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Extreme Weather Events Fueling 'Climate Refugee' Crisis

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Building and Detonating the Atom Bomb in Nevada 

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Building and Detonating the Atom Bomb in Nevada 

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Climate migrants: who are they and where will they go?  | AFP

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The Cold War: Crash Course US History #37

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During the height of World War II between 1942 and 1945, the U.S. government's top-secret program to build an atomic bomb, code-named the Manhattan Project, cumulatively employed some 600,000 people, including scientists, technicians, janitors, engineers, chemists, maids and day laborers. While rarely acknowledged, African American men and women were among them-their ranks bolstered by greater wartime employment opportunities and President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's Executive Order 8802 of 1941 outlawing racial discrimination in the defense industries.

At the project's rural production sites in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Hanford, Washington, Black workers were relegated to mostly menial jobs like janitors, cooks and laborers, regardless of education or experience. But in the project's urban research centers-the Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory and at Columbia University in New York-several Black scientists were able to play key roles in the development of the two atomic bombs that were released on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, effectively ending the war. According to the Atomic Heritage Foundation, at least 12 Black chemists and physicists participated in primary research at the Metallurgical lab, a small fraction of the more than 400 scientists, technicians and laboratory staff members tasked with designing a method of plutonium production that could fuel a nuclear reaction.

Chemist Benjamin Scott, who worked in the Chicago Met Lab, described the atomic bomb project to the Chicago Daily Tribune as a "not only a successful experiment in physical science, but also in sociology," adding that white people working on the project had maintained a spirit of fair play.

Arthur Compton, the Manhattan Project director in Chicago and a Nobel Prize winner in physics, said the project was unique in bringing together "colored and white, Christian and Jew" for a common cause. Yet beyond Compton's lab and the Columbia University site, opportunities for Black scientists on the project were often limited by racism.
WATCH: In the race to end WWII, the brightest American minds are called to work on the Manhattan Project, including a number of unsung Black scientists and engineers: READ MORE: The Hiroshima Bombing DIdn't Just End WWII-It Kick-Started the Cold War.
Decent Pay, Segregated Facilities

Situated in the South, where Jim Crow segregation was in full force during the war, the rural community of Oak Ridge ballooned as the Manhattan Project production facility grew. Black workers, drawn to the high pay and free housing advertised at the site, filled menial roles in the Tennessee site, only to be housed in groups of five or six in hutments, 16 x 16-foot plywood structures that had shutter windows, one stove and no plumbing. Women were segregated from men, even if they were married. "There are few other areas of the South where the plight of Negros, as compared with that of their white neighbors, is as wretched as it is here," reported Enoc Waters, a columnist for the Chicago Defender.
READ MORE: Black Americans Who Served in WWII Faced Discrimination Abroad and At Home
At the Hanford, Washington site, where the plutonium was produced to build the first atomic bomb, Black workers faced similar discrimination. They lived in inferior living conditions and were refused service at many stores and restaurants. Lula Mae Little, who had migrated from the Midwest and South to the Eastern Washington desert with thousands of other African Americans in search of better wages, referred to Hanford as the "Mississippi of the North."

J. Ernest Wilkins and Other Black Scientists

In 1944, a 21-year-old African American mathematician named Ernest Wilkins joined the team at the Metallurgical Laboratory. A child prodigy who had entered the University of Chicago at the age of 13, Wilkins earned his bachelor's, master's and Ph.D. degrees in six years-becoming, at the time, one of the one half of 1 percent of Black men in America with Ph.Ds. Yet after graduation he received no job offers from any major research institutions; he taught at the Tuskegee Institute before being recruited to work on the Manhattan Project.

