Science & TechnologyS


Comet 2

New Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)

Ernesto Guido
Remanzacco Blogspot
Tue, 22 Mar 2022 17:27 UTC
CBET 5111 & MPEC 2022-F13, issued on 2022, March 21, announce the discovery of an apparently asteroidal object (magnitude ~17) discovered on CCD images taken on Mar. 2 UT with a 1.2-m f/2.4 Schmidt telescope at Palomar in the course of the "Zwicky Transient Facility" (ZTF) survey (MPC code I41). Subsequently, it has been found to show cometary appearance by CCD astrometrists elsewhere. The new comet has been designated C/2022 E3 (ZTF).

Stacking of 12 unfiltered exposures, 120 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2022, March 20.4 from X02 (Telescope Live, Chile) through a 0.61-m f/6.5 astrograph + CCD, shows that this object is a comet with a compact coma about 9" arcsecond in diameter (Observers E. Guido, M. Rocchetto, E. Bryssinck, G. Milani, G. Savini, A. Valvasori).

Our confirmation image (click on the images for a bigger version; made with TYCHO software by D. Parrott)
C/2022 E3 ZTF
© Remanzacco Blogspot
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Nuke

Russian scientists discover way to turn nuclear waste into useful ceramics


Sputnik
Tue, 22 Mar 2022 16:47 UTC
nuclear waste dump
© Pixabay
Nuclear power is regarded as one of the cleanest sources of energy with low carbon emissions, but it nevertheless has faced resistance in some countries, as concerns still remain regarding radioactive waste, a by-product of nuclear energy that carries traces of radiation.

Waste includes materials such as radioactive elements, wood, clothing, and waste paper. To minimize the impact of these materials on the environment and prevent the release of toxic compounds into the atmosphere, radioactive waste is processed and stored by various methods: incineration of liquid and solid wastes, followed by cementation, compaction and vitrification.
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Microscope 2

'Almost unbelievable' DNA modification system discovered in animals

Diana Kenney, University of Chicago
Sci Tech Daily
Mon, 14 Mar 2022 12:00 UTC
bdelloid rotifer
© Microscope image courtesy of M. Shribak and I. ArkhipovaScientists with the Marine Biological Laboratory discovered a new form of genetic modification in a tiny organism called a bdelloid rotifer (Adineta vaga, center, seen under a microscope).
Your DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule composed of two long strands of nucleotides that coil around each other to form a double helix. It is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms that carries genetic instructions for development, functioning, growth, and reproduction. Nearly every cell in a person's body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA)."

DNA holds the blueprint to build your body, but it's a living document: Adjustments to the design can be made by epigenetic marks. Cataloguing these marks and how they work is important for understanding biology and genetics — and coming up with therapies to address diseases and disorders.

Comment: Considering all the problems associated with CRISPR, the comparison doesn't seem to be an apt one.

See also: And check out SOTT radio's:


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HAL9000

Killer AI invented 40,000 'lethal chemical weapons' in just six hours

Charlotte Edwards
The Sun
Fri, 18 Mar 2022 19:16 UTC
VX Chemical Weapon
© APThe AI suggested possible chemical weapons similar to VX, one of the most dangerous nerve agents of all time
Artificial intelligence was used to 'easily' invent 40,000 new possible chemical weapons in just six hours.

This is according to researchers who turned a drug-developing AI into a "bad actor" to see how it could be abused to create evil arms.

The concerning research has been published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence.

Scientists revealed how easy it was to tweak the AI so it became a toxic tool.

The AI was said to come up with possible chemical weapons similar to one of the most dangerous nerve agents of all time.

That dangerous substance is called VX.
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Comet 2

Flashback Astrobiologists: Space viruses could reveal alien life

Harrison Tasoff
Livescience.com
Wed, 24 Jan 2018 00:00 UTC
Virus DNA
© Unknown
You probably think about viruses only when you're sick, but there's a group of microbiologists who want to change that. In fact, they want you to consider the possibility that viruses may be found in space.

In a recent review, published online Jan. 10 in the journal Astrobiology, a trio of scientists from the U.S. and Japan posited that viruses may be spread across interplanetary space. Those researchers want to convince astrobiologists to devote more time looking for these curious molecular machines.

A virion — the form a virus takes outside of a host — consists of genetic material encapsulated in a protein shell. Some viruses also have an outer lipid layer called an envelope. One way to think of a virion is as a seed or a spore, the authors wrote. [7 Everyday Things That Happen Strangely in Space]

Comment: The question of a deadly space borne virus is not if. It is more when, where, how, who and how many.

See also:
Killer viruses from outer space might be more common than we think (A different take on the same article)
Viruses from space & evolution: Dr. Wickramasinghe explains it all in new video
How we know that they know that deadly viruses come from space
Book Review: New Light on the Black Death by Mike Baillie
New Light on the Black Death: The Viral and Cosmic Connection
Alien life? Living bacteria 'that had not been there' found on ISS hull, Russian cosmonaut says
Bacteria sent into space behave in mysterious ways
Bacteria sent to space come back more infectious

Viruses are specialized; some interact with bacteria, some with more complex lifeforms like species of insects, fish, plants, reptiles, birds, or mammals including humans.

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Bizarro Earth

Ancient ice reveals scores of gigantic volcanic eruptions


University of Copenhagen
Wed, 16 Mar 2022 20:23 UTC
Ice cores drilled in Antarctica and Greenland have revealed gigantic volcanic eruptions during the last ice age. Sixty-nine of these were larger than any eruption in modern history. According to the University of Copenhagen physicists behind the research, these eruptions can teach us about our planet's sensitivity to climate change.

