Science & Technology

Evidence of a supernova near Earth 2.5 million years ago

University of Munich
Wed, 30 Sep 2020 04:13 UTC

© ESO
The stellar explosion, SN 1987A, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, was one of the brightest supernovae in more than 400 years.

When the brightness of the star Betelgeuse dropped dramatically a few months ago, some observers suspected an impending supernova - a stellar explosion that could also cause damage on Earth. While Betelgeuse has returned to normal, physicists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have found evidence of a supernova that exploded near the Earth around 2.5 million years ago.

The life of stars with a mass more than ten times that of our sun ends in a supernova, a colossal stellar explosion. This explosion leads to the formation of iron, manganese and other heavy elements.

In layers of a manganese crust that are around two and a half million years old a research team led by physicists from the Technical University of Munich has now confirmed the existence of both iron-60 and manganese-53.

"The increased concentrations of manganese-53 can be taken as the "smoking gun" - the ultimate proof that this supernova really did take place," says first author Dr. Gunther Korschinek.

While a very close supernova could inflict massive harm to life on Earth, this one was far enough away. It only caused a boost in cosmic rays over several thousand years. "However, this can lead to increased cloud formation," says co-author Dr. Thomas Faestermann. "Perhaps there is a link to the Pleistocene epoch, the period of the Ice Ages, which began 2.6 million years ago."

New discovery enables adult skin to regenerate like a newborn's

Sara Zaske
Washington State University
Tue, 29 Sep 2020 21:01 UTC

© Washington State University
An image of a regenerating skin wound with hair follicles that can make goose bumps. The green lines are the muscles attached to individual regenerating hairs so that they can stand up.

Pullman, Wash. - A newly identified genetic factor allows adult skin to repair itself like the skin of a newborn babe. The discovery by Washington State University researchers has implications for better skin wound treatment as well as preventing some of the aging process in skin.

In a study, published in the journal eLife on Sept. 29, the researchers identified a factor that acts like a molecular switch in the skin of baby mice that controls the formation of hair follicles as they develop during the first week of life. The switch is mostly turned off after skin forms and remains off in adult tissue. When it was activated in specialized cells in adult mice, their skin was able to heal wounds without scarring. The reformed skin even included fur and could make goose bumps, an ability that is lost in adult human scars.

"We were able to take the innate ability of young, neonatal skin to regenerate and transfer that ability to old skin," said Ryan Driskell, an assistant professor in WSU's School of Molecular Biosciences. "We have shown in principle that this kind of regeneration is possible."

Mammals are not known for their regenerative abilities compared to other organisms, such as salamanders that can regrow entire limbs and regenerate their skin. The WSU study suggests that the secret to human regeneration might be found by studying our own early development.

"We can still look to other organisms for inspiration, but we can also learn about regeneration by looking at ourselves," said Driskell. "We do generate new tissue, once in our life, as we are growing."

Repeated pregnancy loss may be tied to the olfactory system says new study

Weizmann Institute of Science
Tue, 29 Sep 2020 20:24 UTC

Understanding the connection could lead to a new search for the causes of unexplained spontaneous miscarriage

© Weizmann Institute of Science
fMRI images showing the hypothalamus reactions to body odor. The level of activity in women with repeated unexplained pregnancy loss (pink) was higher than that of women in the control group (green)

The odors we give off are a sort of body language - one that may affect our relationships more than we realize. New research from the lab of Prof. Noam Sobel at the Weizmann Institute of Science suggests this "chemical communication" may extend to human reproduction as well. The study, which was published today in eLife, found that women who suffer from a condition known as unexplained repeated pregnancy loss (uRPL) process messages concerning male body odor in a different way than other women. These findings may point to new directions in the search for causes and prevention of this poorly understood disorder.

Sobel and his team in the Institute's Neurobiology Department thought that some cases of uRPL could be related to a human variation on the Bruce effect, named after its discoverer Hilda Bruce, who found in 1959 that when pregnant mice are exposed to the body-odor of a a male that did not father the pregnancy, they will almost always abort. Why this occurs is not fully understood, but the common rational is that the female "chooses" to abort because the chemical message is that a new "more fit" male is in town.

