Science & TechnologyS


Blue Planet

Forests break mesmerizing fractal law found throughout nature

Clare Watson
Science Alert
Mon, 05 Feb 2024 17:51 UTC
forest crown
© Stewart Watson/Getty
The beautiful thing about fractals, the self-repeating patterns found throughout nature, is their enchanting repetition which runs infinitely deep.

Zoom in on the branching found in objects like fern fronds and snowflakes and you'll see they repeat in miniature - sometimes all the way down to atomic and quantum matter.

Mesmerizing as they are, such geometric patterns can have their limits. According to a new study that has found forest canopies don't replicate the fractal patterns of individual trees.

Comment: One term not mentioned in the article, that may be of interest, is 'crown shyness':
Crown shyness (also canopy disengagement,[1] canopy shyness,[2] or inter-crown spacing[3]) is a feature observed in some tree species, in which the crowns of fully stocked trees do not touch each other, instead forming a canopy with channel-like gaps.[4][5] This is most prevalent among trees of the same species, but also occurs between trees of different species.[6][7] There exist many hypotheses as to why crown shyness is an adaptive behavior, and research suggests that it might inhibit spread of leaf-eating insect larvae.[8]
crown shyness
Canopy of D. aromatica at the Forest Research Institute Malaysia displaying crown shyness


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Galaxy

Hubble captures an image of spiral galaxy ESO 420-G013

Mary Manley
Sputnik
Mon, 05 Feb 2024 03:17 UTC
seyfert galaxy ESO 420-G013
© NASA/ESA/A. Evans (University of Virginia)/Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
The galaxy is classified as a Seyfert galaxy, and is harboring a powerful black hole that is responsible for forming new stars at a high rate.

NASA announced that their Hubble Space Telescope, which has been orbiting Earth for more than two decades, observed the spiral galaxy named ESO 420-G013 last week as part of a study of Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs). According to the administration, LIRGs are known to be extremely bright in the infrared part of the spectrum.

The galaxy ESO 420-G013 is exactly that: an extremely bright spiral galaxy, and it is harboring a powerful black hole. It is located 50 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Sculptor which can be found in the southern sky.

ESOS 402-G013 is classified as a Seyfert galaxy. These types of galaxies were named after American astronomer Carl Keenan Seyfert, who studied the objects in 1943. Seyfert galaxies, for which there are two types, have an extremely bright, point-like active galactic nucleus powered by a supermassive black hole, according to NASA.
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Rocket

Nuclear secret: India's space program uses plutonium pellets to power missions

B.R. Srikanth
RT
Thu, 01 Feb 2024 15:13 UTC
photpgraph
© Pradeep Gaur/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty ImagesA Man photographs a scale model of the Chandrayaan 3 Vikram Lander at the Indian Space Research Organisation
New Delhi is experimenting with radioisotopes to charge its robotic missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond...

Indians are ecstatic over their space program's string of successes in recent months. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has a couple of well-kept tech secrets - one of them nuclear - that will drive future voyages to the cosmos.

In the Hollywood sci-fi movie 'The Martian', astronaut Mark Watney, played by Matt Damon, is presumed dead and finds ways to stay alive on the red planet, mainly thanks to a big box of Plutonium known as a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG).

In the film, Watney uses it to travel in his rover to the 'Pathfinder', a robotic spacecraft which launched decades ago, to use its antenna to communicate with his NASA colleagues and tell them he's still alive. Additionally, the astronaut dips this box into a container of water to thaw it.

