Welcome to Sott.net
Thu, 21 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Science & Technology
Map

Microscope 1

Researchers unravel mystery of why and for how long animals, including humans, yawn


RT
Tue, 11 May 2021 19:30 UTC
lion
© Rachel Claire from Pexels
Following a painstaking, large-scale animal study, researchers in the Netherlands now claim that, when it comes to yawning vertebrates, the larger and denser the brain, the longer the yawn.

In what could be considered the biological research equivalent of watching paint dry, the scientists collected data on 1,291 separate yawns by visiting zoos and poring over videos online, observing some 55 mammals and 46 species of bird.

"We went to several zoos with a camera and waited by the animal enclosures for the animals to yawn," says ethologist Jorg Massen, of Utrecht University in the Netherlands. "That was a pretty long haul."
      Read More...
Cassiopaea

Hum of plasma waves in the 'void' of interstellar space detected by Voyager 1

Michelle Starr
Science Alert
Mon, 10 May 2021 12:00 UTC
solar system space
© Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library/Getty Images
Illustration of Voyager leaving the Solar System.
Voyager 1, having spent over 43 years zooming away from Earth since its 1977 launch, is now a very long way away indeed.

Its distance from the Sun is over 150 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. It takes over 21 hours for transmissions traveling at light speed to arrive at Earth. It officially passed the heliopause - the boundary at which pressure from the solar wind is no longer sufficient to push into the wind from interstellar space - in 2012.

Voyager 1 has left the Solar System - and it's finding that the void of space is not quite so void-like, after all.

In the latest analysis of data from the intrepid probe, from a distance of nearly 23 billion kilometers (over 14 billion miles), astronomers have discovered, from 2017 onwards, a constant hum from plasma waves in the interstellar medium, the diffuse gas that lurks between the stars.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

      Read More...
Chalkboard

Mathematicians find core mechanism to calculate tipping points


Technical University of Munich
Mon, 10 May 2021 18:26 UTC
Tipping Point
© MonicaVolpin / pixaby
At a tipping point, the system state can change slowly or abruptly - for example, when the complete melting of a glacier can no longer be stopped.
Climate change, a pandemic or the coordinated activity of neurons in the brain: In all of these examples, a transition takes place at a certain point from the base state to a new state. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have discovered a universal mathematical structure at these so-called tipping points. It creates the basis for a better understanding of the behavior of networked systems.

It is an essential question for scientists in every field: How can we predict and influence changes in a networked system? "In biology, one example is the modelling of coordinated neuron activity," says Christian Kühn, professor of multiscale and stochastic dynamics at TUM. Models of this kind are also used in other disciplines, for example when studying the spread of diseases or climate change.

All critical changes in networked systems have one thing in common: a tipping point where the system makes a transition from a base state to a new state. This may be a smooth shift, where the system can easily return to the base state. Or it can be a sharp, difficult-to-reverse transition where the system state can change abruptly or "explosively." Transitions of this kind also occur in climate change, for example with the melting of the polar ice caps. In many cases, the transitions result from the variation of a single parameter, such as the rise in concentrations of greenhouse gases behind climate change.
      Read More...
2 + 2 = 4

Scientists conclude: Human origins research is a big mess

Günter Bechly
Evolution News
Mon, 10 May 2021 16:31 UTC
fossil photo
In several articles at Evolution News (Bechly 2017a-d, 2018a-b, 2019a-d) and podcasts at ID the Future (Bechly 2019a+c) I have described in recent years how human origins research is in a ridiculous state of constant major "rewritings" and refutations of allegedly indisputable textbook wisdom. This is mainly due to surprising new discoveries of hominin fossils. The situation goes far beyond the healthy normal progress of science. Instead, it suggests that something is wrong with the general narrative, which needs not just some rewriting here and there, but a major rethinking and paradigm change (Bechly 2017c).

A New Review Study

This critical view has again been confirmed with a new review study by Almécija et al. (2021) in the prestigious journal Science, which especially evaluates the role of Miocene apes for evolutionary scenarios of human origins and the reconstruction of the last common ancestor (LCA) of chimps and humans. The authors discuss the numerous conflicting hypotheses and elaborate on two very different approaches with incompatible conclusions: A bottom-up approach considers the chimp-human LCA as a quadrupedal knuckle-walking chimp-like creature, while an alternative top-down approach considers some strange bipedal and tree-climbing Miocene apes as model for this LCA.
      Read More...
Mars

Mushrooms on Mars? Scientists believe they've found proof of life on the red planet

Caroline Delbert
Yahoo
Fri, 07 May 2021 17:55 UTC
mars mushroom
© NASA/Advances in Microbiology/Screenshot
Could there be mushrooms on Mars? In a new paper, an international team of scientists from countries including the U.S., France, and China have gathered and compared photographic evidence they claim shows fungus-like objects growing on the Red Planet.

