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lizzieisright · 8 months

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Avengers!AU as I promised. It's rushed because the movie is fucking 2.5 hours long and I'm not rewriting the whole thing, because this is just for fun. I also didn't proofread it, sorry for mistakes/misspellings.

Cap!Abby x Black Widow!Reader if you squint really hard.

Also I gave the reader Natasha's last name (the proper one, not the weird one, sorry, it bothers me to this day).

So we start with Shield base getting attacked by Jinx (Loki) so she could take Tesseract and destroy the Earth because it's her sister's precious place. Sevika (Nick Fury) gets pissed off at the blue haired maniac of a girl and she loses Manny (Hawkeye) so she is furious.

You (Black Widow) are somewhere in Russia, in the middle of interrogation, when Maria Hill calls to inform you that your buddy is now a baddie and you kick everyone's asses and immediately get on a new mission. You head off to India to persuade Caitlyn Kiramann (Hulk) to help Shield find Jinx and rescue Manny, promising it's only about her physics knowledge and not about the green giant woman she can turn into.

At the same time Sevika makes it to Captain Anderson, to persuade Abby to help Shield. Abby, still not really adjusted, still so mad, agrees. (Now can you imagine that scene when Steve is beating the punching bag and you can see his back and ass and biceps? Imagine it with Abby).

Now Maria Hill has the most insufferable person to recruit: Ellie Williams. The Iron Woman is not someone who'd want to work with Shield, she is not a team player and prone to anger, so Maria just wants to bash her head on the elevator door while she gets to her floor on the Williams tower. Thank God for Dina (Pepper) who can make Williams do anything, because Ellie takes the documents and starts working on it. (She is a little excited: she'd get to work with Caitlyn Kiramann! But she also sees Captain Anderson and rolls her eyes: she heard too much about her)

During the flight to the helicarrier Maria gives Abby her new uniform and Abby politely thanks her while inside she screams in agony: didn't Shield watch the war chronicles? Did they see that this atrocity with a fucking skirt was her performance costume? (I have personal vendetta against Cap's costume in this movie)

The first person Abby meets on the helicarrier is you.

"Agent Romanova. Captain Anderson." Maria introduces you to each other and you nod politely.

The deep winter in your eyes makes Abby feel understood. She doesn't know you, doesn't trust you, but she feels like you two have something in common. (It's a trauma and a sense of humour). Her cheerful naive side died in arctic ice, and what was left now found a familiar soul in you.

"You really revived American patriotism." You chuckle and Abby chuckles too. "I didn't think miracles would still happen in our time, but here you are."

Abby wouldn't call it a miracle, so she stays silent. And then a tall woman stumbles into her, so Abby steadies her by her shoulders. Abby saw this face before: she watched the reports about Hulk. But this woman looks delicate and nervous, and the stark difference makes Abby stop for a second.

"Doctor Kiramann." You say politely, but Abby hears a small laugh in your voice. It's indistinguishable, but Abby spent enough time around people who didn't laugh to know how it sounds.

"Agent Romanova." Dr Kiramann says with apprehension, like you're scaring her, and it definitely amuses you. "Captain Anderson, nice to meet you."

Abby smiles and shakes her dainty hand - not like the one that crushed buildings.

"The word says you're going to find the cube."

"Yes. Is it the only thing?" Dr Kiramann asks nervously.

"The only thing I care about." Abby shrugs. It doesn't matter to her if Caitlyn can destroy all of them in a fit of rage - they need to anger her first, and Abby can't think what they will need to do for it. After all, she'll be in a lab.

"Ladies, we need to move." You tell them and lead them inside while helicarrier gets in the air.

Caitlyn helps locate the cube and you and Abby go to Germany to stop Jinx. You thank God for years of training because when you see Abby in her old uniform it's so hard to not laugh. She looks uncomfortable and you pretend this is perfectly normal and mundane while you pilot the jet.

"Shield didn't do their homework." You note offhandedly and Abby chuckles.

"I hope this uniform is stronger than it looks. I usually didn't wear my costume to the battlefield."

"I'm sure Hill made it bulletproof." Abby knows you're making fun of her and somehow this is the most pleasant conversation she had since she woke up. "Okay, she is there and she is doing some crazy shit." You point at Jinx as you get closer. "Good luck Cap."

Abby salutes you with two fingers and jumps out of the quinjet while you get your cannons aimed at blue-haired disaster.

Seeing Abby fight Jinx is very satisfying, even if this tank of a woman is wearing a skirt. Actually - it's even better. Captain Anderson is in amazing form for 90 years old.

Hearing AC/DC in your headphones - not as good, you have to admit.

"Agent Romanova, did you miss me?" You hear Williams' smirk and chuckle. The same annoying cocky clowness as always.

Well, watching Iron Woman blast Jinx is also very satisfying.

"Make your move, Smurfette." Ellie says and you snort.

"Miss Williams." Abby politely nods while they watch Jinx surrender.

"Captain." Ellie decides Anderson is not as annoying as the stories about her.

Jinx annoys the shit out of you, but she also worries you: she gave up too easily. Captain Anderson looks as suspicious as you are, and three of you have a private moment in the pit.

"Something is not right."

"You mean that the Fairy with Turquoise Hair let you win? I mean, for a grandma you're pretty fit, but she could have knocked you out." Ellie looks Captain Anderson over and you know she is hitting on Abby. Abby, on the other hand, doesn't know it and just rolls her eyes.

Then you hear the thunder and you get tense, while Jinx starts giggling.

"What, you enjoy lightning so much?" Ellie smirks, but Abby is assessing the situation.

"Oh-ho-ho, you're in for a treat, girls." Jinx starts laughing and gets up just in time for the hatch to open and a pink haired woman to come in, grab Jinx by her collar and jump back out.

"Yeah, no. I'm sitting this one out. " You know Vi, and you don't plan on fucking with her. But those two can try.

"Williams, where are you going? We need a plan to attack." Abby feels rusty and she doesn't like improvisation, she likes to know who she is against.

"I have a plan. Attack."

"Cocky motherfucker." You murmur and watch Abby grab a parachute. "Where are you going? They're gods."

"I don't believe in them, ma'am." Abby says and jumps out.

For some reason your hand finds the cross on your neck.

(I'm sorry I'm not rewriting the Thor and Loki scene) Vi chews Jinx out for lying and pretending to be dead and Jinx invites her to go fuck herself just before Ellie knocks Vi off. Jinx laughs and sits down, curious how this will play out.

The three of them beef it out, but only when Vi hits Abby's shield with her hammer everything ends. Abby is tired and wants to fucking strangle Williams, but she resorts to making peace with a goddess.

"We find the cube and you can take your sister back."

The escort Jinx to the helicarrier and when she passes the lab where Caitlyn is working she winks at her and makes kissy lips, creeping Caitlyn out.

Sevika is finally in a good mood as she tells Jinx what will happen to her if she tries to escape. Jinx nods like an A-student, pissing Sevika off.

"Ooh." Jinx laughs. "It burns you to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is."

"Well, you let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something."

Jinx asks for cosmopolitan and a caramel macchiato.

"She is unhinged." Caitlyn says and moves away from the screen.

