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]

Quantum philosophy: 4 ways physics will challenge your reality

Working out the basic nature of reality according to quantum mechanics is a little bit like an impossible Sudoku. No matter where we start with quantum theory, we always end up at a conundrum that forces us to rethink the way the world fundamentally works. (This is what makes quantum mechanics so much fun.)

Let me take you on a brief tour, through the eyes of a philosopher, of the world according to quantum mechanics.

By Peter Evans,
ARC Discovery Early Career Research Fellow, The University of Queensland

https://theconversation.com/quantum-philosophy-4-ways-physics-will-challenge-your-reality-150175

 

[Sutruk]

If a planet has a lot of methane in its atmosphere, life is the most likely cause

https://phys.org/news/2020-12-planet-lot-methane-atmosphere-life.html

"The ultra-powerful James Webb Space Telescope will launch soon. Once it's deployed and in position at the Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 2, it'll begin work. One of its jobs is to examine the atmospheres of exoplanets and look for biosignatures.

...In fact, the presence of oxygen is not necessarily reliable. It's methane that can send a stronger signal indicating the presence of life."

"Oxygen might seem like the obvious thing to look for in a planet's atmosphere when searching for signs of life, but that's not the case. Its presence or lack thereof is not a reliable indicator. Earth's history makes that clear."

"...This is one reason that planetary scientists focus on other things, like methane (CH4). In a new paper, researchers examined the potential for methane to signal biological activity. They say that abundant methane in a planet's atmosphere is unlikely to come from volcanoes and most likely has a biological origin."

 

[Sutruk]

Image: Hubble sees a 'molten ring'

https://phys.org/news/2020-12-image-hubble-molten.html

"The narrow galaxy elegantly curving around its spherical companion in this image is a fantastic example of a truly strange and very rare phenomenon.

First theorized to exist by Einstein in his general theory of relativity, this object's unusual shape can be explained by a process called gravitational lensing, which causes light shining from far away to be bent and pulled by the gravity of an object between its source and the observer. In this case, the light from the background galaxy has been distorted into the curve we see by the gravity of the galaxy cluster sitting in front of it."

 

[DOMAIN ILLUMINATI]

Thanks. I've been hearing these types of arguments quite often recently.

I think the best way to respond is to point out that to 'fake' or control the masses on the scale you are talking about takes an immense number of people to be 'in on the game', and to hold that position and never recant, even on their death beds. It's simply not possible.

Think about the moon landing conspiracy theories. For NASA to fake the moon landing, tens of thousands of people would be required to be in on the deception. I have yet to hear one of these scientists or engineers who worked on that program come out and say that they were part of a huge conspiracy.

As far as pandemics etc, we have historical records from many people, in many professions who report the same incident.

I think that at some point you need to just accept that, no matter how much things don't fit in with your personal view of the world, recorded history is reasonably accurate.

The alternative is to spend your life thinking that everyone but yourself is part of a great deception.

You are welcome.
To think that a conspiracy of global proportions would not be feasible for social reasons is likely based on the (false) assumption that secret societies were formed just to pass the time.
We live in the greatest hierarchical system ever built - based on occultism, held together by oaths, fueled by gold.


CLICK FOR FULL VIEW

It is a basically a pharaonic chronic and their symbols can be found worldwide but especially in Switzerland.

 

[DOMAIN ILLUMINATI]

This is probably one of the best (clearest) examples of GODs perfection in plant nature, I admire this creations optic since the first time I saw it (as a child), simply mind blowing.

 

[CraigD]

The biggest events from 2020, before and after, as seen by satellites

2020 featured incredible upheaval around the world thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as its fill of natural and man-made disasters. Through it all, the scale of the disruption and destruction was captured from the sky by Maxar Technologies, a US space tech company that specialises in Earth observation.

Here are the best before-and-after photos as seen by Maxar's satellites.

https://blog.maxar.com/news-events/...cts-on-biggest-events-seen-from-space-in-2020

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12...020-biggest-events-seen-from-the-sky/12982732

 

[CraigD]

If a planet has a lot of methane in its atmosphere, life is the most likely cause

https://phys.org/news/2020-12-planet-lot-methane-atmosphere-life.html

"The ultra-powerful James Webb Space Telescope will launch soon. Once it's deployed and in position at the Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 2, it'll begin work. One of its jobs is to examine the atmospheres of exoplanets and look for biosignatures.

...In fact, the presence of oxygen is not necessarily reliable. It's methane that can send a stronger signal indicating the presence of life."

"Oxygen might seem like the obvious thing to look for in a planet's atmosphere when searching for signs of life, but that's not the case. Its presence or lack thereof is not a reliable indicator. Earth's history makes that clear."

