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]

Can Nuclear Propulsion Take Us to Mars?

 

[CraigD]

7 STRANGEST New Aerospace ENGINES

There are tons of weird and unconventional designs coming out. So let's look at some of the newest aerospace engines!

 

[Future Sensors]

Mars 2020 Helicopter Contributor

"Friends of mine know that I’ve tried for a long time to get confirmation that curl is used in space. We’ve believed it to be likely but I’ve wanted to get a clear confirmation that this is indeed the fact.

Today GitHub posted their article about open source in the Mars mission, and they now provide a badge on their site for contributors of projects that are used in that mission."

[Read more...]

 

[koolishman]

Research Suggests It Might Take a Bigger “Genetic Hit” to Make a Girl Autistic

Since autism was first discovered in the 1940s, one question has puzzled researchers in the field: why is the condition more prominent in boys than in girls? Now, a new study is shedding light on what might be happening by examining the brains of autistic people.

The new Yale-led study revealed that autism may develop in different regions of the brain in girls than in boys. The research also found that girls may carry a larger number of genetic mutations than boys, which may suggest there are undiscovered factors at play that shield them against the condition.

"We know so little about how autism unfolds in the brain," Dr. Abha Gupta, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine and lead author of the study, said in a statement. "It's important to be able to land on spots where the dysfunction might arise because that gives us more traction into where in the brain to look. We need to be accurate about this."

 

[CraigD]

Show attachment 188332
Mars 2020 Helicopter Contributor

"Friends of mine know that I’ve tried for a long time to get confirmation that curl is used in space. We’ve believed it to be likely but I’ve wanted to get a clear confirmation that this is indeed the fact.

Today GitHub posted their article about open source in the Mars mission, and they now provide a badge on their site for contributors of projects that are used in that mission."

[Read more...]

I don't have a good understanding of Curl, so forgive me if I have misunderstood. but but how and why would they be using a URL parser on Mars?

 

[Future Sensors]

I don't have a good understanding of Curl, so forgive me if I have misunderstood. but but how and why would they be using a URL parser on Mars?

Good question, CraigD. I don't know exactly.

Here's more info (see thread on twitter).

https://twitter.com/x/status/1384139276061839366

 

[CraigD]

New Jersey Police Disarmed a Homemade UFO Detector

Today the NJ State Park Police were made aware of a “UFO Detector Site” which was located on Saw Dust Pile Road in Tabernacle Twp. in Wharton State Forest. After examination by members of the NJSPP Detective Unit and NJSPP K-9 Unit, our Explosive Detecting K-9 “Prime” was deployed. Prime determined the UFO Detecting Device was safe. The device was carefully "disarmed" by NJ State Park Police personnel by unplugging the headphone wire from the block of wood and the soup can it was plugged into.

Although human kind and the visitors to New Jersey’s State Parks appreciate an extra-terrestrial early warning device like this, we should not be finding them in our State Parks. Please always be safe when around suspicious objects like this and always notify the NJ State Park Police (1-877-WARN-DEP) if a suspicious object is found in our State Parks.

https://www.facebook.com/NewJerseyStateParkPolice/photos/a.466917073395025/3880236485396383

 

[CraigD]

DNA robots designed in minutes instead of days

Someday, scientists believe, tiny DNA-based robots and other nanodevices will deliver medicine inside our bodies, detect the presence of deadly pathogens, and help manufacture increasingly smaller electronics.

Researchers took a big step toward that future by developing a new tool that can design much more complex DNA robots and nanodevices than were ever possible before in a fraction of the time.

In a paper published today (April 19, 2021) in the journal Nature Materials, researchers from The Ohio State University – led by former engineering doctoral student Chao-Min Huang – unveiled new software they call MagicDNA.

The software helps researchers design ways to take tiny strands of DNA and combine them into complex structures with parts like rotors and hinges that can move and complete a variety of tasks, including drug delivery.

Read on...

https://www.miragenews.com/dna-robots-designed-in-minutes-instead-of-days-545954/

 

[CraigD]

 

[CraigD]

Flushing a public toilet? Don’t linger, because aerosolized droplets do

Flushing a toilet can generate large quantities of microbe-containing aerosols depending on the design, water pressure or flushing power of the toilet. A variety of pathogens are usually found in stagnant water as well as in urine, feces and vomit. When dispersed widely through aerosolization, these pathogens can cause Ebola, norovirus that results in violent food poisoning, as well as COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2.

Respiratory droplets are the most prominent source of transmission for COVID-19, however, alternative routes may exist given the discovery of small numbers of viable viruses in urine and stool samples. Public restrooms are especially cause for concern for transmitting COVID-19 because they are relatively confined, experience heavy foot traffic and may not have adequate ventilation.

