The African manatee is one of three subspecies of these creatures. It belongs to the mammal family that also includes dugongs.
Imaginechina/Sipa US/Alamy
“This is the perfect place for manatees,” said Lucy Keith Diagne, looking out at the slow mudflow of the Niandang River. It seems unlikely, but how did this mobile aquatic mammal, also known as a sea cow, live some 4,000 kilometers up Guinea's Niger River, almost as close to the Sahara Desert and the Atlantic Ocean? Is there one? But Keith Diagne, the world's leading expert on African manatees, should know.
These chubby creatures are known to inhabit the lower reaches of the Niger River, which stretches like a gigantic boomerang through much of West Africa, and long-standing anecdotal evidence suggests that they can be found separately in the upper reaches of tributaries near its source. This suggests that there is a population of Additionally, Dr. Keith Diagne believes that because this group has been separated from other manatees for so long, its members may have evolved into separate subspecies. “They went up the Niger River. They found something good. They kept going. They never came back and ended up different,” she said. Masu. But for now, this is just a guess.
To learn more, we drove hundreds of kilometers from the marshy coast of Guinea, across the highlands and down into the forested savanna in search of these elusive creatures. Keith Diagne and his team will spend a two-week expedition interviewing local residents, following clues from recent sightings, and searching for signs of feeding along riverbanks. Importantly, they also collect samples of…
Gigantopythos black probably lived in a “mosaic of forest and grass”
Garcia/Joanne Boyau (Southern Cross University)
The largest known primates went extinct between 295,000 and 215,000 years ago, probably because they were unable to adapt their food preferences to a changing climate.
A relative of modern orangutans, Gigantopithecus brachy Known as “Giganto”, it was 3 meters tall and weighed up to 300 kilograms.
Despite living for more than two million years, the species has been shrouded in mystery since 1935, when a fossilized tooth was discovered in a traditional medicine store in Hong Kong. The giant tooth was initially thought to belong to a dragon, but paleontologists soon discovered it. In fact, it turns out that it belongs to a primate.
“When I think of them, I think of the giants,” he says. Kira Westaway Graduated from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. “Usually when you think of giants, you think of dinosaurs, but this was a primate giant.”
To establish a timeline of when this ape became extinct, Westaway and her colleagues studied hundreds of teeth and four jawbone fragments found in caves throughout southern China's Guangxi province. By observing the radioactive decay of certain elements, such as uranium, in teeth and bones, researchers can determine how much time has passed since death.
They also examined other deposits in the cave, such as pollen and sediment, to determine its condition. G. Blackie – Herbivores – lived there.
“We show that starting 2.3 million years ago, the environment was a mosaic of forests and grasses, providing ideal conditions for flourishing. G. Blackie population,” the researchers wrote. “However, just before and during the extinction period between 295,000 and 215,000 years ago, increased seasonality led to increased environmental variability, which led to changes in plant communities and an increase in open forest environments. the researchers added.
By studying the stripes on fossilized animals' teeth, researchers discovered signs of chronic stress caused by lack of access to their favorite foods. They say the creature's failure to adapt to a changing climate and accompanying fluctuations in food likely sealed its fate. In contrast, orangutans, of which three species survive, have adapted their dietary preferences and behavior in response to increasing climate change.
“eventually [G.blacki’s] “The struggle to adapt led to the extinction of the largest primate to ever live on Earth,” the researchers wrote. They also dispelled the idea that hominins may have competed with or hunted the species, precipitating its extinction. “There's no evidence for this,” Westaway says.
julian lewis Researchers at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia say they present a convincing case that environmental change, particularly increased habitat variability, has likely had negative effects on organisms. . G. Blackie.
However, he added that the fossils studied came from a very limited geographical area.resembles a fossil G. Blackie It is also found in Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
“One thing seems almost certain: Their actual geographic range would have been much larger than current fossils indicate,” Ruiz says. “We don't know how much this will affect the timing of global extinction of this species.”
anne marie bacon Researchers at France's National Center for Scientific Research say this study can help us understand. Mr. G. Blackie But studying China's fossils only reveals part of its history.
“Although this paper focuses on records from China, we do not know whether the geographic range of great apes extended into Indochina because there are few paleontological remains in Asia.” [mainland South-East Asia]we also looked at what the southern limit of this range was,” she says.
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the immune system starts attacking the nerves.
Katerina Conn/Science Photo Library
The largest genetic database of ancient humans to date is shedding new light on why people vary in modern conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and other genetic traits such as height.
One of the findings is that the genes behind MS may have become more common because they helped people resist infections transmitted from animals.
Other findings include why Alzheimer’s disease is more common in some groups than others and why people in northern Europe tend to be taller than people in the southern part of the continent. Includes description.
“What happened thousands of years ago can have a very serious impact on the health and longevity of people living today,” he says. Evan Irving Pease at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
The genes of people of European and Western Asian ancestry have been shaped by three major waves of migration. Modern hunter-gatherer humans first arrived in these areas about 45,000 years ago. Then, about 11,000 years ago, a wave of farmers arrived from the Middle East, followed by a further influx of pastoralists, now called the Yamnaya, from the Eurasian steppe.
To understand how these popular movements shaped the modern medical landscape, Irving Pease's team collected bone and tooth samples from approximately 5,000 ancient sites found in museum collections across Europe and Western Asia. The oldest one is 34,000 years old.
The latest study reports on the first batch of samples analyzed based on approximately 1600 individuals. The researchers compared these people to the genetic data of 410,000 people in a huge medical dataset called the UK Biobank, and analyzed only white participants to select participants with European ancestry. did.
The research team started by focusing on MS, an autoimmune disease that occurs when the immune system begins to attack nerves, often leading to progressive disability.What previous research has found 233 genetic variants associated with increased risk of MS.
Among modern people in the UK, those at high genetic risk of multiple sclerosis are more likely to have Yamnaya ancestry, a study has shown. The research team also found that some of these MS-predisposing genetic mutations first arose in the Yamnaya tribe and became more frequent among their descendants as they spread westward through Europe.
Given that some of the 233 variants associated with MS also affect the immune system, and that the Yamnaya people have lived among animals, researchers believe that the genes behind MS are probably The researchers concluded that the species may help protect against bacteria and viruses that can be transmitted to humans. animal.The team has previously shown that Some MS risk variants are associated with partial resistance to tuberculosis.
In another paper, researchers have revealed how our ancestry influences our genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease. Modern humans are more likely to have a gene called . Apo E4If you have more ancestors from Europe's first hunter-gatherers, you have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
Another variant of this gene is Apo E2The result is a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease, which likely occurred in the incoming Yamnaya people because it provided protection against malaria and unknown viral infections, the researchers wrote in their paper.
Variants that protect against Alzheimer's disease do not confer a reproductive advantage, so they may not have been selected by evolution to have an effect on dementia, given that dementia typically develops long after people have had children. Yes, researchers say. benjamin trumbull from Arizona State University and was not involved in any research.
“The great thing about this paper is that they go further back in time and say what was advantageous or disadvantageous at that time,” Trumbull said. “Too often we look at our modern environment and say: [a certain gene] Purely harmful. We have to consider what the selection pressures were at different points in time. ”
A further finding from the analysis is that among people living in Europe, those with more Yamnaya ancestry tend to be taller, which explains why Northern Europeans are, on average, taller than Southern Europeans. This may explain why it is so expensive.
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have detected a giant cyclone and other dynamic weather activity swirling around WASP-121b, an ultra-hot Jovian exoplanet about 881 light-years away in the constellation Papis. Detected.
This artist's illustration shows WASP-121b, an alien world where magnesium and iron gases are being lost from the atmosphere. Image credit: NASA/ESA/J. Olmsted, STScI.
WASP-121b is a gas giant exoplanet that is 1.87 times larger and 1.18 times heavier than Jupiter.
First discovered in 2016, the alien star takes just 1.3 days to orbit its parent star, F6 star WASP-121.
WASP-121b is so close to the star that if it got any closer, the star's gravity would begin to tear it apart.
Astronomers estimate that the planet's temperature is around 2,500 degrees Celsius (4,600 degrees Fahrenheit), hot enough to boil some metals.
In the new study, Caltech astronomer Jack Skinner and colleagues analyzed observations of WASP-12 b taken by Hubble in 2016, 2018, and 2019.
Researchers discovered that the planet has a dynamic atmosphere that changes over time.
Using advanced modeling techniques, they demonstrated that these dramatic temporal variations can be explained by weather patterns in the exoplanet's atmosphere.
They found that WASP-121b's atmosphere showed marked differences between observations.
Most dramatically, large temperature differences between the star-facing and dark sides of exoplanets can repeatedly generate and destroy large weather fronts, storms, and massive cyclones. .
The authors also note that there is an apparent misalignment between the hottest region of an exoplanet and the point on the planet closest to its star, as well as variability in the chemical composition of the exoplanet's atmosphere (spectroscopically measurement) was also detected.
They reached these conclusions by using computational models that help explain observed changes in the exoplanet's atmosphere.
“The incredible detail of exoplanet atmosphere simulations allows us to accurately model the climate of superhot planets like WASP-121b,” Dr. Skinner said.
“Now we have made significant progress by combining observational constraints and atmospheric simulations to understand the time-varying weather of these planets.”
“This is a very interesting result as we continue to observe the weather patterns of exoplanets,” said Dr. Quentin Cheniato, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute.
“Studying exoplanet climates is critical to understanding the complexity of exoplanet atmospheres on other worlds, especially in the search for exoplanets with habitable conditions.”
“The assembled dataset represents a significant amount of observation time for a single planet and is currently the only consistent set of such repeated observations.”
“The information we extracted from those observations was used to infer WASP-121b's atmospheric chemistry, temperature, and clouds at different times.”
“This yielded exquisite images of the planet as it changes over time.”
The United States showed a promising decline in carbon emissions in 2023, despite economic growth, indicating a move towards a more sustainable future. Greenhouse gas emissions dropped by approximately 1.9% according to Rhodium Group’s preliminary analysis, tracking progress towards U.S. climate goals. The economy saw a growth of about 2.4%.
Ben King, an associate director at Rhodium Group, expressed that while this slow reduction in emissions shows progress, it also highlights the need for greater ambition in government and industry to achieve America’s climate goals.
The Biden administration aims to reduce emissions by 50% to 52% by 2030, an ambitious target considering that emissions are currently 17% lower than in 2005, following fluctuations in recent years.
King emphasized the necessity of tripling the 2% reduction in emissions achieved in the past year annually until 2030 to meet the Paris goals, which set limits on global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius. He mentioned that these goals require significant global leadership and effort from governments worldwide, as the pace of efforts to limit global warming remains insufficient according to a November report from the Stockholm Environmental Institute.
While certain sectors like power and buildings contributed to the emissions decline in 2023, others like transportation and industry saw an increase. Efforts to electrify these areas through policies like the Controlled Inflation Act are beginning to take effect, with record-high electric vehicle sales in 2023.
However, King noted that broader climate action may depend on the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.
“To do something more ambitious than just stay on track, we need an executive branch that is committed to climate action and a Congress that stands out from the crowd. We don’t have high hopes for large-scale, comprehensive climate action for 2024, but we will need to see some progress after 2025,” King concluded.
Employer-provided benefits initiatives generally do not improve workers’ mental health, but volunteering may be an exception
Nuva frame/shutterstock
A study of more than 46,000 workers found that the benefits initiatives offered by many companies do little to improve the mental health of their employees.
In England, More than half of employers have a formal employee benefits strategy. These include employee assistance programs that provide support for work or personal issues, as well as counseling, online life coaching, mindfulness workshops, stress management training, and more.