"...This is one reason that planetary scientists focus on other things, like methane (CH4). In a new paper, researchers examined the potential for methane to signal biological activity. They say that abundant methane in a planet's atmosphere is unlikely to come from volcanoes and most likely has a biological origin."

There was no mention that Methane (CH4) is also abundant on our giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, although the paper does say that the study is concerned with rocky exoplanets similar to Earth.

 

[Sutruk]

There was no mention that Methane (CH4) is also abundant on our giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, although the paper does say that the study is concerned with rocky exoplanets similar to Earth.

I think it is about the proportion of methane also depending on the rest of the gases on the planet:

"During the Archaean Eon, Earth's heat flow was up to three times more than it is currently. According to the study, it could've produced 25 times more magma than modern Earth and much more methane. But the same activity that produced all that methane would also produce far more carbon dioxide. That, the authors point out, is a detectable false-positive. But if abundant methane is detected without accompanying amounts of CO2, then that is a more reliable biosignature."

 

[koolishman]

Neutron stars scanned for signals of dark matter turning into light

Dark matter is thought to outnumber the regular stuff by a ratio of five to one, yet it remains frustratingly elusive. But there might be ways to potentially spot it, if you know where to look, and now astronomers have scanned neutron stars for telltale signals of a proposed dark matter particle called an axion.

Experiments have been run in the past to try to detect axions as they produce electric or magnetic fields in certain conditions, or by affecting the spin of electrified neutrons. But for the new study, the researchers turned their gaze away from the lab and up to the stars.

Another predicted property of axions is that when they encounter a strong electromagnetic field, they should sometimes spontaneously convert into photons – particles of light that are easily detectable.

Neutron stars have some of the strongest magnetic fields in the universe, and their huge masses should attract large numbers of axions. So the researchers reasoned that these objects would be the perfect places to scan for axions converting into photons.


Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 171301 (2020) - Green Bank and Effelsberg Radio Telescope Searches for Axion Dark Matter Conversion in Neutron Star Magnetospheres (aps.org)

 

[CraigD]

Science Made Simple: What is the Higgs Boson (God Particle)
By U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY DECEMBER 25, 2020

Scientists are now studying the characteristic properties of the Higgs boson to determine if it precisely matches the predictions of the Standard Model of particle physics. If the Higgs boson deviates from the model, it may provide clues to new particles that only interact with other Standard Model particles through the Higgs boson and thereby lead to new scientific discoveries.

https://scitechdaily.com/science-made-simple-what-is-the-higgs-boson-god-particle/

 

[CraigD]

Neutron stars scanned for signals of dark matter turning into light

Dark matter is thought to outnumber the regular stuff by a ratio of five to one, yet it remains frustratingly elusive. But there might be ways to potentially spot it, if you know where to look, and now astronomers have scanned neutron stars for telltale signals of a proposed dark matter particle called an axion.

Experiments have been run in the past to try to detect axions as they produce electric or magnetic fields in certain conditions, or by affecting the spin of electrified neutrons. But for the new study, the researchers turned their gaze away from the lab and up to the stars.

Another predicted property of axions is that when they encounter a strong electromagnetic field, they should sometimes spontaneously convert into photons – particles of light that are easily detectable.

Neutron stars have some of the strongest magnetic fields in the universe, and their huge masses should attract large numbers of axions. So the researchers reasoned that these objects would be the perfect places to scan for axions converting into photons.


Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 171301 (2020) - Green Bank and Effelsberg Radio Telescope Searches for Axion Dark Matter Conversion in Neutron Star Magnetospheres (aps.org)

Thanks, very interesting!

I first had to get my head around the hypothetical axion.

Photons are massless, so I assume that if they spontaneously convert into photons, other particles with mass are also produced, or perhaps some form of energy is given off to balance the math?

Highschool background in physics here

 

[koolishman]

Could Carbon Dioxide Be Turned Into Jet Fuel?

A team at Oxford University has reverse engineered fuel from the greenhouse gas—but so far just in the lab.

Now a team at Oxford University in the United Kingdom has come up with an experimental process that might be able to turn carbon dioxide—a greenhouse gas emitted by all gas-burning engines—into jet fuel. If successful, the process, which uses an iron-based chemical reaction, could result in “net zero” emissions from airplanes.

The experiment, reported today in the journal Nature Communications, was conducted in a laboratory and still needs to be replicated at a larger scale. But the chemical engineers who designed and performed the process are hopeful that it could be a climate game-changer.

www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20214-z

 

[Sutruk]

Neutron stars scanned for signals of dark matter turning into light

Dark matter is thought to outnumber the regular stuff by a ratio of five to one, yet it remains frustratingly elusive. But there might be ways to potentially spot it, if you know where to look, and now astronomers have scanned neutron stars for telltale signals of a proposed dark matter particle called an axion.