"Have care how you speak. Jinx is beyond reason, but she is of Asgard, and she is my sister." Vi says and you look at her. Blissful idiot.

"She killed 80 people in two days." And took my fucking best friend, you think.

"She is adopted."

"Why is she looking for Iridium?" Caitlyn asks Vi like this golden retriever of a goddess would know. Vi panics, but Ellie saves her.

"It's a stabilising agent." Ellie looks at Vi in her muscled glory and you want to roll your eyes. "No hard feelings, warrior princess."

Why doesn't Vi hit Williams again is a mystery.

Ellie and Caitlyn talk about physics and you want to ask for a raise, while Abby looks as confused as you feel.

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Kiramann. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

Can Ellie Williams meet a woman and not flirt with her?

"Thanks." Caitlyn even blushes a little.

Ellie doesn't trust Fury and she is one of the smartest people on Earth, so after she innocently banters with Caitlyn while they work, she bickers with Abby and then she brings up her suspicions.

"You think Sevika is hiding something?" Abby asks.

"She is the spy. Her secrets have secrets."

"You don't find it weird they didn't ask Ellie to work on Tesseract when Williams tower has been running on clean energy for over a year now?"

Abby thinks, but doesn't say anything.

You are sent to interrogate Jinx, and she looks so happy to see you.

"You should read this article on skin care, agent Romanova. Would be of use."

"If it's about hyaluronic acid I don't need it." You say and Jinx closes her magazine.

"Soooo. What made you visit me? Wanna braid each other's hair and talk about boys?" Jinx looks as you stumble for words. "Or about the boy."

"Once you win, what will happen to Alvarez?"

"How sweet." Jinx cooes. "Your world is going to be destroyed and you bargain for your little boyfriend. True love." Jinx wipes non-existent tears. "You know what, sweets? Your honeybun is my plaything now. So when I win, and when everything on this pathetic little planet is destroyed, I will make Alvarez skin you and he will be conscious the whole time, and when he is done with you, I will make him cut his hands off for killing his boo. How about this?" Jinx smiles.

You swallow, pale from the horror.

"You're a monster." You say, terrified.

"No-no-no, sweetheart." Jinx eyes are dramatically big. "You brought the monster."

You chuckle.

"Oh, so Dr Kiramann is your target. Thank you for your cooperation." You nod and leave, leaving Jinx pissed.

After that everything goes to hell. Everyone gets pissed at each other, Caitlyn hates your fucking guts for lying, Abby and Ellie almost go out to fight each other when the explosion hits.

You fall down with still pissed off Dr Kiramann and she is not happy to see you. Her other side is not happy too, judging by her heavy breathing.

"We're okay. Caitlyn, you're okay."

She growls at you, and you notice you're stuck under a metal bar. You're stuck under a heavy piece of metal with Caitlyn who is halfway into Hulk territory.

"I swear I'll get you out of here, whatever it takes." You tell her, but her voice is not hers anymore.

"Whatever it takes?!" She growls and you get your leg out just in time, because Hulk hates you and she is definitely going to kill you.

You run with all you have, screaming into your earpiece.

"Can someone help me out here before Dr Kiramann tears me to fucking shreds?"

"I could take her." You hear Vi answering.

"Great, hurry the fuck up!"

Vi manages to knock Hulk out and give you time to escape, so you hide and try to put yourself together. At the same time Ellie and Abby who hated each other's guts a second ago, work together to restart the engine and not fall into the fucking ocean.

Ellie looks at the engine, but can't figure out what's wrong.

"Joel, run diagnostics." Ellie says and looks at the print of the engine when her assistant shows it to her with all damage on display. It doesn't look good. "I'll get inside and restart it manually." Ellie tells Abby.

"It will shred you." Abby tells her and rip her skirt off in annoyance, only leaving tights on.

"That's why you need to reverse it so I could slip out."

"And how do I do that?"

"Red lever on the wall." Ellie goes inside the engine and starts pushing the rotor arms.

Abby stays by red level.

Sevika is super not happy: her ship is getting destroyed and right now it's fucking Alvarez who is definitely going to free Jinx.

"Does anybody copy?"

You swallow the terror and answer.

"I copy."

If Manny needs his butt kicked he will get it kicked.

Vi runs to detainer just to get into typical Jinx fog. She stumbles around, trying to find Jinx, hearing her giggles everywhere, but she hears a click and the fog disappears. Vi is in the container, and Jinx and smirking at her across the room.

"You Asgardians are supposed to be invincible. Who do you think will win? You or the beast?" Jinx jumps on the control panel and presses the button. "Boop."

"JINX!" Vi growls as she falls down.

"Bye-bye sister!" Jinx spits and runs away.

Abby is under attack, and she fights for her fucking life while Ellie is already saying goodbye to hers as she is simultaneously screaming at cap to PULL THE FUCKING LEVER ANDERSON JUST FUCKING DO IT

"Working on it." Abby says as she kicks the last enemy into the air.

But then she is in the air and she barely holds to some kind of wire while Williams is still screaming at her. Her suit is getting so damaged Ellie wants to cry and Joel is being so annoying by telling her the exact percent of damage.

"I know man, stop upsetting me." Ellie says when she hits the floor with her chest again. "Cap, come on!!!"

Abby wants to tell her to shut the fuck up as she climbs the wire, but she needs to be quick so she saves time to pull the lever. As she pulls it, there is another gunfire, but Ellie flies in and knocks the man out.

Jinx pissed everyone off. Everyone who is still on a helicarrier wants to get her head. While Manny is recovering from mind control, restrained, Abby comes to you and you notice that the skirt is gone.

"Do you think there are any pants I could use?" Captain Anderson asks sheepishly. You assess Abby's size and go to Manny's closet to take a pair of blue cargo pants.

"Sorry, don't have anything with stripes."

Abby rolls her eyes playfully and leaves to change.

"(Y/n)?" You turn around and Manny's eyes are clear.

"Do I need to punch you again?"

"What did I do?"

"Not important. It wasn't you."

"I still did it." Manny chuckles.

"Do you want to join our revenge party?" You ask as you let Manny out. "Cap will come here in a minute to ask us to go and fight that bitch."

"Cap as in Captain Abigail Anderson, as in fucking Captain America?"

"You can fangirl later. Yes."

Right on cue Abby appears in her new pants, her ridiculous helmet under her arm.

"She is going to take Williams tower. Are you in?"

"Maybe if I put an arrow through her eye I'd be able to sleep at night." Manny says grimly and you nod to Abby.

"In a minute."

Ellie is so pissed. This blue-haired nature mistake dared to put her portal shit on her tower. On the tower she built for Dina, the best woman in her life, and Jinx wants to parade her alien army from her porch!

"That device has a shield, don't shoot it, kid." Joel tells Ellie and she rolls her eyes but listens.

She lands her suit and walks to the bar to find Jinx watching her TV. She is watching The Simpsons.

"Hello Marge, I'm home." Ellie imitates Homer as she searches for her bracelets. Jinx looks up to her, annoyed at the comparison.

"Oh, iron girl. What, you want to beg me too?"

"Actually I came to threaten you."

