According to a new study from Washington University in St. Louis, individual neurons work together to generate rhythmic waves that propel fluid through dense brain tissue, cleaning it in the process.
Accumulation of metabolic waste products is a major cause of many neurological diseases, but there is still limited knowledge about how the brain performs self-cleaning.Jean Xie other. They demonstrate that neural networks synchronize individual action potentials to generate large-amplitude, rhythmic, self-perpetuating ion waves within the brain's interstitial fluid. Image credit: Jiang-Xie other., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07108-6.
“These neurons are miniature pumps,” said Dr. Li-Feng Jiang-Xie, lead author of the study.
“Synchronized neural activity facilitates fluid flow and removal of debris from the brain.”
“If we can develop this process, we could slow or prevent neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, where excess waste products such as metabolic waste and junk proteins accumulate in the brain and cause neurodegeneration. It may be possible.”
Brain cells form a dynamic network that coordinates thoughts, emotions, and body movements and is essential for memory formation and problem solving.
But to perform these energy-intensive tasks, your brain cells need fuel. When you take in nutrients from your diet, metabolic waste products are produced in the process.
“It is important that the brain processes metabolic waste products that can accumulate and contribute to neurodegenerative diseases,” said Professor Jonathan Kipnis, senior author of the study.
“We knew that sleep is a time when the brain begins a cleansing process to flush out waste and toxins that have accumulated during wakefulness. But how does that happen? I didn't understand.”
“These findings may point us to strategies and potential treatments to accelerate the removal of hazardous waste and remove it before it leads to dire consequences.”
However, cleaning the dense brain is not an easy task. The cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain enters a complex network of cells, collecting toxic waste as it passes through it.
On leaving the brain, contaminated fluids must pass through a barrier in the dura mater (the outer layer of tissue that surrounds the brain under the skull) before flooding into the lymph vessels.
But what powers the flow of fluid into, into, and out of the brain?
“Researchers studied the brains of sleeping mice and discovered that neurons work together to fire electrical signals that generate rhythmic waves in the brain, prompting cleaning efforts,” says Jean. Dr. Shi said.
The study authors determined that such waves drive fluid movement.
They silenced certain brain areas so that neurons in those areas no longer produced rhythmic waves.
Without these waves, fresh cerebrospinal fluid cannot flow through the silenced brain areas and trapped waste products cannot exit the brain tissue.
“One of the reasons we sleep is to cleanse the brain,” Professor Kipnis says.
“And if we can enhance this cleansing process, perhaps we can sleep less and stay healthy.”
“Not everyone can benefit from eight hours of sleep each night, and lack of sleep can affect your health.”
“Other studies have shown that mice genetically short-sleeping have healthier brains.”
“Is it to remove waste products from the brain more efficiently?”
“Is it possible to strengthen the brain purification ability of people suffering from insomnia so that they can live with less sleep?”
of study Published in the Journal on February 28, 2024 Nature.
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LF.Jean Xie other. Neurodynamics directs cerebrospinal fluid perfusion and brain clearance. Nature, published online on February 28, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07108-6
Using data from Jupiter aurora distribution experiment (JADE) Instrument equipped NASA spacecraft Junoplanetary scientists calculated that the proportion of oxygen produced on Jupiter's icy moon Europa is significantly lower than in most previous studies.
This diagram shows charged particles from Jupiter impacting Europa's surface, splitting frozen water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen molecules. Scientists believe that some of these newly produced oxygen gas may migrate toward the moon's subsurface ocean, as depicted in the inset image. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SWRI / PU.
With an equatorial diameter of 3,100 km (1,940 miles), Europa is the fourth largest of Jupiter's 95 known moons and the smallest of the four Galilean moons.
The moon has an internal liquid ocean and potentially habitable conditions beneath its frozen crust.
Its surface is constantly bombarded with radiation, which breaks down the icy crust into oxygen and hydrogen, most of which is either released from the surface and escapes into space, or remains and forms Europa's atmosphere.
The abundances of these atmospheric gases and ions, and consequently their production rates at the Earth's surface, are inferred primarily from remote sensing observations and are subject to large uncertainties.
“Europa is like an ice ball that slowly loses water in a flowing river,” said Dr. Jamie Zareh, a JADE scientist and researcher at Princeton University.
“However, the flow in this case is a fluid of ionized particles that are swept around Jupiter by Jupiter's unusual magnetic field.”
“When these ionized particles hit Europa, they break up the water ice on the surface molecule by molecule, producing hydrogen and oxygen.”
“In a sense, the entire ice shell is being continuously eroded by the waves of charged particles being launched.”
In the new study, Zarai and colleagues analyzed data from a flyby of Europa conducted by the Juno spacecraft on September 29, 2022. On this flight, the spacecraft flew 353 kilometers (219 miles) above Europa's surface.
They used a JADE instrument to extract abundant amounts of different pickup ions. Pick-up ions are charged particles produced by the destruction of atmospheric neutrals when they collide with high-energy radiation or other particles.
From these data, they calculate that about 12 kg of oxygen is produced every second on Europa's surface.
This is at the lower end of the range of 5 to 1,100 kg per second estimated from previous models.
The results suggest that Europa's surface may have less oxygen than previously thought, meaning that Europa's oceanic habitat is narrower. .
“Flying so close to the Galileo satellite during its long-duration mission allowed us to begin working on a wide range of science, including the unique opportunity to contribute to the study of Europa's habitability,” Juno Principal Investigator said researcher Dr. Scott Bolton. Southwest Research Institute.
“And we're not done yet. More moon approaches and the first exploration of Jupiter's close rings and polar atmosphere are still to come.”
of findings It was published in the magazine natural astronomy.
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JR Zarai other. Production of oxygen by dissociation of Europa's water and ice surfaces. Nat Astron, published online March 4, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02206-x
Christian Ziegler/Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior
As storks grow older, they choose faster and more direct migration routes. This suggests that storks are learning by experience to perfect these routes.
“We were able to track these animals and get detailed information about when and where they go,” he says. Ellen Aikens at the University of Wyoming. “But we wanted to learn more about how migration is refined and developed over the lifespan of storks.”
Stork (ciconia) Breeds mainly in Europe, but flies to central or southern Africa during the winter. From 2013 to 2020, Aikens and his colleagues captured 258 young storks at five breeding sites in Germany and Austria. They attached tags to them that tracked their location before releasing them.
In total, the team was able to record 301 migration events from 40 storks, with all storks completing at least two consecutive migrations.
After analyzing the data, the researchers found that young birds tend to spend more time exploring new places and trying different trails each year.
“The reason behind this is that during early childhood they collect information to better understand their environment,” Aikens said. “Because they haven’t yet bred, they have less time pressure to move into the territory they need to breed or build nests.”
However, as the storks grew, their paths gradually became straighter and they began to fly much faster in order to reach their destination faster.
