Science & Technology news & discussion

In all fairness, I don't see the SpaceX Starship design being anywhere near ready for Artemis-II or III landings..

The current prototype is basically a boilerplate design with a single engine. Once the design works up to a full engine fit-out, it will then require a pressurised cabin to be certified by NASA. That process takes years of R&D and testing.

 

Rocky 'super-Earth' planet spotted orbiting one of the Milky Way's oldest stars

One of the oldest stars in the Milky Way galaxy hosts an unusually hot, rocky "super-Earth" planet, a new study reports.

Known as TOI-561b, this exoplanet is about 50% larger and three times more massive than Earth, researchers said. It whips around its host star in a very close orbit, taking less than 12 hours to complete one lap.

https://www.space.com/super-earth-exoplanet-old-star-milky-way

 

Adelaide scientists turn marine microalgae into 'superfoods' to substitute animal proteins


A new wave of superfoods are being cultivated in Adelaide labs in the hope it'll provide alternative ways to sustainably feed the world's increasing population.

A team of Flinders University scientists have developed alternative proteins to consume, but instead of meat, food products like caviar, vegan patties, plant-based meats, jelly, jams and spreads have been developed from marine microalgae.

The substance is usually found in the ocean, but scientists at the university have been cultivating it in labs and turning it into consumable forms.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01...-be-the-solution-to-protein-shortage/13054084

 

Indonesia: Archaeologists find world's oldest animal cave painting

Archaeologists have discovered the world's oldest known animal cave painting in Indonesia - a wild pig - believed to be drawn 45,500 years ago.

Painted using dark red ochre pigment, the life-sized picture of the Sulawesi warty pig appears to be part of a narrative scene.

The picture was found in the Leang Tedongnge cave in a remote valley on the island of Sulawesi.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55657257

 

Viewed from left to right, it is a bird too!

 

Oh wow. I had not noticed. Nice catch!

I wonder if the artist was a great ancestor of Salvador Dali or M.C. Escher?

 

Optical illusions reveal regular waves of brain activity enable visual feature integration

Rhythmic waves of brain activity cause us to see or not see complex images that flash before our eyes. An image can become practically invisible if it flashes before our eyes at the same time as a low point of those brain waves. We can reset that brain wave rhythm with a simple voluntary action, like choosing to push a button.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190521101504.htm


Optical illusions explained in a fly's eyes

Why people perceive motion in some static images has mystified not only those who view these optical illusions but neuroscientists who have tried to explain the phenomenon. Now neuroscientists have found some answers in the eyes of flies.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200824170451.htm

 

European Space Agency to build module for Gateway space station



The European Space Agency (Esa) has signed a contract to begin building the module to supply communications and refuelling for the international lunar Gateway space station.

The European System Providing Refuelling, Infrastructure and Telecommunications (Esprit) will consist of two separate units. The communications system will be used by astronauts to provide data, voice and video links to and from the lunar surface. It will be mounted on the Nasa Habitation and Logistics Outpost (Halo) module, which is scheduled for launch in 2024.

https://www.theguardian.com/science...ncy-to-build-module-for-gateway-space-station

 

Breathtaking! We can extract energy from black holes

Is it possible to harness energy from black holes? It seems like an absurd idea, but physicists have long pondered whether black holes could be tapped for energy one day.

Physicists from Columbia University now made it possible. They have found a new way to extract energy from black holes.

Physicists suggest that it is possible to extract energy from black holes by breaking and rejoining magnetic field lines near the event horizon, the point from which nothing, not even light, can escape the black hole’s gravitational pull.




https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.103.023014

 

Physicists Find New State of Matter in a One-Dimensional Quantum Gas – “Beyond My Wildest Conception”



By adding some magnetic flair to an exotic quantum experiment, physicists produced an ultra-stable one-dimensional quantum gas with never-before-seen “scar” states – a feature that could someday be useful for securing quantum information.

As the story goes, the Greek mathematician and tinkerer Archimedes came across an invention while traveling through ancient Egypt that would later bear his name. It was a machine consisting of a screw housed inside a hollow tube that trapped and drew water upon rotation. Now, researchers led by Stanford University physicist Benjamin Lev have developed a quantum version of Archimedes’ screw that, instead of water, hauls fragile collections of gas atoms to higher and higher energy states without collapsing. Their discovery is detailed in a paper published today (January 14, 2021) in Science.

https://scitechdaily.com/physicists...nal-quantum-gas-beyond-my-wildest-conception/

 

GM surprises with Cadillac eVTOL air taxi at CES 2021



More of a personal aircraft or drone than a flying car, GM plans to leverage its on-road EV technologies to get airborne.

It isn't immediately clear if GM has a functional eVTOL prototype at this point, or what the next step is in the development of this new business for GM.

https://www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/gm-surprises-with-cadillac-evtol-air-taxi-at-ces-2021/

 

NASA has finally given up on its failed attempt to burrow into the Martian surface.

NASA InSight’s ‘Mole’ Ends Its Journey on Mars



The heat probe hasn’t been able to gain the friction it needs to dig, but the mission has been granted an extension to carry on with its other science.