A team of scientists from Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science once again put physics of fluids to the test to investigate droplets generated from flushing a toilet and a urinal in a public restroom under normal ventilation conditions. To measure the droplets, they used a particle counter placed at various heights of the toilet and urinal to capture the size and number of droplets generated upon flushing.

Results of the study, published in the journal Physics of Fluids, demonstrate how public restrooms could serve as hotbeds for airborne disease transmission, especially if they do not have adequate ventilation or if toilets do not have a lid or cover. Most public restrooms in the United States often are not equipped with toilet seat lids and urinals are not covered.

Read on...

https://www.miragenews.com/flushing-a-public-toilet-dont-linger-because-546357/

 

[koolishman]

China wants to launch its own Hubble-class telescope as part of space station

China could launch the first module for its own space station this month as the country also prepares to send a large space telescope to join it in orbit within the next few years.

The Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST), which is set to launch in 2024, will operate as a space optical observatory for Chinese scientists to carry out sky surveys, according to Xinhua.The telescope, sometimes called "Xuntian," which literally translates to "survey the heavens," will have an impressive 6.6-foot (2 meters) diameter lens, making it comparable to the Hubble Telescope Scope. However, it boasts a field of view 300 times greater than that of 31-year-old Hubble while retaining a similar resolution.

2.5 billion pixel camera.Notably, the telescope will co-orbit Earth along with the Chinese space station and will be able to periodically dock with the future crewed outpost.

 

[koolishman]

He connected both positive and negative terminal to the pyramid! Is this supposed to be a joke?

 

[koolishman]

We Finally Have a Complete View of The Resonance Dust Ring of Venus

A wispy ring of dust that circles the Sun along the orbital path of Venus has just been revealed in the most detail yet, thanks to instruments carried by the Parker Solar Probe.

The pristine, white-light images, taken from inside the orbit of Venus, show the ring in almost its entirety. This is vital data for understanding this ring, and the dynamics of the Solar System and its gravitational interactions.

"This is the first time that a circumsolar dust ring in the inner Solar System could be revealed in its full glory in 'white light' images," said astronomer Guillermo Stenborg of the US Naval Research Laboratory. "I find that pretty special."

 

[koolishman]

Digital human platform brings to life Einstein's voice for a conversational chatbot

Audio content production company Aflorithmic and digital human creators UneeQ have collaborated to synthesize the voice of renowned historical scientist, Albert Einstein.

 

[CraigD]

He connected both positive and negative terminal to the pyramid! Is this supposed to be a joke?

It's all good because the battery was connected to the mains, so the pyramid was powered by high-voltage AC-DC. The pyramid is made from a heavy metal.

 

[koolishman]

It's all good because the battery was connected to the mains, so the pyramid was powered by high-voltage AC-DC. The pyramid is made from a heavy metal.

We need occasional humour too.

 

[koolishman]

Birds May Fight Harder When There’s AN Audience

Birds of both the same and different species will watch a fight and can influence the fighters, something called the “audience effect.”

An example of the audience effect in humans, when the audience can affect competitors, is a sports team’s home field advantage.

“Because the audience effect has been a focus of human research for so long, animal researchers started observing the same behavior in fish and birds and many other species,” says Katie Sieving, a professor at the University of Florida. “But until now, animal research on this topic nearly always considered audience effects to be a within-species phenomenon. For example, a male fighting fish might fight harder when a female watches the fight.”

To investigate whether the same effect occurred with multiple species in the audience, Sieving and a team of researchers considered two bird species that often share the same habitat, the tufted titmouse and the Carolina chickadee. Their findings, published in the journal Ecology and Evolution, show that it’s not just birds of the same feather that flock together around a fight.

“It’s pretty common to see aggressive interactions between individuals of the same species. Maybe two titmice start fighting, and we’d notice the cardinals and the jays would stay and watch,” says Sieving, a faculty member in the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) department of wildlife ecology and conservation.

“We’ve noticed these other species’ behaviors, but it didn’t click until this study that those other species could be influencing the fighters, as well.”

 

[koolishman]

Oxford University and Prenetics announce landmark collaboration to scale rapid testing tech globally

Our goal is to decentralize laboratory testing with rapid, highly accurate, molecular testing, not just for COVID-19 but for all infectious diseases

Today, the University of Oxford, Prenetics Limited, a global leader in diagnostics and genetic testing, and Oxford Suzhou Centre for Advanced Research (OSCAR) have signed collaboration agreements to further develop the award-winning OxLAMPTM technology, a rapid, molecular testing technology for infectious diseases.

