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]

The One Big Problem With All Alternatives To Dark Matter And Dark Energy



https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2020/12/22/the-one-big-problem-with-all-alternatives-to-dark-matter-and-dark-energy/?sh=224d65567f55

 

[CraigD]

Kennedy Space Center Expands as Launch Complex 48 Opens for Operations

After planning began in 2016 for a small, multi-user launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Launch Complex 48 is now ready to support small to medium lift launch vehicles.

The complex is the first new launch pad built at Kennedy since the 1960s when the much larger LC-39A and B pads, which have hosted the Apollo Saturn IB and V rockets, Space Shuttles, Ares I-X, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavies, were constructed.

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/12/kennedy-expands-complex-48-opens/

 

[CraigD]

We Might Have The First Complete Observation of a 'Nanoflare' From Our Sun

Flickering just below the Sun's super-hot corona, the explosion Bahauddin stumbled upon may very well be the first complete glimpse of a solar 'nanoflare' - from its sudden bright beginning to its inevitable sizzling demise. And we could just as easily have missed it.

https://www.sciencealert.com/we-mig...plete-observation-of-a-nanoflare-from-our-sun

 

[CraigD]

I know this isn't exactly science or technology news, but worth a post because this movie villain inspired millions of young people to take an interest in the universe and science.

Dave Prowse, the actor who played Lord Darth Vader has passed and was laid to rest today.
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-55424181

Darth Vader has become one of the most iconic villains in popular culture, and has been listed among the greatest villains and fictional characters ever.[5][6] The American Film Institute listed him as the third greatest movie villain in cinema history on 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains, behind Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darth_Vader

 

[Sutruk]

The One Big Problem With All Alternatives To Dark Matter And Dark Energy



https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2020/12/22/the-one-big-problem-with-all-alternatives-to-dark-matter-and-dark-energy/?sh=224d65567f55

The author of that article thinks like me
If you look at the animated gift on the middle of that article, you will see the two galaxies models. The left one would be how it would rotate if it would follow the normal physics laws, and the right one, how galaxies actually move.
And at first sight, you can see, on the right galaxy, that there's something there, some dark matter that completely pushes all the stars in the outskirts of the galaxy to those speeds, like if there's some "liquid" or "dark matter" that pushes all those stars to those speeds in group.

"A galaxy that was governed by normal matter alone (L) would display much lower rotational speeds in the outskirts than towards the center, similar to how planets in the Solar System move. However, observations indicate that rotational speeds are largely independent of radius (R) from the galactic center, leading to the inference that a large amount of invisible, or dark, matter must be present."

On the last paragraph:

"As disconcerting as it is, dark matter and dark energy are the simplest explanation. A dark fluid idea itself necessitates multiple free parameters. The new relativistic MOND introduced earlier this year or the old tensor-vector-scalar gravity of Bekenstein not only adds at least as many parameters as dark matter and dark energy, but they still cannot explain galaxy clusters. The problem isn’t that dark matter and dark energy simply have to be right. It’s that all the other ideas are objectively worse."

 

[CraigD]

Japanese artform inspires new engineering technique

Paper snowflakes, pop-up children's books and elaborate paper cards are of interest to more than just crafters. A team of Northwestern University engineers is using ideas taken from paper-folding practices to create a sophisticated alternative to 3-D printing.

https://phys.org/news/2020-12-japanese-artform-technique.html

 

[Sutruk]

Japanese artform inspires new engineering technique

Paper snowflakes, pop-up children's books and elaborate paper cards are of interest to more than just crafters. A team of Northwestern University engineers is using ideas taken from paper-folding practices to create a sophisticated alternative to 3-D printing.

https://phys.org/news/2020-12-japanese-artform-technique.html

I recently saw a TV Documentary precisely about it.
I think they were using an especial origami form to fulfill an aircraft shell with a more light but very strong structure.

 

[CraigD]

I recently saw a TV Documentary precisely about it.
I think they were using an especial origami form to fulfill an aircraft shell with a more light but very strong structure.

That sounds very interesting. I will have to look it up.

I've always been intrigued by the geodetic airframe that Barnes Wallis developed in the '30's for bomber aircraft, that could take an amazing amount of damage and still maintain integrity.

A geodetic airframe is a type of construction for the airframes of aircraft developed by British aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis in the 1930s (who sometimes spelled it "geodesic"). Earlier, it was used by Prof. Schütte for the Schütte Lanz Airship LS 1 in 1909.[1] It makes use of a space frame formed from a spirally crossing basket-weave of load-bearing members.[2] The principle is that two geodesic arcs can be drawn to intersect on a curving surface (the fuselage) in a manner that the torsional load on each cancels out that on the other.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodetic_airframe

The metal lattice-work gave a light structure with tremendous strength;[2] any one of the stringers could support some of the load from the opposite side of the aircraft. Blowing out the structure from one side would still leave the load-bearing structure as a whole intact. As a result, Wellingtons with huge areas of framework missing continued to return home when other types would not have survived; the dramatic effect enhanced by the doped fabric skin burning off, leaving the naked frames exposed (see photo)

Source: Wikipedia

 

[Sutruk]

That sounds very interesting. I will have to look it up.

