Science & TechnologyS


Solar Flares

Sunspot awakes from slumber to douse Earth in radiation which downed radio signals

Sean Martin
Daily Express (UK)
Sat, 22 May 2021 09:07 UTC
Sunspot awakes from slumber to douse Earth in radiation which downs radio signals
© SPACE WEATHERSunspot awakes from slumber to douse Earth in radiation which downs radio signals
NASA satellites have spotted a sunspot on the Sun which is ploughing ultraviolet radiation into the solar system. A few waves of the radiation have glanced Earth, leaving some parts of the globe without radio frequencies below 20MHz.

Solar flares can be detrimental to radio waves as when they hit the atmosphere, ionisation occurs which saps energy from radio waves.

The sunspot in question has been dubbed AR2824 which was first found last week.

However, it went quiet for a few days before waking up and blasting solar flares into the cosmos.

Dr Tony Philips of astronomy site Space Weather wrote on his blog: "After nearly a week of somnolent quiet, sunspot AR2824 is flaring again.

"An impulsive C4.8-class flare during the late hours of May 21st (1928 UT) was followed by an even stronger C6.1-flare on May 22nd (0256 UT).

"AR2824 is now strobing Earth with pulses of ultraviolet radiation.

Comment: The effects of solar flares on Earth's magnetosphere

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Comet

Heavy metal vapours unexpectedly found in comets throughout our Solar System — and beyond


European Southern Observatory
Wed, 19 May 2021 12:00 UTC
comet heavy metal plasma
A new study by a Belgian team using data from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) has shown that iron and nickel exist in the atmospheres of comets throughout our Solar System, even those far from the Sun. A separate study by a Polish team, who also used ESO data, reported that nickel vapour is also present in the icy interstellar comet 2I/Borisov. This is the first time heavy metals, usually associated with hot environments, have been found in the cold atmospheres of distant comets.

"It was a big surprise to detect iron and nickel atoms in the atmosphere of all the comets we have observed in the last two decades, about 20 of them, and even in ones far from the Sun in the cold space environment," says Jean Manfroid from the University of Liège, Belgium, who lead the new study on Solar System comets published today in Nature.

Comment: The answer for why this is occurring may lie in the true nature of comets, asteroids, and space; Pierre Lescaudron & Laura Knight-Jadczyk in their book Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection write:
[...] The fundamental difference between asteroids and comets is not their chemical composition, i.e. dirty, fluffy icy comets vs. rocky asteroids. Rather, as has long been put forward by plasma theorists, what differentiates 'comets' from 'asteroids' is their electric activity.

When the electric potential difference between an asteroid and the surrounding plasma is not too high, the asteroid exhibits a dark discharge mode1 or no discharge at all. But when the potential difference is high enough, the asteroid switches to a glowing discharge mode.2 At this point the asteroid is a comet. From this perspective, a comet is simply a glowing asteroid and an asteroid is a non-glowing comet. Thus the very same body can, successively, be a comet, then an asteroid, then a comet, etc., depending on variation in the ambient electric field it is subjected to.3 [...]

1 See Chapter 5: 'Discharge modes'.

2 An intense circulation of ions and electrons occurs between the asteroid and the surrounding space. The energy provided by this intense transfer 'excites' electrons which generate photons, hence the glow of the asteroid. See: Meichsner, J. Nonthermal Plasma Chemistry and Physics, p.117

3 Thornhill, W. & Talbott, D., The Electric Universe, p. 95-99
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Frog

New type of biochemical that could be in all life on earth discovered

Tessa Koumoundouros
Science Alert
Sat, 22 May 2021 12:00 UTC
glycolipids
© Juan Gaertner/Science Photo Library/Getty ImagesChaotic cell membranes (with glycolipids in yellow).
The wonderful mess of molecules that make up living things is so complex, biologists have overlooked an entire class of them - until now. This missed bit of biochemistry is neither rare nor hard to find; it's just no one had thought to look for it before.

"This is a stunning discovery of an entirely new class of biomolecules," said Stanford biochemist Carolyn Bertozzi.

"It's really a bombshell because the discovery suggests that there are biomolecular pathways in the cell that are completely unknown to us."

Biologists have a fairly good grasp of our main molecular building blocks. You've got carbohydrates (like starch), lipids (fats), nucleic acids (DNA), and proteins (muscle).