At the Metallurgical Laboratory, Wilkins researched neutron energy, reactor physics and engineering with two prominent European-born scientists, Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard. Together they did groundbreaking work in the movement of subatomic particles. But when his team was transferred in 1944 to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a Manhattan Project site where the X-10 Graphite Reactor was being built, Wilkins was left behind because he was Black. Edward Teller, a scientist at the Columbia University complex, wrote to the War Research department in an attempt to recruit him to the work in New York. "He is a colored man and since Wigner's group is moving to (Oak Ridge) it is not possible for him to continue work with that group. I think that it might be a good idea to secure his services for our work," Teller said. He did not go to New York.
READ MORE: Physicist Enrico Fermi Produces the First Nuclear Chain Reaction
Black scientists at the Metallurgical Lab and Columbia University included, among others: Edwin R. Russell, a research chemist focused on isolating and extracting plutonium-239 from uranium; Moddie Taylor, a chemist who analyzed the chemical properties of rare earth metals; Ralph Gardner-Chavis, a chemist who, along with Wilkins, worked closely with Enrico Fermi; George Warren Reed, who researched fission yields of uranium and thorium; Lloyd Quarterman, a chemist who worked on distilling Uranium-235; the Harvard-educated brothers Lawrence and William Knox, chemists who researched the effects of the bomb and separation of the uranium isotope, respectively; chemists Harold Delaney and Benjamin Scott and physicist Jasper Jeffries.

Advocating Peaceful Use of the Atomic Bomb

Wilkins and Jeffries were two of 70 Manhattan Project scientists who signed a petition urging President Harry S. Truman not use the atomic bomb on Japan without first demonstrating its power and giving Japan the option to surrender. But Truman never saw the petition, which didn't become widely known about until it was declassified in 1961.
READ MORE: 'Father of the Atomic Bomb' Blacklisted for Opposing the H-Bomb
At the Met Lab, Wilkins and Jeffries had joined the Atomic Scientists of Chicago, which was founded in 1945 to address the moral and social responsibilities of scientists regarding the use of the atomic bomb. In 1947, Jeffries gave a speech to the American Veterans Committee, urging for the peaceful use of the atomic bomb. "The best way to assure peaceful uses of atomic energy is to banish war," he said. Jeffries argued the presence of the atomic bomb necessitated the need for a strong world government and a United Nations that would help moderate the development of atomic weapons in many countries.

A Commitment to Science Education

After World War II, Wilkins worked for a decade as a mathematician at the United Nuclear Corporation. Later he went on to distinguished professorships at two historically Black colleges, Howard University and Clark Atlanta University, where he retired in 2003. He served as president of the American Nuclear Society from 1974 to 1975. Many of his Black colleagues, including Jeffries, also spent years following World War II at Black colleges, where they nurtured generations of Black scientists. In 1958, at the same time of the passage of the National Defense Education Act, which funded science education for all Americans, Wilkins worked with the National Urban League to establish a program for African American scientists.
READ MORE: 8 Black Inventors Who Made Daily Life Easier
When he died in 2011 at the age of 87, Wilkins had authored more than 100 scholarly papers. According to Shane Landrum, a historian of Black atomic scientists, the work of Wilkins and other Black Manhattan Project scientists, along with their white and immigrant colleagues, changed the "course of the war and the role of science in American politics."

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The Unsung African American Scientists of the Manhattan Project

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During the height of World War II between 1942 and 1945, the U.S. government's top-secret program to build an atomic bomb, code-named the Manhattan Project, cumulatively employed some 600,000 people, including scientists, technicians, janitors, engineers, chemists, maids and day laborers.

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Harvard scientists say Oumuamua may be probe sent by "alien civilization"

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Two calves among orcas seen swimming near Seattle

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Two calves among orcas seen swimming near Seattle

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Two calves among orcas seen swimming near Seattle

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Local photographer Jami Cantrell captured these photos of the Southern resident orcas last week swimming near Alki beach, and Discovery Park.

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How High You Could Jump on Different Planets in 3D

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Natural Hazards: Crash Course Geography #27

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Currently, a thick band of levitating space junk â€" composed primarily of broken satellite pieces and discarded rocket boosters â€" skirts the Earth. Two or three times a day, a satellite circling our planet narrowly misses a torrent of the orbital debris. This phenomenon has jeopardized not only current space travelers, but future missions as well.

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Currently, a thick band of levitating space junk â€" composed primarily of broken satellite pieces and discarded rocket boosters â€" skirts the Earth. Two or three times a day, a satellite circling our planet narrowly misses a torrent of the orbital debris. This phenomenon has jeopardized not only current space travelers, but future missions as well.

