Wash Post Science
- UMBC president Freeman Hrabowski discusses science for women and minorities
Mathematician-turned-university-president Freeman A. Hrabowski III is known for encouraging minority students to pursue science and engineering careers. When the head of University of Maryland Baltimore County started as vice provost in 1987, black and Hispanic students were struggling in science...
University of Maryland Baltimore County - United States - University of Maryland - Baltimore County - Education
- DiCaprio thriller 'Inception' blends science into its fiction
In the new sci-fi thriller "Inception," Dom Cobb, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is a dream snatcher. He's an industrial spy who steals secrets by means of "extraction" when his victims are at their most defenseless: when they are asleep and dreaming. But he has an even rarer ability, that of "ince...
- Study: Working mothers not necessarily harmful to child development
A new study finds that babies raised by working mothers don't necessarily suffer cognitive setbacks, an encouraging finding that follows a raft of previous reports suggesting that women with infants were wiser to stay home.
- Rooftop gardening provides environmental benefits in urban areas
Using heat from a forge that turns out car parts and hand tools, a Michigan manufacturer is developing an energy-efficient way to warm a year-round greenhouse on the company's roof.
- SCIENCE SCAN
"The Youth Pill" (Current, $26.95) Like a modern-day Ponce de Leon, science journalist David Stipp sets out in search of the Fountain of Youth -- in capsular form -- in his book "The Youth Pill." As a reporter at the Wall Street Journal and Fortune magazine, Stipp had "gotten hooked on aging science...
- SCIENCE NEWS
Although herds of wildebeests and zebras and prides of lions still roam Africa's national parks, they do so in smaller numbers these days. That's according to a study that found that large-mammal populations in those parks shrank an average of 59 percent over 35 years.
- Stimulus funds give high-speed rail a kick in the caboose
Americans love to complain about the pitiable state of our once-great rail system and wonder why our locomotives are stuck in the past. I mean, you can zip between Wuhan and Guangzhou, China, at 220 mph. Japan's Shinkansen system tops 186 mph. The French TGV can blaze across the countryside at more...
- Meat may be less of a climate-change burden than some experts have claimed
This week the Lantern is taking a break from answering your green lifestyle questions to report on three studies that raise brand-new environmental dilemmas.
- Ant infestation dazzles entomologists but prompts others to seek remedies
The ants are coming. Actually they're already here, marching across kitchens, basements and bedrooms in record numbers this summer. The Washington area's wet spring and summer heat have led to a bumper crop of the tiny crawlers, looking for food wherever they can find it. And experts say they wil...
- How to get rid of ants: Bait, poison powder, spraying and more
Ants are tenacious insects, so to get rid of them it's important to be just as persistent. A variety of methods can be used to deal with tiny odorous house ants, but none works overnight. The key, according to experts, is to disrupt the ants' foraging trails, which lead from the outdoor colonies ...
- SCIENCE SCAN
- SCIENCE NEWS
Does the size of your brain -- or, more specifically, different regions of it-- say anything about your personality? According to a new study, maybe.
- Allen's letter to BP notes seep, 'undetermined anomalies' at wellhead
A day that seemed destined for success ended in ambiguity Sunday. The blown-out well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico remained shut for the fourth day, but the national incident commander reported concerns about seepage around the well and ordered BP to improve its monitoring of possible...
- Genetic testing mix-up reignites debate over degree of federal regulation needed
One woman panicked when the genetic test she had ordered over the Internet concluded that her son was carrying a life-threatening disorder and, even more disturbing, that he was not -- genetically -- her son. Another, who always thought she was white, was flabbergasted to find her genes were mostly...
- Panel approves compromise plan to save space jobs and add shuttle mission
A key Senate committee unanimously passed a plan Thursday to postpone retirement of the space shuttle as part of a job-saving compromise to the Obama administration's wish to end NASA's program to return astronauts to the moon.
- Study finds that mood music affects how women react to a man's advances
Single ladies, listen up: Your willingness to give a guy your digits may have more to do with the music in the air than with his looks or his line.
- Rare mix of geological factors created rich but dangerous reserves
In the oil business, geologists tell stories. Here was a river, they will say. Here was a shallow sea. Here is where the sea dried up and left only salt. Here is where the sea formed anew, and widened, and deepened, and where sediments from another river, and the carcasses of microorganisms, were...
