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!

 

[koolishman]

An amazing experiment to communicate with bees.

RoboBee speaks honeybee dance language

Bees are famous for communicating using the waggle dance – walking forward while rapidly vibrating their rear. In the 1940s, biologist Karl von Frisch realised that the length and angle of the dance correlated with the distance and direction of the food source the bee had just visited. Since then, most apiologists have held that dancers tell their fellows where to find food (New Scientist, 19 September 2009, p 40).

Now Tim Landgraf of the Free University of Berlin in Germany and colleagues have programmed their foam RoboBee, to mimic the dance. RoboBee is stuck to the end of a rod attached to a computer, which determines its “dance” moves. The rod is also connected to a belt which makes it vibrate. Like a real bee, it can spin, buzz its wings, carry scents and droplets of sugar water, and give off heat.


What do real bees think of RoboBee’s skills? In a field outside Berlin, Landgraf trained groups of honeybees to use a feeder, which he then closed. The bees stopped foraging and stayed in their hives. There they met RoboBee, which had been programmed with Landgraf’s best guess at a waggle dance pointing to another feeder, which the bees had never visited.

The bees responded by leaving the hive, but returned to their old feeders. For now, it looks like RoboBee persuaded them to forage, but failed to communicate where to go. The team is confident RoboBee didn’t just scare away the foragers, as honeybees respond to intruders by stinging, not fleeing.

 

[koolishman]

Iridescent snake with shimmering scales discovered in Vietnam

In 2019, American and Vietnamese scientists were researching biodiversity in the jungles and mountains of Vietnam when they stumbled upon a strange-looking snake.

It was dark and iridescent, its scales shifting through blues and greens in the light. The scales were small, ridged, and oddly patterned. The seasoned scientists had no idea what it was -- and soon realized they were looking at an undiscovered species.

 

[Cannuck]

I don't think that's an evidence of alien visit to our planet sorry.
I just see a very blurred video and mummy there with long legs? I really don't see any evidence of alien there.

Not definitive proof but the video demonstrated "some kind of strange toxic gas rising which makes the men come back with protective gear on and gas masks." Was it used for preservation? The artifacts surrounding the mummy are not clear, but Russian sources said to be otherworldy.

Additional evidence comes from some of the architecture we see around the world ie. Giza and Teothihuacan or Ollantaytambo are example of ancient cities of huge blocks of perfectly interfitting slabs of stone that were transported great distances, engineered and laid out in specific geometries relating to the cosmos. Today we wouldn't have the technology to construct. How did the ancients build these and with what tools/methods? Could be ancient aliens assisted.

 

[Sutruk]

Not definitive proof but the video demonstrated "some kind of strange toxic gas rising which makes the men come back with protective gear on and gas masks." Was it used for preservation? The artifacts surrounding the mummy are not clear, but Russian sources said to be otherworldy.

Additional evidence comes from some of the architecture we see around the world ie. Giza and Teothihuacan or Ollantaytambo are example of ancient cities of huge blocks of perfectly interfitting slabs of stone that were transported great distances, engineered and laid out in specific geometries relating to the cosmos. Today we wouldn't have the technology to construct. How did the ancients build these and with what tools/methods? Could be ancient aliens assisted.

Yes, I know that experts cannot explain how they made such amazing constructions like some Egyptian, Mayan or Aztec pyramids.
There is a pyramid, I think a Mayan one, on a mountain where there's no rocks like the ones used to build the pyramid, and would be so difficult to bring there such a big and heavy blocks to make that pyramid.
But in my opinion, we underestimate the engineering knowledge of those civilizations.
I mean, I have seen some actual researchers trying to reproduce, to a lower escale, a similar pyramid like the Egypt ones with the tools of that civilization, and they couldn't do it.
In my opinion, you need to live on that civilization, to only have those ancient tools to build the pyramid, in order to do it.
They already had engineers and plenty of time, to make it and build those ancient constructions.
If you only have a limited tools to make something, you will make it, because that's the only that you have.
If you, like the actual researchers, have learnt how to make a building with actual tools, and one day you try to make a pyramid with ancient tools, you will fail, for more that you try it.

