Welcome to Sott.net
Thu, 21 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Science & Technology
Map

Jupiter

'Clyde's Spot' on Jupiter is starting to look pretty weird

George Dvorsky
Gizmodo
Fri, 21 May 2021 19:00 UTC
Clyde's Spot_2
© NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill
Clyde’s spot, as spotted by NASA’s Juno probe on April 15, 2021.
Last May, a spot suddenly appeared in Jupiter's southern hemisphere. But as new images from the Juno spacecraft show, the once circular feature has morphed into an enigmatic splotch.

The feature was first detected by Clyde Foster, director of the Shallow Sky section of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, on May 31, 2020. Foster spotted the spot using his own 14-inch telescope, and, quite fortuitously, NASA's Juno probe made a close approach two days later, allowing for a close-up view of the new feature.

Clyde's Spot, as it's informally known, is a convective outbreak — a plume of cloud that's reaching out beyond the regular cloud tops — and is located to the southeast of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. Such outbreaks are not uncommon within the gas giant's South Temperate Belt.

On April 15, 2021, Juno performed its 33rd perijove (close flyby) of Jupiter, during which time it captured a new view of Clyde's Spot — or, at least what used to be Clyde's Spot. The new image was taken when the spacecraft was 16,800 miles (27,000 kilometers) above Jupiter's cloud tops. Citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill processed the image from raw JunoCam data, according to NASA.
      Read More...
Beaker

Researchers discover new type of atomically thin conductive carbon material and it's not graphene


PhysOrg
Sat, 22 May 2021 17:20 UTC
new form carbon ultra thin
© University of Marburg, Aalto University
Structure of the new carbon network. The upper part shows schematically the linking of the carbon atoms, forming squares, hexagons, and octagons. The lower part is an image of the network, obtained with high-resolution microscopy.
Carbon exists in various forms. In addition to diamond and graphite, there are recently discovered forms with astonishing properties. For example graphene, with a thickness of just one atomic layer, is the thinnest known material, and its unusual properties make it an extremely exciting candidate for applications like future electronics and high-tech engineering. In graphene, each carbon atom is linked to three neighbors, forming hexagons arranged in a honeycomb network. Theoretical studies have shown that carbon atoms can also arrange in other flat network patterns, while still binding to three neighbors, but none of these predicted networks had been realized until now.

Researchers at the University of Marburg in Germany and Aalto University in Finland have now discovered a new carbon network, which is atomically thin like graphene, but is made up of squares, hexagons, and octagons forming an ordered lattice. They confirmed the unique structure of the network using high-resolution scanning probe microscopy and interestingly found that its electronic properties are very different from those of graphene.
      Read More...
Brain

Brain stimulation evoking sense of touch improves control of robotic arm


Medical Xpress
Thu, 20 May 2021 00:01 UTC
Jennifer Collinger
© UPMC
Jennifer Collinger, Associate professor, University of Pittsburgh Pitt Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Most able-bodied people take their ability to perform simple daily tasks for granted — when they reach for a warm mug of coffee, they can feel its weight and temperature and adjust their grip accordingly so that no liquid is spilled. People with full sensory and motor control of their arms and hands can feel that they've made contact with an object the instant they touch or grasp it, allowing them to start moving or lifting it with confidence.

But those tasks become much more difficult when a person operates a prosthetic arm, let alone a mind-controlled one.

