Science & Technology

Handwriting as detector: Scientists learn to evaluate the psyche with lasers

Sputnik
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 13:43 UTC

Scientists at the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI along with foreign colleagues have studied the biomechanics of hand movements when writing and drawing and developed a unique method to evaluate the individual properties of writing speed and pencil pressure. The research results were published in the journal Laser Physics Letters.

The researchers used a dynamic light scattering method. Passing through dense opaque matter (bio-tissues or paper), laser radiation scatters on their internal structural elements and decays into many subtle composite light rays. The scattered parts interfere, resulting in the formation of zones of positive and negative interference, called laser speckles.

If there is any movement in the medium, a tremor in the interference speckle pattern is observed. Analysing speckle tremors allows for a quantitative assessment of the structural properties of a light-scattering medium.

"The method of laser speckle analysis is very sensitive to any mechanical influence, even if these changes occur at the micro- and nano-level. All changes in structural and physical properties are recorded by a high-speed digital camera; then a special computer algorithm calculates and restores accurate information about the nature of both the hand and pencil movement in three dimensions over time. We suggest that this method can be used by forensics for system analysis and the study of handwriting properties of criminals, their victims and witnesses", Igor Meglinskiy, the author of the study, Professor at MEPhI and the University of Aston, told Sputnik.

Astronomers capture brightest light ever detected, a mysterious gamma-ray burst that has smashed records

Maddie Bender
Vice
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 18:49 UTC

For the first time, astrophysicists have observed a cosmic explosion emit particles that are a trillion times more energetic than visible light, a record-setting measurement from a phenomenon that scientists are still seeking to fully understand.

The observation of this powerful gamma-ray burst (GRB), as these explosions are known, adds another layer to what scientists think happens when a star implodes. The findings were published on November 20 in two papers in the journal Nature.

When a star dies, its insides no longer support its own mass, and it crashes upon itself. This self-collision compresses the star's core into a neutron star or a black hole, while generating explosions that produce a supernova. These explosions are GRBs, and they produce short-lived jets of extremely energetic light. GRBs may also occur when two neutron stars collide. They happen on a daily basis, and release as much energy in a few seconds as our Sun will emit in its entire 10 billion years of life. Until now, however, no telescope had observed a GRB emit photons (light particles) on the order of a teraelectronvolt, or TeV.

"Such a strong signal has never been measured in ground-based gamma ray astronomy — this is the first time," said Razmik Mirzoyan, the spokesperson and senior astrophysicist of the MAGIC collaboration, the group that manages the telescopes that made the observation.

Comment: Why? We'll be getting a clear answer soon enough, judging by the rate at which civilization-ending asteroids are daily careening past us...

Physicists claim discovery of more evidence of a new force of nature

Mike McRae
Science Alert
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 17:55 UTC

Everything in our Universe is held together or pushed apart by four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, and two nuclear interactions. Physicists now think they've spotted the actions of a fifth physical force emerging from a helium atom.

It's not the first time researchers claim to have caught a glimpse of it, either. A few years ago, they saw it in the decay of an isotope of beryllium. Now the same team has seen a second example of the mysterious force at play - and the particle they think is carrying it, which they're calling X17.

If the discovery is confirmed, not only could learning more about X17 let us better understand the forces that govern our Universe, it could also help scientists solve the dark matter problem once and for all.

Horizontal gene transfer enabled plants to move to land

University of Alberta
Science Direct
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 10:59 UTC

Natural genetic engineering allowed plants to move from water to land, according to a new study by an international group of scientists from Canada, China, France, Germany, and Russia.

"This is one of the most important events in the evolution of life on this planet -- without which we as a species would not exist," said Gane Ka-Shu Wong, co-investigator and professor in the Faculty of Science and Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta. "The movement of life from water to land -- called terrestrialization -- began with plants and was followed by animals and then, of course, humans. This study establishes how that first step took place."

The movement of plants from water to land was made possible when genes from soil bacteria were transferred to algae through a process called horizontal gene transfer. Unlike vertical gene transfer, such as the transfer of DNA from parent to child, horizontal gene transfer occurs between different species.

Comment: See also:

And check out SOTT radio's:

Water vapor above Jupiter's moon Europa confirmed by NASA study, fuels hopes of possible life

Sputnik
Tue, 19 Nov 2019 16:33 UTC

40 years ago, a Voyager spacecraft snapped the first close-up images of Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, with subsequent missions to the outer solar system amassing enough fascinating information to make it a high-priority target in NASA's search for life.

A team led by researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has confirmed traces of water vapour above the surface of Jupiter's icy moon Europa.

"While scientists have not yet detected liquid water directly, we've found the next best thing: water in vapour form," lead researcher and NASA planetary scientist Lucas Paganini said in a statement.

Comment: It's becoming ever more evident that water (in one form or another) is prevalent throughout the solar system, and beyond:

Rare gas find suggests Southern Africa lies above plume of abnormally hot mantle

University of Edinburgh
Phys.org
Tue, 19 Nov 2019 12:00 UTC

The discovery of gases released from deep beneath the Earth's crust could help to explain Southern Africa's unusual landscape, a study suggests.

Scientists have long puzzled over why areas such as South Africa's Highveld region are so elevated and flat, with unexpectedly hot rocks below the surface.