"Really? With what? Terrible jokes? I already have an old man to do it, what do I have to fear?"

"The Avengers." It makes Ellie cringe. "It's our little team of heroes."

"Yeah, I've met them." Jinx snorts.

"Well, we needed some team-building, and you provided it." Ellie put one of the bracelets on. "But let's see. We have your sister, a literal goddess; a living legend who actually lives up to the legend (to my surprise); the kindest woman with breath-taking anger management issues; and a couple of assassins whose body count goes into the hundreds. And you, you've managed to piss off every single one of them." Ellie puts the second bracelet on.

"I have an army, dum-dum."

"We have Hulk."

Jinx huffs in disbelief and slowly makes her way to Ellie.

"Well, iron girl, I think your team will be a little busy fighting you to stop me."

Jinx taps Ellie's chest and they both are confused as nothing happens.

"It never happened before."

"That's what he said." Ellie snorts, but then Jinx grabs her by her throat, her chipped nails digging into her skin. "Joel, any time now."

"I will destroy you." Jinx hisses and throws Ellie out of the window.

"Joel for fuck's sake!" Ellie screams as she falls, but the suit catches her signals and Ellie manages to not die. Again.

Ellie stabilises herself and looks up to see a bunch of aliens coming out of the portal.

"Right. Army."

Manny flies close enough for all you comms to connect and Ellie leads you to a new set of enemies. You shoot all of them before Jinx blasts the jet engine and Manny has to make an emergency landing.

You exit the jet and the first thing you see is a giant flying slug. You look at Manny and both of your heads have the same thought, and the thought is what the fuck.

Manny notices people trapped and you both cover for Abby so she could run and give orders to police. You and Manny free the civilians and go back to shooting the alien assholes.

It's weird, but it also isn't: they are enemies who just look strange, and their weapons are not complicated. You steal one and figure out how to shoot in a second, and these things don't have the bullets to run out, so you roll with it.

By the time Abby comes back, Vi comes to you too and fries the rest of the assholes. You sigh in relief and put the stick down, listening to what Abby has to say, but just as she opens her mouth you hear a bicycle horn.

Caitlyn is half-naked, drives the bicycle with one hand while her other holds what looks like a towel or a sheet.

"I apologise, I had to take public transport." Caitlyn says and everyone stares at her for just a second, mainly focusing on long long naked legs.

Is everyone on this team gay?

Well no, Manny is still straight.

"I'm in need of some clothes." Caitlyn blushes and everyone rushes to find something until Ellie sends one of her small bots to Caitlyn.

"It will stretch, big girl." You hear over the comms.

Caitlyn gets covered by some kind of material and she smiles at you, apologetic.

"I'm so sorry."

"We could use some of that right now, actually." You tell her and Caitlyn nods, while she puts her long hair into a bun.

“Dr Kiramann, it’s time to get really angry.” Captain Anderson says, still so delicately polite. Captain America is a sweetheart, and you feel your dead heart flutter.

"I have just enough repressed anger." Caitlyn turns towards the giant slug that Ellie leads to her. Caitlyn’s skin turns green as she grows bigger and bigger, and she becomes 8ft tall, her noodle arms grow muscles that put to shame Abby and Vi combined. It’s not Caitlyn anymore, it’s Hulk, and she is terrifying.

Hulk swings her fist and smashes the slug in the nose, making it flip on itself. You hear Vi gasp just before Abby jumps next to you and puts the shield over your head as pieces of meat fly everywhere. She holds you with her other arm, protecting you.

"Thanks Cap."

"Ma'am." Abby nods.

By that time Ellie joins you, and all six of you are finally in one place.

"Call in, Captain." Ellie says.

Watching captain Anderson work is magical. Her fighting skills are impeccable, sure, but her immediate assessment of the situation and planning is just… it's nice to have someone so talented to be your leader. You don't argue, you just listen and do what Abby tells you to do. Ellie takes Manny and flies away, Vi flies away as well to fry the bastards as Abby put it, Hulk is just straight up having fun beating aliens up, and it leaves you with Abby.

Fighting alongside Abby is effortless. She is strong and big while you're agile and fast and you work as a team, looking out for each other and the best ways to attack. And while you're a killer, you aim to eliminate the threat, Abby is a protector to the bone and you catch her shielding you a few times. It's strange, but sweet - you’re not used to teamwork, to someone watching your back except Manny. The fighting is exhausting, it’s not your usual gig - you’ll have to hit the gym and not be an embarrassment like this - and you don’t see the end to it.

"You know we can't keep this up. We need to close that thing." You shout as you put more bullets into aliens.

"It has a shield on it." Ellie reiterates in your comms.

"Well maybe it's not about guns, Williams." You sigh. “I need a ride.” You look up at flying monsters. “And I just found it. I could use a boost though.”

Abby looks at you as you gain distance so you could run up, and gets into the position, angling her shield for you.

"You sure about it?"

"It would be fun." You shrug and run at Abby, and she boosts you into the air the moment your boot touches her shield. You catch on one of the aliens and fly to the tower.

Hulk is fighting alongside Vi and she is not happy about their previous quarrel, but Vi is very honourable and takes it in her own hands to make up with the beast.

"It's my honour to be in battle with you, fair Hulk." Vi says and Hulk grins at her.

"Hulk likes." The green woman roars and they destroy a new slug together.

"Williams, they sent the nuke." Sevika says and Ellie stops for a second, her little bombs still flying from her shoulders.

"Are you fucking kidding me."

At the same time you’ve found a way to stop Tesseract and you hold Jinx's sceptre, penetrating the shield around the cube.

“I’ll close it.” You shout into the comms, not really expecting anyone to protest, but Ellie stops you.

“Not until I get rid of the nuke.”

Ellie catches the nuke and flies into the portal.

“Dina will kill you.” Joel tells her as he makes a call, but she is not answering.

“Not if I kill myself first.”

The last thing Ellie sees is the alien ship blowing up.

You close the portal when Ellie flies out of it, and all of you are relieved - she made it. Until Vi notices she is not stopping, and she swings her hammer to fly and catch her, but Hulk is faster - she climbs the building, makes a powerful jump and catches Ellie.

It takes a very loud roar to wake her up.

“Did anyone kiss me?” You hear over the comms and roll her eyes. Everything is back to normal.

Manhattan is ruined, Williams’ tower is left with an a on it, and you all sit at the small cafe eating shawarma. You’re not a stranger to it, but the rest of the team are not as pleased as you are. Caitlyn is wrapped in Vi’s cape because even Ellie’s materials can’t handle Hulk yet, Ellie didn’t get out of her suit for this, Vi has a wound on her side, Manny looks half-dead from exhaustion, you lost your guns and Abby’s face is so dirty you want to clean her up like a toddler.

“Let’s never do this again.”

“Save the world or eat shawarma?”

"Both."

#abby anderson x reader #marvel au #cap!abby #bw!reader #abby anderson x you #abby anderson #abby tlou

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the-desilittle-bird · 1 year

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Author's Note- This was better in my mind... 🥲

Requests are always open and well appreciated.

Thank you and Enjoy your reading!