Could a similar effect occur in women? A remarkable estimated 50% of all human conceptions and some 15% of documented human pregnancies, end in spontaneous miscarriage. Ethical considerations obviously prevented the researchers from repeating the Bruce experiments in humans; But the team instead sought circumstantial evidence.

How best to teach young people to discover the evidence for design in nature

Brian Miller
Evolution News
Thu, 27 Aug 2020 00:00 UTC

The Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills in Keystone, South Dakota, executed by John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum between 1927 and 1941.

I recently had the opportunity to speak to an audience about how best to teach the evidence for design in nature to young people. Here, I will summarize my talk by describing the approaches I have found most effective for communicating the evidence to nontechnical audiences.

Self-Discovery

The first principle is helping participants discover the evidence for design themselves. This approach is particularly important for people who have been socially conditioned to suppress any evidence for design in nature they encounter. The process of self-discovery can bypass implanted biases and mental barriers, so the truth can fully engage the mind.

One of my favorite exercises is to show a series of objects or patterns and ask listeners to assign a score from 1 to 10 on their confidence that an image was designed versus simply the product of natural processes and chance. A score of 1 corresponds to complete confidence in lack of design, and a score of 10 corresponds to complete confidence in design. I often have audiences stand as I count up from 1 to 10. When participants hear the number corresponding to their score, they sit down. I deliberately use some images that are highly ambiguous, and I conclude with an object or pattern that was clearly designed such as Mount Rushmore or a crashed spaceship.

'Weak evidence': Claim that prehistoric flying reptiles had feathers refuted by researcher

University of Portsmouth
Phys.org
Mon, 28 Sep 2020 12:00 UTC

© Megan Jacobs, University of Portsmouth.
What did pterosaurs look like? Some researchers think they had a relatively smooth skin without any covering, similar in appearance to the skin on the palms of your hands. Others have argued that they were covered with small feather-like structures and looked a little bit like four-legged birds.

The debate about when dinosaurs developed feathers has taken a new turn with a paper refuting earlier claims that feathers were also found on dinosaurs' relatives, the flying reptiles called pterosaurs.

Pterosaur expert Dr. David Unwin from the University of Leicester's Centre for Palaeobiology Research, and Professor Dave Martill, of the University of Portsmouth have examined the evidence that these creatures had feathers and believe they were in fact bald

They have responded to a suggestion by a group of his colleagues led by Zixiao Yang that some pterosaur fossils show evidence of feather-like branching filaments, 'protofeathers', on the animal's skin.

Comment: Perhaps the environment for these creatures was significantly different to our own, possibly making questions like 'how did they keep warm' not as important as they think:

And check out SOTT radio's:

Crows are capable of conscious thought, scientists demonstrate for the first time

Michelle Starr
Science Alert
Mon, 28 Sep 2020 00:00 UTC

New research into the minds of crows has revealed a jaw-dropping finding: the canny corvids aren't just clever - they also possess a form of consciousness, able to be consciously aware of the world around them in the present. In other words, they have subjective experiences.

This is called primary, or sensory, consciousness, and it had only previously been demonstrated in primates - which means we now may have to rethink our understanding of how consciousness arises, in addition to reconsidering the avian brain.

"The results of our study opens up a new way of looking at the evolution of awareness and its neurobiological constraints," said animal physiologist Andreas Nieder of the University of Tübingen.

Consciousness is difficult to pin down in animals that don't speak. It's the ability to be aware of oneself and the world around you, to know what you know, and to think about that knowledge. It enhances problem-solving and decision-making - at both of which crows excel.

New research finds molecular machines are even more amazing than Behe realized

Evolution News
Tue, 29 Sep 2020 06:44 UTC

Images of the molecular machines that Michael Behe brought to public attention 21 years ago were dim and fuzzy at the time but were convincing enough then to make a strong case for irreducible complexity. Now, new imaging techniques such as cryo-electron microscopy allow scientists to look at individual parts of the machines at near-atomic resolution.

