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]

Ice core taken in Antarctica contains sample of atmosphere from five million years ago​

The researchers drilled through the ice over the summers of 2017 and 2018, and were able to access the protected ice beneath the rock and to pull a core sample 9.5 meters long. Initial testing of the isotopes it contained suggest the age of the ice ranges from 3 million to just over 5 million years. Isotopes such as neon, aluminum and beryllium can be used for age testing because they were created by cosmic rays colliding with the rocks above. The researchers also found that the ice sheet below the rocks actually comprises two sheets, one above the other, suggesting two glaciers wound up at that site in the valley, millions of years apart.

 

[koolishman]

NASA’s Artemis I Could Change The Future Of Moon Travel.​

Artemis I, the most powerful rocket ever, will launch a critical uncrewed test flight on August 29 for a 42-day mission orbiting the moon. If the flight goes well, humans could orbit the moon within two years. NBC News’ Tom Costello reports from NASA’s training pool in Houston where engineers and astronauts are already testing new space suit designs for future moon walks.

 

[koolishman]

From Harvard Medical School​

New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests​

An antibody developed by researchers at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital now seems to fit the bill.

In lab tests, it neutralized all currently known SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, including all omicron variants.


“We hope this antibody will prove to be as effective in patients as it has been in preclinical evaluations thus far,” said Frederick Alt, the HMS Charles A. Janeway Professor of Pediatrics at Boston Children’s, professor of genetics at HMS, and a senior investigator on the study.


“If it does,” he added, “it might provide a new therapeutic and also contribute to new vaccine strategies.”

 

[koolishman]

A Birth Control Pill for Men Could Start Human Trials This Year​

The proposed contraceptive is the product of researchers at the University of Minnesota, who say it works by targeting how our bodies interact with vitamin A, known to be essential to fertility in mammals.

Diets deficient in vitamin A have been linked to sterility, for instance. After a lengthy search, they found an experimental compound that blocks a protein responsible for binding to a form of vitamin A (retinoic acid) in our cells, known as retinoic acid receptor alpha (RAR-α). RAR-α is one of three proteins with a similar function, and the hope is that its selective blocking is enough to induce long-lasting but reversible sterility while causing little to no off-target effects elsewhere.

 

[koolishman]

57% of Species: Startling Numbers of Small Mammals Are “Plastic Positive​

Researchers from the University of Sussex, the Mammal Society, and the University of Exeter claim in a study that was published in Science of the Total Environment that the concentrations of plastic excreted were equal to those found in human studies.

Fiona Mathews, Professor of Environmental Biology at the University of Sussex, states, “Much is known about the impact of plastic on aquatic ecosystems, but very little is known about the same with terrestrial systems. By analysing the droppings of some of our most widespread small mammals, we’ve been able to provide a glimpse of the potential impact plastic is having on our wildlife – and the most commonly found plastics leaking into our environment.”

 

[koolishman]

Scientists discover a 5-mile wide undersea crater created as the dinosaurs disappeared​

An asteroid from space slammed into the Earth's surface 66 million years ago, leaving a massive crater underneath the sea and wreaking havoc with the planet.

No, it's not that asteroid, the one that doomed the dinosaurs to extinction, but a previously unknown crater 248 miles off the coast of West Africa that was created right around the same time. Further study of the Nadir crater, as it's called, could shake up what we know about that cataclysmic moment in natural history.

 

[koolishman]

Mystery of half-billion year old creature with no anus solved​

When it was discovered in 2017, it was reported that the tiny fossil of this sack-like marine beast could be humans' earliest-known ancestor.

The ancient animal, Saccorhytus coronarius, was tentatively placed into a group called the deuterostomes.
These are the primitive ancestors of vertebrates - including humans.

A new study now suggests Saccorhytus should be put into an entirely different group of animals.
A team of researchers in China and the UK carried out a very detailed X-ray analysis of the creature, and concluded that it belongs to a group called the ecdysozoans - ancestors of spiders and insects.

 

[koolishman]

Human population set to cross 8,000,000,000 ‘any day now’​

The earth is getting as crowded as it’s ever been as the world’s population is due to cross the 8 billion mark this year.

The global population is projected to reach 8 billion on 15 November 2022 according to a UN study.


In spite of the huge number, the world’s population is growing at its slowest rate since 1950, having fallen under 1% in 2020.


The latest projections by the United Nations suggest that the world’s population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050. It is projected to reach a peak of around 10.4 billion people during the 2080s and to remain at that level until 2100.

https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/content/World-Population-Prospects-2022

 

[J Sokol]

The century of climate migration: why we need to plan for the great upheaval

A great upheaval is coming. Climate-driven movement of people is adding to a massive migration already under way to the world’s cities. The number of migrants has doubled globally over the past decade, and the issue of what to do about rapidly increasing populations of displaced people will only become greater and more urgent. To survive climate breakdown will require a planned and deliberate migration of a kind humanity has never before undertaken.

Large populations will need to migrate, and not simply to the nearest city, but also across continents. Those living in regions with more tolerable conditions, especially nations in northern latitudes, will need to accommodate millions of migrants while themselves adapting to the demands of the climate crisis. We will need to create entirely new cities near the planet’s cooler poles, in land that is rapidly becoming ice-free. Parts of Siberia, for example, are already experiencing temperatures of 30C for months at a time.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/20...sis-migration-why-we-need-plan-great-upheaval

 

[J Sokol]

Seal breaks into New Zealand home, traumatises cat and hangs out on couch​

A curious young seal has been returned to the sea after breaking into a New Zealand home, harassing the resident cat, hanging about in the hallway for a couple of hours while the children slept upstairs, and miraculously ruining nothing.

The Ross family of Mt Maunganui were more than a little surprised to find the New Zealand fur seal in their home, which is about 150m from the shore, on Wednesday morning.

Phil Ross, who happens to be a marine biologist, said it was unfortunate he was the only one not home at the time.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...d-home-traumatises-cat-and-hangs-out-on-couch

 

[koolishman]

Scientists are figuring out how to destroy “forever chemicals”​

One class of PFAS chemicals can be broken down into harmless compounds with lye.​

 

[koolishman]

Food crops made 20% more efficient at harnessing sunlight​

Scientists have made a breakthrough in a genetic approach that improves food crops' ability to harness the Sun.
Researchers developed a way to make photosynthesis - the natural process that all plants use to convert sunlight energy into food - more efficient.

The research team, which is spread across UK and US, genetically altered soybean plants, and achieved a 20% greater crop yield.

They hope this breakthrough will help alleviate food scarcity.

 

[J Sokol]

Would you rip up your lawn for $6 a square foot? Welcome to drought-stricken California​

(CNN)Doreen Jansen looked at the brown hills from her Thousand Oaks home.

"My plants are suffering," Jansen said. "The animals, coyotes, rattlesnakes; they are all out in droves. It's dry and unusually hot."

The signs of drought are everywhere here, from the shrinking lakes to the deathly drained color of trees and earth. Jansen decided to rip out her grass and put in arid plants.

She's not alone. The megadrought affecting the American West has been record-breaking, with no tangible relief in sight. It's forcing cities to crack down on lawn-watering, and paying residents to replace their lawns with drought-resistant plants.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/19/us/california-drought-lawns/index.html

 

[koolishman]

Racing against the clock to decarbonise the planet​

On a desolate, snow-dusted stretch of Icelandic tundra, east of Reykjavik, eight giant metal boxes, stacked in twos, rise out of the ground on concrete stilts. Along one side, numerous black fans whirr continuously, sucking in the cool air.

This direct air capture (DAC) plant, named Orca, is the feat of Swiss company Climeworks. The fans are “CO₂ collectors”: an essential cog in Climeworks’ mission of permanent carbon removal. Built in 2020, Orca is the first of its kind and the largest test of DAC technology to date.

Climeworks is part of a growing field of start-ups and scientists striving to design tech that can capture and store CO₂. Carbon capture and storage takes a CO₂ emission, say from a gas or coal plant, and diverts it into geological storage. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) takes diffused CO₂ from the atmosphere and either temporarily stores it in the biosphere (trees or soils) or permanently in the geosphere (mineralisation).

 

[koolishman]

Increase of tear volume in dogs after reunion with owners is mediated by oxytocin​

In humans, tear volume increases during emotional arousal. To our knowledge, no previous studies have investigated the relationship between emotional arousal and tear volume in animals. We performed the Schirmer tear test (STT) and measured tear volume in dogs before and after reunions with owners and familiar non-owners. Tear volume increased significantly during reunion with the owner, but not with a familiar non-owner. When an oxytocin solution was applied to dogs’ eyes, the tear volume also increased, suggesting that oxytocin might mediate tear secretion during owner–dog reunions. Finally, human participants rated their impressions on photos of dogs with or without artificial tears and they assigned more positive scores to the photos with artificial tears. These results suggest that emotion-elicited tears can facilitate human–dog emotional connections.

So, dogs do cry emotionally!

 

[J Sokol]

Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless and negligent cybersecurity policies​

Twitter has major security problems that pose a threat to its own users' personal information, to company shareholders, to national security, and to democracy, according to an explosive whistleblower disclosure obtained exclusively by CNN and The Washington Post.

The disclosure, sent last month to Congress and federal agencies, paints a picture of a chaotic and reckless environment at a mismanaged company that allows too many of its staff access to the platform's central controls and most sensitive information without adequate oversight. It also alleges that some of the company's senior-most executives have been trying to cover up Twitter's serious vulnerabilities, and that one or more current employees may be working for a foreign intelligence service.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/23/tech/twitter-whistleblower-peiter-zatko-security/index.html

 

[J Sokol]

Insects could give meaty taste to food – and help environment – scientists find​

Insects can be turned into meat-like flavors, helping provide a more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional meat options, scientists have discovered.

