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 · May 10, 2021

HotKey said:
I'm sure these kind of bugs can be ironed out.. perhaps a seasoned approach could bring a palatable solution.

I'm not sure if bugs can be ironed out. Perhaps stamped flat?

CraigD · May 10, 2021

How Oldschool Sound/Music worked

In this video, we'll cover 3 different eras of computer music, the Internal Speaker, FM Synthesis, and PCM Samples.

CraigD · May 10, 2021

The basics of BASIC, the programming language of the 1980s

In this episode, 4 vintage computer enthusiasts take a look at BASIC, the language of the 1980s.

Birth of BASIC

Professors John Kemeny and Tom Kurtz along with a band of Dartmouth undergraduates invent the Basic computer language.

CraigD · May 10, 2021

How Machine Language Works

CraigD · May 10, 2021

Automated Voice Recognition Typewriter

An automated typewriter that takes dictation. A few details: Some code running on my laptop (off screen) uses Windows' voice recognition to turn speech to text. Commands for the typing mechanism are then sent to the Pololu servo controller. The Arduino Uno and Big Easy Driver control the carriage return arm and are signaled when the new line routine is called. The "arms" move on short linear rail segments. I cut the custom parts out of acrylic on a friend's CNC (thanks to kiteandrocket.com).

CraigD · May 10, 2021

'Living Fossil' Thought Extinct For 273 Million Years Found Thriving on Ocean Floor

A symbiotic relationship between two marine lifeforms has just been discovered thriving at the bottom of the ocean, after disappearing from the fossil record for hundreds of millions of years.

Scientists have found non-skeletal corals growing from the stalks of marine animals known as crinoids, or sea lilies, on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, off the coasts of Honshu and Shikoku in Japan.

"These specimens represent the first detailed records and examinations of a recent syn vivo association of a crinoid (host) and a hexacoral (epibiont)," the researchers wrote in their paper, "and therefore analyses of these associations can shed new light on our understanding of these common Paleozoic associations."

Read on...

https://www.sciencealert.com/living...llion-years-found-thriving-on-the-ocean-floor

CraigD · May 11, 2021

Cannuck said:
My wife was exposed to Chernobyl fallout and we were concerned about the future of our children. This helped to alleviate fears, thanks for the info

You may enjoy a drop of this...

Ukraine secret service confiscate Chernobyl vodka bound for UK

Ukrainian secret service agents have confiscated the first shipment of a vodka produced inside Chernobyl's radioactive zone – with manufacturers questioning their motives.

Atomik vodka is made from apples grown in the Narodychi district, part of the exclusion zone surrounding the nuclear power plant.

The Chernobyl Spirit Company said 1500 bottles were bound for the UK, but a team sent by Ukraine's secret service (SBU) intercepted their trucks in March.

https://www.9news.com.au/world/cher...-service/1bdebecc-56c6-480a-b0a1-6cb6029e839a

CraigD · May 11, 2021

Voyager 1 Is Detecting a 'Hum' of Plasma Waves in The Void of Interstellar Space

Voyager 1, having spent over 43 years zooming away from Earth since its 1977 launch, is now a very long way away indeed.

Its distance from the Sun is over 150 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. It takes over 21 hours for transmissions traveling at light speed to arrive at Earth. It officially passed the heliopause - the boundary at which pressure from the solar wind is no longer sufficient to push into the wind from interstellar space - in 2012.

Voyager 1 has left the Solar System - and it's finding that the void of space is not quite so void-like, after all.

In the latest analysis of data from the intrepid probe, from a distance of nearly 23 billion kilometers (over 14 billion miles), astronomers have discovered, from 2017 onwards, a constant hum from plasma waves in the interstellar medium, the diffuse gas that lurks between the stars.

"It's very faint and monotone, because it is in a narrow frequency bandwidth," said astronomer Stella Koch Ocker of Cornell University. "We're detecting the faint, persistent hum of interstellar gas."

https://www.sciencealert.com/voyage...lasma-waves-in-the-void-of-interstellar-space

CraigD · May 11, 2021

Does Time Cause Gravity?

We know that gravity must cause clocks to run slow on the basis of logical consistency. And we know that gravity DOES cause clocks to run slow based on many brilliant experiments. But I never explained WHY or HOW gravity causes the flow of time to slow down. And I’m not going to explain it now - because in a sense it’s not true. Gravity does NOT warp the flow of time. It’s the other way around - the warping of time causes gravity.

CraigD · May 11, 2021

Ancient Roman 'Gate to Hell' Killed Victims With Its Deadly Lake

A cave ancient Romans believed to be a gate to the underworld was so deadly that it killed all animals who entered its proximity, while not harming the human priests who led them.

Millennia later, scientists believe they have figured out why - a concentrated cloud of carbon dioxide that suffocated those who breathed it.

Dating back 2,200 years, the cave was rediscovered by archaeologists from the University of Salento back in 2011.

It was located in a city called Hierapolis in ancient Phrygia, now Turkey, and it was used for animal sacrifices of bulls led through the Plutonium - or Pluto's Gate, for the Classical god of the underworld - by castrated priests.

