Science & TechnologyS


Mars

Life on Kepler-186f? Scientists discover the planet appears even more like Earth than we thought


RT
Sun, 01 Jul 2018 15:55 UTC
Planet
© NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle / NASA
Scientists have discovered Kepler-186f is even more like Earth than previously understood, and could be habitable. The planet appears to have seasons and a climate, thanks to its stable axial tilt.

Kepler-186f is an exoplanet, meaning it's located outside our solar system, 500 light years away. Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology used simulations to analyze and identify the exoplanet's spin-axis dynamics, which determine to what extent a planet tilts on its axis and how this changes over time.

The study shows Kepler-186f's axial tilt appears to be stable, like Earth's. A planet's axial tilt creates seasons and climates because of how it affects the sunlight hitting the surface, so the research suggests it may have regular seasons.
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Cassiopaea

An easy way to understand the theory of the multiverse

Daniel Cossins
New Scientist
Wed, 27 Jun 2018 12:00 UTC
bubbles
© Robert Daly/GettyThe idea of an infinite multitude of universes is forced on us by physics. But the multiverse takes many forms - and we're still finding our place within it
JUST don't say they made it up. "One of the most common misconceptions is that the multiverse is a hypothesis," says Sean Carroll at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. In fact, it is forced upon us. "It is a prediction of theories we have good reason to think are correct."

The idea that the already vast universe we can see is just one of perhaps infinitely many we can't is certainly a lot to swallow. And it doesn't stop there. The multiverse itself comes in many guises.

Get your head around the most mind-bending concepts in science From black holes to blockchains, from consciousness to the multiverse, we explain it all in this 13-part special

Take the cosmological multiverses. This concept sprouts from eternal inflation, our best explanation for why the universe looks as it does. In the split second after the big bang, the idea goes, space-time expanded exponentially. Random quantum effects brought this inflation to an end in small regions, and these became more sedately expanding bubble universes - like ours - inside a continually ballooning container, budding off more and more bubbles.

Comment: See also:

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Brain

Fundamental rule of brain plasticity discovered by MIT scientists

David Orenstein
MIT News
Fri, 22 Jun 2018 00:01 UTC
Dendrite Arc
© Sur LabA dendrite with round processes or spines, expresses a red fluorescent protein together with a green tag for the protein Arc, obtained with two-photon microscopy.
Our brains are famously flexible, or "plastic," because neurons can do new things by forging new or stronger connections with other neurons. But if some connections strengthen, neuroscientists have reasoned, neurons must compensate lest they become overwhelmed with input. In a new study in Science, researchers at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT demonstrate for the first time how this balance is struck: when one connection, called a synapse, strengthens, immediately neighboring synapses weaken based on the action of a crucial protein called Arc.

Senior author Mriganka Sur said he was excited but not surprised that his team discovered a simple, fundamental rule at the core of such a complex system as the brain, where 100 billion neurons each have thousands of ever-changing synapses. He likens it to how a massive school of fish can suddenly change direction, en masse, so long as the lead fish turns and every other fish obeys the simple rule of following the fish right in front of it.

Comment: For a fascinating discussion about the brain, see: The Health & Wellness Show: Interview With Dr. Valdeane Brown - Nonlinear Dynamic Thinking With NeurOptimal Neurofeedback

See also:

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Moon

Spectacular 'blood moon' on July 27 will be the longest lunar eclipse this century: Here's when and how to see it

Joe Pinkstone
Daily Mail
Tue, 26 Jun 2018 11:49 UTC
lunar eclipse
© AFP/Getty ImagesStargazers can enjoy the longest lunar eclipse this century next month. The event will be visible to most people in the Eastern hemisphere and will last for an incredible 103 minutes (file photo)
Skygazers can enjoy the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century next month.

The lunar event, which takes place on July 27, will be visible to most people living in the Eastern hemisphere and will last for 103 minutes - four minutes short of the longest possible duration an eclipse could last.
Blood moon in Australia: July 28th

According to EarthSky, here's when you'll be able to enjoy the show in Australia on July 28th (times in AEST):

3.14am: Eclipse begins

5.30am: The moon can be seen at is reddest

6.21am: Maximum eclipse

7.13am: Total eclipse ends
The rare celestial event is the result of several astronomical events aligning, which will prolong the phenomenon.

During the eclipse, the moon will pass through Earth's darkest shadow, known as umbra, causing it to take on a red sheen, giving rise to the 'blood moon' name.

No equipment is needed to view the event, with the naked eye more than enough to watch the century's most impressive eclipse.

Unlike a solar eclipse, where the moon crosses the path of the sun, it is perfectly safe to look directly at the lunar eclipse.