“This suggests that they are progressively upgrading their routes to shorter and more direct ones, but this comes at the cost of requiring energetically more expensive transitions. ,” Aikens said. She says this change occurred because, as storks mature, they need to compete with other storks for quality nesting sites in order to be successful in breeding.
“Storks learn the same way we learn,” Aikens says. “We should appreciate more how wise and how wonderful it is that they are able to complete these journeys successfully and do better over the years.”
A satellite that is expected to change the way we look at global warming methane emissions from oil and gas production has launched from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base. The satellite, called MethaneSAT, will orbit the Earth 15 times a day and use infrared sensors to measure methane leaking from all the world's major production centers.
“We specifically designed MethaneSAT to accomplish one goal,” he says. stephen hamburger The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is a nonprofit advocacy group that developed the satellite with a consortium of universities and aerospace companies. “To generate policy-relevant data to track methane emissions from the oil and gas industry around the world.”
Methane is the most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. And oil, gas and coal production are among the largest sources of anthropogenic methane emissions. Many governments have set targets to reduce methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030, and at last year's COP28 climate change summit, many major oil and gas companies announced plans to reduce methane emissions by 30 percent by 2050. It pledged to reduce methane emissions to zero..
However, it is difficult to assess progress against these commitments. Current methane emissions remain poorly quantified, leaks are difficult to track, and aerial surveys and ground monitoring are expensive and some countries do not allow them. MethaneSAT joins a growing family of methane detection instruments in orbit, aiming to provide better visibility. Existing satellites, such as the European Space Agency's TROPOMI, detect methane emissions over large areas. Other devices, like the 11 methane detection devices operated by Canadian company GHGSat, focus on identifying specific point sources of methane.
In contrast, MethaneSAT regularly monitors methane at high resolution between these scales, allowing researchers to quantify emissions across regions associated with oil and gas production and identify possible sources. can be mapped. “We needed to be able to see all the emissions and resolve them in space,” Hamburg says.
When fully operational, the satellite will deliver up to 30 different “scenes” measuring methane fluxes over 40,000 square kilometers per day, according to the City of Hamburg. He said he will prioritize monitoring oil and gas producing regions such as the Permian Basin in West Texas, but will also be able to measure methane from other major sources such as agriculture, wetlands and landfills. “Methane is methane,” he says.
In parallel with the development of the satellite, Hamburg et al. are building a pipeline to rapidly convert the raw data it generates into publicly available estimates of methane emissions and the likely sources of plumes. was built. This includes a global database of oil and gas infrastructure. Created in partnership with Google Helps connect methane detection to its source.
“We're mapping the whole thing,” Hamburg says. He said the satellite will generate more data on methane emissions from oil and gas in its first year of operation than has been collected in the past 50 years. Full data collection is expected to begin in early 2025.
“The data is here and the technology is here to initiate action,” he says. Jean-François Gauthier GHGSat's hope is that MethaneSAT will help identify sources of emissions, allowing GHGSat's focused satellites to measure in more detail.
rob jackson Stanford University in California says the satellite can independently check emissions reported by companies and countries. “There will be nowhere to hide,” he says. The flood of data may also help explain the still-uncertain causes of the rise in methane rates since 2007, he added.
“The big question for me is how do people use that information,” Jackson says. “There's an assumption that if we had all the information, the emissions would somehow go away. But having information from aircraft and ground sources didn't stop these emissions.”
Also known as the giant southern crab, it lives on rocky and muddy bottoms off the coast of southern Australia.
“Alive 'Southern Giant Crab'” Pseudocalcinus gigas “It ranks among the largest crabs that have ever lived,” said Utrecht University paleontologist Barry van Bekel and colleague Alex Osso.
“This bird is now endemic to the cool-temperate South Australian continental margin, although there is one record of a female being caught off the coast of New Zealand's South Island.”
“Scientists recognized and described the unique set of morphological characters of this monotypic genus and constructed a corresponding new family and superfamily.”
“Unfortunately, the geological history of this remarkable group of crabs is largely unknown.”
named Pseudocarcinus karlaubenheimeria new member of this genus lived in New Zealand about 8.8 million years ago (Miocene epoch).
Six specimens of this species were collected from Waitoetoe Beach. Urenui formation The Taranaki Basin is home to a series of volcanoes. Mojakatino Volcano Center It erupted offshore, leading to the formation of a specific paleoenvironment.
“this is, false calcinus It lived in what is now New Zealand,” the researchers said.
According to the team: false calcinus Males have one normal-sized claw and one extra-large claw.
“In modern oceans, crabs have larger absolute claw sizes in temperate regions than in tropical regions, but in temperate oceans their claws are smaller relative to their body size.”
“The Miocene of New Zealand was home to two species of giant crabs with the largest known crushing claws. Thumidocarcinus giganteus and Pseudocarcinus karlaubenheimeri”
“Clearly, food sources, metabolic conditions and calcium carbonate availability were favorable to these species.”
“Thumidocalcinus Extinct by the end of the Miocene. false calcinus It is currently only known from Australian waters. ”
team's paper Published in New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics.
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Barry W. M. van Bekel and Alex Osso. A new “Southern Giant Crab'' discovered in a Miocene continental slope paleoenvironment in Taranaki, North Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, published online on February 27, 2024. doi: 10.1080/00288306.2024.2314472
A ball of cells grown from amniotic fluid. Red indicates lung stem cells
Giuseppe Cara, Paolo di Coppi, Mattia Guerli
Babies born with serious medical conditions may one day receive better diagnosis and treatment in utero, thanks to a new technique that takes samples of cells from intrauterine fluid and grows them in dishes. It might become.
world's first, paolo de coppi Researchers at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London have shown that fetal cells from amniotic fluid can be induced to form miniature spheres of lung, kidney or small intestine tissue. They also showed that these lung organoids could help treat babies born with a sometimes fatal lung disease called congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH).
Although the technique has not yet been used to treat children, the results show it is possible in principle, De Coppi said. The strategy, which researchers call “personalized prenatal medicine,” can also be modified to help treat a variety of other congenital conditions.
The idea takes advantage of a recent approach in which cells in a dish are induced to grow into lentil-sized tissue organoids that take on a three-dimensional structure. These are better than standard techniques of growing cells in two-dimensional layers to capture specific aspects of the tissue in question, such as whether the tissue is healthy or growing abnormally.
The researchers now show that samples of amniotic fluid taken during pregnancy contain fetal cells that can form tissue organoids for the lungs, kidneys, and small intestine.
Studying organoids made from cells from fetuses known to suffer from congenital disorders can tell doctors exactly what form they take, how severe they are, and how they can be treated. We may be able to provide further information.
The researchers created organoids for 12 fetuses with CDH, which causes abdominal organs to push up into the chest, preventing the left lung from growing properly. This condition can be treated by pushing a balloon into the baby's lungs while the baby is in the womb to expand the lungs and improve growth.