As the priests led the bulls into the arena, people could sit on raised seats in an arena and watch as the fumes emanating from the gate brought the animals to their death.

"This space is full of a vapour so misty and dense that one can scarcely see the ground. Any animal that passes inside meets instant death. I threw in sparrows and they immediately breathed their last and fell," wrote Greek historian Strabo (64 BCE - 24 CE).

It was this phenomenon that alerted the archaeology team to the cave's location. Birds flying too close to the cave's entrance suffocated and dropped dead - showing that, thousands of years later, it's still just as deadly as ever.

Read on...

https://www.sciencealert.com/ancient-roman-gate-to-hell-killed-victims-with-its-deadly-lake

J Sokol · May 12, 2021

Why China and east Asia’s ageing population threatens global Covid recovery

For many years China watchers have been concerned that its ageing population will slow economic growth, causing social as well as political problems. So today’s census data may be an alarm bell for leaders in Beijing.

But it is not just China that is witnessing this trajectory. Most countries in east Asia, even without fertility control policies such as China’s one-childor two-child policies, share the same predicament: how to continue economic growth while encouraging people to have more children?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ion-predicament-global-implications-east-asia

J Sokol · May 12, 2021

‘It’s terrifying’: the English village overwhelmed by landfill stink

It may have been labelled the country’s smelliest village but it is much more than a bad stench from the local landfill making life miserable for the residents of Silverdale in Staffordshire, who have now started crowdfunding for potential legal action against the site.

For miles around Walleys Quarry landfill near Newcastle-under-Lyme, people have reported waking up in the middle of the night struggling to breathe, with itchy eyes and sore throats. Those with asthma have had their medication increased, and some have reported nosebleeds.

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...lage-silverdale-walleys-quarry-landfill-stink

CraigD · May 12, 2021

Apple says it blocked more than $US1.5bn fraudulent transactions in the App Store

Apple has revealed it has blocked more than $US1.5bn of potentially fraudulent transactions in the App Store in 2020 in the fight against suspect developers and users.

Last year more than 180,000 new developers launched apps in the App Store.

Those rejected might be unfinished or not working properly.

But there are also problematic apps and in 2020 nearly a million apps were rejected for a variety of reasons.

Apple has removed apps because they switched functionality after initial review to become gambling apps, predatory loan issuers and pornography hubs.

In 2020, more than 48,000 apps were rejected for containing hidden or undocumented features and more than 150,000 were rejected because they generated spam, were copying existing apps or misleading users.

Last year there were also 95,000 apps removed for bait and switch after changing their initial functionality to commit fraud and criminal actions.

Another common reason for rejection is that the app asks for too much data than they need or misuse the data they have harvested.

Read on...

https://www.techguide.com.au/news/a...5bn-fraudulent-transactions-in-the-app-store/

CraigD · May 12, 2021

J Sokol said:
Why China and east Asia’s ageing population threatens global Covid recovery

For many years China watchers have been concerned that its ageing population will slow economic growth, causing social as well as political problems. So today’s census data may be an alarm bell for leaders in Beijing.

But it is not just China that is witnessing this trajectory. Most countries in east Asia, even without fertility control policies such as China’s one-childor two-child policies, share the same predicament: how to continue economic growth while encouraging people to have more children?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ion-predicament-global-implications-east-asia

There is a very odd fact mentioned in the article:

Today’s census data from China showed the population grew at the slowest rate in decades, with the over-65s age group increasing much faster than the 0-14-year-olds.

How is the over 65 age groups population growing more than children?

Could this be put down to expats returning home due to Covid in other countries?

CraigD · May 12, 2021

First-of-Its-Kind Video Shows Giant Squid Hunt Their Prey Deep in The Ocean

The enigmatic giant squid is rarely observed in its natural habitat. In the first videos of their kind, marine scientists have caught its hunting behavior in the wild - revealing for the first time how these monsters of the deep stalk and attack their prey.

Read on...

https://www.sciencealert.com/first-of-its-kind-video-shows-how-deep-sea-giant-squid-hunt-their-prey

J Sokol · May 13, 2021

Elon Musk says Tesla will no longer accept bitcoin due to fossil fuel use

Tesla has suspended the use of bitcoin to purchase its vehicles, Elon Musksaid in a tweet on Wednesday, citing concerns about the use of fossil fuel for bitcoin mining.

Bitcoin, the world’s biggest digital currency, fell more than 7% after the tweet and was trading at $52,669.

Musk said Tesla would not sell any bitcoin, and intends to use bitcoin for transactions as soon as mining transitions to more sustainable energy.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/may/12/elon-musk-tesla-bitcoin

J Sokol · May 13, 2021

CraigD said:
How is the over 65 age groups population growing more than children?

It could be because the overall population is aging and birth rates are declining.

karamakate · May 13, 2021

CraigD said:
Voyager 1 Is Detecting a 'Hum' of Plasma Waves in The Void of Interstellar Space

https://www.sciencealert.com/voyage...lasma-waves-in-the-void-of-interstellar-space

CraigD · May 13, 2021

J Sokol said:
It could be because the overall population is aging and birth rates are declining.

