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!

 

[CraigD]

It's different, not an equal playing field for sure. It's more like attack and defend, the king must be surrounded on all sides to win. Instead of saying "check" you say "flight" when the king has the opportunity to escape.

Looks like the Nordic and Celtic games of Tafl were based on a Roman game Ludus latrunculorum.

 

[koolishman]

Greenhouse gases are slowly shrinking the middle atmosphere

Rising concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are cooling and shrinking the stratosphere and mesosphere, a phenomenon observed for the first time in a new analysis of satellite data.

The shrinking of the atmospheric layers — 150 to 200 meters per decade in the mesosphere alone — will not affect humans or other forms of life anytime soon, according to the lead author of the study, but it is another sign of how human activities are changing the atmosphere.

The paper was published April 20 in the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics.

The analysis focused primarily on the mesosphere, the third layer of Earth's atmosphere and where most meteors burn up. The mesosphere exists between roughly 50 and 100 kilometers, or 30 and 60 miles, above the surface, and the mesopause at the top is the coldest part of the atmosphere at as low as -100 degrees Celsius, or about -148 degrees Fahrenheit.

Scientific interest in the mesosphere swelled in response to unusual clouds forming in the region, prompting more measurements in the last couple of decades, according to Scott Bailey, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Virginia Polytechnic and State University and the new paper's lead author.

Now, with more atmospheric observations collected by three satellite instruments, Bailey and his co-authors performed an analysis of temperatures and pressure altitudes over two datasets respectively spanning 22 and 29 years. The data used was for near the Arctic Circle in June and the Antarctic Circle in December, when the mesosphere is at its coldest.

 

[Cannuck]

Looks like the Nordic and Celtic games of Tafl were based on a Roman game Ludus latrunculorum.

I'm not sure of the origin of the game. Tafl is mentioned in the Viking sagas and board remnants have been found by archaeologists. The Roman game objective is to eliminate pieces from the table. Fanqi is another interesting variation, apparently a training game for Go. I tried to play Go, but it was very different and difficult, especially to understand the rules when explained in Chinese, lol. They did say that I showed some promise, though I really felt like a child

Backgammon is another fun game that has computer applications. I kind of like how randomness (dice) is a part of it, simulates reality

 

[CraigD]

Ingenuity: mission extended

So successful is tiny Mars helicopter Ingenuity that NASA’s decided to extend its mission.

But it turned out that there were precious few differences between flying on Mars and the engineers’ expectations.

In its first three flights, the helicopter demonstrated that it could rise, hover, fly, track its elevation to within a centimetre, and land safely at precisely the designated position. “All in all, it’s really a great-performing vehicle,” says Bob Balaram, the helicopter’s chief engineer.

What that means is that the Perseverance rover team is suddenly gifted with a functional helicopter that might actually be able to carry out aerial reconnaissance.

To test that, the helicopter’s fourth flight last Saturday (AEDT) saw it airborne for 117 seconds, flying 133 metres out and back, and taking about 60 black-and-white and 5 colour images along the way.

These, Aung says, will be used to make 3D maps of the surrounding terrain—maps that can be used to find another safe landing zone for the fifth flight.

I suspect that Perseverance's new role as an aerial scout or pathfinder once the initial test-flights were completed was pre-planned but kept quiet. With the current atmosphere of criticism from media whenever a test doesn't go 100% to plan, project goals are going to be conservative because a small success is better than risking a bigger failure.

 

[CraigD]

Same drug can have opposite effects on memory according to sexual differences

An investigation led by the INc-UAB, carried out from the study of a drug that modifies the memory of fear, shows for the first time that the neural processes and behaviours related to the formation of memory can be opposite between male and female mice. The drug reduces the ability to remember aversive events in male mice and increases this ability in female mice. The study emphasizes the need for more basic and clinical research that includes females.

A research team from the Institut de Neurociències at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (INc-UAB) has showed that inhibition through a drug of the Tac2 neuronal circuit, involved in the formation of the memory of fear, has opposite effects on the ability to remember aversive events in mice according to sex: it is reduced in male mice and increased in female mice.

