Science & Technology news & discussion

They tried some " DarkSat" coating to dim the brightness. Did it work?

 

Huge problem for astro-gazers. I've seen a number of astro photographs ruined by these satellites.

Personally I'm not a fan of hundreds of tiny satellites polluting our skies, but I suppose it is all the name of progress.

The street light also had a massive negative impact on star-gazing, but we take it for granted now that the benefits of street lighting outweigh the negative impacts.

 

Neutrino detection gets to the core of the Sun

The first detection of neutrinos produced by the Sun’s secondary solar-fusion cycle paves the way for a detailed understanding of the structure of the Sun and of the formation of massive stars.

Writing in Nature, the Borexino Collaboration1 reports results that blast past a milestone in neutrino physics. They have detected solar neutrinos produced by a cycle of nuclear-fusion reactions known as the carbon–nitrogen–oxygen (CNO) cycle. Measurements of these neutrinos have the potential to resolve uncertainties about the composition of the solar core, and offer crucial insights into the formation of heavy sta
A decades-long campaign of experiments followed, seeking to resolve this ‘solar neutrino problem’. Nobel-prizewinning results from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Ontario, Canada, eventually explained the deficit: the neutrinos were changing flavour between their production and detection3. The Borexino experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy followed up this result with a full spectral analysis of neutrinos from many stages of the pp chain8. This analysis finally allowed the field to come full circle, re-opening the possibility of using solar neutrinos as a means of probing the Sun’s interior.

The Borexino Collaboration now reports another groundbreaking achievement from its experiment: the first detection of neutrinos from the CNO cycle. This result is a huge leap forward, offering the chance to resolve the mystery of the elemental composition of the Sun’s core. In astrophysics, any element heavier than helium is termed a metal. The exact metal content (the metallicity) of a star’s core affects the rate of the CNO cycle. This, in turn, influences the temperature and density profile — and thus the evolution — of the star, as well as the opacity of its outer layers.


Experimental evidence of neutrinos produced in the CNO fusion cycle in the Sun | Nature

 

I heard they were going to do something about the brightness yes... anyway I really don't know if it's a very good idea to load the low Earth orbit with thousands of satellites... it could end up like the movie "Gravity" with thousands of satellites crashing into other objects or one another.

 

A hint of new physics in polarized radiation from the early universe

Using Planck data from the cosmic microwave background radiation, an international team of researchers has observed a hint of new physics. The team developed a new method to measure the polarization angle of the ancient light by calibrating it with dust emission from our own Milky Way. While the signal is not detected with enough precision to draw definite conclusions, it may suggest that dark matter or dark energy causes a violation of the so-called "parity symmetry."

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-hint-physics-polarized-early-universe.html

 

NASA Scientists Discover ‘Weird’ Molecule in Titan’s Atmosphere

NASA scientists identified a molecule in Titan’s atmosphere that has never been detected in any other atmosphere. In fact, many chemists have probably barely heard of it or know how to pronounce it: cyclopropenylidene, or C3H2. Scientists say that this simple carbon-based molecule may be a precursor to more complex compounds that could form or feed possible life on Titan.

Researchers found C3H2 by using a radio telescope observatory in northern Chile known as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). They noticed C3H2, which is made of carbon and hydrogen, while sifting through a spectrum of unique light signatures collected by the telescope; these revealed the chemical makeup of Titan’s atmosphere by the energy its molecules emitted or absorbed.


“When I realized I was looking at cyclopropenylidene, my first thought was, ‘Well, this is really unexpected,’” said Conor Nixon, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who led the ALMA search. His team’s findings were published on October 15 in the Astronomical Journal.

Detection of Cyclopropenylidene on Titan with ALMA - IOPscience

 

Researchers Discovered Solid Phosphorus from a Comet

An international study led from the University of Turku discovered phosphorus and fluorine in solid dust particles collected from a comet. The finding indicates that all the most important elements necessary for life may have been delivered to the Earth by comets.

Researchers have discovered phosphorus and fluorine in solid dust particles collected from the inner coma of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. It takes the comet 6.5 years to orbit the Sun.

