Science & TechnologyS


Fireball 5

Newly discovered asteroid has a 1-in-600 chance of colliding with Earth, NASA says

Brandon Specktor
Live Science
Wed, 08 Mar 2023 22:43 UTC
The newly discovered asteroid 2023 DW could collide with Earth in February 2046, although the odds of an impact are low.
Asteroid 2023 DW
© Science Photo Library - ANDRZEJ WOJCICKI via Getty ImagesAn Olympic pool-sized asteroid could collide with Earth in 2046, though the odds are very low.
A newly discovered asteroid may make a perilously close approach to Earth about 20 years from now, with a roughly 1-in-600 chance that the space rock will collide directly with our planet, officials with NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office tweeted.

While that's a higher-than-average risk level for near-Earth asteroids, it's still a "very small chance" of impact, NASA wrote — and that risk level is expected to decline as clearer observations of the asteroid become available.

First detected on Feb. 27, the asteroid dubbed 2023 DW is estimated to measure about 165 feet (50 meters) in diameter, or roughly the length of an Olympic-size swimming pool. The asteroid is expected to make a very close approach to Earth on Feb. 14, 2046; as of March 8, the European Space Agency's Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre predicts a 1-in-625 chance of a direct impact, although those odds are being recalculated daily.
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Butterfly

Plant roots fuel tropical soil animal communities, study reveals

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research
iDiv
Tue, 07 Mar 2023 23:21 UTC
plantation
© Ananggadipa RThe researchers compared the effects of live roots or leaf litter in small experimental plots in the rainforest (left) with oil palm plantations (right).
Soil animal communities in the tropics are driven by plant roots and the resources derived from them. This is the main finding of a new study of a research team led by the University of Göttingen, the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and Leipzig University. Millions of small creatures toiling in a single hectare of soil including earthworms, springtails, mites, insects, and other arthropods are crucial for decomposition and soil health. For a long time, it has been believed that leaf litter is the primary resource for these animals. However, this recent study published in the journal Ecology Letters shows that litter doesn't play any crucial role at all for the tropical soil fauna.

The researchers isolated plots within natural ecosystems and separated the plots from accessing plant roots with a plastic barrier (a technique known as 'root trenching'). Their study included rainforest, as well as both rubber and oil palm plantations in Sumatra, Indonesia. As a comparison, they removed all dead leaves, the main resource of decomposer animals, from other experimental plots. They found that without living roots, animal abundance in the rainforest plots decreases by 42 percent and in plantations by 30 percent.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 1

US Special Ops want to weaponize deep fakes - The Intercept


RT
Tue, 07 Mar 2023 12:24 UTC
computer
© Inti St Clair/Getty Images
The Pentagon's secret operations branch is seeking capabilities to deploy "next generation" deep fakes in information warfare and hack the Internet of Things (IoT) to track their impact, a procurement document has revealed. The Intercept reported on the initiative on Monday.

The document in question outlines a technology wish list for US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), which is responsible for Washington's clandestine military actions around the world. It was first published in 2020 and last updated in October 2022, adding tools that can falsify images of public figures to its desired inventory, according to the outlet.

The command's Military Information Support Operations (MISO) is seeking a "next generation of 'deep fake' or other similar technology to generate messages and influence operations via non-traditional channels in relevant peer/near peer environments," it states.

Deep-fake technology uses publicly available imagery to create a digital version of a person, which can then be used to fabricate footage. It is currently used mostly for entertainment, including the production of fake pornography featuring celebrities.

Comment: If they are announcing it now, it is because they already have it and use it.

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Info

Shockwaves rocking the 'cosmic web' connecting galaxies seen for the 1st time

Robert Lea
Space.com
Wed, 08 Mar 2023 18:01 UTC
"We are seeing emissions from the shockwaves in the largest structures in the universe."
Composite Image
© F. Vazza, D. Wittor and J. WestA composite image of the prior 3 images data-based simulations, including radio, magnetic fields and gases.
Scientists have discovered the first evidence of shockwaves rippling through the "cosmic web," a massive network of interweaving filaments that represents the largest structure in the universe.

The discovery represents tantalizing evidence of magnetic fields weaving through the gas, dust, and dark matter tendrils which link galaxies together.