- Jane Goodall: "It seems hard to believe it's been half a century. And yet it doesn't seem like yesterday, either."
- SCIENCE SCAN
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- Gulf seafood must pass the smell test
PASCAGOULA, MISS. -- Expert sniffer Steve Wilson lifted the cover off a Pyrex bowl and fanned the aroma of the raw red snapper sitting inside it toward him on a recent afternoon at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's lab here. He quickly replaced the cover and stepped back, lett...
- Oil spill panel faces challenges, criticism as it begins work
The presidential commission appointed to study the causes of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill and to recommend improvements for offshore drilling has navigated tight spots as it prepares to begin work this week.
- A career built on bringing lifesaving drugs to the market and to patients
In college, I fell in love with the notion of correcting a disease and making a person better by giving them a pharmaceutical. I thought it would be satisfying enough to be a researcher, until I got into graduate school and saw that I wanted to be the one giving the agents and seeing the response.
- When the moon hits your eye, it's always the same old scene
If you moved to the moon, you'd have to choose between two basic types of real estate. To property owners living in one hemisphere, Earth would at all moments be visible overhead, forever suspended in the sky. From properties in the opposite hemisphere, Earth would be perpetually hidden below the...
- Study from Uganda says chimpanzees attack neighbors to expand their domain
When it comes to territory, chimpanzees are ruthless. Chimp coalitions will kill and sometimes cannibalize their neighbors to expand their community's real estate, according to a study published in the June 22 issue of Current Biology.
- To minimize waste, buy wisely, prep fresh foods, use the freezer
A few weeks ago, after serving up some sobering statistics about food waste in America, the Lantern put out a call for your best tips on how to avoid refrigerator rot. Nearly 200 of you responded, with some big suggestions (move to a place within walking distance of a grocery store) and small one...
- Experiment on rat lungs offers hope
It's an early step toward one day building new lungs: Yale University researchers took apart and regrew a rat's lung, and then transplanted it and watched it breathe.
- U.S. falling behind in inovation
- Air Force plans to launch satellite that would keep tabs on space junk
DENVER -- A new U.S. Air Force satellite will provide the first full-time, space-based surveillance of hundreds of satellites and thousands of pieces of debris that could crash into American and allied assets circling the Earth.
- Space policy envisions increased collaboration
CAPE CANAVERAL -- The Obama administration outlined a space policy Monday that offers an expanded role for foreign governments and private companies in monitoring Earth's climate, tracking and removing orbital debris and protecting satellites.
- China's push to develop its west hasn't closed income gap with east, critics say
BEIJING -- Ten years ago, China's leadership launched its "Go West" campaign, an ambitious plan to develop and modernize the country's poor western hinterlands. The aim was simple: to close the region's yawning income gap with the more prosperous east and assuage restive minority populations,...
- FDA seeks less use of antibiotics in animals to keep them effective for humans
The Food and Drug Administration urged farmers on Monday to stop giving antibiotics to cattle, poultry, hogs and other animals to spur their growth, citing concern that drug overuse is helping to create dangerous bacteria that do not respond to medical treatment and endanger human lives.
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- Which oil companies are more eco-friendly than the rest?
Back in April, a reader asked which gas station was the most eco-friendly choice, and BP came out pretty high on the Lantern's list. We don't need to crunch the numbers again to know that the company formerly known as "Beyond Petroleum" has gone from hero to zero with a series of preventable miss...
- Texts on the beach: What scientists recommend for summer reading
- Cities build underground garbage systems; naturalist attaches cameras to animals
- Should the EPA set rules for greenhouse gases, or wait for Congress to act?
- Japanese spacecraft returns from asteroid mission, years overdue
By the time its odyssey ended this month in the Australian outback, the spacecraft Hayabusa had been gone three years longer than planned, lost its main engine, disappeared from all interplanetary notice for more than seven weeks and may have failed to perform its main mission.
- Traffic study sees shades of gray in yellow lights
Drivers know that green means go, red means stop and yellow means . . . "Can I make it?" Although the law is clear that yellow means slow down and prepare to stop, many drivers do not. New research sheds light on what factors come into play when a driver decides to run those yellows, and it turns...