“Employers are increasingly offering a variety of strategies, practices and programs to improve wellbeing and mental health,” he says. William Fleming at Oxford University. “Their fundamental purpose is to change people's psychological capacities and coping mechanisms,” he says.
To investigate whether these interventions are useful, Fleming and other researchers conducted the UK’s healthiest workplace survey in 2017 and 2018. He examined responses from more than 46,000 individuals in 233 organizations, the majority of whom were office and service industry employees. Approximately 5,000 people have participated in at least one welfare initiative in the past year. The researchers found that there was no difference in the self-reported mental health of those who participated in these programs compared to those who did not participate. The result was consistent regardless of different types of workers and sectors.
“The program doesn’t seem to be providing any benefits,” Fleming said.
However, volunteer work may be an exception. Employees who participated in company-sponsored volunteer programs reported better mental health on average than those who did not participate. Fleming notes that it’s important to consider that people who are willing to volunteer for a cause may have relatively good mental health to begin with.
Instead of proposing these initiatives, Fleming suggests that employers focus on improving working conditions. For example, they can assess whether someone’s workload is too demanding, whether they’re working too many hours, and whether management strategies can be improved, he said.
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Tinnitus, a ringing in the ears, can be a debilitating problem for those who suffer from it. However, a team of researchers has discovered a potential solution to this issue.
The survey results have been published in the magazine Frontiers of audiology and otology, and an international research team can effectively reduce symptoms in just a few weeks with an app that includes sound therapy and various training courses. The study involved 30 people with tinnitus, and almost two-thirds of them experienced “clinically significant improvement” from using the app. The team will now conduct a large-scale trial in the UK in collaboration with University College London Hospital. According to Suzanne Purdy, Waipapa Taumata Rau Professor of Psychology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, cognitive behavioral therapy is known to help people suffering from tinnitus, but it is expensive and often difficult to access.
“[The app] Cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, relaxation exercises, and sound therapy can be combined to train your brain’s responses and reduce tinnitus. The sounds you perceive fade into the background and become less noticeable.”
The new app aims to tune out the sound of tinnitus, giving the mind and body tools to suppress stress hormones and responses, and reduce the brain’s tendency to focus on the sound. The Mindear app is currently available for download for Apple and Android users. Some features are free in the app, but many are locked behind a paywall after a 7-day free trial (requires a £13 monthly subscription). Another app, the sound tinnitus app, is currently undergoing clinical trials in the UK.
About 1.5 million people in Australia, 4 million in the UK and 20 million in the US suffer from severe tinnitus, according to Dr. Fabrice Bardy, an audiologist at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, and lead author of the study published in the journal Frontiers of audiology and otology. He adds, “One of the most common misconceptions about tinnitus is that there’s nothing you can do about it; you just have to live with it. This is simply not true. Tinnitus Support Expertise The support of professionals with knowledge and expertise can reduce the fear and anxiety associated with a healthy patient experience.”
Tinnitus itself is not a disease, but is usually a symptom of another underlying health condition, such as damage to the auditory system or tension in the head and neck. While there is no known cure for tinnitus, management strategies and techniques can help patients. For more information, please visit the provided links.
The credit for discovering the first dinosaur bones is usually given to an English gentleman who discovered them in England between the 17th and 19th centuries. British natural historian Robert Plott first described dinosaur bones in his 1676 book. Oxfordshire natural history. Paleontologists from the University of the Witwatersrand and Nelson Mandela University have presented evidence that the first dinosaur bones may have been discovered in Africa as much as 500 years before Plott's discovery.
tyrannosaurus rex. Image credit: Amanda Kelly.
Humans were born in Africa. homo sapiens It has existed for at least 300,000 years.
And this continent is home to a wide variety of rock outcrops, including the Kem Kem Formation in Morocco, the Fayum Depression in Egypt, the Rift Valley in eastern Africa, and the Karoo in southern Africa, which contain fossils that were always accessible to our ancestors. I am.
So it's not just that Africans were likely the first to discover fossils. It was inevitable.
In many cases, the first dinosaur fossils claimed to have been discovered by scientists were actually brought to our attention by local guides.
An example is the discovery of giant dinosaurs. jobaria By the Tuareg people of Niger Giraffatitan By the Mwera people of Tanzania.
our paperPublished in Geological Society, London, Special Publicationreviews what is known about African indigenous fossil knowledge.
We enumerate fossils that may have been known since ancient times at various sites in Africa and discuss how they were used and interpreted by African communities before the science of paleontology was born. .
One of the highlights of our paper is the ruins of Borara, a Late Stone Age rock shelter in Lesotho.
Various dating techniques indicate that the site was inhabited by the Khesan and Basotho peoples from the 12th to 18th centuries (1100-1700 AD).
The shelter itself is surrounded by hills formed by compacted sediments deposited under harsh deserts like the Sahara some 180 to 200 million years ago, when the first dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Masu.
This region of Lesotho is particularly well known for its deliveries. Massospondylus carinatusa dinosaur with a body length of 4 to 6 meters, a small head and a long neck.
Fossilized bones of this kind are abundant in this area and were already the case when this place was occupied by people in the Middle Ages.
In 1990, archaeologists working in Bolarla discovered a human finger bone. Massospondylus He was being carried into a cave.
There are no fossilized skeletons protruding from the cave walls. So the only possibility that this phalanx ended up there is that someone picked it up in the distant past and carried it to a cave.
Perhaps this person did it out of simple curiosity, or to turn it into a pendant or toy, or to use it in a traditional healing ritual.
After heavy rains, it is not uncommon for people in the area to discover bones of extinct species that have been washed away from the host rock.
They usually recognize them as belonging to dragon-like monsters that swallow humans and even entire houses.
In Lesotho, the Basotho people call the monster “Holmormo,'' and in the Eastern Cape, which borders South Africa, the Xhosa people call it “Amagongonko.''
The exact date on which the phalanx was collected and transported has unfortunately been lost to time.
Given current knowledge, the period of occupation of the shelter could be between the 12th and 18th centuries.
This leaves open the possibility that the dinosaur bones were collected up to 500 years before Plott's discovery.
Early knowledge about extinct organisms
Most people have known about fossils long before the age of science, as far back as society's collective memory can go.
For example, in Algeria, people referred to some dinosaur footprints as belonging to the legendary “rock bird”.
In North America, cave paintings depicting dinosaur footprints were painted by the Anasazi people between 1000 and 1200 AD.
Indigenous Australians have identified dinosaur footprints as those of the legendary 'Emuman'.
In the south, the infamous conquistador Hernán Cortés was gifted a fossil mastodon femur by the Aztecs in 1519.
In Asia, Hindus have worshiped ammonites (coiled fossil shells), which they call “shaligrams,” for more than 2,000 years.
Claim credit
The fact that African people have known about fossils since ancient times is clear from folklore and the archaeological record, but there is still much to learn about them.
For example, unlike peoples in Europe, the Americas, and Asia, indigenous African paleontologists appear to have little use of fossils in traditional medicine.
We do not yet know whether this is a truly unique cultural feature common to most African cultures, or whether it is due to our admittedly still incomplete knowledge.
Also, some fairly prominent fossil sites, such as Morocco's Kem Kem Formation and South Africa's UNESCO World Heritage Cradle of Man caves, do not yet provide solid evidence of indigenous knowledge.
This is unfortunate, as fossil-related traditions can help bridge the gap between local communities and paleontologists, thereby contributing to the preservation of important heritage sites.
By investigating the paleontology of Africa's indigenous peoples, our team brings together the pieces of a forgotten past and serves local communities.
We hope this will inspire a new generation of local paleoscientists to follow in the footsteps of Africa's first fossil hunters.
_____
julian benoit other. 2024. Paleontological knowledge of African indigenous peoples. Geological Society, London, Special Publication 543; doi: 10.1144/SP543-2022-236
author: julian benoita paleontologist at the University of the Witwatersrand.
cameron penn clarka paleontologist at the University of the Witwatersrand.
charles helma paleontologist at Nelson Mandela University.
The odd radio sphere (ORC), a type of extragalactic astronomical source discovered in 2019, is actually a shell formed by galactic winds spilling from massive supernovae, according to a new study.
ASKAP radio continuum image (contours) of ORC 1 superimposed on the DES tricolor composite image. Two galaxies of interest: 'C' is near the center of ORC 1, and 'S' coincides with the southern radio peak. Image credit: Norris otherarXiv: 2006.14805.
The first three ORCs were discovered during the Cosmic Evolution Map pilot survey using the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope.
A fourth ORC, called ORC4, was discovered in archival data taken with the Giant Meterwave radio telescope, and additional ORCs were discovered in subsequent ASKAP and MeerKAT data.
These sources are huge, hundreds of kiloparsecs across, with one kiloparsec equal to 3,260 light-years.
Multiple theories have been proposed to explain its origin, including planetary nebulae and black hole mergers, but it was not possible to distinguish between the theories based on radio data alone.
Intrigued, Professor Alison Coyle of the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues thought that the radio rings could have originated from the later stages of the starburst galaxies they were studying.
Until then, ORCs had only been observed by radio emission, and no optical data were available.
Astronomers observed ORC 4 using the Integrating Field Spectrometer at W.M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and found that it contained a huge amount of high-brightness, much more than is seen in the average galaxy. A heated compressed gas was revealed.
With more questions than answers, the team set to work doing some detective work.
Using optical and infrared imaging data, they determined that the stars in the ORC 4 galaxy are about 6 billion years old.
“This galaxy experienced an explosion of star formation that ended about a billion years ago,” Professor Coyle said.
The authors also ran a series of numerical computer simulations to recreate the size and properties of the massive radio ring containing large amounts of shocked cold gas in the central galaxy.
Simulations show that the outflowing galactic winds will continue to blow for 200 million years before stopping.
When the winds stopped, forward shocks continued to push hot gas out of the galaxy, forming a radio ring, while reverse shocks caused cooler gas to fall into the galaxy.
The simulation ran for 750 million years. This is within ORC 4's estimated stellar age of 1 billion years.
“For this to work, you need a high mass egress rate, which means you're releasing a lot of material very quickly,” Professor Coyle says.
“And the surrounding gas just outside the galaxy has to be low density, otherwise the shock stalls. Those are the two key factors.”
“We found that the galaxies we have studied have high rates of mass outflow. Although rare, they do exist. This points to ORC originating from some type of outflow galactic wind. I really think so.”
Outflow winds not only help astronomers understand ORCs, but ORCs also help astronomers understand outflow winds.
“ORC provides a way to 'see' the wind through radio data and spectroscopy,” Professor Coyle said.
“This will help us determine how common extreme outflow winds from galaxies are and what the life cycle of winds is like.”
“These can also help us learn more about galaxy evolution. Do all giant galaxies go through an ORC phase?”
“Do spiral galaxies become elliptical when they stop forming stars? I think there's a lot we can learn about and from the ORC.”
Using NASA/ESA/CSA’s James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers detected a brown dwarf with infrared emissions from methane, likely due to energy in the upper atmosphere. The heating of the upper atmosphere that drives this emission is associated with auroras. The brown dwarf, named W1935, is located 47 light-years away.
Artist’s impression of the brown dwarf W1935. Image credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/L. Hustak, STScI.
On Earth, auroras occur when energetic particles blasted into space from the sun are captured by Earth’s magnetic field.
They cascade into the atmosphere along magnetic field lines near the Earth’s poles, colliding with gas molecules and creating eerie, dancing curtains of light.
Jupiter and Saturn have similar auroral processes that involve interaction with the solar wind, but also receive auroral contributions from nearby active moons, such as Io (for Jupiter) and Enceladus (for Saturn). Masu.
“For an isolated brown dwarf like W1935, the absence of a stellar wind that contributes to auroral processes and accounts for the extra energy in the upper atmosphere required for methane emission is puzzling,” American Airlines astronomers said. said Dr. Jackie Faherty. Natural History Museum and colleagues.