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© 1996-2015 National Geographic Society. © 2015-2016 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved. Learn about our nonprofit work at NationalGeographic.org

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The black hole are among the most fascinating objective in our universe and also mysterious. A black hole  is a region in space where the force of gravity is so strong not even light the fastest known entity in our universe can escape.

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The black hole are among the most fascinating objective in our universe and also mysterious. A black hole  is a region in space where the force of gravity is so strong not even light the fastest known entity in our universe can escape.

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What causes an earthquake? | Natural Disasters

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Even though it isn't guaranteed to cause health problems, there are quite a few gross things that can happen when you don't wash your hands. Because, as we all know, germs are everywhere. And it often doesn't take much to pick them up throughout the day, or pass them along to others.

Thankfully, the immune system usually steps in before bacteria and viruses can do any real damage. But if you aren't washing your hands regularly, you may be unnecessarily putting yourself at risk. After all, "the number one way to prevent disease is hand washing," Dr. Elizabeth Trattner, tells Bustle. So even though it can be easy to put it off, it's much healthier to pop off to the bathroom and give your mitts a quick scrub, especially after coming in contact with dirty surfaces or if you happen to be sick.

"The best hand washing technique is to rinse hands under warm water, then lather with soap for 20 to 30 seconds, getting all areas of the hands," Brianne Bell, registered dietician and food service supervisor, tells Bustle. "Rinse under warm water and dry with a clean towel." That should help reduce the risk of all the gross things below, which may be more likely to happen if you don't wash your hands.

1. You Might Catch More Colds

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 80 percent of infectious disease is spread by touch. And really, all it takes is the simple act of grabbing a germ-riddled doorknob and then touching your nose, in order to get infected. So let this serve as motivation to whip out the soap on a more regular basis, not only for your own sake, but for everyone else's health as well.

Of course, that doesn't mean you need to become paranoid. Most of the time your body protect you from germs, especially if your immune system is strong. But even still, washing up whenever you've been around someone with a cold is always a good idea.

2. Fecal Matter Can End Up In Your Food

It's a gross truth, but fecal matter is lurking in more places than you might think - including your hands. And rather disgustingly, those particles can get into food and make you sick, according to the CDC.

It may not be something you want to imagine. But as long as you're washing your hands after using the bathroom, changing a diaper, walking your dog, or even using public transportation, you should be able to lower your risk.

3. You Could Get Or Spread Food Poisoning

There are many ways to come down with a case of food poisoning, including eating undercooked meats, or food that has gone bad. You can also get pretty darn sick by preparing meals with dirty hands. (See above information about fecal matter).

According to the CDC, a large percentage of food-borne disease outbreaks are spread by contaminated hands. But appropriate hand washing practices can reduce the risk of food-borne illness and other infections. So do yourself, and everyone else, a huge favor by washing before you handle food.

4. You're Infecting Everyone You Touch

Sure, it's polite to cover your sneeze with your hand than it is to let if fly. And yet, how often do you really wash up after doing so? It's easy to forget, or to touch a few surfaces first - and just like that the germs spread.

Again, hand washing is the best way to prevent the transfer of disease, which is why "this is one of the first things you learn in medical school or in any health profession," Dr. Trattner says.

In a pinch, using hand sanitizer can cut back on the transfer of germs, Bell says. But nothing beats a good ol' scrub when it comes to reducing the amount of bacteria and viruses on your hands.

5. You Can Get Pink Eye

Pink eye, also known as conjunctivitis, is an eye infection many people catch in elementary school, mostly because it's highly contagious and thus spreads like wildfire among kids. But adults can get it, too.

In fact, often all it takes is a quick moment of hand-to-eye contact when you have an infected person's secretions on your hand, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, before the typical symptoms of redness, itchiness, and pus in the eyes will begin.

6. Your Snacks Can Get Contaminated

Think of all the times you've plunged a dirty hand into a bag of chips, box of crackers, or bowl of popcorn. If you aren't washing your hands, it's so easy to contaminate these shared foods with germs, according to the New York State Department of Health.

This is also why you may not want to share food or utensils with someone who is sick, especially if they have the norovirus. According to the CDC, if you get the norovirus illness, you can shed billions of norovirus particles that you can't see without a microscope, and it only takes a few of these particles to make people sick.