Is the first time that a drug has been shown to produce this opposite effect on the memory of male and female mice. The study also evidences that opposing molecular mechanisms and behaviours can occur in memory formation depending on sex. The study has been published in Nature Communications.

Read on...

https://www.miragenews.com/same-drug-can-have-opposite-effects-on-memory-553368/

 

[CraigD]

I'm not sure of the origin of the game. Tafl is mentioned in the Viking sagas and board remnants have been found by archaeologists. The Roman game objective is to eliminate pieces from the table. Fanqi is another interesting variation, apparently a training game for Go. I tried to play Go, but it was very different and difficult, especially to understand the rules when explained in Chinese, lol. They did say that I showed some promise, though I really felt like a child

Backgammon is another fun game that has computer applications. I kind of like how randomness (dice) is a part of it, simulates reality

Perhaps you were playing a more complex variation of Go? The rules that I learnt were simple, but the strategy is very complex. I understand that people spend a lifetime mastering it.

One of my favourite strategy games is Risk. Many variations of rules and player numbers, and the dice and cards introduce the element of luck.

I always try to conquer Australia first

 

[Cannuck]

Perhaps you were playing a more complex variation of Go? The rules that I learnt were simple, but the strategy is very complex. I understand that people spend a lifetime mastering it.

One of my favourite strategy games is Risk. Many variations of rules and player numbers, and the dice and cards introduce the element of luck.

I always try to conquer Australia first

Yup, in Risk you're cozy in Australia Good place to hang out, but too easy (only one border to defend).
If you're with experienced players, it's also a good way to get cleaned out if you're trapped
Try adding a line to Easter Island (neutral) to SA, it changes board dynamics

 

[CraigD]

Stars That Race through Space at Nearly the Speed of Light

Some are blasted out of galaxies by interactions with black holes; others, which orbit supermassive black holes, can smash together in titanic explosions

Most people probably know that the universe is full of elementary particles—but not everyone knows that it is also full of extremely fast stars moving freely through space like barracuda through the ocean. These stars are ejected by gravitational slingshots located at the focal point of galaxy mergers—where a pair of supermassive black holes coalesce while kicking stars out of the host galaxy, like a batter hitting a series of home runs out of the park. As the black hole pair tightens, its orbital speed rises, providing an even more powerful swing. Eventually this process launches some stars up to the speed of light in accordance with Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity, making them what astrophysicists call “relativistic.”

Read on...

https://www.scientificamerican.com/...e-through-space-at-nearly-the-speed-of-light/

 

[CraigD]

Scuba Divers Find Rare Ice Age Mammoth Bone at Bottom of Florida River

Florida scuba divers Derek Demeter and Henry Sadler found a four-foot, 50-pound mammoth femur embedded in the sand at the bottom of the Peace River last Sunday. In an interview with The Orlando Sentinel, they called it a "once-in-a-lifetime" discovery.

"When you uncover this fossil and realize there were these giant, elephant-like creatures roaming around what was probably once a grassland in Florida, it gives you a sense of wonder for what it was like back in ancient times," Demeter, the director of Seminole State College's Emil Buehler Perpetual Trust Planetarium, said. "It's kind of like our way of time traveling. It makes your imagination go wild."

https://www.newsweek.com/scuba-divers-find-rare-ice-age-mammoth-bone-bottom-florida-river-1588292

 

[koolishman]

Sea Level Rise From Antarctic Melt Could Be 30% Higher Than We Thought

Over the next 1,000 years, our best predictions have put this rise at 3.2 meters (10.5 feet), but new research suggests that even this worrying figure might be a little too optimistic. According to a revised prediction, the rise over the next millennium could be a meter higher still, resulting in up to 30 percent additional increase.

It's a result that's going to have serious implications for the way we model the effects of climate breakdown going forward.

"Every published projection of sea level rise due to melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet that has been based on climate modeling, whether the projection extends to the end of this century or longer into the future, is going to have to be revised upward because of their work," said Earth and planetary scientist Jerry Mitrovica of Harvard University.