The researchers created lung organoids from the fetuses before and after balloon treatment. They found hints that the organoids created after the treatment behaved more like healthy lung tissue than those created beforehand, suggesting that the treatment was successful.
Therefore, organoid technology can be used not only to monitor whether a treatment is effective, as doctors perform this intervention only in the most severe cases, but also to determine whether treatment is needed in the first place. You can use it.
“This has great potential for functional diagnostics,” says De Coppi. “We know how to make diagnoses based on images, but sometimes there are extensive diagnoses. [condition severity] Possible. We want to provide better prenatal diagnostic tools. ”
“If we can classify a disease as mild, moderate, or severe, that's a huge accomplishment,” he says. Cecilia Goeterstrom At Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
holm schneider Researchers at Germany's Erlangen University Hospital say their approach suggests that organoids could one day be converted into mature tissue and transplanted into babies after birth, even if part of their intestine is missing, for example. ing. “If we could engineer gut-like structures for these children to use after birth, we would be in a much better position,” he says.
Jupiter’s moon Europa is covered with an icy shell
NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology
Jupiter’s moon Europa may not be as ripe for life as we think. Beneath the icy shell is an ocean of water, but as we know, the frigid moon may lack the oxygen needed to support life.
On Europa, oxygen is produced when radiation hits the surface and breaks down the water ice there into its constituent parts hydrogen and oxygen. Models of this process suggest that oxygen production rates can range from 5 kilograms per second to more than 1000 kilograms per second.
Jamie Zareh Researchers at Princeton University made the new estimate using data from the Juno spacecraft, which flew just 353 kilometers above Europa’s surface in 2022. They discovered that oxygen is only produced at a rate of about 12 kilograms per second at the Earth’s surface. This corresponds to the lower bound of previous estimates.
“In a sense, the shell is like Europa’s lungs. It’s continually producing oxygen,” Zaray says. “That said, we can’t say what happens after the oxygen is produced at the surface. How much of the oxygen makes it into the ocean remains a question.”
But if less oxygen is produced in the first place, less oxygen will enter European waters. As a result, researchers may be less likely to discover organisms similar to those living on Earth.
One of the next steps is to figure out how much of that oxygen can penetrate through the alien moon’s icy shell. NASA’s European Clipper mission, scheduled to launch in October, should help solve that problem. It is hoped that this will allow researchers to measure the thickness of the ice and determine whether elements and compounds useful for life can pass through it.
NASA has released a beautiful photo of spiral galaxy NGC 4423 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
This Hubble image shows spiral galaxy NGC 4423 about 55 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Sun.
NGC4423 It is located in the constellation Virgo, about 55 million light years away.
Also known as IRAS 12246+0609, LEDA 40801, or VCC 971, this spiral galaxy is approximately 35,000 light-years in diameter.
beginning spotted Discovered on April 13, 1784 by German-born British astronomer William Herschel, NGC 4423 is a member of the Virgo cluster.
“In the new image, NGC 4423 appears to have a highly irregular, tubular shape, so it may be surprising to learn that it is actually a spiral galaxy,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“Knowing this, we can distinguish between the galaxy's denser central bulge and the less dense surrounding disk, which makes up the spiral arms.”
“If you looked at NGC 4423 head-on, it would resemble the shape we most associate with spiral galaxies: a spectacular curve spreading out from a bright center and interspersed with darker, dimmer, less populated regions. This is the arm you are drawing.”
“However, when observing the sky, we are constrained by the relative position of the earth and the object we are observing. We cannot simply change the position of the earth to get a better view of NGC 4423 head-on. .”
“Of course, celestial bodies are not stationary in space; they often move at very high speeds relative to each other.”
“This may suggest that even if the galaxy is moving in a coincidental direction relative to Earth, if you travel far enough you may be able to see it from a substantially different perspective. I don’t know.”
“While this is theoretically possible, in reality the distances in the universe are too long and human lifespans are too short for significant differences in relative alignment to occur.”
“In other words, this is more or less the view of NGC 4423 that we will always have.”
New images of NGC 4423 consist of observations from. Hubble's advanced survey camera (ACS) in the near-infrared and optical portions of the spectrum.
This is based on data obtained through two filters. Color is obtained by assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
Paleontologists at the University of California, Davis and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History estimate that: Colossus of PercetusA gigantic basilosaur whale that lived in the Eocene of Peru and was 17 meters long and weighed between 60 and 70 tons.
reconstruction of Colossus of Percetus in coastal habitats. related sawfish, Pristis, recovered from the same unit in the East Pisco Basin, Yumac, Paracas Formation, Peru. Image credit: A. Gennari.
Colossus of Percetus They lived in what is now Peru about 39 million years ago (Eocene epoch).
This species was first described in 2023. Basilosauridaean extinct cetacean family that lived in the Eocene and is known on all continents, including Antarctica.
“Colossus of Percetus“The bones are unusually dense,” said Ryosuke Motani, a professor at the University of California, Davis, and Dr. Nicholas Pienson of the Smithsonian Institution.
“Mammal bones are usually solid on the outside and spongy or hollow in the center. In some animals, much of the center is filled with solid bone, which makes it denser and heavier. There are some that are.”
“In aquatic animals, heavy bones offset the buoyancy of body fat and fat, allowing them to maintain neutral buoyancy underwater or, in the case of hippos, to walk on riverbeds.”
“Fossil whale bones have an extensively filled interior and an overgrowth of bone on the outside. A condition called pachyostosis is also found in some modern aquatic mammals, such as manatees. .”
In 2023, paleontologists estimated the weight of the following people: Colossus of Percetus 180 metric tons (range from 85 to 340 metric tons).
This results in Colossus of Percetus Despite being much shorter at 17 meters (17 meters) compared to the 30 meters (30 meters) of the blue whale, it weighs as much or more than the largest known blue whale.
“These estimates indicate that Colossus of Percetus It's incredibly dense,” Professor Motani said.
“It would have been a whale's job to stay on the surface and get out of the ocean. To do anything underwater, it would have had to keep swimming against gravity.”
The authors reviewed the assumptions used to make these estimates.
“The first problem is that the original study used fossil bones to estimate skeletal weight, and assumed that skeletal and non-skeletal mass increases at the same rate as body size increases, which increases the total animal weight. “It's an extrapolation,” they said.
“But measurements in other animals show that this is not the case.”
“Initial estimates also overestimated how much overall weight would increase as a result of hypertrophy.”
“However, the evidence for manatees shows that their bodies are relatively light compared to their skeletal mass.”
Professor Motani and Dr Pienson estimate the total length to be 17 meters. Colossus of Percetus It weighs between 60 and 70 tons, much lighter than any known blue whale.
individuals of Colossus of Percetus A whale that grows to 20 meters can weigh more than 110 tons, but that's still a long way off the 270 tons of the largest blue whale.