 

[Cannuck]

Yes, I know that experts cannot explain how they made such amazing constructions like some Egyptian, Mayan or Aztec pyramids.
There is a pyramid, I think a Mayan one, on a mountain where there's no rocks like the ones used to build the pyramid, and would be so difficult to bring there such a big and heavy blocks to make that pyramid.
But in my opinion, we underestimate the engineering knowledge of those civilizations.
I mean, I have seen some actual researchers trying to reproduce, to a lower escale, a similar pyramid like the Egypt ones with the tools of that civilization, and they couldn't do it.
In my opinion, you need to live on that civilization, to only have those ancient tools to build the pyramid, in order to do it.
They already had engineers and plenty of time, to make it and build those ancient constructions.
If you only have a limited tools to make something, you will make it, because that's the only that you have.
If you, like the actual researchers, have learnt how to make a building with actual tools, and one day you try to make a pyramid with ancient tools, you will fail, for more that you try it.

It is amazing how the ancients could fit huge blocks of granite fused together so perfectly that a human hair could not even pass through. Even today its beyond our advanced technologies to replicate. That is why I believe they had help from alien visitors. There's probably alot more evidence that has yet to be revealed (or concealed), only that it's impossible to hide megalithic structures.

In fact, I'm one of the few remaining coopers around who can make a watertight vessel by hand using traditional tools (barrels etc.). Prior to the Industrial Revolution that was the main carriage of liquid transport.

 

[Sutruk]

how the ancients could fit huge blocks of granite fused together so perfectly that a human hair could not even pass through.

Machu Picchu is an example of a perfect built construction where its blocks were fitted perfectly together, necessary in order to build such a construction in the top of an inclined mountain.
But the explanation is that it was their own people who built it, with a lot of care and attention.
It was constructed as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472).
The emperor begun the construction using slaves, but soon the engineers realised it would be impossible to built it with them, because they didn't put enough care and attention making and putting together those blocks.
So, it was finally their own people, people that was really interested in doing the things perfectly, in putting and fitting all the blocks perfectly together, who finally build that amazing construction.

 

[Cannuck]

If you examine the statue of Ramses, it is perfectly symmetrical and smooth, how could that be accomplished with mere hand tools that have been said to exist at the time? These are mysteries.

Also, one might suggest that traditional medicine that has been practiced for thousands of years may have been inspired by an advanced civilization and perfected over a millennium vs. modern medicine that has only been around for decades, even though major advances have recently been made.

 

[Sutruk]

Also, one might suggest that traditional medicine that has been practiced for thousands of years may have been inspired by an advanced civilization and perfected over a millennium vs. modern medicine that has only been around for decades, even though major advances have recently been made.

Well, our life expectancy and life quality has increased a lot thanks to modern medicine.
Would you like to live 200 years ago without modern medicine? Have a toothache? If you are lucky enough, take that tooth out. If not, thanks to the tooth infection, game over. Have a pneumonia? Game over. Syphilis? Game over with late dementia. Have a bone break? Lucky enough if that bone doesn't get an infection. Appendicitis? Game over.
Not only the average life expectancy has increased, but also the life quality, thanks to modern medicine.

 

[koolishman]

Tomatoes engineered to produce vital Parkinson’s disease medicine

Scientists have genetically modified a tomato to produce L-DOPA, a drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease. The researchers suggest this innovation could be an easier and cheaper way to produce the essential medicine in regions where access to the synthesized pharmaceutical is restricted.

The proof-of-concept study suggests 150 mg of L-DOPA can be produced from about 1 kg (2.2 lb) of tomatoes. Alongside presenting a novel mode of manufacturing, the study hypothesizes this naturally produced form of the molecule may help reduce the adverse effects seen in some Parkinson’s patients who respond negatively to chemically synthesized L-DOPA.

