discuss Science & Technology news & discussion

[CraigD]

Post and discuss interesting articles & videos about science and technology.

You don't need to be an expert - just interested in the wonders of modern science, technology, and the history of these fields.

Please keep it rational, and post articles from reputable sources.
Try not to editorialise headlines and keep the copy to just a paragraph with a link to the original source. When quoting excerpts from articles, I think the best method is to italicise the copy, and include a link to the source.

Have some fun with your comments and discussions... just keep the sources legitimate.

Other threads:
The Break Room has a number of other popular threads, so there is no need to post material here that is better suited to these other threads:

- Covid19-Coronavirus updates and news
- Conspiracy Thread Free For All
- The *religious* discussion thread

Please enjoy!

 

[koolishman]

Animals’ bright colours don’t lie: eat me and you’ll be sorry

An analysis of a score of species that includes frogs and insects shows that colouration is an ‘honest’ signal of toxicity.

The bright colours of animals such as poison dart frogs act as a warning signal, telling predators that the humble creatures pack a noxious punch. Now, an analysis of the results of multiple scientific studies shows that the most eye-catching animals also tend to be the most toxic.

Scientists have long known that an animal’s colourful markings can signal its toxicity, but it has not been clear whether variations in colour indicate differences in toxicity levels. Thomas White at the University of Sydney and Kate Umbers at Western Sydney University in Richmond, both in Australia, examined 24 studies that together assessed the colouring and toxicity of more than 20 species, taking in insects, amphibians and gastropods, a group of animals that includes snails and slugs.

The researchers found that specific features of warning signals — including brightness, hue and saturation — were more pronounced in animals with stronger or more abundant chemical defences than in those with lower levels of defence. The relationship holds at all scales: between individuals, populations and species.

This suggests that warning markings are a reliable indicator of how well defended animals are. The findings could help scientists to understand the function and evolution of warning signals, the authors say.

 

[Cannuck]

Animals’ bright colours don’t lie: eat me and you’ll be sorry

Have you watched David Attenborough's recent docuseries "Life in Color"?

https://collider.com/life-in-color-david-attenborough-trailer-netflix/

 

[Cannuck]

Not my best shot of the moon, but it was soo bright tonight I couldn't resist

This shot was taken awhile back...better lens, more clarity

 

[koolishman]

New duckbilled dinosaur discovered in Japan

An international team of paleontologists has identified a new genus and species of hadrosaur or duck-billed dinosaur, Yamatosaurus izanagii, on one of Japan's southern islands.

The fossilized discovery yields new information about hadrosaur migration, suggesting that the herbivors migrated from Asia to North America instead of vice versa. The discovery also illustrates an evolutionary step as the giant creatures evolved from walking upright to walking on all fours. Most of all, the discovery provides new information and asks new questions about dinosaurs in Japan.

The research, "A New Basal Hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) From the latest Cretaceous Kita-ama Formation in Japan implies the origin of Hadrosaurids," was recently published in Scientific Reports. Authors include Yoshitsugu Kobayashi of Hokkaido University Museum, Ryuji Takasaki of Okayama University of Science, Katsuhiro Kubota of Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo and Anthony R. Fiorillo of Southern Methodist University.

 

[koolishman]

High-bandwidth wireless BCI demonstrated in humans for first time

BrainGate device complements Neuralink's successful test of wireless BCI in monkey.

Coming on the heels of the Neuralink announcement earlier this month—complete with video showing a monkey playing Pong with its mind, thanks to a wireless brain implant—researchers with the BrainGate Consortium have successfully demonstrated a high-bandwidth wireless brain-computer interface (BCI) in two tetraplegic human subjects. The researchers described their work in a recent paper published in the journal IEEE Transactions in Biomedical Engineering.

BCIs interact with brain cells, recording the electrical activity of neurons and translating those signals into action. Such systems generally involve electrode sensors to record neuronal activity, a chipset to transmit the signals, and computer algorithms to translate the signals. BCIs can be external, similar to medical EEGs in that the electrodes are placed onto the scalp or forehead with a wearable cap; or they can be implanted directly into the brain. The former are less invasive but can be less accurate because there is more noise interfering with the signals; the latter require brain surgery, which can be risky.

BrainGate is an implanted device, used in research efforts focused on treating patients with spinal cord injuries or Lou Gehrig's disease. Back in 2012, two paralyzed subjects with BrainGate implants successfully controlled a robotic arm; since then, subjects have been able to type on computers and use tablet apps. That BrainGate system employs a large, gray box cable, tethering the implanted sensor array to the external computers that decode the signals. This has restricted the system's usefulness because technicians need to be on site during operation and take the cable with them when they finish a session.