Faherty and his colleagues used Webb to observe a sample of 12 cool brown dwarf stars.
These included object W1935, discovered by citizen scientist Dan Caselden who collaborated on the Backyard Worlds Zooniverse project, and object W2220, discovered using NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer.
Webb revealed in great detail that W1935 and W2220 appear to be close clones of each other in composition.
Also, the brightness, temperature, and spectral characteristics of water, ammonia, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide were similar.
A notable exception is that W1935 showed emission from methane, in contrast to the expected absorption feature observed for W2220. This was observed at infrared wavelengths, to which Webb is uniquely sensitive.
“We expected methane to be present because it’s everywhere in these brown dwarfs,” Faherty said.
“But instead of absorbing light, we found just the opposite. The methane was glowing. My first thought was, what the hell? Why is this object emitting methane?” Do you want it?
Astronomers used computer models to deduce what might be behind the emission.
Modeling work showed that W2220 has a predictable energy distribution in its atmosphere, becoming colder with increasing altitude.
On the other hand, W1935 produced surprising results. The best models supported a temperature inversion, where the atmosphere becomes warmer as altitude increases.
“This temperature inversion is really puzzling,” says Dr. Ben Burningham, an astronomer at the University of Hertfordshire.
“We’ve seen this kind of phenomenon on planets with nearby stars that can heat the stratosphere, but it’s outrageous to see something like this on a celestial body with no obvious external heat source. .
In search of clues, researchers looked to our backyard: the planets of our solar system.
The gas giant planet could serve as a proxy for what is seen happening 47 light-years away in the atmosphere of 1935 AD.
Scientists have noticed that planets like Jupiter and Saturn have significant temperature inversions.
Research is still ongoing to understand the causes of stratospheric heating, but leading theories about the solar system include external heating by auroras and internal energy transport from deep in the atmosphere, with the former being the leading explanation. ).
According to the research team, W1935 is the first aurora candidate outside the solar system with the signature of methane emission.
It is also the coldest aurora candidate outside the solar system, with an effective temperature of about 200 degrees Celsius (400 degrees Fahrenheit).
In our solar system, the solar wind is the main contributor to the auroral process, and active satellites like Io and Enceladus play the role of planets like Jupiter and Saturn, respectively.
W1935 does not have any companion stars, so stellar winds cannot contribute to this phenomenon. It is not yet known whether an active moon is responsible for her W1935's methane emissions.
“W1935 provides a spectacular expansion of solar system phenomena without any explanatory stellar illumination,” Faherty said.
“With Webb, we can actually ‘lift the lid’ on chemistry and figure out how auroral processes are similar or different outside of our solar system.”
The authors announced that findings this week’s AAS243243rd Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, New Orleans, USA.
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Jacqueline Faherty other. 2024. JWST exhibits the auroral features of frigid brown dwarfs. AAS243Abstract #4359
A rocket that eats itself may be on the way. To reach orbit, a rocket must lift its own mass, the mass of its propellant, and the payload it intends to carry into space. But if rockets could burn their own parts for fuel, they could free up capacity for more important scientific projects and for transporting supplies. A team of engineers has built his first prototype of one of these “autophage engines.”
The concept of a rocket that eats its own parts was first patented in 1938, but it was difficult to implement on the huge rockets on which most launches have historically taken place, so no working prototypes were built. Not built. However, the popularity of small satellites has increased in recent years, driving demand for smaller, more efficient rockets that are not constrained by the need to carry huge weights into space.
Krzysztof Busdyk Researchers at the University of Glasgow in the UK have created a small prototype rocket engine that consumes its own fuel tank. It’s not powerful enough to launch something into space, but it still shows that the concept works. “By burning the fuselage, we are solving the problem of rocket miniaturization. So when we want to send a small payload into space, we can do it right away, without waiting for a rideshare mission on a larger rocket. ” he says.
The researchers will present their findings at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics SciTech Forum in Florida on January 10th. This engine was called his Ouroboros-3, named after the ancient symbol of a snake eating its own tail.
Like the iconic snake, this engine is designed to devour its own backend when it uses up the rocket fuel it contains. “When you run out of propellant, you have an empty tank with all the useless structural mass,” Buzdyk says. “So what we’re doing is expending that dead weight so that we don’t have to carry it around on the way up, so we can carry more mass into space.”
In the prototype, as the oxygen and propane that make up the engine’s main fuel are burned, a plastic tube that holds the fuel is also fed into the engine. This tube makes up up to one-fifth of the total propellant used in burns and provides approximately 100 newtons of thrust. This is only about four times the force required to crack an egg.
The team is currently working on a larger prototype capable of delivering about 1,000 newtons of thrust. This is about one-sixth of the thrust required for the engine to reach suborbital space, and about one-twentieth of the thrust. To get it back on track.
“Additional testing should allow us to scale up the rocket… [but] In some cases, scaling up is not easy, easy or unlikely.” Haim Benaroya at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Challenges include ensuring that the plastic fuselage burns and feeds it to the engine at a constant rate, and testing how burning rocket debris changes its shape and thus its flight path. It is included.
In addition to increasing launch efficiency, autophage engines could also help reduce the problem of space debris, or spacecraft debris that can fly around in orbit and endanger other satellites. There is. Burning out spent fuel tanks, which are typically dropped into the atmosphere or left in orbit, could be a small step toward solving the problem, he said. hugh lewis at the University of Southampton, UK.
NASA’s efforts to return astronauts to the moon have been delayed once again.
The agency announced Tuesday that the next Artemis mission, which will fly four astronauts around the moon in a next-generation capsule, will launch in September 2025 instead of later this year.
A subsequent mission to actually land astronauts near the moon’s south pole is scheduled to be postponed to September 2026.
NASA said the two flights will be postponed to allow enough time to test new technology on the Orion spacecraft for the manned moon exploration mission.
“We are returning to the Moon like never before, and astronaut safety is a top priority for NASA as we prepare for future Artemis missions,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. stated in a statement.
The extra time will also give the team an opportunity to complete their investigation and troubleshooting of issues that occurred during the first unmanned Artemis test flight in late 2022, NASA said. Those outstanding investigations include scrutiny of battery issues and issues with components related to the Orion capsule’s ventilation and temperature control systems, officials said.
“Artemis is a long-term exploration campaign that will conduct science on the Moon with astronauts and prepare for future human missions to Mars,” Amit Kshatriya, deputy assistant administrator for Exploration Systems Development at NASA Headquarters, said in a statement. Ta. “That means we need to get it right as we develop and fly the underlying systems so we can safely execute these missions.”
The setback comes after years of stagnation and budget overruns in the Artemis program. NASA spent more than $42 billion over more than a decade developing the new Space Launch System Mega rocket and Orion spacecraft to bring astronauts back to the moon.
Last year, NASA’s Inspector General released a report outlining challenges surrounding the Artemis program’s enormous price tag and ambitious schedule. The report estimates that each Artemis launch will cost $4.2 billion, making it difficult to continue the lunar mission alongside NASA’s other exploration goals.
The Artemis project was named after the Greek goddess who was Apollo’s twin sister. As part of this effort, NASA envisions launching regular missions to set up base camps on the moon before eventually heading to Mars.
The commercial space industry is expected to play an important role in the Artemis program. Companies such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are developing a variety of components and vehicles to support NASA’s efforts.
The agency is also considering awarding contracts to private companies to transport scientific experiments and equipment to the moon’s surface. One such company, Astrobotic Technology, launched a commercial lander to the moon on Monday, but shortly after launch the rover suffered a failure that would prevent it from reaching the moon’s surface, the company said. announced.
Renewed interest in the moon extends beyond NASA and the United States. India’s space agency landed a robotic spacecraft on the moon last year, and China, which already installed a lander and probe on the far side of the moon in 2019, also plans to ramp up its lunar exploration program in the coming years.
Artist's impression of the path of a fast radio burst (not to scale) FRB 20220610A
M. Kohnmesser/European Southern Observatory
The unexplained flash of radio waves that reached Earth in 2022 originated from a small group of galaxies about 8 billion light-years away. This discovery expands our understanding of how mysterious fast radio bursts (FRBs) form.
To date, astronomers have discovered more than 1,000 FRBs. FRBs are strange bursts of high-frequency electromagnetic radiation that cross the sky in just a few milliseconds. Some events repeat and are detected as blinking multiple times. The main explanation is that FRBs are produced by powerful spinning stars known as magnetars, highly magnetized spinning stars left behind after a massive star explodes as a supernova.
About 50 FRBs have been identified as the source of the Milky Way and other galaxies. But in 2022, astronomers discovered the most distant and powerful FRB yet: non-recurring FRB 20220610A, which dates back to when the universe was just 5 billion years old.
alexa gordon A team of researchers from Northwestern University in Illinois followed up on this finding. Researchers discovered in April 2023 using the Hubble Space Telescope that FRB 20220610A originates from a small dwarf galaxy. This galaxy was part of a compact group of seven galaxies so small that the entire galaxy fit within the Milky Way. “This is a very unusual system,” Gordon says. “At this distance of his FRB, only about 0.1 to 1 percent of galaxies belong to compact groups.”
Such groups are thought to be active regions of star formation. This supports FRB's explanation of magnetars, as they probably form early in a galaxy's evolution when hot, massive stars explode. In compact groups, “galaxies are interacting fairly frequently,” Gordon says. This triggers star formation consistent with what is seen in his FRB study, produced by newer, near-Earth sources.
This discovery further expands the types of environments in which FRBs are known to exist. “The majority are in star-forming spiral galaxies,” Gordon says. “But he also found FRBs in galaxy clusters, dwarf galaxies, and globular clusters. The addition of 'compact groups' to this list shows that we are finding his FRBs in a variety of locations.” Here's another example. ”
NASA's Space Launch System and Artemis I Orion spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center, Florida
NASA
It looks like it will take a little longer than expected to send astronauts back to the moon. NASA has postponed the Artemis II flight, originally scheduled to orbit four astronauts around the moon in late 2024, until September 2025. The Artemis III mission, which will land astronauts on the moon for the first time since 1972, has also been postponed from its original plan. From 2025 to 2026 at the earliest.
NASA officials said in a Jan. 9 press conference that the decision was made to ensure the safety of the crew and allow time to fully test all components of the spacecraft.
“We want to emphasize that safety is our top priority…and as we prepare to send our friends and colleagues on this mission, we are committed to launching as safely as possible. “We are here,” the NASA deputy administrator said. gym free During the briefing session. “We'll leave when you're ready.”
One cause for concern was that during the test, the heat shield of the Orion spacecraft (the Artemis program's crew capsule) flared up a bit more than expected, dropping some charred debris. “This heat shield is an ablative material and is supposed to char, but it's not what we expected and some of that char will be released from the vehicle,” NASA officials said. Amit Kshatriya said during a briefing.
NASA is investigating why this happened, as well as analyzing several problems that occurred during the test, including a defect in a valve that could affect the spacecraft's life support systems. I am currently in the process of doing so. “We know how to fix it,” Kshatriya said. “All we need to do is take the time to work to the standards of workmanship we expect from a human-rated vehicle.”
Finally, there were some potential problems with the giant new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket's abort system. These are the systems that separate Orion and fly it to safety in the event of a problem with the rocket itself, so these electrical problems can be characterized and fixed before humans are on board. Especially important.
When it comes to eating healthier, there has always been a sense of having your cake and eating it too. For decades, we've been told that the secret to staying healthy is to indulge in the fresh, delicious food of the Mediterranean. Adding more tomatoes, focaccia, and olive oil to your dinner plate, along with a glass of Chianti, is said to reduce your chances of developing a heart attack and type 2 diabetes.
