Escape from Elba
Science and Religion => Science => Topic started by: Administrator on July 30, 2018, 12:21:16 PM
-
Discuss
-
https://gizmodo.com/this-is-how-it-starts-fbi-suspiciously-locks-down-eva-1829012554
Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully have different theories as to what is happening at the solar observatory.
This is pretty weird. Sunspots aren't really a strategic secret. Astronomers tend to share their data. NASA has a free public website with current solar flare activity.
-
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/02/neil-degrasse-tyson-answers-allegations-sexual-misconduct
Tyson's comments on evidence and what should not be adjudicated in the media, in his Saturday FB post, seem spot on. I like Tyson and have a bias in his favor, so take my opinion as worth somewhere between zero and diddleysquat. In the absence of a third-party witness, this may come down to people choosing whoever they feel is most credible.
-
Virgin Galactic reaches suborbital space for the first time. Now it's closer to flying customers there.
By SAMANTHA MASUNAGA
DEC 13, 2018
Virgin Galactic reached suborbital space for the first time in a test flight Thursday, bringing Richard Branson’s company closer to flying its customers beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
Thursday was the fourth time VSS Unity fired up its rocket motor and flew on its own power after being released from the belly of a larger, twin-fuselage carrier airplane. The space plane reached a maximum altitude of 271,268 feet, or 51.4 miles, above the Earth, the company said.
Capping its hourlong journey, the space plane landed back on the runway at the Mojave Air and Space Port in front of a jubilant crowd. During post-flight speeches, one Virgin Galactic employee proposed to his girlfriend, offering her an engagement ring that had just taken the ride to suborbital space. She said yes.
Branson, a British billionaire, acknowledged the exultation as well as some heartbreak. “It’s been 14 hard years,” he said in a speech to the crowd. “We’ve had tears and joy. People have literally put their lives on the line to get us here. This day is as much for them as it is for all of us.”
Thursday marked the latest step in Virgin Galactic’s long test-flight campaign that restarted in September 2016, almost two years after a previous version of the SpaceShipTwo space plane broke apart in midair during a powered test flight. That accident killed the copilot, Michael Alsbury, and injured the pilot, Peter Siebold.
How Virgin Galactic's space plane pilot survived a 10-mile fall back to Earth »
The National Transportation Safety Board later said the space plane broke apart after the copilot prematurely opened the craft’s “feather system,” a movable tail designed to help slow it down as it reenters Earth’s atmosphere.
The NTSB placed most of the blame on that plane’s builder, Scaled Composites, saying the design should have protected against the possibility of this human error. Mojave-based Scaled Composites is now owned by Northrop Grumman Corp.
The current version of the space plane is now built in-house at Spaceship Co., Virgin’s spacecraft manufacturing and assembly arm. Virgin Galactic has said it devised additional safety mechanisms to prevent pilots from opening the feather system too early.
Thursday’s flight began with the takeoff of carrier aircraft VMS Eve at 7:11 a.m., just as the sun rose over the mountains. Over the better part of an hour, that aircraft and the attached space plane flew upward, reaching about 43,000 feet.
The space plane was released from the carrier aircraft about 7:59 a.m., and its rocket motor ignited shortly afterward. From the ground, it looked like a glowing red dot shooting up from the carrier aircraft’s faint contrail.
The motor burned for about 60 seconds — longer than the 55 seconds Virgin Galactic expected, but less than the approximately 65 seconds it’s capable of burning. (The pilots have a bit of leeway: If the flight is going well, they’re allowed to push a little beyond their target.)
Thursday’s flight reached a top speed of Mach 2.9, the company said — about 2.9 times the speed of sound. Previously, the fastest the space plane had flown was Mach 2.4.
The space plane landed about 8:13 a.m., with the carrier aircraft following at 8:45 a.m.
The flight is not only an important milestone for the company but also a positive for the larger, burgeoning suborbital space tourism industry, said Carissa Christensen, chief executive of Bryce Space & Technology. “Companies in very early-stage ecosystems benefit from the success of their competitors because it helps demonstrate that what they are seeking to sell is possible and that there is demand for it.”
Virgin Galactic has been in the space tourism business a long time — Branson first announced his commercial space service in 2004, saying at the time that he expected the first flight to occur in 2007. Since then, a number of other firms have jumped into the fray.
Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space company developed a capsule and rocket system called New Shepard that’s designed to take tourists to suborbital space. The company has not yet announced ticket prices for the ride, which is expected to last for 11 minutes from liftoff to landing. So far, the rocket-and-capsule system has completed nine test flights.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX also plans to tap into the space tourism market. In September, Musk announced that Japanese e-commerce billionaire Yusaku Maezawa would be the first paying customer to travel around the moon on the Hawthorne company’s Starship spaceship and Super Heavy Rocket, formerly known as BFR. That launch system is still under development.