Peculiar Things

Loki Laufeyson x Desi!Reader

Summary- Loki notices weird things about (Y/N)...

Tag List- @savagemickey03, @kenzi-woycehoski, @ultrav0lence, @bbgmonsay, @girlnred, @chevelledahuman, @minaxcarter, @hc-geralt-23, @newt-scamander-is-hot-af, @chaotic-fangirl-blog, @lady-athanasia, @hyacinthus007, @lana, @saraelizabeth26, @killing-gremlin, @thatgirlthatreadswattpad, @strangesthirdeye, @omgsuperstarg, @all-things-fandomstuck, @nyx2021, @shine101, @bi2simps, @themaze13

Warnings- None

GIF Credits to @tomhiddleston-gifs

The moon shone brightly in the starry night as the light breeze tickled the green mountains. The lake water stood still with a few swans swimming peacefully, completely unaware of the two laying on the luscious grass.

Loki's emerald like eyes watched (Y/N) with love and adoration, his fingers caressing her hand as her breathing slowed down. The God of Mischief found himself at awe as he watched her sleeping form before looking back at the moon.

He smiled to himself as he remembered (Y/N) watching the moon every night, always humming some song from her native language. Chand. She called it while smiling.

It was later that Loki realized that it was not only her who was awestruck by the moon. It was the entirety of population of India and those with Indian descent; or at least mostly.

Loki turned to face her, smiling widely, as his fingers interlaced with hers. Another peculiar thing about her was the distance she maintained with Loki even after they started courting.

"We don't show off the relationships until... never in public."

She had told Loki, making him frown. Even in Asgard, publicly displayed affections before marriage was frowned upon but after that? Loki would never understand that.

Then there was her unhealthy relation with fried food and sweets. It made him wonder how she remained so fit after having so much amount of oil and sweets. Probably her workout sessions helped.

And oh! The amount of confusing things she would do sometimes. Loki remembered how she had made Steve wait for 3 minutes before getting off the quinjet for a mission just because he had sneezed loudly.

"It's a bad omen."

She had explained later, making everyone raise their eyebrows. The Avengers loved (Y/N) a lot, Loki understood that fact early on when he had attacked New York.

He also loved how she would use her fingers to eat her food. Rice or whatever she has. All of them cooked by herself specially for herself. She never let anyone taste it.

Once Tony had stolen a bit of her rice and fish curry and had ate it without sharing. The spice was enough to make the Stark man run to the nearest tap and drink two gallons of water. It was a funny scene and had entertained everyone while (Y/N) sat in the corner, giving him a I-told-you look.

Another thing was her unholy obsession with those stupid Indian serials and series. Loki unfortunately found the web series originating from India stupid, no offense to them truly. But perhaps it was because of the amount of western series he had seen.

But yet, he loved (Y/N) with all he was. Even if he found her peculiar things comical, it didn't really matter, for his love for (Y/N) was way more than anything.

#loki x reader #loki of asgard #loki fanfic #loki laufeyson #loki laufesyon x reader #avengers imagine #loki imagine #loki x desi!reader #desi reader #tom hiddleston x you #tom hiddleston x desi!reader

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 6 months

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New SpaceTime out Wednesday...

SpaceTime 20231101 Series 26 Episode 131

Mystery of the Martian core solved

A new study of data from NASA’s Mars Insight lander mission has concluded that the Martian liquid metallic core is both smaller and denser than previously thought -- but also that it’s surrounded by a layer of molten rock.

Protecting Europa Clipper from Jupiter’s immense radiation

Engineers have just completed the final piece of armour designed to protect NASA’s Europa clipper spacecraft from intense radiation during its mission to explore the Jovian ice moon Europa.

India launches its first crew capsule

India has carried out a successful test flight of its new manned capsule which will the subcontinent’s first astronauts into orbit in 2025.

The Science Report

A new study warns that future increases in ice-shelf melting in the West Antarctic are now potentially unavoidable.

Claims vegetarianism may be partly related to your genes.

Eastern Mediterranean was once a region of green savannahs and grasslands that provided an ideal passage for multiple early human movements out of Africa.

Alex on Tech new AI chips and happy 22nd birthday to the I-pod.

SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences.

The show is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts (itunes), Stitcher, Google Podcast, Pocketcasts, SoundCloud, Bitez.com, YouTube, your favourite podcast download provider, and from www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com

SpaceTime is also broadcast through the National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio and on both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

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SpaceTime YouTube: @SpaceTimewithStuartGary

SpaceTime -- A brief history

SpaceTime is Australia’s most popular and respected astronomy and space science news program – averaging over two million downloads every year. We’re also number five in the United States. The show reports on the latest stories and discoveries making news in astronomy, space flight, and science. SpaceTime features weekly interviews with leading Australian scientists about their research. The show began life in 1995 as ‘StarStuff’ on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) NewsRadio network. Award winning investigative reporter Stuart Gary created the program during more than fifteen years as NewsRadio’s evening anchor and Science Editor. Gary’s always loved science. He studied astronomy at university and was invited to undertake a PHD in astrophysics, but instead focused on his career in journalism and radio broadcasting. He worked as an announcer and music DJ in commercial radio, before becoming a journalist and eventually joining ABC News and Current Affairs. Later, Gary became part of the team that set up ABC NewsRadio and was one of its first presenters. When asked to put his science background to use, Gary developed StarStuff which he wrote, produced and hosted, consistently achieving 9 per cent of the national Australian radio audience based on the ABC’s Nielsen ratings survey figures for the five major Australian metro markets: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. The StarStuff podcast was published on line by ABC Science -- achieving over 1.3 million downloads annually. However, after some 20 years, the show finally wrapped up in December 2015 following ABC funding cuts, and a redirection of available finances to increase sports and horse racing coverage. Rather than continue with the ABC, Gary resigned so that he could keep the show going independently. StarStuff was rebranded as “SpaceTime”, with the first episode being broadcast in February 2016. Over the years, SpaceTime has grown, more than doubling its former ABC audience numbers and expanding to include new segments such as the Science Report -- which provides a wrap of general science news, weekly skeptical science features, special reports looking at the latest computer and technology news, and Skywatch – which provides a monthly guide to the night skies. The show is published three times weekly (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and available from the United States National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio, and through both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

#science #space #astronomy #physics #news #nasa #esa #astrophysics #spacetimewithstuartgary #starstuff #spacetime

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am-i-obsessed---maybe · 8 months

Text

Revelation (Shadow Of A Bluejay Ch.8)

Wordcount: 2.8k

One of the longer chapters. though now I'd like to take a moment to humbly brag. I've been dealing with both usual depression and an unusual stomach ulcer (which is the most fanfiction author thing that's happened to me yet) so this chapter took way longer than expected. Either way we're slowly creeping towards the end of the season!

Series Masterlist

Mount Justice October 1, 18:12 EDT

You met up with Artemis outside the Happy Harbor zeta-tube. You hadn't seen each other in almost two weeks so you decided you'd hang out on your own for a bit before joining the rest of the team. That meant that when you got to the cave it wasn't through the zeta-tubes but through the main entrance.

"Hey, where are you two coming from?" Wally asked, greeting you both at the entrance.