7. You Might Pick Up Hepatitis A

Not washing your hands can also lead to hepatitis A. "This is a serious liver virus that spreads when people do not wash their hands before making food and drinks," Dr. Tania Elliott, board-certified allergist/immunologist at NYU Langone Health, tells Bustle. "It also spreads through sexual contact with people who have hepatitis A, and by eating foods contaminated with the virus."

You can, however, make it less likely to happen. As Dr. Elliott says, "Washing your hands with soap and warm water after using the bathroom, changing a diaper, or before making food and drinks can help stop the spread of hepatitis A."

8. Diarrhea May Become A Frequent Visitor

Not washing your hands regularly can increase your chances of catching an illness that leads to diarrhea. One of these might be shigellosis, a bacterial infection with symptoms that include watery diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever, according to the CDC.

There is good news, though, in that simply washing your hands - especially after coming in contact with germ-y surfaces - can prevent about 30 percent of diarrhea-related sicknesses, the CDC says.

9. You Might Catch The Epstein-Barr Virus

We talked about poop in your food. Now what about urine, or saliva? Turns out, these are carriers of diseases like typhoid, cytomegalovirus, and Epstein-Barr virus, which are spread by contaminated hands, according to the CDC.

Epstein-Barr is the virus that causes mononucleosis, AKA the "kissing disease," which can lead to fever, weakness, swollen neck glands, and fatigue that lasts for weeks. "This is spread through saliva, so kissing, sharing food or beverages, or touching something with saliva on it are all ways in which it can be transmitted," Dr. Elliott says. "Hand washing, especially after touching the face and mouth [...] can help prevent the spread."

10. It Could Contribute To Antibiotic Resistance

According to the CDC, reducing the number of infections people get by washing your hands can help prevent the overuse of antibiotics, which is the single most important factor leading to antibiotic resistance around the world.

"Antibiotics are often overused when someone has a viral infection (remember, antibiotics only fight bacterial infections, not viruses)," Dr. Elliott says. "So, the fewer viral infections (by proper hand washing and other sanitary measures), the less use of unnecessary antibiotics."

In fact, hand washing can also prevent people from getting sick with germs that are already resistant to antibiotics and that can be difficult to treat, according to the CDC. So help out everyone on the planet, and wash your those hands!

11. Acne Can Crop Up

Not washing your hands can also increase the chances of an acne breakout, all thanks to the way bacteria can transfer from your hands to your face.

"Touching, rubbing, and picking [at the] face are common causes for more acne," Dr. Yoram Harth, board-certified dermatologist and medical director of MDacne, tells Bustle. "When the hands are not washed, the bacteria on the skin of our hands spread to the face and can cause more acne."

Germs truly are lurking around every corner. And they can obviously cause and spread all sorts of diseases, from the common cold, to the norovirus, and even hepatitis A. But by getting into the habit of washing your hands regularly - especially before touching food - you may be able to enjoy a more germ-free life.
This post was originally published on 4/12/2016. It was updated on 6/7/2019.

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11 Gross Things That Can Happen When You Don't Wash Your Hands Enough

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Even though it isn't guaranteed to cause health problems, there are quite a few gross things that can happen when you don't wash your hands. Because, as we all know, germs are everywhere. And it often doesn't take much to pick them up throughout the...

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alien A non-native organism. (in astronomy) Life on or from a distant world.

annual Adjective for something that happens in every year.

astronaut Someone trained to travel into space for research and exploration.

constant Continuous or uninterrupted.

Enceladus The sixth largest of Saturn's more than 50 moons. Enceladus is bright white and covered with a thick shell of ice. Deep beneath that ice sits what appears to be a global ocean of salty liquid water. Enceladus is a round sphere, 500 kilometers (310 miles) across. It is a little less than one-third the width of Earth's moon.

environment The sum of all of the things that exist around some organism or some device and the condition those things create for that organism or device. Environment may refer to the weather and ecosystem in which some animal lives, or, perhaps, the temperature, humidity and placement of components in some electronics system or product.