The most surprising thing is that this is not just some exaggerated nonsense. Evidence that the Mediterranean diet can actually improve health in many ways has been growing for more than 50 years. “We are conducting large, long-term clinical trials that result in difficult clinical events,” he says. miguel martinez gonzalez at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain.
But despite all this praise, it was difficult to understand what it was about the diet that led to such benefits. First of all, nutritionists cannot agree on the exact form it should take. Additionally, family meals, home cooking, and other non-dietary factors should be considered. The good news is that over the past decade, we've begun to understand which components of our diets provide the greatest health benefits and why. This means we are now better able than ever to offer you the best advice…
Researchers test batteries using new materials designed by AI
Microsoft's Dan DeLong
Artificial intelligence can accelerate the process of discovering and testing new materials, and researchers have used that ability to develop batteries that are less dependent on the expensive mineral lithium.
Lithium-ion batteries power not only electric cars but also many devices we use every day. They will also become a necessary part of green power grids, as batteries will be needed to store renewable energy from wind turbines and solar panels. However, lithium is expensive and mining it damages the environment. Finding a replacement for this important metal can be expensive and time-consuming, requiring researchers to develop and test millions of candidates over years. Utilizing AI, nathan baker Microsoft and its colleagues accomplished this task in a few months. They designed and manufactured a battery that uses up to 70% less lithium than some competing designs.
The researchers focused on types of batteries that contain only solid parts, looking for new materials for battery components called electrolytes, through which charge is transferred. They started with 23.6 million candidate materials, designed by tweaking the structure of an established electrolyte and replacing some lithium atoms with other elements. The AI algorithm filtered out materials that were calculated to be unstable or have weak chemical reactions that make the battery work. The researchers also considered how each material behaved when the battery was actively operating. After just a few days, their list contained just a few hundred candidates, some of whom had never been studied before.
“But we're not materials scientists,” Baker says. “So I called the experts who have worked on large-scale battery projects at the Department of Energy and said, 'What do you think? Are we crazy?'
vijay murugesan He works at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state and was one of the scientists who answered the phone. He and his colleagues proposed additional screening criteria for AI. After further rounds of elimination, Murugesan's team finally selected one of his AI proposals and synthesized it in the lab. It was noticeable because half of what Murugesan expected to be lithium atoms were replaced with sodium. This is a very novel recipe for an electrolyte, he said, and the combination of the two elements raises questions about the fundamental physics of how the material works in batteries. Masu.
His team built a working battery using this material, albeit with a lower conductivity than similar prototypes that use more lithium. Both Baker and Murugesan said much work remains to optimize the new batteries. However, the manufacturing process took about nine months, from the time Murugesan first talked to his Microsoft team until the battery was functional enough to light a light bulb.
“The methodology here is cutting edge in terms of machine learning tools, but what really elevates this is that things have been created and tested,” he says. Rafael Gomez-Bombarelli from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was not involved in this project. “It's very easy to make predictions. It's hard to convince someone to invest in an actual experiment.” He said the team will accelerate calculations that physicists have been making for decades, and It is said that AI was used to strengthen it. However, this approach may also encounter obstacles in the future. For this kind of work, he said, the data needed to train the AI is often sparse, and materials other than battery components may require more complex ways of combining elements. he says.
In the deep waters surrounding Romblon Island in the Philippines, a small translucent moray eel larva spins its body into the shape of a heart. Photographer Liang Hu took this magical photo 28 meters below the water's surface during a night dive.Pictured are some of our latest winners Close-up Photographer of the Year competition.
“I was so lucky to be able to capture this moment on camera,” Fu said in a statement. “The eel stayed at that depth for less than 10 seconds before swimming down and disappearing into the darkness.”
Slime mold with an ice crown
Barry Webb | Cupoty.com
Another winning image shows a gorgeous ice cap resting on a miniature slime mold (Didymium Squamrosum) grows on the forest floor at Hodgemoor, Buckinghamshire, England. Barry Webb's shot won the top prize in the fungi and slime mold category of the competition.
Nuthatch flying between trees
Csaba Darozzi | Cupoty.com
When I looked up at the sky, I saw a nuthatch (Citta Europaea) is flying among the trees in the Hungarian forest. These small, short-tailed birds are found throughout Europe and can be identified by their long blue bills, black eye stripes, and bluish-gray upper body. To take this photo, photographer Csaba Darozzi placed her GoPro camera inside a hollow tree stump and placed a sunflower nearby to lure wildlife.
A flycatcher catches a leafhopper
Peter Grob | Cupoty.com
Peter Grob's vivid photo shows the grasshopper, named for its extraordinary predation skills, about to lunge at an unlucky leafhopper. Mr. Grob, who works in airport security, came across the scene of a violent crime when he visited Penang Island in Malaysia.
fairy shrimp eggs
René Krekels/cupoty.com
The dazzling, colorful eggs of a female fairy shrimp can be seen in this close-up photo taken by German biologist René Krekels. This marine creature can be found in seasonal wetlands and highly saline lakes around the world, from the world's hottest deserts to the frigid climates of Antarctica. Fairy shrimp take 18 days to mature from hatching and have a lifespan of only a few months.
Cross section of European beachgrass leaves
Gerhard Vlcek/cupoty.com
Gerhard Vlczek captured a fluorescent cross-section of European beach glass (Ammophila arenaria) through a microscope. The bright orange-red tubes are vascular bundles that transport food and water through the grass and encase the green tissue. In this shot, Vlcek sliced
Last year was the hottest on record on Earth, the European Union’s climate change agency announced Tuesday, confirming what scientists had predicted and feared.
The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Agency says global temperatures in 2023 will be higher than in any year dating back to at least 1850, reaching a level of “unprecedented highs” and averaging 1.48 degrees Celsius (Fahrenheit) higher than before the industrial revolution. 2.66 degrees) high.
This is a milestone that many climate scientists saw coming after a year filled with extreme weather. Since June, the Earth has been warmer than normal every month, with July and August 2023 becoming the two warmest months on record. According to Copernicus’ report.
This trajectory of global warming has been predicted by climate models, but last year’s developments remained exceptional.
A man cools off during a heatwave in Baghdad on July 6, 2023. Hadi Mizban / AP File
Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said “2023 was an extraordinary year in which the climate record fell like dominoes,” adding that last year’s temperatures were “higher than any time in at least the past 100,000 years.” There is a high possibility that it will exceed that amount,” he added.
Last year, the effects of that warming were felt almost everywhere on Earth. A dangerous and intense heatwave has hit parts of North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. The world’s oceans were also unusually warm, with months of extreme sea surface temperatures, intensified storms, and tropical cyclones. And the fires raged during Canada’s historic wildfire season, burning at least 45 million acres and plummeting air quality in cities south of the border.
“Thanks to the work of the Copernicus Program throughout 2023, we knew there would be no good news today. But the annual data presented here shows that the impacts of climate change are increasing.” We provide further evidence that
Last year’s warm conditions were driven by El Niño, a natural weather pattern characterized by warmer-than-normal waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. El Niño typically exacerbates the background warming caused by anthropogenic climate change, increasing the likelihood of extreme temperatures.
A man cools off during a heatwave in Phoenix on July 16, 2023. Brandon Bell/Getty Images File
The Copernicus report highlights the challenges ahead in keeping global warming within limits set by the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement. In the climate agreement, countries agreed to limit temperature increases to 1.5°C (2.7°F) above pre-industrial levels to avoid the most devastating consequences of climate change.
According to the Copernicus report, almost half of the days in 2023 were warmer than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. According to Copernicus scientists, this criterion does not by itself mean that the goals of the climate agreement have failed, as it refers to a warming of more than 1.5 degrees over several decades, but it still “sets a disastrous precedent.” It is said that
The European report was one of the first to confirm this new record. Other organizations, including NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, are expected to release their own findings later this week.
The average bottle of water contains nearly 250,000 tiny, invisible particles of nanoplastic that were detected and classified for the first time using a dual-laser microscope.
Scientists have long suspected that there are a lot of these tiny pieces of plastic, but until researchers at Columbia University and Rutgers University made calculations, they had no idea how many or what types they were. Researchers examined five samples of each of three common bottled water brands and found particle levels ranging from 110,000 to 400,000 per liter, with an average of about 240,000, according to Monday’s findings. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Previous research looked at slightly larger microplastics, ranging from visible 5 millimeters (less than a quarter of an inch) to 1 micron. The study found that about 10 to 100 times more nanoplastics than microplastics were found in bottled water.
Nisin Kian, the study’s lead author and a physical chemist from Colombia, said much of the plastic appears to come from the bottles themselves and the reverse osmosis filters used to keep out other contaminants. She did not reveal her three brands because the researchers need more samples and would like to study more brands before singling out one. Still, she said they were common and she bought them at Walmart.
Researchers still can’t answer the big question: Are these nanoplastic pieces harmful to health?
“That’s under consideration right now. We don’t know if it’s dangerous or how dangerous it is,” said study co-author Phoebe Stapleton, a toxicologist at Rutgers University. “We know they invade tissues (of mammals, including humans)…and current research is investigating what they do inside cells.”
The International Bottled Water Association said in a statement: “Currently, there is a lack of standardized (measurement) methods and no scientific consensus on the potential health effects of nano- and microplastic particles. Reports will only unnecessarily scare consumers.”
The American Chemistry Council, which represents plastics manufacturers, had no immediate comment.
The world is “driving under the weight of plastic pollution, with more than 430 million tonnes of plastic produced annually” and microplastics are being found all over the planet. world ocean, food and drinking water
Some of it comes from clothing and cigarette filters, according to United Nations Environment Programme. Initiatives towards global plastic treaty It will continue even after negotiations stalled in November.
All four co-authors interviewed said they had reduced their use of bottled water after conducting the study.
Wei Ming, a Colombian physical chemist who pioneered dual-laser microscopy technology, said he has cut his use of bottled water in half. Stapleton said he is now using more filtered water at his home in New Jersey.
But Bayzan Yan, a co-author of the study and a Colombian environmental chemist who has increased tap water usage, said the introduction of plastic could cause problems with the filters themselves.
“There’s no chance of winning,” Stapleton said.
Naixin Qian, a physical chemist at Columbia University, zooms in on an image of microscopic pieces of plastic that appeared as bright red dots in New York on Monday. Mary Conlon/Associated Press
Outside experts who praised the study agreed there were general concerns about the dangers of plastic particles, but it was too early to say for sure.
“The dangers of plastic itself are an unanswered question. To me, the additives are the most concerning,” said Jason Somarelli, professor and director of the Comparative Oncology Group at Duke University School of Medicine. . He did not participate in this study. “We and other researchers have shown that these nanoplastics can be taken up into cells, and that nanoplastics have the potential to cause cellular stress and DNA damage, altering metabolism and cell function. We know that it contains all kinds of chemical additives that are harmful.”
Somarelli said his unpublished research found more than 100 “known carcinogenic chemicals in these plastics.”
Zoe Diana, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Toronto, said: “The concern is that small particles are showing up in various organs and can cross membranes that they’re not supposed to cross, such as the blood-brain barrier.'' ” he said.
Diana, who was not involved in the study, said this was an exciting development in the study of plastics in the environment and in the body, thanks to the new tools researchers used.
About 15 years ago, Min invented a dual-laser microscopy technique that identifies specific compounds by their chemical properties and how they resonate when exposed to a laser. Yang and Qian approached him about using the technology to find and identify plastics that are too small for researchers using established methods.
“This study could be an important advance in the detection of nanoplastics,” said Kara Lavender-Law, an oceanographer at the Marine Education Association, adding that other analytical chemists will not be able to replicate the technique and results. He said he would like to see it done.
Dennis Hardesty, an Australian government oceanographer who studies plastic waste, said context was needed. The total weight of the nanoplastics found is “approximately the weight of one penny, which is the volume of two Olympic-sized swimming pools.”
