Centaurus A (NGC 5128) is an active galaxy that likely resulted from the recent merger of an elliptical with a spiral. Astronomers have now shown that 14 of 16 surveyed satellite galaxies rotate around the parent galaxy coherently in a plane.
Science & Technology
Centaurus A (NGC 5128) is an active galaxy that likely resulted from the recent merger of an elliptical with a spiral. Astronomers have now shown that 14 of 16 surveyed satellite galaxies rotate around the parent galaxy coherently in a plane.
© Goddard Space Flight Center / NASA
The new evidence contradicts previous research suggesting water was confined to certain areas and depended on lunar days. "We find that it doesn't matter what time of day or which latitude we look at, the signal indicating water always seems to be present," said Joshua Bandfield, a senior research scientist with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and lead author of a new study published in Nature Geoscience.
"The presence of water doesn't appear to depend on the composition of the surface, and the water sticks around," he added. It's hoped the results will lead to a greater understanding of the origins of the moon's water and offer insight into how it could be used as a resource.
© (Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte)
Pig-human hybrid embryo from earlier research
Pig-human hybrid embryo from earlier research
With that end goal in mind, scientists have created the first interspecies sheep-human chimera, introducing human stem cells into sheep embryos, resulting in a hybrid creature that's more than 99 percent sheep - but also a tiny, little bit like you and me.
Admittedly, the human portion of the embryos created in the experiment - before they were destroyed after 28 days - is exceedingly small, but the fact it exists at all is what generates considerable controversy in this field of research.
Comment: Scientists working on making actual 'sheeple' so they can harvest human organs from sheep
To create a part-human, part-animal embryo, the researchers use a gene-editing technique. First, they deleted genes needed for developing a certain organ in an animal embryo, then they injected human stem cells, which can become any cell in the body and are supposed to fill the void. In 2010, the Japanese scientists were the first to use this method to create a mouse and rat chimera, where the rat cells were introduced into a mouse to form a missing pancreas.
© (BlackJack3D/iStock / Getty Images Plus)
The sperm's tail is perhaps one of the most iconic structures among all of the cells in the human body, so it's odd to think there are still some things we don't know about it.
It turns out there is a weird kind of helix right at the very tip of the tail nobody has noticed before. The researchers responsible for the discovery are yet to work out what it does, but figuring it out could help us understand why some sperm are better swimmers than others.
Researchers from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and the University of Colorado used an imaging trick that combines electron microscopy with the 'slice-by-slice' action of CT scans.
Comment: While its true purpose remains to be known, it is a fascinating discovery when we consider how prevalent the helix structure is in nature:
- DNA and not RNA is the main repository of genetic information
- Into The Eye Of The Helix
- DNA is directly photographed for the first time
- Incredible "double helix DNA cloud" appears in the Moscow sky
- The electric body: How your body's voltage can help you heal
© PM Images Getty Images
The problem is that quantum theory contradicts our intuitive understanding of what "real" means. According to the theory, if two real particles A and B are prepared in a special way, what Alice sees when she observes particle A depends on how Bob concurrently observes particle B, even if the particles - as well as Alice and Bob - are separated by an arbitrary distance. This "spooky action at a distance," as Einstein called it, contradicts either local causation or the very notion that particles A and B are "real," in the sense of existing independently of observation. As it turns out, certain statistical properties of the observations, which have been experimentally confirmed, indicate the latter: that the particles do not exist independently of observation. And since observation ultimately consists of what is apprehended on the mental screen of perception, the implication may be that "the Universe is entirely mental," as put by Richard Conn Henry in his 2005 Nature essay.
A new paper explores how we might read and understand a message that came to us from space. And it finds that it would be impossible to know that a message was dangerous before we opened it.
In fact, the messages are so dangerous that it would be safest to simply discard them without ever reading them, scientists have warned.
It's unlikely that any alien civilisation we came into contact with would be harmful, researchers Michael Hippke and John G. Learned write in a new study posted on arXiv.org. But since it's impossible to know what the message would say before we read it, the safest scenario would be to avoid doing so entirely.