LOL thanks.

My logic took a break yesterday.

CraigD · May 13, 2021

Face editing: Japanese biker tricks internet into thinking he is a young woman

Photos of a smiling young woman with her motorbike proved popular with social media users in Japan and began to notch up hundreds of likes.

But some eagle-eyed followers noticed things did not add up; her arm seemed very hairy in one photo, and a mirror reflection showed a different face.

A TV show revealed the star of Twitter user @azusagakuyuki was actually a 50-year-old man named Soya.

He admitted to using photo editing apps to create his alter ego.

Editing software such as FaceApp allows users to change the appearance of faces in photos, for example to look younger or older.

But the tools have prompted privacy concerns with the FBI warning in 2019 that the Russia-developed FaceApp posed a "potential counterintelligence threat".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56447357

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/...ajima-exposed-MAN-reveals-edits-pictures.html

CraigD · May 13, 2021

Ankle and foot bone evolution gave prehistoric mammals a leg up

The evolution of ankle and foot bones into different shapes and sizes helped mammals adapt and thrive after the extinction of the dinosaurs, a study suggests.

A surge of evolution following the mass extinction 66 million years ago enabled mammals to diversify and prosper during a period of major global change, researchers say.

Their findings show that Paleocene mammals had stockier, more muscular builds than those from the Cretaceous or present day. The animals’ joints were also very mobile, supported by ligaments and tendons – rather than bony features as in some living mammals – which the team hypothesize enabled them to adapt and evolve more rapidly following the extinction.

Many species’ ankles and feet closely resembled those of ground-dwelling and burrowing mammals that exist today, indicating that these lifestyles were key to surviving and thriving after the mass extinction, which was caused by an asteroid impact.

The ability to dig underground, for example, is likely to have helped mammals survive the initial devastation, while a loss of tree habitats after the extinction period may have favored ground-dwelling species, the team says.

Read the full article:

https://www.selectscience.net/indus...ve-prehistoric-mammals-a-leg-up/?&artID=54668

CraigD · May 13, 2021

Brain computer interface turns mental handwriting into text on screen

Scientists are exploring a number of ways for people with disabilities to communicate with their thoughts. The newest and fastest turns back to a vintage means for expressing oneself: handwriting.

For the first time, researchers have deciphered the brain activity associated with trying to write letters by hand. Working with a participant with paralysis who has sensors implanted in his brain, the team used an algorithm to identify letters as he attempted to write them. Then, the system displayed the text on a screen—in real time.

The innovation could, with further development, let people with paralysis rapidly type without using their hands, says study coauthor Krishna Shenoy, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator at Stanford University who jointly supervised the work with Jaimie Henderson, a Stanford neurosurgeon.

By attempting handwriting, the study participant typed 90 characters per minute—more than double the previous record for typing with such a "brain-computer interface," Shenoy and his colleagues report in the journal Nature on May 12, 2021.

Read on...

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-05-brain-interface-mental-text-screen.html

CraigD · May 13, 2021

Climate emissions shrinking the stratosphere, scientists reveal

Humanity’s enormous emissions of greenhouse gases are shrinking the stratosphere, a new study has revealed.

The thickness of the atmospheric layer has contracted by 400 metres since the 1980s, the researchers found, and will thin by about another kilometre by 2080 without major cuts in emissions. The changes have the potential to affect satellite operations, the GPS navigation system and radio communications.

The discovery is the latest to show the profound impact of humans on the planet. In April, scientists showed that the climate crisis had shifted the Earth’s axis as the massive melting of glaciers redistributes weight around the globe.

The stratosphere extends from about 20km to 60km above the Earth’s surface. Below is the troposphere, in which humans live, and here carbon dioxide heats and expands the air. This pushes up the lower boundary of the stratosphere. But, in addition, when CO2 enters the stratosphere it actually cools the air, causing it to contract.

Read on...

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...ns-shrinking-the-stratosphere-scientists-find

CraigD · May 13, 2021

A study of Earth’s crust hints that supernovas aren’t gold mines

The stellar explosions can’t be the main source for heavy elements, new data suggest

A smattering of plutonium atoms embedded in Earth’s crust are helping to resolve the origins of nature’s heaviest elements.

Scientists had long suspected that elements such as gold, silver and plutonium are born during supernovas, when stars explode. But typical supernovas can’t explain the quantity of heavy elements in our cosmic neighborhood, a new study suggests. That means other cataclysmic events must have been major contributors, physicist Anton Wallner and colleagues report in the May 14 Science.

The result bolsters a recent change of heart among astrophysicists. Standard supernovas have fallen out of favor. Instead, researchers think that heavy elements are more likely forged in collisions of two dense, dead stars called neutron stars, or in certain rare types of supernovas, such as those that form from fast-spinning stars.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/supernova-heavy-elements-source-earth-crust-deep-sea

CraigD · May 15, 2021

Congratulations China on landing a rover on Mars!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1393377744491147266

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