Mr. Hardesty is less concerned about nanoplastics in bottled water than others, saying, “I am privileged to live in an area with access to ‘clean’ tap water, and I don’t have access to drinking water in single-use containers. There’s no need to buy one.”
Yang said other municipalities, including Boston, St. Louis and Los Angeles, are starting to look at how much plastic is in their tap water. Previous research We’re looking for microplastics, and some early tests show tap water may have less nanoplastics than bottled water.
Despite the unknowns about human health, Yang said he has one recommendation for those concerned. It’s about using reusable bottles instead of single-use plastics.
In August 2023, a wildfire broke out on the Hawaiian island of Maui after a period of dry weather.
Maui News via Matthew Thayer/AP/Alamy
It's official: 2023 was the hottest year on record. The average global temperature this year was 1.48 degrees Celsius higher than the pre-industrial average of 1850-1900, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Agency (C3S). This is the highest since records began in 1940 and probably the highest in the last 100,000 years, causing heat waves, droughts and wildfires.
The average annual temperature was 14.98°C (58.96°F), close to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, but although this target applies to long-term averages, countries are required to do so under the 2015 Paris Agreement. Aiming to avoid. It is the temperature, not the annual average temperature.
“The extreme conditions we have observed over the past few months dramatically demonstrate how far we are now from the climate in which our civilization developed.” carlo buontemposaid the director of C3S in a statement. “We urgently need to decarbonize.”
First, daily temperatures throughout the year were at least 1°C warmer than during the same period before the industrial revolution. Richard Betts The Met Office said 2023 was even hotter than forecasters expected. This is partly due to the onset of El Niño, a natural climate step that causes temperatures to rise, earlier than usual, but most of the warming is still due to human emissions.
“Every year, the Japan Meteorological Agency makes a weather forecast for next year,” Betts says. “For the first time, 2023 significantly exceeded our forecasts.”
The sweltering temperatures led to extreme weather events like the heavy rains of Storm Daniel. Dam collapses, killing more than 11,000 people In Libya last September, much more likely. July heatwave in North America and Europe would have been 'virtually impossible' without climate change, says Global Weather Attribution Initiative mentioned in the report.
Ocean temperatures in 2023 were also unprecedented, according to C3S. Contributing to events such as Hurricane Otiswhich became more intense than any other storm in history in 12 hours.
Betts said this year's weather could be hotter, potentially setting a new record set in 2023.
The sky of an icy planet in space may be full of diamonds. Compacted carbon compounds may turn into diamonds at less extreme temperatures than researchers thought would be necessary, which could make diamond rain a common phenomenon inside giant ice cubes. there is.
In the past, laboratory experiments have confused the conditions under which diamonds form inside ice giants like Uranus and Neptune. There are two types of experiments to investigate this: dynamic compression experiments, in which a carbon compound is subjected to a sudden impact, and static compression experiments, in which it is placed in a chamber and gradually compressed. Previous dynamic compression experiments required much higher temperatures and pressures to form diamonds.
mango frost Using static compression and dynamic heating, researchers at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California sandwiched polystyrene (the same polymer used to make Styrofoam) between two diamonds and applied an X-pulse. We conducted a new series of experiments to compress Ray of light. They observed diamonds begin to form from polystyrene at temperatures of about 2,200 degrees Celsius and pressures of about 19 gigapascals, conditions similar to the shallow interiors of Uranus and Neptune.
These pressures are much lower than those found necessary for diamond formation in previous experiments using dynamic compression. This reaction took longer than the typically performed dynamic compaction experiments. This may explain why no low-pressure diamond formation was detected in such experiments. “It didn't match the established results and wasn't what we expected, but it was a good fit and brought everything together,” Frost says. “It turns out it's all due to different timescales.”
This could mean that diamonds could rain on smaller planets than previously thought. The researchers calculated that of the approximately 5,600 exoplanets identified, more than 1,900 could rain diamonds.
This also means that diamonds may form at shallower depths within our solar system than we think, which could change our understanding of the internal dynamics of giant planets. There is a possibility that it will change. This shallow geological formation could allow diamond rain to pass through layers of ice as it sinks toward the centers of these planets. This, in turn, will affect the icy world's magnetic fields, which are complex and poorly understood.
It is now possible to measure a person’s biological age, which refers to the wear and tear of the body’s cells, as opposed to the chronological age based on the number of years lived. Chinese scientists have developed a new method to predict biological age using artificial intelligence to analyze 3D images of the face, tongue, and retina.
This approach provides a way to estimate biological age more accurately than previous methods that primarily relied on DNA or blood tests and brain scans. By combining images of the face, tongue, and retina, scientists have created a model that can accurately predict biological age. This allows for easier, more accessible, and less invasive methods to estimate a person’s biological age compared to traditional tests.
Research from China’s Macau University of Science and Technology and Shanghai Jiao Tong University involved testing this model on healthy individuals and those with chronic diseases. The results showed that the biological age of individuals with chronic diseases was significantly higher than their chronological age compared to healthy individuals, indicating the potential impact of chronic diseases on aging.
Furthermore, this new method could also be used to assess the effectiveness of anti-aging treatments, such as diet, exercise, and longevity drugs. Dr. Andrew Steele, a longevity expert, highlighted the potential for using photos to evaluate the efficacy of anti-aging strategies and speed up clinical trials in the future.
About our experts
Dr. Andrew Steele is a scientist, author, and presenter, known for his work in the field of aging. He is the author of Ageless: The new science of growing older without getting older. After earning his doctorate in physics, Steele transitioned into biology, using computers to decipher human DNA at the Francis Crick Institute in London.
Paleontologists in Argentina have discovered fossil fragments of a new genus and species of Lebatisaurus, a sauropod dinosaur that walked the earth more than 90 million years ago.
Artist's impression Sidersaura Marae. Image credit: Gabriel Díaz Yanten.
The newly discovered dinosaur lived in what is now Argentina during the Cenomanian period of the late Cretaceous period, 96 to 93 million years ago.
with scientific name Sidersaura Maraethe ancient beast had a body length of 20 meters, an estimated mass of 15 tons, and a very long tail.
The animal belongs to Rebatisauridaea large family of sauropod dinosaurs known from fragmentary fossil remains in South America, Africa, North America, Europe, and Asia.
These dinosaurs are distinguished from other sauropods by their unique teeth. Some species had tooth batteries similar to hadrosaurid and ceratopsian dinosaurs.
“Rebachisaurs were extremely important dinosaurs in the Cretaceous ecosystem, and disappeared due to an extinction event that occurred in the middle of this period. was held 90 million years ago.'' Dr. Lucas Nicolas Lersopaleontologists and colleagues from Azara Foundation Maimonides University and CONICET.
“Sidersaura Marae is one of the last rebatisaurids, but it also belongs to an evolutionary ancient lineage. ”
“This suggests that these were the largest of their group, given that some of the earliest rebachisaurs survived to the end of their lifespans, and can reach nearly 20 meters in length. It shows that.”
Fossilized bones are Sidersaura Marae It was discovered in the rocks of the Finkle Formation in the province of Neuquén, Patagonia, Argentina.
“The remains found include a partially articulated tail with sacral vertebrae, hind leg bones, part of the skull, and a tail vertebrae,” Dr Lerzo said.
“Having several anatomically overlapping specimens allowed us to relate them and better understand the characteristics of this new sauropod dinosaur.”
According to the team, one of the distinguishing features is: Sidersaura Marae The difference from other dinosaurs is the star-shaped shape of the hemal arch (coccyx).
Additionally, its skull is sturdy, unlike other closely related species.
“Another feature of the cranium that distinguishes it from others Sidersaura Marae “What differentiates it from other rebatisaurids is the frontoparietal foramen, which is essentially a hole in the roof of the skull,” the paleontologists said.
“This characteristic brings us closer to the following state. dicraeosaursA family of sauropod dinosaurs known for having spines on their necks and backs. ”
“The presence of early species in the Cenomanian-Turonian period, very close to the group's extinction, suggests that the evolutionary history of rebbatisaurids was more complex than previously thought.” the researchers concluded.
their paper It was published in the magazine historical biology.
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Lucas Nicolas Lerso other. The last oldie: Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) early basal rebachisaurids (sauropods, Diplodocoidea) of Patagonia, Argentina. historical biology, published online on January 3, 2024. doi: 10.1080/08912963.2023.2297914
Peregrine photo showing disturbance of insulation in the foreground
astrobotic
Things look grim for Astrobotic's Peregrine spacecraft. The Vulcan rocket launched toward the moon on January 8, but just seven hours after liftoff, an “anomaly” began to occur that could prevent a safe landing on the moon's surface.
The first hint of trouble was that the spacecraft was unable to orient itself so that its solar panels faced the sun. The technical team on the ground was able to command the aircraft to steer in the right direction so the battery could be recharged. These batteries power Peregrine's communications and scientific equipment, and so far appear to be working properly.
But the problem doesn't end there. The thrusters meant to carry Peregrine to the moon and land safely are powered by rocket fuel, and appear to be leaking fuel.in a short series statement
Astrobotic said the problem was “causing significant loss of propellant.”[this] If the propulsion anomaly proves true, it would threaten the spacecraft's ability to make a soft landing on the moon. The first images sent back from the spacecraft show rippling insulation in the foreground, suggesting that whatever caused the fuel leak may have also destroyed the spacecraft's insulation.
If Peregrine can't land on the moon, even if its batteries are fully charged, it's unclear which of its science goals it will accomplish. “The team is working to stabilize this [propellant] “While there was a loss, given the circumstances, we prioritized making the most of the science and data we could collect,” the statement said. “We are currently evaluating what alternative mission profiles are feasible at this time.” Astrobotic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Assuming Peregrine is unable to land, this would be the third consecutive failed attempt by a private company to land on the moon. In 2019, the Beresheet lander crashed on the moon, and in 2019, the Hakuto-R lander also crashed on the moon. 2023. No private company has yet successfully made a soft landing on the moon.
The sky of an icy planet in space may be full of diamonds. Compacted carbon compounds may turn into diamonds at less extreme temperatures than researchers thought would be necessary, which could make diamond rain a common phenomenon inside giant ice cubes. there is.
In the past, laboratory experiments have confused the conditions under which diamonds form inside ice giants like Uranus and Neptune. There are two types of experiments to investigate this: dynamic compression experiments, in which a carbon compound is subjected to a sudden impact, and static compression experiments, in which it is placed in a chamber and gradually compressed. Previous dynamic compression experiments required much higher temperatures and pressures to form diamonds.
mango frost Using static compression and dynamic heating, researchers at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California sandwiched polystyrene (the same polymer used to make Styrofoam) between two diamonds and applied an X-pulse. We conducted a new series of experiments to compress Ray of light. They observed diamonds begin to form from polystyrene at temperatures of about 2,200 degrees Celsius and pressures of about 19 gigapascals, conditions similar to the shallow interiors of Uranus and Neptune.
These pressures are much lower than those found necessary for diamond formation in previous experiments using dynamic compression. This reaction took longer than the typically performed dynamic compaction experiments. This may explain why no low-pressure diamond formation was detected in such experiments. “It didn't match the established results and wasn't what we expected, but it was a good fit and brought everything together,” Frost says. “It turns out it's all due to different timescales.”
This could mean that diamonds could rain on smaller planets than previously thought. The researchers calculated that of the approximately 5,600 exoplanets identified, more than 1,900 could rain diamonds.
This also means that diamonds may form at shallower depths within our solar system than we think, which could change our understanding of the internal dynamics of giant planets. There is a possibility that it will change. This shallow geological formation could allow diamond rain to pass through layers of ice as it sinks toward the centers of these planets. This, in turn, will affect the icy world's magnetic fields, which are complex and poorly understood.