In a paper published today in Science, a team of bioengineers from the University of Pittsburgh Rehab Neural Engineering Labs describe how adding brain stimulation that evokes tactile sensations makes it easier for the operator to manipulate a brain-controlled robotic arm. In the experiment, supplementing vision with artificial tactile perception cut the time spent grasping and transferring objects in half, from a median time of 20.9 to 10.2 seconds.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Info

New form of carbon discovered


Aalto University
Thu, 20 May 2021 17:38 UTC
Not graphene: researchers in Germany and Finland discover new type of atomically thin carbon material.
New Form of Carbon
© University Marburg & Aalto University
Structure of the new network. The upper part schematically shows how the carbon atoms link as squares, hexagons, & octagons. The lower part is an image of the network, obtained with high resolution microscopy.
Carbon exists in various forms. In addition to diamond and graphite, there are recently discovered forms with astonishing properties. For example graphene, with a thickness of just one atomic layer, is the thinnest known material, and its unusual properties make it an extremely exciting candidate for applications like future electronics and high-tech engineering. In graphene, each carbon atom is linked to three neighbours, forming hexagons arranged in a honeycomb network. Theoretical studies have shown that carbon atoms can also arrange in other flat network patterns, while still binding to three neighbours, but none of these predicted networks had been realized until now.

Researchers at the University of Marburg in Germany and Aalto University in Finland have now discovered a new carbon network, which is atomically thin like graphene, but is made up of squares, hexagons, and octagons forming an ordered lattice. They confirmed the unique structure of the network using high-resolution scanning probe microscopy and interestingly found that its electronic properties are very different from those of graphene.

In contrast to graphene and other forms of carbon, the new Biphenylene network — as the new material is named — has metallic properties. Narrow stripes of the network, only 21 atoms wide, already behave like a metal, while graphene is a semiconductor at this size. "These stripes could be used as conducting wires in future carbon-based electronic devices." said professor Michael Gottfried, at University of Marburg, who leads the team that developed the idea. The lead author of the study, Qitang Fan from Marburg continues, "This novel carbon network may also serve as a superior anode material in lithium-ion batteries, with a larger lithium storage capacity compared to that of the current graphene-based materials."
      Read More...
Arrow Up

Comets cause meteor showers on Earth


SETI Institute
Thu, 20 May 2021 19:32 UTC
Long Period Comet
© P. Jenniskens / SETI Institute
The meteoroid stream of long-period comet Thatcher from CAMS data. Outer blue ellipse is the orbit of Neptune.
Comets that circle the Sun in very elongated orbits spread their debris so thin along their orbit or eject it out of the solar system altogether that their meteor showers are hard to detect. From a new meteor shower survey published in the journal Icarus, researchers now report that they can detect showers from the debris in the path of comets that pass close to Earth orbit and are known to return as infrequent as once every 4,000 years.

"This creates a situational awareness for potentially hazardous comets that were last near-Earth orbit as far back as 2,000 BC," said meteor astronomer and lead author Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute.

Jenniskens is the lead of the Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance (CAMS) project, which observes and triangulates the visible meteors in the night sky using low- light video security cameras to measure their trajectory and orbit. There are CAMS networks now in nine countries, led by co-authors on the paper.

In recent years, new networks in Australia, Chile and Namibia significantly increased the number of triangulated meteors. The addition of these networks resulted in a better and more complete picture of the meteor showers in the night sky.

"Until recently, we only knew five long-period comets to be parent bodies to one of our meteor showers," said Jenniskens, "but now we identified nine more, and perhaps as many as 15."
      Read More...
Galaxy

Solar Orbiter spacecraft captures its first massive eruption on Sun's surface in unprecedented detail


The Weather Channel
Wed, 19 May 2021 21:56 UTC
sun solar flare
© ESA/AOES
An artist's impression of the Solar Orbiter observing an eruption on the Sun
Last June, the Solar Orbiter spacecraft rocketing around the Sun discovered something new about our hot-headed star: its surface is covered in miniature solar flares, or otherwise known as "campfires" to the scientists behind the spacecraft. Having continued its exploration efforts, NASA and European Space Agency's spacecraft has now captured the first solar eruption on the Sun's surface.

