Science & TechnologyS


Fireball 2

The Tunguska explosion could have been caused by an asteroid that still orbits the Sun says new study

Brian Koberlein
Universe Today
Tue, 19 May 2020 19:04 UTC
Tunguska Airburst
© Universe Today
On a cool Summer morning in 1908, a fireball appeared over Northern Siberia. Eyewitnesses described a column of blue light that moved across the sky, followed by a tremendous explosion. The explosion leveled trees across more than 2,000 square kilometers. The explosion is consistent with a large meteor strike, but to this day no evidence of a crater has been found. Now known as the Tunguska Event, its cause remains a mystery to this day.

One of the challenges in studying the Tunguska event is its remoteness. The region is sparsely populated, and the event only had a handful of witnesses. Scientific investigations of the event didn't occur until the 1920s. It was then that the impact region was mapped and early searches for an impact crater were undertaken. By the 1960s it was clear the event was similar to an airburst nuclear explosion, with an energy of about 5 Megatons.
Tunguska Fallen Trees
© Leonid Kulik expeditionPhotograph of fallen trees seen by a 1929 expedition to the region.
Given what we know, the most likely cause is an airburst asteroid strike, where the asteroid explodes in the atmosphere, similar to the Chelyabinsk meteor strike in 2013. Given the size of the impact region, it's estimated that the original asteroid was nearly 70 meters across. This would explain why no large impact crater has been found.

But fragments of the Chelyabinsk were found soon after impact, and one would expect Tunguska fragments to have reached Earth. Despite several searches, nothing has been found. This has led some to look to other causes, such as a massive leak of natural gas, or even the explosion of an alien spacecraft. But a new study argues that there are no fragments because the asteroid didn't fragment after all. Instead, it glanced off Earth's atmosphere.
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Cassiopaea

One of the simplest chemical reactions isn't simple at all


IFL Science
Mon, 18 May 2020 21:17 UTC
quantum
© Fratic00/shutterstockAt the scale of the very small things are both particles and waves, and the wave nature can cause quantum interference, something that has been found even in very simple chemical reactions, such as between a hydrogen atom and a hydrogen-deuterium molecule.
Scientists thought that even with all the complexity and strangeness quantum mechanics involves, they at least had a good grasp of the simplest chemical reactions, those involving very few electrons and protons. Further investigation showed that's not really the case, confirming physicists' rueful observation that no matter how weird you think quantum behavior might be, the reality will always out-weird you.

Hydrogen has the simplest atom there is, just one proton and electron, followed by its isotope deuterium, which has the same pair and a neutron as well. So when a hydrogen atom meets a molecule made of up hydrogen and deuterium, and replaces the deuterium (H + HD → H2 + D in chemistry notation), there are not a lot of moving parts - three protons, three electrons, and a neutron. Compared to most chemical reactions, this is about as simple as it gets. As a result, the reaction has been studied intensely as a gateway to greater complexity.

However, a team from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics have reported in Science that a form of quantum interference occurs during the course of this reaction. Not only has this been missed in previous studies of hydrogen/deuterium displacement, it's never been seen before at all.

Comment: See also:

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Info

Study estimates odds of intelligence emerging beyond our planet

Carla Cantor
Columbia University
Mon, 18 May 2020 19:43 UTC
Are we alone in the universe?
© Shutterstock/Amanda CardenAre we alone in the universe? A new study uses Bayesian statistics to weigh the likelihood of life and intelligence beyond our solar system.
Humans have been wondering whether we are alone in the universe since antiquity.

We know from the geological record that life started relatively quickly, as soon our planet's environment was stable enough to support it. We also know that the first multicellular organism, which evolved to produce today's technological civilization, took far longer to emerge, approximately 4 billion years.

But despite knowing when life first appeared on Earth, scientists still do not understand how life occurred, which has important implications for the likelihood of finding life elsewhere in the universe.

In a new paper published in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences today, David Kipping, an assistant professor in Columbia's Department of Astronomy, shows how an analysis using a statistical technique called Bayesian inference could shed light on how complex extraterrestrial life might evolve in alien worlds.

