Science & TechnologyS


Telescope

Family of 'dark' asteroids reveal secrets of the early solar system

Andrew Wagner
Science
Thu, 03 Aug 2017 16:29 UTC
Dark asteroids
© Science/AAAS
Far out in space, between Mars and Jupiter, a group of roiling rocks has been circling the sun since the very early days of the solar system, a new study reveals.

Piecing together the planetesimals, the earliest ancestors of the asteroids, hasn't been easy because eons of collisions have broken them apart. But that has changed thanks to the discovery of a family of "dark" asteroids in the region, reported today in Science.

Unlike the brighter, highly reflective asteroid families nearby, the dark asteroids' orbits are more spread out, meaning more time has passed since the asteroids formed. By aggregating the sizes of the modern dark asteroids, researchers suggest the original dark planetesimals formed about 4 billion years ago, making this one of the oldest asteroid families in the main belt; most asteroid families are thought to have formed about 1 billion years ago.

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Satellite

China plans to establish intercontinental 'hack-proof' quantum links with Australia and Europe


RT
Thu, 10 Aug 2017 13:01 UTC
China quantum communication ground station
© Jin Liwang / Global Look PressComposite photo shows a satellite-to-earth link established between quantum satellite ‘’Micius’' and the quantum communication ground station in Xinglong, north China’s Hebei Province
Bolstered by the success of its first quantum communications satellite, China is eyeing the next steps in a quest to make a secure global network. It plans a series of intercontinental quantum distribution experiments with Australia and Europe. China is a pioneering nation in bringing quantum cryptography into Earth's orbit with its Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS) satellite, which it launched almost a year ago. QUESS, also dubbed Micius after an ancient Chinese philosopher, is a proof-of-concept project, which demonstrated that quantum communication is possible over a distance of over a thousand kilometers.

The mission is planned to last at least two years, and Chinese scientists are planning for both new experiments with QUESS and future launches of better quantum communication satellites, Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday. By the end of August, the satellite will be used to establish quantum communication across continents, linking China with a ground station in Graz, Austria, told the agency Pan Jianwei, lead scientist of QUESS and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Further experiments this year will evolve ground stations in Germany and Italy, Pan added, bringing the project closer to the planned Asian-European secure communication network. They are to confirm the compatibility of the equipment used by Chinese scientists with that used by other nations, he said.

Comment: In August 2016 Chinese scientists have announced that they have received the first batch of data from the Micius quantum satellite.
See also:

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Sun

Chinese study finds 20th century warm periods are not unprecedented during the last 2,000 years


Eureka Alert
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 03:20 UTC
2,000-year temperature reconstruction in Chin
© Yang Liu & Jingyun Zheng/Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences2,000-year temperature reconstruction in China.
A great deal of evidence relating to ancient climate variation is preserved in proxy data such as tree rings, lake sediments, ice cores, stalagmites, corals and historical documents, and these sources carry great significance in evaluating the 20th century warming in the context of the last two millennia.

Prof. Quansheng Ge and his group from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, collected a large number of proxies and reconstructed a 2000-year temperature series in China with a 10-year resolution, enabling them to quantitatively reveal the characteristics of temperature change in China over a common era.

"We found four warm epochs," says Prof. Ge, "which were AD 1 to AD 200, AD 550 to AD 760, AD 950 to AD 1300, and the 20th century. Cold periods occurred between AD 210 and AD 350, AD 420 and AD 530, AD 780 and AD 940, and AD 1320 and AD 1900. The temperature amplitude between the warmest and coldest decades was 1.3°C".
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Galaxy

Scientists say 100 million black holes are peppered throughout Milky Way


Sputnik
Thu, 10 Aug 2017 01:38 UTC
black hole
© NASA M. Weiss (Chandra X-ray Center)
After more than a year and a half of research, scientists say a new study proves there could be as many as 100 million black holes peppering the Milky Way.

Published on August 2 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the study was initially sparked after news that the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detected ripples in the space-time continuum. In that instance, the waves were set off by two colliding black holes, each estimated to be the size of 30 suns.

"Fundamentally, the detection of gravitational waves was a huge deal, as it was a confirmation of a key prediction of Einstein's general theory of relativity," James Bullock, researcher from the University of California, Irvine, told the journal. "But then we look closer at the astrophysics of the actual result, a merger of two 30-solar-mass black holes. That was simply astounding and had us asking, 'how common are black holes of this size, and how often do they merge?'"
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Cow Skull

'Makes the T-Rex look like a dwarf': World's largest dinosaur now on display in New York


RT
Wed, 09 Aug 2017 19:38 UTC
titanosaur
© Spencer Platt / AFP 208A replica of the P. mayorum dinosaur is unveiled at the American Museum of Natural History on January 14, 2016.
A dinosaur that walked the Earth 100 million years ago but wasn't discovered until 2012 was actually the largest to ever exist, according to a new study. The plant-eating behemoth averaged 122 feet long and weighed 76 tons.

The long-necked dinosaur was discovered by a shepherd in the Argentinian desert province of Chubut in 2012, after he noticed the tip of a large fossil bone sticking out of a rock.