“Thanks to the new weight, the whale, like most whales, is able to rise to the surface and remain there while breathing and recovering from the dive,” Professor Motani said.
R. Motani and N.D. Pienson. 2024. Downsizing in the heavy class: Factors and methods for revising mass estimates of giant fossil whales. Colossus of Percetus. Peer J 12: e16978; doi: 10.7717/peerj.16978
In biomedical research, understanding causes and physical characteristics, known as phenotypes, is crucial for correcting abnormalities like diseases. Scientists use genetic techniques to identify disease-associated locations within the human genome, a process known as Genome-wide association research (GWAS). This research helps predict disease risk and develop prevention or treatment strategies.
However, a significant issue with GWAS is the lack of diversity in the data, primarily comprising individuals of European descent. This limits the application of results to other ancestries like Asia or Africa. Previous studies on rheumatoid arthritis have highlighted this limitation.
Using GWAS analysis, scientists generate statistics to predict an individual’s likelihood of developing traits or diseases based on their genetics, resembling a polygenic score report card. This analysis also shows how genes are inherited and their impact on traits like height, weight, and blood pressure.
To address this diversity gap, researchers from Australia, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea integrated European polygenic scores into genetic studies of various ancestries.
They utilized data from biobanks like UK Biobank, Biobank Japan, Taiwan Biobank, and Korea Genome Epidemiology Study, analyzing traits such as height, BMI, blood pressure, and diabetes. Statistical models helped calculate polygenic scores and evaluate GWAS results alongside European scores.
Their method aimed to enhance medical discoveries for underrepresented populations by analyzing genome segments unique to certain traits. They found that adjusting GWAS with polygenic scores improved the detection of rare genetic differences and trait relationships.
While primarily focusing on East Asian data, the authors suggested applying this method to other ancestries using polygenic scores. Although computationally intensive, this method shows promise in improving genetic data analysis for future GWAS studies.
In conclusion, the authors believe that their method will enhance genetic data exploration and can be easily integrated with existing GWAS software tools. They encourage researchers to utilize this method, particularly with underrepresented population data, to study genetic interactions and their effects on traits and diseases.
Google and XPRIZE are launching a $5 million competition to create a quantum computer that could actually benefit society. It’s already known that quantum computers can perform certain tasks faster than classical computers, ever since Google first claimed the quantum benefits of its Sycamore processor in 2019. However, these demonstration tasks are simple benchmarks and have no real-world applications.
“There are a lot of fairly abstract mathematical problems for which quantum computers can prove to provide very significant speedups,” he says. Ryan Babush Google. “However, much of the research community is less focused on adapting more abstract quantum acceleration to concrete real-world applications, or on trying to figure out how quantum computers can be used. I didn’t.”
To this end, Google and the XPRIZE Foundation are inviting researchers to come up with new quantum algorithms as part of a three-year competition. The winning algorithm could potentially solve an existing problem, such as finding a new battery electrolyte that significantly increases storage capacity, but it doesn’t have to actually solve the problem, Babush said. Instead, researchers only need to demonstrate how the algorithm is applied and detail the exact specifications of the quantum computing required. Alternatively, competitors could demonstrate how existing quantum algorithms can be applied to real-world problems that have not been considered before.
The award examines how big an impact an entrant’s algorithm can have, whether it tackles problems similar to those outlined in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and how well it can be done on available machines. They will be judged on a variety of criteria, including feasibility. Now or in the near future.
The $5 million prize pool consists of a $3 million grand prize to be split between up to three winners, $1 million to five runners-up, and $50,000 each to the 20 semi-finalists. .
The award could help shift the focus of quantum computing researchers from technical definitions of quantum benefits, such as those demonstrated by Google and IBM, to real-world applications, it said. Nicholas Quesada At the Polytechnic University of Montreal, Canada. “[The prize is] “We realized clearly that this is a very important issue,” Quesada said. “We need to think about what we’re going to do with quantum computers.”
But finding socially beneficial quantum algorithms requires a deeper understanding of how quantum computers work, including how they deal with noise and errors, he said. bill fefferman at the University of Chicago. The award does not address this fundamental aspect of building quantum computers, he says.
“I’m generally very optimistic that we’ll find an algorithm that’s really useful,” Pfefferman says. “I’m not very optimistic that within the next three years we’ll be able to discover those algorithms and implement them on the current hardware that’s going to exist.”
○One of the most harmful myths about digital technology is that it is somehow weightless or immaterial. Remember the early talk about “paperless” offices and “frictionless” transactions? And of course, our personal electronic devices Several Electricity is insignificant compared to a washing machine or dishwasher.
But even if you believe this comforting story, you might not survive when you come across Kate Crawford’s seminal book. Atlas of AI or impressive Structure of an AI system A graphic she created with Vladan Joler. And it definitely won’t survive a visit to the data center. One giant metal shed houses tens or even hundreds of thousands of servers, consuming large amounts of electricity and requiring large amounts of water for cooling systems.
There are currently between 9,000 and 11,000 such data centers around the world. Many of them are old-style server farms with thousands or millions of cheap PCs that store all the data our smartphone-driven world generates, including photos, documents, videos, and recordings. It’s starting to look a little outdated. In such casual abundance.
what i was reading
shabby philanthropist Read Deborah Doan’s book sharp review for alliance Tim Schwab’s critical book magazine, bill gates problem.
final write Veteran commentator Jeff Jarvis think about giving up “About old journalism and its legacy industry,” in a BuzzMachine blog post.
slim picking In his blog No Mercy/No Malice, Scott Galloway suggests that AI and weight loss drugs have a lot in common.
There’s a mathematical trick to get out of any maze
Klaus Wedfeld/Digital Vision/Getty Images
It’s almost March 14th, or Pi Day. We celebrate this annual celebration of the great mathematical constants by new scientist Let’s recall some of our favorite recent stories from the world of mathematics. To whet your appetite, we’ve extracted a list of amazing facts from it, but if you want to indulge in Pi Day, click through for the full article. These are normally only available to subscribers, but to respect the circumference and diameter of the world, we have decided to make them free for a limited time.