Scientists used lasers to identify plastic particles in water bottles
Naixin Qian, Columbia University
One liter water bottle can contain 240,000 microscopic plastic particles. The health effects of ingesting plastic are not clear, but early research suggests that such particles can travel to various organs in the body.
Millions of tonnes of plastic are produced every year as a result of human activities such as fishing and household waste. Most of this is made up of microplastics with diameters between 1 micrometer and 5 millimeters.
Plastic fragments less than 1 micrometer in diameter are known as nanoplastics and can pose an even bigger concern than microplastics. Their smaller size means they may have a better chance of penetrating the body's intestinal lining. placenta And even the blood-brain barrier, Yang says.
Nanoplastics are difficult to detect due to their large size, but Yang and his colleagues have developed an innovative technique to detect them.
The researchers took six 1-liter bottles of private-label water from three unnamed U.S. supermarkets and shot them with a laser that vibrated when they encountered plastic debris. On average, each bottle contained approximately 240,000 plastic particles. Up to 100x more than previous studies.
The type of plastic in the water was determined from the intensity of the laser's vibrations, and approximately 90% of it was nanoplastic. He was only able to identify 10% of this, but it contained polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the raw material for bottles.
There's no reason why other U.S. water bottles or water bottles from other countries wouldn't have similar amounts of nanoplastics, but this needs to be verified in independent research, Yang said.
In the future, researchers hope to improve the technique to identify more nanoplastics in water, he said.
shelley mason Researchers at Penn State University called the study “a very impressive and groundbreaking study.”
“We know that plastics emit particles, just as human skin cells continually shed particles, but being able to quantify and identify these plastic particles to the nanoplastic range is important for human health. “This is important for advancing our understanding of the impact on the human body,” she says.
One of the shelters used to simulate extreme drought. It is located at the Central Plains Experiment Station in Colorado.
melinda smith
An experiment conducted at 100 sites around the world shows that during extreme droughts, grassland productivity declines much more than we thought. This finding suggests that plants may be struggling to cope with more frequent and severe droughts that are expected to result from climate change.
melinda smith Researchers at Colorado State University have designed a shelter that can be placed on top of land and topped with a piece of plastic to deflect some of the rain away from the vegetation below.
Working with other researchers around the world, Smith and her team were able to install such shelters in 100 grassland or shrubland locations across six continents.
For each site, Smith said, the team aimed to recreate conditions that would be considered extreme drought in the area, the type of conditions that occur once every 100 years. For example, in areas of Europe with high rainfall, more plastic strips are placed on roofs compared to drier areas to better simulate drought.
A year later, the researchers discovered that while some experiments were successful in reproducing drought conditions, others were unsuccessful because certain areas had higher than average rainfall.
In the 44 sites that experienced extreme drought, plant growth decreased by 38% in grasslands and 21% in shrublands. “That was huge,” Smith said, adding that the reduction in plant growth was much more severe than the researchers had observed in previous studies.
They also found that arid regions with low biodiversity are particularly vulnerable to drought. “Dry places are already at their limit,” Smith said. “Their systems don't have a lot of buffers to deal with it.”
Smith hopes these insights can improve global climate models that have previously underestimated the role of drought in the carbon cycle.
Venus’ clouds are thought to be composed of trace elements such as sulfuric acid and iron-containing compounds. The concentration of each of these compounds varies with height in the thick atmosphere of our neighboring planet. In a new study, researchers at the University of Cambridge have synthesized an iron-bearing sulfate mineral that is stable under the harsh chemical conditions of Venus’ clouds. Their spectroscopic analysis revealed that a combination of his two minerals, rhinoclase and acidic ferric sulfate, could explain the mysterious ultraviolet (UV) absorption features in Venus’ atmosphere.
Jean other. They hypothesize that there is an abundant, poorly understood, heterogeneous chemistry within Venusian cloud droplets that significantly influences cloud optical properties and the behavior of trace gas species throughout Venus’ atmosphere. I am. Image credit: Matthias Malmar / NASA.
There are several mysteries surrounding Venus’ clouds. They extend from 48 km to about 65 km and are located in the lower atmosphere (<48 km) と、光化学と力学が関係する上層大気 (>65 km).
In order to understand the chemical cycles between the Venusian atmosphere and its volcanic surfaces and to accurately interpret potential biosignatures, increasing research efforts are being focused on generating complete modeling frameworks for the Venusian atmosphere.
Dr Paul Rimmer, a researcher at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, said: “The only data available on cloud composition has been collected by spacecraft, which reveals some strange aspects of clouds that have so far not been fully explained.'' “We have clarified the nature of this.'' .
“In particular, when examined under ultraviolet light, Venus’ clouds showed a specific pattern of ultraviolet absorption.”
“What elements, compounds, and minerals are involved in such observations?”
Rimmer and his colleagues synthesized several iron-bearing sulfate minerals in their aqueous geochemistry laboratory based on Venus’ atmospheric chemistry.
By suspending the synthesized material in various concentrations of sulfuric acid and monitoring chemical and mineralogical changes, we narrowed down the candidate minerals to rhinoclase and acidic ferric sulfate, and characterized their spectroscopic characteristics in a manner similar to that of the sun. examined under a light source specifically designed to mimic the spectrum. flare.
In an attempt to mimic even more extreme Venusian clouds, the authors measured the UV absorbance pattern of ferric sulfate under extremely acidic conditions.
“The pattern and level of absorption exhibited by the combination of these two mineral phases is consistent with the dark UV patches observed in the clouds of Venus,” said researcher Dr. Clancy Jijiang Jiang from the University of Cambridge.
“These targeted experiments reveal a complex chemical network in the atmosphere and shed light on elemental cycling on Venus’ surface.”
“Venus is our closest neighbor, but it remains mysterious,” Dr. Rimmer says.
“Future NASA and ESA missions will explore its atmosphere, clouds, and surface, giving us the opportunity to learn more about this planet in the coming years.”
“This study sets the stage for future exploration.”
team’s paper appear in the diary scientific progress.
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Clancy Jean Jean other. 2024. Iron and sulfur chemistry can explain ultraviolet absorbers in Venus’ clouds. Scientific Advances 10 (1); doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adg8826
Two spiral galaxies, NGC 6040 and NGC 6039, have merged on the right side of this Hubble image. NGC 6039 is circular when viewed from the front. NGC 6040 appears to be before the first one. In the lower left corner of the frame, elliptical galaxy NGC 6041, the central member of the galaxy cluster in which Arp 122 resides, is visible as light emanating from a point. This color image was created in both the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum using Hubble's Altitude Survey Camera (ACS) and the Dark Energy Camera mounted on NSF's Victor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter. Created from separate exposures taken in the area. -American Observatory of Chile. Four filters were used to sample different wavelengths. Color is obtained by assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credits: NASA / ESA / Hubble / J. Dalcanton / Dark Energy Survey / DOE / FNAL / DECam / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / L. Shatz.
Alp 122 It is located in the constellation Hercules, approximately 570 million light years from Earth.
This system consists of two galaxies: a tilted and distorted spiral galaxy; NGC6040 and the spiral galaxy in front of me NGC6039.
“Galaxy collisions and mergers are highly energetic and dramatic events, but they occur on very slow timescales,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“For example, our Milky Way galaxy is on a colliding orbit with its nearest galactic neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy, but it will still be four billion years before these two galaxies actually meet. ”
“The process of collision and fusion will not end soon either; it may take hundreds of millions of years to unfold.”
“These collisions take a very long time because they have very long distances.”
“Galaxies are composed of stars and their solar systems, dust and gas,” the researchers added.
“Over time, the structures of two (or more) colliding galaxies may change completely, eventually forming a single, merged galaxy.”
“That could be the result of the collision seen in this image.”
“Galaxies resulting from mergers are thought to have regular or elliptical structures because the merger process destroys more complex structures (such as those observed in spiral galaxies).”
“It will be interesting to see what Arp 122 will look like once this collision is complete, but that won't happen for a long time.”
Astrobotic said the cause of the failure was likely a propulsion failure, adding that a further update would be issued once more data is acquired and analyzed.
Peregrine’s mission represents a new chapter in the commercial space industry, launching private companies into the space race and delivering to NASA and other customers.
The Pittsburgh-based company First private company to succeed in landing This is something only four countries have achieved on the moon. A Houston-based company also has a lander ready to fly and is expected to take a more direct route to the moon.
NASA provided both companies with significant funding to build and fly their own lunar landers. The space agency hopes the privately owned lander will scout the site before astronauts arrive, while also providing technical and scientific experiments for NASA and benefiting other customers. Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander contract: $108 million.
During its first flight, the Peregrine lander carried five NASA instruments. Following the technical anomaly, NASA said it would learn from the situation.
“Each success and setback is an opportunity for us to learn and grow,” Joel Kearns, deputy assistant administrator for exploration at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement Monday. “We will use these lessons to advance our efforts to advance science, exploration, and commercial development of the Moon.”
The last time the United States launched a moon landing mission was in December 1972. Apollo 17’s Gene Cernan was the last human to set foot on the moon as mission commander, and Harrison Schmidt was the 12th astronaut to walk on the moon. , concluded an era that continued to be the pinnacle of NASA.
The space agency’s new Artemis mission, named after Apollo’s twin sister in Greek mythology, aims to return astronauts to the moon’s surface within the next few years. first, Flight around the moon by four astronautsProbably by the end of the year.
Highlighting Monday’s moonshot was the long-delayed initial test flight of the Vulcan rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The 202-foot (61-meter) rocket is essentially an upgraded version of ULA’s highly successful flagship Atlas V, which will be phased out along with the company’s Delta IV. Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin provided his two main engines for the Vulcan.
The then-Soviet Union and the United States suspended touchdowns after a string of successful moon landings in the 1960s and 1970s. China joined the elite club in 2013, India in 2023.But I also saw it last year Landing craft from Russia and Japanese private companies crash into the moon.In 2019, an Israeli nonprofit organization's lander crashed.
Next month, SpaceX will provide lifts for the lander from Intuitive Machines.
In addition to flight experiments for NASA, Astrobotic has launched its own cargo transportation business, shipping its 6-foot-tall (1.9-meter-tall) Hayabusa lander with rock chips from Everest and toy-sized objects it catapults from Mexico. I packed everything up to my car. It will reach and cruise the moon’s surface, collecting the ashes and DNA of deceased space enthusiasts, including “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke.
The Navajo Nation recently asked for the launch to be postponed because of the human remains. He said it would be a “grave desecration” of the celestial bodies worshiped by Native Americans. Thornton said the December challenge was too late, but promised to work to find a “good path forward” with the Navajo Nation for future missions.
Celestis, one of the spaceflight memorial companies that purchased space for the lander, said in a statement that no single culture or religion owns the moon and should not be able to veto the mission. There will be more debris in the rocket’s upper stage, and once released from the lander, it will orbit the sun indefinitely all the way to Mars.
Freight rates for Hayabusa range from a few hundred dollars to $1.2 million per kilogram (2.2 pounds), not enough for Astrobotic to break even. But Astrobotic CEO John Thornton says that’s not the point for this first flight.
“A lot of people’s dreams and hopes rest on this,” he said.
Christina Koch has a job that kids dream about. Starting in 2019, on her first mission to the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronaut She spent 328 days in space, the longest period ever spent by a woman in space. During that mission, she 3D printed living tissue, grew proteins, worked on dark matter experiments, and was half of the first all-female spacewalk.
Now Koch is preparing for his next adventure as part of the space agency's ambitious project to send humans back to the moon. With this, she will cement her own place in the history books. Koch and three other astronauts will spend 10 days orbiting the moon on the Artemis II mission, scheduled for November. However, there are lifetime safety restrictions on the amount of time astronauts can spend in space, so doing this would probably prevent them from setting foot on the moon in the future. Nevertheless, she would be the first woman to orbit Earth's satellite and look behind its mysterious backside.