ATP Synthase

In 1997, John E. Walker shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Paul Boyer and Jens Skou for discovering that ATP was synthesized in cells by a rotary engine. He was 56 at the time; now, at age 79, he is still engaged in research on the mechanism of ATP synthase (see our animation). Co-authoring a paper in PNAS,¹ Walker and two others used cryo-electron microscopy to examine the motor at higher resolution than was possible 23 years ago. The abstract of their paper introduces news about this rotating marvel:

The structure of the dimeric ATP synthase from bovine mitochondria determined in three rotational states by electron cryo-microscopy provides evidence that the proton uptake from the mitochondrial matrix via the proton inlet half channel proceeds via a Grotthus mechanism, and a similar mechanism may operate in the exit half channel. The structure has given information about the architecture and mechanical constitution and properties of the peripheral stalk, part of the membrane extrinsic region of the stator, and how the action of the peripheral stalk damps the side-to-side rocking motions that occur in the enzyme complex during the catalytic cycle. [Emphasis added.]

Comment: The following animations illustrate the incredible complexity and functionality of the molecular machines that reside in humans:

Network of hidden lakes detected under surface of Mars

Michelle Starr
ScienceAlert
Mon, 28 Sep 2020 18:31 UTC

The surface of Mars is renowned for its aridity. The entire planet is a dusty, barren desert - a wasteland of rock and, in some regions, ice; but of liquid water, not a confirmed drop has been found.

But in 2018, scientists unveiled a bombshell discovery - they'd found evidence of a colossal underground reservoir of liquid water at the Martian south pole.

Now, they've taken that discovery a crucial step forward. There's not one, but an entire network of multiple lakes under the southern polar ice cap. And that means that the first reservoir was not a one-off or a freak of Martian nature.

"The existence of a single subglacial lake could be attributed to ad-hoc conditions such as the presence of a volcano under the ice sheet, or some other situation unique to the specific location where we found the first subglacial lake," explained geophysicist Elena Pettinelli of Roma Tre University in Italy to ScienceAlert. She led the research alongside colleague Sebastian Emanuel Lauro.

Comment: From the European Space Agency:

Ireland switches on 5G network, expects 50% coverage by next year

Ciara O'Brien
Irish Times
Mon, 28 Sep 2020 07:00 UTC

From left: John Griffin, head of Ericsson Ireland; and David Hennessy, chief technology officer, Three Ireland.

Three Ireland has turned on its 5G network around the country, offering coverage at certain sites in every county.

Claiming to have Ireland's largest 5G network, the mobile operator has enabled 315 sites for the next generation technology, and plans to add further sites early next year. At launch it has about 35 per cent population coverage, but that will increase with the addition of 500 sites next year.

"What we expect is by the end of next year we will be well in excess of 50 per cent population coverage and growing," said David Hennessy, chief technology officer with Three Ireland. "This is about actually having a very substantive proposition out there for our customers and very substantive service."

Comment: It would appear that while some countries halt the roll out of 5G due to health concerns, Ireland's government has decided to put its citizens at the forefront of the experiment:

Also check out SOTT radio's: Objective:Health #15 - The Dangers of 5G & WiFi - With Scott Ogrin of Scottie's Tech.Info

Moon has hazardous radiation levels, new measurements from China probe show

Marcia Dunn
Phys.org
Fri, 25 Sep 2020 12:00 UTC

© CNSA/CLEP
The Chang'e-4 lunar probe, photographed from the Yutu-2 rover. The measuring device from Kiel is located on the left behind the antenna.

Future moon explorers will be bombarded with two to three times more radiation than astronauts aboard the International Space Station, a health hazard that will require thick-walled shelters for protection, scientists reported Friday.

China's lander on the far side of the moon is providing the first full measurements of radiation exposure from the lunar surface, vital information for NASA and others aiming to send astronauts to the moon, the study noted.

A Chinese-German team reported on the radiation data collected by the lander — named Chang'e 4 for the Chinese moon goddess — in the U.S. journal Science Advances.

Comment: Could it be that with the changes occurring in our solar system that this radiation could increase too?

See also:

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Science & Technology

Evidence of a supernova near Earth 2.5 million years ago

New discovery enables adult skin to regenerate like a newborn's

Repeated pregnancy loss may be tied to the olfactory system says new study

How best to teach young people to discover the evidence for design in nature

'Weak evidence': Claim that prehistoric flying reptiles had feathers refuted by researcher

Crows are capable of conscious thought, scientists demonstrate for the first time

New research finds molecular machines are even more amazing than Behe realized

Network of hidden lakes detected under surface of Mars

Ireland switches on 5G network, expects 50% coverage by next year

Moon has hazardous radiation levels, new measurements from China probe show

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