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Wed, 29 Sep 2021
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Blue Planet

Microorganisms in parched regions extract needed water from colonized rocks

University of California, Irvine
Phys.org
Mon, 04 May 2020 12:00 UTC
Microorganisms
© David Kisailus / UCI
Microorganisms in green colonize gypsum rock to extract water from it. Johns Hopkins and UCI researchers ran lab experiments to understand the mechanisms of survival for these cynanobacteria, confirming that they transform the material they occupy to an anhydrous state.
In Northern Chile's Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth, microorganisms are able to eke out an existence by extracting water from the very rocks they colonize.

Through work in the field and laboratory experiments, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, as well as Johns Hopkins University and UC Riverside, gained an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms by which some cyanobacteria survive in harsh surroundings.

The new insights, published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrate how life can flourish in places without much water in evidence — such as Mars — and how people living in arid regions may someday derive hydration from available minerals.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Cassiopaea

Electrical activity in living organisms mirrors electrical fields in atmosphere

Tel Aviv University
Phys.org
Tue, 05 May 2020 12:00 UTC
lightning
© CC0 Public Domain
Most electrical activity in vertebrates and invertebrates occurs at extremely low frequencies, and the origin — and medical potential — of these frequencies have eluded scientists. Now a Tel Aviv University study provides evidence for a direct link between electrical fields in the atmosphere and those found in living organisms, including humans.

The study's findings may change established notions about electrical activity in living organisms, paving the way for revolutionary, new medical treatments. Illnesses such as epilepsy and Parkinson's are related to abnormalities in the electrical activity of the body.

"We show that the electrical activity in many living organisms — from zooplankton in the oceans, to sharks and even in our brains — is very similar to the electrical fields we measure and study in the atmosphere from global lightning activity," explains Prof. Colin Price of TAU's Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, who led the research for the study, published in the International Journal of Biometeorology on February 8.

Comment: See also: The Body Electric: Ancient wisdom, Modern science

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Galaxy

A mystery solved? Fast Radio Burst detected within Milky Way

Andy Briggs
Earthsky
Mon, 04 May 2020 06:56 UTC
Artist’s concept of an eruption on a magnetar. The Fast Radio Burst detected in our galaxy may be associated with these sorts of eruptions.
© NASA Goddard Visualization Studio.
Artist’s concept of an eruption on a magnetar. The Fast Radio Burst detected in our galaxy may be associated with these sorts of eruptions.
Fast Radio Bursts are very mysterious bursts of radio waves - perhaps just a thousandth of a second long - coming from all over the sky. This new discovery of one in our own galaxy is a stunner!

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are short, intense bursts of radio waves lasting perhaps a thousandth of a second, coming from all over the sky and of unknown origin. In a shock discovery that could help to solve one of astronomy's greatest mysteries - on April 28, 2020 - astronomers used an Astronomer's Telegram to announce a Fast Radio Burst originating from inside our Milky Way galaxy. That's a first. All other FRBs have been extragalactic, that is to say outside our galaxy. Even more importantly, the astronomers think they've also identified the source of the burst.

Explanations have ranged from neutron stars to supernovae to the inevitable aliens.
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Bad Guys

Darwinism, Totalitarianism, and the Lockdown

Michael Egnor
Evolution News
Thu, 07 May 2020 16:21 UTC
hannah arendt
© Loslazos / CC BY-SA
Hannah Arendt died in 1975 and was buried on the campus of Bard College
As we live through the coronavirus lockdown, some surprisingly diverse sources — from The New Yorker to Tucker Carlson — have begun referring their audiences to an alarming word: "totalitarianism." In this context, journalist and activist Masha Gessen, writing in The New Yorker, recommends the work of Hannah Arendt, for her "complicated and precise descriptions of isolation, solitude, and loneliness." The reference is apt, and worth exploring, not least because of Arendt's insights linking totalitarian ideology with Darwinism.

Hannah Arendt was the leading philosopher of totalitarianism in the 20th century. Her writing, especially The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), is always interesting and relevant, and her insights into totalitarianism are chillingly accurate. She explicitly links totalitarian ideology to Darwinism — naming Darwin often as a cornerstone of modern totalitarianism. She distinguishes between different forms of government, as a function of the set of predicates by which a nation is governed. Some governments rule by deontological rules — theocracies that use the Ten Commandments, etc. Some rule by positive law — written laws established by legislation. Some rule by tyranny — the arbitrary rule by the opinions of one or a few individuals. Each of these has its advantages and disadvantages.

Comment: See also:

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Jupiter

Beautiful high-res images of Jupiter reveal secrets of its wild storms

Michelle Starr
Science Alert
Fri, 08 May 2020 16:53 UTC
jupiter weather
© International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA M.H. Wong & team/Mahdi Zamani
Jupiter in the infrared spectrum
Jupiter is not a serene place. The giant planet is wracked with tempestuous storms, wide bands of roiling cloud that encircle the entire globe, extending to depths many times thicker than the atmospheric distance between Earth and space.

The gas giant's wild weather is so different from what happens on Earth that astronomers have struggled to understand it. But we just got another piece of the puzzle - in the form of breathtaking, near-infrared and optical images, taken using the powerful Gemini Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope.

The Gemini near-infrared images capture thermal radiation glowing through the clouds from Jupiter's interior. When combined with Hubble's optical images taken within hours of the Gemini ones, scientists can piece together the internal and external activity.