Maezawa has said he expects his flight to occur in 2023. He said he could not disclose the price of the trip, though Musk has called the down payment “significant.”
Virgin Galactic charges as much as $250,000 per ticket for its rides to suborbital space, and Branson said Thursday that nearly 700 people have signed up for a trip as the company continues testing and fine-tuning its system. On Thursday, the company flew four research payloads for NASA to help simulate the weight of paying customers in the space plane, making Thursday’s flight its first revenue-generating mission.
Branson estimated that development costs across his three space-related companies — Virgin Galactic, Spaceship Co., and small-satellite launch firm Virgin Orbit — have so far totaled about $1.3 billion.
Did Thursday’s flight officially reach space? There’s no universally accepted answer.
The U.S. military considers space to be at least 50 miles above Earth’s surface. And after the space plane landed, a Federal Aviation Administration official said the two Virgin Galactic pilots — Mark “Forger” Stucky and Frederick “CJ” Sturckow — will be awarded commercial astronaut wings next year in Washington.
But the world governing body for aeronautic and astronautic records and other organizations define space as 62 miles above Earth, a designation known as the Karman line.
Regardless, Virgin Galactic’s next steps include more flight tests, including flights with employees to ensure in-flight procedures are “safe and enjoyable,” said George Whitesides, chief executive of Virgin Galactic and Spaceship Co.
https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-virgin-galactic-flight-20181213-story.html
----
News Report, You Tube video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVPUwXfvyq0
------------------
It is awesome that this great event happened in Mojave, and it adds another fantastic event to the history of the Antelope Valley, in California. And right now the people really need fun stuff like this to cheer them up.
The Antelope Valley needs jobs, and employment in the aerospace and defense industries are good jobs. Mojave is also leading in innovation in the field of green energy, and hopefully new green energy items can be invented and manufactured in Mojave, and in Van Nuys.
Of note, everyone has their sites on Mars, people want to put a community on Mars. So, we will see how soon that happens.
Also, on the issue of Branson, he is getting involved in the train industry here in the USA, so that is cool. Maybe he can help to quicken the advancements to high speed rail in the USA.
Link to info on Virgin Trains USA...
https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/introducing-virgin-trains-usa
Anyhow, Richard Branson is really cool, he once produced the Sex Pistols, and now he has a space company. He wants to do satellites too.
Article about his satellite venture...
http://fortune.com/2017/03/02/virgin-orbit-satellite-richard-branson/
The free enterprise system is truly at its best when guys like Richard Branson rise to the top.
It could not happen for a nicer guy. When his spaceship launched into space he wept as he watched. Cool stuff.
Salute,
Tony V.
-
https://www.apnews.com/d1e2c440af57450ab82b62d035adac61
I knew there was a reason...
-
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/scientists-generate-quantum-entanglement-in-space-for-the-first-time/
Entangled particles doing their thing, 700 miles apart.
-
https://www.sciencealert.com/the-universe-is-expanding-faster-than-we-thought-it-might-take-new-physics-can-explain-it
We have to rework our physics models, again.
-
Ever wonder how a refrigerator and freezer in a motor home works? I always wondered how the propane powered refrigerator and freezer worked, I always wanted to know how they use fire to make ice.
Here is how it works...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_refrigerator
Salute,
Tony V.
-
I was talking with a guy who is doing research at UCI, and they get research money, he was saying that on one project they received ten million dollars between five scientists.
So, I told him about my idea for an experiment, to show that color blind people can see better at night, and thus the military could have a special team of color blind people to operate under the cover of darkness.
The eyes have rods and cones, one detects light, and the other detects color. Color blind people can see better at night because they have more rods which detect light.
Right now the military will not accept color blind people, but what if color blind people have better night vision?
So, the lady at UCI said that I had to submit my idea in writing, and all that I had was a small note pad, so I wrote the idea down on small note paper and turned the idea in to her.
Nothing ever came of it that I know of, but the scientist said that it was a good idea for research, and that it might garner research money.
Salute,
Tony V.
-
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/11/health/nasa-kelly-twins-study-results/index.html
-
A movie studio is like a play-ground for actors and filmmakers, I used to love going to the studio everyday when I worked at Universal Studios, I wish I could have made movies there. It is fun to make movies.
And the same thing with scientists working at the laboratory at China Lake, it is fun for the scientists, and the whole desert is their play-ground, they have money and Corvettes, and swimming pools, and hot wives. They drive their Vettes to Kennedy Meadows, and they hang out in Mammoth in the winter and ski, and they camp along the Kern River, the scientists have good lives.
