Science & TechnologyS


Microscope 1

3D printed 'bionic eye' looks likely following breakthrough


RT
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 17:03 UTC
bionic eye
© College of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota / YouTube
For the first time, researchers have successfully 3D printed a hemispherical surface of light receptors in what has been dubbed a "significant step" towards the creation of a bionic eye.

The groundbreaking development could pave the way for artificial eyes that could help blind people see and improve human vision in general.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota revealed the pioneering step in the academic journal Advanced Materials. The team was able to print the light receptors on a hemispherical glass dome. While 3D printing on flat surfaces is common, printing delicate light receptors on a curved surface is more challenging.
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Microscope 1

Scientists discover channels in the skull that may provide a shortcut for immune cells


Science Daily
Mon, 27 Aug 2018 12:00 UTC
skull brain immune cells tunnels
© Nahrendorf Lab
Bone marrow, the spongy tissue inside most of our bones, produces red blood cells as well as immune cells that help fight off infections and heal injuries. According to a new study of mice and humans, tiny tunnels run from skull bone marrow to the lining of the brain and may provide a direct route for immune cells responding to injuries caused by stroke and other brain disorders. The study was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health and published in Nature Neuroscience.

"We always thought that immune cells from our arms and legs traveled via blood to damaged brain tissue. These findings suggest that immune cells may instead be taking a shortcut to rapidly arrive at areas of inflammation," said Francesca Bosetti, Ph.D., program director at the NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), which provided funding for the study. "Inflammation plays a critical role in many brain disorders and it is possible that the newly described channels may be important in a number of conditions. The discovery of these channels opens up many new avenues of research."

Comment: Along with the rapid advance of technology are discoveries of our biology, and stories like these serve as a fascinating reminder of how much more we still have to learn:

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Satellite

ISS experiences rare hull breach, causing slight depressurization


RT
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 11:47 UTC
Soyuz spacecraft
© NASA TV/ReutersSoyuz spacecraft docks with the ISS
A meteorite hitting a space station and causing depressurization seems like the beginning of a Hollywood space survival flick. But it's likely this is what happened to the International Space Station (ISS).

The leak was found in the Soyuz craft, which is docked with the ISS, reported Russian space chief Dmitry Rogozin. The official said air was being sucked out through a 1.5mm fracture, which may have been caused by a micrometeorite impact. "The crew safety is not in danger," he said. "The spaceship will be kept, a repair kit will be used."

Rogozin said the malfunction will require a sealant to be applied from the inside of the ship, so no emergency spacewalk will be required.

The leak was slow and posed no danger to people on board, according to NASA, with mission control deciding that crew members could sleep before locating it. After waking at the regular time, the six crew members started search procedures and finally localized the leak to the Russian side of the station.
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Cloud Precipitation

Petrichor: Why you can 'smell rain'

Tim Logan
The Conversation
Mon, 27 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
smell of rain
Although rain itself has no scent, moments before a rain event, an “earthy” smell known as petrichor permeates the air. People call it musky, fresh – generally pleasant.
When those first fat drops of summer rain fall to the hot, dry ground, have you ever noticed a distinctive odor? I have childhood memories of family members who were farmers describing how they could always "smell rain" right before a storm.

Of course rain itself has no scent. But moments before a rain event, an "earthy" smell known as petrichor does permeate the air. People call it musky, fresh - generally pleasant.

This smell actually comes from the moistening of the ground. Australian scientists first documented the process of petrichor formation in 1964 and scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology further studied the mechanics of the process in the 2010s.
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Black Magic

The connection between glyphosate, red tide and marine losses

Todd Honeycutt
MomsAcrossAmerica
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 13:32 UTC
toxic algae blooms glyphosate

Dr. Stephanie Seneff, MIT scientist and glyphosate expert answers questions from Zen Honeycutt...

Honeycutt: Dr. Seneff, millions of Americans are distraught by the marine life disaster in Florida. This is not the first time that toxic blue-green algae have plagued our waters. Two years ago EcoWatch published an article about glyphosate herbicides (sprayed around reservoirs and on nearby farms) being linked to toxic green algae in Lake Erie. You have been studying glyphosate for years now, how could glyphosate be connected to toxic blue-green algae? What is happening?

Seneff: It's very straightforward. The so-called blue-green "algae" are actually not algae but rather a type of primitive bacteria called "cyanobacteria." They have a special skill that is rare among all species to be able to fully metabolize glyphosate and use its phosphorus atom as a source of phosphorus. So they obtain a competitive advantage against other species in the presence of chronic glyphosate exposure.

There are a lot of sugar cane fields surrounding Lake Okeechobee in Central Florida, and they are being sprayed with glyphosate before harvest as a desiccant. There's also lots of glyphosate being used on those well-manicured lawns of multi-million dollar homes.