The world’s best kitchen tiles
There are shapes called “hats” that can completely cover a surface without creating a repeating pattern. For decades, mathematicians have wondered whether a single tile exists that can do such a thing. Roger Penrose discovered a pair of tiles that could do the job in his 1970s, but no one could find a single tile that had the same effect when placed. Things changed last year when this hat was discovered.
why are you so unique
You are an irreplaceable person.Or actually he should be a tenth10^68. Called the doppelgängion by mathematician Antonio Padilla, this number is so large that it’s difficult to wrap your head around it. This is a 1 followed by 100 million trillion zeros, and has to do with the possibility of finding exactly the same person somewhere in the universe. It is so difficult to imagine numbers of this size that the quantum physics required to calculate them seems almost trivial in comparison. There is a finite number of quantum states that can exist in the same size part of the universe. Add them all up and you arrive at Doppelgängion. Padilla also wrote about four other surprising numbers of his. new scientist. We’re all here.
amazing tricks
There is a simple mathematical trick to get out of any maze. That means always turning to the right. This method always works, no matter how complex the maze, no matter how many twists and turns and dead ends there are. I got the trick. Can you see why it always leads to success?
and the next number is
There may be a sequence of numbers that is very difficult to calculate, and the mathematician has just found number 9 in the sequence, and it may be impossible to calculate number 10. These numbers are called Dedekind numbers, after the mathematician Richard Dedekind, and represent the number of ways a set of logical operations can be combined. When a set contains a small number of elements, it is relatively easy to calculate the corresponding Dedekind number, but as the number of elements increases, the Dedekind number grows “at twice the exponential rate.” His number 9 in this series was 42 digits long and took him a month to find.
You can’t see the forest for the trees (3)
There are numbers too large to fit in the universe. TREE(3) comes from a simple math game. The game involves generating a forest of trees using different combinations of seeds according to some simple rules. If there is one type of seed, then the maximum allowed forest can contain one tree. For two types of seeds, the largest forest will have three trees. But for three types of seeds, the largest forest has TREE (3) trees, which is too large a number for the universe.
language of the universe
There is an eight-dimensional number system called the octanion that physicists use to try to describe the universe mathematically. The best way to understand octonions is to first think about taking the square root of -1. Among the real numbers (including all counting numbers, fractions, pi, etc.) there is no such number that is the result of its calculation, so mathematicians add another number called . I. When combined with real numbers, we get a system called complex numbers, which consists of a real part and an “imaginary part,” such as 3+7i. That is, it is two-dimensional. Octonion occurs by continuing to build systems until you reach the 8th dimension. However, this is more than just mathematical fun and games. There is reason to believe that octonions may be a necessary number system for understanding the laws of nature.
so many new solutions
Mathematicians went looking for solutions to the three-body problem and found 12,000 solutions. The three-body problem is a classic astronomical problem that asks how three objects can form stable orbits around each other. Such an arrangement is explained by Isaac Newton’s laws of motion, but finding a solution that is actually acceptable is incredibly difficult. In 2007, mathematicians were able to find his 1,223 new solutions to this problem, but this was significantly surpassed last year when the team discovered more than 12,000 more solutions.
In the first two months of 2024, measles outbreaks in the US and UK, a global cholera vaccine shortage, and a case of bubonic plague from an infected cat in Oregon have sparked concern. The resurgence of seemingly eradicated diseases raises questions about their return.
To shed light on the frequency of disease resurgences, we spoke with Paul Hunter, Professor of Medicine at UEA Norwich Medical School. Paul uncovers the reasons behind the resurgence, identifies potential epicenters, and discusses preventive measures to avert another Black Death.
How common is it for an infection that you thought had gone away to come back?
Many infectious diseases that were once prevalent and endemic continue to resurface with varying intensities. Globally, there is an average emergence or re-emergence of one or two significant diseases per year.
The resurgence of classic infections often occurs at a localized level. For instance, an area that was previously unaffected by cholera may suddenly witness an outbreak after decades.
Is it possible to completely wipe out disease from the earth?
While diseases like smallpox have been eradicated, the prospect of eliminating most infectious diseases remains elusive. Global spread and early transmission of infections make eradication improbable.
The success of smallpox eradication was attributed to an effective vaccine with clear diagnostic criteria for detection. However, challenges persist, especially with diseases spreading before symptoms manifest, as evident from the difficulties in eradicating COVID-19.
Moreover, conflict zones hinder disease control efforts, as seen during the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
What are the main ways the disease can return?
Viruses can evolve, leading to rapid spread and new strains, as seen with the emergence of new coronavirus variants. Environmental factors can also facilitate disease transmission, as exemplified by sylvatic plague spread through rodents.
Climate change plays a significant role in altering disease distribution, with dengue fever outbreaks appearing in unexpected regions due to warming climates.
Declining vaccine availability and uptake further contribute to disease resurgence, highlighting the importance of vaccination in disease prevention.
What does it take for a resurgent disease like bubonic plague to get out of control?
Bacterial infections like plague have the potential to wreak havoc, but antibiotics offer effective treatment. When diseases escalate, societal collapse often exacerbates the situation, increasing disease transmission and mortality.
Conflicts, environmental degradation, and economic crises create conditions conducive to disease spread, as observed in outbreaks like the one in Madagascar.
Which infectious disease would be the worst if there was a resurgence?
Cholera poses a significant threat, especially in conflict zones like Ukraine and Gaza. Shortages in cholera vaccines and increasing infection rates heighten concerns for rapid spread and high mortality rates.
An influenza pandemic akin to the 1917 Spanish flu remains a grave concern, given the potential for widespread fatalities, especially among younger individuals.
Another risk, of course, is international travel, as we’ve seen with coronavirus. What kind of unnecessary souvenirs can I bring back from abroad?
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria pose a major threat to international travelers, fueled by factors like sex and medical tourism. These infections, resistant to multiple drugs, raise concerns about global disease transmission.
Unsafe medical procedures during medical tourism contribute to the spread of drug-resistant infections, emphasizing the need for vigilant healthcare practices abroad.
Read the full interview with Instant Genius.
About our experts
Professor Paul Hunter, a renowned epidemiologist at UEA Norwich Medical School, focuses on emerging infectious diseases linked to environmental factors. His research published in prominent medical journals underscores the importance of disease surveillance and prevention.
Do you find yourself tossing and turning all night once again? Are you counting down the hours until your unyielding alarm goes off? If you’re a reader struggling with sleep, you’re not alone.
Many of us have experienced the frustration of feeling like the more we try to force ourselves to sleep, the more it eludes us. But is this truly the case?
According to recent trends on TikTok, trying to fall asleep can actually hinder your ability to do so. In fact, influencers are actively promoting the idea of not trying to fall asleep. This counterintuitive technique is known as “paradoxical intent,” and while it may be new to TikTok, it’s a scientifically backed method.
As it turns out, there is scientific support behind TikTok after all. Who would have thought?
“Paradoxical intentions are a well-established therapeutic technique that has been used in psychotherapy for decades,” explains Colin Espie, Professor of Sleep Medicine at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Oxford. “In fact, I conducted my first research using paradoxical intention therapy in the 1980s.”
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What is paradoxical intent?
Paradoxical intent can be useful for various phobias and anxiety disorders, but the underlying premise remains the same: deliberately adopting an attitude contrary to the desired outcome.
For instance, if a patient has a phobia of failure, a psychologist might assist the patient in confronting failure instead of avoiding it, ultimately reducing fear and anxiety.
