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 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.

Absolutely stunning technology in these high-bypass turbofan engines.

I'm not sure what the bypass ratio of this new series is, but I imagine it is greater than 10:1, meaning only 10% of the air actually gets sucked into and fuels the engine, with the other 90% bypassing the engine and passing through the fan blades.

Here's an animation of a typical high-bypass turbofan.

These modern engines communicate with Rolls-Royce during flight time, and have virtual twins that predict issues and failure.

eg:

"UltraFan is part of Rolls-Royce’s IntelligentEngine vision – for example each fan blade has a digital twin which stores real-life test data, allowing engineers to predict in-service performance. When on test at Rolls-Royce’s new £90m Testbed 80 facility, data can be taken from more than 10,000 parameters, detecting the tiniest of vibrations at a rate of up to 200,000 samples per second. Data that helps us understand our engines and further improve them."


All this technology eventually filters down into other industries. I believe that some car engines will shortly be able to communicate with service centres in a similar manner.

 

[CraigD]

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.

I've read a few books about the engineering of these early atomic devices.

The first atom bomb used in anger on Hiroshima was the untested gun-type fission bomb (Little Boy). It was a very simple design that was guaranteed to work, but after years of uranium-235 production, they had only produced enough material for the one bomb.

The implosion-type fission weapon (Fat Man) as described in this article was very tricky to engineer because the plutonium sphere had to be crushed perfectly by the surrounding explosives to create critical mass. The bomb needed to be tested at Trinity because there was no guarantee it would work, and so it wasn't ready for the Hiroshima mission, but was put into production and readied for the follow up missions if required.

I think they had a dozen ready by wars end, although it was only used in anger the one time on Nagasaki. Thankfully the war ended after the Nagasaki bombing and the others weren't deployed.

I've also read a few books about the people who lived in those two cities when the blasts went off. Truly shocking accounts. I hope we never witness these weapons used again.

 

[koolishman]

This proposal is indeed a scary proposition.

Placing a solar blocking sail midway between the Sun and the Earth is a better option as we can easily modify the effect without modifying our atmosphere.

EDIT:
I bet the anti-Gates brigade will shortly be using this headline as ammunition, much like they did with the Covid-19 vaccine microchip headlines.

Controversial test flight aimed at cooling the planet cancelled

US and European scientists have called off a controversial balloon test flight that was to take place in Sweden's far north in June, part of a disputed solar geoengineering experiment to artificially cool the planet.

The project has been dubbed SCoPEx, short for "Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment".

Mimicking the effect of volcanic eruptions, the project's supporters say the technology should be studied to see if it could become a method of combatting global warming.

 

[CraigD]

Controversial test flight aimed at cooling the planet cancelled

US and European scientists have called off a controversial balloon test flight that was to take place in Sweden's far north in June, part of a disputed solar geoengineering experiment to artificially cool the planet.

The project has been dubbed SCoPEx, short for "Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment".

Mimicking the effect of volcanic eruptions, the project's supporters say the technology should be studied to see if it could become a method of combatting global warming.

Yes, I'm not surprised it got cancelled. Probably for the best.

 

[koolishman]

Godzilla vs. Kong: A scientist decides who would really win

The red corner: Godzilla

Godzilla’s ultimate weapon is something that gives him quite the advantage: he’s radioactive and blasts enemies with a beam of atomic breath that exceeds 500,000°C. Abilities of this sort don’t exist in the real world. The closest analogue is perhaps the super-hot liquid spray made by bombardier beetles, released at temperatures of around 100°C. This is fatal to similar-sized animals.

The blue corner: Kong

For all this brute strength and power, Kong’s greatest advantage is his intelligence. As a primate and specifically a great ape, he’s able to plan ahead, modify his behaviour, and understand unfamiliar situations more than is typical for animals. Like real-world apes, he almost certainly possesses a ‘theory of mind’: an ability to work out the intentions and perspectives of others. This could prove crucial in anticipating Big G’s fight moves and even give Kong the upper hand.

Kong’s intelligence is also reflected in the fact that he’s a tool user, and even a tool maker. We know from Skull Island that Kong is able to construct clubs from trees, and even use human-made objects like chains and propellers in defeating an enemy.