"Blue here was finally ungrounded so we thought we'd have some BNACT" Artemis said. Wally looked confused.

"BNACT?" He asked.

"Blue and Artemis civilian time" You supplied.

"Right" He said, coming up to walk beside you. "You know you never told me what you were grounded for" Wally said and you smirked. "Sorry, classified" You said and he groaned.

"Come on! Mx. I do as I'm told rule follower did something bad for once and you won't tell me?!" He complained.

"What can I say, it's classified" You told him, floating up just a bit above the ground to be taller than him, smirking before flying off to find the rest of the team.

Artemis leaned in next to Wally's ear, "They went on a secret mission and Canary found out" She said and Wally's eyes widened.

"They told you?!" He practically yelled and Artemis smiled.

"What can I say, I'm their best friend" She said cheekily.

Wally grumbled, "I thought I was their best friend" He said.

Wally and Artemis joined you, Robin, Kaldur, M'gann and Connor along with Zatara and Captain Marvel (who had been taking over as Den Mother after Red Tornado attacked the team the day after you got back from your mission with Roy) in the training room just as Batman zeta'd in.

"Computer, national news" He said and the computer brought up a projection of GBS news.

A slender blonde woman whom you recognised as the reporter Cat Grant was telling the viewers about an attack of a giant plant monster on Metropolis. "Despite the intervention of Superman and the Justice league there seems to be no end in sight" She said.

"Should we get out there?" Robin asked but Batman shut him down.

"No. The League will soon have the situation under control. That's not why I'm here" Batman said.

"Then why are you here?" You asked. You weren't Batman's biggest fan. Between his harshness and his lack of positive reinforcement for both Robin and the team as a whole, you didn't like him very much.

"According to your intel, Sportsmaster supplied Cadmus Blockbuster formula to Kobra" He said and Wally jumped in to continue.

"Who combined it with Bane's Venom to create Kobra Venom" He said. "Which the Brain then used to create his animal army" Robin continued.

You'd been informed about their very interesting mission to India. It was the first day you were grounded and you barely managed to convince Dinah to let you keep your radio earpiece with you. She was very strict about no patrol and no Team as long as you were grounded. She really wasn't happy about your mission with Roy, even though she barely knew the half of it. In the end you reminded her that in an emergency that radio was your best way of communicating with both the Team and her. She let you keep it and you got a full recap of the mission after they finished.

"Batman, is it possible that plant thingy's on Kobra Venom too?" Artemis asked.

"I had green lantern run a spot analysis. The vine's cellulose does contain trace amounts of a Kobra Venom variant." Batman explained.

"These cannot be coincidences, unrelated criminals cooperating with one another worldwide" Kaldur added.

"Exactly" Batman agreed, "It's now clear our enemies have formed some kind of secret society of supervillains. The attack on Metropolis is only the beginning." He said.

"Got that right. Plant creatures have sprouted in Gotham City, Paris, Star City, Taipei—" Robin was interrupted by the screen becoming staticy. You'd never seen it do that before.

"Dude" Wally said.

"It's not me, someone's cutting into the satellite signal— All satellite signals!" Robin exclaimed.

The static stopped and a single face covered the screen, supposedly all screens. The Joker's sheet white face and horrid smile was projected to the size of the computer. It was at least as tall as you and you couldn't help but make a face.

"Ladies, gentlemen and viewers of all ages, we interrupt your regularly scheduled mayhem to bring you this important announcement from the Injustice League" He said in that slow drawl that made his presence all the creepier. The camera slowly panned to show the rest of this so called Injustice League. Wotan. Atomic Skull. Ultra-humanite. Count Vertigo, Black Adam and Poison Ivy, along with of course the Joker himself.

He laughed as the camera slowly zoomed in to the Vlatavan count.

"We are responsible for the attacks on your cities. If you wish to save them a ransom of ten billion american dollars is required. Delivery instructions have been sent to the United Nations. There is no time limit, but the longer your governments wait..." He trailed off and the Joker took the liberty of filling in the blanks.

"The longer we get to have our jollies" He said and once again the screen was covered in static.

Robin reset the screen. He was recording the message and stopped on the image of the Injustice League as a whole. He listed them all of, all were heavy hitters most likely behind everything the Team has faced until now. Every mission and ever villain you fought came back to these seven. At least that was Robin's theory.

"There's your secret society" Wally said.

"Not so secret anymore" Artemis added.

"But what good is revealing themselves now? I understand taking responsibility for the attacks if they want a ransom but why reveal their hand?" You asked out loud.

"Perhaps after India they realised that we would deduce the truth and saw no point in hiding any longer" Kaldur suggested and that was a possibility though it didn't sit completely right with you. They were missing a League Of Shadows representative. The team had far too many run ins with Sportmaster and the his like for the shadows to not be involved. Not that you expected to see Ra's Al Ghul among the villains but someone working for him, maybe Sportmaster himself.

"What about Sportmaster though? He works most often for the Shadows and he isn't here, or anyone else we can connect to the Shadows?" You said.

"The League Of Shadows don't usually ally themselves with others. They work with mercenaries like Sportmaster but they wouldn't ally themselves as an organization. Those were most likely one off meetings" Batman said and you nodded. He was right. You were probably just a bit paranoid after the mission with Roy.

"Back to the important stuff" Wally said, "I say we go kick some plant creature butt!" He exclaimed.

"The Justice League will handle the plants. I have a different job for this team" Batman said and Wally immediately deflated.

"Oh man" He said.

"With the plants attacking so many locations simultaneously there must be a central control system. Your mission is to destroy it." Batman instructed.

Zatara turned to him, "You realize what you are really asking them to do" He said and Batman nodded.

"They're ready" He said and you hoped for once he was right because it wouldn't be easy taking on the Injustice League without the help of your mentors.

Bayou Bartholomew October 1, 18:52 CDT

The team flew through the air in the Bioship in silence. Robin reviewing his batarangs, Artemis going through her quiver and you adjusting your new batons. They were a parting gift from your mother. Extendable batons, small enough that that could fit in a pouch on your utility belt.

"Those are new" Robin said, looking at the shining new weapons.

"Yeah, GA was tinkering" You lied and Robin smiled.

"You know how to use 'em?" He asked and you nodded.

"Like you wouldn't believe" you replied. You were trained in many weapons and though your speciality with the Shadows were double short swords, batons were similar if slightly less lethal.

Behind you M'gann groaned, holding her head.

"You alright?" Conner asked.

"Dizzy" She replied.

"Martians get air sick?" Robin asked.

"Not me, her" M'gann replied.

"I feel fine" Artemis said.

"Not her the Bioship. She's trying to shield us but—" Suddenly your very calm and steady flight became erratic and out of the corner of your eyes you saw Count Vertigo.

You went flying, well the ship went flying, someone had hit it from the bottom flinging it out of control and causing it to crash in the bayou.

Of course that wasn't all as plant creatures began pulling the Bioship under the water.

Black Adam forced a hole the top of the ship and while Superboy punched him away, stopping him from getting in he couldn't stop the water that was slowly filling the ship.

"No. No way I am nearly drowning three missions in a row" Artemis said, putting a rebreather over her mouth and shoving one into Wally's hands. The two had become more friendly, even playful with each other in your absence.

