Science & TechnologyS


Galaxy

First ever black hole image has been released

Pallab Ghosh
BBC
Wed, 10 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
Black Hole photograph image
© Event Horizon Telescope CollaborationThe first ever picture of a black hole. It's surrounded by a halo of bright gas pulled in by the hole's gravity.
Astronomers have taken the first ever image of a black hole, which is located in a distant galaxy. It measures 40 billion km across - three million times the size of the Earth - and has been described by scientists as "a monster".

The black hole is 500 million trillion km away and was photographed by a network of eight telescopes across the world. Details have been published today in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Prof Heino Falcke, of Radboud University in the Netherlands, who proposed the experiment, told BBC News that the black hole was found in a galaxy called M87.

"What we see is larger than the size of our entire Solar System," he said. "It has a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun. And it is one of the heaviest black holes that we think exists. It is an absolute monster, the heavyweight champion of black holes in the Universe."
M-87 galaxy
© DR JEAN LORRE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARYAstronomers have suspected that the M87 galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its heart from false colour images such as this one. The dark centre is not a black hole but indicates that stars are densely packed and fast moving.
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2 + 2 = 4

Why Behe is right about polar bears: Part 4 - The fake mutation chart scandal


Evolution News
Wed, 10 Apr 2019 17:51 UTC
polar bear
© Annie Spratt on Unsplash
After Nathan Lents and Arthur Hunt published their objections to Michael Behe on damaging mutations in polar bear genes, Jerry Coyne wrote his own blog post promoting their arguments, stating:
But when you examine the paper supposedly supporting Behe's claim, you find, argue Lents and Hunt, that about half of them don't seem to have any damaging mutations, and that perhaps "none of the 17 most positively selected genes in polar bears are 'damaged'."
After replying to two objections from Lents and Hunt, we now know it's quite a stretch for Coyne, Lents, or Hunt to suggest that "none" of the polar bear genes may have been damaged, especially when Behe's authority, Liu et al. (2014), concluded that "a large proportion (ca. 50%) of mutations were predicted to be functionally damaging," and given that Lents and Hunt themselves admitted at least seven genes were "unequivocally predicted to possess at least one 'damaging' mutation."

Behe also wrote his own rebuttal to Coyne, Lents, and Hunt where he provided the data that he relied upon in Darwin Devolves to conclude that 14 out of the 17 genes had experienced mutations that were probably damaging. Behe listed all of the mutations in Table S7 of Liu et al. (2014) that were predicted to be damaging, as well as the genes they occurred in, and stated, "Below is the relevant information from Liu et al.'s Table S7. Those who can understand the table will see that it supports every actual, undistorted claim I made about the polar bear." However, Behe did not print Table S7 in its entirety; he only printed the data needed to respond to the question at hand and show those 14 genes experienced degradative mutations. He did, though, link to the full article so people could view the entire table.

Comment:

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Microscope 1

5 non-coding RNAs stepping out of DNA's shadow

Tina Hesman Saey
Science News
Wed, 10 Apr 2019 14:10 UTC
RNA molecules health roles
© James ProvostThese molecules play crucial roles in human health and disease
These molecules play crucial roles in human health and disease

DNA is the glamour molecule of the genetics world. Its instructions are credited with defining appearance, personality and health. And the proteins that result from DNA's directives get credit for doing most of the work in our cells. RNA, if mentioned at all, is considered a mere messenger, a go-between - easy to ignore. Until now.

RNAs, composed of strings of genetic letters called nucleotides, are best known for ferrying instructions from the genes in our DNA to ribosomes, the machines in cells that build proteins. But in the last decade or so, researchers have realized just how much more RNAs can do - how much they control, even. In particular, scientists are finding RNAs that influence health and disease yet have nothing to do with being messengers.