We have shown that apatite minerals are not the source of phosphorus, which implies that the discovered phosphorus occurs in some more reduced and possibly more soluble form, says the project leader Harry Lehto from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Turku.

https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa2950

 

With these recent discoveries of interesting organic molecules and building block particles in our solar neighbours, the panspermia theory which suggests that life on Earth did not originate on our planet but was transported here, is gaining a lot of traction in the scientific community.

Origin Of Life: The Panspermia Theory | Helix Magazine (northwestern.edu)

In Search of Panspermia | News | Astrobiology (nasa.gov)

Panspermia - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

Life Traveling In Space: A Story Of Panspermia | Postcards from the Universe | Learn Science at Scitable (nature.com)

The Origins of Directed Panspermia - Scientific American Blog Network

A brief history of panspermia - Cosmos Magazine

What Is ‘Panspermia?’ New Evidence For The Wild Theory That Says We Could All Be Space Aliens (forbes.com)

 

Spaceflight Impairs Mitochondrial Function, New Research Shows

Critical parts of a cell’s energy production machinery, the mitochondria, can be made dysfunctional due to changes in gravity, radiation exposure and other factors, according to new research.

http://www.sci-news.com/medicine/spaceflight-mitochondrial-function-09092.html

 

Moths draped in stealth acoustic cloak evade bat sonar


Moths can hide from the sonar of feeding bats using their acoustically camouflaged wings. Their evolved stealth adaptation is the result of an array of scales attached to their wing membranes that absorb ultrasound frequencies emitted by hunting bats, and are the first acoustic metamaterials found in nature.

A University of Bristol team discovered that sound waves from bats that hit the fork-shaped scales found on two species of moth cause them to bend and twist, dissipating the energy. ‘Less sound is reflected back to the bat, and the moth thereby disappears or partially disappears from the bat’s sonar screen,’ explains Marc Holderied, an acoustic biologist at the University of Bristol, UK.

The fine structure of each scale is remarkable. ‘They are highly structured on a nanometre scale with strongly perforated corrugated top and bottom layers that are interconnected by a network of minute pillars,’ explains Holderied.

The acoustic cloak works between 20kHz and 160kHz, performing best at lower frequencies, around the ranges that bats scan for prey. Peak absorption occurred at 78kHz, with 72% of sound absorbed.


So, nature had gears before humans invented them, and stealth technology too.

What next?

 

"HOLY GRAIL" METALLIC HYDROGEN IS GOING TO CHANGE EVERYTHING

Two Harvard scientists have succeeded in creating an entirely new substance long believed to be the “holy grail” of physics — metallic hydrogen, a material of unparalleled power that could one day propel humans into deep space.

Metallic hydrogen has also been predicted to be a high or possibly room-temperature superconductor. There are no other known room-temperature superconductors in existence, meaning the applications are immense — particularly for the electric grid, which suffers for energy lost through heat dissipation. It could also facilitate magnetic levitation for futuristic high-speed trains; substantially improve performance of electric cars; and revolutionize the way energy is produced and stored.

https://vrzone.com/articles/100-years-theory-metallic-hydrogen-created/121134.html

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6326/715

 

I remember reading about bat radar evasion from moths some time ago. Tiger moths instead of hiding form the bat's radar, emit ultrasonic clicks that jam bat radar.
And another moth, hawk moths, issue an ultrasonic “warning” whenever a bat is near.

Moths Block Bats' Sonar

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2009/07/moths-block-bats-sonar

"A hungry bat screeches out ultrasonic waves and listens as they echo off surrounding objects. One of those echoes sounds an awful lot like a tasty moth, so it swoops in for the kill--but grabs only air. Thwarted again by the tiger moth Bertholdia trigona. New research explains the clever defense; the moth emits ultrasonic clicks that throw off bats' sonarlike echolocation, like jamming a radio signal. It's the first time this type of acoustic interference has been demonstrated in the natural world."

Moths avoid capture by ‘talking back’ to bats

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/moths-avoid-capture-talking-back-bats

"But some moths make these agile mammals miss their mark. Tiger moths, for example, emit ultrasonic clicks that jam bat radar. Now, scientists have shown that hawk moths (above) and other species have also evolved this behavior. The nocturnal insects—which are toxic to bats—issue an ultrasonic “warning” whenever a bat is near."