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Jupiter

'Clyde's Spot' on Jupiter is starting to look pretty weird

George Dvorsky
Gizmodo
Fri, 21 May 2021 19:00 UTC
Clyde's Spot_2
© NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. GillClyde’s spot, as spotted by NASA’s Juno probe on April 15, 2021.
Last May, a spot suddenly appeared in Jupiter's southern hemisphere. But as new images from the Juno spacecraft show, the once circular feature has morphed into an enigmatic splotch.

The feature was first detected by Clyde Foster, director of the Shallow Sky section of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, on May 31, 2020. Foster spotted the spot using his own 14-inch telescope, and, quite fortuitously, NASA's Juno probe made a close approach two days later, allowing for a close-up view of the new feature.

Clyde's Spot, as it's informally known, is a convective outbreak — a plume of cloud that's reaching out beyond the regular cloud tops — and is located to the southeast of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. Such outbreaks are not uncommon within the gas giant's South Temperate Belt.

On April 15, 2021, Juno performed its 33rd perijove (close flyby) of Jupiter, during which time it captured a new view of Clyde's Spot — or, at least what used to be Clyde's Spot. The new image was taken when the spacecraft was 16,800 miles (27,000 kilometers) above Jupiter's cloud tops. Citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill processed the image from raw JunoCam data, according to NASA.
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Beaker

Researchers discover new type of atomically thin conductive carbon material and it's not graphene


PhysOrg
Sat, 22 May 2021 17:20 UTC
new form carbon ultra thin
© University of Marburg, Aalto UniversityStructure of the new carbon network. The upper part shows schematically the linking of the carbon atoms, forming squares, hexagons, and octagons. The lower part is an image of the network, obtained with high-resolution microscopy.
Carbon exists in various forms. In addition to diamond and graphite, there are recently discovered forms with astonishing properties. For example graphene, with a thickness of just one atomic layer, is the thinnest known material, and its unusual properties make it an extremely exciting candidate for applications like future electronics and high-tech engineering. In graphene, each carbon atom is linked to three neighbors, forming hexagons arranged in a honeycomb network. Theoretical studies have shown that carbon atoms can also arrange in other flat network patterns, while still binding to three neighbors, but none of these predicted networks had been realized until now.

Researchers at the University of Marburg in Germany and Aalto University in Finland have now discovered a new carbon network, which is atomically thin like graphene, but is made up of squares, hexagons, and octagons forming an ordered lattice. They confirmed the unique structure of the network using high-resolution scanning probe microscopy and interestingly found that its electronic properties are very different from those of graphene.
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Brain

Brain stimulation evoking sense of touch improves control of robotic arm


Medical Xpress
Thu, 20 May 2021 00:01 UTC
Jennifer Collinger
© UPMCJennifer Collinger, Associate professor, University of Pittsburgh Pitt Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Most able-bodied people take their ability to perform simple daily tasks for granted — when they reach for a warm mug of coffee, they can feel its weight and temperature and adjust their grip accordingly so that no liquid is spilled. People with full sensory and motor control of their arms and hands can feel that they've made contact with an object the instant they touch or grasp it, allowing them to start moving or lifting it with confidence.

But those tasks become much more difficult when a person operates a prosthetic arm, let alone a mind-controlled one.

In a paper published today in Science, a team of bioengineers from the University of Pittsburgh Rehab Neural Engineering Labs describe how adding brain stimulation that evokes tactile sensations makes it easier for the operator to manipulate a brain-controlled robotic arm. In the experiment, supplementing vision with artificial tactile perception cut the time spent grasping and transferring objects in half, from a median time of 20.9 to 10.2 seconds.

Comment: See also:

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Info

New form of carbon discovered


Aalto University
Thu, 20 May 2021 17:38 UTC
Not graphene: researchers in Germany and Finland discover new type of atomically thin carbon material.
New Form of Carbon
© University Marburg & Aalto UniversityStructure of the new network. The upper part schematically shows how the carbon atoms link as squares, hexagons, & octagons. The lower part is an image of the network, obtained with high resolution microscopy.
Carbon exists in various forms. In addition to diamond and graphite, there are recently discovered forms with astonishing properties. For example graphene, with a thickness of just one atomic layer, is the thinnest known material, and its unusual properties make it an extremely exciting candidate for applications like future electronics and high-tech engineering. In graphene, each carbon atom is linked to three neighbours, forming hexagons arranged in a honeycomb network. Theoretical studies have shown that carbon atoms can also arrange in other flat network patterns, while still binding to three neighbours, but none of these predicted networks had been realized until now.