- China pushing the envelope on science, and sometimes ethics
SHENZHEN, CHINA -- Last year, Zhao Bowen was part of a team that cracked the genetic code of the cucumber. These days, he's probing the genetic basis for human IQ.
- NIH rejects use of dozens of stem cell colonies by federally funded researchers
The National Institutes of Health rejected Monday a request to approve dozens of colonies of human embryonic stem cells for use by federally funded researchers. Scientists had been hoping the lines would become available for their research under a new policy from the Obama administration.
- Absence of sunspots make scientists wonder if they're seeing a calm before a storm of energy
Sunspots come and go, but recently they have mostly gone. For centuries, astronomers have recorded when these dark blemishes on the solar surface emerge, only to fade away after a few days, weeks or months. Thanks to their efforts, we know that sunspot numbers ebb and flow in cycles lasting about...
- Ways that urbanites can turn their waste into compost
I live in an apartment in the city with zero outdoor space, and I don't have any plants that would benefit from compost. Is there any reason at all, then, why I should be composting my food scraps?
- Solar energy offers a vast supply of power, but harnessing it is a challenge
We have a solar-based economy, whether or not we realize it. Ninety-four percent of the world's energy comes from the sun, even energy that doesn't at first glance seem solar. Coal, oil and natural gas are mostly the products of ancient plants that grew with the sun's help. The sun drives hydroel...
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- Silverdocs film festival addresses pollution in Cambodia and West Virginia
- Philippe Cousteau Jr. says gulf oil spill would have amazed Jacques Cousteau
- Software allows researchers to compute a soccer player's value to his squad
Picking a fantasy soccer team is tough. Compared with other professional sports, soccer is short on statistics for each player's contribution to the game. Unlike strikeouts, passes completed or free throws, play-by-play stats for soccer are usually collected only for big matches. So fans have to ...
- Scientists find a big drop in the strength of solar magnetic fields
Although sunspots are making a belated comeback after the protracted solar minimum, the signs are that all is not well. For decades, William Livingston at the National Solar Observatory in Tucson has been measuring the strength of the magnetic fields that puncture the sun's surface and cause the ...
- Bank-closure workload leads FDIC to open 3rd satellite office
Ten miles northwest of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and around the corner from Richard Walker's Pancake House, hundreds of government employees are settling into new digs inside a nondescript office building in Schaumburg, Ill.
- LSU, FSU experts answer questions about the oil spill
Edward Overton, a Louisiana State University environmental scientist, and Ian R. MacDonald, a Florida State University oceanography professor, answer questions about the oil spill. Send additional questions to health-science@washpost.com .
- Tropical fish seems able to think ahead, according to researchers
One of the things that makes us human is an ability to think ahead when we interact with someone and adapt our behavior if we expect to encounter that person again. A tiny tropical fish also seems to have this ability, according to new research, behaving more cooperatively with fish it is likely to...
- A single nest in Cambodia produces a bumper crop of rare crocodiles
Conservationists in Cambodia are celebrating the hatching of a clutch of eggs from one of the world's most critically endangered animals. Thirteen baby Siamese crocodiles recently crawled out of their shells in a remote part of southwestern Cambodia, following a weeks-long vigil by researchers who...
- Much food goes to waste, which squanders resources and adds to greenhouse gases
I've heard that Americans waste 40 percent of their food. Could that possibly be true? That's five eggs from every dozen!
- Science, traditions of Alsatian winemakers collide in France over fanleaf virus
COLMAR, FRANCE -- A War of the Worlds is being waged in this little corner of eastern France.
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- Q&A with Amy Gutmann of Presidential Commission for Study of Bioethical Issues
President Obama has appointed a new Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, replacing his predecessor's President's Council on Bioethics. Like the previous entity and similar ones before it, the group will advise the president on a wide range of difficult, controversial scient...
- Green Lantern discusses dimmer switches, recycled textiles, composting hair
Do I save electricity when I use a dimmer switch on my lights?
- Oil spill draws scientists to gulf to study environmental impact
REDFISH BAY, LA. -- In a strangely silent corner of this usually thriving bay, charter captain Kevin Beach of Metairie says he should be seeing "shrimp, trout jumping, sea gulls . . . and knuckleheads like myself high-fiving over a catch."