"Every single one."

It all has to do with something called a water expulsion mechanism. As the ice sheet melts, the Antarctic bedrock, currently below sea level, will rise, expelling the meltwater around it into the ocean as well. It's that additional, expelled water that will be responsible for the extra meter, according to new calculations.

The mantle below the West Antarctic ice sheet is shallow, and has low viscosity, according to a number of studies. This means that it should rebound upward rapidly, pushing meltwater away. This has been known about for some time, but the contribution to sea level rise had been assessed as minimal.

The team's calculations, however, added in the complex, three-dimensional viscoelastic structure of the mantle, and used it to model both past and future sea level changes due to melting of the Antarctic ice sheet.

 

[koolishman]

East and west coast mice show evolution can be predictable

Over 400 to 600 mouse generations, East and West Coast populations of European house mice have adapted to similar environmental conditions in very similar ways, research finds.


The European house mouse has invaded nearly every corner of the Americas since colonizers brought it here a few hundred years ago, and it now lives practically everywhere humans store their food.

Yet in that relatively short time span, populations on the East and West Coasts have changed their body size and nest building behavior in nearly identical ways, according to the study.

To make these adaptations—at least in the case of body size—mice in the Western United States evolved many of the same genetic changes as their cousins in the East, showing that evolution often works on the same genes in different populations when those populations are confronted with similar environmental conditions.

The study represents one of the first times scientists have tracked down the genetic changes underlying a complex adaptive trait in mammals, though similar studies have taken place with laboratory insects, such as fruit flies, and in fish.

“The big take-home message from this paper is that there is some predictability to evolution, both at the organismal level and at the genetic level,” says study leader Michael Nachman, professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley and director of its Museum of Vertebrate Zoology.

“We have shown that the same genes have been recruited independently in two different areas, all over very short evolutionary time. This is a good example of rapid evolutionary change over short times for a complex adaptive trait.”

 

[koolishman]

Harvard scientists create gene-editing tool that could rival CRISPR

Researchers from the Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have created a new gene-editing tool that can enable scientists to perform millions of genetic experiments simultaneously. They're calling it the Retron Library Recombineering (RLR) technique, and it uses segments of bacterial DNA called retrons that can produce fragments of single-stranded DNA.

When it comes to gene editing, CRISPR-Cas9 is probably the most well-known technique these days. It's been making waves in the science world in the past few years, giving researchers the tool they need to be able to easily alter DNA sequences. It's more accurate than previously used techniques, and it has a wide variety of potential applications, including life-saving treatments for various illnesses.

However, the tool has some major limitations. It could be difficult to deliver CRISPR-Cas9 materials in large numbers, which remains a problem for studies and experiments, for one. Also, the way the technique works can be toxic to cells, because the Cas9 enzyme — the molecular "scissors" in charge of cutting strands of DNA — often cuts non-target sites as well.

CRISPR-Cas9 physically cuts DNA to incorporate the mutant sequence into its genome during the repair process. Meanwhile, retrons can introduce the mutant DNA strand into a replicating cell, so that the strand can become incorporated into the daughter cells' DNA. Further, retrons' sequences can serve as "barcodes" or "name tags," allowing scientists to track individuals in a pool of bacteria. That means they can be used for genome editing without damaging the native DNA, and they can be used to perform multiple experiments in one big mixture.

 

[koolishman]

NASA's Parker Solar Probe Discovers Natural Radio Emission in Venus' Atmosphere

During a brief swing by Venus, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe detected a natural radio signal that revealed the spacecraft had flown through the planet’s upper atmosphere. This was the first direct measurement of the Venusian atmosphere in nearly 30 years — and it looks quite different from Venus' past. A study published today in Geophysical Research Letters confirms that Venus’ upper atmosphere undergoes puzzling changes over a solar cycle, the Sun’s 11-year activity cycle. This marks the latest clue to untangling how and why Venus and Earth are so different.


