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'Swirlonic' super particles baffle physicists

University of Leicester
Phys.org
Thu, 04 Mar 2021 21:01 UTC
particles
© CC0 Public Domain
In recent years, active, self-propelled particles have received growing interest amongst the scientific community. Examples of active particles and their systems are numerous and very diverse, ranging from bacterium films to flocks of birds or human crowds. These systems can demonstrate unusual behavior, which is challenging to understand or model.

To this end, large-scale models of active particles were being scrutinized by experts at Leicester, in order to understand basic principles underlying active particle dynamics and apply them in a scenario of an evacuation strategy for customers in a crowded place. Unexpectedly, the 'super-particles' milling in a circular motion were stumbled upon by Leicester's physicists who subsequently coined the phenomenon as 'swirlonic.'

Comment: See also:

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Sun

Source of hazardous high-energy particles located in the Sun

University College London
Phys.org
Wed, 03 Mar 2021 12:00 UTC
CME sun solar
© NASA/GSFC/SDO
A coronal mass ejection, or CME, erupting into space on 31 August, 2012. Pictured here is a blended version of the 171 and 304 angstrom wavelengths taken from the Solar Dynamics Observatory.
The source of potentially hazardous solar particles, released from the Sun at high speed during storms in its outer atmosphere, has been located for the first time by researchers at UCL and George Mason University, Virginia, U.S.

These particles are highly charged and, if they reach Earth's atmosphere, can potentially disrupt satellites and electronic infrastructure, as well as pose a radiation risk to astronauts and people in airplanes. In 1859, during what's known as the Carrington Event, a large solar storm caused telegraphic systems across Europe and America to fail. With the modern world so reliant on electronic infrastructure, the potential for harm is much greater.


Comment: A recent report revealed that the the Carrington event was not unique and it's only a matter of time before it happens again, except, as noted above, the impact are likely to be many times more devastating because of our reliance on technology.


To minimize the danger, scientists are seeking to understand how these streams of particles are produced so they can better predict when they might affect Earth.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Earth changes in an electric universe: Is climate change really man-made?

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Brain

Of cuttlefish and crows: A cephalopod has passed a cognitive test designed for human children

Michelle Starr
Science Alert
Thu, 04 Mar 2021 17:39 UTC
cuttlefish
© Schafer & Hill/The Image Bank/Getty Images
The cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis
A new test of cephalopod smarts has reinforced how important it is for us humans to not underestimate animal intelligence.

Cuttlefish have been put to a new version of the marshmallow test, and the results appear to demonstrate that there's more going on in their strange little brains than we knew.

Their ability to learn and adapt, the researchers said, could have evolved to give cuttlefish an edge in the cutthroat eat-or-be-eaten marine world they live in.

The marshmallow test, or Stanford marshmallow experiment, is pretty straightforward. A child is placed in a room with a marshmallow. They are told if they can manage not to eat the marshmallow for 15 minutes, they'll get a second marshmallow, and be allowed to eat both.

Comment: Cephalopods are a fascinating animal group, as are corvids.

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Bizarro Earth

Volcanic activity below desert discovered in Utah

Peter Dockrill
Science Alert
Wed, 03 Mar 2021 17:05 UTC
Utah Desert
© (Lee Siebert/Smithsonian Institution/Public Domain)
It might not look like it, but the arid expanses of Utah conceal an ancient volcanic complex, and this hidden underground system is still active far below the desert's surface, scientists say.

According to a new study, a pair of recent earthquakes in 2018 and 2019 were not indicative of tectonic activity, but were seismic rumblings produced by the Black Rock Desert volcanic field - an ancient volcanic system in Utah's Sevier Desert that's been active for over 6 million years and, apparently, is still alive and kicking.

"Our findings suggest that the system is still active and that the earthquakes were probably the result of fluid-related movement in the general area," says seismologist Maria Mesimeri from the University of Utah.

"The earthquakes could be the result of the fluid squeezing through rock or the result of deformation from fluid movement that stressed the surface faults."

The two earthquake sequences in question occurred in September 2018 and April 2019, and were recorded by seismometers within the Utah Regional Seismic Network, as well as by instruments forming part of an experimental project called Utah FORGE, run by the US Department of Energy.
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Better Earth

Cyclical mountain 'tsunamis' have been occurring in Chilean Patagonia for last 10,000 years

CENIEH
Phys.org
Wed, 03 Mar 2021 20:36 UTC
river chile
© CENIEH
Outbursts from Lake Cachet 2 in 2009/DGA, Chile.
Catastrophic floods due to the emptying or rupture of glacial lakes in Chilean Patagonia have taken place cyclically since the last glacial maximum 10,000 years ago. Nevertheless, the magnitude of these mountain 'tsunamis' has declined over time, according to a paper published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews in which scientists from the Centro Nacional de Investigación de La Evolución Humana (CENIEH), the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and Royal Holloway University of London (RHUL) were among the participants.

By studying sediments and using hydrological models to calculate volumes, this work has shown that the amounts discharged by glacial lake outbursts declined by three orders of magnitude from the last glacial maximum to the recent events between 2008 and 2017.

Comment: A recent study revealed the correlation of melting ice bergs and the onset of ice ages: Melting icebergs key feature of an ice age, scientists find

See also:

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Eye 1

Moscow Metro to introduce 'Facepay' tech by end of 2021

Jonny Tickle
RT
Wed, 03 Mar 2021 14:42 UTC
Moscow mask subway
© Sputnik / Evgeny Biyatov
FILE PHOTO: People wearing protective face masks are seen in a subway amid coronavirus pandemic, in Moscow, Russia.
The world's most beautiful subway system is set to become one of the planet's most high-tech, with Moscow Metro head of security revealing that passengers will soon be able to pay for rides with their faces before the end of 2021.