You took out your own rebreather.

"I guess I missed quite a lot didn't I" You said and Artemis nodded, unable to talk with the device in her mouth.

M'gann opened a hatch at the bottom of the Bioship and you all swam out, managing to escape the ship just in time.

"She's in shock. She'll need time to recover" M'gann said. That wasn't good. It meant you couldn't rely on the Bioship to get out in a pinch. What was worse was that you didn't even get a moment to breath. As soon as M'gann finished an all too familiar psychic force forced you to the ground.

"Vertigo" You sneered, searching the area until you found the offending count.

"Count Vertigo to you peasant" He said and you slowly pushed yourself up.

"I see all the times Canary and I beat you weren't enough, you had to come back for more" You said, giving your teammates time to recover while you kept Vertigo's attention on you.

Kaldur used his water bearers to channel the water from the bayou and knock Vertigo away.

"Robin, Miss Martian disappear! We will keep them busy, you two fulfill the mission objective" Kaldur ordered through the mind link and Robin nodded, jumping off somewhere while Miss M went into camouflage mode.

You ran at Vertigo, slowed only by his psychic force and even still not completely. You managed a few hits before you were thrown aside.

"Without Canary to counter my attacks you are nothing little bird" He said, hitting you with another attack that knocked you out.

You woke up before the others only to quickly remember where you were and what happened. You decided the best course of action was to keep your eyes closed, pretend to still be out and see what you could overhear. Of course that didn't work because as soon as your teammates woke up they made it known.

"They awaken, you are certain this will hold them?" Vertigo asked and a different voice answered.

"The cage is impenetrable. Even the Superboy has no chance of escaping" Wotan replied. He was keeping you in a magical cage while Black Adam flew you all back to the Injustice League's base.

This wasn't bad. So long as you kept their attention on you and your group long enough for Robin and Miss Martian to destroy their base you were good.

"You are not the only one trained in the mystic arts Wotan!" Kaldur exclaimed, grabbing hold of the bars and charging mystic force through the tattoos along his arms.

Kaldur released the bars as if they burned him but nothing else happened.

"Please Atlantean, do not pretend you are in my league" Wotan said and you put a careful hand on Kaldur's shoulder.

"You okay?" You asked and he nodded, turning his attention back to the group. Without M'gann there was no telepathic link so you had no way to communicate without your capturs overhearing.

They'd taken your weapons and your utility belt. There really wasn't anything you could do until you found a way out of this cage.

You knew Robin and Miss M haven't completed the mission yet because the huge plant that you assumed was controlling the plant creatures around the world was still standing, breaking through the roof of what you assumed was the Injustice League's base of operations.

You were racking your brain, trying to think of ways to get out of your predicament when the Bioship appeared, knocking over Wotan and disrupting whatever spell he was using to create the cage.

It took you a moment but you kept yourself in the air, unfortunately with nothing holding you up your teammates fell down to the ground.

Superboy and Aqualad would be fine. They both had super strength and durability (at least to some extent) but you flew down and grabbed both Artemis and KF's hands, bringing them safely and more slowly to the ground.

"Thanks Blue" KF said and you smiled.

"Anytime KF" you said.

Both you and Wally turned your attention on Count Vertigo and Black Adam.

"You think you can still pack a punch without your new toys blue?" Wally asked and you smirked.

"Enough for this mission" You told him and with a jump, flew high into the air while Wally took a running start at Vertigo. "Atom, after them!" Vertigo said as he focused his attack on KF and Black Adam took off after you into the sky.

Black Adam was strong and fast but not the brightest and you managed to get in a few sneaky hits in the sky before a loud explosion rocked through the bayou.

"Yes!" You yelled only for Adam to take the moment you were distracted and fling you back into the ground, painfully.

To your advantage you fell into mud so while it wasn't pleasant it also wasn't lethal. You made it back just in time to hear Count Vertigo's orders.

"Kill them. Kill them all." He said.

You wanted to get up, you really tried but Wotan was using a spell to keep you, Kaldur and Robin (who had tried to run to you and make sure you were alright) in place.

Soon he turned his spell to the rest of the team and beside you as kaldur tried to shield M'gann you heard him quietly tell her the worst possible thing.

"Plan B."

Plan Bs were never good.

M'gann's eyes glowed green and she brought the Bioship above the two of them, opening a hatch and dropping Kaldur's duffel from the ship and into his lap.

You'd seen the duffel on the trip to the bayou but you hadn't seen what was inside it.

You watched carefully as Kaldur opened the bag and held up the single item inside.

Wotan stopped, "The helmet of fate" He said.

He wouldn't. Kaldur knew the dangers of using the helmet he wouldn't use it now.

You could barely call out no as you saw him put on the helmet and become Dr. Fate.

Wally tried to protest but Black Adam knocked him into a tree beside. you.

The both of you slowly stood, using each other to stay up.

"Oh dude" Wally said, looking at Kaldur.

You didn't know what to say.

Wally turned to you, "are you okay? You stayed down for a while" He said.

"Yeah well, Adam threw me almost a thousand feet. I'm just lucky I landed in mud. What about you? You're holding your arm like it's painfully" You said and he shrugged.

"It's fine, come on, we can't waste the opportunity Kaldur gave us" Wally said, running to help Miss M and Artemis.

You stayed back, you'd had enough concussions to know you had one, even with your softened landing. Your head was buzzing and you knew that if you tried to walk you'd fall. Not that your help was very needed.

Kaldur took on Wotan, Robin was busy fighting the Joker and Wally, Artemis, M'gann and Conner were holding their own against a combination of Vertigo, Poison Ivy and Ultra Humanite.

They didn't have to hold out for long, because the Justice League soon joined you all.

"It's over" Batman said and the villains raised their hands in surrender.

At this point you could barely stand, instead leaning on the tree trunk beside you.

You could hear people talking around you, you heard the Joker's deranged laugh and saw plants rising out of the bayou but you couldn't understand what was going on.

I'm about to pass out, you thought as your vision blurred.

Dinah noticed your increasingly worsening state and managed to make it to you just in time to catch you as you collapsed.

#reader insert #dc x reader #gn reader #gender neutral reader #yj x gender neutral reader #yj x reader #young justice x reader #metahuman reader #shadow of a bluejay #young justice season 1

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mrmrswales · 1 year

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The EARTHSHOT PRIZE AWARDS 2022 Ceremony will take place at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway on December 2nd.

THE FINALISTS:

FIX OUR CLIMATE:

44:01 (Oman) - According to the UN, removing CO2 is essential if we are to limit global warming. Oman-based 44.01 removes CO2 permanently by mineralising it in rock.

LanzaTech (USA) - Carbon, released into the atmosphere, heats the planet. LanzaTech are using bacteria to recycle carbon pollution into profitable and sustainable products.

Low Carbon Materials (United Kingdom) - Concrete is responsible for an extraordinary eight percent of the world’s CO2 emissions. Now, thanks to UK based LCM, production could soon go from unclean to green.

