discuss Science & Technology news & discussion

I think it's a tragedy that the term 'black hole' was adopted.

Generally, research always leverages pre-existing work, right?

CraigD said:

I think it's a tragedy that the term 'black hole' was adopted.

Click to expand...

Good point, although somewhat ingenuous, it is straightforward and simple regarding something we didn't know existed (and still don't understand).

CraigD said:

I think it's a tragedy that the term 'black hole' was adopted.

Click to expand...

I think it's simple and quite descriptive. When you see it on the space you just see a black hole, where even the light cannot escape.

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/1068/10-questions-you-might-have-about-black-holes/

They only can be seen thanks to the "surrounding environments of the black holes, where there is material very close to the event horizon. Matter is heated to millions of degrees as it is pulled toward the black hole, so it glows in X-rays. The immense gravity of black holes also distorts space itself, so it is possible to see the influence of an invisible gravitational pull on stars and other objects."

'Superhabitable' planets could be better for life than Earth

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/07/world/superhabitable-exoplanets-scn-trnd/index.html

"We are so focused on finding a mirror image of Earth that we may overlook a planet that is even more well suited for life,"

"In the new study, Schulze-Makuch and his coauthors identified 24 exoplanets and exoplanet candidates (planets that have not been positively confirmed as exoplanets). They are all more than 100 light-years away, that could be contenders for superhabitable planets with conditions more suitable for life than Earth."

"Schulze-Makuch identifies a superhabitable planet as "any planet that has more biomass and biodiversity than our current Earth." Essentially, it would be slightly older, bigger, warmer and wetter than Earth, he said."

First 'Murder Hornet' Nest In U.S. Is Found In Washington State

https://www.npr.org/2020/10/23/9272...rnet-nest-in-u-s-is-found-in-washington-state

Mister Funsky said:

First 'Murder Hornet' Nest In U.S. Is Found In Washington State

https://www.npr.org/2020/10/23/9272...rnet-nest-in-u-s-is-found-in-washington-state

Click to expand...

Why is everything this year trying to kill me?

Japanese bees know how to deal with the "Murder Hornets". They literally cook them alive.

Video shows that 'Murder Hornets' can be cooked alive by a vibrating sphere of Japanese bees

https://www.insider.com/murder-hornet-japanese-honeybee-bee-sphere-vibrate-cooked-alive-video-2020-5

Japanese honeybees have developed a technique called a "hot defensive bee ball" to roast the hornets alive in a ball of vibrating bees.

"A National Geographic video shows the process in action, explaining how it serves to protect the hive as a whole. A solitary "murder hornet" scout approaches a honeybee hive as a means of scouting out the hive and marking it with a pheromone that will allow fellow hornets to find it. That solitary approach will prove to be its downfall.

The video shows the hornet being swarmed by hundreds of bees all at once, with thermal photography revealing the temperature increase as the honeybees raise the temperature within the bee ball to a precise temperature and roasting the hornet alive.

Regrettably, European honeybees, which are the most common pollinators in the United States, haven't developed the same bee ball technique, allowing hornets to decimate their hives given that the bees' stingers cannot pierce the hornets, scientists say."

The bees, when the hornet arrives to the honeybee hive, let the hornet enter inside. Then, when inside, they swarm it all at once, rising the temperature, to a temperature supported by the bees, but not by the hornet. They literally roast the hornet alive.

So that hornet scout won't be able to tell its fellow hornets how to find the hive.

Sutruk said:

revealing the temperature increase as the honeybees raise the temperature within the bee ball to a precise temperature and roasting the hornet alive.

Click to expand...

Wow...simply wow.

CraigD said:

Why is everything this year trying to kill me?

Click to expand...

You must be positive! We have been around for the last 300,000 years... we will survive also 2020

Impressive Water Purification System Found at Ancient Maya City

More than 2,000 years ago in the ancient city of Tikal in northern Guatemala, Maya people apparently utilized a mineral called zeolite to purify their drinking water. The discovery, published in the journal Scientific Reports by anthropologists from the University of Cincinnati, represents the oldest known example of water purification in the Western Hemisphere.

The anthropologists estimate that the water purification system could have been functioning as many as 2,185 years ago and may have been in operation for over a thousand years. Zeolite was likely collected from a source roughly thirty kilometers northeast of the city to regularly replenish the reservoir.

