discuss Science & Technology news & discussion

CraigD · Oct 19, 2020

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 · Feb 16, 2021

SpaceX successfully deploys 60 Starlink satellites, but loses booster on descent

SpaceX successfully launched 60 more Starlink internet satellites Monday night from Cape Canaveral, but lost the Falcon 9 rocket’s reusable first stage booster during a landing attempt on a drone ship parked in the Atlantic Ocean.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/02/...link-satellites-but-loses-booster-on-descent/

CraigD · Feb 17, 2021

‘Blue fleet’ of nudibranchs including bluebottle and blue dragon flood Australia’s east coast

A marine biologist has captured footage of a “blue fleet” of bizarre sea creatures, including one that could carry a potentially deadly sting.

Last week he captured a number of different creatures sporting the similar blue colouring.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/...t/news-story/3902d9ab4eeedb355dcedd7d57ecc928

----

Glaucus atlanticus, Glaucillia marginata, Physalia utriculus, Porpita porpita, Velella velella & Janthina janthina. In other words Blue Dragons, Blue bottles, Blue Buttons, Salior by the wind & Violet snail.

These beautiful blue creatures got swept onto Sydney's shoreline today. Which ones your favourite?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CLEPs6khgsW/

Sutruk · Feb 17, 2021

CraigD said:
‘Blue fleet’ of nudibranchs including bluebottle and blue dragon flood Australia’s east coast

A marine biologist has captured footage of a “blue fleet” of bizarre sea creatures, including one that could carry a potentially deadly sting.

Last week he captured a number of different creatures sporting the similar blue colouring.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/...t/news-story/3902d9ab4eeedb355dcedd7d57ecc928

----

Glaucus atlanticus, Glaucillia marginata, Physalia utriculus, Porpita porpita, Velella velella & Janthina janthina. In other words Blue Dragons, Blue bottles, Blue Buttons, Salior by the wind & Violet snail.

These beautiful blue creatures got swept onto Sydney's shoreline today. Which ones your favourite?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CLEPs6khgsW/

Wow nice blue fleet... especially the Blue Dragon!

CraigD · Feb 17, 2021

Original 'Stonehenge' discovered, echoing a legend of the wizard Merlin

The earliest megalithic circle at Stonehenge was first built in the west of Wales more than 5,000 years ago, before its stones were dug up and dragged over 140 miles (225 kilometers) to its present site in the west of England, new research suggests.

The findings also support a wild legend that the mythical wizard Merlin ordered giants to move Stonehenge from Ireland and rebuild it in its current location.

Antiquity, suggests that the bluestones that formed the first stage of Stonehenge may have symbolized the ancestors or lineages of the Neolithic people who lived near the quarries, which may have been why they took the stones with them when they left for a far-off region.

https://www.livescience.com/original-stonehenge-discovered-in-wales.html

@NickB this may be of interest to you!

koolishman · Feb 17, 2021

Canada’s CHIME telescope detects second repeating fast radio burst
A Canadian-led team of scientists has found the second repeating fast radio burst (FRB) ever recorded. FRBs are short bursts of radio waves coming from far outside our Milky Way galaxy. Scientists believe FRBs emanate from powerful astrophysical phenomena billions of light years away.

The discovery of the extragalactic signal is among the first, eagerly awaited results from the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), a revolutionary radio telescope inaugurated in late 2017 by a collaboration of scientists from the University of British Columbia, McGill University, University of Toronto, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and the National Research Council of Canada.

A new clue to the puzzle
Ever since FRBs were first detected, scientists have been piecing together the signals’ observed characteristics to come up with models that might explain the sources of the mysterious bursts and provide some idea of the environments in which they occur. The detection by CHIME of FRBs at lower frequencies means some of these theories will need to be reconsidered.

“Whatever the source of these radio waves is, it’s interesting to see how wide a range of frequencies it can produce. There are some models where intrinsically the source can’t produce anything below a certain frequency,” says team member Arun Naidu of McGill University.

“[We now know] the sources can produce low-frequency radio waves and those low-frequency waves can escape their environment, and are not too scattered to be detected by the time they reach the Earth. That tells us something about the environments and the sources. We haven’t solved the problem, but it’s several more pieces in the puzzle,” says Tom Landecker, a CHIME team member from the National Research Council of Canad

koolishman · Feb 17, 2021

High-altitude birds evolved thicker 'jackets'

A study of 250 species of Himalayan songbirds has revealed how their feathers evolved for higher altitudes.

The birds in colder, more elevated environments had feathers with more fluffy down - providing them with thicker "jackets".

The insight reveals how feathers provide the tiniest birds with such efficient protection from extreme cold.