Artemis II will be the first manned test of NASA's giant Space Launch System rocket and its apex Orion spacecraft, preparing for a future mission aimed at landing humans on the moon's surface for the first time since 1972. becomes. Mr. Koch said: new scientist About her important work on the ISS, the smells of space, and the unique microgravity sports you can play in orbit.
On January 8th, a Vulcan rocket carrying a lander bound for the moon will be launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Greg Newton/AFP via Getty Images
NASA's first mission to the moon since the Apollo missions of the 1970s began with the launch of a new Vulcan rocket carrying a robotic lander carrying seven scientific instruments.
The mission, which launched at 7:18 a.m. GMT on January 8 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, forms the first part of NASA's ambitious Commercial Lunar Payload Service (CLPS) program, which will launch this year. Six more launches are planned.
Unlike previous NASA missions, which were carried out almost entirely in-house, these efforts will be a public-private partnership with support from space companies. The Vulcan rocket was built by Boeing and Lockheed Martin as part of the United Launch Alliance (ULA), and the Peregrine robotic lander was built by space robotics company Astrobotic.
The lander will take 46 days to reach the moon and will attempt to land on February 23rd. If successful, it will be the first time a private spacecraft has landed on the moon.
There are several reasons why it took NASA decades to return to the moon, but the biggest one is a lack of government funding. As Cold War spending increased in the 1960s, the total federal funding NASA received peaked in 1965, and as the U.S. government made cuts, there was too little money available for further lunar exploration.
But private space companies like Elon Musk's SpaceX are now cutting the cost of space launches, allowing NASA to plan new moon missions on tighter budgets.
A successful launch could also intensify competition among private space companies. ULA was the dominant force in the U.S. space launch business before SpaceX conducted the majority of U.S. launches and dominated the launch market. Vulcan could help ULA regain lost market share.
This is especially important for ULA because it is currently on the market, with potential buyers including Jeff Bezos' spaceflight company Blue Origin.
The Peregrine lander's science instruments include lunar surface water and radiation sensors and will be essential for NASA's future human missions in the coming years as part of the CLPS program. It also carries a 2-kilogram rover designed by students at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania and five small robots built by the Mexican Space Agency.
Vulcan has two additional payloads that have caused controversy. A company called Celestis uses cremated ashes to conduct so-called “commemorative spaceflights.” Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry and actors James Doohan and Nichelle Nichols will be placed into orbit around the sun, while another capsule will contain the ashes of others bound for the moon. .
The cloud has transformed the way the world operates, yet it doesn’t always receive the recognition it deserves for enabling valuable digital experiences.
Businesses of all sizes, including companies like ASOS powered by Microsoft Azure cloud platform, leverage cloud technology to power their operations and deliver customized customer experiences.
One of the most impactful aspects of cloud technology is its ability to democratize access to computing power, allowing disruptors and innovators to enter new industries.
Tosca Colangeli, general manager at Microsoft UK, emphasizes that the cloud makes digital transformation accessible, enabling businesses to scale as needed and disrupt traditional industries.
Cloud technology grants businesses access to computing power over the Internet, eliminating the need for private physical servers on their premises. It also provides enhanced security and flexibility, allowing for tailored resource allocation and disaster recovery.
As much as you use Colangeli highlights the importance of paying for resources as needed, allowing businesses to adapt to peak trading periods and manage disaster recovery efficiently.
Cloud flexibility has revolutionized business operations and innovation, especially in the face of the rapid changes driven by AI.
According to Gartner, global cloud spending is projected to account for over 45% of total enterprise IT spending by 2026.
In light of the increasing demand for cloud and AI services, businesses must embrace the cloud as the cornerstone of their operations and embed it within their organizational culture.
Colangeli emphasizes the need for businesses to focus on data as a top priority, as the success of AI is heavily reliant on quality, accessible data.
Additionally, using AI responsibly and adopting a flexible, adaptable approach will be crucial for businesses to stay competitive in the evolving technological landscape.
There is an interesting and appropriate “spot the difference” Microsoft Visual Studio An advertisement that used to be published in a computing magazine.
On the left side of the image is the desk of an “unhappy” software developer. It's midnight now. Under the gaze of a single desk lamp, mangled piles of paper litter the scene, and yellow sticky notes dangle from a computer screen.
The right side shows the desk of a “happy” software developer. It's clean and tidy, you have a calendar full of social events, and it's a sunny day outside.
The message was clear. It means that developers will feel less stressed if they use his C++, a popular programming language that allows them to develop software regardless of the platform.
Almost two decades later, technology has advanced, but software developers still face many of the same challenges. How do you handle the entire lifecycle of creating a product for your customers, from designing the software to making sure it works and is secure? , to deployment and maintenance of the finished product?
Scaling up and down is smooth Cloud platforms greatly simplify developers' lives, from planning, writing, editing, and debugging code to delivering it live to customers, even when they don't know what the final requirements will look like. .
Previously, software companies delivered applications and services to customers and then had to guess how much infrastructure was needed to support product delivery and maintenance.
This problem can be further exacerbated by the fact that customers may be struggling to meet highly fluctuating demand from end users.
Azure's scalable cloud platform solves this problem by hosting your software and automatically scaling it as demand increases or decreases, allowing you to focus on what you do best: software development. .
Consider the following case live tech games (LTG) etc. The company was faced with the challenge of supporting 10,000 users simultaneously playing a live football tournament multiplayer mobile game online, a number he needed to increase to 500,000.
“During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, in partnership with ITV, we ran over 30 live tournament games with thousands of players competing simultaneously, and thanks to Azure, everything went perfectly. ” says the LTG co-founder. Co-CEO Samuel Worsley.
Develop and debug all in one place Software development is a complex process. Especially when there are many cooks involved and everyone, including the boss, has different ideas about what coding language the software should be written in.
“If you like working in one programming language and your colleague likes working in another, that's not a problem with Visual Studio,” says Microsoft UK Head of Digital and Application Innovation, Data and Artificial Intelligence. Director Denise Dourado said. .
Visual Studio is an integrated development environment that allows developers to write, edit, and debug code in one place instead of moving from tool to tool.
“Without Visual Studio, you end up designing code in one place and having to debug it in another place. It takes time,” says Dourado.
The worst thing for developers, she says, is that when they switch from one tool to another, they worry about what will happen to their code, making the development process take a long time.
Audit software is easy You've built your software, but now you need to deploy and maintain it, which can be a huge headache.Here is Azure DevOp Services Come in.
Azure DevOps can be used collaboratively by multiple people to track changes made to software source code and release them to customers in a live environment.
In addition, at a time of global economic uncertainty, there is a real need to reduce costs and improve efficiency while providing added value to customers whose businesses are undergoing significant digital transformation.
Mobile phone company Vodafone realized that it had too many computer systems within the company and many different code repositories for all of its software. Some control systems relied on Word documents to manually track source code changes.
“At the time, we could automatically roll back a deployment to see specifically which line of code caused the problem, link to the developer, and see why we did something like that. It took us a long time to be able to do that,” says Ben Connolly. Head of Digital Engineering at Vodafone.
Improved productivity Artificial intelligence (AI) is also increasingly helping developers solve pain points. GitHub, the world's largest code repository and social software development community, leverages AI in the following ways: GitHub Copilot.
“GitHub Copilot provides enhanced features for developers, including suggesting code improvements, identifying common coding errors, and helping developers understand the codebase faster, especially for developers new to the project. ,” adds Dourado.
According to GitHub, 46% of new code is now written by AI, overall developer productivity has increased by 55%, and 75% of developers on the platform are looking to be more creative with their software development. They report that they are now able to concentrate on specific areas.
Software development has been democratized Microsoft wants to take things a step further by “democratizing” the IT industry and making it possible for people without a software development background to build software, Dourado said. “We're bringing in users from the business environment and allowing them to build programs without necessarily understanding code,” she added.
for example, Azure cognitive services You can automate document processing, improve customer service, understand the root causes of anomalies, and extract insights from content.
“The world of technology is constantly changing, especially around things like AI, and if you are a developer, it may not be your core skill. We’re trying to make it possible to leverage AI without spending months or years,” says Dourado.
“What's important to me is that I don't have to struggle to learn new technology and have more freedom to be creative and take advantage of the features of the application.”
As organizations move their computing infrastructure to the cloud, they are harnessing the power of data like never before. Cloud-based services use artificial intelligence (AI) to make data easier to access, search, and understand. Instead of data being the property of a team of data scientists and analysts, new cloud-based tools and technologies are opening up this area of expertise to a wider range of employees across the organization.
Leighton Searle, director of Azure Solutions UK at Microsoft, believes there are significant benefits for businesses running their IT infrastructure. microsoft azure cloud platform. “The huge potential of new generative AI technologies has placed a renewed emphasis on the quality and availability of data in organizations,” he says. When companies move their data to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, they can instantly access tools and services to unlock their value for both employees and customers. This will lead to culture change and deeper embedding of data throughout the business.
Searle identifies four areas where the cloud is accelerating the use of data, empowering employees, and increasing productivity.
1 Empower employees to make data-driven decisions Searle emphasized that the cloud is helping to democratize data, allowing employees to access data directly in their daily workflows, rather than being locked into administrative reports or separate line-of-business applications. Masu. “To unlock the value of data and realize its potential, data must be accessible to the people who need it,” Searle said. “It provides contact center agents with a scannable overview of all previous customer interactions, transactions, and support calls, as well as instant access to a company-wide knowledge base of specialized information for world-class That could mean providing a better customer experience or enabling mobile mechanics to meet customer needs. Identifying parts and inventory status from a photo taken with a mobile phone.”
Almost every role can benefit from timely, secure and relevant data, Searle says. When staff become responsible for managing data related to their role, they need tools to simplify the process. Data visualization tools help employees create simple representations of data to glean insights and improve customer experiences.For example, Heathrow Airport Microsoft Power BI Use data visualization tools through Microsoft Teams to transform data from management systems into visualizations that are easy for staff to read. These allow employees to see at a glance how airport passenger numbers are changing in real time. Prepare your staff for the peaks and troughs rather than just reacting to them.
2 Breaking down data silos To achieve a higher degree of data democracy, data must be made available throughout the organization, rather than being locked away in a central repository. “With the right guidance, governance, and guardrails in place, you can enable the rest of your business and provide access to the data you need,” Searle says.
For example, a group of five south London boroughs formed the South London Partnership; Linked with Azure Build a universal data platform. This includes sharing data from “Internet of Things” (IoT) sensors monitoring at-risk populations, and he estimates the partnership has already saved four lives. I am. IoT sensors also monitor air quality and flood risk. “The ability of cloud technology to share data while maintaining data rights and privacy has allowed us to break down data silos,” Searle says.
3 Building AI and modern search to accelerate your business Customer and employee expectations have changed as AI-driven experiences play a larger role in daily life. Along with a good data foundation and a good data culture, these experiences are quickly becoming critical to both employee and customer retention. Employees can use internal apps to search for data and access historical information in “structured” tables and graphs or in “unstructured” formats from documents, images, and other sources. You need to dig deep into your knowledge.
Mr. Searle points out that: Azure cognitive search The platform and Azure Open AI service allow users to type common natural language queries into the search bar. This is processed by an AI-powered system that looks at all data sources and returns a natural language summary from the most relevant sources. Used for validation or further research. He says this type of his AI-driven experience will help companies derive insights and make data-driven decisions intuitively and at unprecedented speed.