"Zeolite has adsorbent properties because its three dimensional microcrystalline pore spaces create a natural molecular sieve. Consequently, zeolite has the ability to filter out harmful microbes, nitrogenous compounds, and other dispersed insoluble and soluble inorganic and organic toxins from drinking water."


https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-75023-7

Bees! Diversity, Evolution, Conservation

Thanks for the great hornet and bees posts!

I've stumbled on a great wealth of info at the Museum of the Earth.

This online exhibit is based on the physical “Bees! Diversity, Evolution, Conservation” special exhibit that went on display at the Museum of the Earth in September 2019

https://www.museumoftheearth.org/bees

1. Welcome
   
2. Bee Diversity
   
3. Bee Evolution and Fossil Record
   
4. Bee-ology (bee biology)
5. Bee-havior (bee behavior)
6. Bee Nesting
   
7. What Bees Eat and Pollination
   
8. Bees and Agriculture
   
9. Threats to Bees

A forest-based yard improved the immune system of daycare children in only a month

During the study, forest undergrowth, lawn turf and planter boxes, in which children planted and tended crops, were added to paved, tiled and gravel-coated yard areas at daycare centres.

Contact with nature repeated five times a week during one month increased microbial diversity in children’s skin. There were also changes in blood counts. Increases in gammaproteobacteria, which strengthen the skin’s immune defence, increased the content of the multifunctional TGF-β1-cytokine in blood and reduced the content of interleukin-17A, which is connected to immune-transmitted diseases.

Sutruk said:

'Superhabitable' planets could be better for life than Earth

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/07/world/superhabitable-exoplanets-scn-trnd/index.html

"We are so focused on finding a mirror image of Earth that we may overlook a planet that is even more well suited for life,"

"In the new study, Schulze-Makuch and his coauthors identified 24 exoplanets and exoplanet candidates (planets that have not been positively confirmed as exoplanets). They are all more than 100 light-years away, that could be contenders for superhabitable planets with conditions more suitable for life than Earth."

"Schulze-Makuch identifies a superhabitable planet as "any planet that has more biomass and biodiversity than our current Earth." Essentially, it would be slightly older, bigger, warmer and wetter than Earth, he said."

Click to expand...

So the movie "passengers" is not too far from reality. Only the ship and hibernation pods needs to be invented

koolishman said:

A forest-based yard improved the immune system of daycare children in only a month

During the study, forest undergrowth, lawn turf and planter boxes, in which children planted and tended crops, were added to paved, tiled and gravel-coated yard areas at daycare centres.

Contact with nature repeated five times a week during one month increased microbial diversity in children’s skin. There were also changes in blood counts. Increases in gammaproteobacteria, which strengthen the skin’s immune defence, increased the content of the multifunctional TGF-β1-cytokine in blood and reduced the content of interleukin-17A, which is connected to immune-transmitted diseases.

Click to expand...

I totally agree with this:

"A high level of hygiene, an urban lifestyle and an insufficient contact with nature reduce diversity in the organ system’s microbes. Homogeneity in microbes increases the risk of disorders in the immune system, such as atopy, diabetes, the coeliac disease and allergies."

"Dozens comparative studies have previously found that children who live in rural areas and are in contact with nature have a lower probability of catching an illness resulting from disorders in the immune system."

koolishman said:

So the movie "passengers" is not too far from reality. Only the ship and hibernation pods needs to be invented

Click to expand...

Yes... but with the current technology be ready to be hibernating for thousands of years to reach a planet located 100 light years. Better have "sweet dreams" for that period of dreaming!

Another option: finding a wormhole and reach the 100 light year planet in 1 minute (Interestellar movie), if possible without being converted into a spaguetti!

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

Sutruk said:

"Schulze-Makuch identifies a superhabitable planet as "any planet that has more biomass and biodiversity than our current Earth." Essentially, it would be slightly older, bigger, warmer and wetter than Earth, he said."

Click to expand...

The big assumption here is that these exo-planets have biomass and biodiversity.

I've yet to see any proof that life exists anywhere other than on Earth.

CraigD said:

The big assumption here is that these exo-planets have biomass and biodiversity.