The heat probe developed and built by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and deployed on Mars by NASA’s InSight lander has ended its portion of the mission. Since Feb. 28, 2019, the probe, called the “mole,” has been attempting to burrow into the Martian surface to take the planet’s internal temperature, providing details about the interior heat engine that drives the Mars’ evolution and geology. But the soil’s unexpected tendency to clump deprived the spike-like mole of the friction it needs to hammer itself to a sufficient depth.

After getting the top of the mole about 2 or 3 centimeters under the surface, the team tried one last time to use a scoop on InSight’s robotic arm to scrape soil onto the probe and tamp it down to provide added friction. After the probe conducted 500 additional hammer strokes on Saturday, Jan. 9, with no progress, the team called an end to their efforts.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-insight-s-mole-ends-its-journey-on-mars

 

Macaque monkeys at a Bali temple can spot expensive items to steal and ransom for food

The paper, published in a Royal Society science journal, studied monkeys at Uluwatu Temple in Bali, Indonesia, who frequently steal items from humans -- such as bags, hats, sunglasses, tablets and phones -- and hold them to ransom in exchange for offerings of food.

It found adult wild long-tailed macaque monkeys were intelligent enough to comprehend which items had the highest value to the visitors, such as an electronic item, and would only release it after receiving food they perceived to be of corresponding value.

The authors said the behavior displayed "unprecedented economic decision-making processes" among the monkeys observed as part of the study.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/monkeys-barter-humans-scli-intl-scn/index.html

 

Not exactly new, but news to me. I wish someone could explain this (in simple terms, lol):

Are we measuring the Speed of Light or the Speed of Gravity?

Extraction of the Speed of Gravity (Light) from Gravity Observations Only

ABSTRACT: We show how one can measure the speed of gravity only using gravitational phenomena. Our approach offers several ways to measure the speed of gravity (light) and checks existing assumptions about light (gravity) in new types of experiments. The speed of light is included in several well-known gravitational formulas. However, if we can measure this speed from gravitational phenomena alone, then is it the speed of light or the speed of gravity we are measuring? We think it is more than a mere coincidence that they are the same. In addition, even if it is not possible to draw strong conclusions now, our formulations support the view that there is a link between electromagnetism and gravity. This paper also shows that all major gravity phenomena can be predicted from only performing two to three light observations. There is no need for knowledge of Newton’s gravitational constant G or the mass size to complete a series of major gravity predictions.

Silvertooth, E.W. (1986) Special Relativity. Nature, 322, 590.
https://rdcu.be/cdABr

https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=92311

https://www.forbes.com/sites/briank...t-that-proved-einstein-wrong/?sh=735b469d3ed3

 

Some electric eels coordinate attacks to zap their prey

"The knifefishes were thought to dine alone, but in the Amazon, hundreds hunt together"

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/biology-volta-electric-eels-coordinate-attacks-prey

"One Volta’s electric eel — able to subdue small fish with an 860-volt jolt — is scary enough. Now imagine over 100 eels swirling about, unleashing coordinated electric attacks.

Volta’s electric eels can gather in groups, working together to corral smaller fish in shallower waters, a new study finds. Then, groups of about 10 eels attack in unison, shocking the fish out of the water and into a stupor so that they can easily be eaten."

 

Is lightning striking the Arctic more than ever before?




Lightning is striking the Arctic many times more often than it did a decade ago, a study suggests — and the rate could soon double. The findings demonstrate yet another way Earth’s climate could be changing as the planet warms, although not all researchers agree that the trend is real.




Robert Holzworth, an atmospheric physicist at the University of Washington in Seattle and leader of the study, defends the findings. “We’re seeing a symptom of global climate change,” he says. Holzworth is director of the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN), the collection of ground-based sensors that measured the data. He reported the results on 8 December at a virtual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (and published them before peer review as a preprint1).

 

Seagrass 'Neptune balls’ sieve millions of plastic particles from water, study finds

Underwater seagrass in coastal areas appear to trap plastic pollution in natural bundles of fibre known as “Neptune balls”, researchers have found.

With no help from humans, the swaying plants – anchored to shallow seabeds – may collect nearly 900m plastic items in the Mediterranean alone every year, a study reported in the journal Scientific Reports said.



“We show that plastic debris in the seafloor can be trapped in seagrass remains, eventually leaving the marine environment through beaching,” lead author Anna Sanchez-Vidal, a marine biologist at the University of Barcelona, told AFP.



This clean-up “represents a continuous purge of plastic debris out of the sea,” she added.

The study adds to the long list of services that seagrass provides – for ocean ecosystems, and the humans who live near the water’s edge. They play a vital role in improving water quality, absorb CO2 and exude oxygen, and are a natural nursery and refuge for hundreds of species of fish. They are also the foundation of coastal food webs.

 

Greenland melting likely increased by bacteria in sediment

Bacteria are likely triggering greater melting on the Greenland ice sheet, possibly increasing the island's contribution to sea-level rise, according to scientists. That's because the microbes cause sunlight-absorbing sediment to clump together and accumulate in the meltwater streams, according to new study.