I want to make movies, but the scientists have good lives too, those are good jobs too.
Salute,
Tony V.
-
http://www.weizmann.ac.il/WeizmannCompass/sections/features/watch-israel-land-on-the-moon
-
http://www.weizmann.ac.il/WeizmannCompass/sections/features/watch-israel-land-on-the-moon
Very cool.
Salute,
Tony V.
-
Maybe Israel did not succeed this time, but at least they tried, and they learned a lot, and they will be successful next time.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/11/science/israel-moon-landing-beresheet.html
I had a step father who was a supervisor on the Space Shuttle program, and then later my mother worked for a company that made satellites. I used to have a tile from a Shuttle that had went to space. I personally did some work at NASA at Edwards, and that was awesome. And I worked at China Lake. Aerospace and Defense is cool stuff. I also loved to watch the top secret aircraft flying over out in the desert. My hometown was all about Aerospace and Defense.
Anyhow, good for Israel. At least they are entering the game.
Salute,
Tony V.
-
The Stratolaunch made its first flight, it was made and flown in the Antelope Valley, in my hometown area, in Mojave...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/13/science/stratolaunch-first-flight.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratolaunch_Systems
Salute,
Tony V.
-
https://www.sciencealert.com/small-trial-reverses-a-year-of-alzheimer-s-in-just-two-months-in-seven-patients
It would be amazing if it will go beyond this small trial!
-
What3Words divides the entire surface of the earth into a grid of 57 trillion 3m squares, each of which can be uniquely referenced by an arbitrary string of three words drawn from a dictionary of around 40,000 words.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-49319760
What3Words has quickly become the go-to tool for emergency services who need to locate people lost in remote or inaccessible areas who phone them up and ask for help. They are asked to download the app and use it to find the three word index for their current GPS location.
The What3Words system has recently been adopted as the official location finding system of the Mongolian postal service because a significant portion of the population are transhumant nomads with no fixed address.
Users of the What3Words have noted with interest that the string
///fake.news.trump
corresponds to a real location, a 3m x 3m grid square in Zhe Jiang province in mainland China.
-
https://phys.org/news/2019-11-material-world-electricity.html?fbclid=IwAR0EskugqtdxxU2d5kMiyS7e5JAGXWvJH4auRf0avQU0uu-pLTl97JAMvlQ
New material breaks world record for turning heat into electricity
-
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/02/india/chandrayaan-2-vikram-lander-crash-moon-scn/index.html
Now you can see where India's lunar lander crashed.
-
https://www.npr.org/2020/01/02/793050811/a-knotty-problem-solved
-
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/31/tech/spacex-crew-dragon-elon-musk-video-trnd-scn/index.html
-
https://www.realclearscience.com/video/2020/02/26/how_dragonfly_will_explore_titan.html?fbclid=IwAR1QP9svK4RUeBJmkDfqVKJYGLFFUT2IpSn6ncK4EsLA1L8Nx8vFB-P-hDI
-
An attempt to shed a bit of light on the flu outbreak.....
https://apnews.com/580923fa5e2200f98c0a42b5c0d7b236
Ropeik said the coronavirus triggers thinking about years of warnings about lethal pandemics. “This idea of the new disease being a major killer is an idea that has been burned into our recent fear memory,” he said.
Vincent Covello, director of the Center for Risk Communication, based in New York, provided a list of 17 psychological factors that he said can influence how individuals gauge the risks of coronavirus. For example, he said, people are often more concerned about events if they don’t trust the authorities or institutions in charge. They’re more concerned about involuntary things, like exposure to an infected person, than voluntary ones, like smoking or sunbathing. And they’re often more concerned about risks that have delayed effects, like the lag time between infection and symptoms, than those with an immediate effect, like poisoning.
So how can people minimize the risk of overreaction in themselves and others? Don’t spread the word about every little development, including minor missteps by government authorities, Ropeik says. And “don’t just share the scary parts,” but also include things like infection usually causing only mild to moderate symptoms.
Finally, “don’t be a 24/7 information victim,” he said. “Log off, put your phone down, pick up a book ... Shut down your risk radar screen for a while.... You’re probably just as much at risk or safe tomorrow as you are now, whether you stay online all the time or not.”
Number of flu-caused deaths in a flu season in USA, average, per CDC: 56,000
Number of deaths from coronavirus in USA: 11
Average global flu deaths: 291,000 to 646,000
Global coronavirus deaths: 3000
This is not to say that covid-19 could not prove to bring an especially harsh flu season, but it's very likely (from all the data I've seen) that most deaths will be comorbidity deaths, where an older person with other systemic illness is felled by pneumonia (as is the case with the flu figures cited above). Non-comorbidity deaths, from covid-19, are a little higher than average flu, but much lower than SARS.
