Science & TechnologyS


Chalkboard

A path to the fundamental theory of physics?


Stephen Wolfram Writings
Tue, 14 Apr 2020 19:50 UTC
Wolfram Physics Project
© Stephen Wolfram WritingsView Diagram in 4K

I Never Expected This

It's unexpected, surprising — and for me incredibly exciting. To be fair, at some level I've been working towards this for nearly 50 years. But it's just in the last few months that it's finally come together. And it's much more wonderful, and beautiful, than I'd ever imagined.

In many ways it's the ultimate question in natural science: How does our universe work? Is there a fundamental theory? An incredible amount has been figured out about physics over the past few hundred years. But even with everything that's been done — and it's very impressive — we still, after all this time, don't have a truly fundamental theory of physics.

Back when I used do theoretical physics for a living, I must admit I didn't think much about trying to find a fundamental theory; I was more concerned about what we could figure out based on the theories we had. And somehow I think I imagined that if there was a fundamental theory, it would inevitably be very complicated.

But in the early 1980s, when I started studying the computational universe of simple programs I made what was for me a very surprising and important discovery: that even when the underlying rules for a system are extremely simple, the behavior of the system as a whole can be essentially arbitrarily rich and complex.

And this got me thinking: Could the universe work this way? Could it in fact be that underneath all of this richness and complexity we see in physics there are just simple rules? I soon realized that if that was going to be the case, we'd in effect have to go underneath space and time and basically everything we know. Our rules would have to operate at some lower level, and all of physics would just have to emerge.

By the early 1990s I had a definite idea about how the rules might work, and by the end of the 1990s I had figured out quite a bit about their implications for space, time, gravity and other things in physics — and, basically as an example of what one might be able to do with science based on studying the computational universe, I devoted nearly 100 pages to this in my book A New Kind of Science.
Read More...
Info

Researchers find first traces of amphibians in Antarctica


Cosmos Magazine
Thu, 23 Apr 2020 19:41 UTC
Palaeontologists at Seymour Island
© FEDERICO DEGRANGE, CENTRO DE INVESTIGACIONES EN CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA AND JONAS HAGSTRÖM, SWEDISH MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORYPalaeontologists at the fossil site on Seymour Island.
The discovery of the earliest known modern amphibians in Antarctica provides further evidence of a warm and temperate climate in the Antarctic Peninsula before its separation from the southern supercontinent Gondwana.

The fossils, which belong to the family of helmeted frogs, are described in a paper in the journal Scientific Reports by researchers from Sweden, Argentina and Switzerland.

They discovered the remains of a hip bone and ornamented skull bone during expeditions to Seymour Island between 2011 and 2013. The specimens are about 40 million years old, from the Eocene period. Both belong to the Calyptocephalellidae family.

No traces of cold-blooded amphibians or reptiles from families still in existence had previously been found in Antarctica.

"Among Recent amphibians, the frogs (Anura) have the widest distribution, covering all continents except Antarctica, where the conditions have been uninhabitable for over tens of millions of years," the researchers write.
Read More...
Moon

USGS releases first-ever comprehensive map of the Moon's geology

United States Geological Survey
PhysOrg
Wed, 22 Apr 2020 16:07 UTC
geology moon map USGS survey
© NASA/GSFC/USGSNew Unified Geologic Map of the Moon with shaded topography from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA). This geologic map is a synthesis of six Apollo-era regional geologic maps, updated based on data from recent satellite missions. It will serve as a reference for lunar science and future human missions to the Moon.
Have you ever wondered what kind of rocks make up those bright and dark splotches on the moon? Well, the USGS has just released a new authoritative map to help explain the 4.5-billion-year-old history of our nearest neighbor in space.

For the first time, the entire lunar surface has been completely mapped and uniformly classified by scientists from the USGS, in collaboration with NASA and the Lunar Planetary Institute.

The lunar map, called the "Unified Geologic Map of the Moon," will serve as the definitive blueprint of the moon's surface geology for future human missions and will be invaluable for the international scientific community, educators and the public-at-large. The digital map is available online now and shows the moon's geology in incredible detail (1:5,000,000 scale).

