Science & TechnologyS


Magnet

Magnets dim natural glow of human cells, may shed light on how animals migrate


University of Tokyo
Wed, 06 Jan 2021 11:14 UTC
birds migrating
Researchers in Japan have made the first observations of biological magnetoreception - live, unaltered cells responding to a magnetic field in real time. This discovery is a crucial step in understanding how animals from birds to butterflies navigate using Earth's magnetic field and addressing the question of whether weak electromagnetic fields in our environment might affect human health.

"The joyous thing about this research is to see that the relationship between the spins of two individual electrons can have a major effect on biology," said Professor Jonathan Woodward from the University of Tokyo, who conducted the research with doctoral student Noboru Ikeya. The results were recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

Researchers have suspected since the 1970s that because magnets can attract and repel electrons, Earth's magnetic field, also called the geomagnetic field, could influence animal behavior by affecting chemical reactions. When some molecules are excited by light, an electron can jump from one molecule to another and create two molecules with single electrons, known as a radical pair. The single electrons can exist in one of two different spin states. If the two radicals have the same electron spin, their subsequent chemical reactions are slow, while radical pairs with opposite electron spins can react faster. Magnetic fields can influence electron spin states and thus directly influence chemical reactions involving radical pairs.

Statistical analysis of the light intensity in videos data revealed that the cell's fluorescence dimmed by about 3.5% each time the magnetic field swept over the cells. © Ikeya and Woodward, CC BY, originally published in PNASDOI: 10.1073/pnas.2018043118


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Frog

Huntsman spiders found weaving 'frog traps' out of silk and leaves

Mike McRae
Science Alert
Wed, 06 Jan 2021 12:00 UTC
huntsman spider
© Fulgence et al., Ecology and Evolution, 2020
As if spiders weren't already crafty enough, on the island of Madagascar, biologists have now found what appear to be frog traps crafted by huntsman spiders (Damastes sp.).

The so-called traps were made from leaves stitched together with silk, and potentially offered shady spots for amphibians to rest, resulting in them getting trapped in the web and becoming a spider snack.

To be fair, calling them frog traps is for now rather speculative. This paper is based on a single observation of a spider chowing down on a half-wrapped frog (Heterixalus andrakata).

Comment: It seems that researchers are struggling to accept these observations because they're blinded by Darwinian theory, evidence of tool usage, creativity, and even cross species partnerships appear throughout the animal kingdom And check out SOTT radio's:

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Arrow Up

Israel can expect a major earthquake of M6.5 in the coming years

Tel-Aviv University
Phys.org
Wed, 06 Jan 2021 12:00 UTC
barge
© Tel Aviv University.Drilling barge in the Dead Sea, 2010.
A first-of-its-kind study conducted under the bed of the Dead Sea reveals that a devastating earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale is expected to hit the region in the coming years. The study showed that an earthquake of this magnitude occurs in the land of Israel on an average cycle of between 130 and 150 years, but there have been cases in history where the lull between one earthquake and another was only a few decades long.

The last earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 on the Richter scale was felt in the Dead Sea valley in 1927, when hundreds of people were injured in Amman, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and even Jaffa. Now, in the wake of the findings of the study, the researchers are warning that another earthquake is very likely to occur in our lifetime, in the coming years or decades.

Comment: See also: Evidence for a massive paleo-tsunami at ancient Tel Dor, Israel

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Info

Chandler wobble detected on Mars

Jack Lee
EOS Org
Mon, 04 Jan 2021 11:55 UTC
Mars Wobble
© NASA/JPL/USGSResearchers have detected the Chandler wobble on Mars, a first for a solar system body besides Earth, on the basis of measurements from spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet.
In a first for a solar system body other than Earth, scientists have detected the Chandler wobble on Mars, a repeated movement of the poles on the surface of the planet away from its average axis of rotation.

The Chandler wobble arises when a rotating body isn't a perfect sphere. This imbalance affects its spin. The result is a wiggle resembling that of a swaying top as it loses speed, rather than the smooth spin of a perfectly balanced globe.