I've yet to see any proof that life exists anywhere other than on Earth.

Click to expand...

Totally agree. In my opinion, we won't find another one like planet Earth at least at a reachable distance. We have a totally amazing planet, a miracle of the nature, and won't find anything like this one to travel. Sci-fi technology needed to reach a 100 light year planet (even a 3 year light planet). So better we take care of our nice planet Earth...

Sure may be some planets like those of the article, but it would not be easy to find them. It takes a lot of variables to get into a planet like Earth. And would be impossible to reach them, at least with our current technology.

Sutruk said:

Totally agree. In my opinion, we won't find another one like planet Earth at least at a reachable distance. We have a totally amazing planet, a miracle of the nature, and won't find anything like this one to travel. Sci-fi technology needed to reach a 100 light year planet (even a 3 year light planet). So better we take care of our nice planet Earth...

Sure may be some planets like those of the article, but it would not be easy to find them. It takes a lot of variables to get into a planet like Earth. And would be impossible to reach them, at least with our current technology.

Click to expand...

What bothers me about these studies into 'superhabitable planets' is that these scientists don't take into account that life evolved on this planet under an exact gravity, and is tuned to a circadian rhythm.

Finding a planet that matches these conditions, that also has a matching atmosphere and magnetosphere, and is reasonably near will be almost impossible.

Personally, I think mankind will inhabit our Solar System, and will not bother going any farther for the reasons I mentioned.

CraigD said:

What bothers me about these studies into 'superhabitable planets' is that these scientists don't take into account that life evolved on this planet under an exact gravity, and is tuned to a circadian rhythm.

Finding a planet that matches these conditions, that also has a matching atmosphere and magnetosphere, and is reasonably near will be almost impossible.

Personally, I think mankind will inhabit our Solar System, and will not bother going any farther for the reasons I mentioned.

Click to expand...

Yes... may be a planet there with similar conditions but with a 72h day and 72h night, if lucky!

Others just don't rotate, being half planet always at day and half at night.

Also you must take attention to the inclination of the rotation axis of the Earth. If you incline the axis a little more or a little less, the conditions on this planet would be quite different. And that axis inclination has not been there from the begining... that happened when the something big impacted the Earth millions of years ago.

What Is Earth's Axial Tilt or Obliquity?

https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/axial-tilt-obliquity.html

"When an object the size of Mars crashed into the newly formed planet Earth around 4.5 billion years ago, it knocked our planet over and left it tilted at an angle."

"At the moment, Earth's obliquity is about 23.4 degrees and decreasing. We say 'at the moment' because the obliquity changes over time, although very, very slowly."

What If There Were No Seasons?

https://www.livescience.com/18972-earth-seasons-tilt.html

"When a Mars-size object collided with Earth 4.5 billion years ago, it knocked off a chunk that would become the moon. It also tilted Earth sideways a bit, so that our planet now orbits the sun on a slant. Those were two huge changes."

"It's a lucky thing, too. Without Earth's tilt, humanity would be in a sorry state."

"Forget modern technology, the steam engine, or sliced bread. In a world without seasons, there wouldn't even be wheat. According to Don Attwood, an ecological anthropologist at McGill University in Montreal, humans would probably never have advanced past a state of living in small, scattered settlements, scrounging for survival and often dying of horrific insect-borne diseases."

As you can see, the planet where we are living, is like a big winner Lotto ticket. And it's not easy to replicate, many different conditions were needed to make our nice planet how it is nowadays.
Just a little more near the sun, or a little further from the sun, and forget about our nice weather.

Sutruk said:

Yes... may be a planet there with similar conditions but with a 72h day and 72h night, if lucky!

Others just don't rotate, being half planet always at day and half at night.

Also you must take attention to the inclination of the rotation axis of the Earth. If you incline the axis a bit more or a bit less, the conditions on this planet would be quite different. And that axis inclination has not been there from the begining... that happened when the something big impacted the Earth millions of years ago.

What Is Earth's Axial Tilt or Obliquity?

https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/axial-tilt-obliquity.html

"When an object the size of Mars crashed into the newly formed planet Earth around 4.5 billion years ago, it knocked our planet over and left it tilted at an angle."

