- yesterday
Highlights from this episode:
- Parks Funding
- New Data
- Curb Cuts and Umbrellas
- Blacker Than the Blackest Black Times Infinity!
Intro and outro music by Doctor Turtle
Sponsored by The National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors visit https://naild.org/
Headlines and Sources can be found at www.RestoringDarkness.com
- Parks Funding
- New Data
- Curb Cuts and Umbrellas
- Blacker Than the Blackest Black Times Infinity!
Intro and outro music by Doctor Turtle
Sponsored by The National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors visit https://naild.org/
Headlines and Sources can be found at www.RestoringDarkness.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hello, I'm recording this on Wednesday, June 25th, and that means two things.
00:10This episode is going to run pretty hard on the visual aid quotient, so go to YouTube or Spotify for the video version.
00:19It's also time for the Darkness News Update, brought to you by the National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors.
00:26Visit Nailed.org for more from them.
00:28They are the only organization of lighting practitioners that aim to teach lighting practitioners to be better lighting practitioners.
00:39I'm going to keep saying practitioners, but we believe that the key to responsible outdoor light at night is the people who put the lights up.
00:50It's not the fixtures, it's not anything else, it's the people who put them up.
00:55And we are building, and we have been building towards that for a very long time.
01:02Let's get into the news.
01:04The not department, not government, not efficient Department of Government Efficiency has cut the U.S. National Park Service budget in half, literally in half.
01:17And that threatens a number of smaller offices within the Park Service, including the U.S. Natural, Sounds, and Night Skies Division.
01:26This is 10 people, 10 people who have overseen the award-winning Dark Sky Project at the Grand Canyon.
01:365,000 fixtures made beautiful, absolutely beautiful, in terms of preserving night and conserving natural habitats.
01:48They've also banned two-stroke motors in a number of parks, which is amazing, all things considered.
01:54But, again, the deep cuts are hurting the smallest departments, and maybe these guys are the canaries in the coal mine for a broader situation.
02:11The Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology has developed a new cyan phosphor.
02:22This uses a mix of UV and red and yellow phosphors to actually eliminate the blue spike.
02:29There are a bunch of non-blue spike LED options right now.
02:33Some of them depend on green, some depend on violet.
02:36This is just a new one.
02:37Maybe it proliferates and propagates, and there we go.
02:41We have two IES practice documents related to exterior lighting and the environment for public review.
02:49Lighting practice 10, an introduction to the environmental impacts of lighting, and recommended practice 43, lighting exterior applications, are open.
03:00They are being revised and updated because neither of them have been in, like, 15 years.
03:06But these are lighting design documents that could be made better, especially in terms of what we do for circadian effects and conservation and animal welfare.
03:20And you can just make your voice heard.
03:24You can read these documents, and you can say you need to change these things.
03:27The Noctlichter program has published their 2025 results.
03:33Noctlichter is an app that allows ground-level citizen science in Germany.
03:39And what it's found this year is that we're actually doing a really bad job of estimating the effects of interior lighting spilling out on the streets as a factor in light pollution.
03:49And maybe that can change.
03:52David Lorenz has updated his light pollutions map.
03:55He publishes these on GitHub.
03:58They just show the most accurate version he can manage of areas that are dealing with light pollution if you want to do any sort of astrotourism.
04:09We have a study showing that blue-rich light stimulates cut flowers so that if you've got carnations in a vase at home, they're going to wilt faster under LED.
04:23Speaking of wilting under LED, blue light is bad for your self-esteem.
04:29This is a study from the Monash University in Australia that put participants under different lighting conditions and asked them to just look at a number of adjectives, pop up on the screen and say, oh, does this adjective apply to you?
04:44And under blue light, people were more likely to say that what they deemed, what the study deemed to be negative adjectives, terrible is the one they bring up, but yeah, like any sort of negative self-talk became more prevalent under blue light.
05:04The study proposes that this is really a good thing because now we can do lighting and interventions for warmer light in mental health spaces, but I just want to point out that like, I don't know, take care of yourself, be nice to yourself, and maybe just warmer lighting is the key to that.
05:24The Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Huangzhou has determined that light at night and noise pollution at night affect older people more than younger people.
05:38This is part of a larger trend in studies from China, as China urbanizes, that shows that people over 65 are reporting, these are self-reported results based on the Philadelphia sleep quality measure,
05:51that they are not sleeping as well as light and noise pollution enters their lives.