Measurements over nearly 2 decades by spacecraft orbiting Mars uncovered that on the surface, the planet's poles wander up to 10 centimeters from the average axis of rotation, with a repeated cycle of about 207 days.

The new findings by Konopliv et al. provide new insights into the interior of Mars. The amount of time it takes for the pole to complete one cycle of the wobble reflects how much Mars's mantle can deform, providing hints about its material properties and thermal state.

"[The Chandler wobble] is a very small signal, typically," said Alex Konopliv, an aerospace engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "You need many years and high-quality data to detect it," he said. A previous study, for example, didn't have enough data points to differentiate the Chandler wobble from seasonal effects. Konopliv is the lead author of the new research, which was published in AGU's Geophysical Research Letters.
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Burka

Masks no obstacle for new facial recognition system from Japan's NEC

Chris Gallagher
Japan Times
Thu, 07 Jan 2021 18:24 UTC
facial recognition
© REUTERSNEC's new system requires users to register an image of their face to allow them to be identified even when wearing a mask.
Japan's NEC Corp. has launched a facial recognition system that identifies people even when they are wearing masks, adapting to a new normal in which face coverings have become a key form of protection against the spread of the coronavirus.

The technology firm had already been working on a system to meet the needs of allergy sufferers who wear masks when the COVID-19 pandemic prompted it to accelerate development.

"Needs grew even more due to the coronavirus situation as the state of emergency (last year) was continuing for a long time, and so we've now introduced this technology to the market," Shinya Takashima, assistant manager of NEC's digital platform division, said.

Comment: What are the chances that some dark forces within government are eagerly awaiting to hook this up to their coronavirus vaccine database project?

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Microscope 1

New study on circadian clock shows 'junk DNA' plays a key role in regulating rhythms

Laura LeBlanc
Science Daily
Mon, 04 Jan 2021 00:00 UTC
Junk DNA
© National Institute of Health
If you've ever had a bad case of jet lag, you know how a disruption to your body's circadian rhythm makes it difficult to function. Molecular circadian "clocks" exist in cells throughout the body, governing more than just sleep and wake cycles -- they are crucial to many aspects of human health. For more than a decade researchers have been trying to figure out what makes them tick, in search of new insights into diseases like Alzheimer's, cancer and diabetes.

Until now, that research has focused on what is known as clock genes, which encode proteins that drive oscillating cycles of gene expression affecting physiology and behavior. But research just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals the discovery of a new cog in the circadian clock -- a genome-wide regulatory layer made up of small chains of non-coding nucleotides known as micro RNAS (miRNAs).
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Clock

Earth's spin is accelerating says new research

Graham Jones and Konstantin Bikos
Time and Date.com
Wed, 06 Jan 2021 13:57 UTC
Earth from Space
© Stocktrek Images via Getty Images
Many of us wish we could get through this difficult year as quickly as possible. Seems the Earth feels the same way — it has been spinning unusually fast lately. 2020 included the 28 shortest days since 1960.

Atomic Clocks Expose Earth's Irregular Speed

The Earth is an excellent timekeeper: on average, with respect to the Sun, it rotates once every 86,400 seconds, which equals 24 hours, or one mean solar day.

But it is not perfect. When highly accurate atomic clocks were developed in the 1960s, they showed that the length of a mean solar day can vary by milliseconds (1 millisecond equals 0.001 seconds). These differences are obtained by measuring the Earth's rotation with respect to distant astronomical objects, and using a mathematical formula to calculate the mean solar day.

2020 Had Shortest Days on Record

Before this year began, the shortest day since 1973 was July 5, 2005, when the Earth's rotation took 1.0516 milliseconds less than 86,400 seconds.

But in the middle of 2020, the Earth beat that record no less than 28 times. The shortest day of all came on July 19, when the Earth completed its rotation in 1.4602 milliseconds less than 86,400 seconds.

