Science & TechnologyS


Christmas Tree

Secrets of '1,000-year-old trees' unlocked

Helen Briggs
BBC News
Mon, 13 Jan 2020 00:00 UTC
Ginko tree
© GETTY IMAGESGinkgo leaves in autumn
Scientists have discovered the secret of how the ginkgo tree can live for more than 1,000 years.

A study found the tree makes protective chemicals that fend off diseases and drought.

And, unlike many other plants, its genes are not programmed to trigger inexorable decline when its youth is over.

The ginkgo can be found in parks and gardens across the world, but is on the brink of extinction in the wild.

"The secret is maintaining a really healthy defence system and being a species that does not have a pre-determined senescence (ageing) programme," said Richard Dixon of the University of North Texas, Denton.
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Rocket

Pentagon: Successful flight test of hypersonic glide body

Jen Judson
Defense News
Fri, 20 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
Hypersonic testing
© U.S. Defense DepartmentThe U.S. Defense Department tested a hypersonic glide body in a flight experiment conducted from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii, on March 19, 2020.
The Pentagon made good on its word that it would test a hypersonic glide body in a flight test this year, launching it from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii, on March 19 at 10:30 p.m. local time. The test was deemed a success.

The Common-Hypersonic Glide Body, or C-HGB, launched and flew at hypersonic speed to "a designated impact point," according to a statement issued March 20 by the Department of Defense. The test was a joint effort between the Navy and Army.

Hypersonic weapons are capable of flying faster than the speed of sound — Mach 5 — and can maneuver between varying altitudes and azimuths, making it harder to detect.

The DoD has been jointly developing the C-HGB that will serve as the base of its offensive hypersonic missile. The test marks a major step forward in accomplishing that mission amid mounting criticism that the United States is behind China and Russia in hypersonic weapons development.

The C-HGB will be made up of the weapon's warhead, guidance system, cabling and thermal protection shield. Each service will use the C-HGB as the base while developing individual weapon systems such as launchers capable of firing the weapons from land or sea.
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Attention

One of Darwin's theories is FINALLY proved (but not really)


Uncommon Descent
Thu, 19 Mar 2020 07:45 UTC
evolution decline
A friend wrote to say that this headline is "a complete head-scratcher":
One of Darwin's evolution theories finally proved

Scientists have proved one of Charles Darwin's theories of evolution for the first time — nearly 140 years after his death. Researchers discovered mammal subspecies play a more important role in evolution than previously thought. Her research could now be used to predict which species conservationists should focus on protecting. - St John's College, University of Cambridge
Huh? We had been given to understand that Darwin's theories were as dead certain as math. Jonathan Wells, who has a beagle's nose for Darwin hype, offers some thoughts on this example:

Comment: See also:

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Nebula

Merger between two stars led to blue supergiant, iconic supernova


phys.org
Thu, 19 Mar 2020 03:13 UTC
supernova explosion
© NASA / Wikimedia Commons/ file photo
A supernova in a nearby galaxy may have originated from an explosion of a blue supergiant formed by the merger of two stars, simulations by RIKEN astrophysicists suggest. The asymmetric nature of this explosion may provide hints for where to look for the elusive neutron star birthed in this stellar cataclysm.

A core-collapse supernova occurs when the core of a massive star can no longer withstand its own gravity. The core collapses in on itself, triggering a violent explosion that blasts away the star's outer layers, leaving behind a neutron star or black hole.

In 1987, astronomers saw a star explode in the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of our galaxy's closest neighbors. Since then, scientists have intensively studied the aftermath of this supernova, known as SN 1987A, to understand the nature of the progenitor star and its fate.
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Fish

Parasites in raw fish have risen dramatically, study finds

Natalie Parletta
Cosmos Magazine
Thu, 19 Mar 2020 17:44 UTC
Anisakis Worms
© GONZALO JARA/SHUTTERSTOCKAnisakis worms in blue whiting fish.
The presence of parasitic worms in raw or undercooked seafood, popular in dishes such as sushi, sashimi, poke and carpaccio, has increased 283-fold since the 1970s, according to a study published in the journal Global Change Biology.

The parasite, called Anisakis or "herring worm" is found in several species of fish and squid. When people inadvertently eat the worm, it can attach to the intestinal wall and cause symptoms akin to food poisoning, such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.

This disease, known as anisakiasis or anisakidosis, often goes under the radar because people understandably mistake it for a bad case of food poisoning, says senior author Chelsea Wood from the University of Washington, US.

Usually, the worm dies after a few days in humans and the symptoms disappear, although some cases can cause more severe reactions, including acute stomach pain, and persevere for months.

In marine animals, the parasite reproduces and is expelled in their faeces, from where it can infect crustaceans, such as bottom-dwelling shrimp or copepods, which are then eaten by small fish and from there on up the food chain.

Recent upsurges in the disease from several regions including Japan, the US and Europe has led to it being labelled an emerging zoonosis; whether this due to better detection, increased raw fish consumption or more parasites is unclear.

To investigate, Wood and colleagues collated data from thousands of papers that have investigated the proliferation of this worm over time.
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Stop

'Long overdue' Yellowstone supervolcano eruption 'paused for now', according to naturalist


Sputnik
Wed, 18 Mar 2020 00:47 UTC
Yellowstone geyser
© AP Photo / Julie Jacobson
While Yellowstone's supervolcano has the potential to "shake the world" when it erupts, recent studies suggest the threat of the "long overdue" event has subsided for now, a naturalist told Sputnik on Tuesday.