For example, Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust moved its computing infrastructure to the cloud and used Azure Cognitive Search to Make patient records easier to search By the clinician. The trust has uploaded all records to Azure. The records included all kinds of unstructured data, including handwritten notes, doctor's notes, scanned images, and photographs.
Clinicians said they were “blown away” to learn that Azure Cognitive Search enabled them to discover these diverse formats, allowing them to quickly find handwritten notes and records from the previous year.
4 Building a data-driven culture From frontline workers to boardroom executives, all employees should be open to incorporating data into the way they work, Searle says. He believes they can all learn from and contribute to enriching the data that flows through them. Employees who are involved in managing their own data are also better placed to reduce the risk of bias and incorrect assumptions in data-driven decision-making.
Searle believes that democratizing data requires a significant change in corporate culture. Departments across the organization, such as human resources, marketing, operations, sales, and finance, play a critical role in the data they generate and consume. For example, business users of organizational data are in the best position to set data security and access policies and manage the data so that it can be used with confidence by other parts of the business.
The pace of change can be daunting for leaders at all levels. To help organizations upskill, Microsoft has partnered with European business school Insead to AI Business School.
Searle outlines the steps businesses need to take to get the most out of their data. “We securely bring data into the Microsoft cloud. We lead from the top to build a data-driven culture across the organization and move quickly to projects that deliver business value. This positive experience ripples throughout the business, and this It will help us incorporate data-driven approaches to further scale.”
The world is on the brink of a productivity revolution
The world is on the brink of a productivity revolution, as artificial intelligence (AI) creates a new wave of opportunity for businesses of all sizes. Whether it’s using chatbots, more advanced AI, uncovering deeper insights into customer needs, or speeding up product development, you’re missing out on the improved outcomes that AI can bring. No company wants that. For some organizations, generative AI tools are emerging, such as: Chat GPT and Daruiis increasingly making business cases for adopting AI strategies to generate content and images. But while business leaders want to maximize the benefits of technology, they also need to understand the broader responsibilities that come with it (including considerations around data privacy, unintentional bias, copyright infringement, etc.) and how to do so. You also need to. Most of the opportunities are rapidly evolving. To help board executives and IT leaders drive success with their AI strategies, Michael Wignall, director of infrastructure for Microsoft’s Azure Business Customer Success unit, recommends what leaders need to do before leveraging AI. Here are the first five steps you should take.
1. Make AI part of a broader cloud computing strategy
First and foremost, Wignall says companies should consider working with established technology providers. AI works best when it’s part of a broader cloud computing strategy. This means IT operations are outsourced to an outside company that operates the data center. Microsoft Azure he says. “AI is born in the cloud. To take advantage of this wave of innovation, you need to be in the cloud,” he added. He points to his three main components of AI: computing power, data, and algorithms, all of which are best provided through cloud services. He believes companies should adopt a “cloud-native” approach, where the entire AI infrastructure is built on a cloud platform. Such an approach offers many benefits, including: Reduce costs by paying only for the resources you use, rather than maintaining and updating expensive on-premises equipment. Flexibility and scalability. Customers can easily add or remove resources as needed. Access to enhanced security tools. This allows you to better detect, assess, and alert on threats to your customers’ data. As with cloud data, you can easily back up your data and quickly restore it in the event of a failure or disaster.
2. Find the data
Next, businesses need to have a solid understanding of where their data resides within their organization and move it to cloud platforms. The success of AI depends on analyzing relevant data at scale. To fine-tune AI for best performance, AI should be powered by your company’s own data from customer lists, inventory, sales information, financial data, and other key data. “It’s important to make sure your data platform and data strategy is the best it can be, and that you know where your data is and how to access it,” he said.
3. Protect your data
Once the cloud infrastructure is in place and the associated data has been migrated, the next critical step is to secure that data. With all of a company’s important data in one place (the cloud), it’s important to have peace of mind in the presence of multiple threats, such as hackers. “Make sure you’re protected with best-in-class security features, clearly defined policies and governance around who can access your data, and the ability to audit how your data is handled,” he said.
4. Decide which functions and tasks to use AI for
Once the infrastructure, data, and security are in place, companies can move on to determining the best uses for AI, such as automating office processes, extracting insights from data, and handling copywriting and a variety of other tasks. Masu. For the past five years, general AI has provided so-called “cognitive services” such as data analysis and product recommendations. Generative AI takes technology to a new level. With a few keystrokes, users can create content such as reports, ads, images, copy, automated emails, and personalized user connections. Generative AI can also analyze large volumes of documents, call center logs, and financial results and summarize information with short precision.
5. Implement a responsible AI policy
Once a company takes these steps, it is ready to deploy an AI strategy. However, before launching, companies should ensure they have responsible AI policies in place across the board. Businesses ensure that AI is free from embedded bias, that there is good governance around its use, that AI is used ethically, and that there are no unintended or undesirable consequences is needed. Microsoft provides responsible AI policy guidance and provides tools to check for bias, ensure inappropriate data is filtered out, and perform sentiment checks to scrutinize output. Ultimately, however, it is essential that companies ensure they have responsible AI policies in place. While many organizations are just beginning their AI journey, Wignall summarizes the mindset companies should adopt when considering AI: Partnership is key. Cloud is the key. Prioritize the business benefits that matter to your organization. And start today.
The moon mission, although a private effort, is sponsored by NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program, which is a vital part of NASA’s initiatives to return astronauts to the moon. This initiative would enable NASA to award contracts to private companies for transporting scientific and other equipment to the moon’s surface.
“We believe this is a great approach to leverage entrepreneurship and innovation in America’s industrial base,” stated Joel Kearns, deputy assistant administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.
Kearns mentioned that partnering with private providers will allow NASA to launch more frequent and cost-effective missions to the moon.
The mission is the Peregrine lander, a part of the Commercial Monthly Payload Service Program. The mission aims to bring five NASA instruments to the moon, including instruments to measure the radiation environment on the lunar surface and spectrometers to study the abundance of substances such as hydrogen.
The mission will also carry several other non-scientific items, including payloads from Elysium Space and Celestis, which will provide a “space burial” for cremated remains to orbit or the moon.
Astrobotic’s involvement in Celestis and Elysium Space has caused controversy. Navajo President Boo Nygren expressed in a letter to NASA and the U.S. Department of Transportation last month that leaving human remains on the moon would be a “grave desecration” of a celestial body sacred to many Native cultures.
During a press conference on Friday, Astrobotic CEO John Thornton stated that he was “disappointed” that the concerns were not raised earlier, but the company was committed to “let’s do the right thing.” He added, “I hope we can find a good path forward with the Navajo Nation.”
If the Peregrine mission launches as planned on Monday, the lander will attempt to land on the moon on February 23rd in an area known as the sticky cavewhere ancient lava once flowed.
In a pre-launch briefing, Thornton stated that the Peregrine mission is a significant step for the U.S. commercial space industry. He specifically mentioned that this flight could usher in a new era of space technology and innovation for Astrobotics and the city of Pittsburgh.
“We are bringing a new cosmic state online,” he said. “If Pittsburgh can land on the moon, Pittsburgh can do anything.”
Many dogs have been seen in the night sky, but the most famous is Canis Major, also known as the Great Dog. To locate it, start by finding its master, the constellation Orion, specifically the three bands of stars at the center of that constellation. Extend the line downward and to the left (southeast) to reach the alpha star Sirius in the constellation Canis Major.
Sirius, also referred to as the Dog Star, is relatively close to the sun, 8.6 light years away (a light year is the distance light travels in a year, approximately 10 trillion kilometers).
It is the brightest star in the night sky due to its close proximity to Earth. Its light is affected by atmospheric turbulence, causing flickering and variations in color.
Canis Major represents the dog, with a lively animal imagined as running towards Orion. Sirius appears as a pointed head at the top left (northeast), a distorted rectangular body slanted to the bottom left, and even a small tail, but its appendages and hind legs are very low in the sky when viewed from England. Using binoculars, look below (to the south) of Sirius just below the field of view to find the beautiful open star cluster Messier 41 (M41) inside the dog’s body, if the sky is clear and dark.
How to identify the stars of the Big Dog (Canis Major) and the Little Dog (Canis Minor). – Source: Pete Lawrence
To find Canis Minor, also known as the little dog and relative of Canis Major, look upward (north) from Sirius and to the left (east) to a relatively sparsely populated area of the sky with only one bright star, Procyon. This constellation is not often identified as a dog and is basically formed by only two stars, Procyon and Gomeisa.
The Gallup World Poll collects data from various sources each year to determine which countries are the happiest in the world. The world happiness report for 2023 reveals changes in the top 10, while the top spot has remained the same for six editions.
The World Happiness Report measures general happiness by assigning scores to each country using data collected on life evaluations. The Cantril ladder survey asks individuals to score their life on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 as the worst and 10 as the best. Approximately 1,000 survey responses are used for each country.
To calculate a country’s individual score, known as the Life Expectancy Rating, the Happiness Report takes an average of numbers from people surveyed in each country over the past three years.
Among the countries surveyed, Afghanistan was once again named the world’s unhappiest country with a score of 1.859. Meanwhile, the UK ranks 19th in happiness with a score of 6.796, while the US ranks 15th with a score of 6.894.
According to the World Happiness Report, New Zealand will be the 10th happiest country in the world in 2023, with a score of 7.123. This is the second year in a row that New Zealand has ranked 10th.
New Zealand, the first of only two non-European countries on this list, is famous for being a film location for the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies.
9. Luxembourg
The ninth happiest country in the world in 2023 was Luxembourg, with a World Happiness Report score of 7.228. The small European nation was ranked sixth in 2022, dropping three places this year.
Luxembourg is a landlocked country, bordering Germany, Belgium, and France.
8. Switzerland
Switzerland ranks 8th in the 2023 World Happiness Report with a score of 7.240. This represents the biggest decline in happiness in the top 10, following fourth place in 2022.
Switzerland, the second landlocked country after Luxembourg, is famous for its mountains, ski resorts, chocolate, and banks.
The seventh happiest country in the world in 2023 was Norway, with a score of 7.315. In this year’s World Happiness Report, the country moved up one place from 8th place in 2022.
Norway, the first Scandinavian country on this list, shares a long border with Sweden and is famous for its fjords and the Northern Lights.
Sweden is the 6th happiest country on earth with a World Happiness Report score of 7.395. The Scandinavian country moved up one place from her seventh place in 2022.
Sweden is known for its forests, lakes, and as the birthplace of ABBA, IKEA, and many of the world’s greatest metal bands.
5. Netherlands
The fifth happiest country in the world is the Netherlands, with a score of 7.403 according to the World Happiness Report. In 2023, it ranked in the top five for the second year in a row.
The Netherlands is famous for its windmills, clogs, colorful poppies, and as the home of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
4. Israel
Israel
With a score of 7.473, Israel will be the fourth happiest country in the world in 2023. Since the 2022 World Happiness Report, the country has risen from 9th to 4th place in the top 10.
Israel faces many diplomatic issues and is only one of two non-European countries on the list.
3. Iceland
According to the World Happiness Report, the third happiest country in the world in 2023 is Iceland, with a score of 7.530. This is the second year in a row that Iceland has been ranked third.
Iceland is the country with the smallest population on this list, with just 375,436 inhabitants.
2. Denmark
Denmark is the second happiest country on earth, with a score of 7.586 in the World Happiness Report. Denmark has been named the second happiest country in the world for four years in a row.
Denmark was a founding member of NATO, the United Nations, the Nordic Council, the OECD, and the OSCE.
1. Finland
According to the 2023 World Happiness Report, Finland is the happiest country in the world. Finland has been named the happiest country on Earth for six years in a row.
In the report, Finland achieved an overall score of 7.804. Finland is known as the home of Santa Claus, reindeer, and its love of saunas. Approximately 74% of Finland is covered in forest.
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