It also provides clues about which species are most at risk from climate change, the scientists say.

Each feather has an outer part and a hidden downy portion.

And Dr Barve's measurements revealed those living at higher elevations had more of the lower fluffy down.

"They had fluffier jackets," he said.

Smaller birds, which lose heat faster, also tend to have longer feathers in proportion to their body size, revealing the little goldcrest's secret.

koolishman · Feb 17, 2021

New study suggests climate change, not overhunting by humans, caused the extinction of North America’s largest animals

New research suggests that overhunting by humans was not responsible for the extinction of mammoths, ground sloths, and other North American megafauna.

A new study published in Nature Communications on February 16 suggests that the extinction of North America’s largest mammals was not driven by overhunting by rapidly expanding human populations following their entrance into the Americas.

Instead, the findings, based on a new statistical modeling approach, suggest that populations of large mammals fluctuated in response to climate change, with drastic decreases of temperatures around 13,000 years ago initiating the decline and extinction of these massive creatures.

Still, humans may have been involved in more complex and indirect ways than simple models of overhunting suggest.

koolishman · Feb 17, 2021

Meanwhile in China.

koolishman · Feb 17, 2021

Mysteries of massive holes forming in Siberian permafrost unlocked by scientists

The massive crater appeared violently and explosively in the Siberian tundra last year -- a powerful blowout of methane gas throwing ice and rock hundreds of feet away and leaving a gaping circular scar in the empty and eerie landscape.

It was the 17th hole to appear in the remote Yamal and Gyda peninsulas in the Russian Arctic since the first was spotted in 2013, mystifying scientists. The craters are thought to be linked to climate change. Drone photography, 3D modeling and artificial intelligence are helping to reveal their secrets.

210215124742-02-siberian-craters-arctic-exlarge-169.jpg

The model, which showed unusual grottoes or caverns in the lower part of the crater, largely confirmed what scientists had hypothesized: Methane gas builds in a cavity in the ice, causing a mound to appear at ground level. The mound grows in size before blowing out ice and other debris in an explosion and leaving behind the massive crater.

What's still unclear is the source of the methane. It could come from deep layers within the Earth or closer to the surface -- or a combination of the two.

Permafrost is a huge natural reservoir of methane, a potent greenhouse gas much more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat and warming the planet. Warmer summers -- the Arctic is warming two times faster than the global average -- have weakened the permafrost layer, which acts as a cap, making it easier for gas to escape. Some experts estimate that soils in the permafrost region hold twice as much carbon as the atmosphere does, making the region extremely important in the fight against climate change.

koolishman · Feb 17, 2021

https://gizmodo.com/highest-resolution-images-of-dna-reveal-its-surprisingl-1846279294
Highest-Resolution Images of DNA Reveal It's Surprisingly Jiggly

CraigD · Feb 17, 2021

Social media giant bars Aussies from sharing or viewing news over proposed Media Bargaining law

Tech juggernaut Facebook has followed through on its threat to bar Australian news content from its social media platform.

The stunning decision was made in retaliation to Australia’s proposed new Media Bargaining law, with the federal government pushing forward with a plan to force social media giants to pay for news content.

Facebook and Google both initially responded with fury, with Google threatening to pull its search engine from the country during an inquiry in January.

Now, Facebook’s bombshell decision means Australian news publishers will no longer be able to share stories on Facebook, and international news won’t be visible or able to be shared by local Facebook users, while overseas Facebook users also won’t be able to read or share Australian content.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/...w/news-story/7f465b12cd0769aaa258ffe7faa07f9b

Facebook blocks health, emergency pages

Facebook is copping backlash for blocking the pages of some state and territory health authorities, emergency services and the Bureau of Meteorology amid its ban on Australians sharing news.

Queensland, SA and ACT Health, the WA Fire and Emergency Services were among the pages blocked as the tech giant followed through on its threat to restrict news sharing news on its platform in response to a proposed media bargaining code.

The pages, which provide crucial government health and weather information and alerts, were blocked on Thursday morning.

The Tasmanian and ACT government pages are also blocked, along with the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service 1800 Respect, which is web-based.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/aust...sa-health-bom-pages/ar-BB1dM9aJ?ocid=msedgdhp

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a Facebook post:

"These actions will only confirm the concerns that an increasing number of countries are expressing about the behaviour of BigTech companies who think they are bigger than governments and that the rules should not apply to them.

They may be changing the world, but that doesn’t mean they run it.

We will not be intimidated by BigTech seeking to pressure our Parliament as it votes on our important News Media Bargaining Code.

I encourage Facebook to constructively work with the Australian Government, as Google recently demonstrated in good faith."