Illustration of volcanic eruption
© Getty ImagesIllustration of volcanic eruption.
For many people, the mention of a volcanic eruption conjures up doomsday scenarios that include deafening explosions, dark ash billowing into the stratosphere and gloopy lava burying everything in its path as panicked humans run for their lives. While such an eruption could theoretically happen tomorrow, we have had to make do with disaster films and books when it comes to truly massive volcanic eruptions in the modern era.

"We haven't experienced any of history's largest volcanic eruptions. We can see that now. Eyjafjellajökull, which paralysed European air traffic in 2010, pales in comparison to the eruptions we identified further back in time. Many of these were larger than any eruption over the last 2,500 years," says Associate Professor Anders Svensson of the University of Copenhagen's Niels Bohr Institute.

By comparing ice cores drilled in Antarctica and Greenland, he and his fellow researchers managed to estimate the quantity and intensity of volcanic eruptions over the last 60,000 years. Estimates of volcanic eruptions more than 2,500 years ago have been associated with great uncertainty and a lack of precision, until now.
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Rocket

Ukraine war reveals dangerous new Russian ballistic missile feature: PENAIDs a force multiplier for hypersonic arsenal


Military Watch Magazine
Wed, 16 Mar 2022 00:00 UTC
Iskander
© unknownIskander Ballistic Missile Launcher
Although Russia has refrained from committing many of its most capable assets to its military operation in Ukraine, which was initiated on February 24, the conflict has provided some insight into the country's military capabilities particularly as it has made extensive use of standoff ballistic and cruise missiles for precision strikes.

Russia's only class of ground launched tactical ballistic missile the Iskander-M, which was previously deployed in conflicts in Syria and Georgia and represents one of the most heavily relied on assets in the Russian Army, has been revealed to have a force multiplying asset a penetration aid (PENAID) designed to help it confuse enemy ballistic missile defences.

The system is reportedly activated when a missile is targeted by air defences, and releases once the missile determines it is threatened. A single missile from the Iskander-M system can be loaded with at least six decoys in tubes at the base of the body. Similar decoys may potentially be deployed from other Russian tactical ballistic missiles, most notably the Kh-47M2 which is based on the Iskander but launched from the air.
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Colosseum

Midwestern US has lost 57.6 billion metric tons of soil due to agricultural practices

University of Massachusetts Amherst
Phys.org
Wed, 16 Mar 2022 12:00 UTC
erosion agriculture farming
© UMass AmherstIsaac Larsen standing on the erosional escarpment at Stinton Prairie, Iowa.
A new study in the journal Earth's Future led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst shows that, since Euro-American settlement approximately 160 years ago, agricultural fields in the midwestern U.S. have lost, on average, two millimeters of soil per year. This is nearly double the rate of erosion that the USDA considers sustainable. Furthermore, USDA estimates of erosion are between three and eight times lower than the figures reported in the study. Finally, the study's authors conclude that plowing, rather than the work of wind and water, is the major culprit.

"A few years back, my wife and I were at a wedding at a pioneer Norwegian church in Minnesota," says Isaac Larsen, professor of geosciences at UMass Amherst and one of the paper's co-authors. "After the ceremony, I walked over to the edge of the churchyard, which was surrounded by cornfields, and was shocked to see that the surface of the field was a few feet lower than the surface of the never-tilled churchyard. I began to wonder why."

Comment: Modern agriculture with herbicides, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, compaction, and excessive tilling are destroying healthy soils across much of the planet. Solutions, such as regenerative agriculture, are available but it seems that it will only be following a total system fail that there will be any chance, as well as incentive, to actually put them into practise; although it seems we might not have to wait that long:

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Satellite

NASA releases first "fully aligned" image from James Webb Space Telescope

Victor Tangermann
Futurism
Wed, 16 Mar 2022 10:41 UTC
james webb telescope image
© NASA/STScIWebb's optics and NIRCam are so sensitive that the galaxies and stars seen in the background show up.
NASA has released a stunning new image taken by its James Webb Space Telescope that shows a star fully in focus, surrounded by a dizzying vista of galaxies.

"We have the highest resolution infrared images taken from space ever," said Scott Acton, a wavefront sensing and controls scientist working on the telescope, in a video accompanying the announcement.

The "telescope performed better than the models said it should," Acton added.

It's a stellar achievement and a massive payoff for the many scientists who have been tirelessly working on developing, launching, and deploying the massive space observatory.
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Comet 2

New Comet C/2022 E2 (ATLAS)

Ernesto Guido
Remanzacco Blogspot
Wed, 16 Mar 2022 22:56 UTC
CBET 5109 & MPEC 2022-E227, issued on 2022, March 15, announce the discovery of an apparently asteroidal object (magnitude ~19) discovered on CCD images taken on Mar. 7 UT with a 0.5-m f/2 Schmidt reflector at Rio Hurtado, Chile, in the course of the "Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System" (ATLAS) search program. Subsequently, it has been found to show cometary appearance by CCD astrometrists elsewhere after it was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage. The new comet has been designated C/2022 E2 (ATLAS).

Stacking of 25 unfiltered exposures, 120 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2022, March 10.3 from X02 (Telescope Live, Chile) through a 0.61-m f/6.5 astrograph + CCD, shows that this object is a comet with a compact coma about 7" arcsecond in diameter (Observers E. Guido, M. Rocchetto, E. Bryssinck, G. Milani, G. Savini, A. Valvasori).

Our confirmation image (click on the images for a bigger version; made with TYCHO software by D. Parrott)
Comet C/2022 E2 (ATLAS)
© Remanzacco Blogspot
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