If these eruptions on the Sun's surface are big enough, they can cause billions of tons of plasma and electrically charged particles to dash towards Earth. These eruptions, also known as coronal mass ejections (CME), were observed by the Solar Orbiter on February 12, NASA said in a statement.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Laptop

New material could create 'neurons' and 'synapses' for computers


University of Groningen
Tue, 18 May 2021 15:12 UTC
Proposed Device
© Illustration Banerjee group
Schematic of the proposed device structure for neuromorphic spintronic memristors. The write path is between the terminals through the top layer (black dotted line), the read path goes through the device stack (red dotted line). The right side of the figure indicates how the choice of substrate dictates whether the device will show deterministic or probabilistic behavior.
Classic computers use binary values (0/1) to perform. By contrast, our brain cells can use more values to operate, making them more energy-efficient than computers. This is why scientists are interested in neuromorphic (brain-like) computing. Physicists from the University of Groningen have used a complex oxide to create elements comparable to the neurons and synapses in the brain using spins, a magnetic property of electrons. Their results were published on 18 May in the journal Frontiers in Nanotechnology.

Although computers can do straightforward calculations much faster than humans, our brains outperform silicon machines in tasks like object recognition. Furthermore, our brain uses less energy than computers. Part of this can be explained by the way our brain operates: whereas a computer uses a binary system (with values 0 or 1), brain cells can provide more analogue signals with a range of values.
      Read More...
Cassiopaea

First nuclear detonation created 'impossible' quasicrystals

Davide Castelvecchi
Nature
Mon, 17 May 2021 23:08 UTC
quasicrystal
© Luca Bindi, Paul J. Steinhardt
This sample of red trinitite was found to contain a previously unknown type of quasicrystal.
Scientists searching for quasicrystals — so-called 'impossible' materials with unusual, non-repeating structures — have identified one in remnants of the world's first nuclear bomb test.

The previously unknown structure, made of iron, silicon, copper and calcium, probably formed from the fusion of vaporized desert sand and copper cables. Similar materials have been synthesized in the laboratory and identified in meteorites, but this one, described in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on 17 May, is the first example of a quasicrystal with this combination of elements1.

Impossible symmetries

Comment: One wonders what other effects these tests have had on our planet: See also:

      Read More...
Fireball

New meteor impact crater discovered on Mars

Andy Tomaswick
Universe Today
Mon, 17 May 2021 12:00 UTC
meteor crater mars
Meteors hit much harder on Mars than they do on the Earth. Lack of atmosphere obviously contributes to that, but its proximity to the asteroid belt also makes the red planet a more likely target for some gravitationally disturbed rock to run into. Now that we have a satellite infrastructure consistently monitoring Mars, we are able to capture the aftermath of what happens when it is pummeled by space debris, and the results can be dramatic.


Comment: Jupiter not a shield but is flinging comets toward Earth says new research


One powerful tool in that impact hunting toolkit is the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It has a variety of instruments on it that make it possible to both track down areas of interest and then follow up with high resolution imagery, incluidng HiRISE, the camera that took the picture above. That is exactly what happened with a new crater that the satellite noticed on one of its flybys.

Comment: Considering the above, it's notable that there's been a significant uptick of fireballs and NEOs recorded on Earth in recent years: Also check out SOTT radio's:

      Read More...
Syringe

The data suggest we achieved herd immunity before the vaccines were rolled out


Lockdown Sceptics
Sun, 16 May 2021 00:00 UTC
cows cow confrontation
Summary
  • Population immunity played a major role in ending each wave of SAR-CoV-2 infection
  • Herd immunity thresholds differ by about two-fold across England, and have been reached
  • Different herd immunity thresholds correlate with regional differences in ethnicity and air temperature - possibly both operating by changing the rate of indoor contacts
  • The Infection Fatality Rate has changed dramatically during the pandemic: it first rose during (and possibly because of) lockdowns, and then fell by over eight-fold as older and vulnerable individuals were vaccinated. It is now so low, and herd immunity so well established, that vaccinating younger adults and children with novel genetic technology vaccines cannot be medically or ethically justified.
      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts