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!

 

[Global Rebrander]

A new 'Apollo moment': NASA prepares to launch James Webb Space Telescope​

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/james-webb-telescope-set-for-launch-nasa-rcna9489

"There's a period of time after the Big Bang, when the universe was in its infancy and the very first stars were blinking into existence, that remains one of the most mysterious chapters in the history of the cosmos.

If astronomers could study those chaotic, heady days of the early universe, they could begin to unravel how the cosmos evolved over more than 13 billion years. They might finally understand what extraordinary forces gave rise to stars, galaxies, black holes and planets — including worlds beyond Earth that may support life.

Yet even with the most sophisticated observatories in space and on the ground, scientists lacked the means to observe the oldest and most distant objects in the universe.

That is, until now.

NASA is set to launch into space humanity's largest and most powerful telescope, a $10 billion behemoth called the James Webb Space Telescope. The tennis court-sized observatory, slated to lift off Saturday from a European spaceport in French Guiana, will be able to see deeper into space and in greater detail than any telescope that has come before it.

"It's kind of a cliché to say that it’s going to change the course of astronomy, but it might very well do that," Marcia Rieke, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, said.

Rieke has spent the past 20 years leading the development of one of the Webb telescope's four main instruments, a specially designed infrared camera known as NIRcam. She said Webb could unlock mysteries of the early universe, from as far back as 100 million years after the Big Bang. It could also observe exoplanets with instruments sensitive enough to study their atmospheres, looking for potential biosignatures of alien life.

For all its potential benefits, the mission is also one of NASA's most daring."

When is the launch, it was supposed to be 24th dec 2021

 

[Global Rebrander]

Launch Date​

Webb's launch date is set for December 25, 2021 07:20am EST ( 2021-12-25 12:20 GMT/UTC).

So quite soon hah, nice. Can’t wait to feel it’s unfolding in the interstellare space and see the first pictures (not the infrared version but polished with colors and light )

 

[Global Rebrander]

Launch Date​

Webb's launch date is set for December 25, 2021 07:20am EST ( 2021-12-25 12:20 GMT/UTC).

had a good time watching live

 

[Cal2]

.

 

[koolishman]

New York’s mayor is getting paid in bitcoin. But can he pay the bills with it?​

New York’s new mayor gets his first paycheck on Friday – and as part of his bid to keep the city “on the forefront of innovation”, he’ll be receiving his wages in cryptocurrency.

“New York is the center of the world and we want it to be the center of cryptocurrency and other financial innovations,” Eric Adams said in a press release.

But even in the center of the world, trying to live on ethereum or bitcoin might be a struggle. The subway won’t take it, and it’s hard to fit dogecoin in the quarter slot at the laundromat. So what will Adams actually be able to do with his paycheck?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/21/eric-adams-new-york-city-mayor-paid-cryptocurrency

Lot of countries are banning or heavily regulating these. I always wondered how will it survive without major Govts backing it.

 

[Cal2]

.

 

[mr-x]

Self-driving cars could encourage a lot more driving—and more carbon emissions​

"Research has previously suggested that automated vehicles could cause people to drive more than they currently do, leading to more congestion, energy consumption, and pollution. Riding in a car as a passenger is much less stressful than driving, so people might be willing to sit through longer trips and battle more traffic if they can relax and do other things during the journey. The promise of a relaxed, comfortable commute to work could even make some people move farther away from their workplaces and accelerate suburban sprawl trends.

People would also have the ability to send their cars on “zero-occupancy” trips, or errands without passengers. For example, if you don’t want to pay for parking downtown, at some point you may be able to send your car back home while you’re at work and summon it when you need it. Convenient, but also twice the driving."

https://www.fastcompany.com/9071897...ass&utm_campaign=eem524:524:s00:02/05/2022_fc

I could see that happening. How much....

Would make that 35 mile drive to Costca a lot easier, eh.

 

[Cal2]

Russia to sever links with Western space agencies ending International Space Station co-operation​

Roscosmos boss Dmitry Rogozin said it will no longer work with Western partners including Nasa and the European Space Agency on the joint space laboratory after their nations’ refusals to lift sanctions on Russia.

He said sanctions from the US, Canada, the European Union and Japan were “aimed at blocking financial, economic and production activities of our high-tech enterprises” and the purpose was “to kill the Russian economy, plunge our people into despair and hunger, and bring our country to its knees”.

Russia threatens space co-operation and warns ISS space station could come crashing down to Earth​

“The populations of other countries, especially those led by the ‘dogs of war’, should think about the price of the sanctions against Roscosmos,” he said.

“The price of international space co-operation maniacally destroyed by the West. Crazy.”

