Science & TechnologyS


Galaxy

Crab Nebula blasts Earth with highest-energy photons ever recorded

Korey Haynes
Astronomy
Tue, 30 Jul 2019 10:45 UTC
Crab Nebula
© NASA/CXC/ASU/J. Hester et al.This image of the Crab Nebula in x-rays shows the pulsar clearly spinning at the nebula's center.
Astronomers using the Tibet AS-gamma Experiment have discovered the highest-energy light ever measured from an astrophysical source. Photons streaming from the Crab Nebula were recently measured at energies well over 100 tera-electronvolts (TeV). That's a trillion electron volts, or some 10 times the maximum energy that the Large Hadron Collider sees when it slams particles together.

Scientists think the key is a pulsar lurking deep inside the heart of the Crab Nebula, the dense, rapidly spinning core left when a star exploded in a supernova almost a thousand years ago. Actually, since the nebula is located over 6,500 light-years away, the explosion occurred about 7,500 years ago, but the light from that explosion didn't reach Earth until 1054 CE, when it exploded in our night skies as a bright new star, spotted by astronomers around the globe.

The supernova's light faded after just weeks, but since then, the detritus has grown and spread, and it now glows wonderfully in the night sky at nearly every wavelength. It crackles in low-energy radio waves, blasts out high-energy gamma and x-rays, and shines at visible wavelengths in between.

Comment: See also:

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Info

Infants learn early about social hierarchies and power dynamics, study suggests

Natalie Parletta
Cosmos Magazine
Tue, 30 Jul 2019 22:32 UTC
Red and Blue Bears
© RENÉE BAILLARGEONInfants watched as the red bear either intervened to redress a wrong perpetrated by the blue against the yellow bear or ignored it.
It's well-known that humans have evolved to rely on leaders to settle grievances in their social group. A new study shows this expectation appears in children as young as 17 months.

The discovery builds on evidence that young children understand social hierarchies and power dynamics, says lead researcher Renee Baillargeon, from the University of Illinois, US.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, involved showing 120 infants a series of interactions between puppets.

The performers were three bears with female voices who played a protagonist, wrongdoer and victim.

First, leadership status was determined. In one condition, the protagonist issued commands that the other bears obeyed, establishing the bear as a leader. In the other, the bears ignored the commands, signalling non-leadership.

Then the infants were shown the main event. In each play, the protagonist produced two toys for the others to share, but one bear grabbed both toys.

In both conditions - with a leader or non-leader - the protagonist either intervened by taking one of the toys from the wrongdoer and giving it to the victim or did nothing.
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Butterfly

Millions of butterflies flying to Scotland in 'once-in-a-decade' phenomenon

Dayna McAlpine
Edinburgh Live
Fri, 19 Jul 2019 14:01 UTC
Painted Lady Butterfly Migration
Painted Lady butterfly migration
The UK could be experiencing a once-in-a-decade wildlife phenomenon this year with a mass influx of painted lady butterflies, experts have said.

TV naturalist Chris Packham is urging people to take part in the world's largest insect citizen science survey, the annual Big Butterfly Count, to see if the painted ladies are arriving in their millions to the UK's shores this year.

The painted lady butterfly is a common immigrant from the continent to the UK each summer where its caterpillars feed on thistles (you can see why they're heading to Scotland) but around once every 10 years there is a painted lady "summer" when millions arrive en masse.

This summer is set to be just that rare summer as the wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation, which runs the Big Butterfly Count, said unusually high numbers have been reported across Europe over the spring and early summer with large numbers now spotted crossing to the UK.

Comment: The Guardian provides some more detail of how some butterflies are able to complete those kinds of arduous journey's:
Every September an incredible migration phenomenon begins. Clouds of stripy orange monarch butterflies set off on a 2,500km journey, travelling from southern Canada to warmer climes in southern California and Mexico. Come spring they follow the milkweed blossom and travel back up north. No butterfly completes the entire trip: after flying many hundreds of kilometres the female butterflies lay eggs and pass the baton to the next generation. Now a new study, published in Biology Letters, reveals how these amazing insects make use of the weather to aid their journey.