 

[koolishman]

Vertical turbines could be the future for wind farms

The now-familiar sight of traditional propeller wind turbines could be replaced in the future with wind farms containing more compact and efficient vertical turbines.

New research from Oxford Brookes University has found that the vertical turbine design is far more efficient than traditional turbines in large scale wind farms, and when set in pairs the vertical turbines increase each other’s performance by up to 15%.

A research team from the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics (ECM) at Oxford Brookes led by Professor Iakovos Tzanakis conducted an in-depth study using more than 11,500 hours of computer simulation to show that wind farms can perform more efficiently by substituting the traditional propeller type Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWTs), for compact Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs).

Vertical turbines are more efficient than traditional windmill turbines

The research demonstrates for the first time at a realistic scale, the potential of large scale VAWTs to outcompete current HAWT wind farm turbines.

VAWTs spin around an axis vertical to the ground, and they exhibit the opposite behaviour of the well-known propeller design (HAWTs). The research found that VAWTs increase each other’s performance when arranged in grid formations. Positioning wind turbines to maximise outputs is critical to the design of wind farms.

Professor Tzanakis comments “This study evidences that the future of wind farms should be vertical. Vertical axis wind farm turbines can be designed to be much closer together, increasing their efficiency and ultimately lowering the prices of electricity. In the long run, VAWTs can help accelerate the green transition of our energy systems, so that more clean and sustainable energy comes from renewable sources.”

 

[Cannuck]

Not my best shot of the moon, but it was soo bright tonight I couldn't resist

Thanks for the likes guys

The reason the moon was soo bright last night is because it was a 'super moon'

See Photos of Last Night's Pink Supermoon Across the World

 

[J Sokol]

Robot that can cook a paella is causing quite a stir in Spain

Leaving aside self-aware computer networks that send cyborgs back through time to terminate humanity’s saviour before birth, few technological developments are quite as terrifying – to Spanish palates, at least – as the prospect of a paella cooked not by a trusty Valencian hand but by a cold steel one.

Since it was unveiled at a hospitality industry fair last month, the world’s first robotic paellero has been causing a bit of a stir. Set the programme, load the sofrito, rice, stock and seafood, leave it alone and the robotic arm, which is hooked up to a computerised stove, will do the rest.

The robot, a joint project between the young company br5 (Be a Robot 5) and the paella stove manufacturer Mimcook, has so far attracted interest from hotel and restaurant chains, as well as a Japanese company.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...an-cook-paella-causing-stir-spain-mimcook-br5

 

[koolishman]

Spanish astrophysicists discover new region of Milky Way

Researchers detected the Cepheus spur, a bridge of massive blue stars, while creating the most accurate map of the galaxy to date


A team of researchers from the Spanish Astrobiology Center (CAB) has presented the most accurate map of the Milky Way to date, and described the existence of the “Cepheus spur,” a formation of blue stars hotter than the sun that had remained hidden until now.

The team put together the map of the Earth’s “solar neighborhood” using the Gaia telescope of the European Space Agency, detailing the spiral arms of the stars that make up our galaxy. These include Orion, where the Solar System is located; Perseus, located at the outer edge of the galaxy, and Sagittarius, towards the center of the Milky Way.


For Pantaleoni González, blue stars are the most interesting objects in the universe because the nuclear reactions occurring inside them are particularly violent, meaning they produce elements that helped to build the Earth. “The elements that our planet is made of, such as silicon or the phosphorus atoms in our DNA, come mostly from the interior of stars of this type that died billions of years ago,” says the young scientist, who has not graduated yet.

 

[koolishman]

Pilot of The First Moon Landing, Michael Collins, Has Passed Away Age 90

American astronaut Michael Collins, who piloted the Apollo 11 command module while his crewmates became the first people to walk on the Moon, died on Wednesday of cancer, his family said.

 

[koolishman]

In long-awaited breakthrough , UChicago scientists harness molecules into single quantum state

Discovery could open new fields in quantum chemistry and technology

Researchers have big ideas for the potential of quantum technology, from unhackable networks to earthquake sensors. But all these things depend on a major technological feat: being able to build and control systems of quantum particles, which are among the smallest objects in the universe.

That goal is now a step closer with the publication of a new method by University of Chicago scientists. Published April 28 in Nature, the paper shows how to bring multiple molecules at once into a single quantum state—one of the most important goals in quantum physics.