Scientists first began to think that on the largest scales, the universe is ordered in a web-like pattern with filaments that cross vast voids in space and pull galaxies into clusters in the 1960s. Two decades later using computer modeling, researchers were able to determine what this vast universal network might look like for the first time.

Astronomers have since mapped the cosmic web with actual observations in the process answering questions about its structure. One element has remained frustratingly shrouded in mystery, however: The magnetic fields that may run throughout the cosmic web.
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Alarm Clock

'Wrinkles' in time experience linked to heartbeat

James Dean
Cornell Chronicle
Mon, 06 Mar 2023 16:40 UTC
Heart Beat
© Twitter
How long is the present? The answer, Cornell researchers suggest in a new study, depends on your heart.

They found that our momentary perception of time is not continuous but may stretch or shrink with each heartbeat.

The research builds evidence that the heart is one of the brain's important timekeepers and plays a fundamental role in our sense of time passing - an idea contemplated since ancient times, said Adam K. Anderson, professor in the Department of Psychology and in the College of Human Ecology (CHE).

"Time is a dimension of the universe and a core basis for our experience of self," Anderson said. "Our research shows that the moment-to-moment experience of time is synchronized with, and changes with, the length of a heartbeat."

Saeedeh Sadeghi, M.S. '19, a doctoral student in the field of psychology, is the lead author of "Wrinkles in Subsecond Time Perception are Synchronized to the Heart," published March 2 in the journal Psychophysiology. Anderson is a co-author with Eve De Rosa, the Mibs Martin Follett Professor in Human Ecology (CHE) and dean of faculty at Cornell, and Marc Wittmann, senior researcher at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health in Germany.

Time perception typically has been tested over longer intervals, when research has shown that thoughts and emotions may distort our sense time, perhaps making it fly or crawl. Sadeghi and Anderson recently reported, for example, that crowding made a simulated train ride seem to pass more slowly.
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Car Black

Ford files patent for systems to repossess vehicles by locking features, self-driving capabilities

Michael Foster
Breitbart
Sun, 05 Mar 2023 08:52 UTC
Ford Plant
JIM YOUNG/AFP via Getty Images
Ford Global Technologies, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company, has filed a patent for new "systems and methods to repossess a vehicle," including potentially locking certain features after missed payments.

A patent application published on February 23, describes a system in which a vehicle computer could be used to "disable functionality of a component of the vehicle or may place the vehicle in a lockout condition."

The application describes multiple possible implementations of this system, such as disabling "the air conditioning system, a remote key fob, and an automated door lock/unlock system," using the stereo to "emit an incessant and unpleasant sound every time the owner is present in the vehicle," and even using self-driving to technology to cause the vehicle to move to a place where it could be retrieved by the creditor:
In some cases, the vehicle can be a semi-autonomous vehicle and the repossession system computer may cooperate with the vehicle computer in the semi-autonomous vehicle to autonomously move the vehicle from a first spot to a second spot that is more convenient for a tow truck to tow the vehicle. The first spot may, for example, be located inside the property line of the owner (a garage or a driveway, for example) and the second spot may be outside the property line (a public road, for example).

In some other cases, the vehicle can be an autonomous vehicle and the repossession system computer may cooperate with the vehicle computer to autonomously move the vehicle from the premises of the owner to a location such as, for example, the premises of the repossession agency, the premises of the lending institution, an impound pound, or any other pre-designated location.
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Galaxy

Rare quasar triplet forms one of the most massive objects in the universe


PhysOrg
Tue, 07 Mar 2023 20:15 UTC
quasar triplets
© Yueying Ni et alShown here is the quasar triplet system centered around the most massive quasar (BH1) and its host galaxy environment on the Astrid simulation. The red and yellow lines mark the trajectories of the other two quasars (BH2 and BH3) in the reference frame of BH1, as they spiral into each other and merge.
Supercomputer simulations on Frontera reveal the origins of ultra-massive black holes, the most massive objects thought to exist in the entire universe.

Ultra-massive black holes are the most massive objects in the universe. Their mass can reach millions and billions of solar masses. Supercomputer simulations on Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC)'s Frontera supercomputer have helped astrophysicists reveal the origin of ultra-massive black holes formed about 11 billion years ago.