I have found it. The structure name is "Sandwich structure". In fact it is a "honeycomb" structure.

Review of composite sandwich structure in aeronautic applications

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666682020300049

"They have the major advantage of being ventilated but they can also be optimized to improve the manufacturing and the skin/core bonding strength [174], see Fig. 27. These origami-type structures offer a wide variety of materials and possible patterns [175].
Note that honeycomb cores have long been used as a Helmholtz resonator for sound absorption."

 

[koolishman]

Splendid flower trapped in amber 100 million years ago reveals its beauty

Most flowers have brief but glorious lives. One particular flower has had its good looks preserved in Burmese amber for millions of years. A team led by researchers at Oregon State University shared the discovery of the new flower, and the bloom remains as stunning as it no doubt was the day it was trapped in time.

"This isn't quite a Christmas flower but it is a beauty, especially considering it was part of a forest that existed 100 million years ago," amber expert George Poinar Jr., a professor emeritus at OSU, said in a statement this week.

 

[koolishman]

Researchers find hydrogen-supported life beneath glaciers

Using years of data collected from ice-covered habitats all over the world, a Montana State University team has discovered new insights into the processes that support microbial life underneath ice sheets and glaciers, and the role those organisms play in perpetuating life through ice ages and, perhaps, in seemingly inhospitable environments on other planets.


"We kept finding organisms in these systems that were supported by hydrogen gas," said Boyd of the inspiration for the project. "It initially didn't make sense, because we couldn't figure out where that hydrogen gas was coming from under these glaciers."

A team of researchers, including Boyd, later discovered that through a series of physical and chemical processes, hydrogen gas is produced as the silica-rich bedrock underneath glaciers is ground into tiny mineral particles by the weight of the ice on top of it. When those mineral particles combine with glacial meltwater, they let off hydrogen.

What became even more fascinating to Boyd and Dunham was that microbial communities under the glaciers could combine that hydrogen gas with carbon dioxide to generate more organic matter, called biomass, through a process called chemosynthesis. Chemosynthesis is similar to how plants generate biomass from carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, although chemosynthesis does not require sunlight.

 

[koolishman]

The Year's Biggest Breakthroughs in Physics

 

[CraigD]

Emergency landing facility open for Santa's use - NASA

I was just watching the NORAD Santa tracker, and he appeared to be trailing flame following an explosion over Madrid in Spain. My heart skipped a beat. He now appears to be dumping presents into the sea approaching Algeria. When you zoom in the flame disappears. They need to do something about those colours

"... a reminder that in 1981, Santa was given the OK by @NASA to use the Shuttle Landing Facility in the event his sleigh had to make an emergency landing. I would imagine that a similar arrangement with @SpaceFlorida is now in place. #ChristmasEve "

source


EDITED

 

[CraigD]

Merry Christmas everyone

 

[Sutruk]

Merry Christmas everyone

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

 

[koolishman]

Merry Christmas!

 

[CraigD]

Emergency landing facility open for Santa's use - NASA

I was just watching the NORAD Santa tracker, and he appeared to be trailing flame following an explosion over Madrid in Spain. My heart skipped a beat. He now appears to be dumping presents into the sea approaching Algeria. When you zoom in the flame disappears. They need to do something about those colours

"... a reminder that in 1981, Santa was given the OK by @NASA to use the Shuttle Landing Facility in the event his sleigh had to make an emergency landing. I would imagine that a similar arrangement with @SpaceFlorida is now in place. #ChristmasEve "

source


EDITED

It looks like Santa is now flying over New York, USA. I cant see any escort fighters (they are after all stealth fighters) but he IS wearing a medical mask.

NORAD Santa Tracker

 

[koolishman]

Black 'sand-like' asteroid dust found in box from Japan probe

Black sandy dust found in a capsule brought to Earth by a Japanese space probe is from the distant asteroid Ryugu, scientists confirmed after opening it on Monday. The discovery comes a week after the Hayabusa-2 probe dropped off its capsule, which entered the atmosphere in a streak of light before landing in the Australian desert and then being transported to Japan.

https://phys.org/news/2020-12-black-sand-like-asteroid-japan-probe.html

Japanese Spacecraft Brings Back Asteroid Chips That Look Like Charcoal

The samples Japanese space officials described Thursday are as big as 1 centimeter (0.4 inch) and rock hard, not breaking when picked up or poured into another container. Smaller black, sandy granules the spacecraft collected and returned separately were described last week.

The larger fragments were from the compartment allocated for the second touchdown on Ryugu, said Tomohiro Usui, space materials scientist.

 

[DOMAIN ILLUMINATI]

Awesome thread, very interesting stuff included.

Here is an article (FORBES) about the first under display camera in a smartphone:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnko...nder-display-camera-smartphone-zte-axon-20-5g

If this technology will progress, this will surely become a standard in smartphones.

 

[CraigD]

Awesome thread, very interesting stuff included.

Here is an article (FORBES) about the first under display camera in a smartphone:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnko...nder-display-camera-smartphone-zte-axon-20-5g

If this technology will progress, this will surely become a standard in smartphones.

I’m not a teenage girl, but how many cameras does a phone actually need?
I rarely use the single one on my old phone. I get the impression that many buyers are simply updating for the latest specs, with little actual need for them.