- Want to see better? We'd have to turn out the lights.
Time was, the stars in the sky epitomized the very concept of countlessness. "Innumerable as the stars of night," wrote Milton. If the poet's contemporaries had tried enumerate the twinkling beacons above, they might have been able to make out 5,000 or more with the naked eye on a clear, moonless...
- BP says it sees some progress in capping gulf well, collecting oil
BP executives said that their efforts to capture the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico have begun to work and that a containment cap placed over the damaged well Thursday night sucked up about 441,000 gallons of oil -- on Saturday, up from around 250,000 gallons on Friday. That oil was diverted...
- Gates defends Obama's nominee for intelligence chief
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Sunday supported the nomination of James R. Clapper Jr. as director of national intelligence but said making the job work requires a "constructive, positive chemistry with the other leaders in the intelligence community" rather than acting as "a strong executive...
- In gulf oil spill's long reach, ecological damage could last decades
Snorkeling along a coral reef near Veracruz, Mexico, in 2002, Texas biologist Wes Tunnell spotted what looked like a ledge of rock covered in sand, shells, algae and hermit crabs. He knew, from years of research at the reef, that it probably wasn't a rock at all. He stabbed it with his diving kni...
- Launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 private rocket is a success
The Falcon 9 , the first of a new generation of private rockets that could one day make space travel commonplace, successfully launched from Cape Canaveral on Friday.
- Nation Digest
The nation's local jail population has declined for the first time since the federal government began keeping count, officials said Thursday.
- Rocket launch may give boost to privatized spaceflight
HAWTHORNE, CALIF. -- If all goes well, a rocket built by an Internet entrepreneur in a former Boeing 747 fuselage factory will launch into space Friday -- from one of the storied pads at Cape Canaveral.
- Obama meets with leaders of new oil spill commission
President Obama vowed a "full and vigorous accounting" of the causes of the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, telling the leaders of a new commission that they should pursue the trail of blame without limits.
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- Obama meets with leaders of new oil spill commission
President Obama vowed a "full and vigorous accounting" of the causes of the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, telling the leaders of a new commission that they should pursue the trail of blame without limits.
- With advanced sensors, cars become increasingly capable of driving themselves
With his jeans, white trainers and stripy top, Bob is every inch the well-dressed 6-year-old. He's standing in the middle of a hotel parking lot and, scarily, I'm driving straight at him. Instead of hitting the brakes, I put my foot down on the accelerator. With only about 10 yards to go, a row o...
- Pork, chicken, milk and eggs have similar environmental impact
Lantern, you've covered the environmental impact of meat a number of times. Where do eggs fit in? And would it be better for the planet to buy free-range or cage-free eggs?
- Kids with diabetes can get Nintendo points for testing blood sugar
Monitoring blood glucose levels is key to managing diabetes. But when children have the disease, it's often hard to get them to cooperate.
- SCIENCE SCAN
- SCIENCE NEWS
Nicolaus Copernicus, the 16th-century astronomer whose findings were condemned by the Roman Catholic Church as heretical, has been reburied by Polish priests as a hero, nearly 500 years after he was laid to rest in an unmarked grave. His reinterment in the cathedral where he once served as a chur...
- Researchers provide temporary business to beleaguered charter captains in gulf
REDFISH BAY, LA. -- In a strangely silent corner of this usually thriving bay, charter captain Kevin Beach of Metairie says he should be seeing "shrimp, trout jumping, sea gulls . . . and knuckleheads like myself high-fiving over a catch."
- Skywatch: Saturn, Mars and Venus tear up the dance floor
In the waning days of spring, we look forward to some summer planetary folk dancing: Saturn, Mars and Venus form a trio of ever-changing configuration.
- "Science vs. Religion" discovers what scientists really think about religion
Though "Science vs. Religion" is aimed at scientists, her myth-busting and her thoughtful advice can also benefit nonscientists. For Ecklund, the bottom line is recognizing and tolerating religious diversity, honestly discussing science's scope and limits, and openly exploring the disputed borders between scientific skepticism and religious faith.