"We found that one possible formation channel for ultra-massive black holes is from the extreme merger of massive galaxies that are most likely to happen in the epoch of the 'cosmic noon,'" said Yueying Ni, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
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Info

The planet that could end life on Earth - Experiment demonstrates solar system's fragility

Jules Bernstein
University of California, Riverside
Tue, 07 Mar 2023 16:57 UTC
A terrestrial planet hovering between Mars and Jupiter would be able to push Earth out of the solar system and wipe out life on this planet, according to a UC Riverside experiment.
Solar System Planets
© NASA/JPL/ASU
UCR astrophysicist Stephen Kane explained that his experiment was meant to address two notable gaps in planetary science.

The first is the gap in our solar system between the size of terrestrial and giant gas planets. The largest terrestrial planet is Earth, and the smallest gas giant is Neptune, which is four times wider and 17 times more massive than Earth. There is nothing in between.

Size comparison of the planets.
© alexaldo/iStock/GettySize comparison of the planets.
"In other star systems there are many planets with masses in that gap. We call them super-Earths," Kane said.

The other gap is in location, relative to the sun, between Mars and Jupiter. "Planetary scientists often wish there was something in between those two planets. It seems like wasted real estate," he said.

These gaps could offer important insights into the architecture of our solar system, and into Earth's evolution. To fill them in, Kane ran dynamic computer simulations of a planet between Mars and Jupiter with a range of different masses, and then observed the effects on the orbits of all other planets.

The results, published in the Planetary Science Journal, were mostly disastrous for the solar system. "This fictional planet gives a nudge to Jupiter that is just enough to destabilize everything else," Kane said. "Despite many astronomers having wished for this extra planet, it's a good thing we don't have it."
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Sun

The UN discusses darkening the skies to combat climate change

Igor Chudov
igorchudov.substack.com
Wed, 01 Mar 2023 00:00 UTC
Sky dim
© UNEPSky-dimming technology under consideration
A new report from the UN was just published. It proposes and discusses ways to cool our planet by restricting sunlight and darkening our skies.

What is this about? Why block sunlight, of all things? Let me explain.

The UN is worried about climate change. As the efforts to reduce CO2 emissions are faltering, the UN is looking for more ways to cool the Earth. The UNEP's report details ideas called "Solar Radiation Modification," the gist of which is to reflect sunlight and prevent it from heating the surface of our planet.

Here are the main ideas that the UN will consider:
  • Injecting reflective nanoparticles/sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere (stratospheric aerosol injection)
  • Brightening of low clouds over the ocean by seeding ocean clouds with submicron salt particles
  • Using space mirrors, that is, many giant mirrors launched into outer space to reflect sunlight.
The UN explains that should the "global stakeholders" decide to proceed, the skies could be darkened within only a few years:
SRM is the only option that could cool the planet within years. To be effective at limiting global warming, SRM would need to be maintained for several decades to centuries, depending on the pace of emissions reductions and carbon removal.
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Cardboard Box

Half the world faces starvation under net zero policies, say two top climate scientists

Chris Morrison
Daily Sceptic
Fri, 03 Mar 2023 07:00 UTC
professor
© UnknownMIT Professor Richard Linzen
Billions of people around the world face starvation if Net Zero policies ban the production of nitrogen fertiliser derived from fossil fuels. This is the stark warning from two top American scientists who say that eliminating fossil fuel-derived nitrogen fertilisers and pesticides "will result in about half the world's population not having enough food to eat". They add that eliminating Net Zero fertiliser will create "worldwide starvation".

In a wide-ranging paper titled 'Challenging 'Net Zero' with Science', Emeritus Professors William Happer and Richard Lindzen of Princeton and MIT respectively, along with geologist Gregory Wrightstone, state that Net Zero - the global movement to eliminate fossil fuels and its emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases - to be "scientifically invalid and a threat to the lives of billions of people".

The battle over nitrogen fertiliser is being hard fought by green activists who argue for massive reductions in its use and more organic methods to be mandated. This can extend to fanaticism, as marked by the Guardian's George Monbiot who argues for an end to dependence on farming. The ground for less choice and food is also being prepared in academia. Recently, three barking academics operating through the University of Leeds suggested World War II rationing could be an effective way to reduce carbon emissions. Also harking back to the days of spam and when spivs controlled parts of the supply chain was the actress Joanna Lumley, who has suggested a return to a points distribution system and a form of wartime rationing.
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