original/file-20190711-44497-1oird5q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283607/original/file-20190711-44497-1oird5q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283607/original/file-20190711-44497-1oird5q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">NASA uses filters to take photos of the Sun and the filters make it look orange.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/268/10-things-june-12-nasas-first-mission-to-touch-the-sun/">NASA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At sunrise and sunset, the Sun can look especially orange to our eyes. That’s because, at those times of day, its light has to travel through a lot of the Earth’s atmosphere (the layer of swirling air that surrounds our planet). And all the dust and stuff in the atmosphere makes the light scatter and change so it looks less blue and more orangey-red.</p>
<h2>Only Bored Astronomers Find Gratification Knowing Mnemonics</h2>
<p>In the olden days, astronomers used letters to try to sort different types of stars. As we learned more about stars, the order changed, and labels became quite mixed up! Today we still use this naming system to remember the order of stars from hottest to least hot. It goes like this: O, B, A, F, G, K, M. (Some versions have more letters at the end).</p>
<p>The O-stars are the blue giants, while our Sun is a “G-class” star. That means it’s not the hottest but it’s not the coolest either. </p>
<p>Those letters are hard to remember, so astronomers came up with different tricks to remember it. One memory trick is called a “mnemonic” where you pretend each letter stands for a word. It’s easier to remember a sentence instead of a bunch of letters.</p>
<p>One student in my class came up with this mnemonic: “Only Bored Astronomers Find Gratification Knowing Mnemonics” (gratification means something like happiness).</p>
<p>Another one I like is: “Orange Butterflies And Frogs Get Knitted Mittens”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-stars-twinkle-81188">Curious Kids: Why do stars twinkle?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au</em> <em>Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in. We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120216/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Belinda Nicholson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The very hottest stars actually glow blue.Belinda Nicholson, Lecturer, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1124152019-06-20T00:16:13Z2019-06-20T00:16:13ZCurious Kids: how is the Sun burning?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263076/original/file-20190311-86696-1503s74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3988%2C2000&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A nuclear reaction is under way inside the Sun. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Emily Nunell/The Conversation CC-NY-BD</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might also like the podcast <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/kidslisten/imagine-this/">Imagine This</a>, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.</em> </p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>If nothing can burn without oxygen then how is the Sun burning? – question from Shashikant Patil.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>It’s true that here on Earth, if you want to burn something you need oxygen. But the Sun is different. It is not burning with the same kind of flame you would have on Earth if you burned a candle. </p>
<p>Have you heard of a nuclear reaction? It is a very powerful process that causes a <em>lot</em> of energy to be released. Well, inside the giant ball of gas that we call the Sun, a nuclear reaction is happening right now.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278225/original/file-20190606-40719-bfti09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278225/original/file-20190606-40719-bfti09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278225/original/file-20190606-40719-bfti09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278225/original/file-20190606-40719-bfti09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278225/original/file-20190606-40719-bfti09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278225/original/file-20190606-40719-bfti09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278225/original/file-20190606-40719-bfti09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278225/original/file-20190606-40719-bfti09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare – as seen in the bright flash on the right side – on Sept. 10, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/active-region-on-sun-continues-to-emit-solar-flares">Credits: NASA/SDO/Goddard</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This means light particles are smashing into each other very, very fast. They hit each other so fast and so hard they sort of glue together. This is what scientists call “fusion” and it can cause other elements and atoms to be created. All this activity causes a lot of energy to be released, which heats up everything near it.</p>
<p>The hottest part of the Sun is its core. The heat and light spreads out from the centre of the ball of gas toward the edges, and that’s what makes the Sun glow.</p>
<p>So there is no normal “flame” in the Sun – at least not like the flames we have in a fire here on Earth – because the energy and light and heat is coming from the nuclear reaction. </p>
<p>And because there’s no normal flame, you don’t need oxygen.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-does-the-world-store-nuclear-waste-and-not-just-shoot-it-into-the-sun-or-deep-space-108675">Curious Kids: why does the world store nuclear waste and not just shoot it into the Sun or deep space?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Did you know the Sun is also loud?</h2>
