Science & TechnologyS


Bullseye

Intelligent Design applied: Engineers know engineering when they see it


Evolution News
Fri, 29 May 2020 17:12 UTC
gecko
© Elisabeth via UnsplashA gecko
Engineers of all types (e.g., mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, civil, software) are focused on how to get things to work. They need to pull together all that is known about materials and properties, and organize them to perform a function. They need to meet design requirements: a company or government says "Here is what we need to do; how can we get it done within the limits of cost and time available?" Knowledge of engineering principles grows as the needs of a society grow, often becoming more sophisticated, pushing the boundaries of know-how. Engineers are trained to see design and judge good design.

Human engineers must also navigate intellectual property laws, because many engineers want to patent their designs and protect them from theft. There's a lot of angst going on in America on this very issue. China and other countries are accused of stealing our intellectual property, which can have not only economic but national security consequences. But who owns the patent on a leaf, or a coral? Engineers don't know, and they don't care. Perhaps that's part of what makes biomimetics so popular. They see a good design, and they can copy it without violating any laws.
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Cassiopaea

The universe's 'missing matter' problem has finally been solved

Jackson Ryan
CNET
Wed, 27 May 2020 06:43 UTC
signals from deep space
© ICRARMysterious signals from deep space have been used to solve one of the most enduring mysteries of the universe.
When Jean-Pierre Macquart arrived home from work one night in 2019, he was buzzing with excitement. He'd just helped solve a decades-old cosmic mystery with the help of a team of international astronomers. He couldn't wait to tell his wife.

Macquart had successfully weighed the universe for the first time, finally discovering where half of all the normal matter was hiding. But as he stepped through the door, ready to explain his monumental find, the ethereal secrets of the cosmos he'd uncovered were quickly replaced by the practicalities of existence.

Within minutes, he was wrangling two children, ages two and four, and taking to the kitchen, helping his wife with the cooking. In reflecting on the evening he says he likely helped with the meal, but it wasn't all that memorable. His head was "still up in the sky." The discovery he'd made earlier in the day, which he says "put to bed" the mystery of the universe's missing matter problem, was still playing on his mind.

In a new study, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, Macquart and a team of international astronomers detail their discovery for the first time. They reveal how a stream of bizarre signals sent from deep space helped solve a lingering mystery about the normal matter in the universe -- and how their technique has provided a whole new way to look at the cosmos.
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Info

Study gives new insights into the all-important placenta


University of Nottingham
Thu, 28 May 2020 19:53 UTC
Foetus in Womb
© University of Nottingham
MRI research has revealed detailed new insights into how the placenta works in pregnancy and discovered a completely new phenomenon where the placenta contracts every now and then.

Using the very latest wide-bore magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning equipment at the University of Nottingham experts in the School of Physics and Astronomy and Schools of Medicine Life Sciences found differences in blood flow to the placenta in healthy and pre-eclampsia pregnancies, a finding which could help understand why in pre-eclampsia the baby can be born small and pre-term.

The research published today in PLOS Biology also identified a completely new phenomenon which the researchers have termed the 'uteroplacental pump'. This involves contractions of placenta and the part of the uterine wall to which it is attached.

The placenta is vital in the transfer of the right amount of nutrition and oxygen from the mother to the baby. Any disturbance to the flow of blood could affect the delivery of vital nutrients restricting fetal growth. If the placenta is not working properly this can lead to pre-eclampsia.

In the placenta the fetal blood flows in tree-like villi which are bathed in a lake of the mother's blood, so that the two different blood supplies are kept separate. Changes in blood flow and oxygenation affects fetal growth and well-being.
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Info

New clues to deep earthquake mystery

Becky Oskin
UC Davis
Wed, 27 May 2020 18:36 UTC
Understanding Earthquakes
© U.S. Geological SurveySubduction zones occur where one tectonic plate dives under another. New computer modeling by Magali Billen, professor of earth and planetary sciences at UC Davis, shows why earthquakes on these sinking plates cluster at certain depths and could give insight into processes deep in the Earth.
A new understanding of our planet's deepest earthquakes could help unravel one of the most mysterious geophysical processes on Earth.

Deep earthquakes — those at least 300 kilometers below the surface — don't typically cause damage, but they are often widely felt. These earthquakes can provide vital clues to understanding plate tectonics and the structure of the Earth's interior. Due to the extremely high temperature and pressures where deep earthquakes occur, they likely stem from different physical and chemical processes than earthquakes near the surface. But it's hard to gather information about deep earthquakes, so scientists don't have a solid explanation for what causes them.

"We can't directly see what's happening where deep earthquakes occur," said Magali Billen, professor of geophysics in the University of California, Davis, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
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Better Earth

Collapse of ozone layer correlated with mass extinction event 252 million years ago

University of Southampton
Phys.org
Wed, 27 May 2020 12:00 UTC
spore
© John MarshallNormal and malformed spores from East Greenland.
Researchers at the University of Southampton have shown that an extinction event 360 million years ago, that killed much of the Earth's plant and freshwater aquatic life, was caused by a brief breakdown of the ozone layer that shields the Earth from damaging ultraviolet (UV) radiation. This is a newly discovered extinction mechanism with profound implications for our warming world today.