05:58We have a University of Victoria study in BC showing that sleep schedules that align with cultural norms are rewarded.
06:08This is based on the difference between Japan, Norway, and North America.
06:13If you're not familiar, Japanese office workers tend not to sleep as much per day as North Americans
06:20or Norwegians, and they found out that actually just conforming, just succumbing to peer pressure is better than eight hours of sleep.
06:31You're better off sleeping six hours if all your peers only sleep for six hours.
06:36This is, I believe, I have a theory that this is probably why we, part of how we valorize early morning people in North America.
06:47But that's not what this study covered.
06:50That's just me talking out of my suppositions and assumptions.
06:55In Australia, we have a study from New South Wales that shows that daylight saving time alters spending and socialization and travel habits in people under 30.
07:06They found that when we do that one-week switch, that one-week switch that changes the amount of daylight really drastically,
07:15people do change their habits.
07:18When we have earlier nights, as a result, more people use public transit.
07:23When we have later dusks, people spend less money eating out or going drinking.
07:30It's a weird little thing.
07:33Constant light and constant dark do damage the pineal gland in rats.
07:39Specifically, in either case, blood cortisol levels, which is to say stress hormones, did change.
07:47Fnord.
07:48We've also got a new study that shows that circadian disruption has been linked with Alzheimer's-like pathologies in mice.
07:56Specifically, mice kept under conditions that disrupted their circadian rhythm, had hyperphosphorylation of the tau enzymes,
08:07and as well as deposition of amyloid betas that were consistent with neurodegenerative disease.
08:15Circadian disruptions also stress out zebra finches.
08:19This is a study from Auburn, U.N., Alabama.
08:22They put birds under what they called human night shift lighting conditions, and their cortisols did spike.
08:30The interesting thing is that they didn't gain any weight, which they kind of expected.
08:34We also have a new study from the University of Florence that reiterates the need to reduce light pollution
08:40because literally the gene expressions of zebrafish are changing under light pollution.
08:47We also have a study that shows that light pollution alters the activity levels of slugs.
08:54Well, basic slugs.
08:55Basic slugs.
08:57Turns out, if you keep them under late-night, lit conditions, they change the amount of time per day they spend feeding,
09:05which means they're smaller, and that changes the vegetation around them as well.
09:10It's, you know, again, it's a part of the broader ecosystem.
09:14West Virginia University has predicted the extinction of the Fotinius carolinus firefly.
09:24This is a particularly rare breed that actually pulse their lights in time with each other,
09:33and it's getting too bright for them to mate effectively.
09:37The IGB has published a new guide to umbrella species in conservation.
09:46This is a new opinion paper from Gregor Kellencott that makes the case for protections of one species,
09:54say turtles, if that's the one in your area, that can be expanded to cover more in terms of conservation.
10:01This is basically the curb cut effect, which is to say that we put curb cuts, small ramps and sidewalks,
10:13to help people in wheelchairs, and it turns out that everyone likes them and they're really useful.
10:19So this effect can be the same.
10:21So if we protect sea turtles in Florida, all the migratory birds in the area also do pretty well, which is encouraging.
10:30A study from the University of Mississippi has found that bird-safe glass is safe for birds,
10:37which is great because it would be a shame for them to have to change the name of the product.
10:47But also the ornithology research team on campus was able to work with facilities management
10:54and the Robert C. Kairat Law Center to cut bird fatalities to zero in literally one migration cycle.
11:02Literally, they sat down and they put decals on some windows, they replaced the glass in others,
11:08and now the law school doesn't harm any birds anymore.
11:13We have a study of bog-on moths that shows that they navigate using starlight for 600 miles.
11:20These are long-haul moth migrations, and they use starlight to help them navigate from one part of the country to the other.
11:28And light pollution is going to make that harder if that really comes down to it.
11:34We also have a study from Wuhan University that shows that Allen, light at night, is outpacing climate change
11:41when it comes to extending growing season.
11:44They were using satellite photography taken from 428 urban centers in the Northern Hemisphere from 2014 to 2020,
11:52and they found that as light in those urban centers changed, the amount of vegetation changed to match that,
12:00not the heat, not the heat of those areas, and that's interesting.
12:05Dark Sky Ireland is hosting their annual Allen Conference October 28th through 31st in the town of Mayo.
