Scientists have finally solved the mystery of a milky rain that **coated** cars and raised eyebrows across a wide swathe of North America’s Pacific Northwest region this February. A Washington State University team said they had determined that dust from the dry bed of a shallow lake some 772 kilometers from where the rain fell was to blame for the unusual precipitation.
The rain left a trail of powdery residue across a nearly 322-kilometer stretch of eastern parts of Oregon and Washington State, leaving scientists and residents **perplexed** about its origins. Some scientists initially **speculated** that an erupting Japanese volcano was the source of the powdery white substance. Others blamed wildfires, and some thought that a Nevada dust storm was the cause.
All three theories were proven wrong. That led researchers to consider Oregon’s Summer Lake, which is shallow and often largely dries up during droughts. A storm with winds reaching 96 kilometers per hour struck Summer Lake the night before the milky rain.
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者吳俊鋒
“That would have been powerful enough to lift a good-sized dust plume,” said Nic Loyd, a meteorologist at the university.
(Courtesy of the Liberty Times)
今年二月間,在北美太平洋西北地區廣大地帶讓車輛覆蓋白白一層、讓人驚訝不已的牛奶雨之謎,終於被科學家解開。美國華盛頓州立大學的研究團隊說,他們判定這種不尋常的降雨,都是約七百七十二公里外一座淺湖乾涸湖底的沙所造成。
那陣雨降在奧勒岡州與華盛頓州東部,將近三百二十二公里的地帶遍佈粉末,讓科學家與居民不解其來源。某些科學家起初推斷,這種粉末狀白色物質來自日本一座噴發的火山。有人怪罪野火,也有人認為原因在於內華達州的沙塵暴。
結果證實上述三種理論都不正確。這讓研究人員開始考慮水不深、乾旱期大半乾涸的奧勒岡州夏湖。天降牛奶雨的前一晚,夏湖下了一場挾著每小時風速達九十六公里的暴風雨。
華盛頓州大氣象學家尼克.羅以德表示:「那種力量強大到足以捲起大片沙塵。」
(自由時報提供/翻譯:自由時報國際新聞中心)
NASA decided Saturday last week it’s too risky to bring two astronauts back to Earth in Boeing’s troubled new capsule, and they’ll have to wait until next year for a ride home with SpaceX. What should have been a weeklong test flight for the pair will now last more than eight months. The seasoned pilots have been stuck at the International Space Station since the beginning of June. A cascade of vexing thruster failures and helium leaks in the new capsule marred their trip to the space station, and they ended up in a holding pattern as engineers conducted tests and
A: The Michelin Guide for this year has been revealed. B: Which restaurants have been awarded three stars this time? A: Taipei’s Le Palais and Tairroir and Taichung’s JL Studio. B: Those fancy restaurants all look expensive. A: Then you can try the more affordable Bib Gourmand. A: 今年的《米其林指南》終於公佈了。 B: 榮獲3星的有哪幾家? A: 有台北的「頤宮」、「態芮」,和台中的「JL Studio」! B: 可是他們好像都不便宜耶。 A: 那你還可以參考價格比較親民的《必比登推介》。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
With summer approaching, many people are planning some fun water activities. Standup paddle boarding (SUP), which simply involves standing on a large board and propelling yourself with a paddle, is becoming increasingly popular. The history of SUP dates back thousands of years, with early forms found as early as 3000 BC across various regions like Peru and China. However, the contemporary version of SUP originated in Hawaii in the 1940s, when local surfer John Ah Choy, unable to surf traditionally due to his age, started standing on his board and using a canoe paddle. This style eventually evolved into the SUP
新冠疫情期間,媒體曾經報導「廣州零號感染源,疑透過餐廳空調傳播」,之前媒體也常出現「零號病人」之類的報導,諸如:「義大利 0 號病人出院,遭起底竟是......」,「紐約確診人數近6萬,……零號病人出院」。 所謂「零號病人」,就是台灣平常我們說的「首例」。如:「台首例武漢肺炎病患出院」,【獨家專訪】台灣首例武漢肺炎確診個案治癒過程! 「零號病人」英文叫 patient zero 或 index case,其實就是某個國家/地區第一個列入紀錄的案例。關於 index case,Wikipedia 的定義如下: The index case (sometimes referred to as patient zero) is the first documented patient in a disease epidemic within a population, or the first documented patient included in an epidemiological study. 為何第一個案例會說成patient zero?BBC 有一則關於新冠肺炎的報導裡提到它的由來: 愛滋病流行期間意外創造了「零號病人」一詞。80年代初期,美國美國疾病管制與預防中心(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)的研究人員調查愛滋病在洛杉磯和舊金山的傳播時,以英文字母O來指「加州以外」(outside of California) 的某個案例。其他研究人員誤將這代表外州 (outside) 的字母“O”,解讀為數字“0”,因此「零號病人」的說法就這樣誕生了。 …patient zero is a term used to describe the first human infected by a viral or bacterial disease in an outbreak…. Whilst investigating the spread of the disease…researchers…used the letter “O” to refer a case of someone “outside the state of California.” Other researchers wrongfully interpreted the letter as