Of course, it's all the West's fault. Nothing to do with Putin/Russia.

 

[koolishman]

China to conduct asteroid deflection test around 2025​

China will aim to alter the orbit of a potentially threatening asteroid with a kinetic impactor test as part of plans for a planetary defense system.

China is drafting a planetary defense plan and will conduct technical studies and research into developing systems to counter the threats posed by near Earth asteroids, Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), told China Central Television (CCTV).

At the same time, CNSA will establish an early warning system and develop software to simulate operations against the near Earth objects and test and verify basic procedures.

 

[koolishman]

De-extinction company sets its next (first?) target: The thylacine​

Of all the species that humanity has wiped off the face of the Earth, the thylacine is possibly the most tragic loss. A wolf-sized marsupial sometimes called the Tasmanian tiger, the thylacine met its end in part because the government paid its citizens a bounty for every animal killed. That end came recently enough that we have photographs and film clips of the last thylacines ending their days in zoos. Late enough that in just a few decades, countries would start writing laws to prevent other species from seeing the same fate.

On Tuesday, a company called Colossal, which has already said it wants to bring the mammoth back, is announcing a partnership with an Australian lab that it says will de-extinct the thylacine with the goal of re-introducing it into the wild. A number of features of marsupial biology make this a more realistic goal than the mammoth, although there's still a lot of work to do before we even start the debate about whether reintroducing the species is a good idea.

 

[koolishman]

Human Monkeypox without Viral Prodrome or Sexual Exposure, California, USA, 2022​

Abstract​

We report human monkeypox in a man who returned to the United States from the United Kingdom and reported no sexual contact.

He had vesicular and pustular skin lesions but no anogenital involvement. The potential modes of transmission may have implications for the risk of spread and for epidemic control.

 

[koolishman]

The Amazing Brain: Capturing Neurons in Action​

Functional activity measured in vivo with 2-Photon imaging with matching morphologies from the same neurons measured with electron microscopy.

 

[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.

 

[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]

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]

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]

What Will Earth Look Like When These 6 Tipping Points Hit?​

The IPCC recently identified 15 potential climate-related tipping points that scientists have grown increasingly worried we are getting close to crossing due to global warming. In this episode of Weathered, we look at 6 of the major candidates, how they are all interconnected and influence each other, and what it would mean if they were triggered. These tipping points or tipping elements are the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, the Amazon rainforest, global monsoons, the AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) and the earth’s permafrost and coral reefs.

 

[J Sokol]

How did I not know about this? Gamechanger...

I hadn't heard of it either. Another ingenious product by Elon Musk. I wish all the billionaires would follow his lead to reduce their impact on the planet.

 

[Cannuck]

Primary school kids to be fed insects as an eco-friendly ‘alternative protein’​

While most children expect to eat the likes of lasagne and fish and chips while at school, pupils at four Welsh primary schools will soon be given the chance to sample bugs and insects as part of a new environmental study.

I can tell in advance that this will be a point of contention for some, particularly those in Western countries who have never munched on Thai fried grasshoppers (Malang tod) and others. From experience, once you get over the sight of and psychological aversion to critters, they're generally very tasty (apart from the hind legs, lol). That said, feeding the world's population in the next century IMO will require alternate protein sources, and camouflaged protein is still protein. One only need visit an industrial abbatoir to appreciate alternative food sources. Bon appetit kiddos

 

[koolishman]

An advance civilization may consider us a nuisance.

 

[Cal2]

https://newmurabba.com/

Click on 'Watch video', when it pops up.

 

[Cal2]

Is this your hobby? Wow!

There should be some online forum for 3D printer pros, where they can help you.

It's more a project for an innovation initiative I've had in the works for awhile.

Good thought on the printer pros. I've gotten some input from the originator of the hangprinter design, and I could tap into him and his hangprinter network for a time. But I could see looking outside that particular printer mindset as well, to see what others might have for 'outside the box' solution ideas. (One reason I'm asking about this on this thread - fresh minds with a science and tech interest.)

Might take something like some of my favourite thinking guru's innovation thinking tools to find what's needed. I'll throw some of that at it, as well. See if something comes of it.

 

[koolishman]

Primary school kids to be fed insects as an eco-friendly ‘alternative protein’​

While most children expect to eat the likes of lasagne and fish and chips while at school, pupils at four Welsh primary schools will soon be given the chance to sample bugs and insects as part of a new environmental study.

Researchers hope to feed the pupils a product called VeXo, a combination of insect and plant-based protein said to resemble ‘conventional’ mince.


The children will also take part in workshops organised by scientists and teachers to inform them about the benefits of eating ‘alternative protein’ like bugs.