 

So meteorits and asteroids can literally spread life basic components through the Universe.
Life is very easy to start on a planet with the right conditions like happened on Earth, but even if the planet have some lack of these components, asteroids will reach that planet at some point leaving there the necessary components for life.
I think that in a few years we will have the first prove of life on other planets, and it could be on our own Solar system. Titan, Europa and Enceladus are great places to find it.

About Panspernia:

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

"Panspermia hypotheses propose (for example) that microscopic life-forms that can survive the effects of space (such as extremophiles) can become trapped in debris ejected into space after collisions between planets and small Solar System bodies that harbor life."

This reminds me another post I posted some time ago... about Tardigrades:

Talking about the toughest animals on the planet:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/t/tardigrades-water-bears/

What is a tardigrade?

"Tardigrades are microscopic eight-legged animals that have been to outer space and would likely survive the apocalypse. Bonus: They look like adorable miniature bears."

Tiny and tough

"Tardigrades belong to an elite category of animals known as extremophiles, or critters that can survive environments that most others can't. For instance, tardigrades can go up to 30 years without food or water. They can also live at temperatures as cold as absolute zero or above boiling, at pressures six times that of the ocean’s deepest trenches, and in the vacuum of space.

Their resiliency is in part due to a unique protein in their bodies called Dsup—short for "damage suppressor"—that protects their DNA from being harmed by things like ionizing radiation, which is present in soil, water, and vegetation."

Tardigrades become first animals to survive vacuum of space

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/...ome-first-animals-to-survive-vacuum-of-space/

"In September last year, a team of scientists launched a squad of tiny animals into space aboard a Russian satellite. Once in orbit, the creatures were shunted into ventilated containers that exposed them to the vacuum of space. In this final frontier, they had no air and they were subjected to extreme dehydration, freezing temperatures, weightlessness and lashings of both cosmic and solar radiation. It’s hard to imagine a more inhospitable environment for life but not only did the critters survive, they managed to reproduce on their return to Earth. Meet the planet’s toughest animals – the tardigrades."

 

Nature is Amazing.

 

China’s New Aircraft Carrier Killer Is World’s Largest Air-Launched Missile

H I Sutton sheds some light on China's latest aircraft carrier killer: The CH-AS-X-13 air-launched anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM).

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2020/11/chinas-new-aircraft-carrier-killer-is-worlds-largest-air-launched-missile/

 

Earth Is a Whole Lot Closer to Our Galaxy's Supermassive Black Hole Than We Thought

It seems that Earth has been misplaced.

According to a new map of the Milky Way galaxy, the Solar System's position isn't where we thought it was. Not only is it closer to the galactic centre - and the supermassive hole therein, Sagittarius A* - it's orbiting at a faster clip.

https://www.sciencealert.com/earth-...axy-s-supermassive-black-hole-than-we-thought

 

Periodic table: scientists propose new way of ordering the elements

The latest attempt to order elements in this manner was recently published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry by scientists Zahed Allahyari and Artem Oganov. Their approach, building on the earlier work of others, is to assign to each element what’s called a Mendeleev Number (MN). There are several ways to derive such numbers, but the latest study uses a combination of two fundamental quantities which can be measured directly: an element’s atomic radius and a property called electronegativity which describes how strongly an atom attracts electrons to itself.

If one orders the elements by their MN, nearest neighbours have, unsurprisingly, rather similar MNs. But of more use is to take this one step further and construct a two-dimensional grid based on the MN of the constituent elements in so called “binary compounds”. These are compounds composed of two elements, such as sodium chloride, NaCl.

What is the benefit of this approach? Importantly, it can help to predict the properties of binary compounds that haven’t been made yet. This is useful in the search for new materials that are likely be needed for both future and existing technologies. In time, no doubt, this will be extended to compounds with more than two elemental components.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c07857

 

It can be seen from space, apparently.

 

Earth’s Second Known Minimoon is Natural Object, Astronomers Say
In a new paper published in the Astronomical Journal, astronomers from the United States, Canada and Europe provide a detailed characterization of the physical properties and orbital evolution of the asteroid 2020 CD3 — Earth’s second discovered temporary natural satellite, or minimoon. Their results prove that 2020 CD3 is a natural body and not some relic piece of human-made space junk.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/abc3bc

 

Follow Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich in Real Time As It Orbits Earth


With NASA's Eyes on the Earth web-based app, you can tag along with the U.S.-European satellite as it orbits the globe, gathering critical measurements of our changing planet.


https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/orrery/#/home

 

Wow nice graphics! You can see all the planets orbits, zoom and rotate 360 degrees.
It's interesting to see how the orbit of all planets are on the same level, until distant Pluto. Even Neptune is on the same level as all the rest. Sun's gravitational field really pulls all the planets move on the same curve.