There have been a number of mass extinction in the geological past. Only one was caused by an asteroid hitting the Earth, which was 66 million years ago when the dinosaurs became extinct. Three of the others, including the end Permian Great Dying, 252 million years ago, were caused by huge continental scale volcanic eruptions that destabilised the Earth's atmospheres and oceans.


Comment: The evidence shows cosmic catastrophes feature much more prominently in Earth's history than merely 'once': The Seven Destructive Earth Passes of Comet Venus


Now, scientists have found evidence showing it was high levels of UV radiation which collapsed forest ecosystems and killed off many species of fish and tetrapods (our four limbed ancestors) at the end of the Devonian geological period, 359 million years ago. This damaging burst of UV radiation occurred as part of one of the Earth's climate cycles, rather than being caused by a huge volcanic eruption.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's: MindMatters: The Lighter Side of Space Rocks - The Holy Grail, Directed Panspermia and the Origin of Life

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Robot

T-1000 next! - New material could be used to make a liquid metal robot


Physics World
Tue, 26 May 2020 21:34 UTC
Liquid Metal
© Pu ZhangHandy material: this model of a human hand was made using a liquid metal matrix.
A liquid metal lattice that can be crushed but returns to its original shape on heating has been developed by Pu Zhang and colleagues at Binghamton University in the US. The material is held together by a silicone shell and could find myriad uses including soft robotics, foldable antennas and aerospace engineering. Indeed, the research could even lead to the creation of a liquid metal robot evoking the T-1000 character in the film Terminator 2.

The team created the liquid metal lattice using a special mixture of bismuth, indium and tin known as Field's alloy. This alloy has the relatively unusual property of melting at just 62 °C, which means it can be liquefied with just hot water. Field's alloy already has several applications - including as a liquid-metal coolant for advanced nuclear reactors.

Zhang and colleagues combined the alloy with a silicone shell through a complex hybrid manufacturing process that combines 3D printing, vacuum casting and so-called "conformal coating" - a technique normally used to coat circuit boards in a thin polymer layer to protect them against the environment. The silicone shell is what allows the lattice to "remember" a desired shape and restore such when the alloy is melted.
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Microscope 1

Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

Stephanie Pappas
Live Science
Tue, 26 May 2020 21:13 UTC
cell HIV AIDS
© NIAIDA scanning electron microscope image of a T cell infected with HIV.
The oldest known nearly complete gene sequence from the HIV strain that spread across the world has been found in a tissue sample from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a new study finds.

The tissue sample was taken and preserved in 1966, making this HIV sequence 10 years older than the previous oldest genome, which came from a blood sample taken in 1976 in the DRC. Gene sequences like these - which come from before the virus that causes AIDS was discovered in 1983 - help pinpoint the timing of genetic mutations in the virus. Those mutations, in turn, help scientists track the spread of the virus and the timing of when transmission of HIV took hold in humans.

In that sense, the new gene sequence is "very comforting," said Sophie Gryseels, a co-author of the new study and a postdoctoral researcher in evolutionary and computational virology at the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium. This sequence fits well with researchers' previous understanding of the timing of HIV's emergence, she told Live Science.
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Satellite

SpaceX signs testing agreement with US Army for use of Starlink communications network

Sandra Erwin
Space News
Tue, 26 May 2020 19:23 UTC
starlink satellites
© SpaceXA view of SpaceX’s Starlink’s satellites just before being deployed on May 24.
The Army is trying to fill a growing demand for connectivity in the field.

The U.S. Army will experiment using Starlink broadband to move data across military networks. An agreement signed with SpaceX on May 20 gives the Army three years to test out the service.

The Army and SpaceX signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement known as a CRADA, an Army source told SpaceNews.

The project will be overseen by the Combat Capabilities Development Command's C5ISR Center based at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.
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Beaker

Antibody tests for Covid-19 wrong up to half the time, CDC says

Maggie Fox
Albany Herald
Tue, 26 May 2020 19:20 UTC
COVID-19 antibody testing
© Cindy Ord/Getty ImagesPeople line up outside MedRite Urgent Care which has recently started COVID-19 antibody testing during the coronavirus pandemic
Antibody tests used to determine if people have been infected in the past with Covid-19 might be wrong up to half the time, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in new guidance posted on its website.

Antibody tests, often called serologic tests, look for evidence of an immune response to infection. "Antibodies in some persons can be detected within the first week of illness onset," the CDC says.

They are not accurate enough to use to make important policy decisions, the CDC said.

"Serologic test results should not be used to make decisions about grouping persons residing in or being admitted to congregate settings, such as schools, dormitories, or correctional facilities," the CDC says.

"Serologic test results should not be used to make decisions about returning persons to the workplace."
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Microscope 2

Chinese study finds coronavirus uses same strategy as HIV to dodge immune response

Stephen Chen
South China Morning Post
Wed, 27 May 2020 18:52 UTC
coronavirus
© Shutterstock
The novel coronavirus uses the same strategy to evade attack from the human immune system as HIV, according to a new study by Chinese scientists.

Both viruses remove marker molecules on the surface of an infected cell that are used by the immune system to identify invaders, the researchers said in a non-peer reviewed paper posted on preprint website bioRxiv.org on Sunday. They warned that this commonality could mean Sars-CoV-2, the clinical name for the virus, could be around for some time, like HIV.

Virologist Zhang Hui and a team from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou also said their discovery added weight to clinical observations that the coronavirus was showing "some characteristics of viruses causing chronic infection".
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