"We found that the only way for sediment to accumulate in these streams was if bacteria grew in the sediment, causing it to clump into balls 91 times their original size," Leidman said. "If bacteria didn't grow in the sediment, all the sediment would be washed away and these streams would absorb significantly less sunlight. This sediment aggregation process has been going on for longer than human history."

The solar energy absorbed by streams likely depends on the health and longevity of the bacteria, and further warming in Greenland may lead to greater sediment deposits in glacial streams, the study says.

The findings can be incorporated in climate models, leading to more accurate predictions of melting, scientists say.

 

Faces of ancient king and queen from 2600 years ago reconstructed by science

 

Science finds simple way to make lamb leaner

Scientists based at Rothamsted and the University of Bristol Veterinary School have found a clear link between the weight of lambs early in their life and meat quality—which is good news for consumers, farmers, and the environment.



Currently, 35% of lambs going to market have meat that is considered too fatty, but this new study, published in the journal Animal, shows that it's the lambs which are heaviest at the point of weaning—when they switch from their mother's milk to grazing—that go on to produce the leanest, most sought-after meat at market.

This knowledge will allow farmers to concentrate on giving their flock the best start in life, as well as looking to breed for lambs that are heavier once weaned.

 

The secret forces that squeeze and pull life into shape

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00018-x

"Scientists are getting to grips with the role of mechanical forces in the body, from embryo to adult.

At first, an embryo has no front or back, head or tail. It’s a simple sphere of cells. But soon enough, the smooth clump begins to change. Fluid pools in the middle of the sphere. Cells flow like honey to take up their positions in the future body. Sheets of cells fold origami-style, building a heart, a gut, a brain.

None of this could happen without forces that squeeze, bend and tug the growing animal into shape. Even when it reaches adulthood, its cells will continue to respond to pushing and pulling — by each other and from the environment."

 

I think Silvertooth's work assumed that light moved through an aether and that we should measure light at a different speed depending on if it is moving through this aether towards us or away from us, relative to the Earths motion through space.

These logical assumptions existed before Einstein's Relativity taught us to think differently, but it appears that Silvertooth continued to believe in the aether.

Silvertooth's assumptions were flawed, so I wouldn't put too much faith in his further studies trying to link light, gravity, and electromagnetism.

Do a search on 'E.W. Silvertooth' and 'pseudoscience'.

It is pseudoscience

Edited.

Edit 2.
I've looked at a few more articles and they are doing my head in. Very contentious.
At some point we just have to trust in the 'scientific method' of people way smarter than ourselves

 

There's no way to Measure the Speed of Light in a Single Direction

Special relativity is one of the most strongly validated theories humanity has ever devised. It is central to everything from space travel and GPS to our electrical power grid. Central to relativity is the fact that the speed of light in a vacuum is an absolute constant. The problem is, that fact has never been proven.

When Einstein proposed the theory of relativity, it was to explain why light always had the same speed. In the late 1800s it was thought that since light travels as a wave it must be carried by some kind of invisible material known as the luminiferous aether. The reasoning was that waves require a medium, such as sound in air or water waves in water. But if the aether exists, then the observed speed of light must change as the Earth moves through the aether. But measurements to observe aether drift came up null. The speed of light appeared to be constant.

Einstein found that the problem was in assuming that space and time were absolute and the speed of light could vary. If instead, you assumed the speed of light was absolute, space and time must be affected by relative motion. It’s a radical idea, but it’s supported by every measurement of light’s constant speed.

But several physicists have pointed out that while relativity assumes the vacuum speed of light is a universal constant, it also shows the speed can never be measured. Specifically, relativity forbids you from measuring the time it takes light to travel from point A to point B. To measure the speed of light in one direction, you’d need a synchronized stopwatch at each end, but relative motion affects the rate of your clocks relative to the speed of light...

https://www.universetoday.com/14955...ure-the-speed-of-light-in-a-single-direction/

 

Seawater as an electrical cable !? Wireless power transfers in the ocean

Associate professor Masaya Tamura, Kousuke Murai (who has completed the first term of his master's program), and their research team from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering at Toyohashi University of Technology have successfully transferred power and data wirelessly through seawater by using a power transmitter/receiver with four layers of ultra-thin, flat electrodes.

In the field of wireless power transfers, seawater behaves as a dielectric with extremely high loss, and achievement through capacitive coupling is difficult. Up until now, it had been thought that wireless power transfers could only be achieved through magnetic coupling. This time, with a focus on the high-frequency properties of seawater, a third method for conductive coupling was devised, and a power transmitter/receiver was developed to achieve highly-efficient power transfers.

The transfer speed this time was about 90 Mbps, but higher speeds are possible. Experiments to transfer power and data to a small underwater drone, with the expectation that the drone would park on the power supply station, were also successful. The total weight of the electrical receiver and electrical power circuit mounted on the drone at this time was very light at around 270 g.

 

Blowing stuff up is a science, so here's a look back at how NOT to blow up a dead whale.



To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the infamous beached whale incident that took place in Florence, Oregon on November 12th 1970, the Oregon Historical Society arranged for a 4K transfer of the original raw film footage from their archive. KATU has re-edited the package from the new high resolution video. Enjoy!