"People have always been fascinated by the moon and when we might return," said current USGS Director and former NASA astronaut Jim Reilly. "So, it's wonderful to see USGS create a resource that can help NASA with their planning for future missions."
Read More...
Comet 2

Astronomers took new pics of 1998 OR2, the asteroid about to whoosh past Earth

Michelle Starr
Science Alert
Thu, 23 Apr 2020 00:00 UTC
1998 OR2 as imaged on 18 April 2020.
© Arecibo Observatory/NASA/NSF1998 OR2 as imaged on 18 April 2020.
There's an asteroid closing in on a safe Earth flyby. That's nothing unusual - near-Earth space has a lot of rocks in it. But 1998 OR2 is distinguishing itself in a series of happy snaps as it draws closer to periapsis.

Both the Virtual Telescope Project in Rome and the Arecibo Observatory in Chile have managed to catch glimpses of the asteroid as it grows brighter in our skies, travelling through space at around 31,320 kilometres per hour (19,461 miles per hour).

We have nothing to fear from 1998 OR2. It's relatively large, but it's not going to come close enough to threaten Earth. The asteroid was discovered in 1998, and astronomers have been watching it carefully to calculate its orbital path, which is projected all the way until the year 2197.

This year, 2020, will mark the asteroid's closest flyby in at least a century, and it's going to sail harmlessly past at a distance of 6.3 million kilometres (around 4 million miles). That's over 16 times the average distance between Earth and the Moon.

Read More...
Microscope 2

Evolution study finds Icelandic genomes contain more Denisovan DNA fragments than expected


genomeweb
Wed, 22 Apr 2020 13:17 UTC
denisovan
© MAAYAN HARELThis artist's reconstruction, based on anatomical estimates from a new method, shows the face of a Denisovan girl from Siberia in Russia
A team of European researchers led by DeCode Genetics' Kari Stefansson examined the effects of the admixture of modern humans and Neanderthals, and found that Icelandic genomes had more Denisovan-like DNA fragments than expected.

As the researchers described in a study published on Wednesday in Nature, they analyzed 14.4 million putative archaic chromosome fragments that were detected in fully phased whole-genome sequences from 27,566 Icelanders. These fragments corresponded to a range of 56,388 to 112,709 unique archaic fragments that covered 38 percent to 48.2 percent of the callable genome. On the basis of similarity with known archaic genomes, the researchers assigned 84.5 percent of the fragments to an Altai or Vindija Neanderthal origin and 3.3 percent to Denisovan origin, while 12.2 percent of the fragments were of unknown origin.

The unexpectedly large proportion of Denisovan DNA in the Icelandic genomes is likely explained by gene flow either into ancestors of the introgressing Neanderthals or directly into humans, the researchers said.
Read More...
Blue Planet

'Handful' of Neanderthals contributed all the interbred DNA found in modern humans, scientists find

Ciaran McGrath
Express
Sun, 19 Apr 2020 12:00 UTC
neanderthals
A HANDFUL of amorous Neanderthals - possibly as few as 20 individuals - are likely to have provided all the DNA originating from the species which is found in modern humans, a new study has indicated.
But the Denisovans, a lesser-understood branch of the human family, are likely to have intermixed with modern humans in at least two distinct mixing events, meaning DNA from them makes up a higher proportion of the genetic code of some populations of people living in east Asia and Oceania. The study offers the most comprehensive analysis of human genetic diversity to date, after the sequencing of 929 human genomes by scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Cambridge and collaborators. It suggests Neanderthal ancestry of modern humans can be explained by just one major mixing event, probably involving several Neanderthal individuals who came into contact with modern humans shortly after the latter had expanded out of Africa.

The study's first author, Dr Anders Bergstrom, of the Francis Crick Institute and an alumnus of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, told Express.co.uk: "Our results imply that several Neanderthal individuals contributed genetic material, but it's difficult to say if it was a question of tens, or hundreds, or an even larger number.

Comment: Laura Knight-Jadczyk explored some of the possible reasons and implications behind this limited interbreeding event in her article The Golden Age, Psychopathy and the Sixth Extinction back in 2011.

