Science & TechnologyS


Fire

Watch as Russia tests its nuclear deterrence tech in large-scale drills


RT
Thu, 11 Oct 2018 19:02 UTC
Russia nuke test
© Russian Defense Ministry
The Russian military has tested components of its nuclear deterrence, including land-launched nuclear missiles, nuclear-armed submarines and strategic aircraft with nuclear bombs, intended for retaliation against enemy attack.

All three components of the Russian nuclear triad were involved in the exercise on Thursday.

The ministry released footage of the drill, which shows naval missile launches and the deployment of Tu-95MS, Tu-22M3 and Tu-160 bombers carrying missiles.

Test launches were conducted by ships of the North and Pacific fleets as well as strategic bombers of the long-range aviation of the Russian Air Forces.

Comment: For more on the Russia's groundbreaking technology, check out: Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Putin The World To Rights: Russia's New Nuclear Weapons And The End of 'Unipolarity'

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Satellite

NASA scientists speculate that Voyager 2 could be nearing interstellar space


NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Fri, 05 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes
© NASA/JPL-CaltechThis graphic shows the position of the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes relative to the heliosphere, a protective bubble created by the Sun that extends well past the orbit of Pluto. Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause, or the edge of the heliosphere, in 2012. Voyager 2 is still in the heliosheath, or the outermost part of the heliosphere.
NASA's Voyager 2 probe, currently on a journey toward interstellar space, has detected an increase in cosmic rays that originate outside our solar system. Launched in 1977, Voyager 2 is a little less than 11 billion miles (about 17.7 billion kilometers) from Earth, or more than 118 times the distance from Earth to the Sun.

Since 2007 the probe has been traveling through the outermost layer of the heliosphere -- the vast bubble around the Sun and the planets dominated by solar material and magnetic fields. Voyager scientists have been watching for the spacecraft to reach the outer boundary of the heliosphere, known as the heliopause. Once Voyager 2 exits the heliosphere, it will become the second human-made object, after Voyager 1, to enter interstellar space.
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Biohazard

Scientists worried that new technology will enable smallpox to be weaponized


RT
Thu, 11 Oct 2018 16:08 UTC
smallpox vaccine
© Reuters
Scientists are worried that new technology may give people the ability to bring back smallpox - the virus that killed hundreds of millions of people before it was eradicated in 1980 - and use it as a weapon.

The deadly virus was eradicated nearly 40 years ago following an extensive vaccination campaign. However a recent study which managed to bring back the virus horsepox, by piecing together bits of DNA, has signalled the potential for the virus to become a bioweapon.


Comment: Consider this: Steadfast anti-Vaxxers & their brave fight since the Smallpox vaccine
The smallpox vaccine was first developed in 1775, credited to Edward Jenner, who first experimented with an eight year-old boy named James Phipps. Jenner claimed that the procedure of injecting cowpox pus prevented smallpox and he convinced King George that his vaccine would eliminate smallpox. King George awarded Jenner the equivalent of half a million dollars to inoculate the public against smallpox.

After widespread vaccinations, the Smallpox Hospital in London reported a steady, disturbing increase in smallpox cases, rising from 5% to 96% by 1885. Mortality rates from smallpox also rose. The smallpox vaccine caused many diseases including syphilis, tuberculosis and leprosy.

University of Alberta researchers unveiled their controversial creation of the horsepox virus using synthetic biology in a study released January, 2018. The Canadian microbiologists revived the virus by purchasing synthetic DNA stranding online for about $100,000.

While the technology has the capacity to create lifesaving human organs, critics are warning this development can also have disastrous results. In theory, the same method could be used to manufacture the smallpox virus for a relatively low cost.

"Despite entirely predictable advances in DNA assembly, every human with an internet connection can access the genetic blueprints of viruses that might kill millions," warned MIT biochemist Kevin Esvelt in a study published last week.

Comment: See also:

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Microscope 2

Scientists successfully breed mice with same-sex parents using stem cells and a DNA editor

Andrew Joseph
STAT
Thu, 11 Oct 2018 17:03 UTC
A mouse pup that was born to two genetic fathers
© LEYUN WANG/CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCESA mouse pup that was born to two genetic fathers
For the first time, scientists said Thursday that they had bred mice with two genetic fathers, steering around biological hurdles that would otherwise prevent same-sex parents from having offspring.

The researchers also bred mouse pups with two genetic mothers. Those pups matured into adults and had pups of their own, outpacing previous efforts to create so-called bimaternal mice.

"This research shows us what's possible," Wei Li, a senior author of the study, said in a statement. Li conducted the work with colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

But for now, the notion of reproducing the experiment in humans is more a matter of science fiction than science. The new study, which appeared in Cell Stem Cell, does not indicate that researchers can now or could anytime soon pull off a similar feat with people.
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Red Flag

Experts warn sliding Mount Etna poised to trigger catastrophic Mediterranean tsunami


RT
Thu, 11 Oct 2018 16:09 UTC
mt. etna
© Reuters/Antonio Parrinello
Europe's largest active volcano, Mount Etna, looms large over the island of Sicily but new research indicates that it may pose a threat to the entire coastal population of the Mediterranean.