Experiments have been run in the past to try to detect axions as they produce electric or magnetic fields in certain conditions, or by affecting the spin of electrified neutrons. But for the new study, the researchers turned their gaze away from the lab and up to the stars.

Another predicted property of axions is that when they encounter a strong electromagnetic field, they should sometimes spontaneously convert into photons – particles of light that are easily detectable.

Neutron stars have some of the strongest magnetic fields in the universe, and their huge masses should attract large numbers of axions. So the researchers reasoned that these objects would be the perfect places to scan for axions converting into photons.


Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 171301 (2020) - Green Bank and Effelsberg Radio Telescope Searches for Axion Dark Matter Conversion in Neutron Star Magnetospheres (aps.org)

Thanks very interesting to read. First time I read about "axions".
Although they haven't found those axions on their research, as they say: "With more and more experiments of different types hunting for candidates with different masses and properties, each one potentially brings us closer to an answer".

"That conversion would be expected to produce an ultra-narrow peak of radio waves at a particular frequency, depending on the axion’s mass. The team analyzed data from two radio telescopes – the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in the US and the Effelsberg 100-m Telescope in Germany – as they observed two nearby neutron stars, as well as a wider scan of the Milky Way center, where there should be an estimated 500 million others.

The researchers sampled radio frequencies of around 1 GHz at these locations, which is the range expected to be produced by axions of masses between 5 and 11 micro electron-volts. And they detected no such signals.

A null result isn’t a washout though – it allows the researchers to rule out axions existing in that mass range. With more and more experiments of different types hunting for candidates with different masses and properties, each one potentially brings us closer to an answer."

 

[koolishman]

Nuclear-Powered Rockets Get a Second Look for Travel to Mars

For all the controversy they stir up on Earth, nuclear reactors can produce the energy and propulsion needed to rapidly take large spacecraft to Mars and, if desired, beyond. The idea of nuclear rocket engines dates back to the 1940s. This time around, though, plans for interplanetary missions propelled by nuclear fission and fusion are being backed by new designs that have a much better chance of getting off the ground.

Crucially, the nuclear engines are meant for interplanetary travel only, not for use in the Earth’s atmosphere. Chemical rockets launch the craft out beyond low Earth orbit. Only then does the nuclear propulsion system kick in.

The challenge has been making these nuclear engines safe and lightweight. New fuels and reactor designs appear up to the task, as NASA is now working with industry partners for possible future nuclear-fueled crewed space missions. “Nuclear propulsion would be advantageous if you want to go to Mars and back in under two years,” says Jeff Sheehy, chief engineer in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. To enable that mission capability, he says, “a key technology that needs to be advanced is the fuel.”

 

[CraigD]

CERN: discovery sheds light on the great mystery of why the universe has less ‘antimatter’ than matter

If antimatter and matter are truly identical but mirrored copies of each other, they should have been produced in equal amounts in the Big Bang. The problem is that would have made it all annihilate. But today, there’s nearly no antimatter left in the universe – it appears only in some radioactive decays and in a small fraction of cosmic rays. So what happened to it? Using the LHCb experiment at CERN to study the difference between matter and antimatter, we have discovered a new way that this difference can appear.

By Lars Eklund, Professor of Particle Physics, University of Glasgow

https://theconversation.com/cern-di...iverse-has-less-antimatter-than-matter-147226

 

[Cal2]

TEN RADICAL IDEAS

https://www.xprize.org/articles/ten-radical-ideas-from-you

 

[CraigD]

TEN RADICAL IDEAS

https://www.xprize.org/articles/ten-radical-ideas-from-you

Thanks @Cal2

I remember the original competition (1996?) but didn't realise that the Xprize Foundation were still holding competitions!

----

The XPRIZE mission is to bring about "radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity" through incentivized competition. It fosters high-profile competitions to motivate individuals, companies and organizations across all disciplines to develop innovative ideas and technologies that help solve the world's grand challenges.

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Prize_Foundation

-----

A nonprofit 501(c)(3) since 1994, the XPRIZE Foundation has designed and operated seventeen competitions in the domain areas of Space, Oceans, Learning, Health, Energy, Environment, Transportation, Safety and Robotics.

... Each of these prizes has created an industry-changing technology that brings us closer to a better, safer, more sustainable world.

