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Heroes

The man who discovered Pluto is about to become the first person to visit it.

We have visited all the planets of solar system and found worlds orbiting distant stars. Now we're about to explore ... Pluto? If you find yourself asking, "So what?" you're not alone. But you might be surprised by the answer.

The Search Begins

In 1929, a young researcher named Clyde Tombaugh was handed a thankless, seemingly impossible task.

His bosses at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, gave him a series of nearly identical pictures of the same part of the night sky taken a few days apart and asked him to search, with his naked eyes, for a speck of light that moved like a planet. These were not pretty photos, and they barely changed from day to day. So we can only imagine how daunting this assignment must have felt for the young Tombaugh. Yet he took it graciously and spent over a year comparing photographs, two by two, using only an antiquated mechanical device called a blink comparator, his bare eyes, and his knowledge of planetary movement.


Clyde Tombaugh with his telescope

This was long before human spaceflight — 30 years before the Russians sent Sputnik up to be mankind's first messenger to the heavens and 40 before America landed the first men on the moon in 1969.

At this time, merely orbiting the Earth — much less visiting other moons and planets in our solar system — was only a dream in the minds of science fiction authors. Tombaugh likely had no notion that we would ever set off to explore the specks of light in his photos — much less that he might go on the journey himself.

Odd Planet

Yet he continued to look. He must not have expected that his work would have any lasting impact. The search, which many had unsuccessfully tried before, was driven not by the desire to invent new technologies or to solve global problems or even to make a fantastic discovery, but to answer a simple, if obscure, question: Why is Uranus' orbit a bit strange?

Orbiting closest to the sun, Mercury and Venus are solitary souls. Their destinies are controlled by the massive gravitational pull of that wellspring of light and heat, and they dance to no other tune. But the other planets waltz around the Sun in pairs. The Earth influences our red-hued partner, Mars, and vice versa. Giant Jupiter and noble, ringed Saturn are engaged in a similar dance. And the same is true for distant Uranus and Neptune, save one exception: Something else seems to be flirting with Uranus' orbit. Something from beyond the rim of the near solar system. This is what Tombaugh was looking for.

So What?

At this point, some people will understandably bristle at the idea of spending so much energy, money, and time answering a single, seemingly innocuous question. A wobble in Uranus' orbit is so distant, so seemingly meaningless to our daily lives here, billions of miles away ... where the same light that reaches Uranus in over two hours warms us in a mere eight minutes. And yet, although distant and removed from everyday concerns, questions like these are far from pointless.

Many of our greatest inventions, discoveries, or solutions to life's problems have started not with an idea, but with a simple, innocent question.

The question, "What is out there?" led us to develop rockets that launched the first probes into space, igniting the space race that landed men on the moon. The technology we made to accomplish these feats, to answer this simple question, ultimately led to life-changing things like GPS, laptops, satellite television, and much more. But we didn't know what the result of landing on the moon would be when we started. We just wanted to know more about the moon.

This is why we must continue to ask — and try to answer — these simple questions. It's impossible to see the future and know what the fruits of our curiosity might be. All we know is that for hundreds of years, we have been methodically asking and answering simple questions about the world around us, and the results of those explorations have given us nearly everything we value about the modern world.

The Next Questions

Guided by this idea and his curiosity, Tombaugh searched for more than a year, staring at photo after photo of the same dots in the sky. In 1930, he announced that he had discovered something beyond Neptune: Pluto, a ninth planet.

It was a momentous discovery, and it made Tombaugh a household name overnight. But almost as soon as it had been discovered, Pluto's existence gave rise to new questions. Measurements of the planet's size made it clear that it was too small to cause the irregularities in Uranus' orbit, and it probably didn't form in the same way the other planets did. So where did it come from? And what was really causing Uranus' strangeness?

In the 1990s, measurements of Neptune by the Voyager 2 spacecraft answered the second question. Uranus' strange orbit wasn't strange after all. We had simply miscalculated the size of Neptune and thus its effects on its orbital twin. But despite closing the book on the question that led to the discovery of Pluto, the first question — Where did Pluto come from? —continued to tug at the curiosity of astronomers.

Over time, using new technologies and pursuing new ideas, we began to form a better picture. In the 1990s, we discovered two new objects floating beyond Pluto. Since then, a thousand more have been found, and scientists believe there may be as many as 100,000 large objects floating on the outskirts of our solar system in a vast disc called the Kuiper belt.

Known objects in the Kuiper belt

Among other things, the discovery of the Kuiper belt caused the International Astronomical Union to downgrade Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet in 2006, a move Tombaugh spent his life fighting. But we can imagine that if he were still around, he would be thrilled to know that far beyond discovering a new planet, he'd found a new frontier of our own solar system: a gateway to thousands of new worlds, each with new questions waiting to be asked and answered.