The speed of the Earth's rotation varies constantly because of the complex motion of its molten core, oceans and atmosphere, plus other effects.
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Galaxy

A guide to the solar system's biggest secrets

Charlie Wood
Popular Science
Mon, 04 Jan 2021 18:03 UTC
solar system
© Sara Chodosh(Click to enlarge) From the sun to Pluto and beyond, our solar system holds the ghosts of mysterious celestial bodies.
Astronomers have spent centuries filling in their sketches of our corner of the Milky Way. But these charts, like all maps, are only approximations of reality. Their blind spots likely harbor some unknown entities — bodies too small, too close to the sun, or too far away for us to see. Here are some celestial objects that stargazers have suspected of dodging their telescopes over the years.

Vulcan and the vulcanoids

Comment: Over the years SOTT has provided a wealth of exclusive articles that help explain some of the above mentioned 'mysteries': Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Cloud Lightning

Ball lightning: Could bizarre phenomena arrive from another dimension?

Tom Fish
Express
Sat, 02 Jan 2021 07:01 UTC
lightning ball
Siberia: Bizarre 'lightning ball' moves across field in 2016
Until recently, many physicists even doubted such other-worldly events could even occur. Ball lightning may have first been documented by the early Greeks, who reported seeing small balls of bright plasma-like light hovering over the ground before vanishing.

Although scientific explanations remain exasperatingly out of reach, numerous hypothesis have been offered.

And a new innovative idea has now been proposed about ball lightning, involving the addition of a fifth dimension.

Dr Andrea Aiello, a theoretical physicist at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light told Express.co.uk: "My personal idea - just the simplest geometrical description I can think of - is about adding an extra dimension."

Dr Aiello has a personal reason for pursuing an interest in the fascinating phenomena, as he saw some first hand as a child.


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Cassiopaea

Hundreds of high-velocity stars discovered, many on their way OUT of the Milky Way

Matt Williams
Universe Today
Tue, 05 Jan 2021 18:00 UTC
Milky way
Within our galaxy, there are thousands of stars that orbit the center of the Milky Way at high velocities. On occasion, some of them pick up so much speed that they break free of our galaxy and become intergalactic objects. Because of the extreme dynamical and astrophysical processes involved, astronomers are most interested in studying these stars - especially those that are able to achieve escape velocity and leave our galaxy.

However, an international team of astronomers led from the National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC) recently announced the discovery of 591 high-velocity stars. Based on data provided by the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) and the ESA's Gaia Observatory, they indicated that 43 of these stars are fast enough to escape the Milky Way someday.

The study was published in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series on Dec. 17th. The study was led by Dr. LI Yinbi, an NAOC astronomer, and included researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), the Institute for Advanced Study, the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the ExtantFuture Technology Co., the Institute of Statistical Mathematics in Tokyo, and multiple universities.

Comment: SOTT's book review of Planet-X, Comets and Earth Changes by J.M. McCanney may provide some clues as to what's going on:
According to the received wisdom, our solar system formed more or less at one time, four-point-something billion years ago (give or take a day or two). You can read about it on Wikipedia. [...]

According to McCanney's theory (described in the paper in Appendix I), the picture is pretty different, being both logical and accounting for those aforementioned "anomalies", including the "missing mass" problem, the spiral shape and symmetry of galactic arms, and the surplus of twin star systems observed in our galaxy. In this model, stars and planets, as well as smaller comet nuclei, are all formed at the same time from cosmic dust continually emanating from and returning back into the galactic center. Basically, the cosmic dust collapses inward toward the nucleus, and condensed material is ejected outward in a "shotgun effect". (Because all these objects are formed in the same way, this means that stars may actually have solid cores, the source of heavy isotopes ejected in supernovae.)

Ejected bodies will naturally stabilize into dual orbiting systems, explaining the observation that over 80% of star systems are actually twin-star systems, the remainder probably also being twinned, although with more introverted companions of the unlit variety (e.g., brown dwarfs or gas giants). (Incidentally, McCanney believes Jupiter is the Sun's unlit twin, as they alone share the same spin axis among solar system bodies, but we here at SOTT favor the brown dwarf theory, for which Walter Cruttenden gives some evidence in his book Lost Star of Myth and Time.) As these two bodies stabilize in their orbit of one another, they eject smaller bodies to go out into the world and find their own solar system.
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