Geologists have revealed that carbon dioxide-rich gases bubbling up through natural springs in South Africa originate from a column of hot, treacle-like material — called a hotspot — located deep inside the Earth.

Hotspots are known to generate volcanic activity in Hawaii, Iceland and Yellowstone National Park. In South Africa, the hotspot pushes the crust upwards, generating the distinctive landscape, which consists mostly of tablelands more than one kilometre above sea level, the researchers say.

Comment: See also:

First detection of sugars in meteorites may give clues to origin of life

Bill Steigerwald and Nancy Jones
PhysOrg
Tue, 19 Nov 2019 19:20 UTC

© NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
This is a mosaic image of asteroid Bennu, from NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. The discovery of sugars in meteorites supports the hypothesis that chemical reactions in asteroids - the parent bodies of many meteorites - can make some of life's ingredients.

An international team has found sugars essential to life in meteorites. The new discovery adds to the growing list of biologically important compounds that have been found in meteorites, supporting the hypothesis that chemical reactions in asteroids — the parent bodies of many meteorites — can make some of life's ingredients. If correct, meteorite bombardment on ancient Earth may have assisted the origin of life with a supply of life's building blocks.

The team discovered ribose and other bio-essential sugars including arabinose and xylose in two different meteorites that are rich in carbon, NWA 801 (type CR2) and Murchison (type CM2). Ribose is a crucial component of RNA (ribonucleic acid). In much of modern life, RNA serves as a messenger molecule, copying genetic instructions from the DNA molecule (deoxyribonucleic acid) and delivering them to molecular factories within the cell called ribosomes that read the RNA to build specific proteins needed to carry out life processes.

BioEssays editor: "'Junk' DNA... full of information!" Including genome-sized "genomic code"

Evolution News
Mon, 18 Nov 2019 18:38 UTC

How many times have we heard it claimed that the vast majority of the human genome is "junk" and therefore could not have been designed? Even in the face of overwhelming evidence from the ENCODE project and numerous other studies showing that most of our genome has biochemical function, most evolutionists still maintain that our genomes are largely junk. But a few brave scientists, including some rare evolutionists, have been willing to buck that trend.

In a new article at Advanced Science News — "That 'Junk' DNA... Is Full of Information!" — Andrew Moore, the Editor-in-Chief of the respected biology journal BioEssays, comments on a new BioEssays paper. The paper finds that our DNA contains overlapping layered "'dual-function' pieces of information," including a "genomic code" that spans virtually the entire genome in order to "defin[e] the shape and compaction of DNA into the highly-condensed form known as 'chromatin.'" More about that paper in just a moment. It was written by leading Italian biologist Giorgio Bernardi who played a major role in the discovery of isochores. Isochores are important in this story. But for now, let's look at Moore's essay. It has something worth mentioning in almost every paragraph.

Moore starts by saying that it should not be surprising that there is more function in the genome than we initially expected:

It should not surprise us that even in parts of the genome where we don't obviously see a 'functional' code (i.e., one that's been evolutionarily fixed as a result of some selective advantage), there is a type of code, but not like anything we've previously considered as such.

Comment: See also:

Richard Dawkins and Half a Wing

New quantum experiment may prove that objective reality does not exist

Sputnik
Sun, 17 Nov 2019 02:45 UTC

Scientists in Edinburgh have been using quantum computers to measure the behaviour of photons while being observed in order to determine if reality changes its behaviour depending on if it is being observed or not.

A new paper published in Science Advances in September claims that reality may in fact be subjective.

According to the theory in the study, particles can simultaneously exist at several places or states, known as superposition. This is only the case, however, when they are not observed.

Comment: See also:

Sixth mass extinction well under way

Frédérik Saltré and Corey J. A. Bradshaw
The Conversation
Wed, 13 Nov 2019 17:25 UTC

For more than 3.5 billion years, living organisms have thrived, multiplied and diversified to occupy every ecosystem on Earth. The flip side to this explosion of new species is that species extinctions have also always been part of the evolutionary life cycle.

But these two processes are not always in step. When the loss of species rapidly outpaces the formation of new species, this balance can be tipped enough to elicit what are known as "mass extinction" events.

A mass extinction is usually defined as a loss of about three quarters of all species in existence across the entire Earth over a "short" geological period of time. Given the vast amount of time since life first evolved on the planet, "short" is defined as anything less than 2.8 million years.

Since at least the Cambrian period that began around 540 million years ago when the diversity of life first exploded into a vast array of forms, only five extinction events have definitively met these mass-extinction criteria.

These so-called "Big Five" have become part of the scientific benchmark to determine whether human beings have today created the conditions for a sixth mass extinction.

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Science & Technology

Handwriting as detector: Scientists learn to evaluate the psyche with lasers

Astronomers capture brightest light ever detected, a mysterious gamma-ray burst that has smashed records

Physicists claim discovery of more evidence of a new force of nature

Horizontal gene transfer enabled plants to move to land

Water vapor above Jupiter's moon Europa confirmed by NASA study, fuels hopes of possible life

Rare gas find suggests Southern Africa lies above plume of abnormally hot mantle

First detection of sugars in meteorites may give clues to origin of life

BioEssays editor: "'Junk' DNA... full of information!" Including genome-sized "genomic code"

New quantum experiment may prove that objective reality does not exist

Sixth mass extinction well under way

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