=== Here Comes the Sun === It’s winter, and the sun’s rays no longer shine directly on Rjukan,a small town in south-central Norway. While all of Norway has precious few sunlit hours in winter, Rjukan is tucked in a valley between two mountain ridges that completely block sunlight from late September to mid-March. Yet despite the mountains, an oval of afternoon sunlight bathes the market square, thanks to the Solspeil—“sun mirror.” After moving to Rjukan in 2001, the prolonged winter gloom alarmed artist Martin Andersen. He wondered if mirrors placed on one of the ridges above Rjukan could change the situation. Should the writer make this revision? He learned that in 1913 local bookkeeper Oscar Kittelsen had proposed erecting mirrors for the same purpose, and instead Sam Eyde, the town’s founder, had considered the idea. However, Eyde did not follow through on construction of the mirrors, and he abandoned the idea. One hundred years later, Andersen made the mirrors a reality. Three 550-square-foot mirrors were airlifted to the top of a ridge 1,475 feet above Rjukan. Helicopters carried the heavy equipment up the mountain, moreover, no roads led to the cliffside construction cite. Since a crane would have been too heavy for helicopters to lift, workers used tools such as thirty-foot wooden tripods to install the mirrors. The three mirrors team up as a group to create a bright 2,000-square-foot ellipse of light in the town square. To keep the light on the square, the mirrors adjust every ten seconds, tracking the sun as it crosses the sky. === Passage about scops and their role in Anglo-Saxon society === several records of royals giving land to deserving scops. Coins or gold rings—these could be quite useful—were common gifts for scops which did well. To achieve this kind of success, a scop needed to transcend being just an entertainer in a mead hall. While mindful of the expectation that they would glorify their leaders, scops set standards for morality through their celebration of heroes and condemnation of villains. Therefore, a person's reputation could rise or fall by the scop's hand. Additionally, scops preserved and conveyed history from one generation to the next. To provide a type of immortality traditionally revered by the Anglo-Saxons. More than a storyteller, the scop was a historian, teacher, and messenger of community values. The scop's call of 'Hwæt!' was an invitation to audiences to gather and celebrate their culture. === The Meteoric Rise of Meenakshi Wadhwa === Meenakshi Wadhwa was pursuing her PhD; when a professor asked her, if she wanted to see a meteorite from Mars. Wadhwa was struck by how similar the rock’s chemical makeup was to that of Earth rocks. Thereafter, the idea that she could learn about the composition of distant worlds by studying meteorites has driven Wadhwa’s career ever since. After graduating, Wadhwa became the curator of the meteorite collection at The Field Museum in Chicago, there she conducted research on meteorites, especially those from Mars. Wadhwa used a mass spectrometer to identify and measure the elements in meteorite samples. The mass spectrometer revealed the rocks’ age and identified the processes that created them. This information helped Wadhwa better understand the geological history of Mars. In 2006, Wadhwa became the director of the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University. With more than 1,800 space rocks, including samples from Mars and the asteroid belt. Making the meteorite collection Wadhwa oversees is the largest at any university. Because meteorites contain material that predates Earth, Wadhwa and her colleagues can learn about the elements that were present when the Sun, planets, and moons formed. Wadhwa’s research has shed light on the early history of the solar system. For example, a 2010 study she co-wrote found that the solar system is likely 1.9 million years older than the previous estimate. In 2013, Wadhwa and two colleagues discovered evidence that a supernova exploded before the planets formed likely seeded our solar system with many essential elements. === The Soul of Stax === Stax Records of Memphis, Tennessee, maybe less renowned than Detroit’s Motown, but its contributions to 1960s American soul music has been no less significant. The southern soul coming out of Stax had a grittier, funkier sound than Motown’s, blending elements of country, gospel, and rhythm & blues. But beyond genre, it was the people, their methods, and even the building itself (which had once been a movie theater) that made Stax one of the most exceptional recording studios of the era. Stax’s unlikely founders, siblings Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, were bankers themselves whom loved music. They knew little about the music industry or soul, but they had open minds and collected collaboration. Their open-door policy allowed unestablished or unconventional artists (often ignored by bigger studios) to make their names at Stax. Booker T. Jones, Carla Thomas, and Otis Redding were just a few of more than thirty artists who recorded hits there. That conversation included a range of perspectives rarely found at other studios. Despite the pervasive segregation of Memphis in the 1960s, when the Stax staff and house band were fully integrated. The “Stax family” also included people of various ages and economic backgrounds, all were contributing to Stax’s unique sound. Another distinction was one of method. At most studios, performers worked, from previously arranged sheet music. For example, Stax musicians spontaneously composed music together, a practice called head arranging. Otis Redding might walk in and sing a few lyrics to the band. The other musicians would riff on his idea until a complete song emerged between the collaboration. Then, they’d record the song without ever putting the notes on paper. Even the building, for instance, helped to create the Stax sound. Recording equipment in the 1960s was rudimentary by today’s standards. But the former theater’s sloped floor and bass-heavy movie speakers gave recordings a deep, raw tone so distinctive that aficionados can often recognize a Stax song within the first few notes. In general, recorded music couldn’t capture the depth of sound that could be heard at a live performance.