In real life, the RTG generates electricity from the heat of a decaying radioactive substance, in this case, Plutonium-238. This unique material emits steady heat due to its natural radioactive decay. Its continuous radiation of heat, often lasting decades, made it the material of choice for producing electrical power onboard several deep-space missions of the erstwhile USSR and the US.
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Blue Planet

Major 'magnetic anomaly' discovered deep below New Zealand's Lake Rotorua, situated on dormant volcano

Patrick Pester
Live Science
Sun, 04 Feb 2024 19:04 UTC
Lake Rotorua.
© nstitute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Limited (GNS ScienceMap of Lake Rotorua.
Lake Rotorua, which sits at the heart of a dormant volcano and is the setting for one of New Zealand's most famous Māori love stories, has been mapped in detail for the 1st time. Comments (0)

New maps have revealed a hidden hydrothermal system beneath a legendary lake in New Zealand, which serves as the setting for a famous Māori love story.

Lake Rotorua sits at the heart of a massive ancient crater of a dormant volcano on New Zealand's North Island. The lake has a storied history: it is where the daughter of an influential chief is said to have overcome forbidden love by swimming across the lake to be with a young warrior.
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Nebula

Will Megaconstellations Alter Earth's Magnetic Field?


Spaceweather
Sat, 03 Feb 2024 11:50 UTC
Starlink
Something unprecedented is happening in Earth orbit. In only a few short years, the satellite population has skyrocketed, more than doubling since 2020. In the past year alone, more satellites have been launched than during the first thirty years of the Space Age. Much of this activity is driven by SpaceX and its growing megaconstellation of Starlink internet satellites.

Environmentalists have raised many concerns about Starlink including light-pollution of the night sky, a potentially hazardous traffic jam in low-Earth orbit, and even ozone depletion. Copycat megaconstellations by other companies and countries will only multiply these concerns.

Now there's a new reason to worry. According to a new study by Sierra Solter, megaconstellations could alter and weaken Earth's magnetic field.

Solter is a graduate student at the University of Iceland, working on her PhD in plasma physics. She recently realized something overlooked by many senior colleagues: "More than 500,000 satellites are expected in decades ahead, primarily to build internet megaconstellations. Every satellite that goes up will eventually come down, disintegrating in Earth's atmosphere. This will create a massive layer of conducting, electrically charged particles around our planet."

Comment: Something which is continually adding charged electric particles to Earth's near environment is atmospheric dust loading from increased comet and volcanic activity. For those who have followed SOTT over the years it is clear that there is a great uptick in cometary activity in recent years. This has happened before and is something which Laura Knight-Jadczyk has written extensively about. From a recent article by her The Cosmic Context of Greek Philosophy, Part Two
Here, I would like to say something about the problem of transmission of information. We are talking here about a main event 13,000 or more years ago, and then numerous subsequent events that either included actual physical bombardment of the planet, or events that consisted of dust loading and related climate stress with probable frequent meteor storms.
From the same article:
the absence of sunlight due to cometary dust loading and consequent crop failure.
So whether the dust loading comes from meteors, volcanoes or as suggested in this article from disintegrating satellites, then increased dustloading can have a devastating effect on life here on earth.

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Cow Skull

Trillions spent on 'climate change' based on faulty temperature data, climate experts say

Katie Spence
The Epoch Times
Mon, 29 Jan 2024 00:00 UTC
climate change hoax
© Illiustration by The Epoch Times, Getty Images, Shutterstock
To preserve a "livable planet," the Earth can't warm more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the United Nations warns.

Failure to maintain that level could lead to several catastrophes, including increased droughts and weather-related disasters, more heat-related illnesses and deaths, and less food and more poverty, according to NASA.

To avert the looming tribulations and limit global temperature increases, 194 member states and the European Union in 2016 signed the U.N. Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty with a goal to "substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions."

After the agreement, global spending on climate-related projects increased exponentially.
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Blue Planet

New study finds global plant growth accelerated thanks to higher carbon dioxide levels

Chris Morrison
The Daily Sceptic
Fri, 02 Feb 2024 19:30 UTC
lush forest green plants carbon dioxide
© Christophe van der Perre/Reuters
The rate of global greening caused by recent increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide has accelerated during the last two decades, according to important new findings recently published by a group of Chinese scientists. About 55% of global land mass revealed an "accelerated rate" of vegetation growth, compared with only 7.3% showing increased decline or 'browning'. Global greening due to higher levels of CO2 is an inconvenient fact that is often ignored in mainstream climate science. In fact there have even been attempts to suggest greening has slowed or reversed. Studies showing higher levels of global browning use sources that "should be used with caution", advise the authors of the new study.