But the finding turned out to be more than just a big bone. In fact, it was an enormous discovery - on more than one level.

Scientists soon realized that a new species of dinosaur had been unearthed, and it was so big that its femur alone measured 7.8 feet (2.37 meters) in length.
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Telescope

Stunning photographs capture August's 'blood moon' lunar eclipse

Steve RobsonSophie Curtis
Mirror.co.uk
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 23:14 UTC
Aug 2017 lunar eclipse
© Rex FeaturesThe full moon is seen during a partial lunar eclipse above the Bernese Alps, from Bern, in Switzerland

Stunning images captured the moon passing through the Earth's shadow

A blood red moon lit up the night's sky in many parts of the world during a partial lunar eclipse on Monday.

The spectacular sight was best-viewed in the Indian Subcontinent where it glowed over buildings for hours.

But striking images were also captured in locations as diverse as Poland, Indonesia and Spain.

The moon passed through the Earth's shadow exactly two weeks ahead of the highly anticipated solar eclipse on August 21.

Sunlight was refracted in the Earth's atmosphere, giving the moon a striking dull red or copper colour.

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Info

The ethical consequences of immortality technology

Francesca Minerva & Adrian Rorheim
Aeon
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 23:32 UTC
The Fountain of Youth
© WikipediaDetail from The Fountain of Youth (1546) by Lucas Cranach the Elder.
Immortality has gone secular. Unhooked from the realm of gods and angels, it's now the subject of serious investment - both intellectual and financial - by philosophers, scientists and the Silicon Valley set. Several hundred people have already chosen to be 'cryopreserved' in preference to simply dying, as they wait for science to catch up and give them a second shot at life. But if we treat death as a problem, what are the ethical implications of the highly speculative 'solutions' being mooted?

Of course, we don't currently have the means of achieving human immortality, nor is it clear that we ever will. But two hypothetical options have so far attracted the most interest and attention: rejuvenation technology, and mind uploading.

Like a futuristic fountain of youth, rejuvenation promises to remove and reverse the damage of ageing at the cellular level. Gerontologists such as Aubrey de Grey argue that growing old is a disease that we can circumvent by having our cells replaced or repaired at regular intervals. Practically speaking, this might mean that every few years, you would visit a rejuvenation clinic. Doctors would not only remove infected, cancerous or otherwise unhealthy cells, but also induce healthy ones to regenerate more effectively and remove accumulated waste products. This deep makeover would 'turn back the clock' on your body, leaving you physiologically younger than your actual age. You would, however, remain just as vulnerable to death from acute trauma - that is, from injury and poisoning, whether accidental or not - as you were before.
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Magnify

Justice Dept. to strengthen forensic science guidelines amid research showing crime scene evidence scientifically flawed


RT
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 12:14 UTC
forensic science
The Justice Department will begin work on two projects centered around improving forensic science practices amid nationwide concerns over certain kinds of forensic evidence presented in criminal trials.

On Monday at a private gathering of forensics professionals in Atlanta, Georgia, US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced that the DOJ will revive a project aimed at setting federal guidelines for what forensic scientists can say in court.

The department will be creating a "forensic science working group" focused on monitoring the accuracy of forensic testimony, due to more and more research showing that hair, handwriting analysis, bite-mark evidence and some ballistic tests found at crime scenes are scientifically flawed, according to a Department of Justice press release.

Comment:

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R2-D2

Amazon planning fleets of mobile drone facilities on trains, vehicles, boats

Rob Price
Business Insider France
Sun, 06 Aug 2017 19:14 UTC
Amazon drone facility train
© Amazon USPTODiagram from Amazon's patent filing showing drones being deployed from a maintenance facility on a train.
Amazon is heavily investing in drones, and one day hopes to use the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to revolutionise deliveries.

Right now, it's all still early stages - but public patent filings can offer us tantalising glimpses of what Amazon's engineers are thinking about and experimenting as they develop the tech.

For example, a key problem facing any drone deliveries is batteries and maintenance. When your drones are in the shop getting fixed, they're not helping you make any money - so how do you keep them charged and in the air for as long as possible?

One possible answer: An ambitious fleet of mobile maintenance facilities based on trains, in vehicles, and on boats.
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Microscope 2

'Breakthrough' penny-sized nanochip pad stimulates healing in injuries and stroke damage in mice trials

Ana Sandoiu
Medical News Today
Mon, 07 Aug 2017 03:04 UTC
nanochip stem cells
© The Ohio State University Wexner Medical CenterThis small device uses tissue nanotransfection to regenerate full organs at the touch of a finger.
What was once the stuff of science fiction is now becoming a reality: entire organs may soon be "healed" by simply touching a small chip.

A team of researchers from the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Ohio State's College of Engineering, both in Columbus, developed a groundbreaking technology that could soon restore almost any organ.

The device changes cell function in a non-invasive way. It relies on a type of nanotechnology called tissue nanotransfection, which can reprogram living adult cells into any other type of cell.

The new study was published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, and the research was jointly led by Dr. Chandan Sen, who is director of Ohio State's Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell-Based Therapies, and L. James Lee, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State's College of Engineering.
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