Science & Technology news & discussion

Humans could move to this floating asteroid belt colony in the next 15 years, astrophysicist says


Now more than ever, space agencies and starry-eyed billionaires have their minds fixed on finding a new home for humanity beyond Earth's orbit. Mars is an obvious candidate, given its relatively close proximity, 24-hour day/night cycle and CO2-rich atmosphere. However, there's a school of spacefaring thought that suggests colonizing the surface of another planet — any planet — is more trouble than it's worth.




Now, a new paper published Jan. 6 date to the preprint database arXiv offers a creative counter-proposal: Ditch the Red Planet, and build a gargantuan floating habitat around the dwarf planet Ceres, instead.

In the paper, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, astrophysicist Pekka Janhunen of the Finnish Meteorological Institute in Helsinki describes his vision of a "megasatellite" of thousands of cylindrical spacecrafts, all linked together inside a disk-shaped frame that permanently orbits Ceres — the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Each of these cylindrical habitats could accommodate upwards of 50,000 people, support an artificial atmosphere and generate an Earth-like gravity through the centrifugal force of its own rotation, Janhunen wrote. (This general idea, first proposed in the 1970s, is known as an O'Neill cylinder).

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2011.07487.pdf

 

Using 100-million-year-old fossils and gravitational-wave science to predict Earth's future climate

A group of international scientists, including an Australian astrophysicist, has used findings from gravitational wave astronomy (used to find black holes in space) to study ancient marine fossils as a predictor of climate change.




The research, published in the journal Climate of the Past, is a unique collaboration between palaeontologists, astrophysicists and mathematicians seeking to improve the accuracy of a palaeo-thermometer, which can use fossil evidence of climate change to predict what is likely to happen to the Earth in coming decades.

Professor Ilya Mandel, from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), and colleagues, studied biomarkers left behind by tiny single-cell organisms called archaea in the distant past, including the Cretaceous period and the Eocene.

Marine archaea in our modern oceans produce compounds called Glycerol Dialkyl Glycerol Tetraethers (GDGTs). The ratios of different types of GDGTs they produce depend on the local sea temperature at the site of formation.

When preserved in ancient marine sediments, the measured abundances of GDGTs have the potential to provide a geological record of long-term planetary surface temperatures.

 

The magnetic fields swirling within the Whirlpool galaxy

Messier objects are some of the most imaged objects in the universe. In part that's because many of them are so visibly appealing. A good example of that is the Whirlpool galaxy, M51, which recently received an even more dramatic visual representation with a new photo released by NASA. In it, the magnetic fields that are holding the galaxy together and tearing it apart at the same time are clearly visible. And it is even more stunning to look at.





The photos were a composite from NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) mission, and were presented to the American Astronomical Society at its 237th meeting last week. Astronomers have long known about the magnetic fields in some parts of the galaxy, but SOFIA's High-Resolution Airborne Wideband Camera (HAWC+) filled in the chaotic scene around the galaxy's outer reaches.

 

Scientists Are Figuring Out Why Some People Can 'Hear' The Voices of The Dead

Scientists have identified the traits that may make a person more likely to claim they hear the voices of the dead.



According to new research, a predisposition to high levels of absorption in tasks, unusual auditory experiences in childhood, and a high susceptibility to auditory hallucinations all occur more strongly in self-described clairaudient mediums than the general population.

The Spiritualists on the whole had their first auditory experience young, at an average age of 21.7 years, and reported a high level of absorption. That's a term that describes total immersion in mental tasks and activities or altered states, and how effective the individual is at tuning out the world around them.

In addition, they reported that they were more prone to hallucination-like experiences. The researchers noted that they hadn't usually heard of Spiritualism prior to their experiences; rather, they had come across it while looking for answers.

 

Take the best naps, with science

Where to take a nap

We’ll come right out and say it: Nothing beats your bed.