And the winner is ........

 

[CraigD]

Godzilla vs. Kong: A scientist decides who would really win

The red corner: Godzilla

Godzilla’s ultimate weapon is something that gives him quite the advantage: he’s radioactive and blasts enemies with a beam of atomic breath that exceeds 500,000°C. Abilities of this sort don’t exist in the real world. The closest analogue is perhaps the super-hot liquid spray made by bombardier beetles, released at temperatures of around 100°C. This is fatal to similar-sized animals.

The blue corner: Kong

For all this brute strength and power, Kong’s greatest advantage is his intelligence. As a primate and specifically a great ape, he’s able to plan ahead, modify his behaviour, and understand unfamiliar situations more than is typical for animals. Like real-world apes, he almost certainly possesses a ‘theory of mind’: an ability to work out the intentions and perspectives of others. This could prove crucial in anticipating Big G’s fight moves and even give Kong the upper hand.

Kong’s intelligence is also reflected in the fact that he’s a tool user, and even a tool maker. We know from Skull Island that Kong is able to construct clubs from trees, and even use human-made objects like chains and propellers in defeating an enemy.

And the winner is ........

What happens if we throw Twinkle, AKA Kitten Kong into the mix?

 

[CraigD]

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

Bizarre 'worm tornado' in New Jersey has scientists baffled

Spring rains often bring scores of earthworms to the surface, where they writhe on top of soil and sidewalks. But recently, heavy rainfall in a town near New York City was followed by something a little more unusual: a wormnado.

A resident of Hoboken, New Jersey was out for a morning walk in a park near the Hudson River on March 25, when she spotted hundreds of worms spread along the walkway. The woman, who asked not to be identified, told Live Science that after her initial surprise she noticed something even more bizarre — a number of the worms had formed a cyclone-like shape, creating a spiral where the edge of the grass met the concrete.

Worms breathe through their skin, so when heavy or persistent rain saturates the soil with water, the worms must tunnel to the surface or risk drowning, according to the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Earthworms are typically solitary, but they sometimes form herds when they're on the surface. The worms collect in groups and communicate with each other about where to move, researchers reported in 2010 in the International Journal of Behavioural Biology.

The scientists in that study found that earthworms in the species Eisenia fetida would form clusters and "influence each other to select a common direction during their migration," and they did so using touch rather than chemical signals. This collective behavior could help earthworms survive environmental threats, such as flooding or arid soil, and it could also be a defense strategy against predators or pathogens, according to the study.

https://www.livescience.com/squirming-worm-tornado-new-jersey.html

 

[Cannuck]

VS​

 

[CraigD]

Oh, the depths we have sunk to...

So Can Flash Actually Run Faster Than the Speed of Light?

In Justice League he runs so fast that he goes back in time. But it wouldn't be quite so easy in real life (unless he was a tachyon).

IT'S FINALLY OUT, the Snyder cut of Justice League. So, what about that part with Flash? This is not a spoiler, since Flash does this in other situations: He needs to run faster than the speed of light in order to go back in time to warn the Justice League about something.

Of course there are lots of physics questions to be answered, so let's get right to it.

Read on...

https://www.wired.com/story/can-flash-actually-run-faster-than-speed-of-light/

 

[CraigD]

VS​

I watched the original film just a few weeks ago.

 

[Sutruk]

Piece of SpaceX rocket debris lands at Washington state farm

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-piece-spacex-rocket-debris-washington.html

"A piece of burning rocket debris seen streaking across the Pacific Northwest sky last week crashed on a farm in eastern Washington state, authorities said.

After the March 25 event, a farmer discovered a nearly intact piece of rocket in a private field, The Tri-City Herald reported.

The approximately 5-foot (1.5-meter) composite-overwrapped pressure vessel used for storing helium left a nearly 4-inch (10.16-centimeter) dent in the ground, Grant County sheriff's spokesman Kyle Foreman said. No one was hurt, he said."

 

[CraigD]

An Exploding Star 65 Light-Years Away From Earth May Have Triggered a Mass Extinction

Life was trying, but it wasn't working out. As the Late Devonian period dragged on, more and more living things died out, culminating in one of the greatest mass extinction events our planet has ever witnessed, approximately 359 million years ago.

