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]

i bookmarked this page
https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/sentry/

[NASA/ JPL] Sentry: Earth Impact Monitoring

Sentry is a highly automated collision monitoring system that continually scans the most current asteroid catalog for possibilities of future impact with Earth over the next 100 years. Whenever a potential impact is detected it will be analyzed and the results immediately published here, except in unusual cases where we seek independent confirmation.... objects will disappear from this table whenever there are no longer any potential impact detections.

https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/sentry/

 

[koolishman]

Hubble Space Telescope snaps stunning view of ethereal 'Lost Galaxy'

There are a lot of gorgeous galaxies out there in the universe, but it's hard to top a truly sublime spiral, the kind of galaxy that swirls sparkling curved arms across the dark of space. That's what's on show in a new Hubble Space Telescope portrait of galaxy NGC 4535.

NGC 4535 has an engaging nickname: the Lost Galaxy. It's not actually lost in space, but the moniker comes from how it looks with gear that's not as fancy as Hubble.

"Despite the incredible quality of this image, taken from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, NGC 4535 has a hazy, somewhat ghostly, appearance when viewed from a smaller telescope," the European Space Agency said in a statement Friday.

 

[CraigD]

Wishing @koolishman a belated happy first anniversary!

Thanks for all your wonderful posts and support of this thread, and a big welcome to the VIP club my friend

 

[koolishman]

Wishing @koolishman a belated happy first anniversary!

Thanks for all your wonderful posts and support of this thread, and a big welcome to the VIP club my friend

I ate all the cake!

 

[CraigD]

Will deplatforming make QAnon and the far-right fade away or radicalise further?

"Deplatforming decreases the chance of further radicalisation and sends a strong signal that the promotion of violence and baseless conspiracy theories is unacceptable behaviour."

..., neo-Nazis are taking advantage of the fracturing and disillusionment of QAnon to attempt to grow their numbers.

Experience shows that when extremist groups lose their platforms they tend to grow more toxic as they shrink.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science...-right-qanon-fade-away-or-radicalise/13079822

 

[CraigD]

Pinterest launches an AR-powered try-on experience for eyeshadow

Pinterest is expanding its virtual makeup try-on capabilities with today's launch of a new augmented reality feature that allows online shoppers to virtually try on new eyeshadow.

The feature leverages Pinterest's existing Lens visual search technology, its skin tone ranges feature and computer-vision-powered recommendations, the company says. We also understand Pinterest is incorporating elements from data partner ModiFace, including digitization parameters that ensure the products recognized are mapped to ModiFace’s database for higher-quality rendering.

AR-powered virtual makeup experiences have been growing in popularity over the years, thanks in part to AR beauty apps like ModiFace's YouCam Makeup, Sephora’s Virtual Artist, Ulta’s GLAMLab and others. L’Oréal has also offered Live Try-On on its website and partnered with Facebook to bring virtual makeup to the site. Target’s online Beauty Studio also offers virtual makeup.

More recently, Google entered the AR virtual makeup space, initially with the launch of a more limited feature on YouTube that allowed some beauty influencers to incorporate an AR try-on experience for products in their videos. In December 2020, however, Google more fully embraced AR try-on with the launch of virtual makeup try-on within Google Search, also in partnership with ModiFace.

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/pinterest-launches-ar-powered-try-170024263.html

 

[CraigD]

Aerosol particles naturally form over open sea

New results from an atmospheric study over the eastern North Atlantic reveal that tiny aerosol particles that seed clouds can form out of next-to-nothingness over the open ocean.

This “new particle formation” occurs when sunlight reacts with molecules of trace gases in the marine boundary layer, the atmosphere within about the first mile above Earth’s surface. The findings will improve how aerosols and clouds are represented in models that describe Earth’s climate so scientists can understand how the particles – and the processes that control them – might have impacted the planet’s past and present and better predict the future.

The research, a collaboration led by principal investigator Jian Wang, professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering and director of the Center for Aerosol Science and Engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, was published Jan. 22 in the journal Nature Communications.

https://www.miragenews.com/aerosol-particles-naturally-form-over-open-sea/

 

[CraigD]

SpaceX Starship Sea Launch Platforms Under Construction!
SN9 Strange Tests

Why did SpaceX pressurize Starship SN9 three times in one day without lighting the engines, what’s different on SpaceX’s second Super Heavy booster and why is SpaceX building floating Spaceports at Brownsville Harbor?