“People have been trying to do this for decades, so we’re very excited,” said senior author Cheng Chin, a professor of physics at UChicago who said he has wanted to achieve this goal since he was a graduate student in the 1990s. “I hope this can open new fields in many-body quantum chemistry. There’s evidence that there are a lot of discoveries waiting out there.”

One of the essential states of matter is called a Bose-Einstein condensate: When a group of particles cooled to nearly absolute zero share a quantum state, the entire group starts behaving as though it were a single atom. It’s a bit like coaxing an entire band to march entirely in step while playing in tune—difficult to achieve, but when it happens, a whole new world of possibilities can open up.

 

[koolishman]

Chunks of Earth’s mantle found exposed in Maryland

Findings may shed more light on formation of Appalachian mountains

Scientists have discovered a chunk of rocks from the Earth’s mantle on the outskirts of Baltimore, Maryland, likely shedding light on the formation of parts of the Appalachian Mountains, one of the oldest ranges in the world.

According to the scientists, including those from the National Museum of Natural History in the US, these chunks of mantle rocks, called ophiolites, were likely part of the seafloor of the now-vanished Iapetus Ocean which spanned about 5,000 to 8,000km and cut through the US eastern seaboard.

The study, published in the journal Geosphere, noted that close to half a billion years ago the land where the Appalachian mountains now stand was on one side of the Iapetus Ocean, and parts of the current-day US East Coast were on the other end.


Since these mantle rocks form deep underground at extremely high temperatures and pressures, their minerals are not stable near the Earth’s surface, where they tend to undergo chemical change frequently, making them difficult to study.

 

[koolishman]

The shape of light changes our vision

The perception of light is extremely fast. But the analysis was carried out on molecules in solution in the laboratory. Scientists reproduced the experiment on mice, in order to observe the processing of light by a living organism in all its complexity. This study shows that light energy alone does not define the response of the retina. Its shape also has an impact on the signal sent to the brain to form an image.

Vision is a complex process that has been successfully deciphered by many disciplines -physics, biochemistry, physiology, neurology, etc.-: The retina captures light, the optic nerve transmits electrical impulses to the brain, which ultimately generates the perception of an image. Although this process takes some time, recent studies have shown that the first stage of vision, the perception of light itself, is extremely fast. But the analysis of this decisive step was carried out on molecules in solution in the laboratory. Scientists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), in collaboration with EPFL and the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG), Switzerland, reproduced the experiment on mice, in order to observe the processing of light by a living organism in all its complexity. This non-invasive study shows that light energy alone does not define the response of the retina. Its shape -short or long- also has an impact on the signal sent to the brain to form an image. This discovery, published in the journal Science Advances, opens up a new field of research into vision, diagnostics and possibly new curative possibilities

 

[koolishman]

Climate change: A small green rock's warning about our future

It's an unassuming rock, greenish in colour, and just over 4cm in its longest dimension. And yet this little piece of sandstone holds important clues to all our futures.

It was recovered from muds in the deep ocean, far off the coast of modern-day West Antarctica.

The scientists who found it say it shouldn't really have been there.

It's what's called a dropstone, a piece of ice-rafted debris.

It was scraped off the White Continent by a glacier, carried a certain distance in this flowing ice, and then exported and discarded offshore by an iceberg.

What's remarkable about this particular cobble is that researchers can say where it originated.

Using the latest "geo-fingerprinting" techniques, they've established with strong confidence that it comes from the Ellsworth Mountains - some 1,300km from where the rock was pulled up from the floor of the Amundsen Sea by a drilling ship.

 

[CraigD]

Research opens up the possibility of dietary therapy for cancer

• Download PDF Copy

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Apr 27 2021

A research group at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR) has discovered molecular events that determine whether cancer cells live or die. With this knowledge, they found that reduced consumption of a specific protein building block prevents the growth of cells that become cancerous.

These findings were published in the scientific journal eLife and open up the possibility of dietary therapy for cancer.

A tumor is a group of cancer cells that multiplies--or proliferates--uncontrollably. Tumors originate from single cells that become cancerous when genes that cause cells to proliferate are over-activated. However, because these genes, called oncogenes, often also cause cell death, activation of a single oncogene within a cell is not enough for it to become a cancer cell.

This phenomenon is thought to be a "fail-safe" mechanism that prevents cells from easily turning into cancer. For a cell to slip through the cracks and become cancer, several other oncogenes, along with cancer-suppressing genes, need to be activated in a multi-step process. The details of this process were the topic of the new study.

Read on...

https://www.news-medical.net/news/2...ossibility-of-dietary-therapy-for-cancer.aspx

 

[CraigD]

Not my best shot of the moon, but it was soo bright tonight I couldn't resist

This shot was taken awhile back...better lens, more clarity

Excellent shot mate!