-
An attempt to shed a bit of light on the flu outbreak.....
https://apnews.com/580923fa5e2200f98c0a42b5c0d7b236
Ropeik said the coronavirus triggers thinking about years of warnings about lethal pandemics. “This idea of the new disease being a major killer is an idea that has been burned into our recent fear memory,” he said.
Vincent Covello, director of the Center for Risk Communication, based in New York, provided a list of 17 psychological factors that he said can influence how individuals gauge the risks of coronavirus. For example, he said, people are often more concerned about events if they don’t trust the authorities or institutions in charge. They’re more concerned about involuntary things, like exposure to an infected person, than voluntary ones, like smoking or sunbathing. And they’re often more concerned about risks that have delayed effects, like the lag time between infection and symptoms, than those with an immediate effect, like poisoning.
So how can people minimize the risk of overreaction in themselves and others? Don’t spread the word about every little development, including minor missteps by government authorities, Ropeik says. And “don’t just share the scary parts,” but also include things like infection usually causing only mild to moderate symptoms.
Finally, “don’t be a 24/7 information victim,” he said. “Log off, put your phone down, pick up a book ... Shut down your risk radar screen for a while.... You’re probably just as much at risk or safe tomorrow as you are now, whether you stay online all the time or not.”
Number of flu-caused deaths in a flu season in USA, average, per CDC: 56,000
Number of deaths from coronavirus in USA: 11
Average global flu deaths: 291,000 to 646,000
Global coronavirus deaths: 3000
This is not to say that covid-19 could not prove to bring an especially harsh flu season, but it's very likely (from all the data I've seen) that most deaths will be comorbidity deaths, where an older person with other systemic illness is felled by pneumonia (as is the case with the flu figures cited above). Non-comorbidity deaths, from covid-19, are a little higher than average flu, but much lower than SARS.
Excluding co-morbidity, the rate of death from the flu ran about 1/10th of a percent (0.1%) in the US. The rate of death from COVID-19 in Wuhan seems to be about 3.4%. I'd call that more than a little higher!
In the US, the rate is over 6%, based on the 11 deaths and 160 cases we know of.
Yes, this is not where SARS or MERS were. Those both died out before we got a vaccine for them. Its shorter incubation period and seeming less infectious nature means that there have already been more Covid-19 deaths than SARS. "Before it was contained, 8,000 people had contracted SARS; more than 700 people died."
And just as well that this seems less fatal, given how quickly it spreads!
-
Josh,
Excluding co-morbidity, the rate of death from the flu ran about 1/10th of a percent (0.1%) in the US. The rate of death from COVID-19 in Wuhan seems to be about 3.4%. I'd call that more than a little higher!
Is that Wuhan rate also excluding comorbidity? I know there's a variant form that's more aggressive, but haven't seen figures separating out comorbidity in China? I can probably find them, but it's hard to tell with China how complete their shared data is.
On the whole I'd say we need to be vigilant due to the ease with which coronaviruses mutate and spin off more aggressive variants. There's a branch of evolutionary biology called macroevolution that deals among other things with species that somehow manage to evolve mechanisms for rapid mutation which they take maximum advantage of. Biologists like SJ Gould and Niles Eldridge wrote quite a bit about macroevolution.
Though a mutagen rich environment (like Earth ATM) can generate lots of lethal mutations, species like c-viruses seem able to thrive and benefit from the more adaptive mutations.
-
(https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/93956770_1043128959421290_3902097819867021312_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&_nc_sid=110474&_nc_ohc=e2j5b4E1hdgAX-2ZP0d&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=29612ea9988e0cd5aec95c22373e4fef&oe=5EC6556F)
-
Antigen test, if can be made accurate, might be a good alternative to PCR.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/04/30/847416695/a-next-generation-coronavirus-test-raises-hopes-and-concerns
-
EIDD-2801 looking like it might be a contender. It can be administered in pill form, unlike remdesivir which has to be IV. And being a replication inhibitor, it may be more broad spectrum.
https://cen.acs.org/pharmaceuticals/drug-development/emerging-antiviral-takes-aim-COVID-19/98/web/2020/05
Although doctors and scientists are testing a vast arsenal of existing drugs and drug candidates in the fight against the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, EIDD-2801 stands out. It attacks the same viral enzyme, the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, as Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir, which the US Food and Drug Administration recently granted emergency use authorization, allowing it to be used by doctors in the pandemic. But unlike remdesivir, which has to be given intravenously, EIDD-2801 can be taken orally as a pill.