Your brain picks up on where you generally spend time sleeping, and it will eventually start to link your presence in those locations to drowsiness. That means if you nap on the sofa, you might associate it with rest and doze off when you don’t actually want to do so, says Deirdre Conroy, who leads the behavioral sleep medicine clinic at the University of Michigan. Napping in bed might even might even improve your regular sleep, as it helps reinforce the fact that it’s a place for shut-eye.

How to make your nap comfortable

Comfort is somewhat subjective, but there are still some guidelines you should follow: Keep the room dark, cool, and free of unfamiliar background noise.

Shutting out light, whether it’s with curtains or an eye mask, helps because light interferes with the natural production of melatonin—a hormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle. Lowering the temperature lulls us into sleep because our bodies naturally slow down when we cool off, which is the same reason people often fall asleep before they freeze to death, Pelayo says.

 

Saudi Arabia announces a 170km urban belt connecting cities with no cars and streets

Saudi Arabia has announced plans of a 170km linear belt connecting AI-enabled smart cities to be developed in the country’s cross border city of Neom. Titled THE LINE, the project is to be built around nature with no cars and roads in its scheme and is expected to be one of the most challenging infrastructure projects in the world.




Designed as ‘a revolution in urban living’ and ‘a blueprint for how people and planet can coexist in harmony’, THE LINE will be a city of million residents with no cars, streets and carbon emissions. The project was recently unveiled by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman.

 

Feeling fit? A little more sweat could still help your heart

Terence Dwyer at the University of Oxford, UK, and his colleagues studied 90,211 people who agreed to wear a lightweight motion sensor that collected data on their physical activity for 7 days. The participants were followed up for a median of 5 years, during which time 3,617 were diagnosed with heart disease.

Across all genders, there was a direct, inverse relationship between amount of physical activity and heart-disease risk. The authors found no upper limit on the benefits accrued from increasing exercise.

The most dedicated exercisers fared better than all participants who did less physical activity, even those who engaged in relatively large amounts themselves.

 

A Surprise in a 50 Million-Year-Old Assassin Bug Fossil: Its Genitals

Scientists were surprised to find the insect’s preserved penis, which suggests it was an unknown species.




The exclusive club of fossilized phalluses has a new member.

The latest addition is the sexual organ of a 50-million-year-old assassin bug. Some well-placed sediments and the protective powers of a prehistoric jock strap preserved his penis, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Papers in Paleontology.

The exquisite preservation of the fossil, which represents an undescribed species, is “extraordinary,” said Daniel Swanson, an entomologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the paper’s lead author. Running about the length of an aspirin tablet from head to bum, the bug would have been full of soft innards and “easy to squish,” he said. And yet, it persevered, delicate genital tissues and all.

 

Hypersonic Superweapons Are a Mirage, New Analysis Says

President Trump has bragged about his “super-dupers,” even referring to the planned weapon as “hydrosonic,” a brand of electric toothbrush. Last year, his budget asked the Pentagon to spend $3.2 billion on hypersonic arms research, up $600 million from the previous year’s request. And as President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. takes command of the nation’s military, he will have to consider whether to sustain the defense work undertaken in the Trump years.



Now, independent experts have studied the technical performance of the planned weapon and concluded that its advertised features are more illusory than real. Their analysis is to be published this week in Science & Global Security.

In an interview, David Wright, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an author of the new analysis, called the superweapon a mirage.


“There’re lots of claims and not many numbers,” he said. “If you put in the numbers, you find that the claims are nonsense.”

 

China satellite photos reveal their latest sophisticated aircraft carrier



Beijing’s “accelerated” aircraft-carrier building program is bearing fruit – with new satellite photos revealing its first fully combat-capable vessel racing towards completion.

“2021 is a year full of expectations, including the Type 003 aircraft carrier and also the H-20 bomber. It is time for our technological development to bear fruit,” the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) controlled Global Times declares.

“Judging from the current construction status, China’s Type 003 aircraft carrier could be only a few months away from its launch before the end of 2021, and it could enter naval service around 2025”.

