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]

Well, we have ninety minutes to go on the NamePros 'doomsday' tracker. It got me thinking...


This is your COVID wake-up call: It is 100 seconds to midnight
2021 Doomsday Clock Statement (January 27, 2021)

Science and Security Board
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/current-time/

Nuclear Risk

https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/datavisualizations/#nuclear


Climate Change

https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/datavisualizations/#climate


Disruptive Technologies

https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/datavisualizations/#tech


Timeline - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (thebulletin.org)

https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/timeline/

-------------------------

More information:

Wikipedia entry on the Doomsday Clock, maintained since 1947 by the members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Clock

 

[koolishman]

Long-Awaited Muon Physics Experiment Nears Moment of Truth

A result that has been 20 years in the making could reveal the existence of new particles and upend fundamental physics

After a two-decade wait that included a long struggle for funding and a move halfway across a continent, a rebooted experiment on the muon—a particle similar to the electron but heavier and unstable—is about to unveil its results. Physicists have high hopes that its latest measurement of the muon’s magnetism, scheduled to be released on 7 April, will uphold earlier findings that could lead to the discovery of new particles.

The Muon g – 2 experiment, now based at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois, first ran between 1997 and 2001 at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, New York. The original results, announced in 2001 and then finalized in 2006, found that the muon’s magnetic moment—a measure of the magnetic field it generates—is slightly larger than theory predicted. This caused a sensation, and spurred controversy, among physicists. If those results are ultimately confirmed—in next week’s announcement, or by future experiments—they could reveal the existence of new elementary particles and upend fundamental physics. “Everybody’s antsy,” says Aida El-Khadra, a theoretical physicist at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

 

[J Sokol]

Rapid global heating is hurting farm productivity, study finds

The climate crisis is already eating into the output of the world’s agricultural systems, with productivity much lower than it would have been if humans hadn’t rapidly heated the planet, new research has found.

Advances in technology, fertilizer use and global trade have allowed food production to keep pace with a booming global population since the 1960s, albeit with gross inequities that still leave millions of people suffering from malnutrition.

But rising temperatures in this time have acted as a handbrake to farming productivity of crops and livestock, according to the new research, published in Nature Climate Change. Productivity has actually slumped by 21% since 1961, compared to if the world hadn’t been subjected to human-induced heating.

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...risis-global-heating-food-farming-agriculture

 

[Cannuck]

Rapid global heating is hurting farm productivity, study finds

The climate crisis is already eating into the output of the world’s agricultural systems, with productivity much lower than it would have been if humans hadn’t rapidly heated the planet, new research has found.

Published scientific data is consistent with the claim that Global Warming is primarily due to human activity.

https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabledata_v3/GLB.Ts+dSST.txt

"...the post-industrial increase in global mean annual surface temperatures rose from the warmest background state of the Holocene, making current temperatures the warmest observed over the past 12,000 years and probably reaching the warmth of the LIG. Given that previous interglacial periods were forced similarly, we speculate that an early thermal maximum may also be lacking in global mean annual temperature in all interglacial periods. This suggests that the maximum mean annual global temperature in each glacial cycle is reached not in the middle of the interglacial period when the boreal summer insolation peaks, but instead thousands of years later, which should be considered when using these periods as analogues of future warming."

https://www.nature.com/article

 

[CraigD]

Long-Awaited Muon Physics Experiment Nears Moment of Truth

A result that has been 20 years in the making could reveal the existence of new particles and upend fundamental physics

After a two-decade wait that included a long struggle for funding and a move halfway across a continent, a rebooted experiment on the muon—a particle similar to the electron but heavier and unstable—is about to unveil its results. Physicists have high hopes that its latest measurement of the muon’s magnetism, scheduled to be released on 7 April, will uphold earlier findings that could lead to the discovery of new particles.

The Muon g – 2 experiment, now based at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois, first ran between 1997 and 2001 at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, New York. The original results, announced in 2001 and then finalized in 2006, found that the muon’s magnetic moment—a measure of the magnetic field it generates—is slightly larger than theory predicted. This caused a sensation, and spurred controversy, among physicists. If those results are ultimately confirmed—in next week’s announcement, or by future experiments—they could reveal the existence of new elementary particles and upend fundamental physics. “Everybody’s antsy,” says Aida El-Khadra, a theoretical physicist at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

Amazing times we live in!

I'm not sure about Fermilab's tally, but the LHC has now found 59(?) new particles since it booted up in 2009.

I wonder how many more particles - both theoretical and unimagined - are still to be found?

I think there has to be a symmetrical limit to fundamental particles, so I suspect we are reaching the end of the line for discovering new fundamental particles.

 

[Cannuck]

Amazing times we live in!
I'm not sure about Fermilab's tally, but the LHC has now found 59(?) new particles since it booted up in 2009.
I wonder how many more particles - both theoretical and unimagined - are still to be found?
I think there has to be a symmetrical limit to fundamental particles, so I suspect we are reaching the end of the line for discovering new fundamental particles.

Agreed, parts of science have made leaps beyond what had been imagined, therefore I suspect, there are more to discover. Do fundamental particles on an interdimensional level count?

 

[CraigD]

Agreed, parts of science have made leaps beyond what had been imagined, therefore I suspect, there are more to discover. Do fundamental particles on an interdimensional level count?

That's an interesting point you have raised.

I'm at an age where I am comfortable sticking with what we know (or what we think we don't know), but you never know...

 

[CraigD]

Scientists Finally Know How an Ancient Reptile Lived With Such an Absurdly Long Neck

Specimens of Tanystropheus can reach more than 5 meters (16 feet) in length, with its tail making up roughly a third of its length, and its body maybe a quarter. The rest is all neck.

"Tanystropheus looked like a stubby crocodile with a very, very long neck," said palaeontologist Olivier Rieppel from Chicago's Field Museum.

Why this reptile evolved such extended dimensions is a complete mystery. The fact nobody could figure out whether it preferred to be submerged in water or to lumber about on land only made it harder to settle on any conclusions.

Read on...

https://www.sciencealert.com/scient...reptile-lived-with-such-an-absurdly-long-neck

 

[koolishman]

Hubble's Renewed Image of The Veil Nebula Will Take Your Breath Away

Located at a distance of around 2,100 light-years away, and spanning a length of around 110 light-years, the Veil Nebula is thought to have been shaped by a powerful stellar wind emitted before the star exploded.

The wind pushed into the gas that had already been ejected by the dying star, hollowing out cavities. When the supernova shock wave pushes into this region, it interacts with the cavity walls, shocking and energizing the gas therein, and creating the complex, filamentous structure of the Veil.

 

[CraigD]

We’re Fired Up! Gateway’s Propulsion System Passes First Test

The thruster system that will propel NASA’s Gateway around the Moon was recently fired up for the first of many ground tests to ensure the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) is ready for flight.

NASA, along with Maxar Technologies and Busek Co., successfully completed a test of the 6-kilowatt (kW) solar electric propulsion (SEP) subsystem destined for the PPE. The hot fire tests were funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, which helps foster the development of commercial space capabilities, and included multiple start-ups and shutdowns and other flight-like scenarios to demonstrate the system is ready for the transit to the Moon and extended operations there.

“This is an exciting first step toward proving the PPE’s propulsion system will meet Gateway’s requirements,” said Mike Barrett, Power and Propulsion Element manager at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. “These thrusters will be critical in delivering the first elements of Gateway to lunar orbit and will help us create a dynamic exploration platform over Gateway’s 15-year lifespan.”

Read Press Release:

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/glenn/2021/we-are-fired-up-gateway-propulsion-system-passes-first-test

 

[koolishman]

Drone captures herd of reindeer circling to protect themselves from predator.

 

[Cannuck]

Is Big Data Trying To Own Love?

 

[CraigD]

From Stardust to Pale Blue Dot: Carbon’s Intriguing Interstellar Journey to Earth

We are made of stardust, the saying goes, and a pair of studies including University of Michigan research finds that may be more true than we previously thought.