In their paper, which appears in Scientific Research Publishing's Advances in Microbiology, the scientists analyze images taken by NASA's Opportunity and Curiosity rovers, plus the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera. The objects in question show "chalky-white colored spherical shaped specimens," which the Mars Opportunity team initially said was a mineral called hematite.

Comment: Website The Cosmic Tusk comments that the discovery claim is still up for debate, but that much of the response from the scientific community has been far from scientific:
The sciency internet is alive with consensus condemnation and damnation for a new paper from Rhawn Joseph, dubbed the "Tiger King of Mars." In the article below, Joseph et al. continues his radical break from conventional interpretations of Martian photography, believing a number of odd features photographed by the Martian rovers are...wait for it...mushrooms and fungi.

The Tusk has seen so much mistreatment and knee jerk criticism of the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis, I feel some empathy for the poor guy — right or wrong. It's sad so much of the press can't find time to give him a call before tearing his ass off on-line as a fraud. I don't think he is fraud, or a hoaxter. Maybe wrong, maybe iconoclastic, but Rhawn Joseph in my estimation sincerely believes every word he writes. And, personally, I find his paper well-written and worthy of thoughtful criticism and refutation, not ad hominem attacks.

While it very hard to believe NASA would miss mushrooms on Mars, it sure would be nice if they would just take one of those robotic tools and give one the hematite spheres a "poke" — to see if it's squishy.

A responsible take: Scientists Believe These Photos Show Mushrooms on Mars — and Proof of Life

Some links from a "PolitiFact" drive-by debunking (begging the question, have we run out lying politicians?):

Futurism, "Scientists Claim to Spot Fungus Growing on Mars in NASA Rover Photos," May 6, 2021

Futurism, "Experts Shred Paper Claiming to Identify Mushrooms on Mars," May 7, 2021

CNET, "No, NASA photos are not evidence of fungus growing on Mars, sorry," May 6, 2021

TNW News, "Mushrooms on Mars is a hoax — stop believing hack 'scientists,'" May 7, 2021

South China Morning Post, "Fungi on Mars? Researchers claim signs of life on red planet," May 7, 2021

ResearchGate, "Fungi on Mars? Evidence of Growth and Behavior From Sequential Images," accessed May 7, 2021

Email interview with Dr. Kenneth Nealson, professor emeritus of earth sciences and expert in microbial life in extreme environments at the University of Southern California, May 7, 2021

Email interview with Dr. Edwin Kite, assistant professor in the department of the geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago, May 7, 2021

University of Chicago, "Mars expert available to discuss Perseverance rover landing scheduled for Thursday," Feb. 16, 2021

Vice, "This Man Is Suing NASA For Ignoring a Jelly Donut-Shaped Rock He Thinks Is Life on Mars," Jan. 30, 2014

ResearchGate, "Rhawn Gabriel Joseph," accessed May 9, 2021

SpringerLink, "Retraction Note to: Life on Venus and the interplanetary transfer of biota from Earth," accessed May 9, 2021

CNET, "The fungus on Mars and the man who thinks he found life on other planets," May 6, 2021

Retraction Watch, "'Prince of panspermia' has a paper retracted, and sues Springer Nature," Oct. 6, 2020

ResearchGate, "About," accessed May 9, 2021
See also:

      Read More...
Blue Planet

Oral microbiomes of Neanderthals, primates, and humans reconstructed, revealing insights into early human behaviour

Max Planck Society
Phys.org
Mon, 10 May 2021 20:27 UTC
gorilla
© Katerina Guschanski
Grauer's gorilla specimens at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren (Belgium), showing typical dental calculus deposits on the teeth that are stained dark likely as a result of their herbivorous diet.
Living in and on our bodies are trillions of microbial cells belonging to thousands of bacterial species, known as the microbiome. These microbes play key roles in human health, but little is known about their evolution. In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a multidisciplinary international research team led by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH) investigated the evolutionary history of the hominid oral microbiome by analyzing the fossilized dental plaque of humans and Neanderthals spanning the past 100,000 years and comparing it to those of wild chimpanzees, gorillas, and howler monkeys.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Dissecting the Vegetarian Myth - Interview with Lierre Keith

      Read More...
Cassiopaea

'Diffuse erasers': New type of aurora described by physicists

University of Iowa
Phys.org
Thu, 06 May 2021 12:00 UTC
aurora
© Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain
For millennia, humans in the high latitudes have been enthralled by auroras — the northern and southern lights. Yet even after all that time, it appears the ethereal, dancing ribbons of light above Earth still hold some secrets.

In a new study, physicists led by the University of Iowa report a new feature to Earth's atmospheric light show. Examining video taken nearly two decades ago, the researchers describe multiple instances where a section of the diffuse aurora — the faint, background-like glow accompanying the more vivid light commonly associated with auroras — goes dark, as if scrubbed by a giant blotter. Then, after a short period of time, the blacked-out section suddenly reappears.

