Science & TechnologyS


Fireball 2

Unexpected Perseid meteor outburst 2021, 300% more fireballs than normal

Peter Jenniskens, Koen Miskotte
Meteor News
Sun, 15 Aug 2021 10:31 UTC
Perseid outburst 2021
Figure 1 – 2021 Perseid rates according to CAMS Texas and CAMS California video data. The vertical scale is logarithmic. The dashed line is the level of normal annual Perseid activity.
Abstract: An unexpected outburst of Perseids was detected by low-light video observations on August 14, 2021. The outburst peaked at solar longitude 141.474 ± 0.005 degrees (equinox J2000.0) and the activity profile had a Full-Width-at-Half-Maximum of 0.08 degrees solar longitude and a peak rate of ZHR = 130 ± 20 per hour above the normal ~45 per hour annual Perseid activity. The Perseids had a steeper magnitude size distribution index than the normal annual shower component. The activity profile is similar to that derived from visual and forward meteor scatter observations. This activity may be related to the earlier smaller enhancements observed in 2018 and 2019.
Introduction

Comment: More reporting from Twitter, with one camera capturing the flashes of the outburst, but not direct footage, and all thanks to the owner's cat walking past their motion detecting camera:



It's notable that the last outburst occurred just a few years ago, and that the origin of this particular one was not expected nor, as of yet, has its origin been ascertained.

Taken together with all the other Fire In The Sky activity being documented these days, it's looking like there's been a significant increase, and that there's likely more to come: See also: Something Wicked This Way Comes

And check out SOTT radio's:

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Chalkboard

How do we decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics and other ancient languages?

Owen Jarus
LiveScience
Sat, 14 Aug 2021 11:22 UTC
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs
© Paul Biris via Getty ImagesAncient Egyptian hieroglyphs on the ceiling of Hypostyle Hall within the Temple of Hathor in Egypt.
Some ancient societies had written languages, but deciphering their texts can be a Sisyphean task. So, how do experts figure out how to translate ancient words into modern ones?

The answer is multifaceted, but one famous example embodies some of the best practices: the decoding of the Rosetta stone, discovered by a French military expedition in Egypt in July 1799, which helped pave the way to the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs.

The stone contains a decree of Ptolemy V that was inscribed in three writing systems: Egyptian hieroglyphics, demotic script (used by the Egyptians between the seventh century B.C. and the fifth century A.D.) and ancient Greek. Written in 196 B.C., the decree stated that Egyptian priests agreed to crown Ptolemy V pharaoh in exchange for tax breaks. At the time, Egypt was governed by a dynasty of rulers descended from Ptolemy I, one of Alexander the Great's Macedonian generals.

At the time the stone was discovered, both hieroglyphics and demotic script were undeciphered, but ancient Greek was known. The fact that the same decree was preserved in three languages meant that scholars could read the Greek portion of the text and compare it with the hieroglyphic and demotic portions to determine what the equivalent parts were.
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Document

Fake science: The misinformation pandemic in scientific journals

Mike Hearn
The Daily Sceptic
Tue, 10 Aug 2021 15:53 UTC
fakefact blocks
© unknown
Another cluster of fake scientific papers has been discovered, this time primarily about electronic medical devices and software. A group of three researchers has published an exposé of papers in which ordinary terms like artificial intelligence and facial recognition are replaced with bizarre alternatives auto-generated from a thesaurus. This appears to be an attempt to hide plagiarism, AI-driven paper auto-generation and/or "paper mill" activity, in which companies generate forged research and sell it to (pseudo-)scientists who want to get promoted.
Box genuine
Often these papers originate in China, where the CCP has mandated that every single medical doctor must publish research papers to get promoted (i.e. in their non-existent spare time). If you're new to this topic, my previous article on Photoshopped images and impossible numbers in scientific papers provides some background along with an entertaining begging letter from a Chinese doctor who got busted.
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Chalkboard

Physicists reveal strongest evidence yet of matter created by light collisions

Brad Bergan
Interesting Engineering
Sat, 14 Aug 2021 18:12 UTC
particle accelerator artist conception
© sakkmesterke / iStockArtist's conception of a futuristic particle accelerator.
And they accelerated gold ions to near the speed of light.

In particle physics, high-speed collisions are usually a good thing.

And, when two photons are smashed into one another with enough force, the output is matter, according to Einstein's theory of special relativity. This process would yield an electron-positron pair, representing the conversion of light into mass, which seemed beyond our reach. But not for long.

Physicists have discovered a means of doing this in real life using the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory, directly witnessing this reaction, which is called the Briet-Wheeler process, according to a recent paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

This is a substantial discovery, building on a theoretical wall that seemed insurmountable only decades ago.
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Nebula

NASA shares new image of bright 'rings' circling distant black hole

Andrei Dergalin
Sputnik
Fri, 13 Aug 2021 19:04 UTC
black hole
© CC0A black hole
The black hole emitting the X-rays in question is located in a binary system some 7,800 light years from Earth. A new image of what looks like a set of rings around a black hole has been released by NASA.

According a statement by the US space agency, the image, produced with data obtained via NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, shows a set of separate, concentric rings circling the black hole that is part of a binary system called V404 Cygni and is located about 7,800 light years away from our planet.

This spectacle is apparently a product of X-rays emitted by the black hole, with NASA explaining how an X-ray burst from V404 Cygni detected in 2015 "created the high-energy rings from a phenomenon known as light echoes."

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Doberman

Animals are able to count and use zero. How far does their number sense go?