CLEAN OUR AIR:

Ampd Enertainer (Hong Kong) - The construction industry is difficult to decarbonise and is one of the biggest drivers of air pollution. Ampd Energy has revolutionised the way we power construction.

Mukuru Clean Stoves (Kenya) - Across Africa, 700 million people use traditional cookstoves, which emit harmful chemicals and lack safeguards. Mukuru Clean Stoves are different.

Roam (Kenya) - The electric vehicle revolution is coming to East Africa. Roam is bringing affordable, electric transport to one of the world’s fastest growing regions.

BUILD A WASTE-FREE WORLD:

City of Amsterdam, Circular Economy (The Netherlands) - In 2020, The City of Amsterdam committed to becoming a circular economy. By 2050, it aims to waste nothing and recycle everything.

Fleather (India) - Flowers cast into the Ganges river contain highly toxic pesticides. Phool used this floral waste to make a sustainable alternative to leather.

Notpla (United Kingdom) - 6.3bn tonnes of untreated plastic waste currently litter our streets and fill our seas. Notpla shows us that the future is not plastic, it’s seaweed.

PROTECT & RESTORE NATURE:

Desert Agricultural Transformation (China) - The climate crisis means more of the Earth will become inhospitable desert. But now, thanks to Desert Agricultural Transformation, barren landscapes are turning into lush, green oases.

Hutan (Malaysia) - In Malaysian Borneo, research organisation Hutan is working with the local community to develop a more harmonious coexistence between its wildlife and people.

Kheyti (India) - Eight in ten of the world's farmers are smallholders. Beset by climate-affected harvests, Kheyti's Greenhouse-in-a-Box is helping them reduce climate risk and increase yields.

REVIVE OUR OCEANS:

Indigenous Women of the Great Barrier Reef (Australia) - The Great Barrier Reef is under constant environmental threat. Now, the Indigenous Women of the Great Barrier Reef are empowering each other to protect critical ecosystems.

SeaForester (Portugal) - Human activities and the climate crisis are decimating underwater seaweed forests. Pål Bakken and the SeaForester team are on a mission to restore them.

The Great Bubble Barrier (The Netherlands) - Every year, more than 8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in the world’s oceans. The Great Bubble Barrier's solution intercepts plastic waste before it reaches the sea.

#earthshot

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posttexasstressdisorder · 10 months

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2023/06/28/gravitational-wave-background-nanograv

The mind-bending finding suggests that everything around us is constantly being roiled by low-frequency gravitational waves

By Joel Achenbach and

Victoria Jaggard

June 28, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. EDT

The very fabric of the cosmos is constantly being roiled and rumpled all around us, according to multiple international teams of scientists that have independently found compelling evidence for long-theorized space-time waves.

The claim that telescopes across the planet have seen signs of a “gravitational wave background” has sent a thrill through the astrophysics community, which has been buzzing for days in anticipation of the papers that were unveiled late Wednesday. The discovery seems to affirm an astounding implication of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity that until now has been far too subtle to detect.

In Einstein’s reimagined universe, space is not serenely empty, and time does not march smoothly forward. Instead, the powerful gravitational interactions of massive objects — including supermassive black holes — regularly ripple the fabric of space and time. The picture that emerges is a universe that looks like a choppy sea, churned by violent events that happened over the course of the past 13 billion-plus years.

The gravitational wave background, as described by the astrophysicists, does not put any torque on everyday human existence. There is not a weight-loss discovery in here somewhere. A burble of gravitational waves cannot explain why some days you feel out of sorts. But it does offer potential insight into the physical reality we all inhabit.

“What we measure is the Earth kind of moving in this sea. It’s bobbing around — and it’s not just bobbing up and down, its bobbing in all directions,” said Michael Lam, an astrophysicist at the SETI Institute and a member of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav), a team largely based in North America. The NANOGrav team released the findings in five papers that were published Wednesday in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Teams in Europe, India, Australia and China also observed the phenomenon and planned to post their studies at the same time. The simultaneous release of papers from far-flung and competitive teams using similar methodology came only after some scientific diplomacy that ensured no group tried to scoop the rest of the astrophysical community.

“We’ve been on a mission for the last 15 years to find a low-pitch hum of gravitational waves resounding throughout the universe and washing through our galaxy to warp space-time in a measurable way,” NANOGrav chair Stephen Taylor of Vanderbilt University said at a news briefing Tuesday.

“We’re very happy to announce that our hard work has paid off.”

Discovery from dead stars

The feat builds on previous discoveries of things in the universe that are invisible to the naked eye — pulsars. A pulsar is a type of neutron star, the ultradense remnant of a dead star. It is called a pulsar because it spins rapidly, hundredsof revolutions per second, and emits radio waves in a steady pulse. Pulsars were discovered only in the 1960s, not long after the invention of large radio telescopes.

NANOGrav gathered data from 68 pulsars using the Green Bank Telescope in rural West Virginia, the 27 telescopes of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico, and the now-defunctArecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

The pulses from these bizarre objects reach telescopes on Earth at such predictable frequencies that they serve as cosmic timepieces, nearly as accurate as today’s most advanced atomic clocks, said Chiara Mingarelli, an astrophysicist at Yale and a member of the NANOGrav team.

Theorists believed that low-frequency gravitational waves could throw off the arrival of pulsar signals. Such low-frequency ripples can have crests separated by years, so the search for subtle swells in the sea of space-timerequired patience. The deviation in the pulsar data is so slight that it took 15 years of observations to come up with solid evidence of these gravitational waves, Mingarelli said.

The NANOGrav team had previously published reports with preliminary suggestions that the background exists, but had said more time was necessary to boost confidence that the signal was real and not just noise.

“Even devising the experiment was a huge mental leap,” Mingarelli said.

The existence of gravitational waves is not in dispute. In 2016, scientists announced that their ambitious four-decade experiment called LIGO, for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, had detected waves from the merger of two black holes. But the newly announced waves are not one-shot wonders, and theorists are noodling the many potential explanations for why the cosmic sea ripples in such a fashion.

Supermassive black holes are the favored explanation.

Most galaxies are home to supermassive black holes in or near their central region. These black holes certainly deserve the “supermassive” label: They typically have the equivalent mass of millions or even billions of suns. By contrast, “stellar mass” black holes are pipsqueaks, with masses akin to 10 or 20 or 30 suns.

Galaxies rarely collide, but the universe is vast, there are many billions of galaxies, and they have had plenty of time to drift into one another. During a galactic meetup, theorists say, the supermassive black holesat the cores of the two galaxiesfirst will do a gravitational dance. They can orbit each other for millions of years, Lam said. This pairing is known as a supermassive black hole binary.

The swirling dance disturbs the fabric of space-time sufficiently to generate very low-frequency gravitational waves that travel across the universe at the speed of light, scientists believe. Over time, energy leaks from the dance party, as it were, and the supermassive black holes ease closer together, their orbital period shortening to just a few decades. At that point, the wavelengths begin to reach the frequencies detectable by NANOGrav, Lam said.

“So at this point in our measurements, we cannot definitively state what sources are producing the gravitational wave background signal,” NANOGrav team member Luke Kelley, an astrophysicist at the University of California at Berkeley, said at the Tuesday news briefing. However, he said, the data is a compelling match for theoretical predictions.