A New Horizon

One of those questions is: "What is Pluto like?" Although we've known it exists for most of a century, we don't know much more about it. In fact, this image, a computer's best guess based on data from the Hubble Space Telescope, is the best view of it we've ever had:

We don't know what those smudges of color are. Are they mountains? Glaciers? Giant worms that produce a conscious-altering substance that enables faster-than-light travel? Probably not on that last one.

The truth is that we have no clue what Pluto is. We never have. But that's about to change.

In 1992, at the end of a long career, Tombaugh got a call from Robert Staehle of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In a sign of respect for its discoverer, Staehle asked Tombaugh for permission to visit Pluto.

Here's another distant image of the planet, taken this year, that portends the things to come:

At first glance, those are just two blurry dots, no more interesting than the ones Tombaugh had to look at way back in 1929. But they're so much more. The large dot in the center is Pluto. The smaller one moving around it is its largest moon, Charon. The two are so close together and so similar in size, this is the first time we've been able to clearly distinguish between the two bodies.

The photos were taken by a probe called New Horizons, the result of that 1992 phone call. It's been in deep space for nine years, and this July it will do a fly-by of Pluto. In just a few months, we'll have high-resolution photos of Pluto and its moons. We'll know what those blurry smudges on the Hubble images are (in fact, you can start voting on names for them now). And we'll officially start our voyage to the worlds of the Kuiper belt lying beyond — the final frontier of our solar system. And you'll be around to see it. But you're not the only one.

The Visitor

When Staehle asked Tombaugh for permission to visit Pluto in 1992, Tombaugh had the same reaction you probably would: "He's got to go one long, cold trip." He probably didn't expect that he was the one who would be making the journey.

"He's got to go one long, cold trip."

Tombaugh passed away in 1997, nearly a decade before we would visit his planetoid. Fittingly, New Horizons carries with it an ounce of Tombaugh's ashes. So in a way, he will be the first person to visit Pluto, the same as he was the first to discover it.

What would he have felt if he were alive today to see the journey unfold here on Earth, rather than make it himself? Hear his children reflect on the journey to the frontier he unlocked:

When you're done, take a moment to reflect on how far we've come from that original, simple question about Uranus. And share this with folks who, innocently and justifiably, might hear that we're visiting Pluto and ask "so what?"

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Three women, three MS journeys: How multiple sclerosis looks different for everyone

Gina, Nathalie and Helga share their reactions to being diagnosed with MS and how they stay informed and positive in the face of ever-changing symptoms.

Courtesy of Sanofi

Helga, Nathalie and Gina all have MS, and their experiences show how differently the disease can manifest.

True

It’s been 155 years since neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot gave the first lecture on a mysterious progressive illness he called “multiple sclerosis.” Since then, we’ve learned a lot. We know MS causes the immune system to attack healthy tissue, including damaging the brain and spinal cord. Resulting symptoms can be debilitating and include fatigue, blurred vision, memory problems and weakness. Huge advancements in our understanding of MS and its underlying causes, as well as treatment advances, have been made in the past few decades, but MS remains a complex and unpredictable reality for the 2.8 million+ people diagnosed around the world.

Ironically, the only real constant for people living with MS is change. There’s no set pattern or standard progression of the disease, so each person’s experience is unique. Some people with MS have mild symptoms that worsen slowly but sometimes improve, while others can have severe symptoms that drastically alter their daily lives.

All people with MS share some things in common, however, such as the need to stay informed on the ever-evolving research, find various lines of support and try to remain hopeful as they continue living with the disease.

To better understand what navigating life with MS really looks like, three women shared their MS stories with us. Their journeys demonstrate how MS can look different for different people and interestingly, how the language used to talk about the disease can greatly impact how people understand their realities.

woman with horse, woman riding horseGina loves riding her horse, Benita.Courtesy of Sanofi

Gina—Hamburg, Germany (diagnosed with relapsing multiple sclerosis in 2017)

When her youngest son was 4 months old, Gina started having problems with her eye. She’d soon learn she was experiencing optic neuritis—her first symptom of MS.

“Immediately after the diagnosis, I looked up facts on MS because I didn’t know anything about it,” Gina says. “And as soon as I knew what could really happen with this disease, I actually got scared.”

As her family’s primary income provider, she worried about how MS would impact her ability to work as a writer and editor. Her family was afraid she was going to end up in a wheelchair. However, for now, Gina’s MS is managed well enough that she still works full-time and is able to be active.

“When I tell somebody that I have MS, they often don't believe me the first time because I don't fulfill any stereotypes,” she says.

Overwhelmed by negative perspectives on living with MS, Gina sought support in the online MS community, which she found to be much more positive.

“I think it’s important to use as many positive words as you can when talking about MS.” It’s important to be realistic while also conveying hope, she says. “MS is an insidious disease that can cause many bad symptoms…that can be frightening, and you can't gloss over it, either.”

