UA Astronomy Department holds viewing of planetary transit of Mercury
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – May 9
Today was a perfect day to gaze into the sky to view the rare planetary transit of Mercury as it passed between the Earth and the sun. The University of Alabama Department of Physics and Astronomy hosted a public viewing of the transit of Mercury on campus. Dr. Ron Buta, a professor of astronomy has several telescopes at the observatory at Gallalee Hall. Members of the public got the chance to see Mercury.
WVUA 23 (Tuscaloosa) – May 9
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – May 9
Mercury to track across sun Monday morning; University of Alabama to host public viewing
Tuscaloosa News – May 9
The planet Mercury will make a rare pass between the Earth and the sun on Monday morning, and the public is invited to the University of Alabama to view a projected image of the planet as it slowly tracks in front of the sun. UA’s department of physics and astronomy will host this public viewing of a transit of Mercury from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. today on the fourth floor of Gallalee Hall. The planet will appear as a small black dot as it slowly moves across the projected image. The event, hosted by Ronald Buta, UA professor of astronomy, will use telescopes to project the image onto screens. The public is reminded to never look directly at the sun.
Scientists cite evidence that mosasaurs were warm-blooded
Phys.org – May 9
Mosasaurs – an extinct group of aquatic reptiles that thrived during the Late Cretaceous period – possibly were “endotherms,” or warm-blooded creatures, a paper co-written by a University of Alabama professor suggests. Dr. Alberto Perez-Huerta’s paper on endothermic mosasaurs— co-written with now-graduated doctoral student Dr. T. Lynn Harrell Jr. and Dr. Celina Suarez of the University of Arkansas—was published in a March issue of Palaeontology, a journal published by the Palaeontological Association. Mosasurs were large aquatic reptiles that went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago. The paper focuses on a debate in the paleontological community over how mosasaurs employed “thermaregulation,” or how they controlled their body heat—whether mosasaurs were endotherms (warm-blooded) or ectotherms, cold-blooded creatures taking their body temperature from the surrounding sea.
Tattoos, piercings, and the search for better health
CBS 9 (Greenville, NC) – May 9
Instead of seeing a doctor, thousands of people are turning to their local tattoo shop for a potential solution to migraine pain and a way to boost their immune system. A new study published in the American Journal of Human Biology by researchers at the University of Alabama finds receiving multiple tattoos can actually strengthen your immunological responses, potentially making it easier to fight off common infections.
Advice to parents before sending your kids off to college
Al.com – May 9, 2016
Over my 25 years as a teacher turned university professor and administrator, I have watched countless numbers of students enter and leave college – most are well prepared to harness the realities of life after leaving the college cocoon while others are less well equipped. Freshmen arrive on college campuses with different levels of academic preparation; different aptitudes and proclivities; and different goals and agendas for their first substantial attempt at making it on their own. Parents, while you still have some modicum of influence over your children’s decision-making, please: (By Dr. B. Joyce Stallworth, who retired from the University of Alabama on April 1, 2016. Until then, she served as the Associate Provost for Special Project and Professor of English Education.)
Efforts to oust Roy Moore linked to past
Associated Press – May 10
Common threads link the current effort to remove Roy Moore as Alabama’s chief justice with the case that resulted in his ouster from the same post more than a decade ago: Particularly, his conservative Christian beliefs and his views on the power of federal courts … Susan Pace Hamill, who has observed Moore’s career for more than two decades as a researcher and law professor at the University of Alabama, said Moore’s actions in the two cases are consistent, but still wrong. “The first thing any first-year law student learns is the supremacy of federal law,” she said Monday. “What a federal court says goes.”
U.S. News and World Report – May 10
Selma Times-Journal – May 10
Gadsden Times – May 10