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The 2024 Olympic are here. The opening ceremonies are tonight and then all the games to follow.

Are you planning on watching any of the Olympics?

Space

500 Times the Speed of Sound

NASA's Parker Solar Probe, designed to study the Sun's outer corona, has just matched the record for the fastest human-made object. The previous record holder, was in fact, the Parker Solar Probe itself.

On June 29, the probe was recorded traveling at 635,266 kilometers (394,736 miles) per hour, equaling a speed it first reached in 2018. This is roughly 500 times faster than the speed of sound.

The probe is expected to reach even higher speeds, with a projected top speed of around 692,000 kph (430,000 mph) when it makes its closest approach to the Sun in 2025. That's fast enough to travel from Washington, DC to Tokyo in under a minute.

Achieving these incredible speeds involves precise timing and momentum. The Parker Solar Probe uses the gravity of Venus in a series of flybys to slingshot itself closer to the Sun.

The probe aims to get very close to the Sun's ultra-hot plasma, collecting data to enhance our understanding of the Sun. In April 2021, it 'touched' the Sun’s corona for the first time, collecting plasma samples and measuring changes in the magnetic field.

Amazing video of the probe entering the suns corona:

The data collected is invaluable and cannot be obtained from Earth. Parker has now completed its 20th close approach, coming within 7.26 million kilometers of the Sun's surface. Eventually, it will get within 6.12 million kilometers.

The probe is built to withstand extreme conditions, including high speeds, heat, and radiation. Its 11.4-centimeter (4.5-inch) carbon-composite shield can withstand temperatures up to 1,371 degrees Celsius (2,500 degrees Fahrenheit).

The Parker Solar Probe's title as the fastest human-made object is likely to remain unchallenged for some time. If the record is broken, it will probably be by another spacecraft.

Sports

It Starts in Paris Tonight…

Paris will kick off its Olympic festivities with an extraordinary opening ceremony on the river Seine tonight.

For the first time, the opening ceremony will not be held in a stadium. Instead, approximately 85 boats will carry nearly 7,000 athletes along a 6km route on the Seine, showcasing the heart of Paris. The parade will start at the Austerlitz bridge, pass the Notre-Dame cathedral, and conclude near the Eiffel Tower, traversing landmarks such as the Pont des Arts and Pont Neuf.

The ceremony will begin at 7:30 p.m. GMT (2:30 p.m. EDT) and last around three hours and 45 minutes.

Organizers have promised an unparalleled spectacle, highlighting Paris's historic monuments, riverbanks, sky, and water. Every riverbank and bridge will be alive with music, dance, and performance.

Around 80 giant screens will broadcast the event, featuring a floating parade of athletes and artists, and dancers performing on rooftops along the Seine. The show, described as "a large fresco," will celebrate Paris, France, and the Games, integrating the athletes' parade with artistic performances and ceremonial elements, according to Thomas Jolly, the artistic director.

Details about the cauldron lighter or participating artists are kept secret, but sightings of Lady Gaga and Celine Dion in Paris have sparked rumors of their involvement. French media reports suggest Franco-Malian pop star Aya Nakamura will perform a song by the late Charles Aznavour.

One uncertainty remains the weather, with current forecasts predicting cloudy skies, although organizers had hoped for a "golden hour" sunset during the ceremony.

The show will be streamed on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, NBC app, and the NBC Olympics app. It will also be on the NBC TV channel. For more info you can go to nbcolympics.com/faq

Culture

Spain’s School of Bell Tolling

There are over 2,000 bell towers across Catalonia alone, and they all need tolling each half-hour; but it’s actually so much more than that.

To better interweave communities and keep long-practiced traditions alive, Spain is witnessing a class graduate from its first bell-ringing school.

This strange idea is all about reviving a dying art that was recently inscribed on UNESCO’s list of Intangible World Heritage, featuring human activities like baking, dancing, and poetry, that tell the story of our species’ cultural diversity across time and across countries. Over the last 120 years, manual bell-ringing has gradually been replaced by automatic systems in Catholic and Protestant churches, which has flattened their potential and muted their messaging powers.

“We have the utopian goal of a toller in each bell tower. I know it’s a utopian goal because there are over 2,000 bell towers across Catalonia,” admits Xavier Pallas, a bell-ringing instructor at Vall d’en Bas School of Bell Ringers, who just graduated his school’s first class.

He says that despite there being more effective means of communicating than bell-ringing, its function serves as an important method of local communication that binds and unifies communities in times of grief and joy. What will come perhaps as a surprise is that, depending on the order, tone, and number of chimes, churchbells in Spain announced everything from fire alarms and bad weather warnings, to when the fishermen were arriving with the day’s catch, and even how much it was going to cost.

“We need to keep these rituals in both cases,” says Pallas.

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Mind Stretchers

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You have a sequence of numbers: 2, 6, 12, 20, 30, 42, 56, ... What is the 10th number in this sequence?

Yesterday’s Mind Stretchers:

The Answer:
Scrambled Eggs

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