<ul class="summary-list"><li>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/strawberry-supermoon-rising-thursday-evening-2021-6">full Buck Moon</a> may appear <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/super-blood-moon-total-lunar-eclipse-how-to-watch-2021-5">blood red</a> in skies across the US this weekend, due to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/1-in-4-americans-no-emergency-savings-survey-2021-7">wildfire</a> <keyword id="6360584" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="smoke">smoke</keyword>.</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/current-us-wildfires-burned-area-larger-than-delaware-2021-7">Western wildfires</a> driven by <keyword id="6361617" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change">climate change</keyword> have <a href="https://www.insider.com/western-us-wildfires-smoke-reached-east-coast-air-quality-2021-7">spread smoke to the East Coast</a>, tinting skies orange.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oregon-bootleg-fire-creating-fire-clouds-pyrocumulonimbus-storms-2021-7">Wildfire smoke</a> is a huge health risk, and widespread-smoke events will likely become more common.</li></ul><p>A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/harvest-full-moon-calendar-native-american-names-2016-9">full Buck Moon</a> is rising this weekend, and it may appear <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/super-blood-moon-total-lunar-eclipse-how-to-watch-2021-5">orange or blood red</a> in skies across North America.</p><p>Normally, the <keyword id="42440" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Moon">moon</keyword> turns orange or red during an eclipse, when Earth blocks sunlight and our atmosphere reflects red light onto the lunar surface instead. But this time is unusual. Instead of being eclipsed by Earth's shadow, the moon may be eclipsed in many places by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oregon-bootleg-fire-creating-fire-clouds-pyrocumulonimbus-storms-2021-7">layers of smoke</a>.</p><p><keyword id="394841" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="wildfires">Wildfires</keyword> have exploded across the Pacific Northwest over the last month, fueled by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/satellite-images-show-california-mega-drought-drying-up-lakes-forest-2021-7">dry vegetation</a> and a series of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/family-of-bears-joins-crowd-in-lake-tahoe-example-of-climate-crisis">heat waves</a> made possible by the warming climate. The largest, Oregon's Bootleg Fire, has grown to nearly twice the size of New York City and started <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oregon-bootleg-fire-creating-fire-clouds-pyrocumulonimbus-storms-2021-7">generating its own weather</a>.</p><p>The blazes are sending smoke roiling across the continent, prompting air-quality alerts from Minnesota to North Carolina and tinting skies orange as far east as New York and Washington, DC.</p><div type="image" title="north america map shows black carbon soots across northwest northeast central US" height="4071" width="5428" msid="84664268" hostid="261"></div><p>That's because the particles in wildfire smoke block shorter wavelengths of sunlight - the blues and greens - and allow the longer, redder wavelengths to pass through. The moon will be no exception to this paintbrush of sweeping smoke.</p><p>"When you do have wildfire smoke, especially high up in the atmosphere, you typically do see your moon kind of turn reddish or orange," Jesse Berman, an assistant professor in environmental health at the University of Minnesota, where he studies extreme weather and air pollution, told Insider.</p><p>If the smoke is low and thick enough, it could block out the moon entirely. But, Berman said, "it's very likely that any area experiencing a wildfire-smoke exposure can see this red or orange moon."</p><div type="image" title="orange moon next to empire state building spire" height="1533" width="2044" msid="84664269" hostid="261"></div><p>The moon will appear full Thursday night through Sunday morning, peaking on Friday night, according to <a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/1933/july-2021-the-next-full-moon-is-the-buck-moon/">NASA</a>.</p><p>In the month of July, the <keyword id="89794" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Full-Moon">full moon</keyword> is often called the Buck Moon. According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, this name comes from the Algonquin peoples, who share a family of languages and originate from the area that today ranges from New England as far west as Lake Superior. The name refers to buck deer's antlers emerging in summer.</p><h2>Widespread wildfire smoke could become common</h2><div type="image" title="oregon bootleg fire burns trees hazy skies" height="1800" width="2400" msid="84664270" hostid="261"></div><p>Wildfires that produce continent-sweeping smoke clouds could become annual events, if not occurring "multiple times every single year," Berman said.</p><p>"We do expect these events to become not only more frequent, but possibly more severe in the future as our climate tends to shift towards drier conditions, to hotter conditions, to areas where you have less frequent rainfall," he added. "Every one of these wildfire events is an opportunity for that smoke to travel long distances and affect not only the people nearby, but also those very far away."</p><div type="image" title="bootleg fire oregon pyrocumulonimbus clouds" height="1332" width="1779" msid="84664271" hostid="261"></div><p>If smoke stays high in the atmosphere, it probably won't affect <keyword id="53848" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="air-quality">air quality</keyword> for people on the ground. However, it sometimes falls back down and fills the air we breathe with hazardous particles - hundreds or even thousands of miles from the fire that created it.</p><p>The microscopic particles in wildfire smoke can penetrate deep into the lungs and even the bloodstream. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6015400/">Research</a> has connected wildfire-particle pollution to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and premature death.</p><p>In healthy people short-term, it can irritate the eyes and lungs and cause wheezing, coughs, or difficulty breathing. Young children, the elderly, and people with preexisting conditions like asthma or COPD are particularly vulnerable to more serious effects.</p><p>As smoke wafts over his Minnesota home, Berman has had his two young children play inside instead of going to the park. The US Environmental Protection Agency <a href="https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/wildfires-and-indoor-air-quality-iaq">recommends</a> keeping doors and windows closed when wildfire smoke is impacting air quality, and designating a "clean room" with a portable air cleaner and no cooking, smoking, or candle-burning.</p><p>"Right now, nothing has shown that the conditions are going to become markedly better in the future," Berman said. "Instead, we're really predicting that conditions are going to continue to get worse."</p><p>"It doesn't matter where you're living," he continued. "You can be affected by these events the same as anyone else."</p>