Commercial satellite and open-source acquired photographs appear to bear this out.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/...r/news-story/fae2ca338341bb71bf12d2ebebf8d254

 

COVID-19 cross-protection? When vaccines provide 'bonus' protection against other diseases

Those of us who avoided COVID-19 over the past year may be somewhat surprised to learn there's a good chance we've already been infected by at least one coronavirus.

They're thought to be behind up to a third of all common colds. And intriguingly, evidence emerged last year that suggested people who were previously exposed to a common cold coronavirus might have some protection against COVID-19.

So could this cross-protection go the other way? Might the COVID-19 vaccines being rolled out now also cause a dip in seasonal coronaviruses?

While it's too early to tell, it's possible. But perhaps not in the way you'd think.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science...on-cold-coronavirus-cross-protection/13056718

 

Male butterflies mark their mates with a repulsive smell during sex to ‘turn off’ other suitors

Butterflies have evolved to produce a strongly scented chemical in their genitals, which they leave behind after sex to deter other males from pursuing their mates.

Led by Professor Chris Jiggins in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology, the team mapped production of the scented chemical compound to the genome of a species of butterfly called Heliconius melponene, and discovered a new gene. They also discovered that the chemical, made in the sex glands of the males, is identical to a chemical produced by flowers to attract butterflies. The study, published today in the journal PLOS Biology, shows that butterflies and flowers independently evolved to make the same chemical for different purposes.

https://www.miragenews.com/male-but...e-smell-during-sex-to-turn-off-other-suitors/

 

Australia's proposed media code could break the world wide web, says the man who invented it

Tim Berners-Lee says the plan to make Google and Facebook pay for news content undermines the web’s ‘fundamental principle’.

The inventor of the world wide web says proposed Australian media laws requiring tech giants Google and Facebook to pay for displaying news content risks setting a precedent that “could make the web unworkable around the world”.

Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the world wide web in 1989, said the draft legislation “risks breaching a fundamental principle of the web by requiring payment for linking between certain content online”.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2...e-world-wide-web-says-the-man-who-invented-it

 

The first magnetar flare detected from another galaxy was tracked to its home

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/magnetar-flare-first-home-galaxy-star-fast-radio-burst

An ultramagnetic stellar corpse sent a blast of light zipping through space

"For the first time, astronomers have definitively spotted a flaring magnetar in another galaxy."

"These ultra-magnetic stellar corpses were thought to be responsible for some of the highest-energy explosions in the nearby universe. But until this burst, no one could prove it, astronomers reported January 13 at the virtual meeting of the American Astronomical Society and in papers in Nature and Nature Astronomy."

 

The most ancient supermassive black hole is bafflingly big

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/most-ancient-supermassive-black-hole-quasar-bafflingly-big

The black hole doesn’t fit theories of how the cosmic beasts grow so massive

"The most ancient black hole ever discovered is so big it defies explanation."

"This active supermassive black hole, or quasar, boasts a mass of 1.6 billion suns and lies at the heart of a galaxy more than 13 billion light-years from Earth. The quasar, dubbed J0313-1806, dates back to when the universe was just 670 million years old, or about 5 percent of the universe’s current age. That makes J0313-1806 two times heavier and 20 million years older than the last record-holder for earliest known black hole (SN: 12/6/17).

Finding such a huge supermassive black hole so early in the universe’s history challenges astronomers’ understanding of how these cosmic beasts first formed, researchers reported January 12 at a virtual meeting of the American Astronomical Society and in a paper posted at arXiv.org on January 8."

 

Question: What possesses people to document everything they do to social-media platforms?

I'm asking this out of an incredulous curiosity, as the FBI arrests protestors and rioters following the events that have occurred across the USA over the past ten months. Much of the evidence they are being arrested on was produced and published by themselves or aquaintances.

It's understandable when a couple of people document a situation, but when I watch these incidents unfold on television, the majority of participants are filming. What's the point?

In the past I have worked as stills photographer, but my subjects knew that I was documenting them for a fee or for media publication. What I have been witnessing recently is something much more insidious and narcissistic. It's very disturbing.

Would be interested to hear your thoughts and read some studies on this phenomena.