It is known that the planet has been greening since at least 1980, with some estimates suggesting increased levels as high as 14%. In a detailed paper published in 2016 by 32 authors from eight countries, it was noted that there was a "persistent and widespread increase" in growing-season greening over 25-50% of the global vegetated area. Now the Chinese scientists, including Eco-Climatologist Professor Tiexi Chen, state that "global greening is an indisputable fact".

Comment:

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Satellite

JWST unveils breathtaking images of 19 Milky Way-like spiral galaxies

Margaret Davis
Science Times
Wed, 31 Jan 2024 19:19 UTC
19 galaxies jwst webb telescope
© NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Lee (STScI), T. Williams (Oxford), PHANGS Team, E. Wheatley (STScI)A mosaic image showing all 19 of the spiral galaxies recently viewed by the James Webb Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has unveiled detailed images of 19 Milky Way-like spiral galaxies, showcasing stars, gas, and dust with unprecedented precision. Described as extraordinary and mind-blowing by scientist Janice Lee, these images reveal the galaxies at the smallest scales ever observed beyond our own.

The stunning detail has captivated even seasoned researchers who have studied these galaxies for decades, marking a significant advancement in astronomical observation capabilities.

JWST Unveils Unprecedented Views of the Universe

JWST was launched on Christmas Day in 2021 and continues to stand out for its unparalleled ability to capture highly detailed images of distant objects in the universe.

Equipped with near- and mid-infrared cameras, the telescope can perceive light in the infrared spectrum, invisible to the human eye. This capability enables scientists to visualize dust clouds and objects concealed within them, including those too faint for traditional telescopes.
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Microscope 2

'Sewage system' for the brain might be hiding right behind our nose, discovery reveals

Carly Cassella
Science Alert
Wed, 31 Jan 2024 12:00 UTC
nasopharyngeal lymphatic plexus
© Yoon et al., Nature, 2024The nasopharyngeal lymphatic plexus.
Scientists have discovered a 'secret passageway' in mice that connects the brain to the body's lymphatic system.

The network of vessels appears to form an overlooked brain drainage system that plays a crucial role in maintaining the health and function of the central nervous system.

If the findings extend to humans, it could fundamentally change how scientists understand the circulation of fluid that bathes the brain and spinal cord.

Comment: See also:

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Hearts

French bulldog puppy spontaneously regrows jaw

Melanie Greaver Cordova, Cornell University
Phys.org
Thu, 01 Feb 2024 12:00 UTC
French bulldog
© Cornell UniversityTyson, a 3-month-old French bulldog, had his jaw regrow after losing a majority of his lower left mandible due to cancer.
Tyson, a 3-month-old French bulldog, had his jaw regrow after losing a majority of his lower left mandible due to cancer. Credit: Cornell University

A puppy's jaw spontaneously regrew after Cornell veterinarians removed a majority of his lower left mandible due to cancer. Although this phenomenon has been documented in children, this is the first reported case of its kind for dogs of any age or breed.

Tyson, a 3-month-old French bulldog, was originally scheduled to see Cornell's Dentistry and Oral Surgery Service for cleft palate surgery in the spring of 2023 when his primary veterinarian noted a cancerous tumor on his jaw.

"Tyson's tumor was an oral papillary squamous cell carcinoma, which is a malignant cancer in dogs," said dentistry and oral surgery resident Alexandra Wright, DVM '18, who led Tyson's care team. "Oral squamous cell carcinoma is the second-most common malignant oral tumor in dogs, and this papillary subtype has previously been reported in young dogs."

Comment: Interestingly, this follows a report from earlier this month that a shark's fin regenerated, over the period of about a year, after being damaged by humans.

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