Miniaturised radio transmitters were attached to the butterflies and their journey tracked using a series of automated telemetry towers. The results show how monarchs soar high to take advantage of strong tailwinds, powering along at up to 31kph. Those that have to travel furthest seem to travel fastest, but all butterflies took rest days every now and then. Warmer temperatures also help (though only up to a certain point) and on a good day they managed to travel over 100km. Light rain didn't seem to have any adverse effect, but the researchers note they didn't track any individuals during heavy rain events. Perhaps they shelter and make up lost time later?
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Eye 1

Constant surveillance: How big tech's household devices are SPYING on you


RT
Tue, 30 Jul 2019 17:44 UTC
spying tech
© Pixabay / Gerd Altmann
The expansion of home tech products to make life increasingly convenient requires consumer privacy sacrifices, the full extent of which won't be revealed for years to come, but have been hinted at through a slew of missteps.

This past week Amazon hit headlines after its virtual assistant Alexa was caught passively recording couples arguing, having intimate family discussions and even having sex (apparently sex noises can trigger Alexa-activated Echo speakers).

Data is the new dominant commodity of the 21st century and the trade-off of convenience for privacy and security has been highlighted in a plethora of cases involving consumer 'smart products' in recent years.

Comment: Embrace the current technological revolution at your own peril. It's entirely likely that Big Tech works hand in hand with the US intelligence network to create these devices specifically so that they can be used to invade our privacy and send data back to those who want to use it against us.

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Evil Rays

Ultra-thin layers of rust can be used to generate electricity from flowing water


CalTech.edu
Mon, 29 Jul 2019 17:36 UTC
rusted bridge supports
© Morteza Akhnia/Unsplash
There are many ways to generate electricity — batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, and hydroelectric dams, to name a few examples. .... And now there's rust.

New research conducted by scientists at Caltech and Northwestern University shows that thin films of rust — iron oxide — can generate electricity when saltwater flows over them. These films represent an entirely new way of generating electricity and could be used to develop new forms of sustainable power production.

Interactions between metal compounds and saltwater often generate electricity, but this is usually the result of a chemical reaction in which one or more compounds are converted to new compounds. Reactions like these are what is at work inside batteries.

In contrast, the phenomenon discovered by Tom Miller, Caltech professor of chemistry, and Franz Geiger, Dow Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern, does not involve chemical reactions, but rather converts the kinetic energy of flowing saltwater into electricity.
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Eye 1

'Terminator' style robotic eye lens controllable by users developed by scientist

K.S.Anthony
Outer Places
Mon, 29 Jul 2019 18:13 UTC
Cyborg aka Terminator
© Daniel Juřena/Flickr/Wikimedia Commons
"Man is something that shall be overcome," wrote Friedrich Nietzsche in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. "Man is a rope tied between beast and overman - a rope over an abyss. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end." Nietzsche's assertion was that humanity could be perfected through individual will and vigorous action here on Earth. Whether or not you agree with Nietzsche's philosophy, his words here allude to a larger point that can't be denied: humanity is not at its end state. This is particularly evident in DNA self-hackers, CRISPR experimenters, Elon Musk's Neuralink project, and those who tinker with Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs), i.e., those who aim to improve human cognition, strength, and sensory perception with implants, exoskeletons, prostheses and other technologies connected to living tissue.

A group of scientists from U.C. San Diego has just made an extraordinary breakthrough in the latter category with a soft robotic eye lens that can be controlled by blinking and looking around. Their research was published in an article in the journal Advanced Functional Materials. The invention uses electrical signals - the "electro-oculographic signal" - generated by the movements of the eye to "control the motions and the change of focal length of a biomimetic soft lens. The motion and deformation of the soft lens are achieved by the actuation of different areas of dielectric elastomer films, mimicking the working mechanisms of the eyes of human and most mammals." In other words, by looking around and blinking, the wearer can focus these soft lenses as though they were a natural part of the eye.
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Bandaid

Researchers design new bandage that uses body heat to heal

Mike Wehner, BGR
New York Post
Thu, 25 Jul 2019 16:34 UTC
bandages
© Wyss Institute at Harvard UniverThe active adhesive dressing (AAD) contracts when it heats up to body temperature, allowing it to accelerate the healing of open wounds on the skin.
When you get a small cut or scrape you probably reach for an ordinary bandage, which is typically nothing more than an adhesive strip holding a tiny patch of sterile padding. It's a simple design that has stood the test of time, but researchers from Harvard's Wyss Institute think they've come up with something even better.

The researchers took a cue from nature, designing a new kind of wound covering that not only speeds up the healing process but can actually reduce scarring as well. Inspired by the fragile skin of animal embryos which can heal itself without leftover scars, the new dressing is impressively high-tech but also incredibly simple to use.