Wildfire smoke could turn this weekend's full Buck Moon an ominous blood red

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/nasa">NASA</a> ordered 15 space-grade moon ships for its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/apollo">Apollo</a> program in the 1960s and 1970s.</li><li>Ten of those vehicles, known as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/lunar-module">lunar modules</a>, or LMs, launched into space. Astronauts landed six of them on the moon.</li><li>After Congress canceled the Apollo program, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/museums">museums</a> put three spare LMs on display in Florida, New York, and Washington, DC.</li><li>Grumman Aircraft (now <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/northrop-grumman">Northrop Grumman</a>), NASA's main contractor for the landing craft, did not finish two of them - LM-14 and LM-15.</li><li>What was left of LM-15 was likely scrapped for metal. LM-14 probably met a similar fate, though historians don't have documents that'd say for certain.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>In its race to land people on the moon, the US spent billions on Apollo spaceflight hardware. One essential piece of gear created for NASA was a landing craft called the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-apollo-moon-mission-lunar-module-locations-museums-2019-6">lunar module</a>, or LM.</p><p>Grumman Aircraft (now Northrop Grumman) created LMs, final versions of which weighed about 35,000 pounds and stood roughly two stories tall. Because they were the first true spaceships - vehicles that operated only in a vacuum - they had an alien appearance.</p><p><a href="https://www.pfinspace.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Paul Fjeld</a>, a space artist and historian of the vehicles, described them as having an "angry" face that "looks like it's going to dare you to call it ugly."</p><p>"It looks like an unmade bed, and that was by design," Fjeld told Business Insider</p><p>This was because, in spite of its rough-edged look, the LM design embodied form following function to keep astronauts alive.</p><p>"It cost an appalling amount of money to make it look that bad," Fjeld added.</p><p>A <a href="http://www.planetary.org/press-room/releases/2019/apollo-cost-analysis.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent independent accounting</a> of the Apollo program suggests NASA spent about $2.24 billion on lunar-module design, construction, and testing from 1963 through 1970. Adjusting for inflation, that's nearly $16.66 billion today. Though it's tricky to calculate an individual LM's cost, NASA ordered 15 space-worthy ships from Grumman, which works out to about $1.1 billion each in today's dollars.</p><p>Not every LM ordered for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/earth-moon-distance-edge-of-outer-space-2018-5">deep space</a> actually made it there, though. When the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moon-missions-why-astronauts-have-not-returned-2018-7">Apollo program ended in December 1972</a>, rockets had launched 10 of the moon ships, and six of these transported astronauts to and from the lunar surface (on Apollo missions 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17). NASA abandoned four in space during tests.</p><p>Five of the 15 modules never <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/earth-is-heaven-james-lovell-lunar-astronaut-2017-3">left planet Earth</a> in part because NASA cancelled Apollo missions 18, 19, and 20. Three of these LMs are easy to account for, but where the last two ultimately ended up is less widely known or certain.</p><p>The uncertainty is especially thick surrounding the fate of LM-14: a spacecraft NASA would have used used on Apollo 20 (had that last mission not been canceled). Space museum curators, Northrop Grumman and US government archivists, historians, and even NASA itself didn't know or couldn't say with certainty what happened to LM-14.</p><p>A version of the story of this "missing" moon lander that some experts would agree on, though, is depressing.</p><h2>What NASA's moon landers were and how 3 ended up in museums</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>The lunar module was designed to take two of three Apollo astronauts from a command and service module in orbit around the moon, land them on the surface, and launch them off the ground.</p><p>Two main sections, or stages, got the job done. The descent stage came with a big rocket engine, which slowed the vehicle enough to drop out of lunar orbit and fall toward the moon's surface. It also powered a gentle landing.</p><p>The vehicle's ascent stage - a blocky upper section - blasted the crew off the moon following their surface mission. Once back in orbit, the ascent stage linked astronauts back up with the command and service module. This vehicle then took the two moonwalkers and a third astronaut (who'd waited inside during the landing) back home to Earth inside a gumdrop-shaped crew capsule.</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/classified-apollo-11-anomaly-threatened-to-crash-first-moon-astronauts-2019-6">'We could have lost the Apollo 11 crew:' A once-classified anomaly nearly killed NASA's first moon astronauts, a new book reveals</a></em></p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Grumman designed, pitched, and constructed the spacecraft as a contractor for NASA and collaborated with the agency on <a href="https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/LLRV-DFRC.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a number of prototypes</a>. But NASA ultimately ordered 15 space-worthy ships numbered LM-1 through LM-15, which earned names like "Eagle" or "Snoopy" only after reaching orbit and housing crew members.</p><p>Three of these 15 LMs ended up in museums on Earth. LM-2 is in Washington, DC; LM-13 is on Long Island in New York; and LM-9 is in Florida.</p><h2>Why the fate of NASA's last 2 moon landers is somewhat unclear</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Reliable information about LM-14 and LM-15 - the last two space-worthy modules NASA ordered - is hard to find, and where official information does exist, it's vague or conflicting.</p><p>On the website of the Smithsonian Institution, for example, which <a href="https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_883" target="_blank" rel="noopener">manages</a> most of NASA's artifacts, LM-15 is <a href="https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/spacecraft/location/lm.cfm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">marked as "Scrapped,"</a> suggesting its aerospace-grade aluminum was cut up and sold or reused. The same page makes a distinction from this, describing LM-14 as "Not Used (mission cancelled)."</p><p>Meanwhile, a NASA document titled <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6473665-Apollo-Skylab-ASTP-and-Shuttle-Orbiter-Major-End.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"Apollo/Skylab ASTP and Shuttle Orbiter Major End Items"</a> - a complete version of which Business Insider obtained from the University of Houston-Clear Lake's archives - has a different description. Originally published in March 1978, the document describes itself in part as a "thumbnail historical reference" for NASA's most prized hardware. It lists LM-14 and LM-15 as both "deleted" from the Apollo program, yet offers nothing else.</p><p>An historian at NASA told Business Insider he was "not sure about the disposition" of LM-14. A spokesperson for the Smithsonian said all that's known about LM-14 is that it was cancelled and a <a href="https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4009/v4p3g.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stop work order issued</a> in January 1970.</p><p>Josh Stoff, a curator at the Cradle of Aviation Museum, said he thought part of LM-14 was incorporated into a model that sits in the backyard of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.</p><p>However, <a href="https://www.fi.edu/scientists/derrick-pitts-hond" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Derrick Pitts</a> of the Franklin Institute says no part of LM-14 is in <a href="https://www.fi.edu/history-resources/grumman-lunar-module" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the science museum's artifact</a>.&#xa0;</p><p>"It was made clear to us then that what we were receiving was nothing more than a fabrication model," Pitts told Business Insider, adding that he spoke with Grumman engineers as they rolled the model off a flatbed truck in 1976. "It is not made of any kind of flight-grade material."</p><p>Several experts told us it's no surprise that clear and unambiguous documentation of either LM-14 (or LM-15) doesn't exist - mainly because Grumman didn't finish the spacecraft. As a result, neither NASA nor the Smithsonian ever took possession of the vehicles and carefully logged their whereabouts.</p><p>"We just don't have any documentary records to speak of," <a href="https://airandspace.si.edu/people/staff/michael-neufeld" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Neufeld</a>, a senior curator at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, told Business Insider.</p><p>Still, space historians are relatively certain what happened to the "missing" lunar module, even if they can't definitively prove it with documents.</p><h2>NASA's last moon landers were probably Frankensteined into F-14 fighter jets</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Robert Pearlman, a space historian who runs the space-history publication <a href="http://www.collectspace.com/">CollectSpace</a>, said he thinks both spacecraft are no longer with us.</p><p>"My understanding is that LM-14 was only partially assembled when the Apollo program ended and ultimately, its parts were scrapped," he previously told Business Insider.</p><p>Neufeld agreed with this, adding he's "certain" the spacecraft were never completed and that their construction was halted at a very early stage.</p><p>"LM-15 hardly existed. It hardly had any components built up," Neufeld said. "There's little doubt that LM-14 went away and was junked."</p><p>Fjeld, who's helped restore the space-grade LMs still on Earth, whole-heartedly concurred with these assessments.</p><p>"I would almost bet the life of my son - I'd bet a lot of money, I'd bet my house - that they just scrapped it," Fjeld said of LM-14. "That's just what they did. Nobody felt any wonderful warm feelings about it. They [the workers] were losing their jobs, they were done with the program."</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>To back this up, Fjeld sent Business Insider a Grumman flight history chart that he noted is "is extremely accurate based on my research that corroborates many dates." According to the chart, Fjeld believes LM-14 was perhaps 1% to 5% complete before workers started cutting it up for scrap.</p><p>What's more, he says, around the time NASA cancelled work on Apollo, Grumman was building brand-new fighter jets for the US military - the F-14 Tomcat - and so it probably worked&#xa0; lunar-module metal into those aircraft.</p><p>"I'm gonna say they would've said, 'Look, we've got a bunch of F-14s that are just starting to come off the line here. This is what's the future for Grumman. We need all the metal that we can get,'" he said. "'Can we use that on F-14s?' 'Sure.'"</p><p>Still, Fjeld couldn't promise that some element of LM-14 isn't out there, somewhere, in its original form.</p><p>"I can't guarantee that some guy didn't just drive it off the lot and it's now sitting in his basement or up in an attic that his grandkids have no idea what the hell it is," he said. "Who knows?"</p><h2>Watch a video about our search for LM-14 below:</h2><p>&#xa0;</p><p><em>Have a story or information to share? Send Dave Mosher<span> an email at <a href="mailto:dmosher+tips@businessinsider.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dmosher+tips@businessinsider.com</a></span><span>&#xa0;</span>or consider more secure communication options<span>&#xa0;</span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/dave-mosher" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listed here</a>.</em></p><div><div itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/VideoObject"></div></div>

NASA isn't sure what happened to one of its last Apollo moon landers. The truth is probably depressing.

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul><li><strong>A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/fire">wildfire</a> broke out in Glacier National Park on Saturday, forcing evacuations from the park.</strong></li><li><strong>The park also saw record high temperatures on Saturday.</strong></li><li><strong>Firefighters have had difficulty containing the blaze due to dry winds and a lack of precipitation.</strong></li></ul><p>A fire in Glacier National Park has sparked evacuations over the weekend as record heat and high winds cause the fire to spread.</p><p>The Howe Ridge Fire first ignited over the weekend after lightning struck on Saturday. The wildfire spread rapidly as triple-digit temperatures and high winds fed the flames. Over 150 people were evacuated from campsites near the blaze on Sunday evening, and many roads in the park remained closed to visitors as of Monday, per the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/glac/index.htm">National Park Service</a>.&#xa0;</p><p>The fire has expanded to encompass over 20 acres of forest as dry winds continue to whip the flames. A number of structures, including a historic lodge, have been evacuated. Local firefighters have been using planes to dump water over the blaze, but their efforts have been thwarted by high winds.</p><h2>The National Weather Service posted a timelapse of the fire's growth over the weekend:</h2><h2>And many onlookers posted videos and pictures from the scene as well:</h2><p>The park, located in northwest Montana and named for the plethora of glaciers that carve through its valleys, also saw record-high temperatures on Saturday. The thermometer hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the park for the first time, according to the <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSMissoula/status/1028469187012907011">National Weather Service</a>.</p><p>Rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns associated with human-caused climate change have also caused the park's eponymous glaciers to contract, and for some to disappear altogether.</p><p>In the mid-19th century, there were over 150 glaciers in the park. That number has since fallen to 26, according to a <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/centers/norock/science/retreat-glaciers-glacier-national-park?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects">recent study</a> from the United States Geological Survey, and the park's glaciers are predicted to disappear altogether by 2030 if these trends continue.</p><p>It's not clear whether wildfires are contributed to glacial retreat.&#xa0;</p><p>While triple-digit temperatures are unprecedented in Glacier, wildfires are a common occurrence.&#xa0;</p><p>According to the National Park Service, fires <a href="https://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/nature/fire-history.htm">occur naturally</a> in the park's forests. In 2003, over 136,000 acres of forest burned within the park's property, and in 1936, 64 individual fires burned within the park.</p><p>Glacier also isn't the first national park to be threatened by wildfires this year. In July, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ferguson-fire-yosemite-closed-photos-2018-7">Ferguson Fire</a> forced the closure of Yosemite National Park in California.&#xa0;</p><p></p><div></div><div></div><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lunar-eclipse-why-moon-is-blood-red-2018-7">Why the moon turns red during a total lunar eclipse</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div></hr>