“The fundamental directive regarding sleep is that you should aim to stay awake when you’re in bed, feeling sleepy, or waking up in the middle of the night,” Espie explains. “You need to switch your intention from sleeping to staying awake.”
Although this approach may seem illogical at first, it is based on the idea that trying too hard to sleep can backfire.
“Sleep is largely an involuntary process, so attempting to control it often interferes with the natural sleep process,” Espie says. “Essentially, you can’t force sleep; you can only invite it. It’s like stepping back from being awake rather than actively pursuing sleep.”
How to use paradoxical intention to fall asleep faster
Implementing paradoxical intent is simple, but there are some considerations to keep in mind before giving it a try.
1. Go to bed when you feel sleepy (not before)
It may seem obvious, but you can’t sleep unless you’re tired. While paradoxical intention involves trying to stay awake, attempting this during the day is not as challenging.
“Sometimes people go to bed early because they’re desperate for sleep, but if they’re not morning people, they may struggle, leading to falling asleep early in the evening,” Espie notes.
2. Prepare for bed as usual
Despite its fancy name, paradoxical intent doesn’t require any elaborate setup. There’s no need for high-tech gadgets or sleep meditation apps; simplicity is key.
Espy recommends getting into bed, turning off the lights, and lying down.
3. Keep your eyes open instead of closing them
There are several ways to practice paradoxical intent, but this is the simplest approach.
“Keep your eyes open, assume that position, and tell yourself, ‘I am not falling asleep, I am not falling asleep, I am not falling asleep,'” Espie suggests.
“Then, encourage yourself further by saying phrases like, ‘I will stay awake a bit longer,’ or ‘I will keep my eyes open for 10 more seconds.’ Whenever you feel your eyes drooping, say ‘No.'” he explains.
Gradually, it becomes increasingly challenging to keep your eyes open, and instead of struggling to fall asleep, you find yourself struggling to keep your eyes open.
If you sense sleep approaching, try not to resist or acknowledge it too much. Simply allow it to happen.
As an additional tip, Espie recommends keeping a tissue or handkerchief under your pillow in case your eyes start to water.
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4. Don’t take it too literally
The most common mistake people make when employing paradoxical intent is interpreting it too literally.
“It’s not about tormenting yourself to stay awake at all costs. The goal isn’t to prevent yourself from sleeping,” Espie clarifies.
“If you overdo it, you will be overly determined to stay awake, interfering with sleep. The real aim is to allow sleep to naturally happen,” he adds.
5. Be consistent
Changing your sleep patterns doesn’t happen overnight, so persistence is key. “To derive the most benefit from these strategies, you need to continue using them for a while,” Espie advises.
“One challenge with such an approach,” notes the Oxford professor who advocates for it, “is that if it works initially but falters over time, people may become disillusioned, potentially leading to depression.”
“This is usually because individuals underestimate the extent of their sleep problems and the ingrained habit of overthinking,” he explains.
If the issue persists, seeking professional help is crucial. “It’s not just a lifestyle matter,” Espie emphasizes, “sometimes, people need assistance.”
“This is not a hack”
Contrary to what TikTokers may suggest, there is no magical trick to manipulate our brains.
“You can’t outsmart human nature,” Espie asserts. “Sleep is an essential process, and this is not a technique to switch on sleep. It’s not a game.”
He finds it intriguing that sleep advice and techniques are gaining popularity on social media. TikTok’s #insomnia tag currently boasts around 600,000 posts, while the #sleep tag has over 2.9 million posts.
Meanwhile, according to a study investigating American adults, nearly three-quarters of social media usage occurs right before bedtime. It might be an opportune time to learn new sleep strategies, don’t you think?
According to Espie, the increasing online interest in the subject could indicate rising levels of insomnia.
“The value of sleep and the need for effective solutions to sleep issues are sorely underestimated, with many young individuals in particular struggling,” he observes.
“This is why paradoxical intentions are so beneficial; they remind us that the answer isn’t a gimmick, pill, or potion. It’s sleep itself.
“The solution lies in establishing healthy sleep habits to attain the rest you deserve.”
About our experts
Colin Espie is a Professor of Sleep Medicine at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neuroscience (NDCN) at the University of Oxford. He established the Experimental and Clinical Sleep Medicine Research Program at the Sir Jules Soane Sleep & Circadian Institute (SCNi). Additionally, he serves as the Clinical Director of Oxford’s Sleep Medicine Online Program.
Professor Espie is also a Research Fellow at Somerville College, University of Oxford, and a Senior Research Fellow in the University’s Department of Psychiatry. He is the author of the book “Overcoming Insomnia,” a self-help guide utilizing cognitive-behavioral techniques, including guidance on paradoxical intentions.
Dune is the nickname for the planet Arrakis, a harsh desert world in the Canopus system where much of the story unfolds. The primary residents are the resilient Fremen people and their native species, the Shai Huld, enormous sandworms that can live for thousands of years and grow over two kilometers long.
The Shai Huld’s main diet consists of sand, with tiny organisms called sand plankton as a supplement. Their digestion of this bland food releases oxygen, which makes the planet’s atmosphere breathable for humans. This process is similar to Earth’s photosynthesis, where plants and bacteria produce oxygen through sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide.
Professor Gary King of Louisiana State University is studying the use of photosynthetic bacteria to introduce oxygen into Mars’ atmosphere, a concept known as terraforming. By creating greenhouse gases to warm the planet and melt ice into a liquid form, automated factories could potentially make Mars habitable for humans.
Without a protective magnetic field like Earth’s, Mars lost its original atmosphere due to high-energy radiation from the sun. Establishing a biosphere on Mars could lead to oxygen production, replenishing what is lost due to radiation exposure.
Can we live without water?
Arrakis, despite being a harsh desert, is home to the Fremen people who rely on innovative technologies like the Stillsuit to recycle all the water they excrete. These suits filter sweat, urine, and feces to recover water for the wearer to drink, powered by the user’s movements.
Similar water recycling systems are used on the International Space Station to reuse up to 93% of water on board. Mars, with limited liquid water, may adopt similar technologies to sustain human life on the planet.
Research shows promise in extracting water from the atmosphere using moisture-absorbing technology, offering solutions for clean water production in arid regions.
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Influencers like Andrew Tate have become synonymous with “toxic masculinity,” using a combination of motivational scoldings, fast cars, and demonstrations of sexual prowess to appeal to large audiences of young men and boys. It’s attracting.
But what about the other side of the coin? Are people creating content with healthier messages for the same audience? Or maybe men and boys simply don’t want to hear it? Or?
Jago Sherman, head of strategy at Goat Agency, an influencer subsidiary of marketing giant WPP, says: -Love, self-expression, fighting knife crime, education, but they don’t always make the headlines.
“People like Andrew Tate are using social media to make far-reaching and far-reaching unsubstantiated claims, as if they are providing a ‘quick-fix’ answer to a very complex problem. The problem, of course, is that these statements are most often not true, or are opinions disguised as facts.