"At the moment, Earth's obliquity is about 23.4 degrees and decreasing. We say 'at the moment' because the obliquity changes over time, although very, very slowly."

What If There Were No Seasons?

https://www.livescience.com/18972-earth-seasons-tilt.html

"When a Mars-size object collided with Earth 4.5 billion years ago, it knocked off a chunk that would become the moon. It also tilted Earth sideways a bit, so that our planet now orbits the sun on a slant. Those were two huge changes."

"It's a lucky thing, too. Without Earth's tilt, humanity would be in a sorry state."

"Forget modern technology, the steam engine, or sliced bread. In a world without seasons, there wouldn't even be wheat. According to Don Attwood, an ecological anthropologist at McGill University in Montreal, humans would probably never have advanced past a state of living in small, scattered settlements, scrounging for survival and often dying of horrific insect-borne diseases."

Click to expand...

The more you delve into it, Earth is totally unique and can never be replicated.

Yes there are so many attributes that are unique to Earth and life, from the mass of the moon affecting weather patterns and the oceans, the internal dynamo affecting geology. Even microbes and bacteria. Life is not a sole organism, but a micribiome.

I also suspect that life - which as far as we know only originated on this planet once - is probably unique to Earth for all these reasons.

Edit: or perhaps unique to our Solar System... there is always the possibility that it was seeded from Mars or another solar object millennia ago.

How trillions of microbes affect every stage of our life—from birth to old age
THE MORE SCIENTISTS investigate the microbes living inside us, the more they learn about the surprising impact of these tiny organisms on how we look, act, think, and feel. Are our health and well-being really driven by the bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa that live in our intestines, in our lungs, on our skin, on our eyeballs? What a weird concept—that the bugs we lug around appear to be essential to establishing the basic nature of who we are.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/...ge-of-our-life-from-birth-to-old-age-feature/

CraigD said:

The more you delve into it, Earth is totally unique and can never be replicated.

Yes there are so many attributes that are unique to Earth and life, from the mass of the moon affecting weather patterns and the oceans, the internal dynamo affecting geology. Even microbes and bacteria. Life is not a sole organism, but a micribiome.

I also suspect that life - which as far as we know only originated on this planet once - is probably unique to Earth for all these reasons.

Edit: or perhaps unique to our Solar System... there is always the possibility that it was seeded from Mars or another solar object millennia ago.

Click to expand...

Universe is so immense, with literally thousands of millions of galaxies... that I am sure life exists, existed and will exist out there.
What happens is that will be very difficult to see that life. The space and time, are so big and large that make it so difficult to see.

I think that life in Universe is like quick fireworks, that appears and ends in short times, and in so large distances in the space, that is really difficult to see or coincide at the same time.

I am sure, that's my opinion of course, that there are quite a few "winner Lotto tickets" like Earth on the universe right now. The problem is to match space-time to see them.

Even life in planet Earth, has been here just for a period of time, if we take the full age of our planet. It took millions of years for life to appear on Earth.

Sutruk said:

I think that life in Universe is like quick fireworks, that appears and ends in short times, and in so large distances in the space, that is really difficult to see or coincide at the same time.

Click to expand...

There was an interesting hypothesis I read many years ago - perhaps it was by Drake (Drake's equation) or a response to his equation? It stated something to the effect that if we were ever lucky enough to encounter another galactic civilization, we would likely only encounter their self-replicating machine offspring because life-forms naturally evolve or die out over a period of time.

EDIT: it may have had something to do with von Neumann probes

CraigD said:

There was an interesting hypothesis I read many years ago - perhaps it was by Drake (Drake's equation) or a response to his equation? It stated something to the effect that if we were ever lucky enough to encounter another galactic civilization, we would likely only encounter their self-replicating machine offspring because life-forms naturally evolve or die out over a period of time.

Click to expand...

"Drake states that given the uncertainties, the original meeting concluded that N ≈ L, and there were probably between 1000 and 100,000,000 planets with civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy."

And that's only in the Milky Way galaxy! Now thing about this:

Galaxies, explained

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/universe/galaxies/

"One 2016 study estimated that the observable universe contains two trillion—or two million million—galaxies. Some of those distant systems are similar to our own Milky Way galaxy, while others are quite different."