Comment: Read more from Dr. Seneff on glyphosate:

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Fish

Satellite tracking helping to preserve the mysterious giant basking shark

Christopher Carbone
Fox News
Wed, 29 Aug 2018 17:32 UTC
basking shark
© iStockA basking shark is seen off the west coast of Scotland.
A basking shark's enormous silhouette, rarely seen in oceans worldwide, is a major draw for scientists who are mapping its often mysterious migrations.

The world's second largest fish, growing to more than 35 feet, the basking shark or Cetorhinus maximus, is hunted voraciously for its massive fin.

Global populations of basking shark dropped during the 20th century and the species has struggled to recover because of slow reproduction rates.
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Fire

Volcanic eruption destroyed ozone layer and wiped out 90% of life 250 million years ago

Cap Allon
Electroverse
Mon, 27 Aug 2018 12:00 UTC
volcano picture
In a paper published Monday, an international team of geoscientists presented evidence that a volcanic eruption 250-million years ago flooded the Earth's atmosphere with halogens that depleted the ozone layer, contributing to conditions that wiped out 90% of life on Earth.

The new study suggests the cascade of cataclysmic events that led to the End-Permian extinction, aka the "Great Dying," was triggered by a massive volcanic eruption that ran for almost one million years in what is today Siberia.

The research team analysed xenoliths from the Earth's lithosphere - sections of rock from between the crust and the mantle that got carried to the surface during an eruption - in the region of the Siberian flood basalts.

Comment: There have been a number of studies linking volcanic eruptions with extinctions on our planet but the trigger for these cataclysmic events is as yet unidentified. For more on that, see: Of Flash Frozen Mammoths and Cosmic Catastrophes

See also:

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Light Saber

Canadian laser breakthrough has physicists close to cooling down antimatter

Chris Balma
UBC Science
Wed, 22 Aug 2018 09:48 UTC
laser system
The next step is to use the laser innovation to help produce cold and dense sample of anti-atoms.
For the first time, physicists at CERN have observed a benchmark atomic energy transition in antihydrogen, a major step toward cooling and manipulating the basic form of antimatter.

"The Lyman-alpha transition is the most basic, important transition in regular hydrogen atoms, and to capture the same phenomenon in antihydrogen opens up a new era in antimatter science," said Takamasa Momose, the University of British Columbia chemist and physicist who led the development of the laser system used to manipulate the antihydrogen.

"This approach is a gateway to cooling down antihydrogen, which will greatly improve the precision of our measurements and allow us test how antimatter and gravity interact, which is still a mystery."

The results were published today in Nature.

Comment: See also:

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Brain

Scientists discover new cell, possibly unique to human brains: The 'rosehip neuron'

Yasemin Saplakoglu
Live Science
Mon, 27 Aug 2018 00:22 UTC
rose hip neuron
© Tamas Lab, University of SzegedA digital reconstruction of a newly discovered human brain cell called the "rosehip" neuron.
Neuroscientists have made a rosy discovery: a new type of human brain cell.

The newest neuron has been named the "rosehip neuron," thanks to its bushy appearance. The brain cell, with its unique genes, distinctive shape and diverse connections with other neurons, has not been described before and, what's more, it isn't present in neuroscientists' favorite subject: mice. [3D Images: Exploring the Human Brain]

An international group of researchers reported their finding today (Aug. 27) in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

"It's very bushy," said Trygve Bakken, one of the lead authors of the paper and senior scientist at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle. Neurons have long branches called dendrites that receive signals from other neurons. In the rosehip cells, these dendrites are "very compact with lots of branch points, so it kind of looks a little bit like a rosehip," Bakken told Live Science. (Rosehips are a type of fruit produced by rose plants.)

Comment: Wired Magazine adds:
On Monday, an international team of researchers introduced the world to a new kind of neuron, which, at this point, is believed to exist only in the human brain. The long nerve fibers known as axons of these densely bundled cells bulge in a way that reminded their discoverers of a rose without its petals-so much that they named them "rose hip cells." Described in the latest issue of Nature Neuroscience, these new neurons might use their specialized shape to control the flow of information from one region of the brain to another.

"They can really act as a sort of brake on the system," says Ed Lein, an investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science-home to several ambitious brain mapping projects-and one of the lead authors on the study. Neurons come in two basic flavors: Excitatory cells send information to the cells next to them, while inhibitory cells slow down or stop excitatory cells from firing. Rose hip cells belong to this latter type, and based on their physiology, seem to be a particularly potent current-curber.


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Satellite

Russia restores decommissioned Soviet satellite network to monitor near-Earth objects


Sputnik
Sat, 25 Aug 2018 16:24 UTC
space junk
© CC0 / PixabayMap of near-Earth objects in orbit around Earth
Russia has restored a global network of mothballed Soviet observatories to monitor near-Earth objects, according to a report by a state research institute.

The document, obtained by Sputnik from Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, said observatories had been brought out of mothballs in former Soviet member states, Bolivia and Switzerland.

Additional eight outposts were set up in Russia's east, Moldova and Mexico to cover the entire geostationary orbit above Earth's equator.

Comment: Now why would Russia be doing this now? Are they aware of un-publicized threats?

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