The culprit responsible for so much death may not have been local, scientists say. In fact, it might not have even come from our Solar System.

Rather, a study published in August last year, led by astrophysicist Brian Fields from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, suggests this great extinguisher of life on Earth could have been a distant and completely foreign phenomenon – a dying star, exploding far across the galaxy, many light-years away from our own remote planet.

Sometimes, mass die-offs like the Late Devonian extinction are thought to be triggered by exclusively terrestrial causes: a devastating volcanic eruption, for instance, which chokes the planet into lifelessness.

Or, it could be a deadly visitor barging in from out of town – an asteroid collision, like the kind that took out the dinosaurs. Death from space, however, could ultimately come from far more remote places.

"The overarching message of our study is that life on Earth does not exist in isolation," Fields said back in 2020.

"We are citizens of a larger cosmos, and the cosmos intervenes in our lives – often imperceptibly, but sometimes ferociously."

Read on...

https://www.sciencealert.com/an-exp...om-earth-may-have-triggered-a-mass-extinction

 

[CraigD]

First X-rays from Uranus Discovered

Astronomers have detected X-rays from Uranus for the first time, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. This result may help scientists learn more about this enigmatic ice giant planet in our solar system.

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and has two sets of rings around its equator. The planet, which has four times the diameter of Earth, rotates on its side, making it different from all other planets in the solar system. Since Voyager 2 was the only spacecraft to ever fly by Uranus, astronomers currently rely on telescopes much closer to Earth, like Chandra and the Hubble Space Telescope, to learn about this distant and cold planet that is made up almost entirely of hydrogen and helium.

In the new study, researchers used Chandra observations taken in Uranus in 2002 and then again in 2017. They saw a clear detection of X-rays from the first observation, just analyzed recently, and a possible flare of X-rays in those obtained fifteen years later. The main graphic shows a Chandra X-ray image of Uranus from 2002 (in pink) superimposed on an optical image from the Keck-I Telescope obtained in a separate study in 2004. The latter shows the planet at approximately the same orientation as it was during the 2002 Chandra observations.

What could cause Uranus to emit X-rays? The answer: mainly the Sun. Astronomers have observed that both Jupiter and Saturn scatter X-ray light given off by the Sun, similar to how Earth’s atmosphere scatters the Sun’s light. While the authors of the new Uranus study initially expected that most of the X-rays detected would also be from scattering, there are tantalizing hints that at least one other source of X-rays is present. If further observations confirm this, it could have intriguing implications for understanding Uranus.

Did you know that Uranus is the only planet to be called by its Greek name?

Its Latin name is Caelus/Coelus.

All the other planets are called by their Latin names, except for Earth which is called by its Germanic name in English, rather than the Latin name Terra.

 

[koolishman]

Scientists Directly Manipulated Antimatter With a Laser In Mind-Blowing First

One of the greatest unsolved mysteries of our universe is why normal matter—the stuff that makes up stars, planets, and our bodies—is so much more abundant than antimatter, an exotic material made of antiparticles that hold the opposite charge of regular particles.

Now, scientists have announced that they have manipulated antimatter for the very first time using a specialized laser, a major breakthrough that could shed light on this open question, among many others.

The novel technique successfully slowed antihydrogen particles down by cooling them to temperatures near absolute zero, an innovation that “has far-reaching implications for antimatter studies,” according to a paper published on Wednesday in Nature. The ability to analyze and manipulate antimatter will allow scientists to test fundamental hypotheses about the makeup of reality, for example if antimatter particles are really identical to matter except for their charge.

The milestone was achieved by the Antihydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus (ALPHA) project, an international collaboration based at European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva. For team members like Makoto Fujiwara, a researcher at the University of British Columbia’s TRIUMF laboratory and the spokesperson for ALPHA-Canada, the new study is the culmination of decades of imagination and grit.

 

[CraigD]

^^
One of the greatest unsolved mysteries!

My understanding is that if the matter in the universe follows the laws of symmetry, all of the anti-matter should have annihilated with matter after the big-bang, leaving nothing but pure energy behind!

The matter-antimatter asymmetry problem
The Big Bang should have created equal amounts of matter and antimatter. So why is there far more matter than antimatter in the universe?
https://home.cern/science/physics/matter-antimatter-asymmetry-problem

Edited for clarification.