Any exposure details?

 

[CraigD]

Having had contact with both species in the wild, I would definitely use the term "grolar" vs "pizzly"

Grolars are those that have grizzlies as fathers while Pizzlies have polars as fathers.

PS: I also like the way Grolar sounds when compared to Pizzly

/\
The question becomes. how to tell the two apart?

... when you are running away from one as fast as your legs will carry you

 

[CraigD]

China launches first module of new space station

China has launched a key module of a new permanent space station, the latest in Beijing's increasingly ambitious space program.

The Tianhe module - which contains living quarters for crew members - was launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre on a Long March-5B rocket.

China hopes to have the new station operational by 2022.

The only space station currently in orbit is the International Space Station, from which China is excluded.

China has been a late starter when it comes to space exploration. It was only in 2003 that it sent its first astronaut into orbit, making it the third country to do so, after the Soviet Union and the US.

So far, China has sent two previous space stations into orbit. The Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2 were trial stations though, allowing only relatively short stays for astronauts.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-56924370?piano-modal

 

[koolishman]

Warming seas brought an eerie calm to a stormy region

Unusually balmy Indian Ocean temperatures were a major reason for the total lack of Pacific typhoons in July 2020 — an unprecedented absence in 55 years of record-keeping.

Like hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean, typhoons in the Northwestern Pacific can wreak destruction on coastal areas. But in July last year, not one typhoon made its way through the region. Such a deficit has not been recorded since satellites began monitoring tropical cyclone activity in 1965.

Liguang Wu at Fudan University in Shanghai and Chao Wang at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, both in China, and their colleagues analysed oceanic and atmospheric data in search of an explanation for the calmer-than-normal skies. They found that surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean in July 2020 were the highest on record, leading to a high-pressure atmospheric system that suppressed typhoon formation. Anomalous ocean temperatures in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans also contributed.

Because climate change is warming the Indian Ocean faster than other tropical waters, the authors say, this lack of typhoons might become more common in future.

 

[koolishman]

Cave deposits show surprising shift in permafrost over the last 400,000 years

Study finds Earth’s frozen surfaces became less susceptible to thawing, potentially locking in more carbon than expected.

Scientists estimate that more than 1,400 gigatons of carbon is trapped in the Earth’s permafrost. As global temperatures climb, and permafrost thaws, this frozen reservoir could potentially escape into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and methane, significantly amplifying climate change. However, little is known about permafrost’s stability, today or in the past.

Now geologists at MIT, Boston College, and elsewhere have reconstructed permafrost’s history over the last 1.5 million years. The researchers analyzed cave deposits in locations across western Canada and found evidence that, between 1.5 million and 400,000 years ago, permafrost was prone to thawing, even in high Arctic latitudes. Since then, however, permafrost thaw has been limited to sub-Arctic regions.

The results, published today in Science Advances, suggest that the planet’s permafrost shifted to a more stable state in the last 400,000 years, and has been less susceptible to thawing since then. In this more stable state, permafrost likely has retained much of the carbon that it has built up during this time, having little opportunity to gradually release it.

“The stability of the last 400,000 years may actually work against us, in that it has allowed carbon to steadily accumulate in permafrost over this time. Melting now might lead to substantially greater releases of carbon to the atmosphere than in the past,” says study co-author David McGee, associate professor in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.

 

[CraigD]

What is going on in China that drives these horrific mass stabbing attacks on young school children?

16 children stabbed in Chinese kindergarten as man goes on rampage
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/art...stabbed-chinese-kindergarten-man-goes-rampage

The phenomenon appears to be at odds with the impression I have of China being a relatively safe society not affected by mass violent attacks as we have seen in some other (western) societies in recent years.

I've included a global homicide rate listed by country below, and China's homicide rate is very low in comparison to other nations.

I'm looking for some science based studies and statistics here if they are available.