Researchers at the University of Marburg in Germany and Aalto University in Finland have now discovered a new carbon network, which is atomically thin like graphene, but is made up of squares, hexagons, and octagons forming an ordered lattice. They confirmed the unique structure of the network using high-resolution scanning probe microscopy and interestingly found that its electronic properties are very different from those of graphene.

In contrast to graphene and other forms of carbon, the new Biphenylene network — as the new material is named — has metallic properties. Narrow stripes of the network, only 21 atoms wide, already behave like a metal, while graphene is a semiconductor at this size. "These stripes could be used as conducting wires in future carbon-based electronic devices." said professor Michael Gottfried, at University of Marburg, who leads the team that developed the idea. The lead author of the study, Qitang Fan from Marburg continues, "This novel carbon network may also serve as a superior anode material in lithium-ion batteries, with a larger lithium storage capacity compared to that of the current graphene-based materials."
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Arrow Up

Comets cause meteor showers on Earth


SETI Institute
Thu, 20 May 2021 19:32 UTC
Long Period Comet
© P. Jenniskens / SETI InstituteThe meteoroid stream of long-period comet Thatcher from CAMS data. Outer blue ellipse is the orbit of Neptune.
Comets that circle the Sun in very elongated orbits spread their debris so thin along their orbit or eject it out of the solar system altogether that their meteor showers are hard to detect. From a new meteor shower survey published in the journal Icarus, researchers now report that they can detect showers from the debris in the path of comets that pass close to Earth orbit and are known to return as infrequent as once every 4,000 years.

"This creates a situational awareness for potentially hazardous comets that were last near-Earth orbit as far back as 2,000 BC," said meteor astronomer and lead author Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute.

Jenniskens is the lead of the Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance (CAMS) project, which observes and triangulates the visible meteors in the night sky using low- light video security cameras to measure their trajectory and orbit. There are CAMS networks now in nine countries, led by co-authors on the paper.

In recent years, new networks in Australia, Chile and Namibia significantly increased the number of triangulated meteors. The addition of these networks resulted in a better and more complete picture of the meteor showers in the night sky.

"Until recently, we only knew five long-period comets to be parent bodies to one of our meteor showers," said Jenniskens, "but now we identified nine more, and perhaps as many as 15."
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Galaxy

Solar Orbiter spacecraft captures its first massive eruption on Sun's surface in unprecedented detail


The Weather Channel
Wed, 19 May 2021 21:56 UTC
sun solar flare
© ESA/AOESAn artist's impression of the Solar Orbiter observing an eruption on the Sun
Last June, the Solar Orbiter spacecraft rocketing around the Sun discovered something new about our hot-headed star: its surface is covered in miniature solar flares, or otherwise known as "campfires" to the scientists behind the spacecraft. Having continued its exploration efforts, NASA and European Space Agency's spacecraft has now captured the first solar eruption on the Sun's surface.

If these eruptions on the Sun's surface are big enough, they can cause billions of tons of plasma and electrically charged particles to dash towards Earth. These eruptions, also known as coronal mass ejections (CME), were observed by the Solar Orbiter on February 12, NASA said in a statement.

Comment: See also:

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Laptop

New material could create 'neurons' and 'synapses' for computers


University of Groningen
Tue, 18 May 2021 15:12 UTC
Proposed Device
© Illustration Banerjee groupSchematic of the proposed device structure for neuromorphic spintronic memristors. The write path is between the terminals through the top layer (black dotted line), the read path goes through the device stack (red dotted line). The right side of the figure indicates how the choice of substrate dictates whether the device will show deterministic or probabilistic behavior.
Classic computers use binary values (0/1) to perform. By contrast, our brain cells can use more values to operate, making them more energy-efficient than computers. This is why scientists are interested in neuromorphic (brain-like) computing. Physicists from the University of Groningen have used a complex oxide to create elements comparable to the neurons and synapses in the brain using spins, a magnetic property of electrons. Their results were published on 18 May in the journal Frontiers in Nanotechnology.

Although computers can do straightforward calculations much faster than humans, our brains outperform silicon machines in tasks like object recognition. Furthermore, our brain uses less energy than computers. Part of this can be explained by the way our brain operates: whereas a computer uses a binary system (with values 0 or 1), brain cells can provide more analogue signals with a range of values.
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