Chinese astronomers have released the most detailed atlas of the Moon ever published, which they describe as the “first high-definition geological atlas of the whole Moon”. The atlas not only provides images of the craters as can be seen from telescopes or orbiters, but offers Geologic, Lithologic, and Tectonic maps of the whole lunar surface.NASA compiled detailed maps of the near side of the Moon prior to the Apollo missions and released these to the public to adorn many classroom walls, with higher resolution versions available to enthusiastic amateur astronomers. However, just as lunar exploration ground to a halt for decades, the same is true for accessible maps. Now, however, both are changing as nations race to outdo each other. Years of operation by lunar orbiters equipped with sensors much more advanced than were available in the pre-Apollo days have produced a wealth of new information about the Moon.“With the accumulation of data and research results, these lunar geological maps may no longer meet future scientific research and lunar exploration needs,” said the atlas's editor-in-chief Liu Jianzhong of the Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in a statement. Liu has overseen the production of geologic Moon maps at a scale of 1:2.5 million so that every centimeter on the map is equivalent to 25 kilometers (15.5 miles). In addition to detailed maps of 30 quadrangles of the Moon, there are maps of the entire lunar surface for visualizing at once, albeit somewhat distorted near the poles. Although the Moon does not have active plate tectonics moving against each other like the Earth, it preserves what Liu and colleagues call “tectonic units” from early in its formation. The Tectonic Map reveals their locations, along with an explanation of the classification system for lunar structures.It may look less interesting than the others, but the fact the Moon still has tectonic units is significant even without seeing their boundaries.Image Credit: Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of SciencesThe Lithographic Map marks out different rock types by color, while the Geologic Map is the most familiar, identifying the craters, their composition, and the timing of their formation.The Lithographic Map shows the Moon in a new way with the different types of rocks shown by their color.Image Credit: Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of SciencesIn the process of producing these maps, the team came up with their new timeline for the Moon, breaking lunar geologic history into three eons and six periods, which they argue is more objective than previous timelines.The new timeline emphasizes the importance of the shift from the Moon’s youth, when change was driven from within (endogenic), to the much longer period of domination by external influences such as asteroid impacts (exogenic). The creators of the atlas say this distinction also helped them classify the lunar structures and rock types to make the different sorts of maps.In addition to marking 12,341 impact craters, 81 impact basins, 17 types of rocks, and 14 types of structures, the atlas-makers classified the basins based on the processes of their formation. They’ve also included important markers of the new era, which some people call the Moon’s own Anthropocene, with the sites of lunar landings, both by people and machines.The entire atlas comes as a set, but the price suggests it's more for institutions than individuals.Image Credit: Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of ScienceThe potential of the atlas, which is available in both Chinese and English, for education is obvious, particularly in the event that the forthcoming human landings spark global interest. However, the makers also see it as a tool for “Lunar scientific research … landing site selection, lunar resource exploration and trajectory planning for China’s future lunar exploration projects.”The Atlas is available from the Geological Publishing House, but it's probably not a birthday present for the Moon-lover in your life unless you're very rich.