The researchers say the behavior, which they call "diffuse auroral erasers," has never been mentioned in the scientific literature. The findings appear in the Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physics.

Comment: It's notable that a number of other new kinds of aurora have been discovered recently: See also: Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Earth changes in an electric universe: Is climate change really man-made?

      Read More...
Cassiopaea

Cassiopeia nova brightens suddenly

Bob King
Sky & Telescope
Sun, 09 May 2021 17:44 UTC
A star in the constellation Cassiopeia that flared into view during mid-March has erupted to naked-eye visibility. Catch it while you can!
V1405 Cassiopeiae
© Bob King
Nova Cassiopeia 2021 (V1405 Cas) shines at magnitude 5.5 on Saturday night, May 8th, from Duluth, Minnesota. It's located about 5.5° above the familiar W of Cassiopeia. The view faces north around 11:30 p.m. local time.
Novae are full of surprises. When discovered at the onset of the explosion, a nova can brighten from obscurity and become visible in binoculars in a matter of hours. Some plateau and then fade. Others fade and then temporarily re-brighten one or more times before returning to their former slumbers.

Enter Nova Cassiopeiae 2021, formally named V1405 Cassiopeiae. Discovered at magnitude 9.6 by Japanese amateur Yuji Nakamura on March 18th, it rapidly brightened to around magnitude 7.5-8.0 magnitude, then remained fairly constant in brightness for the next four weeks at magnitude 8.0. In mid-April the nova began to slowly brighten again, ending the month at magnitude 7.5.

V1405 Cas Brightens
© AAVSO
This light curve of V1405 Cas tracks its changes in brightness from discovery (left) to May 9 UT. The uptick in early May is striking.
The big surprise came on May 6-7, when V1405 Cas did a pole vault, shooting up almost two magnitudes to 5.7! As of May 8-9, it's still climbing, albeit more slowly. I spotted the nova without optical aid on May 9.18 UT at magnitude 5.5. At the time, Cassiopeia hung below the North Star at its nadir. At 20° altitude it appeared faint and required averted vision, but it was still a thrill to see with the naked eye. While several novae are discovered each year, bright ones are uncommon.
      Read More...
Meteor

Russian space surveillance station records space activity surge in 2021


Sputnik
Sat, 08 May 2021 13:09 UTC
Earth from space
© CCO
Russia's Okno-M facility, part of the Centre for Outer Space Monitoring, recorded 30,000 moving objects since the beginning of the year, which marks an increase in space activity compared to 2020, the Russian Defence Ministry stated on Saturday.

"In the four months of 2021, the Russian optoelectronic system for detecting space objects Okno-M, located in Tajikistan's Sanglok mountains (the Pamir mountain range) at an altitude of 2,200 meters [7,200 feet] above sea level, recorded movement of about 30,000 space objects," the ministry said in a statement.

According to the ministry, it marks a significant increase compared to the previous year when the system tracked a total of 25,000 space objects.

The system automatically tracks and monitors man-made space objects at altitudes from 120 kilometres up to 50,000 kilometres, the ministry noted. This allows to observe movement of objects "as small as a tennis ball" above low Earth orbit, including satellites in medium Earth orbit, geostationary orbit and high Earth orbit, the ministry said.

Comment: Meanwhile a record number of asteroids were observed flying past Earth in 2020 - despite lockdowns interrupting surveys.

NASA Center for Near Earth Object Studies graph
© Nature
Source: NASA Center for Near Earth Object Studies


      Read More...
Document

Chinese military scientists discussed weaponizing SARS Coronaviruses in document obtained by US Gov, says Aussie media

Ryan Saavedra
The Daily Wire
Fri, 07 May 2021 00:00 UTC
Chinese lab BSL-4
© Johannes Eisele/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
China’s first BSL-4 lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Scientists in the Chinese military discussed weaponizing SARS coronaviruses in a document obtained by the United States Government where they discussed their ideas about using biological weapons to win a third world war. According to The Weekend Australian report:
"The document, written by People's Liberation Army scientists and senior Chinese public health officials in 2015, was obtained by the US State Department as it conducted an investigation into the origins of COVID-19. The paper describes SARS ­coronaviruses as heralding a 'new era of genetic weapons' and says they can be 'artificially manipulated into an emerging human ­disease virus, then weaponized and unleashed in a way never seen before.'"
The report was careful to caution that no information has been made public suggesting that the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic was the result of an intentional act. Many officials have urged investigations into the Wuhan Institute of Virology to determine if that lab, which is China's only Biosafety Level-4 lab (BSL-4), had any role in the origin of the pandemic. BSL-4 is a designation for facilities that are designed to handle pathogens so contagious and dangerous that "infections caused by these microbes are frequently fatal and without treatment or vaccines," according to the CDC.
      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts