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Fri, 15 Oct 2021
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Grey Alien

Oxford scientists determine aliens would look much like humans

people dressed well
© David Oxberry / Global Look Press
When it comes to aliens it's hard to hazard an educated guess at what they might look like - given that we haven't actually proven their existence by finding them - but that hasn't stopped a group of scientists from Oxford University from having a go.

Over the years, science fiction movies, TV shows and books have portrayed a dazzling array of alien creatures, ranging from Ridley Scott's terrifying 'Alien' and John McTiernan's manhunting 'Predator' to 'Star Trek.' They're frequently shown as monster-like beasts, keen for humanity's destruction.

In a new paper published Wednesday in the International Journal of Astrobiology, a group of scientists from the University of Oxford have a different proposal, however, involving Darwin's Theory Of Evolution.

Laptop

Google Docs locks users out of their files due to "ToS violation"

Google Phone
© Loic Venance/AFP/Getty Images
Imagine you're working on a Google Doc when, seemingly out of nowhere, your ability to edit the online file gets revoked. What you see instead is an error message indicating that you've violated Google's terms of service.

For anyone who stores work in the cloud, suddenly being unable to access your data - especially due to a terms of service violation - may sound scary. And it's really happening to some people, according to reports on Twitter. Rachael Bale, a wildlife crime reporter for National Geographic, said Tuesday that a draft of her story was "frozen" by Google.


Others have reported similar errors.


In response to some of these reports, a Google employee tweeted that the team handling Google Docs was looking into the matter. Later Tuesday, Google said in a statement that it had "made a code push that incorrectly flagged a small percentage of Google Docs as abusive, which caused those documents to be automatically blocked. A fix is in place and all users should have full access to their docs."

Comment: With a stroke of a key it's that easy to lock users out of their accounts. Seems like a handy tool to implement when user pages need to be censored or people need to be controlled should they not toe the party line.


Brain

Scientists create computer program that could identify suicidal thoughts based on brain scans

brain scan
© James Bareham / The Verge
Scientists have trained a computer program to identify people with suicidal thoughts based on their brain scans. The study is small, but the method could one day be used for diagnosing mental health conditions, researchers say.

Nearly a million people worldwide die by suicide every year, and predicting suicide remains difficult, especially because many people feel uncomfortable talking about the issue. In a study published today in the journal Nature Communications, researchers observed the brain activity of two groups of adults - one who had suicidal thoughts and one who didn't - while they thought about words such as "evil" or "praise." They fed this data to an algorithm that learned to predict who had suicidal thoughts with 91 percent accuracy. It also predicted whether someone had attempted suicide before with 94 percent accuracy.

The algorithm isn't perfect - and a medical test would have to be. It may also not become widely used since brain scans are expensive. But "it'd be nice to have this additional method," says study author Marcel Just, a psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University.

Galaxy

Discovery of gas 'monster planet' orbiting companion star upends astronomy theories

gas giant star
© warwick.ac.uk
A team of researchers has discovered a gas giant roughly the size of Jupiter orbiting a companion star smaller than our own sun. The discovery has upended current thinking on the limitations of planet formation in the universe.

NGTS-1b is the largest planet relative to its star ever discovered in the universe and dispels pre-existing theories that average-sized stars could not form gas giant planets of such immense size. It's also the first planet discovered by the the Next-Generation Transit Survey observatory which hunts for new planets as they traverse their stars.

"The discovery of NGTS-1b was a complete surprise to us - such massive planets were not thought to exist around such small stars. This is the first exoplanet we have found with our new NGTS facility and we are already challenging the received wisdom of how planets form," said Daniel Bayliss, the lead author of the research said in the University's press release.

Syringe

Flu shot manufacturing causes influenza to mutate

Mutation
© Wilson Lab
The L194P egg-adaptive mutation dramatically increases the motility of the major epitope on the hemagglutinin of influenza H3 viruses. Red: high motility; white: medium motility; blue: low motility.
According to a new study from scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), the common practice of growing influenza vaccine components in chicken eggs disrupts the major antibody target site on the virus surface, rendering the flu vaccine less effective in humans.

"Now we can explain -- at an atomic level -- why egg-based vaccine production is causing problems," said TSRI Research Associate Nicholas Wu, Ph.D., first author of the study, published recently in the journal PLOS Pathogens.

For more than 70 years, manufacturers have made the flu vaccine by injecting influenza into chicken eggs, allowing the virus to replicate inside the eggs and then purifying the fluid from the eggs to get enough of the virus to use in vaccines.

The subtype of influenza in this study, called H3N2, is one of several subtypes shown to mutate when grown in chicken eggs, and the researchers say the new findings further support the case for alternative approaches to growing the virus.

Saturn

NASA: Photo of the 'Saturn hexagon' at its north pole

Saturn north pole
© NASA
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured an awesome image of Saturn's northern hemisphere in full sunlight, revealing the planet's hexagonal storm clouds.

Cassini had been waiting 13 years to catch Saturn's north pole illuminated in all its glory as it neared the summer solstice. When the spacecraft first arrived in 2004, Saturn's northern hemisphere was shrouded in shadow.

Now, scientists can study the area with spacecraft's full arsenal of imagers, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, one of which captured Saturn's visible wavelengths (like in the image below).

The extraordinary view was taken about 34 degrees above Saturn's ring plane, approximately 274,000 miles (441,000 km) above Saturn. Cassini's wide-angle camera took the mesmerizing shot on April 25, 2017, using a spectral filter which preferentially admits wavelengths of near-infrared light.

Cassini ended its mission on September 15 by plunging into Saturn in a fiery finale.


Comment: See also:


Info

The world's first flying water taxis coming to Switzerland next year

Flying water taxis
© seabubbles_offi / Instagram
The world's first flying taxi service is expected to become operational in the Swiss city of Geneva transporting passengers to neighboring towns.

Five of the taxis known as SeaBubbles will start the service from Lake Geneva in April, the vehicle's creator Alain Thebault told the AFP. They will be able to transport four passengers plus a driver.

The electric-powered SeaBubble can float 70cm above the water, reaching a speed of 18 kilometers per hour. It makes contact with water via its four hydrofoils, which reduce resistance, and two small engines, powered by solar energy.

Microscope 2

In mimicking biological process, hydrogel signals and releases proteins

hydrogel
© Xin Zou/Jinping Lai (Penn State)
An artificial system using a DNA-laced hydrogel can receive a chemical signal and release the appropriate protein, according to Penn State researchers. Further stimulation by the chemical signal continues to trigger a response.

A hydrogel is a network of polymer chains that attract water and can be used to simulate biological tissue.

Many systems in cells and in the human body are set up with a signal and response pathway. One of the best known is that of glucose, a small sugar that triggers the release of insulin.

We've only done this recently in a petri dish," said Yong Wang, professor of biomedical engineering. "We did tests using smooth muscle cells, but we would of course like to do this in a living animal."

The researchers report in the November issue of Chemical Science, "With rational design, this biomimetic hydrogel system would constitute a general platform of controlling the output of signaling proteins for versatile potential applications such as drug delivery, cell regulation, molecular sensing and regenerative medicine."

The hydrogel, made of polyethylene glycol, is infused with two different types of DNA. One is an aptamer - a short strand of DNA that attaches to the chemical the researchers want to release into the cell. In the case of glucose and insulin, the aptamer would bind with insulin the "drug" the researchers want to release. The other type is a double-stranded helical molecule of DNA chosen to react with the metabolite signal - glucose - and initiate the chemical release.

Solar Flares

Computer simulation suggest the presence of a second Sun

Nemesis
© StopRu
Astronomer from Quebec Gilles Couture conducted a study using computer simulation. Because of this he was able to prove that early in the Solar system, stars, there was a "duet". But one of them left our galaxy and flew in the space provided, leaving the Sun in splendid isolation.

According to the study, conducted by the astronomer, the weight of the mysterious star was 2-3 times less than that of the Sun, and the speed of its movement ranged from 25 to 100 kilometers per second. The astronomer did not say when the second star was in the Solar system, although, in all probability, it could be a fairly short time.

Apparently, it is the presence of the second the stars in our galaxy were the cause of the unusual elongated shape of the orbits of some planets are in the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune, which contains a huge number of blocks of ice. To affect the orbits of the planets could have some kind of rogue planet, whose mass should be 16 times more than Earth. Previously it was thought that the gravitational pull the orbits of TRANS-Neptunian objects could be due to the existence of the ninth planet. This explained the location of other planets and celestial bodies. in addition, the researchers identified five factors proving the existence of the ninth account of the planet.

Thus, it is usual to all mankind the concept of the existence of one single star in the Solar system, undergoing change. Although scientists assume that the boundary of the Oort Cloud there is another star to watch that every 32 million years. Of course, given such a considerable period of time, it is not surprising that it is still tracking her, no one has.

Comment:
Nemesis - The Sun's Evil Twin Brother

Nemesis - The Sun's long-lost twin

Getting WISE About Nemesis

Dark Jupiter May Haunt Edge of Solar System

Study: Our sun probably has an evil twin called Nemesis

Sott Exclusive: Nemesis, not 'Nibiru' - Clarifying mainstream reports about 'a large ninth planet' that periodically sends comets our way


Comet

First sighting of 'alien' comet ever seen from beyond our solar system caught on camera

First human sighting of 'alien' comet
© Alan Fitzsimmons / Queen’s University Belfast / Isaac Newton Group La Palma
First human sighting of 'alien' comet
In a first for the whole of mankind, stunning images have been released of what is believed to be the first "alien" comet humans have ever seen in our solar system.

An international team of researchers, led by scientists from Queen's University Belfast, are using powerful telescopes to study the chemical make-up of the small rocky object, which was first identified through a telescope in Hawaii last week.

Professor Alan Fitzsimmons, from the School of Mathematics and Physics at Queen's, described the discovery as sending a "shiver down your spine." Commenting on the project, he said: "By Wednesday this week it became almost certain this object was alien to our solar system.