Glacier National Park is burning amid a record heatwave, sparking evacuations

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Grant Kaye</span></p><p class="caption">The Mauna Kea Telescopes at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Professional landscape <a href="http://www.grantkaye.com/">photographer Grant Kaye</a> has spent hundreds of nights under the stars, capturing the night sky - and <a href="http://www.grantkaye.com/workshops-teaching/">teaching others how to do it, too</a>.</p><p>Between the weather, lunar, solar, and milky way conditions, stars can be a difficult thing to capture, but Kaye has become familiar with the best spots to go stargazing and capture the spectacular sights.</p><p>From Hawaii to Lake Tahoe, Kaye has some serious knowledge on where to head if you want a star-filled night sky.</p><p>Ahead, Kaye's top five all-time favorite locations to view the incredible universe.   </p>

The best places to go stargazing in America, according to an expert photographer

<div type="image" title="thanksgiving travel 2020" height="1448" width="2200" msid="79418555" hostid="261"></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Public health experts warned for months that Thanksgiving dinner would be the perfect place for the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> to spread.</li><li>They suggested people limit their feasts, just for this year, to single-household affairs.</li><li>Still, more than a third of Americans surveyed by Insider said they would not be changing anything at all about how they ran <keyword id="8385841" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Thanksgiving-2020">Thanksgiving 2020</keyword>, despite the looming virus threat.</li><li>Many said they'd travel, and most said they'd mix households without wearing masks or opening up windows.</li><li>By next year, vaccines will be widely available, making it very wise to hold off until Thanksgiving 2021 to do a big spread.</li><li>Still, it's difficult to blame Americans for doing the holidays-as-usual this year, given the utter failure of the country's leaders to rally together and get the virus under control.</li></ul><p>Every year, Thanksgiving provides a-near perfect recipe for infectious diseases to spread.</p><p>People gather indoors, en masse, to cook, eat, drink, laugh, shout, fight, hug, kiss, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-coronavirus-can-travel-6-feet-through-the-air-indoors-2020-10">exchange air</a> for hours on end. Everyone is exposed to everyone else: the young, the old, family, neighbors, and friends. </p><p>This is an ideal environment for the novel coronavirus to run wild and kill people.</p><p>That is why, while empathetic to our <a href="https://www.insider.com/loneliness-and-hunger-have-similar-effects-on-the-brain-study-2020-11">innate desires to mingle</a>, leading public health experts like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fauci-thanksgiving-plans-travel-advice-daughters-wont-visit-2020-10">Dr. Anthony Fauci</a> said time and time again: Stay home on Thanksgiving if you can, gather <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-clebrate-thanksgiving-holidays-safely-coronavirus-experts-2020-10">outdoors</a> if you must, and keep any interactions with other households brief, small, masked, and well-ventilated.</p><p>However, many Americans did not heed their advice.</p><p>An Insider poll of 1,110 people across the US found that roughly one third of those (37%) surveyed were not changing anything about how they ran Thanksgiving. 31% of those asked said the CDC's recommendation not to travel this year had no impact on their plans. Most (57%) <a href="https://www.insider.com/poll-most-people-mixing-homes-for-thanksgiving-not-wearing-masks-2020-11">said they were going to mix different households at their dinner tables</a> without wearing masks, opening windows, or using fans.</p><p>Yes, a third of the country has undermined the collective good faith efforts of everyone else to stay isolated, and keep our medics, essential workers, elders, and other vulnerable individuals safe.</p><p>But it would be trite to see this third of the country as malicious people. Everyone is mentally and emotionally exhausted, from going months without "normal" family connections. And they are justifiably frustrated: so many of our leaders, both local and national, have not done near enough within their power yet to prevent this virus's rampant spread across the nation and to deploy solid, evidence-based policies with enough systemic heft to make a dent in the pandemic.</p><p>So, let's not direct our ire at our neighbors who did not do the right thing around the table this year.</p><p>But, don't let their indifference to the virus infect your home, either. You could truly save someone's life if you avoid big celebrations until 2021.</p><h2>Thanksgiving would have prompted an uptick in coronavirus cases even if we were well-prepared. We were not.</h2><div type="image" title="birx at white house task force nov 19" height="492" width="1506" msid="79418557" hostid="261"></div><p>Canadian Thanksgiving <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/large-gathering-covid-spread-1.5777867">seeded more spread of the virus</a> there in October.</p><p>In Wuhan, <a href="https://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2020/02/06/wuhan-neighbourhood-sees-infections-after-40000-families-gather-for-potluck">Thanksgiving-like gatherings of tens of thousands of families sharing potluck meals for Lunar New Year in January</a> ignited the virus too.</p><p>But the fact that the US was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-coronavirus-task-force-map-us-covered-in-covid-2020-11">completely in the red already</a> when it came to new coronavirus infections means this Thanksgiving will <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-record-level-daily-covid-19-deaths-thanksgiving-2020-11">likely go down as the deadliest holiday gathering</a> the world has seen during this pandemic.</p><h2>Americans are tired and confused</h2><p>After more than nine months of conflicting messages, unclear guidance, and indecision about the virus, it's understandable that Americans are tired and confused.</p><p>The virus situation in the US is so <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/25/world/covid-19-coronavirus#officials-scale-back-contact-tracing-efforts-in-the-us-saying-they-cannot-keep-up">impossible to contact trace</a> that some health departments are essentially giving up. In many places it's still very <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-covid-test-centers-hiring-people-wait-taskrabbit-thanksgiving-2020-11">difficult to get a test</a>, and neither vaccines nor decent treatments to help quell the virus are here yet.