This means if EIDD-2801 is shown to be safe and effective, people could take it at home rather than in a hospital. That would allow EIDD-2801 to be taken earlier in the course of the disease, killing off the virus before it wreaks havoc on the body.
EIDD-2801’s other intriguing feature is that it appears to have a high barrier to resistance. Drugs can force viruses to quickly develop mutants that aren’t affected by the drug, which then makes the drug obsolete. But EIDD-2801 hasn’t prompted that sort of resistance in lab tests despite efforts to coerce such mutants to arise...
-
The launch of the Falcon 9 and the Dragon today was exciting.
I remember Challenger too well and no launch of people will fail to make me anxious until this becomes as basic as flight or cars.
But watching the first stage land, tail down, the way space ships are supposed to land made me laugh.
-
The Nova episode that aired 5/13, on the coronavirus.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/decoding-covid-19/
Puts a lot of information together pretty well, in 53 minutes.
-
3 billion degrees (C) or bust!
http://nautil.us/issue/86/energy/the-road-less-traveled-to-fusion-energy
-
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/06/14/national-parks-deep-sea-plastic-pollution-is-showing-up-wherever-scientists-look/
Worth surmounting the paywall. Big Oil wants us to use more plastic - here is why that's not a good idea.
-
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/06/14/national-parks-deep-sea-plastic-pollution-is-showing-up-wherever-scientists-look/
Worth surmounting the paywall. Big Oil wants us to use more plastic - here is why that's not a good idea.
A worthwhile read, indeed. Thanks, Can!
-
You are, belatedly, welcome.
And now, zoonotic disease....
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/06/888077232/u-n-predicts-rise-in-diseases-that-jump-from-animals-to-humans
Gaia worshippers may be tempted to frame this as "Earth strikes back. "
-
4: any of various faint narrow lines on the planet Mars seen through telescopes and once thought by some to be canals built by Martians
-
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/tech/spacex-starship-hop-test-scn/index.html
-
Eventually Musk hopes to raise grain on Mars and bring it back on the silo rocket, as Earth's environment becomes more hostile to growing crops.
-
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/8/12/1968682/-Go-thank-a-llama-Teams-develop-synthetic-nanobodies-to-fight-COVID-19
(https://images.dailykos.com/images/253333/story_image/2623757354_a2b8fa8025_b.jpg)
-
Without a clicks counter, or anyone replying, it's hard to tell if anyone is reading in here. Should this be posted in politics, too?
-
Without a clicks counter, or anyone replying, it's hard to tell if anyone is reading in here. Should this be posted in politics, too?
You don't see the counters?!
Huh.
-
Without a clicks counter, or anyone replying, it's hard to tell if anyone is reading in here. Should this be posted in politics, too?
The number of views right now is 1935.
It was 1932 a few minutes ago before I first saw your query, responded to it, looked at the counter, checked back in here to make sure the counter changed as it should have, and then typed this second response to it.
Yes, there is a counter for views and yes, it is working.
ETA: at the top of each page that you are reading, it says "Topic: Science (Read 1935 times)" if that is the relevant page and stat.
-
https://www.sciencealert.com/something-strange-happens-on-mars-during-a-solar-eclipse
-
Without a clicks counter, or anyone replying, it's hard to tell if anyone is reading in here. Should this be posted in politics, too?
The number of views right now is 1935.
It was 1932 a few minutes ago before I first saw your query, responded to it, looked at the counter, checked back in here to make sure the counter changed as it should have, and then typed this second response to it.
Yes, there is a counter for views and yes, it is working.
ETA: at the top of each page that you are reading, it says "Topic: Science (Read 1935 times)" if that is the relevant page and stat.
Have not seen that view info at any page tops here. Wonder if only mods see that. Wait, now I see it. Most of those views are probably spambots.
-
I'm not expecting to grow flowers in a desert...
But food crops may be increasing there, thanks to nanoclay....
https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/follow-the-food/the-spray-that-turns-deserts-into-farmland.html
-
I'm not expecting to grow flowers in a desert...
But food crops may be increasing there, thanks to nanoclay....
https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/follow-the-food/the-spray-that-turns-deserts-into-farmland.html
Cool stuff, Barton!
-
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/UYBSIFCPOFCXFFPX6DSCMXUPRQ.jpg&w=916)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2742-6.epdf
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/09/30/greenland-ice-melt/
-
For those keeping score at home, a metric ton = 2204.62 lbs, or roughly 10% more than an Imperial ton.
-
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/15/923411578/a-disturbing-twinkie-that-has-so-far-defied-science
-
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/15/923411578/a-disturbing-twinkie-that-has-so-far-defied-science
I posted that over on fb yesterday - I think the headline is stupid, as Kid would say, but the story is great! I suspect my Current Event students will get a kick out of it next week.