Fossils and ancient creatures sometimes tend to give researchers a headache just as much as they bring excitement to the team. One such item is part of a marine tapeworm that has been discovered trapped in amber – quite how a marine parasite ended up trapped in tree resin is leaving scientists scratching their heads.The fossil is thought to be a species of the cestoda class, also known as tapeworms, that dates back to 99 million years ago. The tapeworm is trapped in mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber and was found in Myanmar. Cestoda is a widespread class that can even infect humans and is found in pretty much every ecosystem, including marine environments. The order trypanorhyncha, to which our ancient trapped critter belongs, typically infect marine species of sharks and rays as larvae. Almost all living trypanorhyncha are endoparasites of sharks and rays. However, because of their complex life cycles that involve two hosts and soft bodies, they are only known in the fossil record from eggs found in shark coprolite."The fossil record of tapeworms is extremely sparse due to their soft tissues and endoparasitic habitats, which greatly hampers our understanding of their early evolution," said Wang Bo, the study's lead researcher in a statement. However, he added that his team had "reported the first body fossil of a tapeworm."The amber has led to the exceptional preservation of the fossil, meaning it is likely the most convincing body fossil of flatworm ever found. The fossil, though incomplete, is long and slender and has incredible external and internal features along the tentacle, and rootless hollow hooks. The fossil tapeworm tentacle compared to an extant species of trypanorhynch tapeworm.Credit: NIGPAS"This makes the current find the most convincing body fossil of a platyhelminth ever found," said Luo Cihang, first author of the study and a PhD candidate from NIGPAS.As well as the tapped endoparasite there are also fern trichomes and an insect nymph also trapped in the amber, further suggesting that the tapeworm was on land at the time of becoming entombed in the amber itself. The amber also contains sand grains, suggesting that it might have been a shore environment. The team also writes that the end of the fossil is fractured, suggesting it was ripped apart. The authors suggest that the host for the parasite, the shark or ray, was stranded on a sandy shoreline after strong winds or tidal surges. The shark was then predated upon, and the parasite was pulled away from the intestine and stuck into nearby resin. They emphasize that this is a speculative idea, but highlight the importance of amber in preserving unexpected fossils. "Our study further supports the hypothesis that the Kachin amber was probably deposited in a paralic paleoenvironment, and also highlights the importance of amber research in paleoparasitology," finished Wang. The paper is published in the journal Geology.

Louisiana state Rep. Dodie Horton (R) succeeded last year in getting House Bill 8 enacted, such that all public schools in the state are now required to display "In God We Trust" in every classroom. Evidently keen to retake more ground lost after decades of secularizing efforts, Horton introduced legislation early this year that would require K-12 public schools, colleges, and universities to display the Ten Commandments on campus and in the classroom. In April, the Louisiana House voted 82-19 for Horton's House Bill 71. On Thursday, the Louisiana Senate voted 30-8 in favor of the bill after it had undergone multiple changes aimed at preempting various legal challenges. All eight state Senate votes in opposition to the bill were cast by Democrats. The Advocate reported that Sen. Royce Duplessis (D), among them, was the only to speak out in opposition to HB 71. "I didn't have to learn the Ten Commandments in school. We went to Sunday school," said Duplessis. "You want your kids to learn about the Ten Commandments, take them to church." Duplessis further suggested that the bill would expose Louisiana to lawsuits, stating, "We're going to spend valuable state resources defending the law when we really need to be teaching our kids how to read and write." According to Nola.com, ratification of the bill would make Louisiana the first state to mandate the display of the Ten Commandments in the classroom. The legislation would require every public school governing authority and the governing authority of each nonpublic school that receives state funds to display the Ten Commandments "in each building it uses and classroom in each school under its jurisdiction." While each governing authority will have some latitude concerning the nature of the display, at a minimum, the Ten Commandments must feature prominently in a framed document at least 11 inches by 14 inches. The text is to read: "The Ten Commandments[:] I AM the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor's." Anticipating legal challenges, state Sen. Jay Morris added amendments to the original bill highlighting the U.S. Supreme Court's recognition in 2005 that "it is permissible to display the Ten Commandments on government property." In a 5-4 decision, the court found in Van Orden v. Perry that "simply having religious content or promoting a message consistent with a religious doctrine does not run afoul of the establishment clause." Morris noted also that the Louisiana Legislature previously enabled the secretary of state to publish the Ten Commandments "and other historically significant documents for posting in court houses and other public buildings to address 'a need to educate and inform the public as to the history and background of American and Louisiana law.'" After noting the Supreme Court's 2019 recognition of the Ten Commandments' significance, Morris added, "Including the Ten Commandments in the education of our children is part of our state and national history, culture, and tradition." In addition to exempting private schools, the amended bill also requires that the Ten Commandments be displayed with a "context statement" indicating that the Commandments "were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries," "were also included in public school textbooks published by educator William McGuffey," and "also appeared in textbooks published by Noah Webster." In the spirit of including documents of historic importance in the classroom, the amended bill also provides for the display of the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance. Lea Patterson, senior council with the First Liberty Institute, suggested to Nola.com that the amendments will serve to strengthen the bill when scrutinized by a court. "It's generally accepted in many legal cases that the Ten Commandments has historical significance," said Patterson, "and that its display is consistent with history and tradition, which is the governing legal test in such matters." The ACLU, which has fought ardently to ensure that LGBT propaganda and pride displays can be exhibited in school settings, made clear it is opposed to having any traces of biblical morality in the classroom. "No federal court has upheld the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools, regardless of context," Heather Weaver, senior staff attorney at the ACLU told Nola.com. "There's a good reason for that too: Public schools shouldn't be used to religiously indoctrinate or convert students." The ACLU, the ACLU of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the anti-Christian Freedom from Religion Foundation, released a joint statement Friday calling the bill "unconstitutional." Blaze News reached out to Horton for comment but did not receive a response by deadline. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Democrats bet big on January 6. It’s been their election strategy for years now; its memory is invoked like Pearl Harbor, 9/11, and Dealey Plaza rolled into one neat campaign ad. There’s a problem, though, revealed most recently in last week’s primaries: It’s not working with voters. Maybe they don’t buy it or don’t care, but they’re not voting on it. And that spells trouble for the White House. Democrats had bet on a Trump riot for years. Just before the 2016 election, the cover of The Week showed a howling mob of torch-bearing white people under the headline, “After the election: How will Trump's followers react if they think it's stolen?” This is bad news for Biden and Co. J6 was the plan. That’s what he’s been talking about, and no one cares. He's down in the polls, and the election is coming quick. Best think fast. Back in real life, the country was forced to endure another four years of weekly left-wing political violence and Democrat-supported race riots before the Democrats got anything like they’d been hoping for on Jan. 6, 2021. That day’s disorder was all they needed. They occupied the capital with unarmed troops, using them as props and making them sleep in parking garages (fine for soldiers) with only a single bathroom (inhumane for any force). They surrounded themselves with barbed-wire fences, blocking the street I lived on for months. They cried on TV, released documentaries, and launched a concerted campaign of political espionage against the Republican Party and its supporters under the guise of investigation. They diverted all FBI resources nationwide to hunting down and raiding the homes of violent rioters and peaceful trespassers alike. They imprisoned everyone they could, holding them for years in a roach-infested prison a few blocks from my home. Many remain jailed to this day. Republicans were terrified. Senators like Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) were the only ones to speak up about the prison conditions, while even conservative mainstays like Ted Cruz (R-Texas) condemned the riot as a “terrorist attack” — that is, until Tucker Carlson scared him straight. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) gave one of the more forceful speeches of his career, blaming President Donald Trump for the violence. Democratic speechwriters like former historian Jon Meacham wrote books about “the battle for our better angels” and rolled book plugs into President Joe Biden’s dark and threatening, literally red-lit speeches about the deadly “ultra MAGA" threat to democracy. A fully invested corporate media invented martyrs for their new holiday, invoking the names of stroke victims, listing cardiac arrests like they were casualties of war. They made heroes, too. But not of the police officers I saw during my reporting, pelted with projectiles, attacked and rushed by angry rioters (and the feds in their midst). The media heroes were the loudest mouths and the most politically useful, men like Harry Dunn, who until Tuesday was running a campaign to be congressman from Maryland. Dunn played a central role in congressional investigations, speaking of the horrors he’d endured and the bravery he’d showcased. He talked ceaselessly to the press, including one harrowing interview in the New York Times about how “black officers fought a different battle." He recorded a podcast with the Daily, which the Times highlighted again as one “of our favorite episodes of the year.” He told his erstwhile stenographers that while had no shield, “My fists are pretty protective. By the end, I had blood on my knuckles and swelling.” “You are a big guy," his fawning chronicler replied. And then there was the book, "Standing My Ground: A Capitol Police Officer's Fight for Accountability and Good Trouble” — a reference to Democrat political hero Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.). He went on a media tour. He went on “The View.” He was Time’s “person of the week,” which is apparently a thing. When he decided to enter a busy primary to run for Congress in one of America’s most gerrymandered districts, he announced it on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” He was running, he told the hosts, “because I think on Jan. 6, it exposed one, how weak and fragile [democracy] is, and I don't think that's an exaggeration to say.” “It may sound scary,” he continued, “but we are one election away from the extinction of democracy as we know it.” His candidacy was quickly endorsed by the top Democrat poobahs, including Reps. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Adam Schiff (Calif.), Eric Swalwell (Calif.), Bennie Thompson (Miss.), Jim Clyburn (S.C.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), and even Luke Skywalker (Moonbat-Tatooine). They didn’t care that thousands of hours of carefully reviewed security footage failed to show Dunn in a single even semi-physical confrontation aside from the two he initiated with seated, already-surrendered trespassers. They didn’t care that he was the one who appeared to be out of control and was apparently chastised or kicked out of the room by superiors on film on two occasions. They didn’t care that he was seen accidentally ejecting the magazine from his rifle down a marble hallway. They didn’t care that Harry Dunn was not the man he said he was. They didn’t care that he didn’t exude any special intelligence; he said all the right things. The Democrats and their press allies were there to create the narrative. They were there to preserve the narrative. But normal people don’t care. They simply do not care. Sarah Elfreth, a basic liberal Democrat white woman, beat his vote total by about 50%. Keep in mind this isn’t Kansas or Wyoming. Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District is heavily Democratic and a short 35-minute drive from the Capitol building itself. It's over 70% white-collar. It’s more than 17% black, nearly 11% Asian. and 9% Hispanic. This is bad news for Biden and Co. The president hasn’t given any major addresses on inflation, the invasion at the southern border, or criminal disorder in America’s cities. J6 was the plan. That’s what he’s been talking about, and no one cares. He's down in the polls, and the election is coming quick. Best think fast. Blaze Media: Democratic establishment's Jan. 6 'hero' defeated in House primary — and people are thanking Steve Baker Blaze Media Original: Capitol Officer Harry Dunn exposed | The truth about January 6 Blaze Media: Harry Dunn’s account of January 6 does not add up. At all. Blaze Media: Another Jan. 6 defendant dies by suicide while awaiting trial: Report Sign up for the Christopher Bedford newsletter Sign up to get Blaze Media senior politics editor Christopher Bedford's newsletter, launching later this spring. IN OTHER NEWS Trump’s defense lands a potential TKO Thursday was a no good, very bad day for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Before the trial broke for a three-day weekend so that Trump could attend his son’s high school graduation, defense attorney Todd Blanche unraveled what was one of the lynchpins of the prosecution’s case: an Oct. 24, 2016, phone conversation Michael Cohen said he had with Donald Trump about establishing the hush-money payment scheme. Only the call may not have been about hush money at all. Blanche forced Cohen to admit on the witness stand that the phone call lasted less than two minutes, that it was between Cohen and Trump’s bodyguard Keith Schiller, and that it was immediately preceded by texts between Cohen and Schiller that suggested the two needed to get on the phone to discuss prank calls Cohen was receiving from a 14-year-old at the time. Cohen claims Schiller addressed the issue with the prank caller, handed his cell phone to a conveniently nearby Trump, and then Cohen and Trump discussed “the Stormy Daniels matter and the resolution of it.” All within 96 seconds. If you find that difficult to believe, you’re not the only one. Legal experts across the ideological spectrum said the collapse of Cohen’s phone call story was a disaster for the Democratic DA — one that could potentially cost prosecutors the conviction they have twisted the law to win. The Blaze: ‘Inveterate liar:’ Cohen’s former lawyer accuses prosecution’s key witness of lying on stand in Trump’s New York case Washington Examiner: ‘That was a lie:’ Trump attorneys blast Cohen over testimony on key phone call Oversight catfight Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) derailed House Oversight Committee proceedings on Thursday night with a heated back-and-forth that began over fake eyelashes. Greene started it by accusing Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) of getting confused about the purpose of the hearing — it was a markup for a resolution to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress — because of her cosmetics. “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading,” Greene snapped at Crockett. So began a chaotic verbal brawl that involved AOC sticking up forcefully for Crockett, Greene refusing to apologize, Chairman James Comer (R-Tenn.) struggling to keep control of a room that devolved into shouting, and — finally! — a vote to advance the contempt resolution against Garland. Joe Biden had tried to shield Garland from the contempt mess by exerting executive privilege over the audio recordings of his interview with special counsel Robert Hur about classified documents. That interview prompted Hur to conclude that Biden was too senile to be taken to trial over breaking classified document laws. Yes, Biden could also have neutralized the contempt issue by actually releasing the tapes. But clearly, Biden and the Justice Department do not want the public to hear how Biden sounded during the lengthy interview with Hur, and a political calculation seems to have been made that the damage done by withholding the recordings and allowing Garland to be held in contempt by the full House (the likely next step) is nothing compared to the damage that would be done by releasing the tapes. The Hill: Chaos erupts in House hearing as Greene, Ocasio-Cortez clash over ‘fake eyelashes’ jibe at Crockett

In a 2016 video released by CNN, Sean "Diddy" Combs was caught beating his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura at the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles in 2016. According to a complaint filed by Ventura and proven by the video, “Mr. Combs became extremely intoxicated and punched Ms. Ventura in the face, giving her a black eye.” When Ventura attempted to leave the hotel room, Diddy followed Ventura into the hallway, where he threw glass vases at her and repeatedly kicked her. The complaint was later settled. The report comes after rumors swirled about Diddy’s involvement in a sex trafficking operation that’s currently under investigation. Sara Gonzales is disturbed. “You see this happen so often with these celebrities, that these videotapes turn up of them just being terrible people, and it’s like were they terrible people always and somehow because they’re terrible people they make their way to the top, or does fame turn them into terrible people?” Gonzales asks. Eric July is skeptical of the timing. “Six, seven years still up until that point that this video was just floating around, and now all of a sudden it just turns up? Something else sinister is at play,” July says. “He stopped being useful to these folks, and now he’s done, he’s cooked for sure, he’s done,” he adds. “He pissed someone off,” Gonzales agrees. Want more from Sara Gonzales?To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred take to news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

The ICC is under the mistaken impression that it enjoys legitimate jurisdiction over the conduct of Israel’s defensive war against Hamas.

LOL, WHO Are You? ICC Prosecutor Demands Arrest Warrants Against Netanyahu and Gallant

Alvin Bragg's Case in Shambles After Michael Cohen Admits to Stealing From Trump and More

UK Court Ruling: Julian Assange Will Be Given a Chance to Appeal His Extradition to the US

I've been in the market for an iPad for months and decided to wait for the M4 iPad Pro to come out before I get one. Well, the M4 iPad Pro is available in stores, but that's not what I was actually waiting for. I want to see what iPadOS 18 has to offer, and I need to know if the M4 iPad Pro has exclusive features that other iPad models can't take full advantage of. Call it wishful thinking, but I'd love it if the M4 iPad Pro could replicate some of the things my MacBook Pro can do. I'd love to use the M4 iPad Pro for work. And by that, I mean that I'd love better multitasking from Apple's iPadOS. I know that's unlikely to happen, as Apple made it clear yet again that the iPad Pro won't get more Mac-like features. Come WWDC 2024, I'll make my decision. But I already have a backup plan that doesn't involve the M2 iPad Air. The iPad Air might seem like the second-best iPad in Apple's lineup behind the OLED iPad Pro, but that's not exactly the case. That's because a better option exists: The M2 iPad Pro that Apple released in 2022. Continue reading... The post M2 iPad Air actually isn’t the second-best iPad you can get appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Today’s deals: $3 Alexa smart plugs, Peloton sale, $250 HP laptop, Sony XM5 headphones, more Today’s deals: $399 iPad Air 5, Igloo coolers, $150 off M3 MacBook Air, Vitamix blenders, Ninja sale, more Best Apple deals for May 2024 Best Ring Video Doorbell deals in May 2024