The bandages use a heat-activated hydrogel that doesn't just cover a cut or gash, it actually contracts and pulls the edges of the wound together. It's designed to begin working at temperatures of around 90 degrees Fahrenheit, meaning that it is activated by body heat alone, slowly shrinking and holding the edges of the wound in place to promote healing.
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Info

Japan approves first ever human-animal embryo experiments

Tim Sandle
Digital Journal
Sat, 27 Jul 2019 19:39 UTC
Japan has approved the first ever human-animal embryo experiments. This research could produce an alternative sources of organs for transplant. However, there are an array of ethical and technical hurdles to be addressed.
CRISPR - revolutionary new tool to cut and splice DNA
© Illustration courtesy of Jennifer Doudna/UC BerkeleyCRISPR - revolutionary new tool to cut and splice DNA.
According to Nature, a Japanese stem-cell scientist is set to be granted government backing to develop animal embryos that contain human cells. These embryos will then be transplanted into surrogate animals. This follows the rescinding of such a ban earlier in 2019.

The study will be led by Hiromitsu Nakauchi (University of Tokyo) with support of scientists from Stanford University in California. The aim is to grow human cells in mouse and rat embryos. The long-term goal is to create animals with organs composed of human cells an for these organs to be capable of being transplanted into people.

On being given permission Nakauchi stated: "Finally, we are in a position to start serious studies in this field after 10 years of preparation. We don't expect to create human organs immediately, but this allows us to advance our research based upon the know-how we have gained up to this point. by the government."
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Meteor

Another near-miss: Scientists shocked to discover 'city-killer asteroid' that just whizzed past Earth

Allyson Chiu
Tulsa World
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 00:00 UTC
Asteroid 2019 OK
The space rock, named Asteroid 2019 OK, came hurtling toward Earth at a speed of nearly 15 miles a second, before flying past on Thursday. Scientists say they had no idea the 328-foot wide asteroid was coming our way.
Alan Duffy was confused. On Thursday, the astronomer's phone was suddenly flooded with calls from reporters wanting to know about a large asteroid that had just whizzed past Earth, and he couldn't figure out "why everyone was so alarmed."

"I thought everyone was getting worried about something we knew was coming," Duffy, who is also lead scientist at the Royal Institution of Australia, told The Washington Post. Forecasts had already predicted that a couple asteroids would be passing relatively close to Earth this week.

Then he looked up the details of the hunk of space rock named Asteroid 2019 OK.

"I was stunned," he said. "This was a true shock."

This asteroid wasn't one that scientists had been tracking and it had seemingly appeared from "out of nowhere," Michael Brown, a Melbourne-based observational astronomer, told The Post. According to data from NASA, the craggy rock was large, roughly 110 yards wide, and moving quickly along a path that brought it within about 45,360 miles of Earth. That's about one-fifth of the distance to the moon and what Duffy considers "uncomfortably close."

Comment: Scientists might not have been so shocked if they had been paying attention to the increasing frequency which such undetected asteroids are whizzing past earth.

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Sun

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe fights back with clean energy

James Ellsmoor
Forbes
Sat, 27 Jul 2019 08:52 UTC
solar system
© GIVEPOWER FOUNDATIONThe new solar system at Standing Rock was inaugurated on 26 July 2019.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe first stood up against big oil, and is now backing clean energy. In 2017, the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline became operational, despite the passionate protests of the tribe's members who were joined by indigenous people from around the world supporting the right to self-determination for all Native Americans. The pipeline was originally planned to be built near the city of Bismark, which is majority-white, but was moved to pass through the reservation after residents there protested about the risk to their own water supply. When the indigenous residents of the Dakotas highlighted their own concerns about the pipeline, it seemingly fell on deaf ears in Washington D.C.

Out of this controversy and the concerns of the pipeline's impact on the environment, the Sioux Nation is now fighting back by building the largest solar energy farm in North Dakota. At 300 kW, the installation might not sound big by national standards, but North Dakota has the dubious distinction of ranking dead last among US states when it comes to solar energy.

Despite its expansive landscape conducive to solar energy generation and high poverty areas that desperately need to cut costs and create jobs, North Dakota is ranked last in U.S. solar production, with just three local solar installers. The Cannon Ball Community Solar Farm went live earlier this year and already represents half of total solar energy being generated in the state. Currently, the farm powers the Sioux Nation Community Center and Veterans Memorial Building and has projected cost savings of $7-10,000 each year, which will be put directly back into the community.

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a leading supporter of Sioux Nation's commitment to the environment said, "The Cannon Ball Community Solar Farm is the result of a coalition of Native American leaders, military veterans, environmental groups and sustainability-minded business interests coming together around a common vision of citizenship and stewardship of our precious natural resources."
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