 

[CraigD]

The Illusion Only Some Can See

Ames window illusion illustrates how we don't directly perceive external reality.

 

[koolishman]

Why do dogs bury bones?

"The reason why a dog buries something is to save it for later," Teoti Anderson, professional dog trainer and behavior consultant based in Florida, told Live Science. "When you don’t know when you’ll find your next meal, it makes sense to hide leftovers.”

The act of burying bones is a type of "food caching," that is, storing available food supplies for the purpose of later access. It's a common behavior in many species of birds and mammals, including in the canine ancestors of domestic dogs — gray wolves — which is where dogs inherited their burying instincts.

While wolves, which are known for their cunning hunting skills, tend to stay in a scavenge area long enough to devour their prey entirely, they will occasionally carry and bury the remains of a kill, according to a 1976 study published in the journal Ethology. (Wolves and other canids are known as "scatter hoarders," meaning they stash their leftover food in hideaways located over fairly large areas.) This same study showed that even wolf pups cache, and will move their cache to keep it from being discovered by a sibling. So, when dogs exhibit this seemingly unusual behavior in your backyard, rest assured — they're simply following their instinctual "inner wolf."


Most dogs today don't need to store food because they have doting pet parents to feed them, but that doesn't mean their natural urge to squirrel things away for later doesn't still exist. Sometimes, the instinct to bury things has nothing to do with storing food or protecting it from scavengers. According to dog behaviorist Cesar Millan, burying can be a dog's way of savoring cherished objects, so they can be enjoyed again later. It can also be a way for bored dogs to initiate play with their owner, or a method of stress relief for anxious dogs.

 

[eyedomainous]

TIMELAPSE OF FUTURE TECHNOLOGY: 2022 - 4000+​

 

[CraigD]

Why The 'Happy Face Crater' on Mars Is Happier Than Ever

Who has an even bigger grin than ten years ago? This goofy-looking crater on Mars.

These two images were taken by the HiRISE camera (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and show how Mars' surface is changing over time – in this case, due to thermal erosion.

https://www.sciencealert.com/why-the-happy-face-crater-on-mars-is-happier-than-ever

 

[CraigD]

CRISPR-Based Cancer Cell Lineage Tracing Offers Insights into Drivers of Metastasis

A new CRISPR-based method for tracing real-time cancer progression across thousands of cells has revealed novel insights into the rates, routes, and drivers of cancer metastasis. Using the lineage-tracing technique, Whitehead Institute member Jonathan Weissman, PhD, and colleagues were able to treat cancer cells in much the same way that evolutionary biologists might look at species, mapping out an intricately detailed family tree. The approach allowed the authors to generate phylogenies and follow the movement of metastatic human cancer cells over several months of growth and dissemination, in a lung cancer xenograft mouse model.

By examining the branches it is then possible to track cell lineage to find when a single tumor cell went rogue, spreading its progeny to the rest of the body. “With this method, you can ask questions like, ‘How frequently is this tumor metastasizing? Where did the metastases come from? Where do they go?'” said Weissman, who is a professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. “By being able to follow the history of the tumor in vivo, you reveal differences in the biology of the tumor that were otherwise invisible.”

https://www.genengnews.com/news/cri...g-offers-insights-into-drivers-of-metastasis/

 

[CraigD]

Heatwaves may mean Sydney is too hot for people to live in 'within decades'

Parts of Victoria and NSW are sweating through an extreme heatwave that started sweeping across Australia's southeast yesterday.

This may seem like just a good excuse to go to the beach, but as the planet warms and summers become longer and less bearable, heatwaves are coming to represent an existential threat to Australian suburbs.

Already, heat kills more people in Australia than any other natural disaster, including floods, cyclones and bushfires.

Now, faced with the prospect of 50-degree-plus summers, experts say highly urbanised parts of Australia may become unliveable within decades.

The race is on to re-imagine, redesign and rebuild the Australian suburb.