Metabolic engineering of tomato fruit enriched in L-DOPA - ScienceDirect

 

[koolishman]

World carbon dioxide emissions drop 7% in pandemic-hit 2020

A locked-down pandemic-struck world cut its carbon dioxide emissions this year by 7%, the biggest drop ever, new preliminary figures show.

The Global Carbon Project, an authoritative group of dozens of international scientists who track emissions, calculated that the world will have put 37 billion U.S. tons (34 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide in the air in 2020. That’s down from 40.1 billion US tons (36.4 billion metric tons) in 2019, according a study published Thursday in the journal Earth System Science Data.


Scientists say this drop is chiefly because people are staying home, traveling less by car and plane, and that emissions are expected to jump back up after the pandemic ends. Ground transportation makes up about one-fifth of emissions of carbon dioxide, the chief man-made heat-trapping gas.

“Of course, lockdown is absolutely not the way to tackle climate change,” said study co-author Corinne LeQuere, a climate scientist at the University of East Anglia.

 

[CraigD]

You've Never Seen The Moon Like This Before, But It's a Real Image

Blue Moon. Strawberry Moon. Supermoon. Snow Moon. Blood Moon. Earth's favourite satellite buddy has a name for every occasion. Yet the most glorious view of the full Moon we've seen to date has no name.

https://www.sciencealert.com/you-ve-never-seen-the-moon-looking-as-fabulous-as-this

 

[koolishman]

Cognitive performance of four-months-old ravens may parallel adult apes

By four months of age the cognitive performance of ravens in experimental tasks testing their understanding of the physical world and how they interact with other ravens may be similar to those of adult great apes, according to a study published in Scientific Reports.

Simone Pika and colleagues tested the cognitive skills of eight hand-raised ravens at four, eight, 12 and 16 months of age using a series of tests. The skills the authors investigated included spatial memory, object permanence—understanding that an object still exists when it is out of sight—understanding relative numbers and addition, and the ability to communicate with and learn from a human experimenter.

The authors found that the cognitive performance of ravens was similar from four to 16 months of age, suggesting that the speed at which the ravens' cognitive skills develop is relatively rapid and near-to-complete by four months of age. At this age ravens become more and more independent from their parents and start to discover their ecological and social environments. Although task performance varied between individuals, ravens generally performed best in tasks testing addition and understanding of relative numbers and worst in tasks testing spatial memory.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-77060-8

 

[koolishman]

For 30th Anniversary, Hubble Releases Images of 30 Celestial Gems

The Hubble Space Telescope turned 30 this year, and for the occasion, it’s sharing a present with you. NASA has just released dozens of newly processed Hubble images featuring 30 dazzling galaxies, sparkling star clusters, and ethereal nebulae.

And there’s something extra special about these 30 celestial gems: All of them can be seen through backyard telescopes. Some of them can also be spotted with binoculars or even the naked eye.

 

[CraigD]

Paleontologists Find 27-Million-Year Cycle In Earth’s Mass Extinctions

Mass extinctions of land-dwelling animals—including amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds—follow a cycle of about 27 million years, coinciding with previously reported mass extinctions of ocean life, according to a new analysis published in the journal Historical Biology.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressan/2020/12/11/paleontologists-find-27-million-year-cycle-in-earths-mass-extinctions/

 

[CraigD]

China's Chang'e 5 Moon Mission is Set to Return After Completing Orbital Manoeuvre

China's Chang'e 5 probe has completed its orbital manoeuvre and is now approaching the flight path that will lead it to Earth, the Xinhua news agency quoted the China National Space Agency as saying. After spending six days in the lunar orbit and collecting samples from the surface of the Moon, the Chinese probe is expected to return in mid-December and land in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

https://sputniknews.com/asia/202012...to-return-after-completing-orbital-manoeuvre/

 

[CraigD]

In a Mind-Bending New Paper, Physicists Give Schrodinger's Cat a Cheshire Grin

"I've often seen a cat without a grin," thought Alice. "But a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in all my life!"