-
Fungi are an amazingly successful kingdom. (I started to say phylum but caught myself just in time!) Some are so tasty and some so aren't.
This is an xkcd cartoon about chemistry, sulfides specifically.....
(https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/chemist_eggs.png)
-
He was just egging her on.
But when she strikes back, the yolk will be on him!
-
https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/american-indian-tribal-citizens-may-have-found-a-great-lakes-atlantis
Not my usual science new resource!
-
An update on the Asian Murder Hornets. 98 honeybee killers taken into custody in Washington State.
https://apnews.com/article/scientists-remove-98-murder-hornets-616a95fe52901a21e2e018a7b2a4a1e5
-
An update on the Asian Murder Hornets. 98 honeybee killers taken into custody in Washington State.
https://apnews.com/article/scientists-remove-98-murder-hornets-616a95fe52901a21e2e018a7b2a4a1e5
May they stay over there, if they have to be here at all!
-
In September, NASA announced that it was sending a new toilet to the station. “Boldly Go!” read the headline on the news release. The cost of the newly designed toilet was $23 million, and it’s smaller and lighter and better suited for women, while able to recycle more urine into drinking water. (Actual astronaut joke: “Today’s coffee is tomorrow’s coffee!”)....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/01/space-station-20-years-anniversary/
-
https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Mandelbrot/
(and happy birthday to that Biden fellah, too)
(https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Diagrams/MandelbrotSet.gif)
-
https://twitter.com/dassaf4
The Mandelbrotian!
-
https://phys.org/news/2020-12-titanium-atom-crystal-blame-unusual.html
-
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/05/943488926/photos-capture-worlds-largest-iceberg-as-it-heads-toward-south-atlantic-island
-
https://arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card/Report-Card-2020
(I like that their section on sea ice monitoring is called "Frostbites")
-
https://arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card/Report-Card-2020
(I like that their section on sea ice monitoring is called "Frostbites")
Good piece. Bad news.
-
https://www.quantamagazine.org/mathematician-solves-centuries-old-grazing-goat-problem-exactly-20201209/
I dimly recall enough math to get the part about integration -- finding the area inside a curve - but it's mostly beyond me.
-
It looked to me at first (the inside problem) like a simple integration. That's how I knew it was way beyond me.
-
https://www.sciencefocus.com/future-technology/future-technology-22-ideas-about-to-change-our-world
-
Tango Delta! Congrats to NASA, with the Perseverance mission making a successful landing on Mars a couple hours ago. Or, as they say at JPL, "nominal. "
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/18/968618809/after-tricky-landing-new-mars-rover-to-scour-ancient-lake-bed-for-life-signs
-
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30485722/
Autism marker found pre-birth, making the anti-vaccine argument a lot less compelling, we hope!
-
The thimerosal myth should have died long ago. I hope this finishes it off.
Meanwhile, speaking of cognitive disabilities....
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/25/965775584/north-dakota-officials-block-wind-power-in-effort-to-save-coal
This is really beyond stupid and self-destructive. That coal plant was being shut down because it can't compete with NG and alt energy prices. The notion that any company can swoop in and save it is something those officials should be torpedoing, not peddling it as a false hope for the coal workers. The windmills they are blocking could create longterm jobs, and jobs with much better prospects for healthy workers in a safe environment. Those towns WILL be ghost towns because their leaders couldn't show how to roll with the changes.
-
https://nypost.com/2021/03/11/scientists-want-to-build-a-sperm-bank-on-the-moon/
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk7X3fPkdp8
A prosthetic hand like you've never seen outside of SF movies!
-
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01033-8
Muon anomalies cause quite a splash in the particle physics world.
-
https://scitechdaily.com/huge-region-of-europe-destroyed-by-asteroid-impact-in-planetary-defense-exercise/amp
-
https://www.discovermagazine.com/technology/part-robot-part-frog-xenobots-are-the-first-robots-made-from-living-cells?fbclid=IwAR3u2Ae_e7T6BHm9XA228AcnMA038IiwWAygMD-FB4NmMfEX2Tuly4yLyPA
-
Scientists now have $15M to resurrect the woolly mammoth.
"What could go wrong?"
-
15 Mill? Not really a mammoth expenditure. Sorry.
I've heard talk before about trying to plant a surviving mammoth cell nucleus in an elephant egg, have it gestate in a large female. Do you have a link? I'll find one.
-
These Veritasium videos are really good, with amazingly clear explanations and examples.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRr1kaXKBsU
This one is on gravity and general relativity and the equivalence principle.