What Is Gravity?

https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/what-is-gravity/en/

"Albert Einstein described gravity as a curve in space that wraps around an object—such as a star or a planet. If another object is nearby, it is pulled into the curve."

By the way, the two Voyagers are so far away from the Solar System already!

Voyager Mission Overview

https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/

"The twin Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft are exploring where nothing from Earth has flown before. Continuing on their more-than-40-year journey since their 1977 launches, they each are much farther away from Earth and the sun than Pluto. In August 2012, Voyager 1 made the historic entry into interstellar space, the region between stars, filled with material ejected by the death of nearby stars millions of years ago. Voyager 2 entered interstellar space on November 5, 2018 and scientists hope to learn more about this region. Both spacecraft are still sending scientific information about their surroundings through the Deep Space Network, or DSN"

 

Polar scientists wary of impending satellite gap

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-55109092

"There is going to be a gap of several years in our ability to measure the thickness of ice at the top and bottom of the world, scientists are warning.

The only two satellites dedicated to observing the poles are almost certain to die before replacements are flown.

This could leave us blind to some important changes in the Arctic and the Antarctic as the climate warms.

The researchers have raised their concerns with the European Commission and the European Space Agency."

 

Chinese submarine sends first live video back from the bottom of the Mariana Trench

 

Deep Frozen Arctic Microbes Are Waking Up

Thawing permafrost is releasing microorganisms, with consequences that are still largely unknown

Some of these microbes are known to scientists. Methanogenic Archaea, for example metabolize soil carbon to release methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Other permafrost microbes (methanotrophs) consume methane. The balance between these microbes plays a critical role in determining future climate warming.

Others are known but have unpredictable behavior after release. New evidence of genes moving between thawing ecosystems indicates a restructuring at multiple levels. In the Arctic Ocean, planktonic Chloroflexi bacteria recently acquired genes used for degrading carbon from land-based Actinobacteria species. As melt-swollen Arctic rivers carried sediments from thawing permafrost to the sea, the genes for processing permafrost carbon were also transported.

Permafrost thaw in Siberia led to a 2016 anthrax outbreak and the death of 200,000 reindeer and a child.* But the hardy spores of Bacillus anthracis may represent an exception to the brutal freeze-thaw cycle that degrades more delicate bacterial and viral pathogens. Their adaptable characteristics have allowed them to remain frozen and viable over centuries of inactivity.

 

Molecule that promotes muscle health when magnetised

Led by Associate Professor Alfredo Franco-Obregón from the NUS Institute for Health Innovation and Technology (iHealthtech), the team found that a protein known as TRPC1 responds to weak oscillating magnetic fields. Such a response is normally activated when the body exercises. This responsiveness to magnets could be used to stimulate muscle recovery, which could improve the life quality for patients with impaired mobility, in an increasingly ageing society.

“The use of pulsed magnetic fields to simulate some of the effects of exercise will greatly benefit patients with muscle injury, stroke, and frailty as a result of advanced age,” said lead researcher Assoc Prof Franco-Obregón, who is also from the NUS Department of Surgery.

The NUS research team collaborated with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) on this study, and their results were first published online in Advanced Biosystems on 2 September 2020. The work was also featured on the cover of the journal’s print edition on 27 November 2020.

Metabolic health such as weight, blood sugar levels, insulin, and cholesterol are strongly influenced by muscle health. As exercise is a strong modulator of metabolic diseases through the working of the muscles, and magnetic fields exert similar benefits of exercise, such magnetism may help patients who are unable to undertake exercise because of injury, disease, or frailty. As such, the NUS iHealthtech research team is now working to extend their study to reduce drug dependence for the treatment of diseases such as diabetes.

“We hope that our research can help alleviate side effects by reducing the use of drugs for disease treatment, and to improve the quality of life of the patients,” said Assoc Prof Franco-Obregón.



www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adbi.202000146