"The rapid emergence of life and the late evolution of humanity, in the context of the timeline of evolution, are certainly suggestive," Kipping said. "But in this study it's possible to actually quantify what the facts tell us.
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Ark

NASA scientists detect evidence of parallel universe where time runs backward

Yaron Steinbuch
NY Post
Tue, 19 May 2020 17:17 UTC
ANITA Antarctic Hang Test
© University of Hawai'i at ManoaANITA Antarctic Hang Test
In a scenario straight out of "The Twilight Zone," a group of NASA scientists working on an experiment in Antarctica have detected evidence of a parallel universe — where the rules of physics are the opposite of our own, according to a report.

The concept of a parallel universe has been around since the early 1960s, mostly in the minds of fans of sci-fi TV shows and comics, but now a cosmic ray detection experiment has found particles that could be from a parallel realm that also was born in the Big Bang, the Daily Star reported.

The experts used a giant balloon to carry NASA's Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna, or ANITA, high above Antarctica, where the frigid, dry air provided the perfect environment with little to no radio noise to distort its findings.

A constant "wind" of high-energy particles constantly arrives on Earth from outer space.
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Bulb

Behe was right? 'Current Biology' publishes article supporting ID author - evolution destroys, doesn't create


Uncommon Descent
Tue, 19 May 2020 16:31 UTC
Michael Behe secrets of the cell
In Darwin Devolves.

Once again, at Current Biology:
Evolutionary novelty is difficult to define. It typically involves shifts in organismal or biochemical phenotypes that can be seen as qualitative as well as quantitative changes. In laboratory-based experimental evolution of novel phenotypes and the human domestication of crops, the majority of the mutations that lead to adaptation are loss-of-function mutations that impair or eliminate the function of genes rather than gain-of-function mutations that increase or qualitatively alter the function of proteins. Here, I speculate that easier access to loss-of-function mutations has led them to play a major role in the adaptive radiations that occur when populations have access to many unoccupied ecological niches. I discuss five possible objections to this claim: that genes can only survive if they confer benefits to the organisms that bear them, antagonistic pleiotropy, the importance of pre-existing genetic variation in populations, the danger that adaptation by breaking genes will, over long times, cause organisms to run out of genes, and the recessive nature of most loss-of-function mutations.

Andrew W. Murray, "Can gene-inactivating mutations lead to evolutionary novelty?" at Current Biology
Note: "In laboratory-based experimental evolution of novel phenotypes and the human domestication of crops, the majority of the mutations that lead to adaptation are loss-of-function mutations that impair or eliminate the function of genes rather than gain-of-function mutations that increase or qualitatively alter the function of proteins. Here, I speculate that easier access to loss-of-function mutations has led them to play a major role in the adaptive radiations that occur when populations have access to many unoccupied ecological niches." [?]

That was precisely Behe's point. Cell evolution is mostly about destroying complex equipment that hinders immediate survival. (The question of how the equipment came to be so complex beforehand is separate from the question of what life forms actually do when they evolve.)

Is COVID-19 some kind of truth serum? Are normal facts about nature okay now? Or will we soon hear thunder from Darwin's Academy?

Comment: Check out the archive of Behe's articles for more on his arguments:

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Microscope 1

'Particularly potent' antibody found in SARS patients from 17 years ago inhibits COVID-19, study says

Chris Ciaccia
Fox News
Tue, 19 May 2020 16:16 UTC
Coronavirus researcher
© Randy CarnellCoronavirus researcher David Veesler describes how neutralizing antibodies against SARS and COVID-19 viruses function.
As the war against the coronavirus pandemic wages on, a new study has revealed that a person who recovered from SARS 17 years ago has an antibody that inhibits COVID-19.

The antibody, known as S309, is "particularly potent" at targeting and disabling the spike protein in SARS-CoV-2, according to a statement from the University of Washington, which was involved in the research. The antibody is now being fast-tracked for development and testing at Vir Biotechnology.

"Remarkably, we believe S309 likely covers the entire family of related coronaviruses, which suggests that, even as SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve, it may be quite challenging for it to become resistant to the neutralizing activity of S309," said Herbert "Skip" Virgin, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Vir, in a separate statement.
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Fireball 3

NASA tracker detects 3 asteroids approaching Earth, fly-by on Monday

Inigo Monzon
International Business Times
Sun, 17 May 2020 16:38 UTC
Over 17,000 near-Earth asteroids
© NASAOver 17,000 near-Earth asteroids remain undetected in our solar neighborhood. Pictured; an artistic illustration of an asteroid flying by Earth.
NASA has spotted a total of three near-Earth asteroids that will fly past the planet on Monday (May 18). According to the data collected by the agency, one of the approaching asteroids is almost as big as the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The incoming asteroids are currently being monitored by NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). According to CNEOS, the first asteroid that will approach Earth tomorrow is called 2020 JE2. This asteroid has an estimated diameter of about 56 feet.

