After establishing a solid career as an action movie star‚ Bruce Willis has withdrawn significantly from the spotlight‚ filling his days with quality family time. This retirement followed his diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD)‚ but his family has shared that his face still lights right up when he sees his granddaughter. This latest update comes from Willis’ daughter‚ 35-year-old Rumer‚ who‚ last April‚ gave birth to her first child with Derek Richard Thomas‚ a daughter they named Louetta Isley Thomas Willis. Updates from Willis’ family‚ which includes wife Emma Heming‚ ex-wife Demi Moore‚ and his adult daughters Rumer‚ Scout‚ and Tallulah‚ sometimes paint a somber picture of his mental health‚ but when it comes to his granddaughter‚ Willis appears able to enjoy the sweet‚ meaningful moments with the baby. Bruce Willis’ family reveals what he’s like with the cameras no longer rolling Bruce Willis adores his granddaughter / Instagram Fans have seen him as a comedy master in Moonlighting and as an action-hero icon in Die Hard as well as countless other films since. But what is Willis like as a grandfather‚ and in the context of his struggles with dementia? RELATED: Bruce Willis’ Daughter Rumer Shares That She ‘Misses Her Papa’ In Heartbreaking Post Actually‚ referencing his filmography can give outsiders a bit of an idea. “The most perfect example of who my dad is in real life is his character on Moonlighting‚” said Rumer. “So charming‚ so funny‚ so silly … kind of mischievous glint in his eye and‚ [he is] kind and sweet. And so I feel like that’s really the epitome of who my dad is. And that is so true to this day.” Rumer Willis reveals that Grandpa Bruce Willis lights up when seeing his granddaughter Baby Louetta Isley Thomas Willis / Instagram According to Rumer‚ Willis has had an influence on the family that spans generations‚ and one that is colored by his compassion. “He’s so incredibly loving and kind‚” added Rumer. “My dad is absolutely the reason I like my taste in music [and for] some of my humor. Both of my parents are so silly.” That musical taste inspired Louetta’s name‚ which Rumer describes as a mix of “Louis Armstrong‚ Etta James and the Isley Brothers.”   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Rumer Glenn Willis (@rumerwillis) Willis is enchanted by the daughter he indirectly helped name. Rumer added‚ “His face lights up when he sees Louetta. And I’m just so grateful to have that kind of spark of mischief and fun and and play no matter what age I am.” In exchange‚ Willis has been christened Papa or Granddaddio‚ the latter of which is Rumer’s favorite because she used to call Willis “Daddio” growing up. Though Willis is suffering from dementia‚ he appears to cherish time with his granddaughter / © Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection RELATED: Bruce Willis’ First Photo As Grandpa With Rumer Willis’ Baby Girl Click for next Article The post Bruce Willis’ Face ‘Lights Up’ When Seeing Granddaughter Amid Dementia Battle appeared first on DoYouRemember? - The Home of Nostalgia. Author‚ Dana Daly

Carl Weathers passed away peacefully in his sleep on February 1 at the age of 76. Weathers started as a football player before starring as Apollo Creed in the first four ‘Rocky’ films. Other credits include ‘Predator‚’ ‘Street Justice‚’ ‘Star Wars‚’ ‘Toy Story‚’ ‘Arrested Development‚’ and ‘The Mandalorian.’   On February 1‚ actor Carl Weathers died. he was 76 when he passed away. According to statements to Variety and Deadline from his family‚ Weathers “died peacefully in his sleep‚” after leaving “an indelible mark” on the worlds of film and sports. A former NFL linebacker‚ Weathers famously starred in the role of Apollo Creed opposite Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa in the first four Rocky films. He also played Colonel Al Dillon in 1987’s Predator and voiced Combat Carl in the Toy Story films. Carl Weathers is remembered by his family and fans Carl Weathers‚ Raiders. Undrafted LB‚ San Diego State. What a life. What a legend. pic.twitter.com/4mgqE5FolG — Kyle Brandt (@KyleBrandt) February 2‚ 2024 “We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Carl Weathers‚” said his family in a statement. “Carl was an exceptional human being who lived an extraordinary life. Through his contributions to film‚ television‚ the arts and sports‚ he has left an indelible mark and is recognized worldwide and across generations. He was a beloved brother‚ father‚ grandfather‚ partner and friend.” R.I.P Carl Weathers#RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/hIbx4fESzA — Phil Jones (@PhilJonesNFL) February 2‚ 2024 RELATED: In Memoriam — All The People We Lost In 2023 While Weathers is known for his prolific acting career‚ the sports world is also mourning the loss of a shining star. He was a defensive end for Long Beach City College. When he transferred to San Diego State‚ he continued to play‚ this time under Hall of Fame coach Don Coryell. As a linebacker‚ he played eight games for the Oakland Raiders. Only in ’74 did he retire from sports to more fully pursue acting. Something he believed in Apollo Creed / © MGM /Courtesy Everett Collection Weathers was born on January 14‚ 1948‚ in New Orleans‚ Louisiana. Hee showed exceptional athletic prowess since he was eight years old and cultivated that talent until he switched gears in favor of acting in the mid-’70s. At first‚ he appeared as an extra while he transitioned out of football. Then‚ he found himself auditioning for the role of Apollo Creed‚ a task that saw him working opposite Stallone. During the audition process‚ Weathers criticized Stallone’s acting – it was this move that helped secure him the part‚ and he would reprise the role in Rocky II (1979)‚ Rocky III (1982)‚ and Rocky IV (1985). PREDATOR‚ Carl Weathers‚ 1987‚ TM and Copyright (c)20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved Working on Predator saw him act alongside the future governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger‚ and the future governor of Minnesota. So‚ years later‚ when he appeared on Saturday Night Live‚ Weathers performed a spoof skit in which he was running for political office and encouraged voters to support him because he “was the black guy in Predator.” Most recently‚ Weathers took up the role of Greef Karga in Disney’s The Mandalorian‚ part of the Star Wars franchise. His performance earned him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. Rest in peace‚ Carl Weathers. Greef Karga in The Mandalorian / ©Disney+/Lucasfilm / Courtesy Everett Collection RELATED: Sylvester Stallone Admits That His Diet During The Production Of ‘Rocky III’ Affected His Health Click for next Article The post Carl Weathers‚ Apollo Creed From ‘Rocky’ Films‚ Dies At 76 appeared first on DoYouRemember? - The Home of Nostalgia. Author‚ Dana Daly

