Science & TechnologyS


Microscope 1

Through the thin-film glass, researchers spot a new liquid phase


PhysOrg
Mon, 26 Jul 2021 00:26 UTC
Water Droplet
© Wikipedia
Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes a new type of liquid in thin films, which forms a high-density glass. Results generated in this study, conducted by researchers in Penn's Department of Chemistry, demonstrate how these glasses and other similar materials can be fabricated to be denser and more stable, providing a framework for developing new applications and devices through better design.

Glass is typically created through solidification, or falling out of equilibrium, of a liquid when it is cooled to a temperature where its motion arrests. The structure of a glass closely resembles the liquid phase, but its properties are similar to solids, akin to a crystal.

Glasses that are made into ultrathin, nanometer-scale films are widely used in applications such as OLED displays and optical fibers. But when these types of glasses are made into thin films, even at cold temperatures they behave more like a liquid, and the resulting material can be prone to droplet formation or crystallization, which limits the size of the smallest features that are possible.
Read More...
Info

Astronomers discover two TNO-like bodies in the asteroid belt

George Dvorsky
Gizmodo
Sat, 31 Jul 2021 15:50 UTC
The pair, named 203 Pompeja and 269 Justitia, bear a resemblance to objects located in the outer solar system.
Asteroid Belt

They're red, they're reasonably big, and they have no business being in the main asteroid belt, but their discovery confirms the complex conditions in place when the solar system was still forming.

New research published in the The Astrophysical Journal Letters details the discovery of two extremely red main-belt asteroids. Named 203 Pompeja and 269 Justitia, the asteroids have a redder spectral signature than any other asteroid in the main belt, that highly populated band of asteroids situated between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The new paper was led by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronomer Sunao Hasegawa.

Importantly, these red asteroids resemble trans-Neptunian objects, that is, objects located farther away than Neptune, the most distant planet from the Sun (with no disrespect to dwarf planet Pluto). This could mean that 203 Pompeja and 269 Justitia formed way out there in the Kuiper Belt and then drifted inward when the solar system was still young. If confirmed, the new finding shows how chaotic the conditions were back then and that materials from different parts of the solar system would sometimes mix together.

The purpose of the study was to document the distribution and composition of large asteroids in the main belt. Large asteroids, especially those larger than 60 miles (100 km) in width, are likely survivors of the solar system's early days. By studying these objects, the scientists were hoping to catch a glimpse of what the conditions were like some 4 billion years ago.
Read More...
Clock

A blood test for your body clock?

Lisa Marshall
University of Colorado Boulder
Tue, 27 Jul 2021 18:22 UTC
Body Clock
© IFL Science
What time is your body clock set on?

The answer, mounting research suggests, can influence everything from your predisposition to diabetes, heart disease and depression to the optimal time for you to take medication. But unlike routine blood tests for cholesterol and hormone levels, there's no easy way to precisely measure a person's individual circadian rhythm.

At least not yet.

New CU Boulder research, published in the Journal of Biological Rhythms, suggests that day could come in the not-too-distant future. The study found it's possible to determine the timing of a person's internal circadian or biological clock by analyzing a combination of molecules in a single blood draw.

"If we can understand each individual person's circadian clock, we can potentially prescribe the optimal time of day for them to be eating or exercising or taking medication," said senior author Christopher Depner, who conducted the study while an assistant professor of integrative physiology at CU Boulder. "From a personalized medicine perspective, it could be groundbreaking."
Read More...
Galaxy

Do failing galaxies stave off death through gas re-accretion? Scientists observe phenomenon for the first time

Amy C. Oliver
PhysOrg
Fri, 30 Jul 2021 16:01 UTC
gas re accretion dying galaxy galaxies
© ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/S. Dagnello (NRAO), NASA/ESA/Hubble/K. Cook (LLNL), L. ShatzShown here in composite view, ALMA data (red/orange) reveals filament structures left behind by ram pressure stripping in a Hubble Space Telescope optical view of NGC4921. Scientists believe that these filaments are formed as magnetic fields in the galaxy prevent some matter from being stripped away.
A new study from scientists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) suggests that previously displaced gases can re-accrete onto galaxies, potentially slowing down the process of galaxy death caused by ram pressure stripping, and creating unique structures more resistant to its effects.

"Much of the previous work on ram pressure stripped galaxies is focused on the material that gets stripped out of galaxies. In this new work we see some gas that rather than being thrown out of the galaxy never to return is instead moving like a boomerang, being ejected out but then circling around and falling back to its source," said William Cramer, an astronomer at Arizona State University and the lead author on the new study. "By combining Hubble and ALMA data at very high resolution, we are able to prove that this process is happening."
Read More...
Satellite

Cosmonauts scramble to right tilted space station after new Russian module Nauka fires thrusters unexpectedly


RT
Thu, 29 Jul 2021 22:56 UTC
Nauka
© Twitter/RoscosmosRussian 'Nauka' (Science) module docked at the International Space Station, July 29, 2021
The International Space Station is in stable orbit again, after the crew and ground control scrambled to neutralize the spin caused by thrusters on the newly docked Russian 'Nauka' module firing unexpectedly.