The mercury gets close to 50 degrees Celsius here in summer — and that's just the ambient air temperature. The radiant heat from bitumen carparks can push 80C. The surface temperature of playground equipment has been measured at 100C.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science...itable-climate-change-urban-planning/12993580

 

[CraigD]

What is Confocal Fluorescence Microscopy?

Confocal fluorescence microscopy is a commonly used optical imaging method in biology, combining fluorescence imaging with confocal microscopy for increased optical resolution. This article will discuss the principles of fluorescence and confocal microscopes, and describe the stages of fluorophore selection and sample preparation.

https://www.news-medical.net/life-sciences/What-is-Confocal-Fluorescence-Microscopy.aspx

 

[CraigD]

Dawn Aerospace aims to launch New Zealand's 1st space plane from a conventional airport

A New Zealand-based company has received approval to fly a suborbital space plane from a conventional airport.

Dawn Aerospace got the nod from the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to fly the company's Mk-II Aurora space plane, which is designed to send satellites into space on multiple flights a day, at a conventional airport whose name and location has not been disclosed yet.

Usually such vehicles need to be launched at isolated facilities, because otherwise regulators need to shut down the local commercial air space to allow the space planes to fly out of the atmosphere.

https://www.space.com/dawn-aerospace-space-plane-new-zealand-airport

 

[CraigD]

Apple says losing Lightning port will create waste

Apple says being forced to abandon the Lightning connector used on its iPhones would create an "unprecedented amount of electronic waste".

While the latest Android phones have a USB-C port, Apple's iPhones still use the proprietary Lightning port.

Some members of the European Parliament want all phone-makers to adopt a universal port, to reduce waste.

But Apple says the move would create more waste by making Lightning-compatible accessories obsolete.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51208912

 

[CraigD]

Deepfake video technology becoming increasingly more realistic

CGI likenesses of younger or dead actors have been around for a few years now, but while earlier attempts were a bit creepy (like a resurrected Peter Cushing in Rogue One: A star Wars Story) deepfake technology has now leapt ahead and become extremely realistic.


This deepfake of a young Harrison Ford caught my attention recently.

Harrison Ford in Solo: A Star Wars Story (deepfake)

This deepfake of deceased actor Peter Cushing was much better than the CGI produced by the studio.

Deepfaking Tarkin & Leia in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Original Star Trek actors deepfaked over the modern reboot cast.

Star Trek: The First Generation [deepfake]

Robert DeNiro deepfake is much more realistic than the studio attempt at de-aging.

De-aging Robert Deniro in The Irishman [DeepFake]

I actually found the original Netflix film awkward to watch because it did not look like a young DeNiro as I remembered him.



Deepfakes Are Going To Wreak Havoc On Society. We Are Not Prepared
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robtoews/2020/05/25/deepfakes-are-going-to-wreak-havoc-on-society-we-are-not-prepared/

Deepfakes Are Amazing. They're Also Terrifying for Our Future
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/security/a28691128/deepfake-technology/

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

 

[CraigD]

This One Spot on The International Space Station Is Kept Filthy – For Science

Every Saturday in space is "cleaning day" where surfaces are wiped down, and the astronauts vacuum and collect trash.

But there's one spot on board the station where cleaning is a no-no. But don't worry, its all for science!

https://www.sciencealert.com/this-o...onal-space-station-is-kept-filthy-for-science

 

[CraigD]

China’s space programme plans to launch first mission to the sun next year

NOTE: This headline is incorrect, as the solar probe will be orbiting the Earth in a Sun-synchronous orbit.

China is planning to launch its first solar mission next year.

The probe, code-named the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S), is scheduled for lift-off in the first half of 2022. Orbiting 720km (447 miles) above the Earth it will “perform 24-hour continuous observation” for at least four years, state news agency Xinhua said on Thursday

The probe would carry a magnetic detector, a solar telescope and an X-ray imager to track the sun’s magnetic fields and stormy activities, which were the “key to the space weather forecast”, Gan Weiqun, the mission’s chief scientist, told Xinhua.

More than 70 solar exploration satellites have been launched globally since the 1960s, and the mission is expected to “plug China’s gap in the field”, according to the report.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3118836/chinas-space-programme-plans-launch-first-mission-sun-next-year