The first study, led by U-M researcher Jie (Jackie) Li and published in Science Advances, finds that most of the carbon on Earth was likely delivered from the interstellar medium, the material that exists in space between stars in a galaxy. This likely happened well after the protoplanetary disk, the cloud of dust and gas that circled our young sun and contained the building blocks of the planets, formed and warmed up.

Carbon was also likely sequestered into solids within one million years of the sun’s birth — which means that carbon, the backbone of life on earth, survived an interstellar journey to our planet.

Previously, researchers thought carbon in the Earth came from molecules that were initially present in nebular gas, which then accreted into a rocky planet when the gases were cool enough for the molecules to precipitate. Li and her team, which includes U-M astronomer Edwin Bergin, Geoffrey Blake of the California Institute of Technology, Fred Ciesla of the University of Chicago and Marc Hirschmann of the University of Minnesota, point out in this study that the gas molecules that carry carbon wouldn’t be available to build the Earth because once carbon vaporizes, it does not condense back into a solid.

Read on...

https://scitechdaily.com/from-stard...ons-intriguing-interstellar-journey-to-earth/

 

[koolishman]

Artificial life made in lab can grow and divide like natural bacteria


SYNTHETIC cells made by combining components of Mycoplasma bacteria with a chemically synthesised genome can grow and divide into cells of uniform shape and size, just like most natural bacterial cells.

In 2016, researchers led by Craig Venter at the J. Craig Venter Institute in San Diego, California, announced that they had created synthetic “minimal” cells. The genome in each cell contained just 473 key genes thought to be essential for life.

The cells were named JCVI-syn3.0 after the institute and they were able to grow and divide on agar to produce clusters of cells called colonies.

But on closer inspection of the dividing cells at the time, Venter and his colleagues noticed that they weren’t splitting uniformly and evenly to produce identical daughter cells as most natural bacteria do. Instead, they were producing daughter cells of bizarre shapes and sizes.

“[The creators of JCVI-syn3.0] had thrown out all the parts of the genome that they thought were not essential for growth,” says Elizabeth Strychalski at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology. But their definition of what was necessary for growth turned out to be what was needed to make beautiful colonies growing on an agar plate, she says, rather than what was needed to produce cells that divide in a uniform and lifelike way.

 

[koolishman]

Evidence of Antarctic glacier's tipping point confirmed

Researchers have confirmed for the first time that Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica could cross tipping points, leading to a rapid and irreversible retreat which would have significant consequences for global sea level.

Researchers have confirmed for the first time that Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica could cross tipping points, leading to a rapid and irreversible retreat which would have significant consequences for global sea level.

Pine Island Glacier is a region of fast-flowing ice draining an area of West Antarctica approximately two thirds the size of the UK. The glacier is a particular cause for concern as it is losing more ice than any other glacier in Antarctica.

Currently, Pine Island Glacier together with its neighbouring Thwaites glacier are responsible for about 10% of the ongoing increase in global sea level.

Scientists have argued for some time that this region of Antarctica could reach a tipping point and undergo an irreversible retreat from which it could not recover. Such a retreat, once started, could lead to the collapse of the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which contains enough ice to raise global sea level by over three metres.

While the general possibility of such a tipping point within ice sheets has been raised before, showing that Pine Island Glacier has the potential to enter unstable retreat is a very different question.

Now, researchers from Northumbria University have shown, for the first time, that this is indeed the case.

Their findings are published in leading journal, The Cryosphere.

 

[koolishman]

The Asteroid That Killed the Dinosaurs Created the Amazon Rain Forest

Dinosaur and fossil aficionados are intimately familiar with the meteorite strike that drove Tyrannosaurus rex and all nonavian dinosaurs to extinction around 66 million years ago. But it is often overlooked that the impact also wiped out entire ecosystems. A new study shows how those casualties, in turn, led to another particularly profound evolutionary outcome: the emergence of the Amazon rain forest of South America, the most spectacularly diverse environment on the planet. Yet the Amazon’s bounty of tropical species and habitats now face their own existential threat because of unprecedented destruction from human activity, including land clearing for agriculture.