According to Andrey Kichigin, as reported by Interfax on Tuesday, the Russian capital will implement 'FacePay' technology later this year. Currently in testing, it will be available for use at both turnstiles and cash desks. Thus far, test participants have successfully passed through the barriers 2,000 times.

Facial recognition cameras were installed in many metro stations through Moscow last year and are located at payment gates. Although the public cannot yet use the system, it has already been used to catch more than 900 criminal suspects, with the technology also performing a second function of identifying those wanted by the police.


Comment: Similar trials went on in the UK, using technology developed in China, and the error rate was near 96%: Big brother Britain: Facial recognition cameras deployed in London, man fined for covering his face


Comment: Ultimately, the technology isn't necessarily the issue, it's a question of who is in control of it:

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Network

Google claims it won't adopt new tracking tech after phasing out cookies

Anthony Ha
TechCrunch
Wed, 03 Mar 2021 18:38 UTC
cookies browsers computer
© Erol Ahmed/Unsplash/Gizmodo
While we've written about attempts to build alternatives to cookies that track users across websites, Google says it won't be going down that route.

The search giant had already announced that it will be phasing out support for third-party cookies in its Chrome browser. Today it went further, with David Temkin (Google's director of product management for ads privacy and trust) writing in a blog post that "once third-party cookies are phased out, we will not build alternate identifiers to track individuals as they browse across the web, nor will we use them in our products."

"We realize this means other providers may offer a level of user identity for ad tracking across the web that we will not — like [personally identifiable information] graphs based on people's email addresses," Temkin continued. "We don't believe these solutions will meet rising consumer expectations for privacy, nor will they stand up to rapidly evolving regulatory restrictions, and therefore aren't a sustainable long term investment."
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Chart Bar

The Cambridge study testing asymptomatics is the gift that keeps on giving ....

Norman Fenton
probabilityandlaw.blogspot.com
Sat, 27 Feb 2021 20:27 UTC
cambridge covid study
This makes interesting reading for anybody who still believes the Government 'case' data and the claim that just because you don't have any COVID-19 symptoms it doesn't mean you aren't in danger ...

This data also means that if the Government claim that "1 in 3 people with the virus has no symptoms" is correct then the ONS estimated infection rate is massively inflated - the currently reported 'case' numbers must be at least 8 times greater than the true number of cases. On the other hand, if the Government estimates of case numbers are correct then at most 1 in 26 people with the virus has no symptoms. Here's an informal explanation why (formal proof is below):

Cambridge has a population of 129,000.

If the ONS infection estimates for Cambridge (0.71%) are accurate, then during an average week in this period about 916 people had the virus and 128,084 did not.

But if the "1 in 3" claim is correct about 305 people in Cambridge had the virus but no symptoms.

So at most 128,389 people in Cambridge had no symptoms and that means at least 305/128389 people with no symptoms had the virus. That is at least 0.24% (i.e. at least around 1 in 421).

But the study shows on average only 1 in 4867 (0.028%) with no symptoms had the virus. So there should only have been about 36.

That means the "1 in 3" claim and the ONS estimates cannot both be correct.
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Fish

Bioluminescence discovered in three species of deep sea sharks

Elle Hunt
The Guardian
Tue, 02 Mar 2021 05:41 UTC
kitefin
© Jérôme Mallefet
Researchers believe sharks probably glow for camouflage to protect from attack from beneath.
Scientists studying sharks off New Zealand have discovered that three deep-sea species glow in the dark - including one that is now the largest-known luminous vertebrate.

Bioluminescence - the production of visible light through a chemical reaction by living organisms - is a widespread phenomenon among marine life, but this is the first time it has been documented and analysed in the kitefin shark, the blackbelly lanternshark, and the southern lanternshark.

The sharks were collected during a fish survey of the Chatham Rise off the east coast of New Zealand in January 2020.

The kitefin shark, which can grow to 180cm, is now the largest-known luminous vertebrate: what researchers referred to as a "giant luminous shark".

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's: The Truth Perspective: Are Cells the Intelligent Designers? Why Creationists and Darwinists Are Both Wrong

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Microscope 1

Study finds fitness of former COVID patients aged 45 is similar to 80-year-olds


Times of Israel
Mon, 01 Mar 2021 18:05 UTC
covid patient hospital
© REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
A study of recovered COVID-19 patients, aged 45 on average, finds their physical fitness levels to be similar to 80-year-olds.

The research is conducted by the Beilinson Medical Center in central Israel, in its physiotherapy center, on 30 patients, three months after they were officially cleared of the disease.

In one test, the recovered patients were asked to walk for six minutes. They covered 450 meters in that time, compared to 700 meters on average for their age group. In the second test, they were asked to stand up and sit down repeatedly for 30 seconds. Most managed to do so 14 times in half a minute, compared to an average of 30 for healthy adults their age.

Researchers say the results are similar to the fitness levels of an 80-year-old.

It's not immediately clear how the trial participants were selected and what their condition was when they were ill with COVID-19.

Comment: RT adds:
While the cohort of 30 people is a relatively small sample for a study, the findings of the Israeli team echoed similar research undertaken in China.

That research, published in The Lancet medical journal in January, was based on data drawn from more than 1,700 people in Wuhan with an average age of 57.

The Chinese study subjects underwent physical trials half a year after their recovery from the infection, with 63 percent found still to be showing fatigue or muscle weakness.

As for the six-minute walking test, up to 29 percent of the participants were unable to hit even the lower limit of the normal range for their age group. Other complications encountered by those surveyed included sleeping difficulties, anxiety, and depression.
It's clear that while the virus has a nearly 99% recovery rate, there is a small sub-set of patients that do experience long-term effects from the infection:

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