It's an experience eminent physicist Yakir Aharonov can relate to. Together with fellow Israeli physicist Daniel Rohrlich, he's shown theoretically how a particle might show its face in a corner of an experiment without needing its body anywhere in sight.

https://www.sciencealert.com/schrod...in-in-a-mind-bending-quantum-physics-analysis

 

[CraigD]

Polarization increases with economic decline, becoming cripplingly contagious

The rise of populist movements is changing political systems around the world. As support for these "anti-elite" movements intensifies, many are scrambling to understand whether economic decline and intensifying inter-group conflict are playing a role.

https://phys.org/news/2020-12-polarization-economic-decline-cripplingly-contagious.html

 

[CraigD]

Spiders In Space: Without Gravity, Light Becomes Key To Orientation

Humans have taken spiders into space more than once to study the importance of gravity to their web-building. What originally began as a somewhat unsuccessful PR experiment for high school students has yielded the surprising insight that light plays a larger role in arachnid orientation than previously thought

http://astrobiology.com/2020/12/spi...gravity-light-becomes-key-to-orientation.html

 

[koolishman]

Study: People who believe in conspiracy theories have a "Jumping To Conclusion" bias.

Frontiers | Thinking Preferences and Conspiracy Belief: Intuitive Thinking and the Jumping to Conclusions-Bias as a Basis for the Belief in Conspiracy Theories | Psychiatry (frontiersin.org)

Methods: We assessed the data of 519 non-clinical individuals regarding their respective approval of 20 specific conspiracy theories in an online study. Further, we assessed the JTC-bias by using a computerized variant of the beads task (fish task). Thinking preferences were measured with the Rational-Experiential Interview.

Results: Subjects who displayed the JTC-bias presented a more pronounced belief in conspiracy theories. In addition, gathering little information in the fish task before performing a decision (less draws to decision) was related to a stronger endorsement of conspiracy theories and a more intuitive thinking style (and a less analytic thinking style). Finally, a preference for intuitive thinking predicted a stronger belief in conspiracy theories in a multiple regression analysis.

Conclusions: Our results demonstrate the implication of a preference for an intuitive thinking style accompanied by a propensity to faster decision-making (JTC-bias) as possible cognitive underpinnings of beliefs in conspiracy theories. Furthermore, our study is the first to confirm the notion of the JTC-bias as a reflection of the use of an intuitive thinking style.

 

[CraigD]

Study: People who believe in conspiracy theories have a "Jumping To Conclusion" bias.

Frontiers | Thinking Preferences and Conspiracy Belief: Intuitive Thinking and the Jumping to Conclusions-Bias as a Basis for the Belief in Conspiracy Theories | Psychiatry (frontiersin.org)

Methods: We assessed the data of 519 non-clinical individuals regarding their respective approval of 20 specific conspiracy theories in an online study. Further, we assessed the JTC-bias by using a computerized variant of the beads task (fish task). Thinking preferences were measured with the Rational-Experiential Interview.

Results: Subjects who displayed the JTC-bias presented a more pronounced belief in conspiracy theories. In addition, gathering little information in the fish task before performing a decision (less draws to decision) was related to a stronger endorsement of conspiracy theories and a more intuitive thinking style (and a less analytic thinking style). Finally, a preference for intuitive thinking predicted a stronger belief in conspiracy theories in a multiple regression analysis.

Conclusions: Our results demonstrate the implication of a preference for an intuitive thinking style accompanied by a propensity to faster decision-making (JTC-bias) as possible cognitive underpinnings of beliefs in conspiracy theories. Furthermore, our study is the first to confirm the notion of the JTC-bias as a reflection of the use of an intuitive thinking style.