- U.S. oil drilling regulator ignored experts' red flags on environmental risks
The federal agency responsible for regulating U.S. offshore oil drilling repeatedly ignored warnings from government scientists about environmental risks in its push to approve energy exploration activities quickly, according to numerous documents and interviews.
- That's kind of what science is; it's finding the area where nobody knows the answer."
Paleobotanist Kirk Johnson is co-author of recent study concluding that dinosaurs went extinct after an asteroid crashed into the Gulf of Mexico 65.5 million years ago, blowing debris around the world, knocking down forests and causing tsunamis and earthquakes. It's a hypothesis that first emerge...
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- DNA testing debated as condo board tries to find source of dog droppings
DNA testing is used in many critical tasks: convicting criminals, clearing innocent suspects, establishing paternity, identifying genetic diseases during pregnancy.
- Google, Yahoo, others work to make search engines better at scanning the Web
Imagine yourself a monk in the Dark Ages. The abbot comes to you after vespers and asks you to report on the Bible's treatment of, say, sloth. "For the love of God!" you'd think. "How am I going to find every occurrence of sloth in the Vulgate?" Unless you had the Bible memorized, you would have...
- NASA confirms demise of Phoenix Mars spacecraft
NASA declared the Phoenix Mars lander program officially dead Monday after repeatedly failing to regain contact with the spacecraft.
- Aging baby boomers may lead drive to legalize marijuana further
MIAMI -- In her 88 years, Florence Siegel has learned how to relax: A glass of red wine. A crisp copy of the New York Times, if she can wrest it from her husband. Some classical music, preferably Bach. And every night like clockwork, she lifts a pipe to her lips and smokes marijuana.
- You, the physics experiment
"Physics of the Human Body" (Johns Hopkins University Press, $45 paperback, $80 hardcover) St. Louis College of Pharmacy physics professor Richard P. McCall's book is written at "a level that a curious high school science student could understand," according to the preface. The most accessible ch...
- Atlantis finishes work at international space station
SPACE SHUTTLE The space shuttle Atlantis left the international space station on Sunday, leaving behind what one astronaut called a "palace" that is 98 percent finished after 12 years of construction.
- Scientists create cell based on man-made genetic instructions
Scientists reported Thursday that they have created a cell controlled entirely by man-made genetic instructions -- the latest step toward creating life from scratch. The achievement is a landmark in the emerging field of "synthetic biology," which aims to control the behavior of organisms by mani...
- SCIENCE NEWS
We know a mother's touch can make a young child feel secure enough to try new things. It turns out a gentle touch from a woman can evoke that response even in adults, according to new research.
- SCIENCE SCAN
- Burmese pythons prosper in Everglades, though chilly winter reduced their number
Maybe it was Hurricane Andrew blowing down a snake importer's warehouse in 1992. Maybe it was snake lovers who bought cute baby reptiles, only to dump them in the wild when they grew too voracious.
- Genetically modified crops may not be environmentally harmful
Green Lantern, what's your take on genetically modified crops? Should environmentalists be up in arms about them or not?
- Oil spill imperils an unseen world at the bottom of the gulf
In total darkness at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico lives a creature with many scuttling legs and two wiggling antennae that jut from a pinched, space-alien face. It is the isopod, Bathynomus giganteus, a scavenger of dead and rotten flesh on the mud floor of the gulf.
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- Challenge of cleaning up Gulf of Mexico oil spill 'unprecedented' at such depths
ELMERS ISLAND, LA. -- The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has not yet caused coastal damage on the scale of the Exxon Valdez disaster. But scientists say it is becoming something different and potentially much more troubling: the first massive U.S. oil spill whose effects so far are largely hidde...
- Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Eugene Cernan oppose Obama's spaceflight plans
The first and last Americans to walk on the moon reiterated opposition to President Obama's plans for the future of human spaceflight on Wednesday, arguing that the president's vision lacks specifics and proper review.
- New Delhi residents cheer arrival of new Metro system
NEW DELHI -- Public transportation in this congested capital long meant riding buses so stuffed that they tilted as passengers precariously hung out of the doors. Then came the Metro, and this city's tryst with destiny and destination began.