'Time to reactivate MySpace': the day Australia woke up to a Facebook news blackout

Facebook users flocked to Twitter to complain about the ban, which also struck community pages, health departments, charities and politicians

But Facebook’s snap ban did not just affect Australia’s news publishers.

On Twitter, which has so far escaped the reach of Australia’s proposed media code by dint of never making any money, the screenshots began to roll in.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology, which uses its Facebook page to deliver climate updates and severe weather warnings, was blocked. So too was the Western Australian Department of Fire and Emergency Services, which earlier this month was issuing evacuation warnings for a bushfire that destroyed 86 homes in the Perth hills. In a statement, DFES said it had contacted Facebook “and they have assured us they will restore the page as a priority”.

State health departments, where daily coronavirus figures and information about potential exposure sites are listed, were deleted, as was the official page for the governments of the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Tasmania.

https://www.theguardian.com/technol...australia-woke-up-to-a-facebook-news-blackout

---------------------

Meanwhile, Google have backed down from their threat to cancel search in Australia, and have either signed or are currently negotiating multi-million dollar contracts with the big Australian publishers.

https://blog.google/around-the-glob...your-top-questions-about-google-news-showcase

CraigD · Feb 17, 2021

US charges three North Koreans for major hacks and cyber-thefts

North Korean intelligence agents charged with $1.3bn in cyber-heists, extortion, malware and phishing schemes.

The United States Justice Department has charged three computer programmers working for the North Korean military with using cross-border cyberattacks to raise money for North Korea and its leader Kim Jong Un.

A federal indictment unsealed in federal court in Los Angeles, California alleges Jon Chang-hyok, age 31, Kim Il, age 27, and Park Jin-hyok, age 36, are members of North Korea’s military intelligence service, the Reconnaissance General Bureau.

The three hackers were responsible for a wide-ranging series of cyberattacks beginning in 2014 with the hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment and thefts from banks in Asia and Africa the indictment alleges.

The hackers extorted or stole more than $1.3bn in cash and cryptocurrency, the US Justice Department said in a press release announcing the charges.

“The scope of the criminal conduct by the North Korean hackers was extensive and long-running, and the range of crimes they have committed is staggering,” said acting US Attorney Tracy Wilkison.

“The conduct detailed in the indictment are the acts of a criminal nation-state that has stopped at nothing to extract revenge and obtain money to prop up its regime,” Wilkison said.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021...orth-koreans-for-major-hacks-and-cyber-thefts

CraigD · Feb 17, 2021

20% of People Have a Genetic Mutation That Provides Superior Resilience to Cold

Almost one in five people lack the protein α-aktinin-3 in their muscle fiber. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden now show that more of the skeletal muscle of these individuals comprises slow-twitch muscle fibers, which are more durable and energy-efficient and provide better tolerance to low temperatures than fast-twitch muscle fibers. The results are published in the scientific journal The American Journal of Human Genetics.

Skeletal muscle comprises fast-twitch (white) fibers that fatigue quickly and slow-twitch (red) fibers that are more resistant to fatigue. The protein α-aktinin-3, which is found only in fast-twitch fibers, is absent in almost 20 percent of people – almost 1.5 billion individuals – due to a mutation in the gene that codes for it. In evolutionary terms, the presence of the mutated gene increased when humans migrated from Africa to the colder climates of central and northern Europe.

“This suggests that people lacking α-aktinin-3 are better at keeping warm and, energy-wise, at enduring a tougher climate, but there hasn’t been any direct experimental evidence for this before,” says Håkan Westerblad, professor of cellular muscle physiology at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet. “We can now show that the loss of this protein gives a greater resilience to cold and we’ve also found a possible mechanism for this.”

For the study, 42 healthy men between the ages of 18 and 40 were asked to sit in cold water (14 °C) until their body temperature had dropped to 35.5 °C. During cold water immersion, researchers measured muscle electrical activity with electromyography (EMG) and took muscle biopsies to study the protein content and fiber-type composition.

https://scitechdaily.com/20-of-peop...on-that-provides-superior-resilience-to-cold/

CraigD · Feb 18, 2021

Astrophysicist Explains Gravity in 5 Levels of Difficulty | WIRED

Astrophysicist Janna Levin, PhD, is asked to explain the concept of gravity to 5 different people; a child, a teen, a college student, a grad student, and an expert.

Levin is the Claire Tow Professor of Physics & Astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University and author of "Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space." She is also the Chair and Director of Sciences at Pioneer Works, where this video was filmed. To learn more, visit https://pioneerworks.org/

koolishman · Feb 18, 2021

Study: Students are more neurologically alert and able to retain information in mid-day classes (e.g., 10:30am) than in early morning classes (e.g., 8:30am).

https://www.behaviorist.biz/oh-behave-a-blog/students-sleep

A study published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience proposed that there is a U-shaped relationship between student performance and time of day. Students are alert and retain the most information during mid-morning classes, while performance is lower during mid-afternoon classes, followed by early-morning classes.