Mealworms, the larval form of the yellow mealworm beetle, have been cooked with sugar by researchers who found that the result is a meat-like flavoring that could one day be used on convenience food as a source of protein.

While mealworms have until now mostly been used as snacks for pets or as bait while fishing, they have potential as a food source for humans to help get the recognizable flavors of meat without the harmful impacts upon the climate, as well as direct air and water pollution, of raising beef, pork and other animal-based foods.

 

[koolishman]

New evidence shows water separates into two different liquids at low temperatures​

Fresh evidence that water can change from one form of liquid into another, denser liquid, has been uncovered by researchers.

The team has used computer simulations to help explain what features distinguish the two liquids at the microscopic level. They found that the water molecules in the high-density liquid form arrangements that are considered to be “topologically complex”, such as a trefoil knot (think of the molecules arranged in such a way that they resemble a pretzel) or a Hopf link (think of two links in a steel chain). The molecules in the high-density liquid are thus said to be entangled.

In contrast, the molecules in the low-density liquid mostly form simple rings, and hence the molecules in the low-density liquid are unentangled.

 

[koolishman]

Potential 'Ocean World' Discovered 100 Light-Years Away From Earth​

The job of NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite is simply surreal. Imagine traveling a thousand years back in time and then explaining to someone how future scientists will have a machine that detects alien worlds floating at distances beyond the capacity of human imagination.

That's TESS.

Since 2018, this space-borne instrument has literally found thousands of exoplanets. We have eyes on one shaped like a rugby ball, another that seems covered in lava oceans and even an orb that rains glass -- sideways.

On Wednesday, international scientists announced that one such foreign realm, dutifully hunted by TESS, may be covered in a blanket of life's elixir: water.

 

[koolishman]

OSTP Issues Guidance to Make Federally Funded Research Freely Available Without Delay ​

​

Today, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) updated U.S. policy guidance to make the results of taxpayer-supported research immediately available to the American public at no cost.

In a memorandum to federal departments and agencies, Dr. Alondra Nelson, the head of OSTP, delivered guidance for agencies to update their public access policies as soon as possible to make publications and research funded by taxpayers publicly accessible, without an embargo or cost. All agencies will fully implement updated policies, including ending the optional 12-month embargo, no later than December 31, 2025.

​

 

[koolishman]

Scientists create 'synthetic' mouse embryos that went on to develop a brain, nerve cord and beating heart tissue ​

It is similar to a breakthrough by an Israeli team, published earlier this month. Together, the breakthroughs promise to revolutionise the understanding of one of biology's greatest challenges: how a few cells go on to organise themselves into life.



If applied to human embryos, the research could help better understand human fertility, developmental disorders and provide a new avenue to develop tissues, or organs, for transplantation grown in the lab.

 

[koolishman]

California to ban gas-powered car sales by 2035​

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is set to vote today to pass a law banning all sales of new internal combustion engines by 2035. Under the law, Californians can continue to drive gas-fueled vehicles and purchase used ones after 2035. The plan also allows for 20% of sales after 2035 to be plug-in hybrids that can run on batteries and gas.

California makes up 10% of the U.S. car market but represents 43% of all plug-in vehicles in the nation, said CARB.

 

[koolishman]

'No other material behaves this way': Scientists find substance that can 'remember' like human brain ​

Scientists in Switzerland have discovered that a compound used in electronics is capable of “remembering” previous external stimuli in a similar way to neurons in the human brain.

Mohammad Samizadeh Nikoo, a PhD student in electrical engineering at Polytechnic University of Lausanne’s POWERlab, made the chance discovery while conducting research on vanadium dioxide (VO2).

For his thesis, he set out to discover how long it takes for VO2 to transition from one state to another. In doing so, he observed a memory effect in the material’s structure.

 

[koolishman]

Scientists convert kidney to universal “O” blood type​

For transplant candidates from ethnic minorities, the wait for an acceptable organ can be even more grueling than for others.

Type B blood is more common in minority communities, making type A organs incompatible.

But a breakthrough by Cambridge researchers could dramatically change the rules for transplant compatibility.

In a recent experiment, they changed a kidney’s blood type from A to the universal type O — making it theoretically available for any patient, including those with type B blood.

“We know that people from minority ethnic groups can wait much longer for a transplant as they are less likely to be a blood-type match with the organs available,” Aisling McMahon, the executive director of research at charity Kidney Research UK, which funded the work, said.


“This research offers a glimmer of hope to over 1,000 people from minority ethnic groups who are waiting for a kidney.”

 

[koolishman]

NASA releases 'haunting' audio clip taken from a black hole 240M light years away​

The misconception that there is no sound in space originates because most space is a ~vacuum, providing no way for sound waves to travel. A galaxy cluster has so much gas that we've picked up actual sound. Here it's amplified, and mixed with other data, to hear a black hole!