The data sonification in the video translates data from Parker Solar Probe’s FIELDS instrument into sound. FIELDS detected a natural, low-frequency radio emission as it moved through Venus’ atmosphere that helped scientists calculate the thickness of the planet’s electrically charged upper atmosphere, called the ionosphere. Understanding how Venus’ ionosphere changes will help researchers determine how Venus, once so similar to Earth, became the world of scorching, toxic air it is today.

 

[koolishman]

Bubbles With Titanium Trigger Titanic Explosions

Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have announced the discovery of an important type of titanium blasting out from the center of the supernova remnant Cas A, a result that could be a major advance in understanding how some massive stars explode.

Cas A is located in our Galaxy about 11,000 light-years from Earth, and it is one of the youngest known supernova remnants, with an age of about 350 years.

When the nuclear power source of a massive star runs out, the center collapses under gravity and forms either a dense stellar core called a neutron star or, less often, a black hole. When a neutron star is created, the inside of the collapsing massive star bounces off the surface of the stellar core, reversing the implosion.

The heat from this cataclysmic event produces a shock wave — similar to a sonic boom from a supersonic jet — that races outwards through the rest of the doomed star, producing new elements by nuclear reactions as it goes. However, in many computer models of this process, energy is quickly lost and the shock wave's journey outwards stalls, preventing the supernova explosion.

Recent three-dimensional computer simulations suggest that neutrinos — very low mass subatomic particles — made in the creation of the neutron star drive bubbles that speed away from the center of the explosion. These bubbles continue driving the shock wave forward to trigger the supernova explosion.

 

[koolishman]

Mating With Relatives? New Research Shows It Is Not a Big Deal in Nature

We usually assume that inbreeding is bad and should be avoided under all circumstances. But new research performed by researchers at Stockholm University, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, shows that there is little support for this assumption.

The idea that animals should avoid mating with relatives has been the starting point for hundreds of scientific studies performed among many species. But it turns out the picture is more complicated.

“People assume that animals should avoid mating with a relative when given the chance,” says Raïssa de Boer, researcher in zoology at Stockholm University. “But evolutionary theory has been telling us that animals should tolerate, or even prefer, mating with relatives under a broad range of conditions for more than four decades.”

The study provides a synthesis of 139 experimental studies in 88 species spanning 40 years of research, settling the longstanding debate between theoretical and empirical expectations about if and when animals should avoid inbreeding.

 

[koolishman]

First genetically modified mosquitoes released in the United States

Biotech firm Oxitec launches controversial field test of its insects in Florida after years of push-back from residents and regulatory complications.

After a decade of fighting for regulatory approval and public acceptance, a biotechnology firm has released genetically engineered mosquitoes into the open air in the United States for the first time. The experiment, launched this week in the Florida Keys — over the objections of some local critics — tests a method for suppressing populations of wild Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which can carry diseases such as Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever.

Oxitec, the firm based in Abingdon, UK, that developed the mosquitoes, has previously field-tested the insects in Brazil, Panama, the Cayman Islands and Malaysia.

But until now, owing to a circuitous series of regulatory decisions and pushback from Florida residents (see ‘A long road’), no genetically engineered mosquito had been trialled in the United States — even though the country previously allowed tests of a genetically engineered diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) in New York and an engineered pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella) in Arizona, both developed by Oxitec. “When something new and revolutionary comes along, the immediate reaction of a lot of people is to say: ‘Wait.’,” says Anthony James, a molecular biologist focused on bioengineered mosquitoes at the University of California, Irvine. “So the fact that [Oxitec] was able to get the trial on the ground in the United States is a big deal.”

Aedes aegypti makes up about 4% of the mosquito population in the Keys, a chain of tropical islands off the southern tip of Florida. But it is responsible for practically all mosquito-borne disease transmitted to humans in the region, according to the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD), which is working closely with Oxitec on the project. Researchers and technicians working on the project will release bioengineered male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which don’t bite, to mate with the wild female population, responsible for biting prey and transmitting disease. The genetically engineered males carry a gene that passes to their offspring and kills female progeny in early larval stages. Male offspring won’t die but instead will become carriers of the gene and pass it to future generations. As more females die, the Aedes aegypti population should dwindle.