<p>All this activity inside the Sun creates a lot of sound waves. So the Sun is loud and vibrates like a church bell. </p>
<p>The high temperatures inside make sound waves travel super fast and smash into each other, and that’s what causes the vibration. Solar quakes shake the Sun very ferociously. These can cause what we call “solar flares”, where a powerful burst of energy shoots out from the Sun.</p>
<p>Here’s a video of a solar flare that happened in 2017:</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ybfAvEVpBMo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">NASA.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I am an astrophysicist fascinated by the vibrations of the Sun. I am searching to discover more quakes inside the Sun and other stars, too (after all, the Sun is just a star). </p>
<p>If you are interested in finding solar quakes, too, check out the pictures from NASA’s <a href="https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/">Solar Dynamics Observatory</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-is-there-anything-hotter-than-the-sun-105748">Curious Kids: Is there anything hotter than the Sun?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au</em></p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in. We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112415/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alina Donea does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s true that here on Earth, if you want to burn something you need oxygen. But the Sun is different. It is not burning with the same kind of flame you would have on Earth if you burned a candle.Alina Donea, Senior Lecturer, Monash Centre for Astrophysics, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1153292019-04-15T12:03:35Z2019-04-15T12:03:35ZCurious Kids: what would happen if the sun exploded?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269294/original/file-20190415-147499-7uzj0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C17%2C5955%2C4760&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What's left after a star explodes. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Keplers_supernova.jpg">NASA/ESA/JHU/R.Sankrit & W.Blair via Wikimedia Commons. </a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782">Curious Kids</a> is a series by <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk">The Conversation</a>, which gives children of all ages the chance to have their questions about the world answered by experts. All questions are welcome: send them – along with your name, age and the town or city where you live – to curiouskids@theconversation.com. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we’ll do our best.</em></p>
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<p><strong><em>What would happen if the sun exploded? – Lizey, aged 12, Australia.</em></strong></p>
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<p>The sun is a star, and when a star explodes it’s called <a href="https://www.esa.int/kids/en/learn/Our_Universe/Stars_and_galaxies/Supernovas">a supernova</a>. These types of explosions are very bright, and very powerful. They release lots of dust into space, which is used to make more stars and planets. Our solar system was made using stuff from these explosions. Even humans are <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLPkpBN6bEI">made of star stuff</a>! </p>
<p>If the sun suddenly exploded like this, the whole solar system would be destroyed. You don’t have to worry though – only stars ten times the size of our sun, or bigger, can explode like this. Our sun will end its life in a different way. </p>
<p>A supernova is like bursting a balloon. But when our sun dies, it will happen slowly, like when you gradually let the air out of a balloon.</p>
<h2>The death of the sun</h2>
<p>The sun will start to die when it runs out of fuel in <a href="http://thescienceexplorer.com/universe/what-will-happen-when-sun-eventually-dies">about 5,000,000,000 years</a> (that’s five billion years). This is 77 times longer than the Tyrannosaurus-Rex has been extinct … a very, very long time. </p>
<p>When the sun starts to die, it will get bigger and slightly colder, turning into what astronomers call a “red giant”. It will get so big, that it will eat Mercury, Venus and even Earth. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269298/original/file-20190415-147480-1ae7x5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269298/original/file-20190415-147480-1ae7x5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269298/original/file-20190415-147480-1ae7x5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269298/original/file-20190415-147480-1ae7x5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269298/original/file-20190415-147480-1ae7x5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269298/original/file-20190415-147480-1ae7x5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269298/original/file-20190415-147480-1ae7x5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Earth could be in big trouble.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/solar-system-sun-red-giant-star-1039317385?src=Sl-qDevfHdfgoqMHTlyAyA-1-7">Shutterstock.</a></span>
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<p>When the sun is a red giant, it will be big and puffy, and start to blow off its outer layers out of the solar system. It will get smaller and smaller, eventually becoming what we then call a white dwarf. </p>
<h2>The sun as a white dwarf</h2>