The new study, published on Thursday in Science, analyzed tens of thousands of plant fossils and represents “a fundamental advance in knowledge,” says Peter Wilf, a geoscientist at Pennsylvania State University, who was not involved in the research. “The authors demonstrate that the dinosaur extinction was also a massive reset event for neotropical ecosystems, putting their evolution on an entirely new path leading directly to the extraordinary, diverse, spectacular and gravely threatened rain forests in the region today.”

These insights, Wilf adds, “provide new impetus for the conservation of the living evolutionary heritage in the tropics that supports human life, along with millions of living species.”

 

[koolishman]

These Prehistoric Sharks Had Jaws Shaped Like Circular Saws and Sawtoothed Scissors

Imagine a great white shark with a set of sawtoothed scissors for a mouth. Ridiculous as that image might seem at first, such a creature once swam through Earth’s seas. More than 300 million years ago, Edestus giganteous bit through its fishy prey with a set of thin, blade like jaws with each serrated tooth set in line right behind the last. There’s nothing quite like this fish alive today, and paleontologists have only recently been able to piece together the relevant clues to understand Edestus and other strange shark relatives from the deep past.

The fossils were awaiting technologies capable of revealing the elusive structures of jaws. For more than a century after fish like Edestus were first described, experts could only look at the shape of fossils containing teeth and wonder about what was inside. CT scans and paleo visualization software can now see inside the fossils to capture cartilaginous anatomy that holds clues about what these animals were doing. The resulting research indicates that prehistoric sharks and their relatives bit down in ways that seem alien to scientists now. Shark relatives had buzzsaw arrangements in their lower jaws and jaws that could swing out side-to-side to impale prey. By understanding how these predators captured prey, scientists can better understand what role they played in ancient ecosystems.

 

[koolishman]

Physicists observe new phase in Bose-Einstein condensate of light particles

About 10 years ago, researchers at the University of Bonn produced an extreme aggregate photon state, a single "super-photon" made up of many thousands of individual light particles, and presented a completely new light source. The state is called an optical Bose-Einstein condensate and has captivated many physicists ever since, because this exotic world of light particles is home to its very own physical phenomena. Researchers led by Prof. Dr. Martin Weitz, who discovered the super photon, and theoretical physicist Prof. Dr. Johann Kroha now report a new observation: a so-called overdamped phase, a previously unknown phase transition within the optical Bose-Einstein condensate. The study has been published in the journal Science.

 

[koolishman]

Melting Ice Sheets 14,600 Years Ago Caused Seas to Rise 10 Times Faster Than Today

Ice sheet melting at the end of the last ice age may have caused sea levels to rise at 10 times the current rate, a study published Thursday by a team led by scientists from Britain's Durham University said.

Based on geological records, the researchers estimate that oceans worldwide rose 3.6 meters (11.8 feet) per century over a 500-year period some 14,600 years ago.

The findings raise a red flag about the potential today for rapid sea-level rise that could swamp coastal cities and densely populated deltas around the world.

The team found that the approximately 18-meter sea level rising event may have originated primarily from melting ice sheets in the northern hemisphere and not Antarctica as previously thought.

The scientists say their work could offer "vital clues" about future ice sheet melting and sea level rises due to climate change.

"We found that most of the rapid sea-level rise was due to ice sheet melt across North America and Scandinavia, with a surprisingly small contribution from Antarctica," said the study's co-author Pippa Whitehouse, of Durham University's geography department.

"The next big question is to work out what triggered the ice melt, and what impact the massive influx of meltwater had on ocean currents in the North Atlantic.

 

[Compassion]

Earth's Untapped Free Energy

 

[koolishman]

The World’s Largest Aircraft Engine Is Underway

There’s a new, more fuel-efficient airliner engine on the scene, as Rolls-Royce has started work on its UltraFan aero engine. The gigantic fan engine gets 25 percent better mileage compared with its predecessor, and Rolls-Royce says it will revolutionize passenger and cargo flight around the world.

The first demonstrator engine will be finished by the end of 2021. Rolls-Royce revealed more details in a statement:

“As engine build starts, other key parts are already coming together for delivery to Derby. Work is underway on UltraFan’s carbon titanium fan system in Bristol, UK, and its 50MW Power Gearbox, which is powerful enough to run 500 family cars, in Dahlewitz, Germany.”