- When origami meets rocket science
Robert J. Lang had a good career as a laser physicist. He worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, researching semiconductor lasers used in fiber-optic communications, before switching to a private technology firm in Silicon Valley, where he held positions such as chief scientist and vice...
- SCIENCE NEWS
Charles Darwin's experiments with plants showed that self-fertilized plants were weaker than those produced by cross-fertilization. Married to a first cousin and with a family tree rife with generations of inbreeding, Darwin was concerned that what he had learned about plants might be true for pe...
- Volcanic ash and cotton candy share molecular characteristics with glass
Even when the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull was shooting more than 500 tons of ash per second into the air last month, children somewhere surely were parading around with festive funnels of cotton candy.
- Build It Bigger" airs on Science Channel; museum portrays Eskimo tools
Television "Build It Bigger" (Science Channel) With explanations by host Danny Forster and 3-D animations of blueprints, this TV series shows off modern feats of engineering and architecture in a way that's easy(ish) to understand. Thursdays at 9 p.m., viewers can watch Forster, a New York...
- Tally of marine life reveals a bounty of creatures beneath the surface
If the Census Bureau has a hard time counting Americans, imagine what scientists are up against trying to tally every living thing in the ocean.
- Deep-sea chemical dispersants weighed for cleanup of Gulf of Mexico oil spill
The decision on whether to use chemical dispersants deep below the sea's surface to break up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill boils down to two central questions: Is it worth taking this unprecedented step to protect the region's sensitive and ecologically valuable wetlands, even at the potential exp...
- Ancient DNA shows interbreeding between Homo sapiens and Neanderthal
With the help of a pinch of fossil bone dust, scientists have discovered that modern human beings interbred with Neanderthals tens of thousands of years ago, and that 1 to 4 percent of the genes carried by non-African people are traceable to the much-caricatured, beetle-browed cavemen.
- Chemical dispersants an unknown quantity in addressing oil spill
The decision on whether to use chemical dispersants deep below the sea's surface to break up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill boils down to two central questions: Is it worth taking this unprecedented step to protect the region's sensitive and ecologically valuable wetlands, even at the potential exp...
- Recognizing those who serve America, and their inventive ways
Many famous federal dramas have used Room 325 in the Russell Senate Office Building as a stage. John and Robert Kennedy announced their plans to run for president in what was then called the Senate Caucus Room. The disgrace of Watergate was on display when the Senate held hearings there. And Clar...
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- After Gulf Coast oil spill, scientists envision devastation for region
The urgent question along the polluted Gulf of Mexico: How bad will this get?
- Ever wonder how people who take illegal drugs affect the planet?
Let's be frank: Most drug-induced highs for you are kind of a downer for the planet. The conditions under which illegal drugs are produced make it impossible to enforce any sort of clean manufacturing regulations, and the long-standing U.S. government effort to eradicate drugs inflicts its own en...
- Cloning of horses prompts debate over registering genetic duplicates
The chestnut stallion was the love of Zarela Olsen's life. A majestic Paso Fino with personality and a bright copper coat, Capuchino often greeted his fawning owner with kisses, nuzzling her neck and licking the back of her ears. "When he died, he took my heart with him," said Olsen, 46. "I could...
- NASA team cites new evidence that meteorites from Mars contain ancient fossils
LEAGUE CITY, TEX. -- NASA's Mars Meteorite Research Team reopened a 14-year-old controversy on extraterrestrial life last week, reaffirming and offering support for its widely challenged assertion that a 4-billion-year-old meteorite that landed thousands of years ago on Antarctica shows evidence of...
- A look at how chimps react to death
Chimpanzees seem to feel the death of a loved one in very human ways, according to two studies that used videotapes to observe reactions to the death of an older female chimp in one case and of baby chimps in the other.
- Looking back at the future
Paleofuture.com It's 2010 -- where the heck are the flying cars already? Matt Novak has compiled past visions of what the future would be like (an area of interest called "retro-futurism") on his blog Paleofuture.com. In addition to flying cars and robots, futurologists often focused on jet packs...
- D.C. area night sky, astronomical programs in May
From all over Washington you can see Venus in the west at dusk. It is brighter than the other planets that are visible with the naked eye at an extremely bright negative 3.9 to 4.0 magnitude. At the beginning of May, it sets in the west about two hours after sunset.