Comment: Considering reports of the UFO/alien phenomena, it's actually quite likely they don't have our best interests at heart: Karla Turner - UFO & Military Abductions - 1994 Lecture
Comment: See:
- The invisible hand of the Cosmic Trickster: High strangeness and the paranormal nature of the UFO phenomenon
- 'We are property' - 'Zoo Theory' finally explains why aliens haven't contacted us yet
- Mysterious gamma rays are alien messages claims MIT astronomer
- Will aliens save humanity? Probably not
- UFOs, Aliens and the Question of Contact
© Pixabay
Neural networks are the primary tool used in AI to accomplish "deep learning," which has allowed AIs to master complex tasks like playing chess and Go. Neural networks function similar to a human brain, which is how they got the name. Information passes through layers of neuron-like connections, which then analyze the information and spit out a response.
These networks can pull off difficult tasks like image recognition, including identifying faces and objects, which makes them useful for self-driving cars (to identify stop signs and pedestrians) and security (which may involve identifying an authorized user's face). Neural networks are relatively novel pieces of tech and aren't commonly used by the public yet but, as deep-learning AI becomes more prevalent, it will likely become an appealing target for hackers.
© Public domain image originally created by NASA
Black Holes: Monsters in Space (Artist’s Concept).
Black Holes: Monsters in Space (Artist’s Concept).
Einstein's equations allow a non-determinist future inside some black holes
In the real world, your past uniquely determines your future. If a physicist knows how the universe starts out, she can calculate its future for all time and all space.
But a UC Berkeley mathematician has found some types of black holes in which this law breaks down. If someone were to venture into one of these relatively benign black holes, they could survive, but their past would be obliterated and they could have an infinite number of possible futures.
Comment: See also:
- Astronomers catch supermassive black hole emitting a 'double burp' after feasting on hot gas
- Will 2018 be the year we directly 'see' our first black hole?
- Astronomers have detected the most distant supermassive black hole ever observed
- Medium sized black hole 100,000 times bigger than sun discovered near center of Milky Way
© Billion Photos/Shutterstock
When it comes to predicting whether or not someone will commit another crime — which can affect lockup time — computer programs don’t have an edge over people.
When it comes to predicting whether or not someone will commit another crime — which can affect lockup time — computer programs don’t have an edge over people.
These algorithms are criminal recidivism predictors, which use personal information about defendants - like family and employment history - to assess that person's likelihood of committing future crimes. Judges factor those risk ratings into verdicts on everything from bail to sentencing to parole.
Computers get a say in these life-changing decisions because their crime forecasts are supposedly less biased and more accurate than human guesswork.
But investigations into algorithms' treatment of different demographics have revealed how machines perpetuate human prejudices. Now there's reason to doubt whether crime-prediction algorithms can even boast superhuman accuracy.
Przewalski's horses were considered to be the last 'wild' species of horse but some of the horses were found to carry genetic variants causing white and leopard coat spotting patterns. This artists impression shows how the early horses may have looked
Przewalski's horses, a breed thought to be the last 'wild' species, are the descendants of escaped once-domesticated animals.
The research turns the mysterious origin of domesticated horses 'upside down', experts claim.
Przewalski's horses now number roughly 2,000 in Mongolia.
But researchers this week upended that theory on an examination of the genomes of dozens of ancient and modern horses.
'Our findings literally turn current population models of horse origins upside-down,' said Professor Ludovic Orlando, a molecular archaeologist at the French National Center for Scientific Research who led the study.
Comment: There are other theories for why the universe behaves as it does:
- Cosmopsychism: Is the universe a conscious mind?
- Panpsychism: The idea that everything from spoons to stones are conscious is gaining academic credibility
- How quantised inertia gets rid of dark matter
- Study: Galaxy pair contain dark matter halo at least 1 trillion times the sun's mass
- Lumpy Universe: What simulations of the universe have overlooked
- New look at dark energy: Research suggests accelerating expansion of the Universe may not be real, could be only an apparent effect
- Dark matter may be killing galaxies across the Universe
- No need for Dark Matter? Distribution of normal matter determines acceleration in rotating galaxies
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