</p><p>We've been asked — for many, many months on end — to voluntarily stay away from our relatives, cancel big weddings, parties, and holiday plans, in order to be good sports and save lives during the pandemic. But, at the same time, we've witnessed very conflicting and confusing policy decisions, which have done more to keep people comfortable as temperatures tumble, rather than focusing on what's safest, or economically best. Many bars and restaurants are still open, while schools are closed, making pandemic <a href="https://www.insider.com/experts-question-why-nyc-closed-schools-not-bars-restaurants-gyms-2020-11">restrictions feel uselessly frustrating and</a> scientifically pointless. </p><p>Add in a sprinkling of American exceptionalism, and it's easy to see why Thanksgiving was not universally cancelled. </p><p>"As a country we've been raised to believe that we do our own thing," former <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-quarantine-covid-19-if-you-were-exposed-2020-10">CDC outbreak investigator and Osmosis CMO Dr. Rishi Desai</a> recently <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-quarantine-covid-19-if-you-were-exposed-2020-10">told Insider</a>.</p><p>"If you're not in the ICU yourself, you don't see this as a big deal. What you notice is that it's affecting your life. You're bored, you're tired, you're lonely, and that's your experience. And so people act on their experience much more than they act on ration, reason, logic, data."</p><h2>One doctor says he doesn't blame patients for doing Thanksgiving as normal this year, he blames our leaders</h2><div type="image" title="thanksgiving travel test coronavirus 2020" height="1467" width="2200" msid="79418560" hostid="261"></div><p>Dr. Eli Perencevich, an infectious disease specialist in Iowa City <a href="https://t.co/OKjBKaA9Vr?amp=1">recently told Insider</a> that many of his patients told him they were planning to do Thanksgiving as normal, with extended family, and without masks. And yet, many of them have heart disease and emphysema, health conditions that doctors like him know <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hypertension-diabetes-conditions-that-make-coronavirus-more-deadly-2020-3">can make the virus life-threatening</a>.</p><p>He worries that these Thanksgiving celebrations could be the patients' last; it is pretty <a href="https://twitter.com/SaltLakeHealth/status/1331030375305408513">likely the coronavirus will be present at family dinner tables</a>, given the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-coronavirus-task-force-map-us-covered-in-covid-2020-11">current spread of the virus throughout the US</a>. It is reasonable to expect that some of these people will die after their Thanksgiving meals end.</p><p>As Dr. Henry Walke, the CDC's COVID-19 incident manager, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-new-advice-do-not-travel-for-thanksgiving-2020-coronavirus-2020-11">said on a call with reporters</a> last week: "One of your family members, from coming together in this family gathering, actually could end up being hospitalized and severely ill and die."</p><p>But Dr. Perencevich didn't fault his patients for their big Thanksgiving plans.</p><p>The blame, he says, <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2020/11/24/watch-live-iowa-gov-kim-reynolds-hold-covid-19-coronavirus-news-conference-before-thanksgiving/6396483002/">lies more with public officials</a>, who haven't made it <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-coronavirus-asymptomatic-testing-advice-change-2020-9">clear how to stay safe</a> during the pandemic, or provided the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/8-times-trump-refused-to-wear-mask-downplayed-effectiveness-2020-7">good leadership</a>, testing, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/25/world/covid-19-coronavirus#officials-scale-back-contact-tracing-efforts-in-the-us-saying-they-cannot-keep-up">contact tracing required</a> to squash the virus down across the US. </p><p>"It's just devastating that we're in this point where folks have gotten mixed messages, and a lot of people are getting sick because of it," Perencevich said.</p><p>He noted how politicians and local health authorities have too often <a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/11/12/iowa-n12.html">let bars remain open</a> when cases are exploding, and made it perfectly defensible for people to <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/526365-gop-iowa-governor-falsely-claims-theres-science-on-both-sides-of-mask">walk around indoors</a> in public places without masks.</p><p>"It's going to get worse for the next weeks, no matter what we do, but we're not really turning the ship at all," he said. "So it looks like it's going to just keep getting worse."</p><h2>Holding out for a big Thanksgiving in 2021 will be worth the wait </h2><div type="image" title="thanksgiving travel coronavirus 2020" height="1709" width="2200" msid="79418562" hostid="261"></div><p>The truth is, holding off on big gatherings, for now, still has life-saving benefits.</p><p>By Thanksgiving 2021, it's likely every adult in the US <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/when-can-i-get-a-coronavirus-vaccine-timeline-2020-11">will have already had access to very safe, effective coronavirus vaccines</a>. Treatments for the virus may improve too, making any illnesses contracted then less deadly and debilitating than they are right now. </p><p>So if you're part of the 10% of people who said they would bundle up and eat outside this year, the 17% of people who said they would open windows and increase ventilation at the Thanksgiving table, the 38% who didn't mix it up with any other households Thursday, or the 19% who canceled turkey dinner plans, know that you've done a good thing for your country, and that your sacrifice won't last forever. </p><p>"2021 is going to be a much, much better year," Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University's school of public health, told Insider.</p><p>"My best guess is sometime late summer to fall [2021], you can spend time with somebody else and not feel that anxiety that we all feel right now. It's less than a year away."</p><p><strong><em>About our polling: SurveyMonkey Audience polls from a national sample balanced by age and gender. Our polling data collected 1,110 respondents surveyed on November 21 and 22. All polls carried approximately a 3% margin of error.</em></strong></p>