It’s one of those times when the writers of Saturday Night Live probably thought they were mocking Donald Trump to his face without him knowing it. One of the faults of the former president is that…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Will Joe Biden's reputation be able to survive this latest scandal?

At long last‚ Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis finally admitted she had an affair with the lead prosecutor she had hired to prosecute former President Donald Trump and his allies in the crumbling…

Astronomers have found a new Super-Earth orbiting an M-dwarf (red dwarf) star about 137 light-years away. The planet is named TOI-715b‚ and it’s about 1.55 Earth’s radius and is inside the star’s habitable zone. There’s also another planetary candidate in the system. It’s Earth-sized‚ and if it’s confirmed‚ it will be the smallest habitable zone planet TESS has discovered so far. TOI-715 is an average red dwarf. It’s about one-quarter the mass and about one-quarter the radius of our Sun. TOI-715b is close to the star‚ and its tight orbit takes only 19 days to complete one trip around the dwarf star. Since red dwarfs are much dimmer than the Sun‚ this puts the Super-Earth in the star’s conservative habitable zone. New research published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society presents the discovery. It’s titled “A 1.55 Earth-radius habitable-zone planet hosted by TOI-715‚ an M4 star near the ecliptic South Pole.” The lead author is Georgina Dransfield‚ from the School of Physics &; Astronomy at the University of Birmingham. The habitable zone is a rather crude way to identify planets that may have liquid water. Its boundaries are unclear and even contradictory since stellar spectral type‚ planetary albedo‚ mass‚ and even how cloudy its atmosphere is can determine if a planet has liquid water. The idea of a conservative habitable zone (CHZ) is more helpful. It comes from a 2014 paper by Kopparapu et al. It’s a region around a star where a rocky planet receives between 0.42 and 0.842 as much solar insolation as Earth does. Any rocky planet receiving that much energy is in the CHZ‚ regardless of distance. The graphic shows optimistic and conservative habitable zone boundaries around cool‚ low-mass stars. The numbers indicate the names of known Kepler planet candidates. Yellow represents candidates with less than 1.4 times Earth-radius. Green represents planet candidates between 1.4 and 2 Earth radius. Note: the newly discovered planets are not shown. Credit: Penn State. Discovering a Super-Earth in a star’s CHZ is always exciting. It fuels our sense of wonder about other planets and the possibility that some may harbour other life. For that reason‚ they’re more intriguing than planets like Hot Jupiters for instance‚ which have zero possibility of hosting liquid water or life. Not even the hardiest extremophiles can survive a Hot Jupiter’s wicked environment. But this discovery is also exciting for a couple of other reasons. “At long last‚ the era of JWST has arrived‚ and with it‚ the age of detailed exoplanetary atmospheric characterization.”From “A 1.55 Earth-radius habitable-zone planet hosted by TOI-715‚ an M4 star near the ecliptic South Pole.” Now that we’ve discovered thousands of exoplanets‚ astronomers are seeing trends in the population. One of the things they noticed is a gap in the small planet population between 1.5 and 2 Earth radii. It’s known as the small planet radius gap or the sub-Neptune radius gap (also called the Fulton gap and the photoevaporation valley.) At 1.55 Earth radii‚ TOI-715b is inside the gap. A histogram of planets with given radii from a sample of 900 Kepler systems. The decreased occurrence rate between 1.5 and 2.0 Earth radii is apparent. It’s sometimes called the Fulton Gap because it comes from Fulton et al. 2017. Image Credit: Fulton et al. 2017. It’s extremely unlikely that no planets form in this radius gap. Planets must start out larger and lose mass to end up in the gap. So‚ the Fulton Gap tells us something about how some planets lose mass. Astronomers think that planets in the gap start out larger‚ but their stars strip away some of their mass by photoevaporation‚ shrinking them. That’s why it’s sometimes called the photoevaporation valley. There’s a lot of uncertainty around the valley and photoevaporation‚ and astronomers want to study planets in the valley to see what they can learn. “The importance of the radius valley lies in its potential to teach us about planetary formation and post-formation evolution‚ and hence‚ planets inside this gap are crucial in furthering our understanding of the factors that sculpt it‚” the authors explain. There’s some uncertainty if this radius gap exists around M-dwarfs or not. It’s possible that M-dwarfs have a density gap rather than a radius