The sheer number and variety of noncoding RNAs, those that don't ferry protein-building instructions, give some clues to their importance. So far, researchers have cataloged more than 25,000 genes with instructions for noncoding RNAs in the human genome, or genetic instruction book (SN: 10/13/18, p. 5). That's more than the estimated 21,000 or so genes that code for proteins.
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Water

Scientists discover an edible mushroom that eats plastic and could potentially clean landfills

Elias Marat
The Mind Unleashed
Tue, 02 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
plastic eating mushroom
Whether we like it or not, our society has become completely reliant on plastic. From food preservation to water transportation, computer technology to healthcare and medicine, plastic can be found in nearly every facet of the human experience.

But as we well know, plastic is a double-edged sword, with massive amounts of plastic waste not only piling up in landfills, but floating in the most remote depths of our oceans and water supplies. And despite our knowledge of plastic's harmful effects on the environment, we've become so reliant on plastic that there seems to be no end in sight. In fact, plastic production is growing on a yearly basis - and posing a potentially mortal threat to us all.

However, a newly-discovered type of mushroom could not only play a crucial role in slashing plastic pollution, but could have myriad other uses in addressing the environmental crises the planet faces.

Discovered in 2012 by Yale University students, Pestalotiopsis microspora is a rare species of mushroom from the Amazon rainforest that's capable of subsisting on a diet of pure plastic, or more accurately, the main ingredient in plastic - polyurethane - before converting the human-made ingredient into purely organic matter.

Comment: Hardly a month goes by that someone doesn't discover an excellent application for some form of mushroom!

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Info

New state of matter: Elements can be solid and liquid at same time


University of Edinburgh
Tue, 09 Apr 2019 20:28 UTC
Potassium
© Aleksander/Fotolia
Scientists have discovered a new state of physical matter in which atoms can exist as both solid and liquid simultaneously.

Until now, the atoms in physical material were understood to exist typically in one of three states - solid, liquid or gas.

Researchers have found, however, that some elements can, when subjected to extreme conditions, take on the properties of both solid and liquid states.

Novel structure

Applying high pressures and temperatures to potassium - a simple metal - creates a state in which most of the element's atoms form a solid lattice structure, the findings show.

However, the structure also contains a second set of potassium atoms that are in a fluid arrangement.

Under the right conditions, over half a dozen elements - including sodium and bismuth - are thought to be capable of existing in the newly discovered state, researchers say.

Until now, it was unclear if the unusual structures represented a distinct state of matter, or existed as transition stages between two distinct states.
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X

Poverty's mark on our genes

Thomas McDade
Northwestern University
Thu, 04 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
DNA strand
© ken/Fotolia
A new Northwestern University study challenges prevailing understandings of genes as immutable features of biology that are fixed at conception.

Previous research has shown that socioeconomic status (SES) is a powerful determinant of human health and disease, and social inequality is a ubiquitous stressor for human populations globally. Lower educational attainment and/or income predict increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, many cancers and infectious diseases, for example. Furthermore, lower SES is associated with physiological processes that contribute to the development of disease, including chronic inflammation, insulin resistance and cortisol dysregulation.

In this study, researchers found evidence that poverty can become embedded across wide swaths of the genome. They discovered that lower socioeconomic status is associated with levels of DNA methylation (DNAm) -- a key epigenetic mark that has the potential to shape gene expression -- at more than 2,500 sites, across more than 1,500 genes.

In other words, poverty leaves a mark on nearly 10 percent of the genes in the genome.
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Igloo

Why Behe is right about polar bears: Part 3 - Unacknowledged discrepancies, inconsistent standards


Evolution News
Tue, 09 Apr 2019 15:19 UTC
polar bear
© Eva Blue via Unsplash
In their second objection to Michael Behe's case in Darwin Devolves, Nathan Lents and Arthur Hunt argue that Behe exaggerates the number of positively selected genes in polar bears that are estimated to have suffered at least one damaging mutation. Or to be more precise, they think Behe's lower limit is overstated, while agreeing with his upper limit. Let's evaluate their claims. Here's what they write:
Now it's getting harder to excuse Behe's exaggeration. Specifically, using one specific predictive algorithm, the authors found that only 7 of the 17 genes with the strongest signatures for positive selection are unequivocally predicted to possess at least one "damaging" mutation. Even Behe's "about half" is just 41%, which means that the lower limit on Behe's estimation is also wrong. It's not 65-83%, it's 41-83%. The range is so wide because computational predictions invariably involve uncertainty.
It's worth noting that they accept the PolyPhen-2 program used by Liu et al. (2014), recognizing it as capable of finding that a protein's function was probably damaged by a mutation. This contradicts objections made by other critics of Behe, answered here in the preceding post.