Jordana Cepelewicz
Quanta Magazine
Mon, 09 Aug 2021 14:36 UTC
two crows snow play
© June HunterCrows are known for play behavior, a marker for intelligence
Crows recently demonstrated an understanding of the concept of zero. It's only the latest evidence of animals' talents for numerical abstraction — which may still differ from our own grasp of numbers.

The intelligence of corvids like ravens and crows is well known. Recently, crows were even shown to have a numerical ability seen in few other species so far: a grasp of the concept of the empty set — the numerosity zero.

An understanding of numbers is often viewed as a distinctly human faculty — a hallmark of our intelligence that, along with language, sets us apart from all other animals.

But that couldn't be further from the truth. Honeybees count landmarks when navigating toward sources of nectar. Lionesses tally the number of roars they hear from an intruding pride before deciding whether to attack or retreat. Some ants keep track of their steps; some spiders keep track of how many prey are caught in their web. One species of frog bases its entire mating ritual on number: If a male calls out — a whining pew followed by a brief pulsing note called a chuck — his rival responds by placing two chucks at the end of his own call. The first frog then responds with three, the other with four, and so on up to around six, when they run out of breath.
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Fireball 3

Slightly increased risk of Asteroid Bennu hitting Earth in 2128 - NASA

Meghan Bartels
Scientific American
Thu, 12 Aug 2021 12:00 UTC
Bennu
© NASA, Goddard and University of ArizonaAn image of the asteroid Bennu produced by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Using data from the OSIRIS-REx mission, scientists calculated slightly increased (but still low) odds the space rock will collide with our planet in the 2100s
If the possibility of an asteroid called Bennu slamming into Earth a lifetime from now was keeping you up at night, NASA scientists think you can rest a little easier.

The agency's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft spent more than two years closely orbiting the space rock. And with that incredibly detailed view of the asteroid, experts studying potential space rock impacts with Earth have been able to fine-tune their existing models of Bennu's future.

As a result, scientists behind new research now say they're confident that the asteroid's total impact probability through 2300 is just 1 in 1,750. Estimates produced before OSIRIS-REx arrived at the space rock tallied the cumulative probability of a Bennu impact between the years 2175 and 2199 at 1 in 2,700, according to NASA. While a slightly higher risk than past estimates, it represents a minuscule change in an already minuscule risk, NASA said.

Comment: Whilst Bennu may not be the space rock that is of greatest to concern to our increasingly unstable global civilisation, judging by the rise in Fire In The Sky events, and using history as a guide, it seems increasingly likely, and space agencies appear to agree, that the threat of space rocks and other cosmic phenomena is very real and that we're totally unprepared: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Info

Researchers discover new electronic phenomenon


University of North Florida
Wed, 11 Aug 2021 21:55 UTC
New electronic phenomenon
© University of North Florida,
Physics researchers at the University of North Florida's Atomic LEGO Lab discovered a new electronic phenomenon they call "asymmetric ferroelectricity". The research led by Dr. Maitri Warusawithana, UNF physics assistant professor, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Illinois and the Arizona State University, demonstrated this phenomenon for the first time in engineered two-dimensional crystals.

This discovery of asymmetric ferroelectricity in engineered crystals comes exactly 100 years following the discovery of ferroelectricity in certain naturally occurring crystals. Ferroelectric crystals - crystals that show two equal bistable polarization states - are now used in many high-tech applications including solid-state memory, RFID cards, sensors and precision actuators.
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Biohazard

Contract approved to use toxic graphene oxide for water treatment in UK - same substance found in Covid-19 vaccines

Captaindaretofly
The Daily Expose
Tue, 03 Aug 2021 00:00 UTC
water
© Unknown
G2O Water Technologies, a UK technology business, has managed to get its first commercial contract approved for the enhancement of water filtration membranes with graphene oxide. This contract makes it the first commercially successful application of the recently developed material for water treatment.

Allegedly, the advantages of using graphene oxide for water treatment lies in the enhancement of membrane performance, as it mitigates the effects of "fouling." Fouling is apparently one of the biggest challenges operators of membrane-based water filtration systems face.

"Fouling" describes the presence or accumulation of unwanted material in water including scale, general dirt, and debris, dissolved metals, or biological matter, and bacteria. Fouled water can cause a variety of problems if left untreated.

In collaboration with Hydrasyst Limited, G2O technologies managed to coat membranes with graphene oxide which they state will improve operational efficiency, reduce energy consumption and decrease chemical usage.
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Info

Thousands of human and animal bones hoarded by hyenas in Saudi Arabian lava tube system


Heritage Daily
Sun, 08 Aug 2021 18:44 UTC
Lava Tube Entrance
© Stewart et al. / Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2021Images of Umm Jirsan. A Entrance to the western passage and surrounding area. B Entrance to the western passage. Note the team members on the right hand wall for scale. C The back chamber in which the excavation was carried out. D Plotted sampling square before surface collection and excavation. Location of the site shown in the inset.
Archaeologists conducting research in Arabia's longest lava tube system, has found thousands of bones deposited by hyenas.

The Umm Jirsan lava tube system is located in the Harrat Khaybar Lava Field, 130 km north of Medina in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Taphonomic studies of fossil bone accumulations as part of the 'Palaeodeserts Project' to track human and animal migration across the Arabian Peninsula, has identified hundreds of thousands of bone accumulations consisting of over 40 different species, including horses, asses, cattle, camels, rodents, caprids, and even humans.

Although the lava-tube was discovered in the mid-2000s, only recently did researchers venture deeper into the tube system, where the bone accumulations were found.
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