Professor Zhanfeng Cui, Donald Pollock Professor of Chemical Engineering at Oxford University and Founding Director at OSCAR said: 'The initial collaboration with Prenetics has exceeded all expectations and their team led by Danny Yeung has been highly involved on a daily basis with our scientific developments.

'When we think about the future, especially with the pandemic, it’s very apparent that testing is here to stay with us for years to come. With this in mind, we are excited about the future roadmap in which we develop novel scientific discoveries to aid the world with fast and accurate molecular testing globally. Our goal is to decentralize laboratory testing with rapid, highly accurate, molecular testing, not just for COVID-19 but for all infectious diseases. I’m confident we can succeed in our mission with Prenetics.'

Following the successful acquisition and commercialization by Prenetics of Oxsed, an Oxford University spin-out company from October 2020, it was envisioned that a deeper scientific and long-term collaboration would be formed to advance molecular diagnostic testing for global unmet needs.

 

[koolishman]

From extravagant to achievable - pushing the boundaries of research to find life beyond Earth

The University of Cambridge is creating a new research initiative, bringing together physicists, chemists, biologists, mathematicians, and earth scientists to answer fundamental questions on the origin and nature of life in the Universe.

Led by 2019 Physics Nobel Laureate Professor Didier Queloz, the Cambridge Initiative for Planetary Science and Life in the Universe will be the driving force for the development of a new Cambridge research community investigating life in the Universe, from understanding how it emerged on Earth to examining the processes that could make other planets suitable for life.

The initiative comes at a crucial moment in science, as scientists are able to study exoplanets – planets orbiting stars other than our Sun – in ever-greater detail, and outstanding progress is being made in prebiotic chemistry: carefully-regulated laboratory experiments to recreate the conditions when life first formed on Earth.

In addition, the recent successful landing of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover set in motion one of the greatest international scientific endeavours of recent decades. Within the next ten years, samples returned from a four-billion-year-old lake deposit on Mars will offer a unique window on the Solar System as it was when life originated on Earth and could provide evidence of ancient life on the Red Planet.

 

[CraigD]

Working from home and your toddler almost triggers the third world war...

A toddler-free announcement this time. Sleep well.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1384343498825027584

 

[Cal2]

Winners of $20M contest make concrete to trap carbon dioxide

Organizers of a $20 million contest to develop products from greenhouse gas that flows from power plants announced two winners Monday ahead of launching a similar but much bigger competition backed by Elon Musk.

Both winners made concrete that trapped carbon dioxide, keeping it out of the atmosphere, where it can contribute to climate change. Production of cement, concrete's key ingredient, accounts for 7% of global emissions of the greenhouse gas, said Marcius Extavour, XPRIZE vice president of climate and energy.

"So it's not surprising that the winning teams focused on reducing emissions associated with concrete, which will be a game-changer for global decarbonization," he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Musk, the electric car and space entrepreneur, has pledged $100 million for researchers who can show how to trap huge volumes of carbon dioxide straight from the atmosphere and store the gas permanently. That competition will kick off Thursday, which is Earth Day.

When thinking about xprize - maybe even involving oneself or organization in an xprize challenge - something to consider. Although the following article is dated - April/2016 - I verified its points with a friend who'd had a couple more recent experiences with xprize challenges. His conclusion for xprize was 'phoniness':

Is the XPRIZE really a “prize” at all

https://schatziesearthproject.com/2016/04/26/is-the-xprize-really-a-prize-at-all/

 

[J Sokol]

Climate anxiety and PTSD are on the rise. Therapists don’t always know how to cope

Andrew Bryant, a therapist based in Tacoma, Washington, felt helpless the first time climate change came up in his office. It was 2016, and a client was agonizing over whether to have a baby. His partner wanted one, but the young man couldn’t stop envisioning this hypothetical child growing up in an apocalyptic, climate-changed world.

Bryant was used to guiding people through their relationship conflicts, anxieties about the future, and life-changing decisions. But this felt different. Bryant had long felt concerned about climate change, but in a distant, theoretical way. The patient’s despair faced him with an entirely new reality: that climate change would directly impact his life and the lives of future generations.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/20/climate-emergency-anxiety-threapists

 

[koolishman]

Fast radio bursts shown to include lower frequency radio waves than previously detected

Since fast radio bursts (FRBs) were first discovered over a decade ago, scientists have puzzled over what could be generating these intense flashes of radio waves from outside of our galaxy. In a gradual process of elimination, the field of possible explanations has narrowed as new pieces of information are gathered about FRBs – how long they last, the frequencies of the radio waves detected, and so on.