References:
School attacks in China
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_attacks_in_China

List of countries by intentional homicide rate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

EDIT:

Looks like I found part of the explanation I was seeking in the school attacks in China link I posted above.... towards the base of the page under the heading 'Causes':

Causes
Prof. Joshua Miller, chair of Social Welfare Policy at Smith College, attributed the attacks to stress caused by "rapid social change, mass migrations, increasing disparities in wealth and weakening of traditions."[57] Some sociologists believe some of these attacks may be due to the PRC government's failure to diagnose and treat mental illness.[19] The perpetrators may feel victimized by stress due to the rapid social changes[19] in China during the last 10 years caused by the privatization and decreased social security of China's reform and opening period. During this time, more and more migrant workers from rural areas have moved to cities such as Shanghai to find jobs. However, because they do not have social security (because of the hukou system), many of them do not have health insurance. Because of the financial crisis of 2007–2010, some have lost their jobs, which is stigmatized in China, and have had to return to their native villages jobless and unemployed. The choice of schools for most of the attacks means they could be copycat crimes.[19][57]

Another factor is China's male-based gender imbalance cause by the one child policy, in which there are a lot of single men frustrated at the dating market in China and their low prospects. They are then more likely to resort to violence.[58]

 

[CraigD]

Pilot of The First Moon Landing, Michael Collins, Has Passed Away Age 90

American astronaut Michael Collins, who piloted the Apollo 11 command module while his crewmates became the first people to walk on the Moon, died on Wednesday of cancer, his family said.

RIP Michael Collins.

Astronaut, fighter pilot and experimental test pilot, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, Director of the National Air and Space Museum, and Undersecretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

What an an amazing career!

As well as being a crew member of the famous Apollo 11 moon landing (and being stuck in orbit around the moon while his crewmates walked on its surface, making him probably the loneliest person in history), he also crewed Gemini 10 in 1966, and during that flight was the first person to meet another spacecraft in orbit while spacewalking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_(astronaut)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_10


Here's a song that Jethro Tull wrote about him, stuck alone on the Apollo 11 spaceship Columbia while his two mates landed the LEM and walked below him on the Moon.

Watery eyes of the last sighing seconds
Blue reflections mute and dim
Beckon tearful child of wonder
To repentance of the sin
And the blind and lusty lovers
Of the great eternal lie
Go on believing nothing
Since something has to die

And the ape's curiosity
Money power wins
And the yellow, soft mountains
Move under him

I'm with you L.E.M
Though it's a shame that it had to be you
The mother ship
Is just a blip from your trip made for two
I'm with you boys
So please employ just a little extra care
It's on my mind
I'm left behind when I should have been there
Walking with you

And the limp face hungry viewers
Fight to fasten with their eyes
Like the man hung from the trapeze
Whose fall will satisfy
And congratulate each other
On their rare and wondrous deed
That their begrudged money bought
To sow the monkey's seed

And the yellow soft mountains
They grow very still
Witness as intrusion
The humanoid thrill

I'm with you L.E.M
Though it's a shame that it had to be you
The mother ship
Is just a blip from my trip made for two
I'm with you boys
So please employ just a little extra care
It's on my mind
I'm left behind when I should have been there
Walking with you
With you
With you

 

[CraigD]

Astronomers Detect Another Mysterious Ghostly Circle in Extragalactic Space

The discovery of a giant, ghostly circle in extragalactic space is bringing us closer to understanding what these mysterious structures actually are.

The so-called odd radio circle, named ORC J0102-2450, joins just a handful of previously discovered space blobs. Given the low sample size, the new discovery adds important statistical data that suggest these objects could somehow be related to galaxies. The paper has been accepted into MNRAS Letters, and is available on preprint server arXiv.

Read on...

https://www.sciencealert.com/astron...terious-ghostly-circle-in-extragalactic-space

 

[koolishman]

Company Says It Will Host “Galactic Combat” MMA Fights In Space

Making incredible use of recent advances in space travel technology, the production company Iervolino Entertainment and the startup Space 11 just announced the creation of “Galactic Combat,” a new format of mixed martial arts fights that will take place in space with zero gravity.



Despite sounding unbelievably metal, it’s a bizarre plan with questionable odds of success. As Space News senior writer Jeff Foust highlighted on Twitter, Galactic Combat will take place on a specially designed spacecraft with a built-in “fighting capsule” as it orbits the planet every 90 minutes.

Most of the competition seems to be focused on training for fights more than it is on the fights themselves. The announcement explains that 32 of the 40 competitors would be eliminated over the course of a training program that uses components of astronaut training regimens to prepare fighters for battle in zero-g.

Those final eight will duke it out for a spot in the grand finale, which will supposedly take place in the specially designed fighting spacecraft

 

[Cannuck]

Excellent shot mate!

Any exposure details?

Thanks for the props Craig

Olympus EM10 4:3 150mm (2x digital zoom)
Image 1: Aperture priority, F5.6, S1/160, ISO400 Bias-3.7
Image 2: Shutter priority, F6.3, S1/400 ISO400 Bias-4

I'd prob get better results if reviewed my log sometimes, lol, good reminder