<p>A white dwarf is the core of a dead star. They are super heavy, weighing almost as much as the sun, while being only the size of the Earth. A teaspoon of white dwarf would weigh <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/whitedwarf_pulsar.html">somewhere around 6,000 kilograms</a> – as much as an adult elephant!</p>
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<p>When the sun is a white dwarf, most of the solar system will still be around. Mercury, Venus and Earth will be gone, but Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune will survive and continue to go around the sun. So will the asteroid belt, Kuiper belt and dwarf planets like Pluto. </p>
<p>Because a white dwarf is small, it doesn’t produce as much light. A white dwarf doesn’t have any fuel to give it energy, so it also gets colder and colder over time. Eventually it will become very dark.</p>
<h2>Life after the sun</h2>
<p>The light from the sun is what keeps our planet warm. Without it, the planets in the solar system will get very cold. This would make it harder for life to stay alive in the solar system. </p>
<p>A white dwarf doesn’t produce much light. But in the future, humans might build spaceships that will allow us to leave Earth. Humans might even build something to move the Earth. This would let the planet survive being eaten by the sun as a red giant. </p>
<p>The sun will become a red giant and then a white dwarf over billions of years. This is a very long time. We cannot watch a star do all of this, but we can learn how stars are born and die by looking at the stars in our galaxy - the Milky Way. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-fate-of-the-earth-we-discovered-the-remains-of-a-planet-following-the-violent-death-of-its-parent-star-114848">The fate of the Earth? We discovered the remains of a planet following the violent death of its parent star</a>
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<p>The Milky Way has stars of all ages, and over time astronomers have worked out which ones are young, old or dead. By <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-fate-of-the-earth-we-discovered-the-remains-of-a-planet-following-the-violent-death-of-its-parent-star-114848">studying the old and dead stars</a>, we can discover what will happen to our sun in the far, far future.</p>
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<p><em>More <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/curious-kids-36782?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=CuriousKidsUK">Curious Kids</a> articles, written by academic experts:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-is-water-blue-or-is-it-just-reflecting-off-the-sky-113199?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=CuriousKidsUK">Is water blue or is it just reflecting off the sky? – The students of Ms Brown’s class, Neerim South Public School, Victoria, Australia</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-who-is-siri-114940?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=CuriousKidsUK">Who is Siri? – Miles, aged four, London, UK.</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-did-the-months-get-their-names-113558?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=CuriousKidsUK">How did the months get their names? - Sylvie, aged eight, Brisbane, Australia.</a></em></p></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115329/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Manser does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By studying old and dead stars, we can discover what will happen to our sun in the far, far future. And it won’t end with a big explosion.Christopher Manser, Postdoctoral Researcher of Astrophysics, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1117992019-02-14T11:12:28Z2019-02-14T11:12:28ZBrexit whispers: when eavesdropping on private conversations by a journalist is ethically justified<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258987/original/file-20190214-1721-194fe1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C4%2C995%2C661&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is it ethical for a journalist to report on someone else's conversation?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">sezer66 via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When you are in a restaurant or a hotel bar the last thing you expect is for the private conversation you are having to be reported all over the media the next day. But that may well depend upon who you are and what you say.</p>
<p>Eavesdropping on someone else’s conversation is considered rude in polite circles. But if you are a journalist it may well result in the kind of scoop ITV News reporter Angus Walker recently <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2019-02-12/exclusive-uk-chief-brexit-negotiator-olly-robbins-warns-mps-the-choice-is-mays-deal-or-extension/">chanced upon</a> in a hotel when he overheard remarks made by the government’s chief Brexit adviser, Olly Robbins.</p>
<p>Walker says Robbins “was with two colleagues in the bar and could be clearly overheard by other guests as he gossiped about Brexit, the cabinet and MPs”.</p>
<p>Why are the apparently private remarks of this particular government adviser newsworthy? Because – <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2019-02-12/exclusive-uk-chief-brexit-negotiator-olly-robbins-warns-mps-the-choice-is-mays-deal-or-extension/">it is reported</a> – Robbins said that if MPs rejected Theresa May’s latest Brexit deal then an extension on talks with the EU was the next option. Walker says the remarks are “explosive” because May “has consistently said that we are leaving the EU on March 29th and that she will not engage with discussion about delaying our departure”.</p>