 

For much of it, 1st thing that comes to mind is 'inferiority complex'
2th thought: &/or superiority complex
3rd: Airhead/s

1st thought: Airhead/s

 

Your Airheads point is well appreciated. It baffles me to see so many people incriminating themselves, and it's not confined to recent rioters. School kids have been filming themselves beating on classmates for years.

 

Personally I never post on social media, but based on recent events, may be a belief in their actions as patriots and by so chronicling, is actually an attempt at debunking fake news. People have become desensitized and oversensationalized, that they may have a sense of distorted/misguided reality.

 

That's a great point: ...and by so chronicling, is actually an attempt at debunking fake news

 

Capitol rioters have been brainwhased during 2 months by Trump and his lies. They just did what Trump told them minutes before the insurrection, that somebody: "has stolen the election and that they have to fight for their country, fight with strength, because they won't take back the country with weakness" "now go to the Capitol, I will be there with you (false, lier as always)".
So in their brainwashed heads, they really thought they were doing something right and worth to be recorded by selfies or tv cameras. That's the level of brainwash the sore loser of the elections did to his supporters.
They were commiting insurrection and sedition, but they thought it was right because they just were doing what Trump told them to do.

‘Trump said to do so’: Accounts of rioters who say the president spurred them to rush the Capitol could be pivotal testimony

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...b3d5c6-575b-11eb-a931-5b162d0d033d_story.html

"A man from Kentucky told the FBI that he and his cousin began marching toward the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 because “President Trump said to do so.” Chanting “Stop the steal,” the two men tramped through the building and snapped a photo of themselves with their middle fingers raised, according to court documents.

A video clip of another group of rioters mobbing the steps of the Capitol caught one man screaming at a police officer: “We were invited here! We were invited by the president of the United States!”

A retired firefighter from Pennsylvania who has been charged with throwing a fire extinguisher at police officers felt he was “instructed” to go to the Capitol by the president, a tipster told the FBI, according to court documents."

 

From an outsiders perspective - because I don't live in the USA - were these particular people actually following orders, or are they merely using this argument as point of legal defence?

Were the 'executive orders' perceived by followers as an enabling order similar to the Milgram experiment?

Or am I missing something else here?

It's not really the politics that interest me. More so what I perceive as a possible critical mass effect amongst a group of people.

It was obviously a very important moment in US history that will be discussed for many years...

Edited

 

Solar Wind Is Strangely Drawn to Earth's North Pole, And Scientists Don't Know Why



Likely the most well-known result of the Earth's magnetic field are the Aurora Borealis and Australis (Northern and Southern Lights). When charged particles from the solar wind run into the Earth's magnetic field, they can occasionally elicit spectacular light displays.

For years now, scientists have thought that the charged particles that cause those displays were sent in equal numbers toward the North and South Pole.

However, recent research from a team led by scientists from the University of Alberta, have shown that there are actually more charged particles heading north rather than south. The question now is why?

https://www.sciencealert.com/solar-...s-north-pole-than-south-and-we-don-t-know-why

 

Jaron Lanier, author of “Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now,” argues that it boils down to addiction — both to politics and to screens. “The process of addiction does harm to judgment,” he said. “Addicts get stupid, and these people have behavioral addictions fostered by old-fashioned cultism plus new-fashioned cloud algorithms that evolved from the advertising commerce model.”

Christopher J. Schneider, a sociology professor at Brandon University in Manitoba, Canada, and the author of “Policing and Social Media: Social Control in an Era of New Media,” said the self-incriminating social media postings fit into a larger trend that has emerged during “mass criminal events.”


He pointed to the 2011 Vancouver riots, which started when the Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks in the final game of the Stanley Cup. As violence and chaos spilled into the streets, bystanders and participants posted photos and videos to social media, making it “one of the first circumstances where you had a mass criminal event that was happening in real time online.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/19/capitol-riot-social-media/

 

Food for thought.

During our many recent lockdowns, I've almost finished watching Netflix and reading the World Wide Web.

I've also become addicted to NP and this thread.

It may be time to delete my user account