-
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/11/05/1052961177/new-coronavirus-likely-from-dogs-infects-people-in-malaysia-and-haiti
-
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/11/05/1052961177/new-coronavirus-likely-from-dogs-infects-people-in-malaysia-and-haiti
Oh boy.
-
https://www.science.org/content/article/data-probe-concludes-spider-biologist-placed-leave-has-ph-d-thesis-withdrawn
Sometimes the wheels of science grind slowly, but grind they do.
I suspect the scientist in question is as brilliant as was thought, but that the pressure of living up to that pushed him over the edge.
We'll see.
-
Really glad he is not a climatologist or virologist! Science denialists would cream their jeans.
-
This explanation of how electricity is actually transmitted will blow your mind.
https://youtu.be/bHIhgxav9LY
One of the best short videos on this topic I have ever seen.
-
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/09/free-will-bereitschaftspotential/597736
The scientific challenge to free will has been reexamined and found wanting.
-
Big thumb up from me. I have been critical of the determinist interpretation for many years. The original experimental design was sloppy and made too many assumptions.
-
https://interestingengineering.com/a-korean-artificial-sun-reactor-broke-a-nuclear-fusion-record
Fusion.
30 seconds.
It's a start.
-
And physicists recently managed to photograph Schrodinger s cat...
(https://twistedsifter.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/schrodingers-cat-pic-reddit-trippy-illusion.jpg)
-
This is a stunning finding.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cancer-biology-studies-research-replication-reproducibility
Only 25% of the cancer studies they looked at could be replicated.
-
https://gizmodo.com/vacuum-sealed-container-from-1972-moon-landing-will-fin-1848234198
-
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Stephen_Hawking.StarChild.jpg)
Born eighty years ago today. Lived well for 76 years, in spite of ALS. Nothing holds a curious and open mind back.
-
https://www.sciencealert.com/the-solar-system-floats-in-a-void-now-we-know-how-that-void-triggered-the-formation-of-stars
-
https://www.technologynetworks.com/immunology/news/multiple-sclerosis-is-likely-caused-by-a-virus-finds-study-of-10-million-military-personnel-357493
-
Nature's terrible and awesome beauty...
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FJJdOfVWUAEXbEO?format=jpg&name=medium)
I hope folks are all okay on Tonga and got clear of the beaches when the water came in.
-
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/02/20/texas-energy-winter-renewable-jacobson-dessler-rogan/
-
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60993523
The weight of a particle is bigger than the current model of science says it should be, by enough to potentially require a new theory of how everything works.
-
https://www.yahoo.com/news/mystery-why-humans-die-around-173539273.html
Why do we mostly die around age 80? A new theory.
-
Also contributes to our understanding why, if you maintain a healthy CV system, it will likely be cancer that gets you in the end. (also relates to telomere length, but that's a whole other topic) On my mom's side there's a Methuselah gene there and their CV systems are going strong in their 80s, but cancer still picks them off. Mutations build up and those cells that don't fall to apoptosis or necrosis, turn rogue.
-
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/21/world/perseverance-rover-mars-eclipse-scn/index.html
Phobos by Perseverance. Further down the story is a video of the full transit.
-
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10101090334673206&set=pcb.10101090335880786
First image of a string
-
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/the-minds-eye-pupil-size-may-be-indicator-of-aphantasia
-
Look again, maybe D.B.Cooper is down there, too.
https://apnews.com/article/civil-war-gold-fbi-pennsylvania-1352e0c3682bc88650a74136dc3c6c74
-
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/the-minds-eye-pupil-size-may-be-indicator-of-aphantasia
Fascinating. Had not heard of the condition. I come from very visual people who do various arts and photography and architectural/interior design stuff, so it's difficult for me to imagine that kind of cognition.
-
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/viruses-found-in-15000yearold-tibetan-glacier-ice-are-like-nothing-seen-before
-
This guy might be a little gullible.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/11/google-ai-lamda-blake-lemoine/
LaMDA is a very clever program, but its sentience is likely an illusion.
-
This guy might be a little gullible.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/11/google-ai-lamda-blake-lemoine/
LaMDA is a very clever program, but its sentience is likely an illusion.
At best, it is an incomplete sentience and should be finished with a question mark, not an exclamation point.
-
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/13/world/gaia-milky-way-galaxy-map-release-scn/index.html
-
Today's NYT article on peecycling (urine as fertilizer for crops) is about an overdue idea that should be adopted widely. Sorry no got link but will post if I can recover it. Google new york times peecycling.
LOL at one scientist saying he got into the research "for the puns."
I'm sure the days just whiz by.
-
Today's NYT article on peecycling (urine as fertilizer for crops) is about an overdue idea that should be adopted widely. Sorry no got link but will post if I can recover it. Google new york times peecycling.