 

[CraigD]

A new way to make AR/VR glasses

by University of Rochester

"Image" is everything in the $20 billion market for AR/VR glasses. Consumers are looking for glasses that are compact and easy to wear, delivering high-quality imagery with socially acceptable optics that don't look like "bug eyes."

University of Rochester researchers at the Institute of Optics have come up with a novel technology to deliver those attributes with maximum effect. In a paper in Science Advances, they describe imprinting freeform optics with a nanophotonic optical element called "a metasurface."

Read on...

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-arvr-glasses.html



This looks like a nice step up from my old Forte VFX1 Headgear from the 90's

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VFX1_Headgear

 

[koolishman]

An animal able to regenerate all of its organs even when it is dissected into three parts

An extraordinary discovery in the Gulf of Eilat: Researchers from Tel Aviv University have discovered a species of ascidian, a marine animal commonly found in the Gulf of Eilat, capable of regenerating all of its organs - even if it is dissected into three fragments. The study was led by Prof. Noa Shenkar, Prof. Dorothee Huchon-Pupko, and Tal Gordon of Tel Aviv University's School of Zoology at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History. The findings of this surprising discovery were published in the leading journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology.

"It is an astounding discovery, as this is an animal that belongs to the Phylum Chordata - animals with a dorsal cord - which also includes us humans," explains Prof. Noa Shenkar. "The ability to regenerate organs is common in the animal kingdom, and even among chordates you can find animals that regenerate organs, like the gecko who is able to grow a new tail. But not entire body systems. Here we found a chordate that can regenerate all of its organs even if it is separated into three pieces, with each piece knowing exactly how to regain functioning of all its missing body systems within a short period of time."

There are hundreds of species of ascidians, and they are found in all of the world's oceans and seas. Anyone who has ever opened their eyes underwater has seen ascidians without knowing it, as they often camouflage themselves as lumps on rocks and are therefore difficult to discern. The animal that is the subject of this new study is an ascidian from the species Polycarpa mytiligera, which is very common in the coral reefs of Eilat.

 

[koolishman]

Glancing at your phone quickly prompts other people to do the same

When a person looks at their mobile phone, around half the people nearby will start checking their phones within 30 seconds.

Such a rapid, automatic response is probably due to people mimicking each other without realising it – what scientists call the “chameleon effect”. While such mimicry is thought to have evolved in human societies to help people bond with each other, mimicking mobile phone use might have the opposite effect, says Elisabetta Palagi at the University of Pisa, Italy.

“We have a need to follow the norms imposed on us by people around us, to [match] our actions with theirs in this automatic way,” she says. “But smartphones can increase social isolation through interference and disruption with real-life, ongoing activities.”

Worse, people without phones can’t even try to replicate the behaviour. “So these people can feel especially isolated.”

Palagi had already investigated the chameleon effect in humans – which can include facial expressions, hand movements, foot shaking, yawning and speech patterns. So when her student Veronica Maglieri noted how people – including herself – always seemed to pick up their phones when other people did, they decided to run an observational study.

 

[koolishman]

Bats don’t have to learn the speed of sound – they’re born knowing it


Bats are born knowing the speed of sound. This may not be shocking, as they rely on echolocation to find food and avoid crashing into trees in the dark. But unlike birds that learn their songs, or lions that learn to hunt, bats seem to be born knowing how to echolocate.

Bats make high-pitched calls that reflect off distant objects, and then they translate the time until the echo returns into some measure of distance. Depending on air temperature, sound can move faster or slower, and it is a reasonable expectation that bats would accommodate for this.

To see whether bats can adjust their echolocation to accommodate changes in the speed of sound, Eran Amichai and Yossi Yovel at Tel Aviv University in Israel trained eight adult Kuhl’s pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus kuhlii) to fly to a perch within a chamber pumped full of oxygen and helium. Because helium is less dense than other atmospheric gases, sound travels faster through it.

The helium interfered with the bats’ echolocation timing and caused them to aim short of the perch. At first, this was expected, but the adult bats never learned to adjust.