<p>A government spokesperson <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2019-02-12/exclusive-uk-chief-brexit-negotiator-olly-robbins-warns-mps-the-choice-is-mays-deal-or-extension/">refused to comment</a> on the alleged remarks, simply stating they were part of a “private conversation”.</p>
<h2>Invasion of privacy?</h2>
<p>Is the reporting of private conversations ethically acceptable or justified? In considering this it is worth looking at a very similar case involving another overhead conversation – but this time involving a journalist.</p>
<p>Former BBC and Channel 4 news journalist Paul Mason was having what he thought was a private conversation in a restaurant in October 2016 when he was overheard allegedly making <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1972471/paul-mason-jeremy-corbyns-celeb-guru-admits-he-wants-to-oust-hapless-lefty-as-he-doesnt-appeal-to-the-ordinary-brits/">disparaging comments</a> about Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Mason’s remarks that Corbyn did not appeal to the mainstream working class were recorded by a bystander – a freelance journalist as it turns out – and passed onto The Sun.</p>
<p>Mason <a href="https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/ipso-suns-covert-recording-of-paul-mason-talking-in-restaurant-about-corbyns-lack-of-appeal-not-a-breach-of-privacy/">complained about the report to IPSO</a>, the press regulator for the print media to which The Sun is signed up, saying his privacy had been breached and that the recording had been taken illicitly. </p>
<p>As well as the recording, several pictures of Mason and his friend in the restaurant during the Labour Party’s Liverpool annual conference were featured in the article.</p>
<p>IPSO’s <a href="https://www.ipso.co.uk/editors-code-of-practice/">editors’ code</a> states that it is “unacceptable to photograph individuals without consent in public or private places where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy”. The code also says that the press should not use “clandestine devices and subterfuge” such as hidden cameras or recording devices to obtain material which it then publishes.</p>
<p>Mason argued that he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the restaurant, as no doubt Robbins would similarly argue he had in the hotel at which he was staying.</p>
<p>In Mason’s case, IPSO <a href="https://www.ipso.co.uk/rulings-and-resolution-statements/ruling/?id=13165-16">rejected his complaint</a> against The Sun. Its complaints committee said Mason’s comments were audible to those around him and that the freelance journalist had simply used his phone to take pictures and record the conversation. In other words, it was not being secretly used as a hidden device.</p>
<h2>Public interest</h2>
<p>IPSO’s <a href="https://www.ipso.co.uk/rulings-and-resolution-statements/ruling/?id=13165-16">adjudication on the complaint</a> stated: “The complainant, a political commentator, had been discussing politics with a professional contact, and had not spoken about personal or private matters.”</p>
<p>It said that, while a restaurant could ordinarily be considered a private place, the timing and nature of the conversation, the fact that the restaurant was next to the conference where Mason had just spoken, Mason’s close ties to the Labour Party and the fact that he is a journalist himself all meant that “the publication of the conversation did not represent an intrusion into the complainant’s private life”.</p>
<p>The editors’ code of practice is the ethical code most UK print and web journalists are signed up to. For broadcasters, Ofcom acts as the regulator and has its own <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code/section-eight-privacy">strict rules</a> on invasions of privacy. In both cases, journalists are allowed to breach the code in the public interest.</p>
<p>Although IPSO did not specifically state that reporting Mason’s comments were in the public interest, by stating that he was not entitled to privacy in such a situation the conclusion is the same. ITV and Walker would no doubt use the public interest defence over the reporting of Robbins’ remarks, given the febrile atmosphere surrounding Brexit talks.</p>
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<span class="caption">Tools of the trade.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kornev Andrii via Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Journalists – or more likely a member of the paparazzi – who invade someone’s privacy using a telephoto lens can usually expect a sharp remand from IPSO, who would view the use of such a device as an “aggravating factor” in a privacy complaint. But even here, if the publication can put forward a robust public interest defence IPSO may well decide there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.</p>
<p>The NUJ’s <a href="https://www.nuj.org.uk/about/nuj-code/">code of ethics</a> says that journalists should use “honest, straightforward and open means” when newsgathering. </p>
<p>But it also has a rejoinder which says reporters can circumvent these rules when the public interest is “overwhelming”.</p>
<p>Eavesdropping, then, is simply another tool in the journalist’s repertoire which can be used on certain, limited, occasions without fear of breaking any ethical code. And, it’s fair to say, that there is a demonstrable public interest in knowing the government’s plans – or lack of them – for Brexit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111799/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dave Porter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>ITV was justified in reporting Olly Robbins’ private conversation about Brexit as the public has a right to know the government’s plans.Dave Porter, Lecturer in Journalism, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.