In a social environment where creators compete for attention, this ‘shock factor’ content that can be consumed and understood very quickly can sometimes perform better than longer, thought-provoking, neutral content.
Against this backdrop, Labor last week announced plans to promote a more positive vision of masculinity. According to the proposal, schools would develop leaders from their own students who would help counter the misogynistic vision promoted by Tate and others, as well as be more critical of what they see on screen. Students will be supported to explain their analysis skills in class.
Andrew Tate has been described as appearing to provide “off-the-cuff answers to very complex problems”. Photo: Robert Ghement/EPA
Some men who give a more positive vision of masculinity have already broken out and become famous in their own right. Fitness influencers like Joe Wicks, whose career began with his Instagram posts as The Body Coach, may not attract teenage boys with their lewd content. Simple advice delivered in a friendly, almost relentlessly cheerful manner can still garner millions of followers.
Perhaps the biggest symbol of this more assertive approach to masculinity is the philanthropic work of Russ Cook, known to many as Instagram’s biggest geek. If all goes to plan, he will complete his year-long attempt to cross the continent from tip to toe, ending in April. Mr. Cook raised around £200,000. running charity and sand blast and amassed nearly 1 million followers across his various social platforms, conclusively proving the appropriateness of his username in the process.
But there’s an asymmetry in some of the debate around toxic influencers, said Saul Parker, founder of. good side, we work with charities and brands to help them achieve their positive goals. While young women are encouraged to seek out positive role models for their own benefit, young men are often encouraged to seek out positive role models in order to treat women better. It risks ignoring the harm that harmful influencers can cause to boys and young people themselves, and undermines efforts to encourage them to find better people to learn from.
“There’s a generation of men who have been born into very difficult conversations about patriarchy and its impact on women’s lives,” Parker says. “As a result, they’re in a place where they feel like they’re third-class citizens. And accepting that young men are having a bit of a hard time and needing help is difficult, especially on the left. It’s very difficult.”
Because focusing on misogyny rather than the broader message of traditional masculine norms in which the “manosphere” thrives risks overshadowing a second generation of post-Tate pernicious influences, this is important. Through repetition, the boys learn that repeating the casual misogyny of someone like Tate in public is bad, and when asked, they say they don’t like the way he talks about women, but say, “Other things.” often insist that you just listen to him.
“David Goggins is the kind of guy we’re facing right now,” Parker said. “He’s a former Navy SEAL, he’s a huge influence on every social platform, but he and all his… The content is about ‘self-discipline’ and ‘self-motivation.’ He tells me things like ‘wake up in the morning,’ ‘go to the gym,’ ‘take a cold shower,’ and ‘be a man,’ but he never talks about women or sex.”
“Taking women out of the equation doesn’t make it any less of a problem. He just doesn’t have anything nasty to say, so it’s hard to find sharp points.”
In other words, attracting boys to a more positive vision of masculinity does not happen by default. But neither should lose hope. There is nothing inherent in childhood experiences that only stick with toxic messages, and with a little work, better role models can develop.
Earth can be visualized as a chaotic mass of rocky tectonic plates floating on a sea of molten metal. These plates are constantly moving and rubbing against each other, releasing massive amounts of energy that result in earthquakes. So, what is the largest earthquake ever recorded?
It is estimated that around 20,000 earthquakes occur worldwide each year, averaging about 55 earthquakes per day. Of these, approximately 16 are categorized as major (magnitude 7 or higher) annually.
Most earthquakes take place under the sea, posing a significant threat due to the potential of triggering massive tsunamis upon hitting the land after an undersea earthquake.
The Richter scale was introduced in the 1930s to standardize earthquake magnitude measurements, making it easier to compare sizes. However, the scale had its limitations. Since then, the moment magnitude (Mw) scale has been used to rank the top 10 earthquakes.
Similar to the Richter scale, the moment magnitude scale is logarithmic, meaning that with each integer increase on the scale, the earthquake becomes 10 times more powerful. For instance, a 9 Mw earthquake is 6 magnitude levels stronger than a 1,000Mw earthquake.
Here are the top 10 largest earthquakes ever recorded:
10 – Indian Ocean, 2012
A security guard walks through damaged buildings the day after a major earthquake struck the west coast of Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on April 11, 2012. A tsunami watch for the Indian Ocean was lifted hours after two major earthquakes struck off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island. People run away from the coast in fear. Image credit: Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images
The Aceh province of Indonesia, known for seismic activity, experienced a massive 8.6 Mw earthquake on April 11, 2012. The earthquake, which occurred 610km off the coast of Banda Aceh, was followed quickly by an 8.2 Mw earthquake. While the earthquakes caused mass panic and coastal evacuations, physical damage was minimal, and the feared tsunami did not materialize.
This seismic event was the largest instance of a sideslip earthquake in recorded history, characterized by horizontal movement of the crust along two plates rather than vertical motion. Such earthquakes are less likely to trigger significant tsunamis compared to vertical strike-slip faults.
9 – Aleutian Islands, USA, 1946
Main Street in Hilo, Hawaii, USA, is damaged beyond recognition after a tidal surge on April 1, 1946. Image courtesy of Getty
In the North Pacific Ocean, the Aleutian Islands experienced an 8.6 Mw earthquake in April 1946, triggering a widespread tsunami that caused extensive damage. This tsunami, traveling at 800km/h, reached the Hawaiian Islands in just five hours, resulting in 159 deaths and significant destruction.
Due to the earthquake’s magnitude and location, the wave height on Unimak Island, near the epicenter, reached 42 meters. The earthquake also generated a tsunami in Antarctica, over 15,500 km away.
8 – Assam, India, 1950
A damaged bridge can be seen in this image. Photographed on August 25, 1950 in Assam, India, shortly after the earthquake. Image credit: Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
The most powerful earthquake ever recorded on land struck between India’s Assam state and Tibet in 1950. This earthquake, measuring 8.6 Mw, resulted from the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.
The earthquake triggered massive landslides in Tibet, causing entire villages to slide into the river and be swept away. In India, 70 villages were destroyed due to landslides and natural dam collapses, resulting in an estimated 4,800 fatalities.
The tragedy claimed around 1,500 lives in India and 3,300 in Tibet.
7 – Mouse Island, USA, 1965
Black volcanic sand on Kiska Island, part of the Rat Islands, Alaska, USA. Image credit: Alamy
The Rat Islands, part of the volcanic Aleutian Islands chain, experienced an earthquake in 1965 that triggered a tsunami over 10 meters high on Siemia Island, 304 kilometers away. Remarkably, the resulting tsunami still reached Hawaii, 4,200 km away, generating 1-meter waves despite its remote epicenter.
Fortunately, the damages and casualties were limited due to the sparse population in the affected areas.