gap. “A recent study by Luque &; Pallé (2022)‚ however‚ indicates that M-dwarf planets may have a density gap rather than a radius gap separating two populations of small planets (rocky and water worlds)‚” the authors write. Whether it’s a radius gap or a density gap‚ TOI-715b should have something to tell us about exoplanets‚ photoevaporation‚ and the nature of exoplanet distribution around red dwarfs. But to discover what it has to tell us requires further‚ detailed observations. That’s the second reason why this Super-Earth is so intriguing. Ever since we started finding exoplanets‚ scientists have looked forward to the day when the James Webb Space Telescope is operational. “At long last‚ the era of JWST has arrived‚ and with it‚ the age of detailed exoplanetary atmospheric characterization‚” the authors write in their paper. The JWST has the ability to observe the spectra of exoplanet atmospheres and determine their constituents. But even though the JWST is enormously powerful‚ some targets present better opportunities for transmission spectroscopy than others. The JWST hasn’t studied TOI-715b yet‚ but it can measure an exoplanet’s transit spectrum and its eclipse spectrum‚ as shown in this spectrum of the exoplanet WASP-80b. During a transit‚ the planet passes in front of the star‚ and in a transit spectrum‚ the presence of molecules makes the planet’s atmosphere block more light at certain colours‚ causing a deeper dimming at those wavelengths. During an eclipse‚ the planet passes behind the star‚ and in this eclipse spectrum‚ molecules absorb some of the planet’s emitted light at specific colours‚ leading to a smaller dip in brightness during the eclipse compared to a transit. Image Credit: BAERI/NASA/Taylor Bell. TOI-715b is a prime target because it’s close to its star. Since TOI-715 is a small red dwarf‚ and the planet orbits it every 19 days‚ the exoplanet’s transits in front of its star are deeper and more frequent. That means the JWST doesn’t need much time to observe the planet’s atmosphere‚ making it an efficient use of the space telescope’s time. “In the context of atmospheric characterization by transmission spectroscopy‚ bright‚ nearby M dwarfs are ideal planetary hosts as small temperate planets will transit frequently‚ enabling high signal-to-noise detections of atmospheric features with fewer hours of telescope time‚” the authors explain. This figure from the study shows the conservative habitable zone in blue. The y-axis shows the Transmission Spectroscopy Metric‚ a measure of how amenable a planet’s atmosphere is to the JWST spectroscopic measurements. The x-axis shows stellar insolation. TOI-715b is shown in two instances: as a rocky world and as a water world. If it’s a water world‚ it’s more accessible to effective spectroscopy by the JWST. TOI-715’s other planet candidate is shown in green. Other interesting exoplanets are also shown‚ including the TRAPPIST-1 planets in yellow. Image Credit: Dransfield et al. 2024. Can this Super-Earth be habitable? Lacking the JWST’s spectroscopy‚ we’re reduced to speculating. It’s in the conservative habitable zone‚ but that doesn’t get us very far. Still‚ there are some hopeful signs. TOI-715 is a little older than our Sun at about 6.6 billion years old. The star shows a “low degree of magnetic activity‚” according to the authors. That’s probably why the star shows an absence of flaring in the TESS light curves compared to younger M-dwarfs. Red dwarfs are known to exhibit extremely powerful flaring that can sterilize planets. They can also strip away atmospheres‚ which could be responsible for the exoplanet photoevaporation valley. This artist’s illustration shows a red dwarf star emitting a powerful flare. Red dwarf flaring can limit the habitability of planets in their habitable zones. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Another planet may be orbiting TOI-715. It’s currently only a candidate named TIC 271971130.02‚ but if confirmed‚ it will be the smallest habitable zone planet TESS has ever found. But follow-up observations are needed to confirm it. The TOI-715 system is a compelling target for further study. TOI-715b is waiting its turn‚ but eventually‚ the JWST will examine its atmosphere. If those results support habitability‚ astronomers’ excitement will only grow. At the same time‚ we may learn more about the radius or density gap‚ an obstacle to a more thorough understanding of exoplanets. Add in the fact that the star may host another habitable zone planet‚ the smallest one found yet by TESS‚ and the TOI-715 system becomes even more important. The post A Super-Earth (and Possible Earth-Sized) Exoplanet Found in the Habitable Zone appeared first on Universe Today.

This is a bit unfair.

The Motor City Madman busted out his electric guitar for an epic rendition of the U.S. National Anthem