- https://www.xprize.org/about/mission

 

[CraigD]

I posted a video a while back concerning the planck length and the scale of the universe (orders of magnitude). Curious Droid has just released an interesting new video concerning this:

The Scale of Everything - The Big, the Small and the Planck

Living on our little planet and looking up at the night sky it's easy to forget just how big the scale of the universe really is not only on the grand scale but also on the microscopic one too, so for this video we look at the scale of everything from the size of the universe to the smallest distance we can conceive that doesn't collapse our mathematical models put in place by Einstein and Planck. This is Scale of Everything - The Big, the Small and the Planck.

 

[Compassion]

 

[DOMAIN ILLUMINATI]

I posted a video a while back concerning the planck length and the scale of the universe (orders of magnitude). Curious Droid has just released an interesting new video concerning this:

The Scale of Everything - The Big, the Small and the Planck

Living on our little planet and looking up at the night sky it's easy to forget just how big the scale of the universe really is not only on the grand scale but also on the microscopic one too, so for this video we look at the scale of everything from the size of the universe to the smallest distance we can conceive that doesn't collapse our mathematical models put in place by Einstein and Planck. This is Scale of Everything - The Big, the Small and the Planck.

This reminds me of the famous "Powers of Ten" (1977) - film:

 

[CraigD]

4 Ways Quacks Manipulate Their Audiences

 

[CraigD]

This reminds me of the famous "Powers of Ten" (1977) - film:

Thanks, have not seen that before!

It would have been quite amazing at the time, especially the Earth zoom predating Google Maps by decades.

 

[koolishman]

The ashes of James Doohan— Scotty from Star Trek— are aboard the International Space Station

The ashes of the late James Doohan, who played chief engineer Montgomery Scott on the original Star Trek television series, have been aboard the International Space Station for 12 years— and the Times of London has the fascinating backstory of how it happened. Doohan died in 2005 at the age of 85, and his family wanted to fulfill his wish of getting on the ISS.

Official requests to bring Doohan’s ashes on the ISS were denied, but Richard Garriott— one of the first private citizens to travel on the space station— managed to smuggle some of Doohan’s ashes into the space station’s Columbus module. Garriott says he took a laminated a picture of Doohan and some of his ashes and put it in under the floor of the Columbus. He didn’t tell anyone about the scheme— only he and Doohan’s family knew until now.

 

[CraigD]

The ashes of James Doohan— Scotty from Star Trek— are aboard the International Space Station

The ashes of the late James Doohan, who played chief engineer Montgomery Scott on the original Star Trek television series, have been aboard the International Space Station for 12 years— and the Times of London has the fascinating backstory of how it happened. Doohan died in 2005 at the age of 85, and his family wanted to fulfill his wish of getting on the ISS.

Official requests to bring Doohan’s ashes on the ISS were denied, but Richard Garriott— one of the first private citizens to travel on the space station— managed to smuggle some of Doohan’s ashes into the space station’s Columbus module. Garriott says he took a laminated a picture of Doohan and some of his ashes and put it in under the floor of the Columbus. He didn’t tell anyone about the scheme— only he and Doohan’s family knew until now.

This clandestine action by Garriott could actually result in civilians facing further hurdles or even being barred from the ISS and future space programs.

Not cool defying procedure on billion dollar space programs.

IMO

 

[koolishman]

This clandestine action by Garriott could actually result in civilians facing further hurdles or even being barred from the ISS and future space programs.

Not cool defying procedure on billion dollar space programs.

IMO

A brief history of booze in low Earth orbit

On a chilly morning in early November last year, a Northrop Grumman Antares rocket blasted off from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. It was a routine cargo resupply mission bound for the International Space Station, but the Cygnus spacecraft perched atop the rocket included a rather unusual payload. Tucked away in its cargo hold were a dozen bottles of red Bordeaux wine individually sheathed in specially designed metal canisters. It wasn’t the first time wine has left the planet, but it is by far the most alcohol that has ever been in space at once.


In the early days of its human spaceflight program, astronauts would often prank each other by stashing small amounts of booze on a spacecraft before launch. When Wally Schirra blasted into orbit in 1962 as one of the original seven astronauts chosen for NASA’s Mercury program, he discovered that someone had stashed a pack of smokes and a small bottle of scotch in the capsule before launch. (Schirra waited until he was safely back on Earth to indulge.) And during the Apollo 8 mission around the moon, astronaut Deke Slayton had stashed a few small bottles of brandy in the astronauts’ holiday meal kit. It was all in good fun, but Frank Borman, the Apollo 8 commander, wasn’t having it. “I didn’t think it was funny at all,” he later said. “If we’d have drunk one drop of that damn brandy and the thing would have blown up on the way home, they’d have blamed it on the brandy.”