 

[koolishman]

Sydney’s inland suburbs are 10°C warmer than the coast in heat waves


Large-scale weather patterns and urban overheating are interacting to make Sydney’s inland suburbs up to 10°C warmer than coastal areas during extreme heat events.

Urban overheating occurs when temperatures in certain parts of an urban environment are comparatively higher than those in surrounding urban areas. The phenomenon occurs as a result of a combination of factors, including heat fluxes linked to human activity and air pollution. What’s more, artificial materials used to build roads, roofs and other urban architecture absorb solar radiation and release it slowly, further heating the air, in a way that trees and other vegetation don’t.

Hassan Khan at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and his colleagues have analysed how large weather patterns interact with urban overheating in Sydney.


They looked at temperatures in the Sydney central business district (CBD), which is close to the ocean, and compared them with locations in inner Sydney – between 8 and 12 kilometres from the nearest coast – and in western Sydney, between 25 and 50 kilometres inland.

The team found that during extreme heat events, the mean daily maximum temperature was between 8 and 10.5°C hotter in western Sydney than in the CBD – despite the fact that the CBD is far more built-up than western Sydney. In inner Sydney suburbs, the mean maximum was 5 to 6.5°C hotter than in the CBD.

 

[koolishman]

Relax to grow more hair

A stress hormone has been found to signal through skin cells to repress the activation of hair-follicle stem cells in mice. When this signalling is blocked, hair growth is stimulated. Stressed humans, watch out.

Since HFSCs were identified in the bulge region more than 30 years ago5–7, many regulatory molecules — such as gene-transcription factors and signalling proteins — have been shown to control the cells’ quiescence and activation3,4. Nearly all of these regulators are produced by either HFSCs or their neighbouring cells, including dermal papilla cells, which usually function as a supportive ‘niche’ for HFSCs8,9. But how systemic conditions such as chronic stress affect the activity of HFSCs is incompletely understood.

To answer this question, Choi and colleagues first tested the role of adrenal glands — which produce stress hormones and constitute a key endocrine organ — in the regulation of hair growth, by surgically removing them from mice. Telogen phases were much shorter in the hair follicles of these animals (which the team dubbed ADX mice) than in control mice (less than 20 days compared with 60–100 days), and the follicles engaged in hair growth roughly three times as often. The authors were able to suppress this frequent hair growth and restore the normal hair cycle by feeding the ADX mice corticosterone (a stress hormone normally produced by the animals’ adrenal glands). Interestingly, when they unpredictably applied various mild stressors to normal mice for nine weeks, they observed elevated corticosterone levels accompanied by reduced hair growth, supporting the idea that corticosterone produced by the adrenal glands during chronic stress inhibits the initiation of hair growth.

 

[CraigD]

Sydney’s inland suburbs are 10°C warmer than the coast in heat waves


Large-scale weather patterns and urban overheating are interacting to make Sydney’s inland suburbs up to 10°C warmer than coastal areas during extreme heat events.

Urban overheating occurs when temperatures in certain parts of an urban environment are comparatively higher than those in surrounding urban areas. The phenomenon occurs as a result of a combination of factors, including heat fluxes linked to human activity and air pollution. What’s more, artificial materials used to build roads, roofs and other urban architecture absorb solar radiation and release it slowly, further heating the air, in a way that trees and other vegetation don’t.

Hassan Khan at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and his colleagues have analysed how large weather patterns interact with urban overheating in Sydney.


They looked at temperatures in the Sydney central business district (CBD), which is close to the ocean, and compared them with locations in inner Sydney – between 8 and 12 kilometres from the nearest coast – and in western Sydney, between 25 and 50 kilometres inland.

The team found that during extreme heat events, the mean daily maximum temperature was between 8 and 10.5°C hotter in western Sydney than in the CBD – despite the fact that the CBD is far more built-up than western Sydney. In inner Sydney suburbs, the mean maximum was 5 to 6.5°C hotter than in the CBD.

This is a well accepted phenomenon for those of us living in the north-west areas of Sydney.