The Yellowstone Caldera will undoubtedly erupt in the future and cause extreme consequences, Guy McPherson, professor emeritus of natural resources, ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, told Radio Sputnik's Political Misfits Tuesday. But for now, things seem to be quieting down.
The Yellowstone Caldera is a volcanic caldera and supervolcano at the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. A caldera is a large volcanic crater usually formed by an eruption that causes the mouth of a volcano to collapse.
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Books

A 'Cat Tale': A story of how flawed science formed the basis of policy


Retraction Watch
Fri, 13 Mar 2020 02:52 UTC
cat tale
On the surface, it would seem like a good thing when science undergirds policy decisions. But what if that science is deeply flawed? Craig Pittman, an award-winning journalist at the Tampa Bay Times and author of 4 books, writes that his new book Cat Tale: The Wild, Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther is "a tale of raw courage, of scientific skulduggery and political shenanigans, of big-money interests versus what's right for everyone." In this excerpt, Pittman explains what happened — and what didn't — after a group of scientists known as the Science Review Team (SRT) found serious problems in research used to support regulatory policies involving panthers.

In 2003, the SRT released a report containing its verdict. As you might guess, it ripped apart Maehr's work, piece by piece, and yes, they called him out by name. They didn't label him a fraud, but they made it clear that Dr. Panther had done some pretty shady things.

Because they were scientists, they didn't scream out their find­ings in impassioned prose. They were cool and calm — but there was no mistaking what they were saying.
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Eye 1

Seven quirks of human vision

Emma Young
The British Psychological Society
Tue, 17 Mar 2020 17:46 UTC
Perception
© The British Psychological Society
It might be the best-studied of all our senses, but surprises about the way our vision works just keep on coming. Recent research has startling and also salutary lessons about how we see.

Your brain makes up a lot of what you "see"

Whether you're walking around or sitting at a desk, you no doubt feel that you can see pretty clearly all around you. Yes, so you might be looking ahead as you walk through a park, say, but you can see a rich world of grass, trees and people to either side of you. Well, you might be seeing it — but that doesn't mean it's all actually there. As research published in Psychological Science in 2016 revealed, your brain uses information from the clearly-focused central region of the visual field to fill in detail in the relatively data-poor periphery. In fact, as the lead author, Marte Otten at the University of Amsterdam, commented at the time, "Our findings show that, under the right circumstances, a large part of the periphery may be a visual illusion". It's what's known as a "uniformity illusion", and you can try it for yourself at www.uniformillusion.com.

However, not all peripheral vision is the same... work published the following year suggests that we all have "good" and "bad" regions. Some of the participants in this study, led by John Greenwood at UCL, had sharper left-side than right-side peripheral vision, for example.

And this could have real-world effects, says Greenwood — someone searching a room for missing keys, for example, could fail to spot those keys if they're on their "bad" side.
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Comet 2

NASA warns 3 asteroids currently headed for Earth

Inigo Monzon
International Business Times
Wed, 18 Mar 2020 01:40 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's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) has detected three asteroids that are expected to approach the planet tomorrow. According to the data collected by the agency, all three asteroids have Earth-intersecting orbits.

The first asteroid that will approach Earth has been identified by CNEOS as 2020 FH. As indicated in CNEOS's database, this asteroid is currently traveling across the Solar System towards Earth at a speed of almost 21,000 miles per hour.

According to CNEOS, 2020 FH is the biggest asteroid in the group. It has an estimated diameter of about 118 feet.

2020 FH is expected to fly past Earth on March 18 at 5:15 am EDT. During its approach, the asteroid will be about 0.01551 astronomical units from the planet's surface, which is equivalent to around 1.4 million miles away.

Trailing behind 2020 FH is a much smaller asteroid known as 2020 FG. CNEOS estimated that this asteroid measures about 52 feet wide. It is currently approaching Earth at a speed of almost 34,000 miles per hour.

Comment: Another newly-discovered asteroid designated 2020 FD will flyby Earth at a distance of 0.68 LD / 0.00171 AU (255 812 km / 158 954 miles) at 04:05 UTC today, reports the Watchers website, the 20th known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year and the first this month.

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Info

Researchers discover that amino acids have unique musical vibrations

Paul Biegler
Cosmos Magazine
Wed, 18 Mar 2020 00:25 UTC
Musical Score
© TAMARI DUNDUA/EYEEMThe hierarchy of music is surprisingly similar to the musical vibrations of amino acids.
Researchers have found that proteins - building blocks for the human body found in everything from hair to muscle and tendons - make their very own music.

The unusual breakthrough, published in the journal APL Bioengineering, was prompted by something of a thorn in the side of the research team, engineers Markus Buehler from MIT in the US and Chi Hua Yu from the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan.

Nature makes miraculous proteins in abundance, from silk to human cells, but scientists have no way to automatically decipher their design and use the information to make new proteins.

Intent on plugging the gap, Buehler and Yu came up with a workaround that started with a single, very left field observation: each of the twenty amino acids that make a protein has its own vibration frequency. Which is a necessity if you want to make musical notes of different pitches.

Then the pair came up with another insight - proteins and music share a hierarchical structure.

The basic structure for proteins is the varied ordering of the amino acids, such as leucine, alanine and cysteine, in a chain. As you climb the ladder of complexity there is a panoply of twists and folds, including helical arrangements and pleated structures called beta sheets, that are integral to the protein's function, whether that be the strength of a tendon or the catalytic properties of an enzyme.

The hierarchy of music is surprisingly similar.
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