This Week in Science: Could Cloud Cover Ruin Next Monday’s Eclipse?
It’s time for “Nerd News,” covering the most important news for your brain.
Here’s a quick rundown of this week in science . . .
1. In eclipse news: People on the edge of the “path of totality” may want to move a little close to the middle of it. The predicted edges aren’t exact, and could be off by a few hundred yards thanks to uncertainty in the Earth’s rotation . . . and because we don’t know exactly how big the Sun is. (???)
“Forbes” posted a list of 15 populated areas that could be affected, including parts of Austin, San Antonio, Cincinnati, and Toronto. (There’s a map that might also be helpful if you zoom in. The red lines are the original prediction. The orange ones show the new possible edges.)
2. In other eclipse news: Cloud cover could ruin it for a lot of people across the United States. It’s hard to predict, but it’s looking pretty iffy in some spots.
Also, NASA is launching three rockets into the Moon’s shadow to see how the eclipse affects the ionosphere . . . and a comet larger than Mount Everest known as the “Devil Comet” might be visible during the eclipse.
3. In other Moon news: The White House Office of Science & Technology told NASA to decide what time it is on the Moon by the end of 2026. They’re planning to call the new time zone “Coordinated Lunar Time.”
4. In “WHY DO THIS!?” news: ChatGPT’s parent company is working on a new A.I. voice generator that’s even better, and can impersonate anyone with just a 15-second audio sample. They released samples, and you can’t tell the difference.
5. In health news: The first person to get a genetically modified pig kidney left the hospital and is doing well . . . a study found sleeping with dogs in your bed affects your sleep more than cats . . . and knee pain might make your brain age faster.
6. And in other pain news: A study in the U.K. found CBD products may not relieve pain at all. They think it could just be the placebo effect.