Tom Di Liberto and JD Goodwin attempt to steer the U.S.S. Blue Streak (DD-981) into the New Year while the rest of the crew is on shore leave. Set sea and anchor detail, we're on our way! Blue Streak Science News Roundup These are summaries of our discussions on the podcast. For the full conversation please listen to this episode of the Blue Streak Science Podcast. Run, run Rudolph! Way up in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, not too far from where Santa Claus is currently having a well-deserved rest, a thin layer of soil above the permafrost thaws for just three months each year. When it does, the tundra verily bursts into bloom. The flowers are a favorite food of the Peary caribou, Rangifer tarandus pearyi, This is a rather small, white-bearded subspecies of reindeer. With their noses stained red from the flowers of purple saxifrage, they are truly red-nosed reindeer, at least in the summer. But foraging for flowers under summer’s midnight sun is a short-lived luxury. Finding food in winter has always been harder, and climate change is only making the problem worse. California, at Forefront of Climate Fight, Won’t Back Down to Trump Foreign governments concerned about climate change may soon be spending more time dealing with Sacramento than Washington. Donald Trump has packed his cabinet with nominees who dispute the science of global warming. He has signaled he will withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement. And he has belittled the notion of global warming and attacked policies intended to combat it. But California — a state that has for 50 years been a leader in environmental advocacy — is about to step unto the breach. We discuss this article in the New York Times written by Adam Nagourney and Henry Fountain. New theory of gravity might explain dark matter Fighting above our weight class, Tom and JD do their best to knock out this interesting, but oh so-hard-to-wrap-one's-brain-around topic. We went the distance. Now it's up to the judges scores. Shout-outs and Acknowledgments Vera Rubin On December 25, Vera Rubin, one of the world’s great astrophysicists died at the age of 88. She discovered actual evidence of dark matter. In the 60’s and 70’s she, along with astronomer Kent Ford, discovered that the stars on the outside of spiral galaxies were moving as fast as the inboard stars. Rubin, a strong advocate for women in science, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and awarded the National Medal of Science.  The Blue Streak Science Podcast comes to you from Washington, D.C., and Santa Rosa, California.