UltraFan is a gas turbine turbofan, meaning it’s gas-powered and operates using a traditional spinning prop fan—in this case, a fan that’s more than 11 feet in diameter. The design is the first in a brand new line of turbofans that seeks to replace Rolls-Royce’s iconic Trent line of turbofans, which have operated since 1990.

 

[koolishman]

The Chilling Story of The 'Demon Core' And The Scientists Who Became Its Victims

It was August 13, 1945, and the 'demon core' was poised, waiting to be unleashed onto a stunned Japan still reeling in fresh chaos from the deadliest attacks anyone had ever seen.

A week earlier, 'Little Boy' had detonated over Hiroshima, followed swiftly by 'Fat Man' in Nagasaki.

These were the first and only nuclear bombs ever used in warfare, claiming as many as 200,000 lives – and if things had turned out a little differently, a third deadly strike would have followed in their hellish wake.

But history had other plans.

After Nagasaki proved Hiroshima was no fluke, Japan promptly surrendered on August 15, with Japanese radio broadcasting a recorded speech of Emperor Hirohito conceding to the Allies' demands.

 

[koolishman]

Fungi could manipulate bacteria to enrich soil with nutrients

A team of researchers from the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) has discovered a distinct group of bacteria that may help fungi and plants acquire soil nutrients. The findings could point the way to cost-effective and eco-friendly methods of enriching soil and improving crop yields, reducing farmers' reliance on conventional fertilizers.

Researchers know that arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi establish symbiotic relationships with the roots of 70% of all land plants. In this relationship, plants trade fatty acids for the fungi's nitrogen and phosphorus. However, AM fungi lack the enzymes needed to free nitrogen and phosphorus from complex organic molecules.

A trio of BTI scientists led by Maria Harrison, the William H. Crocker Professor at BTI, wondered whether other soil microbes might help the fungi access those nutrients. In a first step towards examining that possibility, the team investigated whether AM fungi associate with a specific community of bacteria. The research was described in a paper published in The ISME Journal on March 1.

The team examined bacteria living on the surfaces of long filament-like structures called hyphae, which the fungi extend into the soil far from their host plant. On hyphae from two species of fungi, the team discovered highly similar bacterial communities whose composition was distinct from those in the surrounding soil.

 

[koolishman]

Artist Makes 3D Portraits From DNA Found on Chewing Gum, Cigarette Filters


Imagine you threw away a chewing gum or a cigarette head on the street and then after few days you went to see an Art gallery and seeing your 3D printed face hangs on a wall.

Do you ever think about you are throwing all your physical details away with that chewing gum or cigarette head? Well, that’s what the “Stranger Visions” project is about and it became world-famous.

After the analysis of the DNA, the main physical factors like Gender & ethnicity and many other factors are found and generating a much accurate portrait by a 3D printer using the experiments of face recognition and using face generating software.

 

[CraigD]

2D materials combine, becoming polarized and giving rise to photovoltaic effect

For the first time, researchers have discovered a way to obtain polarity and photovoltaic behavior from certain nonphotovoltaic, atomically flat (2D) materials. The key lies in the special way in which the materials are arranged. The resulting effect is different from, and potentially superior to, the photovoltaic effect commonly found in solar cells.

"Quite often, interfaces of multiple 2D materials exhibit different properties to the individual crystals alone," said Ideue. "We have discovered that two specific materials which ordinarily exhibit no photovoltaic effect do so when stacked in a very particular way."

The two materials are tungsten selenide (WSe2) and black phosphorus (BP), both of which have different crystal structures. Originally, both materials are nonpolar (do not have a preferred direction of conduction) and do not generate a photocurrent under light. However, Ideue and his team found that by stacking sheets of WSe2 and BP together in the right way, the sample exhibited polarization, and when a light was cast on the material, it generated a current. The effect takes place even if the area of illumination is far from the electrodes at either end of the sample; this is different from how the ordinary photovoltaic effect works.

Read the article:

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-2d-materials-combine-polarized-photovoltaic.html