The Science of Addiction & Pain Management

You are in an accident or perhaps have a sports injury. Maybe you are hurt by equipment at work or have a bad fall. Regardless of the circumstances, you go to the doctor in horrible pain, and the doctor prescribes you an opioid, whether that be codeine or hydrocodone or any other of its many names. You are at risk. It is believed that approximately 2 million people are addicted to opioids.

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Saturn and its rings: Hubble’s spectacular new photo (July 4, 2020)

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope took this spectacular photo of Saturn and its rings on July 4, 2020, when the ringed gas giant was 839 million miles (1,35 billion kilometers) from Earth.

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Most-detailed 3D map of the Universe has been released

On Jul 20, 2020, scientists have released what they call the “most-detailed 3D map of the universe ever produced”. This incredible map shows 11 billion years of the Universe’s history, with galaxies closest to Earth appearing in purple & blue, and distant galaxies in yellow & red.

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How LONG is the Earth? The answer will surprise you!

“How long is the Earth” is a weird question – but what if you cut it up into Minecraft-sized 1-meter cubes and lay them in a line through space, how far would the Earth stretch? It is a thought experiment and in the video published by the astrophysicist (and a famous poker player!) Liv Boeree below, we can get the answer and it is mind-blowing: the Earth would stretch across the entire Milky Way (more than 100,000 light-years!) if its volume is laid out in a line of 1-meter cubes.

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Complete descent and landing of Apollo 11 [July 20, 1969]

Apollo Flight Journal channel published a detailed video that shows every second of the complete descent and landing of Apollo 11, the spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon on July 20, 1969. The video combines data from the onboard computer for altitude and pitch angle (you can see both altitude and pitch angle every second), 16mm film that was shot throughout the descent at 6 frames per second.

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Climate change: how your personal choices affect your contribution

Scientists Seth Wynes (University of British Columbia – Vancouver, Department of Geography) and Kimberly A. Nicholas (Lund University, Centre for Sustainability Studies) prepared an infographic that shows how your personal choices affect your contribution to climate change.

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Genetically Modified Mosquitoes: the benefits and drawbacks

Many of us have had the misfortune to encounter mosquitoes at one time or another. If we’re lucky, we’ve only experienced them from the perspective of being something of an annoyance. We see them as buzzing pests that emerge during humid periods and leave their mark with itchy bumps and welts. However, they can be far more problematic.

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Comet-Rise, the rise of Comet NEOWISE from the ISS

Have you ever seen a comet-rise? This stunning real-time video shows the rise of Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) from the International Space Station (ISS). As the ISS orbits the Earth, Comet NEOWISE rises behind the Earth’s body, above the horizon.

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Comet NEOWISE and noctilucent clouds – something we’ve never seen before

Russian space agency Roscosmos published spectacular photos of Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) and noctilucent clouds or polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) above our beautiful planet Earth. This is something we’ve never seen before (a comet and ).

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Spectacular comet photo from the ISS

Russian cosmonaut Ivan Vagner published a spectacular comet photo on his Twitter account (@ivan_mks63). He tweeted both in Russian and in English and said “During the next revolution I tried to capture the C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) comet a bit closer, the brightest one over the last 7 years. Its tail is quite clearly visible from the International Space Station!”

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