Europa One of the moons of Jupiter and the sixth-closest satellite to the planet. Europa, 1,951 miles across, has a network of dark lines on a bright, icy surface.

extraterrestrial (ET) Anything of or from regions beyond Earth.

extremophile A microorganism that lives in conditions of extreme temperature, acidity, alkalinity or concentrations of chemicals.

germ Any one-celled microorganism, such as a bacterium, fungal species or virus particle. Some germs cause disease. Others can promote the health of higher-order organisms, including birds and mammals. The health effects of most germs, however, remain unknown.

geyser A vent (opening) in Earth's surface that intermittently sends up a tall spray of steam or hot water. The sometimes explosive discharge of water and steam is propelled by the geothermal heating of water below ground.

Jupiter (in astronomy) The solar system's largest planet, it has the shortest day length (10 hours). A gas giant, its low density indicates that this planet is composed of light elements, such as hydrogen and helium. This planet also releases more heat than it receives from the sun as gravity compresses its mass (and slowly shrinks the planet).

lander A special, small vehicle designed to ferry humans or scientific equipment between a spacecraft and the celestial body they will explore.

Mars The fourth planet from the sun, just one planet out from Earth. Like Earth, it has seasons and moisture. But its diameter is only about half as big as Earth's.

microbe Short for microorganism. A living thing that is too small to see with the unaided eye, including bacteria, some fungi and many other organisms such as amoebas. Most consist of a single cell.

NASA Short for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Created in 1958, this U.S. agency has become a leader in space research and in stimulating public interest in space exploration. It was through NASA that the United States sent people into orbit and ultimately to the moon. It also has sent research craft to study planets and other celestial objects in our solar system.

orbiter A spacecraft designed to go into orbit, especially one not intended to land.

organism Any living thing, from elephants and plants to bacteria and other types of single-celled life.

planet A celestial object that orbits a star, is big enough for gravity to have squashed it into a roundish ball and has cleared other objects out of the way in its orbital neighborhood. To accomplish the third feat, the object must be big enough to have pulled neighboring objects into the planet itself or to have slung them around the planet and off into outer space. Astronomers of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) created this three-part scientific definition of a planet in August 2006 to determine Pluto's status. Based on that definition, IAU ruled that Pluto did not qualify. The solar system now includes eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

robot A machine that can sense its environment, process information and respond with specific actions. Some robots can act without any human input, while others are guided by a human.

satellite A moon orbiting a planet or a vehicle or other manufactured object that orbits some celestial body in space.

Saturn The sixth planet out from the sun in our solar system. One of the four gas giants, this planet takes 10.7 hours to rotate (completing a day) and 29 Earth years to complete one orbit of the sun. It has at least 53 known moons and 9 more candidates awaiting confirmation. But what most distinguishes this planet is the broad and flat plane of seven rings that orbit it.

science fiction A field of literary or filmed stories that take place against a backdrop of fantasy, usually based on speculations about how science and engineering will direct developments in the distant future. The plots in many of these stories focus on space travel, exaggerated changes attributed to evolution or life in (or on) alien worlds.

terrestrial Having to do with planet Earth, especially its land. Terra is Latin for Earth.

viable Able to live and survive. (in biology) Able to survive and/or live a normal lifespan.

weed (in botany) A plant growing wild in, around - and sometimes smothering over - valued plants, such as crops or landscape species (including lawn grasses, flowers and shrubs). Often a plant becomes such a botanical bully when it enters a new environment with no natural predators or controlling conditions, such as hard frosts. (in biology, generally) Any organism may be referred to as a "weed" if it enters an environment and begins to overwhelm the local ecosystem.

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7 Tips for the Best Whale Watching Experience

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SEWARD SPOTLIGHT The MMT Blog / 7 Tips for the Best Whale Watching Experience Major Marine Tours offers glacier and wildlife day cruises into Resurrection Bay and Kenai Fjords National Park, and whale watching is a highlight of every one of our tours. From species-focused tours like our Orca Quest Cruise, to whale watching and tidewater [...]

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Author John Green visited the University of Wisconsin’s Shannon Hall at Memorial Union on Feb. 18 to talk about the upcoming release of his new book, “Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection.” Green was introduced by professor of pediatrics at UW’s School of Medicine and Public Health Dr. James Conway.…

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