A Matter of Methodology

Now, everyone knows statistics are easily manipulated. What matters is whether the methodology behind the statistics is sound. Presumably, the closer your method is to that used by authorities published in peer-reviewed papers, the better. Much like we saw in considering the previous objection, Lents and Hunt in their own treatment of Darwin Devolves come up with different numbers from Behe only by using a different methodology than the one used by the paper itself. When you follow the methodology employed by Liu et al., you get numbers like what Behe provides in his book.

Comment: Previous instalments:

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Galaxy

NASA images show how solar wind heats up Jupiter's atmosphere faster and deeper than previously thought


NASA
Mon, 08 Apr 2019 10:16 UTC
Jupiter
© NAOJ and NASA/JPL-CaltechScientists used red, blue and yellow to infuse this infrared image of Jupiters atmosphere, which was recorded by the Subaru Telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii on Jan. 12, 2017.
New Earth-based telescope observations show that auroras at Jupiter's poles are heating the planet's atmosphere to a greater depth than previously thought - and that it is a rapid response to the solar wind.

"The solar wind impact at Jupiter is an extreme example of space weather," said James Sinclair of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who led new research published April 8 in Nature Astronomy. "We're seeing the solar wind having an effect deeper than is normally seen."

Auroras at Earth's poles (known as the aurora borealis at the North Pole and aurora australis at the South Pole) occur when the energetic particles blown out from the Sun (the solar wind) interact with and heat up the gases in the upper atmosphere. The same thing happens at Jupiter, but the new observations show the heating goes two or three times deeper down into its atmosphere than on Earth, into the lower level of Jupiter's upper atmosphere, or stratosphere.

Comment: Evidently the planets within our solar system are intimately connected to our star in ways we've yet to fully comprehend: Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: The Electric Universe - An interview with Wallace Thornhill

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Bizarro Earth

California's 'earthquake pause' is unprecedented

Stephanie Pappas
Live Science
Fri, 05 Apr 2019 15:10 UTC
San Andreas Fault
© ShutterstockThe San Andreas Fault runs through the Carrizo Plain in California.
It's a little too quiet in California, seismically speaking.

The state is experiencing a century-long lull in large, ground-rupturing earthquakes, temblors that actually offset the earth at the surface. The 7.9-magnitude Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 was a ground-rupturing quake; photographs taken in its aftermath show roads and fences with new bends and twists.

Now, new research finds that this 100-year earthquake gap is very unlikely to be a statistical fluke. Instead, something geological is probably causing the peaceful period.

"We're unusually quiet," said study co-author Glenn Biasi, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Pasadena, California. "The biggest faults and the faults carrying most of the slip have not ponied up."
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Cassiopaea

NASA's new aurora experiment colors the sky in Norway


Live Science
Sat, 06 Apr 2019 12:00 UTC
aurora experiment
© Frank Olsen via Facebook
Auroras are spectacular light shows, but a recent display in the skies over northern Norway was out of this world - sort of.

On Friday (April 5), clusters of purple, blue and yellow lights appeared in the country's night sky; as the ghostly shapes hovered, their eerie glow and unusual formation invited speculation about visiting alien spacecraft.

But extraterrestrials weren't behind the demonstration. It was NASA, launching a new rocket system from Norway to study the flow of winds in Earth's upper atmosphere, representatives of the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops, Virginia, tweeted that day.

Following the appearance of an aurora that night, NASA created another spectacular light show with chemical compounds, expelled by the Auroral Zone Upwelling Rocket Experiment (AZURE). This is the first of eight rocket missions to launch from Norwegian bases in Andøya and Svalbard. The missions will analyze the interactions of Earth's magnetic field lines and particles from space that bombard our planet, according to a NASA statement.

Comment: There couldn't be a more important time to study our changing atmosphere:

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