One third of America ignored COVID-19 by gathering for Thanksgiving — and it's easy to see why

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A coronavirus outbreak has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-virus-everything-we-know-deadly-2019-ncov-wuhan-spread-2020-1">killed 25 people and infected more than 830</a> in China.</li><li>It has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-wuhan-virus-map-cities-countries-spread-infected-2020-1">spread to eight other countries</a>, including the US.</li><li>The virus originated in Wuhan, a dense city in central China that serves as a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-officials-quarantine-entire-city-2020-1">major transportation hub</a> and had <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-chinese-wet-market-photos-2020-1">markets selling live animals</a>.</li><li>Public-health experts say the combination of these conditions was a recipe for a viral outbreak.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>When Chinese authorities first reported an outbreak of a new coronavirus in Wuhan, China, many public health experts had a similar reaction: It was only a matter of time. </p><p>"This has always been waiting to happen," Adrian Hyzler, the chief medical officer at Healix International, which offers risk-management solutions for global travelers, told Business Insider. "Wuhan is such a big city. It's 11 million people."</p><p>Hyzler said a few specific conditions put Wuhan at especially high risk of a disease outbreak: the city's density, its role as a transportation hub, and the presence of live-animal markets there.</p><p>As of Thursday, the virus (officially known as 2019-nCoV) has killed 25 people and infected more than 830. It has spread to at least eight other countries: the US, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Scientists confirmed that it can pass from human to human, and early research indicates that the virus may have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-coronavirus-in-china-might-have-jumped-people-from-snakes-2020-1">jumped from bats to snakes first</a>.</p><p>"The people who are likely to die at first will be people who have other illnesses," Hyzler said. "But as it spreads, it'll pick up more people like flu does."</p><h2>Wuhan's large, dense population can lead disease to spread</h2><p>Wuhan is sometimes known as "China's Chicago" because of its proximity to rivers and lakes, but it's about four times bigger. Its population exceeds that of New York City by about 2.6 million.</p><p>In terms of land area, the city is more than twice the size of Shanghai and eight times the size of Hong Kong. But people there live tightly clustered within the city limits. Wuhan is the most densely populated city in central China.</p><p>Crowded conditions can <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(10)70223-1/fulltext">increase the likelihood of people transmitting infectious diseases</a>, research from the University of Geneva has shown. That's because people in close proximity are more likely to touch, shake hands, or transmit the virus through the air by coughing or sneezing.</p><p>On top of that, Wuhan is a major Chinese transportation center. The city is one of China's most important railway hubs, with multiple stations connected to numerous rail lines, including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail" title="">high-speed rail</a> lines that connect to Shanghai and Guangzhou - cities with populations of 24 million and 13 million people, respectively.</p><p>The city's Tianhe International Airport serves more than 20 million passengers annually. Wuhan is also an important port city on the Yangtze River, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-holds-back-some-ships-from-calling-at-wuhan-11579798701">handling more than 1.5 million containers</a> a year. This provides even more channels through which disease can spread.</p><p>Wuhan officials have effectively quarantined the city by shutting down transportation, including buses, ferries, and metros. Trains and airplanes coming in and out of the city were also halted.</p><p>Its 11 million residents have been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-officials-quarantine-entire-city-2020-1">told not to leave</a>, barring special circumstances. </p><p>The outbreak's timing is especially worrisome, since hundreds of millions of people are expected to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-wuhan-virus-new-year-travels-2020-1">travel to and within China for the Lunar New Year</a> celebration, which begins Saturday and lasts until February 8.</p><p>"This couldn't have happened at a worse time for Wuhan," Hyzler said. </p><h2>Live-animal markets encourage the transmission of viruses </h2><p>The Wuhan virus likely <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-chinese-wet-market-photos-2020-1">originated at a wet market</a>, where locals and visitors shop for meat and produce among outdoor stalls. The markets put people in close contact with live animals, such as chickens, pigs, donkeys, sheep, reptiles, and fish.</p><p>These conditions can make it easy for a virus to jump from an animal to human.</p><p>According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), <a href="https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/infectious-diseases-conditions/world-zoonoses-day-most-emerging-infectious-diseases-originate">more than 75% of emerging diseases</a> originate in animals. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) originated in a wet market, as did the H7N9 and H5N9 bird flus.</p><p>Authorities in Wuhan banned the trade of live animals at wet markets on Wednesday.</p><p>"Ever since SARS, there have been calls for improving or closing down live animal markets in China and other countries, particularly in Asia," Eric Toner, a scientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told Business Insider. "There's an awful lot we don't yet know, but I think it is fair to say that live-animal markets are a threat not just to the people who work in them, but to public health more generally."</p><p>Hyzler said close contact between people and live animals in Wuhan is a recipe for a pandemic (though the current outbreak is not considered a pandemic).</p><p>"Everyone in public health is waiting for another pandemic," Hyzler said. "But in countries that aren't looking for it, you're not going to find it until it spreads."</p><h2>Contagious people might have left Wuhan before the quarantine</h2><p>Viruses in the coronavirus family also cause pneumonia, the common cold, and SARS, which affected about 8,000 people and killed 774 in China between 2002 and 2003.</p><p>Symptoms of this new coronavirus include a fever, chills, headaches, and a sore throat.</p><p>"With SARS, people were only contagious when they were very, very sick, which is why it spread mostly in hospitals," Toner said. "What we don't yet know is to what extent this disease can be transmitted by people who are only mildly ill."</p><p>Scientists are still learning about the virus' incubation period - the time that passes between when a patient gets infected and when they start displaying symptoms. During that period, people can be contagious without realizing it. They can also pass through airport screenings without triggering any red flags.</p><p>Academics from Imperial College London have estimated that the true number of infected people might be between 4,000 and 9,700. </p><p>"Being a coronavirus, it certainly has the potential to spread to countries all over the world," Hyzler said. "This is going to spread to anywhere where there's travel out of Wuhan."</p><p><strong>Read more about the Wuhan coronavirus:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-spread-china-deaths-illnesses-charts-2020-1">2 dramatic charts show the rapid spread of the Wuhan coronavirus within and outside China</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-wuhan-virus-map-cities-countries-spread-infected-2020-1">This map shows where China's mysterious, deadly Wuhan coronavirus has spread</a></p><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/china-wuhan-virus-what-is-a-coronavirus-infection-2020-1">What you need to know about China's Wuhan coronavirus and how it could affect you</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-virus-everything-we-know-deadly-2019-ncov-wuhan-spread-2020-1">Everything we know about the mysterious, deadly Wuhan virus sweeping across China</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-coronavirus-spreads-japan-thailand-2020-1">A mysterious virus in China is a reminder that the world isn't ready for a pandemic. Bill Gates says we should prepare for a deadly outbreak as we do for war.</a></p>