See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

Read More...
Better Earth

Ocean floor bacteria with unique metabolism discovered

Paul M. Sutter
Universe Today
Tue, 21 Apr 2020 12:00 UTC
ocean floor
Bacteria come in two basic forms: the kinds that use a lot of hydrogen, and the kinds that don't. And recently researchers think they've found a new bacteria that appear to do both at the same time, allowing it to live in a variety of extreme environments, like the ocean floor.

Its name is Acetobacterium woodii, often shortened to A. woodii, and it seems like it's a superhero of the small-sized world.

Many kinds of bacteria are anaerobic, meaning they don't use oxygen for their metabolism. You're quite familiar with these critters: they eats the sugars in foods to turn them into other yummy things, like cheese and sauerkraut. One of the byproducts of this process is the production of hydrogen, which to these bacteria is just a useless waste gas, but in too high concentrations it can disrupt their metabolism and choke them to death.

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

Read More...
Beaker

Doctors in China report coronavirus can survive in the human eye


The Jerusalem Post
Wed, 22 Apr 2020 17:52 UTC
Human eye
© Wikimedia Commons
Coronavirus may live longer in one's eye than in other parts of the body, according to a Chinese report cited by Channel 13. The report stated that a Chinese woman was carrying the virus in her eye, while her nose was clear.

The woman, who is 65 years old, flew to Italy from the Chinese city of Wuhan where the coronavirus first broke out. She reported feeling sick on January 27 and quickly began to cough and experience high fever as well as an eye infection.

After 20 days of being in hospital, the eye infection cleared, but the virus was found in her eyes the next day. No virus was detected in her eyes or nose after that date, but on her 27th day in the hospital the virus was discovered again in her eyes.

The report claimed that the virus can replicate even when it is no longer detectable, meaning the infection potential exists even when patients seem to be healthy.
Read More...
Satellite

Iran's IRGC launches its first military satellite into orbit

Oleg Burunov
Sputnik
Wed, 22 Apr 2020 05:29 UTC
Iran IRGC
© AP Photo / Vahid Salemi
Iran has successfully sent into orbit its first military satellite, the country's Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday.

The satellite called Noor (Light) was put into an orbit located 425 kilometres (624 miles) above the Earth's surface via a two-stage carrier called Qassed (Envoy).

The launch, which was conducted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), comes after Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami in February rejected allegations issued by the US that the satellite carriers could be turned into military missiles and that the recent unsuccessful launch of a Zafar satellite was part of Iran's missile programme.

"The satellite launch and satellite carrier [...] are not related to missile [programme]", Hatami pointed out.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Galaxy

Fomalhaut b: Astronomers discover planet that never was

Daniel Stolte, University of Arizona
Phys.org
Mon, 20 Apr 2020 06:26 UTC
This artist's illustration depicts the collision of two 125-mile-wide icy, dusty bodies orbiting the bright star Fomalhaut, located 25 light-years away
© ESA, NASA and M. KornmesserClash of Titans: This artist's illustration depicts the collision of two 125-mile-wide icy, dusty bodies orbiting the bright star Fomalhaut, located 25 light-years away.
What astronomers thought was a planet beyond our solar system has now seemingly vanished from sight, suggesting that what was heralded as one of the first exoplanets to ever be discovered with direct imaging likely never existed.

Two University of Arizona astronomers conclude that NASA's Hubble Space Telescope was instead looking at an expanding cloud of very fine dust particles from two icy bodies that smashed into each other. Hubble came along too late to witness the suspected collision but may have captured its aftermath. The missing-in-action planet was last seen orbiting the star Fomalhaut, 25 light years away.

"These collisions are exceedingly rare and so this is a big deal that we actually get to see evidence of one," said Andras Gaspar, an assistant astronomer at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory and lead author of a research paper announcing the discovery. "We believe that we were at the right place at the right time to have witnessed such an unlikely event with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope."

"The Fomalhaut star system is the ultimate test lab for all of our ideas about how exoplanets and star systems evolve," added George Rieke, a Regents Professor of Astronomy at Steward Observatory. "We do have evidence of such collisions in other systems, but none of this magnitude has been observed in our solar system. This is a blueprint of how planets destroy each other."

Read More...