To give back to the online community that helped her so much, Gina started a blog to share her story and help others trying to learn about their diagnosis.

Though she deals with fatigue and cognitive dysfunction sometimes, Gina stays active swimming, biking, riding horses and playing with her sons, who are now 11 and 6.

Cognitive dysfunction is common in MS, with over half of people affected. It can impact memory, attention, planning, and word-finding. As with many aspects of MS, some people experience mild changes, while others face more challenges.

Gina says that while there’s still a lot of education about MS needed, she feels positive about the future of MS because there’s so much research being done.

woman in wheelchair holding medal, woman rowingNathalie is an award-winning rower with multiple international titles.Courtesy of Sanofi

Nathalie — Pennes Mirabeau, France (diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in 2002)

Nathalie was a teenager and a competitive athlete when she noticed her first symptoms of MS, but it would take four years of “limbo” before she was diagnosed.

“Ultimately, the diagnosis was more of a relief, than a shock,” she says. “Because when you have signs and you don’t know why, it’s worse than knowing, in the end, what you have.”

However, learning more about the disease—and the realities of disease progression—scared her.

“That glimpse of the future was direct and traumatic,” she says. Her neurologist explained that the disease evolves differently for everyone, and her situation might end up being serious or very mild. So, she decided to stop comparing herself to others with MS.

She said to herself, “We’ll see what happens, and you’ll manage it bit by bit.”

By 2005, Nathalie’s MS had progressed to the point of needing a wheelchair. However, that has not dampened her competitive spirit.

Nathalie began her international rowing career in 2009 and has won multiple world titles, including two Paralympic medals—silver in London and bronze in Tokyo. Now, at 42, she still trains 11 times a week. Fatigue can be a problem, and sometimes hard workouts leave her with muscle stiffness and shaking, but she credits her ongoing sports career for helping her feel in tune with her body’s signals.

“Over the years, I’ve learned to listen to my body, letting my body guide when I need to stop and take breaks,” she says.

Nathalie explains that she used to only look backwards because of the initial shock of her diagnosis. In time, she stopped thinking about what she couldn’t do anymore and focused on her future. She now lives in the following mindset: “Even when doors close, don’t miss out on those that open.” Instead of focusing on what she can’t do, she focuses on the opportunities she still has. Right now, this includes her training for the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, where she will compete for another rowing medal.

“I only go forward,” she says. “Well, I try, anyway…It’s easy to say, it’s not always easy to do. But that’s what I try to do.”

woman exiting water after swimming, woman with great daneHelga's Great Dane has become a helpful and beloved companion.Courtesy of Sanofi

Helga—Johannesburg, South Africa (diagnosed with relapsing multiple sclerosis in 2010)

When Helga first started having balance issues and numbness in her feet, she chalked it up to her training as a runner. But when the numbness moved to her face, she knew something was wrong. She never guessed it was MS.

“When I was diagnosed, I felt completely overwhelmed and clueless,” Helga says. “I felt that I had nowhere near enough information. I did not know anything about the disease…I had no idea that it was going to be a process of continually monitoring and adjusting your lifestyle.”

In the beginning, Helga’s symptoms developed slowly, and she didn’t appear ill to others. She was even able to run for a few years after her diagnosis, but she couldn’t do marathons anymore, and she began to fall frequently due to balance issues and right-foot dragging. Then her cognition issues became more problematic, especially in her job as a trainer in a printing company.

“My executive function, decision-making and short-term memory were affected to the point that I was eventually medically unfit for work,” she says. She stopped working in 2017.

However, she didn’t stop living life. Even though she could no longer run, she continued to swim competitively. She got a Great Dane puppy and trained him as a service dog to help her walk. She also serves as vice chair of the patient support organization Multiple Sclerosis South Africa, and she advises others who have been diagnosed to join a patient advocacy group as soon as possible to get reliable information and meet others with MS.

Helga says she is “hopeful” about the future of MS. “I must say that I am so grateful that we have all the new medications available, because my life would not be the same if it wasn't for that,” she adds.

Part of how she manages her MS is by looking at the positives.

“If I could tell the world one thing about MS, it would be that MS is an incurable disease of the nervous system, but it's also the greatest teacher of valuing your health, family, friends, and managing change in your life,” she says. “My life is diversified in a way that I never, ever thought it would, and MS has been honestly the greatest teacher.”

Each MS journey is unique – with each person impacted experiencing different struggles, successes, and feelings as they manage this unpredictable disease. But the common thread is clear – there is a critical need for information, support, and hope. We are proud to participate in World MS Day and share these incredible stories of living life while living with MS. To learn more about MS, go to https://www.sanofi.com/why-words-really-matter-when-it-comes-to-multiple-sclerosis.

MAT-GLB-2301642-v1.0-05/2023

This article was sponsored by Sanofi. Participants were compensated when applicable.

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