12:13In Michigan, we have a bill that would change the current state of dark sky preserves in the Upper Peninsula.
12:23There is a bill on record in Michigan that limits the number of dark sky spaces to 13,
12:33all of them run by the state,
12:36and there is a debate about amending that part of a conservation bill out of existence,
12:43and there is a partisan split in the state senate as to whether or not that could change.
12:50More details as we have more details.
12:53We have 70 lighting violations found in Fort Myers, Florida.
12:58Local authorities are doubling down on turtle safety enforcement this year,
13:02and they're already cracking on people that are just leaving their lights on.
13:07Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has begun levying new fines on light and noise violations,
13:14with multiple homes and one church being fined for light trespass.
13:19St. Pete, Florida, has adopted an entirely voluntary lighting rule for turtle season.
13:25This is a new ordinance that is actually a set of recommendations for beachfront property owners.
13:31Huntsville, Ontario, has actually set up a lighting bylaw 10 years ago,
13:37and now it's going to come into effect.
13:40They are planning their code enforcement plans,
13:43and how bylaw officers are going to manage that as it goes into effect in January 2026.
13:49Welland, Ontario, has set a new nuisance lighting bylaw,
13:54specifically in a way that allows bylaw enforcement tools to manage light trespass
13:59by letting them work at night.
14:02That's a hard thing.
14:03That's actually kind of a hard part,
14:05is you kind of need to have city employees that aren't cops working at night
14:11to manage these sometimes.
14:13In Los Angeles, the neighborhood of Nachi Coches is debating sign brightness.
14:20Specifically, the city has received a request for the neighborhood.
14:26LA City Council politics are a bit weird where neighborhoods also run city councils.
14:31It's like Tokyo or Berlin.
14:35But anyway, they are debating the use of neon signs inside.
14:39That might be allowed finally over there.
14:42Or not.
14:43Dark Sky International has recognized the Hub Sports Center in Liberty Lake, Washington,
14:48which is a rare sports field certification.
14:51I wish more sports fields really went after this.
14:54It's great that there's parks.
14:55It's great that there's counties and towns getting Dark Sky International certifications.
14:59But the sports fields, those are the ones I'd really like to see.
15:03Things you don't like to see is that the Wyoming Supreme Court
15:07will finally allow the Cody LDS Temple to go ahead.
15:12This is a two-year saga of planning and zoning board shenanigans and lawsuits and everything else.
15:21And now, now, now, now the building's going up.
15:26The state of Texas has very quietly dropped all of their border projects.
15:35800 miles of border projects have been dropped.
15:39That means no new fencing, no new lighting.
15:43But they are asking the federal government to pick up on that.
15:48We'll see how that goes.
15:50In the UK, MP Carlet Denyer spoke out on the floor of Parliament against ad pollution.
15:58She would really like brightness limits on billboards.
16:02I say she also needs to talk about timing.
16:04But one thing at a time.
16:06In not-so-local news, Starlink satellites are leaking signals.
16:15This is a new study that confirms something we've already talked about,
16:19which is that Starlink, the 5G transmission microsatellite constellation system,
16:25is not actually only emitting 5G radiation.
16:29It is also emitting on other spectra.
16:31And that means that as they broadcast outside their prescribed limits,
16:38that is causing static in radio astronomy,
16:43the thing we use to understand distant objects in space.
16:47Also, it might become a hazard for other communication satellites.
16:52In the UK, we have a new CubeSat program that will test Vantablack coatings.
17:02Specifically, the Jovian 1 CubeSat, which is about the size of a shoebox,
17:06will be coated in Vantablack 310,
17:09a new carbon nanotube material that absorbs 99.965% of all light that hits it.
17:17This should limit the amount of light pollution that these devices cause.
17:32This has led to an opinion piece from Space.com
17:36that says that actually, we should just be coating all satellites,
17:41Starlink, Virgin, whoever, with Vantablack.
17:44And in response to this opinion piece, I have to go on a bit of a rant.
17:51But before I start that rant, I have to make sure that you are not Anish Kapoor,
17:58that you are not professionally associated with Anish Kapoor,
18:03and that should you ever have a personal interaction with Anish Kapoor,
18:07you're never, never going to tell him what I said.
18:12Use the comments to sound off on that, please.
18:17Just take a minute to do that.