I think the effect is partly caused by the fact that we are in the Greater Sydney Basin, and due to the surrounding topography, we don't always receive the cooling ocean breezes that the coastal areas of Sydney do.

Just last year, the Sydney BOM officially recorded 48.9c at Penrith on 4th January 2020 during our Black Summer bushfire season.

Those temperatures are recorded in the shade.

When you step outside in the sun the mercury way exceeds those recorded temperatures.

That was an extremely hot day for those of us who were near Penrith and out in the sun.

And we couldn't breathe because of the bushfire smoke. It was a really horrible day.

It feels like you are standing in front of an open blast-furnace!

Here's a link to donate money to the NSW Rural Fire Service brigades:
https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/volunteer/support-your-local-brigade

EDITED

 

[CraigD]

Electricity is expensive in Australia.

Just don't expect to get much sense out of the utility company when you contact them and query the bill.

http://www.27bslash6.com/AGL.html

Pure gold!

 

[koolishman]

Pollution's Toll on the Body

Very explanatory graphical illustration.

Dirty air is a complex mix of gases and particles.
PM2.5 particles, some of which are so small they pass into the bloodstream, are the deadliest. In 2019 air pollution, indoors and out, is estimated to have contributed to almost seven million deaths worldwide, accounting for nearly 12 percent of the global death toll.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/graphics/see-how-polluted-air-attacks-our-bodies-feature

 

[koolishman]

Salmonella Outbreak Is Linked to Wild Birds and Feeders, C.D.C. Says

A salmonella outbreak linked to contact with wild songbirds and bird feeders has sickened 19 people across eight states, eight of whom have been hospitalized, federal health authorities said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was investigating salmonella infections in California, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington State in people ranging in age from 2 months to 89 years old.

Six cases were reported in Washington and five in Oregon. No deaths have been reported.

Public health officials across the country interviewed 13 of the people who were infected and asked them about animals they had come in contact with a week before they became ill, the C.D.C. said. Nine said they owned a bird feeder, and two reported they had come into contact with a sick or dead bird. Ten people said they had pets that had access to or contact with wild birds, the agency said.

To prevent further cases, the C.D.C. recommends cleaning bird feeders and bird baths once a week or when they are dirty. People should avoid feeding wild birds with their bare hands, and should wash their hands with soap and water after touching a bird feeder or bath, or after handling a bird.

 

[koolishman]

It's Happening! NASA's Mars Helicopter Has Touched Down on The Red Planet

NASA's Ingenuity mini-helicopter has been dropped on the surface of Mars in preparation for its first flight, the US space agency said.

The ultra-light aircraft had been fixed to the belly of the Perseverance rover, which touched down on the Red Planet on February 18.

 

[koolishman]

Lions use yawns to signal to others that it’s time to get moving

Lions have contagious yawns, and they seem to use the open-mouthed behaviour to send signals to each other. The observation provides the first concrete evidence that yawning can synchronise behaviour in an animal species.

 

[koolishman]

For 2 million years, humans ate meat and little else — study

Tel Aviv University researchers says Stone Age humans were apex predators, only moved to more plant-based diet 85,000 years ago

Israeli researchers studying the nutrition of Stone Age humans say the species spent some 2 million years as hyper-carnivorous “apex predators” that ate mostly the meat of large animals.

The study at Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with Portugal’s University of Minho, challenges views that prehistoric humans were omnivores and that their eating habits can be compared to those of modern humans, TAU said in a statement.

“Our study addresses a very great current controversy – both scientific and non-scientific,” said Prof. Ran Barkai of TAU’s archeology department, one of the researchers. “We propose a picture that is unprecedented in its inclusiveness and breadth, which clearly shows that humans were initially apex predators, who specialized in hunting large animals.”

 

[CraigD]

Genesis broke a world record for the most drones in the sky

It's a publicity stunt, but it also illustrates technological progress.

Drone shows are quickly becoming the tool of choice for people and companies that want to grab your attention, and Genesis knows that all too well. The Hyundai-owned car brand marked its entrance into China by breaking the Guinness World Record for the most Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the air at the same time, using 3,281 drones to display its logo and otherwise advertise over Shanghai on March 29th.

Read on...

https://www.engadget.com/genesis-breaks-drone-world-record-214420405.html