Now, a team led by McGill University researchers and members of Canada’s CHIME Fast Radio Burst collaboration has established that FRBs include radio waves at frequencies lower than ever detected before, a discovery that redraws the boundaries for theoretical astrophysicists trying to put their finger on the source of FRBs.

“We detected fast radio bursts down to 110 MHz where before these bursts were only known to exist down to 300 MHz,” explained Ziggy Pleunis, a postdoctoral researcher in McGill’s Department of Physics and lead author of the research recently published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. “This tells us that the region around the source of the bursts must be transparent to low-frequency emission, whereas some theories suggested that all low-frequency emission would be absorbed right away and could never be detected.”

 

[CraigD]

When thinking about xprize - maybe even involving oneself or organization in an xprize challenge - something to consider. Although the following article is dated - April/2016 - I verified its points with a friend who'd had a couple more recent experiences with xprize challenges. His conclusion for xprize was 'phoniness':

Is the XPRIZE really a “prize” at all

https://schatziesearthproject.com/2016/04/26/is-the-xprize-really-a-prize-at-all/

A couple of articles that raise similar questions.


The Science Prize: Innovation or Stealth Advertising?
Rewards for Advancing Knowledge Have Blossomed Recently, but Some Say They Don't Help Solve Big Problems.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124173078482897809


Are XPRIZEs the Future of Scientific Discovery and Exploration?
Competitions spur creativity and promise tangible results to address some of the world’s biggest problems
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/xprize-future-of-science-tech/




Yes, we should be sceptical about the motivations of organizations and foundations awarding prizes, but many great inventions and technologies that we take for granted were spurned on by the promise of fame and fortune with similar prizes.

Aviation for example was in its early days heavily promoted with competitions that pushed the development timeframe both before and after the Great war when government funded development was lacking.

The Power of Aerospace Prizes for Innovation
Almost with the birth of the airplane, wealthy businessmen or organizations interested in the development of aviation established prizes to help advance the technology of flight. And they did, a lot.

During the first third of the twentieth century, a host of cash awards encouraged designers and pilots to undertake great feats in the fledgling aeronautical industry—in spite of difficulties and risks. By 1929 over 50 major aeronautical prizes had been offered by government, businesses, and individuals.
https://launiusr.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/the-power-of-aerospace-prizes-for-innovation/


One of my favourite aviation prizes/competitions was the Schneider Trophy which dramatically pushed airframe and engine development. It was as popular as Formula 1 car racing is today, and set many world speed records. Some of the air-speed records set by these aircraft in the early 1930's still stand today!

The Supermarine S.6B seaplane (circa 1931)
Top speed 407.5 mph (655.8 km/h, 354.1 kn) (World speed record).


Compare that to Britain's front-line fighter/interceptor introduced later that same year, the Hawker Fury biplane with a top speed just over 200 mph (321 kmh). If this design looks somewhat familiar to WW2 aviation buffs, it is because this model was later developed into a monoplane design that was named the Hawker Hurricane.

The technological advances of the world-record holding Supermarine S6.B seaplane as described above, were later applied to the design and development of the Supermarine Spitfire prototype K5054, while the Roll-Royce R-series engine that was specially developed for the seaplane spurned on the development of the legendary Merlin V-12 engines.

 

[koolishman]

A Massive New Gene Editing Project Is Out to Crush Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s is cruel in the most insidious way. The disorder creeps up in some aging brains, gradually eating away at their ability to think and reason, whittling down their grasp on memories and reality. As the world’s population ages, Alzheimer’s is rearing its ugly head at a shocking rate. And despite decades of research, we have no treatment—not to mention a cure.

Too much of a downer? The National Institutes of Health (NIH) agrees. In one of the most ambitious projects in biology, the NIH is corralling Alzheimer’s and stem cell researchers to come together in the largest genome editing project ever conceived.

The idea is simple: decades of research have found certain genes that seem to increase the chance of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. The numbers range over hundreds. Figuring out how each connects or influences another—if at all—takes years of research in individual labs. What if scientists unite, tap into a shared resource, and collectively solve the case of why Alzheimer’s occurs in the first place?

The initiative’s secret weapon is induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs. Similar to most stem cells, they have the ability to transform into anything—a cellular genie, if you will. iPSCs are reborn from regular adult cells, such as skin cells. When transformed into a brain cell, however, they carry the original genes of their donor, meaning that they harbor the original person’s genetic legacy—for example, his or her chance of developing Alzheimer’s in the first place. What if we introduce Alzheimer’s-related genes into these reborn stem cells, and watch how they behave?

By studying these iPSCs, we might be able to follow clues that lead to the genetic causes of Alzheimer’s and other dementias—paving the road for gene therapies to nip them in the bud.


https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627321001926