This research was carried out by a team of 11 researchers, led by Suzanne Dikker, a Senior Research Scientist at the Max Planck – NYU Center for Language, Music and Emotion.

In the U.S., the average start time for middle school and high school is approximately 8:00am. For younger students, this likely isn’t a problem since children tend to be early risers. However, at the onset of puberty, adolescents experience a change in their internal clock as their circadian rhythms shift towards ‘eveningness’.

When it’s dark at night, the body releases a hormone called melatonin, which helps promote sleep. Teenagers, however, experience a delay in the release of this hormone, causing them to fall asleep 2-3 hours later than usual. Despite their later bedtime, teenagers still need about 9 hours of sleep.

Unfortunately, school start times don’t account for this biological change. As a result, teenagers are forced to endure early class times while their internal clock makes it difficult to feel alert and focused. Unsurprisingly, this affects their performance and their ability to learn.

https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/15/11/1193/5928351

CraigD · Feb 18, 2021

The 'seven minutes of terror' is only 12-hours away...

Nasa Mars rover: Perseverance robot heads for daunting landing

The moment of truth has arrived for the US space agency's Perseverance rover.

The six-wheeled robot is fast approaching Mars after a seven-month, 470-million-km journey from Earth for what unquestionably will be the most challenging part of its mission.

It's got to put itself down safely on the Red Planet - a task that has befuddled so many spacecraft before it.

But if Perseverance is successful, it has an amazing opportunity to find signs of past life on Mars.

Never has a science mission gone to the planet with so sophisticated a suite of instruments; never has a robot been targeted at so promising a location.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56103231

koolishman · Feb 18, 2021

Live Link from NASA for landing of Perseverance rover on MARS.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=gm0b_ijaYMQ&feature=emb_title

CraigD · Feb 18, 2021

koolishman said:
Live Link from NASA for landing of Perseverance rover on MARS.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=gm0b_ijaYMQ&feature=emb_title

I have not researched the mission hardware yet, but what happens to the sky-crane after it has dumped Percy on the surface?

Does it fly away and crash, or perform its own scouting mission before the fuel runs out?

koolishman · Feb 18, 2021

CraigD said:
I have not researched the mission hardware yet, but what happens to the sky-crane after it has dumped Percy on the surface?

Does it fly away and crash, or perform its own scouting mission before the fuel runs out?

Then, at an altitude of 65 feet (20 m), the crane will lower Perseverance toward the ground on long cables. After the rover touches down safely, it will cut the cables, and the descent stage will fly off to crash-land intentionally a safe distance away.

CraigD · Feb 18, 2021

Pollution-catching ‘super plant’ ideal for busy roads, scientists say

One metre of cotoneaster hedge capable of absorbing equivalent of 500 mile drive

Experts have identified a “super plant” commonly found in the UK which can help soak up pollution on busy roads.

Scientists at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) looked at the effectiveness of hedges for soaking up air pollution, comparing different types of shrubs including cotoneaster, hawthorn and western red cedar.

They discovered the denser, hairy-leaved Cotoneaster franchetii was at least 20 per cent more effective at soaking up pollution from roads with heavy traffic compared to other shrubs, although it did not make a difference on quieter streets.

A one-metre-long section of the bushy shrub is capable of absorbing hundreds of miles’ worth of car pollution in just one week, according to the experts.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/pollution-plant-uk-roads-cotoneaster-b1803609.html

CraigD · Feb 18, 2021

https://twitter.com/x/status/1362099668721692672

koolishman · Feb 18, 2021

koolishman said:
More Mammals Are Hiding Their Secret Glow

First it was platypuses. Now we may be dealing with glowing Tasmanian devils, echidnas and wombats.

Meet the Newest Member of the Fluorescent Mammal Club

The springhare — whose coat glows a patchy pinkish-orange under UV light — joins the platypus and other mammals with this perplexing trait.

Nature is LIT.

CraigD · Feb 18, 2021

Here we go guys...

NASA's Perseverance is entering the Martian atmosphere.

Good luck Percy!

UPDATE: TOUCHDOWN CONFIRMED!

Imagery is coming in from the landing site.

koolishman · Feb 19, 2021

Nuts: This is faked, isn’t it?

CraigD · Feb 19, 2021

koolishman said:
Nuts: This is faked, isn’t it?

Definitely. Grainy black and white still-images in the age of HD colour video

Congrats JPL team. I thought this might fail considering the complex landing profile!

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