It is expected to approach the planet on May 18 at 2:19 p.m. EDT at an average speed of about 31,000 miles per hour. During this time, the asteroid will fly past Earth from a distance of 0.00564 astronomical units or about 524,000 miles away. This is equivalent to about twice the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
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Attention

Alaska landslide could cause enormous tsunami, scientists warn

Christopher Carbone
Fox News
Fri, 15 May 2020 07:17 UTC
Barry Glacier. Barry Arm. Prince William Sound. Near Whittier. Alaska. United States of America.
© Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesBarry Glacier. Barry Arm. Prince William Sound. Near Whittier. Alaska. United States of America.
If an unstable Alaska mount slope fully collapses, a catastrophic tsunami in Harriman Fjord could be triggered, a group of experts warns.

An open letter signed by 14 scientists with expertise in landslides, tsunamis and climate change warns of an unstable mountain slope above the leading edge of the retreating Barry Glacier in Alaska.

This pending landslide could spawn an enormous tsunami in Harriman Fjord, which is located some 60 miles from Anchorage, which is home to an estimated 291,000 residents.

"A complete failure could be destructive throughout Barry Arm, Harriman Fjord, and parts of Port Wells. Our initial results show complex impacts further from the landslide than Barry Arm, with over 30-foot waves in some distant bays, including Whittier," the experts write.
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Book 2

Darwin's 'Descent of Man' is both deeply disturbing and more relevant than ever

Patrick Whittle
Genetic Literacy Project
Wed, 13 May 2020 17:32 UTC
Charles Darwin, chromosomes
Charles Darwin's Descent of Man is full of unexpected delights — such as the trio of hard drinking, chain-smoking koalas that appear within its first few pages to illustrate our affinity to animals.

Yet Darwin's great treatise on human origins is also, in parts, deeply disturbing.

Published a century and a half ago — as of February, 2021 — many of the opinions expressed in this seminal text (koalas aside) are still pertinent today. Indeed, despite (or rather, because of) the recent revolution in our understanding of genetics, the Descent is more relevant than ever.

Darwin's wider musings on mankind have had an immense and lasting influence on our beliefs about human nature and behavior, not just scientifically, but socially and politically as well. And while the more reprehensible later applications of evolutionary theory to human society were not truly Darwinian at all, many troubling arguments about race, class, eugenics and the like can nonetheless be discerned within his Descent of Man.

Comment: The current state of technological advancement has brought us face to face with problems Darwin probably never dreamed of. The cold and heartless solutions to those problems which Darwinian evolution might be used to support would deny the humanity of the person implementing those solutions. It is no wonder then why Darwin struggled with the implications of his ideas. For how can heart and soul be accounted for when there is no spirit guiding the process. If all life is 'natural selection' and 'random mutation', then there should be no moral qualms with killing an unborn child or anyone for that matter. Yet, something deep inside reviles such a choice. How can this contradiction exist if 'natural selection' is the process by which we came to be? There are those who would contort their minds through mental gymnastics of the most excruciating kinds in attempts to fit the facts to the theory, but the simplest solution is to get rid of the theory and see what better fits the facts. Intelligent Design does provide an avenue for heart and soul to exist and would thus provide a more human lens through which to view dilemmas and problems of the modern kind.

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Health

Study on early hydroxychloroquine treatment of COVID-19 patients shows 98.7% cure rate

Matthieu Million, Jean-Christophe Lagier, others
Science Direct
Tue, 05 May 2020 16:53 UTC
hydroxychloroquine
Hydroxychloroquine as marketed in Europe
Background

In France, the combination hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and azithromycin (AZ) is used in the treatment of COVID-19.

Methods

We retrospectively report on 1061 SARS-CoV-2 positive tested patients treated for at least three days with the following regimen: HCQ (200 mg three times daily for ten days) + AZ (500 mg on day 1 followed by 250 mg daily for the next four days). Outcomes were death, clinical worsening (transfer to ICU, and >10 day hospitalization) and viral shedding persistence (>10 days).
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