Those were the days

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today. One of NASA’s telescopes is expected to crash this week; research shows dogs know when someone’s had a seizure; and Pete Townsend claims he paved the way for three huge bands.

Let’s get into it!

NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is a collection of three telescopes that studied gamma ray outbursts for 22 years starting in 2004.

The observatory has been slowly losing altitude for years—an expected occurrence for objects in low-Earth orbit. NASA sent a robot to Swift in an effort to elevate it back to its intended height, but the mission failed, meaning the decayed orbit will bring the object low enough that it will no longer be able to compensate for the drag.

In other words, the Swift Observatory will reenter in an uncontrolled fashion, crashing to Earth at some point this week, with NASA unsure of the time or location.

"It is unfortunate that Swift was not 'reorbited,' but from a reentry hazard perspective it is a small portion of the stuff coming back in,” said Darren McKnight, a senior technical fellow at LeoLabs, a company that keeps track of objects orbiting the planet.

“The rub on this, of course, is that, while many people bemoan the reentry of more objects, I am much more upset about the rapid rate of abandoning massive objects above 400 miles [644 km]," he said.

A study published in Annals of the Italian National Institute of Health suggests dogs of all breeds may be able to detect when an epileptic seizure has occurred, regardless of the dog’s level of training with medical tasks.

The researchers from the University of Milan recruited 30 dogs of varying breeds, both mixed and pure, and had them analyze sweat samples collected from a six-year-old epileptic female.

They distributed samples across three separate stations of a room: one sample of sweat collected during a seizure, one collected six hours before a seizure, and one piece of sterilized gauze padding placed as a control item.

14 of the dogs notably approached the sweat sample collected during the seizure first, which the researchers said was 40% more than what should have statistically happened at random.

They noted their findings don’t necessarily mean dogs detect a seizure specifically, but they do suggest dogs prioritize something about the seizure scent that isn’t present prior to a seizure. 🤯

Pete Townsend spoke with Classic Album Review in a recent interview, and revealed who he believes picked up the ball when The Who broke up after their 1982 tour.

“When I broke up The Who in 1982, post Live Aid, the band that came and filled the space, there were three bands—Bruce Springsteen, Queen and U2.”

He then took credit for being the musician who wrote the perfect songs for stadiums filled with fans and handed that legacy to those bands.

“I prepared the stadium audience with songs like Baba O’Reily, Won’t Get Fooled Again; big, huge, anthemic songs, huge versions of My Generation. 

He said bands like U2, Queen, and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band all saw this formula and wrote songs that would fit the equation.

He said the belief they “stole his audience” initially upset him, but admitted he’s now friends with members of each group, with no residual ill will hampering those relationships.

All aboard

Looks like another Staker is taking has taken to the continent…at least that’s what we guessed when we saw all those gorgeous castles!

But exactly where, oh where are Staker Chris and the lovely Jackie visiting?

Quizzin’ you like it’s 1978

Do you remember what was happening this week in 1978? If that question leaves you asking, “whatchu talkin’ about”, then maybe you should give today’s trivia a try!