18:20Alright, so, here's the thing about satellite constellations,
18:27a thing I rant about a lot.
18:28This is a new rant.
18:31So, I'm going to hold something white in front of my face right now.
18:34It's probably doing something weird to the green screen I can't see,
18:37because I'm holding a piece of white paper in front of my face.
18:41But you can tell that I, that, that, like, I'm, that things are being blocked.
18:47That light is being reflected, and it's, it's, it's, it's not great.
18:52You can't see me.
18:54Okay?
18:55White, reflective, bad.
18:57Okay?
18:58I'm going to hold something black in front of my face.
19:04And, yeah, guess what?
19:06Um, better, probably, but it's still blocking my face, and it's still annoying.
19:17Right?
19:18Fair enough.
19:21White object, reflective object, object that reflects light, bad.
19:25But, a black object is still blocking observations.
19:31So, the idea of coating satellites is only a bit of a fix.
19:38Only a bit.
19:42Then there's the next part.
19:44The next part is that Vantablack is a wholly owned IP,
19:51a proprietary coating system from Surrey Nanosystems.
19:57It is a very expensive thing for them to make.
20:01They are very protective of how they developed it.
20:04And that means that they tended to insist on exclusivity in who gets it.
20:12You might, you don't know that, because we've already established that you're not Anish Kapoor.
20:18Anish Kapoor is the only artist allowed to use Vantablack in his projects.
20:22But, that means that if we add Vantablack to SpaceX,
20:29they probably won't let Virgin use Vantablack.
20:36They're certainly not going to let China's 10,000 sales project use Vantablack,
20:42because that wouldn't mean letting China have the whole process,
20:46because that's how their trade deals work.
20:48Also, it's very expensive.
20:53And SpaceX gets most of its contracts from the government.
20:58This would be tax dollars from dozens of countries,
21:01tens of millions of tax dollars from multiple countries,
21:05beating SpaceX for something that, again, is just cell phone signals.
21:10It's just cell phone signals.
21:11Lastly, or not lastly, but nextly,
21:18there are just so many satellites.
21:22The Chinese 10,000 sales, that's not like Chinese poetry.
21:27That's not like, ooh, a myriad or a multitude of things.
21:30No, they literally want 10,000 satellites.
21:33And when you have 10,000 white things, or 10,000 black things,
21:38it's still terrible for astronomy.
21:45And then let's rewind to three minutes ago,
21:47when I said that Starlink satellites were leaking signals.
21:51Starlink satellites are leaking signals.
21:54This is a new study that confirms something we've already talked about,
21:59which is that Starlink,
22:01the 5G transmission microsatellite consolation system,
22:05is not actually only emitting 5G radiation.
22:09It is also emitting on other spectra.
22:13You can't paint something to make it not leak signals.
22:18Because these devices are going to spread radio waves
22:24that bother each other, that bother observatories,
22:27and it's not going to help.
22:30We can't...
22:32Fixing our way out of these low-orbit objects
22:35is going to be more complicated than paint.
22:41Randover, I guess, if you're an Ash Kapoor,
22:43you can start listening again.
22:45I'll say that, lastly, we want to say that
22:48this is not sponsored,
22:49but Wipro has launched a new line
22:51of Dark Sky International-approved products
22:54in terms of street lighting, flood lighting,
22:57decorative options.
22:59They look pretty good.
23:01Consider them.
23:02And, lastly, we're going to close out with a skeet.
23:06A skeet.
23:07A video skeet from Gabe Wasilico.
23:10I probably pronounced that wrong.
23:12Sorry, Gabe.
23:13But he took a bunch of video and photos
23:15of Cleveland at 3 a.m.,
23:17and this is how bright Cleveland is at 3 a.m.
23:22Until next time, I've been Scott Wachter.
23:24I want to thank you for your time.
23:25I want to thank you for your attention.
23:27I want to thank you for leaving a rating or review
23:31or just telling a friend.
23:33This has been brought to you by Nailed.
23:35Visit nailed.org because we're about to launch...
23:39I'm announcing it now.
23:40Hell with it.
23:40I'm announcing it now.
23:41We are about to spend the summer
23:44testing Lighting Specialist Darkness Restoration 1,
23:48the first training program for lighting professionals
23:51in the field of responsible light at night.
23:55It's going to be great, guys.
23:57See ya.
23:58See ya.
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