 

[CraigD]

Glancing at your phone quickly prompts other people to do the same

When a person looks at their mobile phone, around half the people nearby will start checking their phones within 30 seconds.

Such a rapid, automatic response is probably due to people mimicking each other without realising it – what scientists call the “chameleon effect”. While such mimicry is thought to have evolved in human societies to help people bond with each other, mimicking mobile phone use might have the opposite effect, says Elisabetta Palagi at the University of Pisa, Italy.

“We have a need to follow the norms imposed on us by people around us, to [match] our actions with theirs in this automatic way,” she says. “But smartphones can increase social isolation through interference and disruption with real-life, ongoing activities.”

Worse, people without phones can’t even try to replicate the behaviour. “So these people can feel especially isolated.”

Palagi had already investigated the chameleon effect in humans – which can include facial expressions, hand movements, foot shaking, yawning and speech patterns. So when her student Veronica Maglieri noted how people – including herself – always seemed to pick up their phones when other people did, they decided to run an observational study.

This is one of my pet hates. If I am talking to you, please look me in the eye and stop checking your bloody phone.

It is so rude!

 

[CraigD]

It's Very Important To Nintendo That Publishers Don't Work For The Yakuza

After being delayed by technical issues that resulted in a conference call full of screaming Fortnite children, the long-awaited Epic vs Apple court trial is finally underway this week. As part of the proceedings, Nintendo provided documents that include a publisher contract—though honestly, “include” might be a stretch.

Nintendo submitted 25 pages of nearly-nothing, blacking out the overwhelming majority of a Nintendo Switch content license and distribution agreement. As Kotaku’s Ethan Gach put it, “Nintendo’s Epic versus Apple court filings are more redacted than the Mueller report.” But Nintendo did leave one notable detail visible—namely, a stipulation that bars Japanese developers and publishers from working with the yakuza.

The agreement requires Nintendo partners to guarantee that neither they nor their employees are “Anti-Social Forces,” nor are they providing money or favors to said forces. Nintendo goes on to define “Anti-Social Force” by repeatedly using the term “Boryokudan,” which is what Japanese police and media call members of organized crime syndicates.

Read on...

https://kotaku.com/its-very-important-to-nintendo-that-publishers-dont-wor-1846813541

 

[koolishman]

This is one of my pet hates. If I am talking to you, please look me in the eye and stop checking your bloody phone.

It is so rude!

I observe this amongst youngsters mostly. And I tell them, to attend to phone later.

Personally I mute phone before important conversations.

 

[CraigD]

... See how video games are designed to get you hooked and spending

Gaming is a global business, worth around $US175 billion. That’s more than Hollywood and the music industry combined.

As business booms, so does competition for your attention and money.

We are going to show you how some games are being deliberately designed to extract maximum time and money.

Games played on mobiles, consoles and computers have become extremely sophisticated, often with artificial intelligence and data collection built into the platform.

Gaming researchers are warning that gamers often don’t know “how much the game is actually playing them”.

“Many of these games are using machine learning, they’re tracking what players are doing using people’s information and within their social network, to make very strong predictions about how people will behave,” said Daniel King, a clinical psychologist from Flinders University.
Microtransactions started appearing in games in the mid-2000s, encouraging people to repeatedly make small purchases to keep them involved.

Read on...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05...e-using-sneaky-tactics-four-corners/100098826

 

[Future Sensors]

The Calculator Wars

Thanks for the nice documentary @CraigD

The related YouTube suggestions ensure that my day will be fully planned with watching videos about computer history again

When I was taking lessons in Lotus 1-2-3, a fellow student asked me if I had a calculator for him, because he wanted to calculate something for another subject. I explained to him that the spreadsheet program was in fact one big calculator and that he was sitting in front of it at the time. Sometimes you have become so intimate familiar with a certain technology that you have to get used to new ways of working.

Only later would it become apparent what influence spreadsheets have had in taking humanity just one step further: administering the most beautiful domain names in the world, accompanied by prices and expiration dates, and a lot of other interesting data and analysis.