While many might fear the prospect of a fiery, ash-covered death, akin to the historic tragedies caused by eruptions at Mount Vesuvius, where heads exploded and blood boiled, a tsunami may prove to be the biggest danger wrought by Etna.

"The entire slope is in motion due to gravity," explains geophysicist Heidrun Kopp from the Geomar Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Germany, who recently published research results in the journal Science Advances.

"It is therefore quite possible that it could collapse catastrophically, which could trigger a tsunami in the entire Mediterranean."
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HAL9000

Sexist AI: Amazon ditches recruitment tool that turned out to be anti-women


RT
Thu, 11 Oct 2018 14:52 UTC
robot face
© https://cdni.rt.com/files/2018.10/article/5bbe204bdda4c86a188b4577.jpg
It was supposed to make finding the right person for the job easier. However, an AI tool developed by Amazon to sift through potential hires has been dropped by the firm after developers found it was biased against picking women.

From pricing items to warehouse coordination, automation has been a key part of Amazon's rise to e-commerce domination. And since 2014, its developers have been creating hiring programs aimed at making the selection of top talent as easy and as automated as possible.
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Satellite

Best of the Web: More ISS trouble: Russian and American astronauts dodge death in rare Soyuz rocket launch accident, successfully land in Kazakhstan


RT
Thu, 11 Oct 2018 13:32 UTC
Failed Russian space launch Soyuz
© AP Video
A botched launch of the Russian spaceship Soyuz narrowly avoided becoming the latest fatal space incident on Thursday. Rescue systems managed to save the lives of two crew members and conduct an emergency landing.

The Soyuz-MS-10 spacecraft was meant to deliver Roscosmos' Aleksey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague, members of Expedition 57/58, to the International Space Station (ISS). But 119 seconds after take-off from the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle experienced a malfunction and crew rescue protocols were engaged.

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Bizarro Earth

New research suggests Mt Etna at risk of 'catastrophic collapse'

Andrew Masterson
Cosmos Magazine
Wed, 10 Oct 2018 19:23 UTC
Mt Etna
© Alberto Masnovo/Getty ImagesMt Etna, brooding and slipping, with the city of Catania in the foreground.
Mt Etna, one of the world's most active and iconic volcanoes, is at high risk of suddenly collapsing into the sea, potentially triggering a devastating tsunami, new research suggests.

In a paper published in the journal Science Advances, a team led by Morelia Urlaub from the EOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, in Germany, presents findings that explain why the south-eastern flank of the volcano is sliding into the sea at a rate of three to five centimetres every year - a phenomenon first documented in the 1980s.

The cause, it turns out, is not increasing pressure from magma swelling up through Etna's plumbing, but gravity.

The conclusion is vitally important in terms of assessing the risk posed by the volcano, which is sited between two densely populated cities, Messina and Catania. Movement caused by magma and movement caused by gravity, Urlaub and colleagues report, "have fundamentally different hazard implications".

"While magma dynamics can trigger slope failures near the magma pathways, gradual deep-seated gravitational deformation can induce catastrophic collapse."
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Fireball

Draconids 'dragon meteor shower' blaze across Russia & US skies


RT
Wed, 10 Oct 2018 18:08 UTC
draconids
© Twitter/@tass_agency
Lucky stargazers in Russia and North America have been treated to a spectacular cosmic display, courtesy of an age-old star constellation shaped like a space dragon.

The annual Draconids meteor shower occurs every year in October, providing astronomers and amateur stargazers with an opportunity to see fiery space rock shoot across Earth's sky. The celestial light show is best viewed on a clear night from the northern hemisphere as the meteors appear to come from the Draco the Dragon constellation in the north.

Discovered by the ancient Roman astronomer Claudius Ptolemy, the intriguing star formation, which is home to more than 14 main stars, resembles a serpent or dragon parading across the sky. It's from this constellation that the Draconids appear to come from, sometimes raining down in their many hundreds.

So far, enthusiasts from Russia, Canada and the US have posted their incredible snapshots on social media, revealing meteors surging sideways over places like Siberia, Texas and the Blue Ridge Mountains, Georgia.

With the Draconids expected to last until October 16, there is still time to sneak a peek of the celestial experience.
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Fish

'Lost volcano world' teeming with life discovered thousands of meters below remote seas


RT
Wed, 10 Oct 2018 14:59 UTC
whales
© CSIRO
An expedition to map remote parts of the ocean off Australia has yielded a startling discovery - a "lost world" of volcanoes where towering underwater peaks reach higher than sierras in the Andes mountain range.

Uncovered by a Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) vessel during a trip 400km east of Tasmania, the subaquatic world appears to be teeming with marine animals such as migrating whales.

According to CSIRO researchers, some of the underwater peaks are up to 3,000 meters in height, taller than the Andes' Copahue stratovolcano. Despite the seamounts' significant size, they are still remarkably well hidden approximately 2,000 meters below the ocean surface.
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