LOL at one scientist saying he got into the research "for the puns."
I'm sure the days just whiz by.
https://archive.ph/3pa98 - The NYT peecycling article.
-
Thanks. Josh.
Right now, funding is just a slow trickle. That needs to change. We need a saw palmetto supplement for cash flow!
-
On the issue of curing cancer, I talked with a scientist on the train who said that they are learning how to better see cancer, the same way that they can better see nuclear materials at entry points, etc., and as they better learn how to see cancer with this technology then they use a laser set specifically for that frequency that will remove just the cancer without hurting the surrounding tissue.
Salute,
Tony V.
-
On the issue of finding Gold, I saw a satellite that was being built to tell us where the Gold is, and where other natural resources are. The same way that we know what the materials are on Mars, we can tell where the Gold is here on Earth, etc. And companies such as NASA, and Sverdrup, and others, know where the Gold is from satellites. If you want to mine for Gold in order to raise money to help orphans, or whatever, then NASA and Sverdrup and others know where to go open Gold mines.
Salute,
Tony V.
-
https://newatlas.com/telecommunications/quantum-entanglement-atoms-distance-record
Quantum entanglement of atoms over 220 miles!
-
https://archive.ph/ZwzzA
When I first lived in these hills, decades ago, no one really needed AC. Anyone capable of opening windows at 8pm and closing them at 8am had all the home cooling needed.
Now there are more people debating getting central air or at least a window unit where they sleep.
-
https://newatlas.com/telecommunications/quantum-entanglement-atoms-distance-record
Quantum entanglement of atoms over 220 miles!
Will reduce transmission errors, too.
-
https://archive.ph/ZwzzA
When I first lived in these hills, decades ago, no one really needed AC. Anyone capable of opening windows at 8pm and closing them at 8am had all the home cooling needed.
Now there are more people debating getting central air or at least a window unit where they sleep.
And not just America.
(Headline: Summer in America is becoming hotter, longer and more dangerous)
-
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/20/world/perseverance-rover-string-debris-scn/index.html
It found a small bundle of string!
I, for one, am looking forward to reading all about string theory!
-
New water battery in the Alps.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/01/world/water-battery-switzerland-renewable-energy-climate-scn-hnk-spc-intl/index.html
Another solution to the intermittent power source problem.
-
https://apnews.com/article/electric-vehicles-tax-credit-cfd3d9322230446f65d629b05c2ae551
Well fuck!
Damn rare earth elements. Anyone who saw season two of House of Cards may recall the billionaire Raymond Tusk, trying to get a sweet deal on rare earths.
Anyway, this delays my EV purchase a few more years. Prices right now would be tough for me without the $7500 rebate.
I've been leaving the fern juice burner in the driveway a lot anyway, keeping the old legs strong. The spouse is amazing - she walks to most of her errands - keeps me inspired.
-
https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/climate-change-makes-catastrophic-flood-twice-as-likely
The OTHER Big One.
-
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/17/africa/asteroid-crater-west-africa-scn/index.html
5 miles wide and ostensibly created when the dinosaurs disappeared - I presume one of the critters left a diary or something.
-
That's what they want us to believe!
(https://scontent-bos5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/298918501_463037075673030_4273012084074631_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5cd70e&_nc_ohc=EjFRxoiV7zMAX-gV2IG&_nc_ht=scontent-bos5-1.xx&oh=00_AT9m1h97_4sPe_K1BBDCE3y23MrohR-ht5THzb_0uJahbQ&oe=630513AD)
-
https://apnews.com/article/science-oddities-education-bb270f4a962f89811eb3ca2b02e3e8f4
-
Possibly the single most important scientific project/s concerning mankind today. And this particular project is very exciting.
https://newatlas.com/energy/hb11-laser-fusion-demonstration/
(https://newatlas.com/energy/hb11-laser-fusion-demonstration/)
Others,
https://www.energystartups.org/top/fusion-energy/ (https://www.energystartups.org/top/fusion-energy/)
-
Possibly the single most important scientific project/s concerning mankind today. And this particular project is very exciting.
https://newatlas.com/energy/hb11-laser-fusion-demonstration/
(https://newatlas.com/energy/hb11-laser-fusion-demonstration/)
Others,
https://www.energystartups.org/top/fusion-energy/ (https://www.energystartups.org/top/fusion-energy/)
It would be lovely.
Not holding my breath quite yet.
-
Gerontological researchers are attempting to study the amazing Buzz Aldrin.
https://apnews.com/article/marriage-michael-collins-neil-armstrong-buzz-aldrin-los-angeles-e8a3947a8a3b5dcd0dee57987db6be6e