The Chinese city of Wuhan was a breeding ground for an outbreak, experts say. The coronavirus has infected more than 800 people.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>NASA</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>In 2009, the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7897585.stm">media was abuzz</a> that NASA and ESA were considering the very first space boat - a floating vessel that would roam the lakes of one of Saturn's moons. Unfortunately, the project lost out to a mission to Jupiter.</p>
<p>Then NASA teased us again in 2012. After considering 28 projects, the space agency settled on three finalists: a Mars probe, a comet hopper, and a space boat called <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/580675main_02_Ellen_Stofan_TiME_.pdf">Titan Marine Explorer (TiME)</a>. NASA chose the probe, crushing our dreams of extraterrestrial sailing.</p>
<p>Now NASA is again soliciting projects for their Discovery Program, but will TiME throw its name in the hat?</p>
<h2>Meet Titan</h2>
<p>In 2004, NASA's Cassini spacecraft used radar and infrared to peer through the deep orange cloud of Saturn's largest moon Titan.</p>
<p>They were amazed by what they saw - a landscape strangely resembling our own. It has river beds, rain, clouds, and lakes and seas - the first we've found beyond our own planet.</p>
<p>Unlike Earth, Titans seas are mostly made of methane and ethane. But they still begged the question: can we sail them? Some thought so.</p>
<p>Large bodies of liquid like Titan's Punga Mare lake are thought to be good starting places to look for early life, an added incentive to build a watercraft.</p>
<h2>How to explore extraterrestrial lakes</h2>
<p>In 2012, scientists again proposed TiME, a floating vessel that would explore one of Titan's largest seas, Ligeia Mare for almost 100 days, powered by plutonium. It wasn't funded that time around - the boat project lost out to the InSight Mars Lander, a mission to determine what Mars' core is made of.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>NASA</span></p><p class="caption">Titan Marine Explorer would roam the sea's of Saturn's moon.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>Now NASA is again calling for projects. According to TiME lead Ralph Lorenz, the proposal was ready to go, but it may not be time for TiME.</p>
<p>"The best time to explore Titan's seas, which are near Titan's north pole, is in the early 2020s (during the end of the moon's northern summer). During that time, the lakes are in daylight and a craft in them would be able to communicate directly with Earth without needing an expensive relay spacecraft," Lorenz told Business Insider in an email.</p>
<p>The current application period would be "tight, but do-able," said Lorenz, putting the craft on Titan in mid-2020s.</p>
<p>But there's another bigger problem keeping TiME from sailing Titan's seas.</p>
<h2>The plutonium problem</h2>
<p>We're running out of the radioactive isotopes frequently used to power deep-space missions. The radioisotope power sources that TiME would use for power and warmth just aren't available.</p>
<p>"There is no alternative to radioisotope power for a mission at Titan's surface that lasts more than a few hours," said Lorenz. This isn't just impacting the TiME craft, but <a href="http://www.wired.com/2013/09/plutonium-238-problem/">almost all deep-space projects.</a></p>
<p>As of last September, our stockpile of plutonium for scientific research had <a href="http://www.wired.com/2013/09/plutonium-238-problem/">dwindled to around 36 pounds </a>- all of which had already been dedicated to upcoming missions.</p>
<p>TiME's next chance will be summer of 2040, when Titan's summer will come around again. Hopefully, so will our plutonium stocks.</p>
<h2>The wavy seas of Titan</h2>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2014/pdf/1947.pdf">Cassini/VIMS T85 </a></span></p><p class="caption">Top: The large heart shaped lake in the bottom right corner is Punga Mare.  Bottom: The blue arrows point to apparent wave patches.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>Still, "there are a lot of exciting things to learn about Titan with missions that don't rely on the special geography/geometry of the seas," Lorenz said.</p>
<p>A deep-space boat isn't the only way to explore Titan - we've been studying the moon from above using satellites, which continue to yield interesting finds.</p>
<p>After years of searching scientists finally spotted what looked like tiny waves on one of Titan's lakes - another way the moon is perhaps the most Earth-like body in our solar system.</p>
<p>"If correct this discovery represents the first sea-surface waves known outside of Earth," researchers led by University of Idaho scientist Jason Barnes <a href="http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2014/pdf/1947.pdf" target="_blank">wrote in a paper</a> presented in March at the Lunar and Planetary <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">Science</keyword> Conference.</p>
<p>Using satellite images from 2012, the researchers found what appeared to be "wavy seas reflecting the Sun," on Punga Mare lake, <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/flybys/titan20120724/">the third largest</a> liquid body on Titan. If the waves are real, scientists suggested they would be around 2 centimeters in height and whipped up by winds of 1.7 miles per hour.</p>
<p>In their paper, the researchers said they could "not rule out mud?ats covered in a liquid layer" as the source of the ripples.</p>
<p>But if these signatures are caused by waves, it would be a significant finding that "would confirm that the lakes actually are deep reservoirs of methane and ethane, the dominant forms of liquid on that moon," Clara Moskowitz writes at <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/saturns-largest-moon-has-waves-waves-on-titan-indicate-methane-seas-that-may-be-home-to-life/" target="_blank">Scientific American</a>.</p>
<h2>With wind comes waves</h2>
<p>We probably won't know for sure whether or not these are waves until 2017, when wind should pick up on the moon's northern regions, which would make more waves.</p>
<p>Until 2009, Titan's northern "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pj4G101o-M">lake country</a>" had been in a near-windless winter since NASA's Cassini spacecraft arrived in the area in 2004. It wasn't until 2009 that the sun crossed Titan's equator bringing spring, and with it, wind.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute </span></p><p class="caption">Titan's north is "lake country."</p></div><p></p></div></div>2017 will bring winds, and with them, hopefully answers.</p>
<p>When those winds come again in Titan's 2040 summer, hopefully TiME will be there to ride them.</p>
<p>Until then, enjoy the footage below showing the closest view of Titan ever. It was captured in 2007 when Cassini dropped a European Space Agency probe named Huygens onto the moon.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>European Space Agency</span></p><p class="caption">Huygens probe drops in on Titan.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>