People hoping to enjoy the 'blood moon' need only to hope for clear skies.
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Document

Monsanto's ghostwriting & strong-arming threaten sound science

Sheldon Krimsky
Environmental Health News
Tue, 26 Jun 2018 18:13 UTC
ghostwriting
© Union of Concerned Scientists
Discovery documents uncover the corporate capture of science, which puts public health, and the very foundation of democracy, at risk.

While passing a placard of contemporary protest buttons in New York's Greenwich Village, my attention was drawn to one that read "Science is Peer Reviewed, Not Politician Approved."

This short aphorism brought into focus two unfortunate realities. First, there are growing segments of the population who have lost confidence in science and choose to act on un-scientific or pseudo-scientific truth claims. And second, other segments of the population view scientists as just another stakeholder group subject to the same market influences in the competition for producing credible knowledge.
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Galaxy

Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft arrives at Ryugu - will collect rock samples from asteroid

Maria Temming
Science News
Wed, 27 Jun 2018 16:12 UTC
Hayabusa2 asteroid ryugu
© DLR (CC BY 3.0)The Japanese space agency's Hayabusa2 spacecraft (illustrated) has arrived at its target asteroid, Ryugu.
The probe will return samples of this space rock to Earth in 2020

After more than three years' lonely travel through the solar system, the Japanese spacefaring robot Hayabusa2 has reached its home-away-from-home for the next 18 months: the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu.

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency on June 27 confirmed Hayabusa2's arrival at the kilometer-wide boulder, which circles the sun between Earth and Mars. The spacecraft is now hovering about 20 kilometers above Ryugu.
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Rocket

Spectacular failure: Japanese space rocket crashes & explodes seconds after launch


RT
Sat, 30 Jun 2018 14:52 UTC
Japan's rocket
© Jiji Press / AFP
The launch of privately developed Japanese sounding rocket MOMO-2 resulted in a catastrophic failure, as the spacecraft crashed back to Earth after only a few seconds in flight. The rocket exploded, damaging the ground facilities.

The MOMO rocket family is developed by a private startup company with the ambitious name 'Interstellar Technologies.' The rocket was launched from Taiki, Hokkaido prefecture early on Saturday morning.

The rocket successfully blasted off from the launchpad, but only seconds into the flight its engine shut down. The spacecraft then emitted a thick plume of gray smoke, while fire emerged from the side of its fuel tank, presumably due to rupture. The rocket then crashed back to Earth, exploding in a spectacular fireball, and setting the launchpad ablaze.
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Rocket

Russia testing new manned space capsule in hypersonic wind tunnel


RT
Sat, 30 Jun 2018 12:30 UTC
future Russian spacecraft
© Roscosmos
The future Russian spacecraft, set to replace tried and trusted Soyuz, has been tested in a hypersonic wind tunnel. The capsule will not be protected by a fairing during launch and requires refining of its shape and composition.

The spacecraft, called PTK Federation, has been meticulously developed during the past decade. It is being designed to eventually replace the Soyuz in manned missions and also to serve as a space freighter to supply orbital stations like the ISS.

In late April three scale models of Federation were delivered to the facilities of TsAGI, or Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, a leading Russian aviation and space laboratory. The lab has since been testing how the future spacecraft fares under enormous stress during launch and reentry phases. According to an industry source cited by the news agency TASS, the most serious tests in the TsAGI hypersonic wind tunnel have been successfully completed while those involving supersonic flows would continue until the end of the year.
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Robot

Frankenstein's cyborg: AI researchers are putting neanderthal brains into robots

Jeff Parsons
The Mirror
Fri, 29 Jun 2018 18:00 UTC
robot neantherdal
Frankenstein is the timeless story of reanimating a dead body through the use of technology.

And now a team of researchers in the US seem to be walking in the footsteps of Mary Shelley's creation with a new experiment.

Teams at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) are experimenting with lumps of tissue taken from fossil bones of our early ancestors

They've reportedly managed to grow tiny brains, about the size of a pea, in petri dishes inside labs.

They say the next step is to link these cavemen brains to robots using neural implants to try and create a kind of Neanderthal cyborg.

This, in turn, will allow them to find out what caused Neanderthals to go extinct - leaving homo sapiens to colonise the Earth.
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Rocket

Dinosaurs to pizza: 7 of the oddest objects sent into space


RT
Fri, 29 Jun 2018 14:55 UTC
Space
© NASA/NANORACKS/LARRY KEPKO/HANDOUT / AFP
In our eternal quest to seek out new life, humanity has tried to make contact with extraterrestrials in some pretty weird ways. We've sent quite a few objects into space, some of which may truly confuse any aliens who find them.

Gazing at the night sky we often ask ourselves if there's anyone out there on planets orbiting faraway stars in the deep vastness of the universe.

In an attempt to communicate with the unknown, we've launched orbital missions and shot space probes past the edges of our Solar System. But it might have taken a few bizarre turns along the way though, as humanity has launched some unusual objects into space to tell the aliens something about who we are.
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