The high-resolution images reveal that regions of cloud that appear darker in optical images actually glow the most brightly in infrared, indicating those regions have little to no cloud compared to the lighter bands.
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Mars

Organic compounds essential for life found on Martian meteorites

Tokyo Institute of Technology
Science Direct
Fri, 08 May 2020 09:41 UTC
mars

Martian meteorite samples have found organic compounds essential for life: nitrogen-bearing organics in a 4-billion-year-old Martian meteorite.
A research team including research scientist Atsuko Kobayashi from the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan and research scientist Mizuho Koike from the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science at Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, have found nitrogen-bearing organic material in carbonate minerals in a Martian meteorite. This organic material has most likely been preserved for 4 billion years since Mars' Noachian age. Because carbonate minerals typically precipitate from the groundwater, this finding suggests a wet and organic-rich early Mars, which could have been habitable and favourable for life to start.

For decades, scientists have tried to understand whether there are organic compounds on Mars and if so, what their source is. Although recent studies from rover-based Mars exploration have detected strong evidence for Martian organics, little is known about where they came from, how old they are, how widely distributed and preserved they may be, or what their possible relationship with biochemical activity could be.

Comment: See also:

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Info

'Jurassic Park' got it wrong: New study suggests raptors didn't hunt in packs

Natalie Johnson
UW Oshkosh
Wed, 06 May 2020 19:29 UTC
Raptor
© Fred Wierum
Artistic restoration of Deinonychus antirrhopus by Fred Wierum, 2017
Turns out, you really can't believe everything you see in the movies.

A new University of Wisconsin Oshkosh analysis of raptor teeth published in the peer-reviewed journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology shows that Velociraptors and their kin likely did not hunt in big, coordinated packs like dogs.

The raptors (Deinonychus antirrhopus) with their sickle-shaped talons were made famous in the 1993 blockbuster movie Jurassic Park, which portrayed them as highly intelligent, apex predators that worked in groups to hunt large prey.

"Raptorial dinosaurs often are shown as hunting in packs similar to wolves," said Joseph Frederickson, a vertebrate paleontologist and director of the Weis Earth Science Museum on the UWO Fox Cities campus. "The evidence for this behavior, however, is not altogether convincing. Since we can't watch these dinosaurs hunt in person, we must use indirect methods to determine their behavior in life."

Frederickson led the study in partnership with two colleagues at the University of Oklahoma and Sam Noble Museum, Michael Engel and Richard Cifell.

Though widely accepted, evidence for the pack-hunting dinosaur proposed by the late famed Yale University paleontologist John Ostrom is relatively weak, Frederickson said.
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Comet 2

New Comet C/2020 J1 (SONEAR)

Ernesto Guido & Adriano Valvasori
Remanzacco Blogspot
Thu, 07 May 2020 19:20 UTC
CBET 4769 & MPEC 2020-J37, issued on 2020, May 04, announce the discovery of a comet (magnitude ~17) on images taken with a 0.28-m f/2.2 astrograph of the "Southern Observatory for Near Earth Research" (SONEAR) at Oliveira, Brazil, on May 1 . The new comet has been designated C/2020 J1 (SONEAR).

We performed follow-up measurements of this object while it was still on the PCCP webpage.

Stacking of 8 unfiltered exposures, 90 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2020, May 04.3 from X02 (Telescope Live, Chile) through a 0.6-m f/6.5 astrograph + CCD, shows that this object is a comet with a compact coma about 5" in diameter.

Our confirmation image (click here for a bigger version)
Comet C/2020 J1 SONEAR
© Remanzacco Blogspot
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Rocket

US Space Force prepares Orbital for launch, plans to 'host more experiments' than ever before

Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs
SpaceForce.mil
Wed, 06 May 2020 12:00 UTC
Space Force
© Boeing
Encapsulated X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle for United States Space Force-7 mission
The Department of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, in partnership with the U.S. Space Force, is scheduled to launch the sixth mission of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-6) on May 16 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

The Department of the Air Force continues to push the flight envelope for the X-37B, and will build upon its growing collaboration with experiment partners with its sixth mission.

"In today's age of electrons, space systems track storms, locate stranded motorists, timestamp credit card transactions, and monitor treaty compliance," said Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett. "Demonstrating the department's innovation, this X-37B mission will host more experiments than any prior missions. This launch also demonstrates the department's collaboration that pushes the boundaries for reusable space systems."

Comment: What experiments, exactly? That's classified!

See also:

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Blue Planet

"Blobs": Scientists think they know why magnetic poles wandering

Jonathan Amos
BBC
Wed, 06 May 2020 12:00 UTC
magnetic
© ESA
Earth's magnetic field is generated in its fluid outer core
European scientists think they can now describe with confidence what's driving the drift of the North Magnetic Pole.

It's shifted in recent years away from Canada towards Siberia.

And this rapid movement has required more frequent updates to navigation systems, including those that operate the mapping functions in smartphones.

A team, led from Leeds University, says the behaviour is explained by the competition of two magnetic "blobs" on the edge of the Earth's outer core.

Comment: The scientists claim they have found the driver of the wandering poles, but, because we've also seen an uptick in unusual activity on other planets could it be that there's a much greater driver? Such as our Sun? Could there also be other factors to consider, because it's not only within our solar system that there appears to be an uptick: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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