Whatever Happened To NASA's Space Boat?

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Here is what you need to know. </p><p><strong>China posted a record trade surplus.</strong> China's trade surplus widened to $60.6 billion, fueled by a 48.3% surge in imports. The number is likely to have been skewed by the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31787698">Lunar New Year</a>. China's yuan finished little changed at 6.2646 per dollar. </p><p><strong>The European Central Bank began its QE program. </strong>The 1.2 trillion euro stimulus program will last 18 months, with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-ecb-to-launch-long-awaited-qe-gambit-2015-3">the ECB buying approximately 60 billion euros a month in assets</a>. Bond yields across the region are lower, with Germany's 10-year down 6 basis points at 33 basis points. </p><p><strong>Greece's list of reforms was rejected by its creditors. </strong>The 240 billion euro bailout program has almost been used up completely, and could run dry as soon as this month. Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem noted, "<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-08/greek-tensions-revived-as-creditors-reject-reform-list">It seems their money box is almost empty</a>." Greece's three-year yield is higher by 145 basis points at 15.21%. </p><p><strong>Greece could face a new election of referendum. </strong>In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis<strong> </strong>warned: "<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-greece-in-referendum-warning-ahead-of-crunch-meeting-2015-3">We can go back to elections. Call a referendum.</a> But, as my prime minister told me, we are not glued to our seats yet." </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>Japan's 4th-quarter GDP was revised lower. </strong>Final GDP printed 0.4% over the previous quarter, <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/afp-japan-economy-grew-0.4-in-q4-less-than-thought-govt-2015-3">revised down from the previous reading of 0.6% QoQ</a>. Japan's yen is down 0.1% at 120.90 against the dollar. </span></p><p><strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Apple is holding an Apple Watch event Monday. </span></strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-to-expect-from-apple-watch-event-2015-3">The event</a> is expected to provide final details for the product's launch including final features, launch date, price, and apps. </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>The New York Times editorial board wrote an op-ed asking the Fed to delay rate hikes. </strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ny-times-editorial-on-rate-hikes-2015-3">The article outlined several reasons</a> why the Fed should remain on hold, noting "</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">wages have barely budged throughout the nearly six-year-old recovery" and "</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">the labor market is not as healthy as those figures might suggest."</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>Credit rating agencies are changing the way they calculate credit scores. </strong>The three largest credit rating agencies (Equifax Information Services LLC, Experian Information Solutions Inc., and TransUnion LLC) have announced changes to the handling of unpaid medical bills. According to The Wall Street Journal, "<a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/credit-reporting-giants-agree-to-overhaul-1425873884">Under the new agreement,</a> the credit-reporting firms will have to wait 180 days before adding any medical-debt information to consumers' credit reports." </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The changes should take place over the next six to 39 months. </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>Global stock markets are mostly lower. </strong><span>Australia's ASX (-1.3%) led Asian markets lower, while China's Shanghai Composite (+1.9%) was the lone advancer. In Europe, Britain's FTSE (-0.7%) paces the decline. </span></span></p><p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">Economic data is absent from the US calendar. </strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Data for the week begins Tuesday as JOLTs Job Openings and wholesale inventories are scheduled for 10 a.m. ET.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nationwide-insurance-industry-loss-ratio-2015-2">Nationwide's Super Bowl commercial about dead children is about corporate profits ... in a way that we can all appreciate</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="9rbTk0czrPq8J40cVbMQn_BvP7NgiiIY" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

You Searched For "Lunar Lake" and got 9 results

Wildfire smoke could turn this weekend's full Buck Moon an ominous blood red

Morgan McFall-Johnsen

NASA isn't sure what happened to one of its last Apollo moon landers. The truth is probably depressing.

Dave Mosher

Glacier National Park is burning amid a record heatwave, sparking evacuations

Jeremy Berke

The best places to go stargazing in America, according to an expert photographer

Sarah Jacobs

One third of America ignored COVID-19 by gathering for Thanksgiving — and it's easy to see why

Hilary Brueck

The Chinese city of Wuhan was a breeding ground for an outbreak, experts say. The coronavirus has infected more than 800 people.

Aria Bendix,Aria Bendix

Whatever Happened To NASA's Space Boat?

Leslie Baehr

10 things you need to know before the opening bell

Jonathan Garber

Apple's smart photo app will be way behind Google's - here's why

Kif Leswing