Roscosmos announced the docking of 'Nauka' on Thursday, the first new Russian component of the ISS in over a decade, which replaced the 20-year-old 'Pirs.'

Around 16:45 GMT, however, the module's thrusters began to fire, pushing the ISS about 45 degrees out of its normal rotation.

Comment: This follows the trouble with Hubble and Nasa's Mars mole that couldn't dig a hole:

Read More...
Info

Neandertal and Denisovan blood groups deciphered


CNRS
Wed, 28 Jul 2021 18:26 UTC
Blood group analyses for three Neandertals and one Denisovan by a team from the Anthropologie Bio-Culturelle, Droit, Éthique et Santé research unit (CNRS / Aix-Marseille University / EFS) confirm hypotheses concerning their African origin, Eurasian dispersal, and interbreeding with early Homo sapiens. The researchers also found further evidence of low genetic diversity and possible demographic fragility. Their findings are published in PLOS ONE (28 July 2021).
Neanderthals and Denisovan Blood
© Stéphane Mazières (photos: Douka et al. / Mafessoni et al. / Prüfer et al. / Green et al.)Geographic origin, blood group and dating of individuals studied. Rh blood group system analysis (+ = full Rh(D) antigen ; + partial = partial Rh(D) antigen / - = missing Rh(D) antigen) suggested risk of haemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn among Neandertals and revealed interbreeding (possibly in the Levant), traces of which might be found in modern humans from Australia and Papua New Guinea. In three of the individuals, the presence of a ‘non-secretor’ allele, associated with protection from certain viruses, suggests selective pressure exerted by the latter.
The extinct hominin lineages of the Neandertals and Denisovans were present throughout Eurasia from 300,000 to 40,000 years ago. Despite prior sequencing of about 15 Neandertal and Denisovan individuals, the study of the genes underlying blood groups had hitherto been neglected. Yet blood group systems were the first markers used by anthropologists to reconstruct the origins of hominin populations, their migrations, and their interbreeding.

In a new study, scientists from the CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, and the French Blood Establishment (EFS) have examined the previously sequenced genomes of one Denisovan and three Neandertal females who lived 100,000 to 40,000 years ago, in order to identify their blood groups and consider what they may reveal about human's evolutionary history. Of the 40-some known blood group systems, the team concentrated on the seven usually considered for blood transfusion purposes, the most common of which are the ABO (determining the A, B, AB, and O blood types) and Rh systems.
Read More...
Ice Cube

Climate scientist warns 'next 20-30 years will be cold'

Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.
Breitbart
Thu, 29 Jul 2021 16:52 UTC
sun irradiance solar temperatures ice age
© NASA GISS/Krivova, et. al/PMOD
Climate scientist Dr. Willie Soon has urged his fellow academics to pay closer attention to the sun's activity, which suggests several decades of global cooling rather than warming.

Speaking this week with Alex Newman of the New American, Soon, a Malaysian astrophysicist and aerospace engineer, said that "what we predict is that the next 20-30 years will be cold. It will be cold, so it will be a very interesting thing for the IPCC to confront."

The sun is in a "weakened state" and far less active than during the 1980s and 1990s, Soon noted, which should last until "around 2050."

"The whole climate system is powered 99.1 percent by the sun's energy," he stated.

Comment: Typical State Department propaganda using the China bogey man to discredit a legitimate warning about global cooling. Dr. Soon's message concurs with many other scientists.

Read More...
Chalkboard

Fractons: The 'weirdest' matter, made of partial particles, defies description

Thomas Lewton
Quanta Magazine
Mon, 26 Jul 2021 16:29 UTC
simulation fracton scatter neutrons
© H. Yan et al., Physical Review LettersThis simulation shows how a fracton-filled material would be expected to scatter a beam of neutrons.
Theorists are in a frenzy over "fractons," bizarre, but potentially useful, hypothetical particles that can only move in combination with one another.

Your desk is made up of individual, distinct atoms, but from far away its surface appears smooth. This simple idea is at the core of all our models of the physical world. We can describe what's happening overall without getting bogged down in the complicated interactions between every atom and electron.

So when a new theoretical state of matter was discovered whose microscopic features stubbornly persist at all scales, many physicists refused to believe in its existence.
Read More...
Magnet

Electromagnetism is a property of spacetime itself, study finds

Jussi Lindgren and Jukka Liukkonen
Science X
Fri, 23 Jul 2021 11:32 UTC
tesla coil
Read More...
Radar

Russia's hypersonic missile tests, rocket missions & new stealth fighter reflect its position as world leader in breakthrough technology


RT
Wed, 28 Jul 2021 09:13 UTC
Russia's missile
Russian Navy test fires Tsirkon hypersonic missile 2021
July has been a remarkable month for Russian rockets, with Moscow announcing a handful of successful missile tests, the country showing off its warplanes at the MAKS international airshow, and launching the new Nauka space module.

Bringing together arms manufacturers from across the country and customers from across the world, the annual MAKS air show, outside the capital, saw the unveiling of the new Su-75 light combat aircraft, codenamed Checkmate. By all accounts, the presentation of the new fifth-generation light fighter jet was the pinnacle of the exposition, with developers promising Checkmate would make its maiden flight before next year's event.

Comment: See also:

Read More...