March 7, 2025: Get ready for a lunar eclipse. Plus, how birds know when to migrate in spring; and Voyager probes lose one instrument each. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | Artiist's concept of Voyager 1. NASA/JPL-Caltech | | | • Astronauts who spend long periods in the microgravity of space can experience changes in the eye, including swelling in the region where the optic nerve extends to the brain, wrinkles that emerge at the back of the retina and more. | 7 min read | | | • "Quarantine fatigue" emerged in 2020 during the early days of COVID-19 and evolved into "pandemic fatigue." This complex set of emotions affects the nation still. | 8 min read | | | John Coletti/Getty Images | | | A total lunar eclipse is happening next week, visible across nearly all of North America and all of South America. It will start late the night of March 13 and continue into the wee hours of March 14. This will be the only lunar eclipse visible from North America this year. If skies are clear, go out and take a look!
How it works: Lunar eclipses happen when Earth is positioned smack dab in between a full moon and the sun. As the moon orbits Earth, it moves into Earth's shadow, creating the stages of the eclipse. Phil Plait, our resident astronomer and columnist, has broken down the phases of a lunar eclipse: "Astronomers divide the eclipse into several stages. First contact is when the moon's leading edge moves into the penumbra [outer part of the shadow]. Second contact is when the leading edge enters the umbra [the deepest part of the shadow]; this is also the start of the partial eclipse, when Earth's shadow falling on the moon becomes obvious. Third contact is when totality occurs. Fourth contact is when the leading edge passes out of the umbra and becomes easily visible again, ending totality, and fifth contact is when the entire moon is fully out of the umbra. Sixth contact is when the moon leaves the penumbra and the eclipse is officially over."
Here's the timeline (in EDT) of when to see the stages of the eclipse:
First contact: 11:57 P.M.
Second contact: 1:09 A.M. (partial begins)
Third contact: 2:26 A.M. (totality begins)
Fourth contact: 3:32 A.M. (totality ends)
Fifth contact: 4:48 A.M. (partial ends)
Sixth contact: 6:00 A.M.
During totality: When Earth is completely blocking the sun's light from illuminating the moon, a strange thing will happen. Just like during a sunset or sunrise when the sun is low on the horizon, Earth's atmosphere scatters blue light but transmits red light. So all the sunlight falling on the lunar surface is passing through the thickest part of Earth's atmosphere, and the eclipsed moon will appear to turn an ominous red. | | | Something Told the Wild Geese | Knowing when to migrate is a delicate calculation for birds. They need to reach breeding sites in plenty of time to successfully reproduce. But if they arrive too soon, winter may not have quite loosened its grip, which puts the birds at risk of starvation. So how do birds decide when it's time to fly? (Any Rachel Field fans out there?)
How it works: Birds use special photoreceptors in their brain to detect light. When the days begin to lengthen in late winter and early spring, the photoreceptors trigger changes in several body systems, from molting to weight gain to a general feeling of restlessness.
What the experts say: Each bird undergoes these seasonal changes a little bit differently. "They're all sort of like little machines in terms of getting turned on, but there are individual decisions," says Marilyn Ramenofsky, a behavioral endocrinologist at the University of California, Davis. Individual birds might delay their migration to get the most out of a good winter habitat, or to avoid big storms. | | | • Ovarian cancer is hard to detect and usually deadly. The disease originates in the fallopian tubes, and a large epidemiological study found that removing the fallopian tubes significantly reduced its incidence. "Clinicians are beginning to offer people who have completed childbearing and who are already undergoing planned surgeries the option of removing their fallopian tubes in order to prevent ovarian cancer," write a group of surgeons and oncologists. "A simple change in surgical technique—removing the fallopian tubes with the uterus during hysterectomy, and removing instead of 'tying' the tubes for those opting surgical contraception —would add ovarian cancer prevention to two of the most common gynecologic procedures without the need for a separate medical intervention." | 4 min read | | | Regular readers of this newsletter should ace the first question of this week's science quiz. Also, don't miss today's Spellements. If you spot any science words missing from the puzzle, email them to games@sciam.com. This week, a slew of readers submitted biome, which is a term in ecology for a geographical region with specific environmental conditions, plants and animals (like tundra or grassland). Well done, folks. | | | MOST POPULAR STORIES OF THE WEEK | | | • Blue Ghost, a Private U.S. Spacecraft, Lands on the Moon | 5 min read | • Company Seeking to Resurrect the Woolly Mammoth Creates a 'Woolly Mouse' | 6 min read | • Your Candy Cravings Might Be Controlled by This Gut Bacterium | 2 min read | | | Total lunar eclipses are striking to look at, eerie even. And they offer scientists a chance to study the moon's surface using thermal measurements: as the moon moves into the shadow of Earth, the temperature on its surface drops quickly. Scientists can track this change in surface temperature over time and determine the properties of the materials on the top layer of our cosmic neighbor. Along with the solar variety, "eclipses of the past have helped us revolutionize our perspectives of the universe," astrophysicist Paul M. Sutter wrote in Scientific American last year. | Thanks for reading Today in Science this week. Enjoy your weekend and send feedback to: newsletters@sciam.com. | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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