Theorists are “having fun” coming up with other possible sources for the low-frequency signal, he added. But “if it’s not coming from supermassive black hole binaries, we would need to come up with some explanation of where those supermassive black holes are hiding, and why we’re not seeing their gravitational waves.”

A new astronomical era

No matter the signal’s source, the announcement of a gravitational wave background represents a milestone in the embryonic field of gravitational wave astronomy.

Just as some astronomers use different wavelengths of light to probe the cosmos, they can now look for different types of gravitational waves. The low-frequency waves announced Wednesday wouldn’t be detectable by LIGO, and the opposite is also true: NANOGrav and similar efforts using pulsars could not detect the kind ofhigh-frequency waves from the unimaginably violent stellar-mass black hole mergers seen by LIGO.

Lam said the next goal is to pair specific gravitational waves with potential supermassive black hole binaries detected through more traditional forms of astronomy. In other words, rather than just saying we’re picking up signs of lots of waves, the astronomers could say this particular wave right here came from that place over there.

The announcement carries an echo of another milestone in the history of cosmology. In 1965, two physicists at Bell Labsreported that they had detected the signal of something previously theorized: the cosmic microwave background radiation. That residual glow offered landmark evidence that the universe was created by the big bang.

Maura McLaughlin, co-director of the NANOGrav Physics Frontiers Center, said at the Tuesday briefing that the next step will be for the international teams to combine their independent data into one “uber data set” that should show an even clearer signal of the gravitational wave background — and maybe even the first detection of a supermassive black hole binary.

“We’re opening up a completely new window … on the gravitational wave universe,” she said.

The work, she said,should offer deeper insight into the ways galaxies form and evolve. It might even reveal exotic new physics that would alter our fundamental understanding of the cosmos: “It should be really, really exciting.”

#eddies #eddies in the space-time continuum #well tell him to get out #it is worth noting that one of my main impressions from a series of investigative shroom journeys was seeing a sort of 3d grid #the grid was my mind trying to visualize the waves surrounding thing and the grid kinda worked. Next dimension visualization.

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notwiselybuttoowell · 9 months

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Summary

This project, led by an Indian NGO Mahila Housing Sewa Trust (MHT), is on a mission to organise and empower women in low-income households to increase their resilience to impacts of climate change. To date, MHT’s initiatives have helped 25,000 low-income families across seven cities in India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

The project is centred around an integrated model wherein women take the lead through collective action and technology incubation to devise locally relevant, pro‐poor, gender-sensitive and climate-resilient solutions. For example, women were trained to be energy auditors who encourage households to switch to more efficient products, forming a women-led distribution network of green energy and building products. Other solutions include using sprinkler taps to reduce the flow of water, harvesting rainwater, and other behavioural changes leading to more than 60% of households reporting to have increase in water quantity and more than 32% having sufficient water during summers.

Though projects like these, MHT is empowering women to take action against four major climate risks: heat waves, flooding and inundation, water scarcity, and water-vector-borne diseases. These slow‐onset events attract less attention but frequently impact poor people, particularly women, the most.

Key Facts

Mahila Housing Sewa Trust (MHT) has helped organise 114 Community Action Groups, who have reached out to 27,227 women in 107 slums. Of the women they’ve worked with, 8,165 women were recorded to demonstrate an increase in “knowledge seeking behavior”.

Over 1,500 women have been trained as climate-saathis, who are responsible for communicating the issue of climate change with their community in their local language. Through this communications exercise, the proportion of participants who viewed climate change as an act of god reduced from 26 % to 9 %.

To date, around 28,000 energy audits have been undertaken in slum communities, which have saved families over USD 700,000 per annum in electricity costs. These money and energy saving interventions have included installing over 200 modular roofs and 500 roofs with solar reflective white paint, while having also led to a reduction of 105 tonnes of CO2e per annum.

The Problem

It is estimated that over 190.7 million people live in informal settlements in South Asia. These settlements are often densely populated and highly vulnerable to even the slightest changes to our climate.

MHT’s project is building the resilience capacities of over 25,000 low-income families living in slums and informal settlements across seven cities in three South Asian countries, including: Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Ranchi, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar (India); Dhaka (Bangladesh), and Kathmandu (Nepal).

Their initiatives empower women to lead local mitigation efforts to prevent key climate risks such as heatwaves, flooding and inundation, and climate change related incidences of water-vector borne diseases. These types of slow-onset events tend to attract less global attention, while also disproportionately impacting low-income households. Women are commonly the primary caregiver and responsible for household management, which renders them more vulnerable to these types of stresses.

The Solution

MHT has championed a women-led empowerment model for building climate resilience in the slums of South Asia, focused around organising groups of women in their communities. Their model builds upon the conviction that if the urban poor are provided with requisite knowledge to undertake vulnerability and risk assessments, and are equipped with available resilient‐technologies, they will be able to devise and implement locally relevant and pro‐poor, climate-resilient solutions

The project model emphasizes women taking the lead through collective action and technology incubation in order to devise these locally relevant, gender-sensitive and climate-resilient solutions. To make this possible, MHT, assists with facilitating the required infrastructure, institutional and financial mechanisms.

Helping the Planet

Through empowering women, this project is also helping reduce the emissions associated with the production of electricity in these communities. For example, one of MHT’s core initiatives trains women to become energy auditors and educate households on the nuances of energy use such as bill calculation, wattage consumption and energy wastage. As energy auditors, these women also encourage households to switch to more energy efficient products.

These trained energy auditors also act as grassroots level micro-entrepreneurs, by forming a women-led distribution network of green energy and building products. Energy auditors promote the installation of energy efficient LED bulbs and lights, modular roofs, airlite ventilator, many other solutions.

Helping People

While women from low-income families are often the most vulnerable as they have the least access to information and resources, MHT believes they also have the greatest potential to be empowered to become agents of change.

The rationale for the project is to provide these women with the requisite knowledge to undertake vulnerability and risk assessments, while also equipping them with the available climate resilient-technologies. This means they will be able to identify climate induced vulnerabilities, minimize risk and adopt locally relevant climate resilient solutions. In turn, these women also can potentially play a role in influencing better city planning and governance for pro-poor adaptation and resilience actions.

Spillover Effect

Currently, MHT is in the process of training other grassroots organisations to reproduce similar women-led groups in areas such as Bhubaneswar, Dhaka and Kathmandu.

While many other urban resilience programs are top-down and externally driven, MHT has made a concerted effort to ensure their initiatives are low-cost, contextually-appropriate and participatory. Urban poor that have been organized under this program gather critical planning data to design their own solutions and negotiate with other urban stakeholders, as well as test and manage implementation of these solutions.

Through empowering women to help improve their homes and communities, MHT’s initiatives have also triggered behavior change in communities towards making more informed decisions. This has in turn empowered them with the necessary knowledge to demand improved government services, thus proving that this concept can be expanded to other communities throughout the world.

#mahila housing trust #mahila housing sewa trust #climate resilience #south asia #women led initiatives #climate change #inequality #sorry I couldn't get it to link properly so you get the whole thing #there's a video at the content source if you're interested

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