 

[Sutruk]

Paleontologists Find 27-Million-Year Cycle In Earth’s Mass Extinctions

Mass extinctions of land-dwelling animals—including amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds—follow a cycle of about 27 million years, coinciding with previously reported mass extinctions of ocean life, according to a new analysis published in the journal Historical Biology.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressan/2020/12/11/paleontologists-find-27-million-year-cycle-in-earths-mass-extinctions/

Every now and then, the Nature makes a reset. Due to asteroid impacts or devastating volcanic eruptions.
But I am afraid that the next one won't be caused by an asteroid or a volcanic eruption, but by the action of humanity on our own environment.
Wait till climate change begins to be harder and clearer, and we will see lack of water and other nature catastrophes, maybe leading to wars for this reasons.
We are destroying our environment, and nature will make a reset when it feels we have done enough damage to the earth.

 

[Sutruk]

Researchers think they spotted new whale species off Mexico

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/sci...hink-spotted-new-whale-species-mexico-rcna197

"If confirmed, the new species would mark a significant discovery among giant mammals."

"Researchers believe they have found a previously unknown species of beaked whale in waters off Mexico’s western coast. If confirmed, the new species would mark a significant discovery among giant mammals.

The team of researchers came upon three unusual specimens while tracking a different, rare species of typically shy beaked whales on Nov. 17 near Mexico’s remote San Benito Islands, about 300 miles south (500 km) of the U.S. border.

“These animals popped to the surface right next to the boat,” said Jay Barlow, a marine mammal biologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego."

 

[koolishman]

Earth Isn't the Only Ocean World in the Solar System

Watery worlds like Ceres — a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt — hint that our solar system is wetter than we thought. And where there's water, there might be life.

Crouched in the rocky confines of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, an icy sphere the size of Texas has been hiding a secret. This dwarf planet, called Ceres, is actually an ocean world, astronomers revealed in 2020. And it’s far from the only one: Scientists have found the best evidence yet that Pluto (also located in a distant part of the solar system strewn with small space rocks) has an active underground ocean, as well.

Ceres boasts more water than any world in the inner solar system other than Earth. That was a major reason why NASA sent the Dawn probe to Ceres, where it entered orbit in 2015. But many expected that even if it once had an ocean, any liquid would now be frozen into its thick and icy crust.

 

[CraigD]

Orbiter-returner of Chang'e-5 enters moon-Earth transfer orbit

The orbiter-returner of China's Chang'e-5 probe has entered the moon-Earth transfer orbit after completing two orbital maneuvers, China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced on Sunday.

...The moon-Earth transfer orbit, also known as the Hohmann Transfer, is a fuel-efficient path allowing spacecrafts transferring between orbits by using fuels as little as possible.

https://english.cctv.com/2020/12/14/ARTIkpHRfcT1a8MZTZe0z0yM201214.shtml

 

[CraigD]

Cognitive performance of four-months-old ravens may parallel adult apes

By four months of age the cognitive performance of ravens in experimental tasks testing their understanding of the physical world and how they interact with other ravens may be similar to those of adult great apes, according to a study published in Scientific Reports.

Simone Pika and colleagues tested the cognitive skills of eight hand-raised ravens at four, eight, 12 and 16 months of age using a series of tests. The skills the authors investigated included spatial memory, object permanence—understanding that an object still exists when it is out of sight—understanding relative numbers and addition, and the ability to communicate with and learn from a human experimenter.

The authors found that the cognitive performance of ravens was similar from four to 16 months of age, suggesting that the speed at which the ravens' cognitive skills develop is relatively rapid and near-to-complete by four months of age. At this age ravens become more and more independent from their parents and start to discover their ecological and social environments. Although task performance varied between individuals, ravens generally performed best in tasks testing addition and understanding of relative numbers and worst in tasks testing spatial memory.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-77060-8

Ravens and crows are very intelligent animals. I've posted a few articles and videos about crow intelligence, specifically memory for human faces, and complex multi-step problem solving using tools.

The tests in this article show that on some levels, 4-month old crows have better cognitive performance than adult apes.

I realise that intelligence is hard to define, but if we ranked animals by how we generally perceive intelligence, should we rank ravens and crows about third, after humans and apes?