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6 – Chile, 2010
Soldiers stand guard as firefighters put out a fire at a supermarket in Concepción, Chile, on March 1, 2010, three days after the devastating earthquake that rocked the country. Image credit: Claudio Santana/AFP/Getty Images
On February 27, 2010, a powerful 8.8 Mw earthquake struck the coast of central Chile, near Concepción. Lasting around three minutes, the quake’s impact was felt as far as Sao Paulo, Brazil, 4,620 kilometers away.
The city of Concepción, known for its earthquake history, endured severe damage. In 1939, 1953, and 1960, previous earthquakes caused significant destruction and loss of lives. The 2010 earthquake resulted in tsunami warnings being issued to 53 countries due to its large magnitude and ocean floor rupture.
5 – Severoklisk, Russia, 1952
The site of the town of Severo Kurilsk before it was destroyed by the tsunami in 1952. The site of the modern town, rebuilt at a higher level, is not visible in this 2006 image. Image credit: Victor Morozov/Wikipedia
In 1952, Severokilsk, a volcanic archipelago in Russia’s Kuril Islands located 1,300 km northeast of Japan, experienced a massive earthquake. This earthquake triggered an 18-meter high tsunami that devastated the region, claiming nearly half of the small town’s population.
Residents, forewarned by the earthquake, sought safety on higher ground but returned after the initial wave passed. Tragically, a second wave struck as people returned home, resulting in numerous casualties.
The town was subsequently rebuilt on higher ground following the catastrophe. To date, this remains the largest earthquake documented in Russia.
4 – Tohoku, Japan, 2011
This photo taken on March 11, 2011 shows a tsunami hitting the coast of Minamisoma City, Fukushima Prefecture. Image credit: Teiji Tomizawa/Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images
On March 11, 2011, Japan witnessed the largest earthquake ever recorded in the country near Tohoku. The earthquake, with a magnitude of 9.0, had its epicenter about 72 kilometers off the northeast coast of Honshu, resulting in significant movement of the Earth’s axis and land shift.
The ensuing tsunami, a devastating consequence of the earthquake, swept away entire communities and breached previously established defenses. Tsunami waves exceeding 40 meters hit certain coastal areas, overwhelming earlier sea wall predictions.
Additionally, the earthquake triggered a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant due to infrastructure damages caused by the tsunami. The resulting meltdown led to the release of nuclear material into the atmosphere.
The earthquake claimed over 22,000 lives, underscoring its catastrophic impact.
3 – Sumatra, Indonesia, 2004
The overview shows how Meurabo, Indonesia was submerged under water on December 28, 2004, after an earthquake and tidal wave hit Aceh province on December 26, 2004. Image credit: HO/AFP/Getty Images
An enormous 9.1 Mw earthquake, affecting a 1,300km stretch of the Sumatra trench, rocked the region on December 26, 2004. This subduction earthquake occurred over centuries as the Burmese microplate slid under the Indian plate, unleashing massive destruction and spawning a devastating tsunami.
Rising more than 20 meters, the ocean floor shift generated a tsunami exceeding 30 meters in height. The deadly waves swept through coastal areas in 14 nations, resulting in an estimated 228,000 fatalities, with Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand bearing the brunt of the disaster.
This is the most potent earthquake ever documented in Asia and a defining natural calamity of the 21st century.
2 – Alaska, USA, 1964
Earthquake damage on 4th Avenue in Anchorage, Alaska, USA on March 27, 1964. Image courtesy: UPI/Getty Images
Alaska, USA, experienced a powerful earthquake in 1964, rupturing 1,000 km of the Pacific and North American plates at once. Lasting nearly five minutes, the earthquake impacted vast areas of North America, with Anchorage suffering severe damage due to inadequate earthquake-proof structures and infrastructure.
The earthquake, the second-strongest recorded in history, significantly influenced North American geology.
1 – Valdivia, Chile, 1960
The remains of Valdivia after a devastating earthquake struck the city on May 22, 1960. The earthquake caused high waves and a volcanic eruption. Image credit: Alamy
In 1960, the most massive earthquake on record struck near Valdivia, Chile, with a magnitude of 9.5. This event, one of the deadliest earthquakes in history, resulted in around 5,700 deaths.
Occurring around 3:00 PM local time, the earthquake lasted approximately 10 minutes, causing considerable land subsidence along Chile’s coast, landslides, and road blockages.
Moreover, the tsunami triggered by the earthquake caused extensive coastal devastation.
Chileans had been forewarned by a series of powerful foreshocks, enabling them to prepare for the impending disaster, likely contributing to the relatively fewer casualties.
The ruler of the seas may appear black and white, but it’s not as simple as it seems. For years, great white sharks have been considered apex predators, but shocking new footage shows them feeding on their own kind. This is an event unlike anything we’ve seen before.
A video captured by tourists and scientists on a boat off the coast of Mossel Bay, South Africa was vital for scientific observations published in a recent study in the African Marine Science Journal. The footage revealed an unprecedented behavior of killer whales, showcasing their extraordinary abilities, according to the paper’s corresponding author, Dr. Alison Towner.
Witnesses on the boat watched as a juvenile great white shark, measuring 2.5 meters (8.2 feet), was attacked by a killer whale known as Starboard. The whale swiftly caught the shark by its left fin, thrusted it several times, and disemboweled it, likely targeting the shark’s liver for its rich nutrients. The entire attack lasted only two minutes, and the killer whale then revealed the shark’s entrails to the onlooking boats.
Subsequent research uncovered a second great white shark carcass nearby, measuring 3.6 meters (11.6 feet) in length.
In a previous study conducted in 2022, researchers found that killer whales can hunt great white sharks in pairs. By combining intelligence and strength, these whales can effectively surround and attack their prey. However, this recent attack marks the first time a killer whale has been observed hunting a great white shark alone.
This discovery not only enhances our understanding of killer whale behavior and marine ecosystems but also raises concerns among ecosystem scientists. There’s worry that if killer whales continue to prey on great whites, it could disrupt the food chain, allowing other predators to rise and challenge the great white sharks as the apex predators.
“Upon arriving at Seal Island in Mossel Bay, the smell of shark liver oil and an oil slick indicated a recent kill,” said a passenger on the boat named Esther Jacobs from the marine conservation initiative Keep Fin Alive.
“Seeing the fin of a great white shark break the water’s surface initially sparked excitement, but as the killer whale rapidly approached, it turned into a grim reality. The moment of predation was both devastating and incredibly powerful.”
This image from ESA's Mars Express shows an area close to Mars' north pole. This image consists of data collected by Mars Express' High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on April 14, 2023. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin.
Mars' permanent north polar ice cap is a stack of water ice and dust layers up to 3 km thick and approximately 1,000 km in diameter.
These are divided into four stacked “packets” of different thicknesses, which are further composed of finer layers.
These layers contain information about the climate going back millions of years in Mars' history.
The deposits were formed by precipitation of dust and water ice in the atmosphere and by direct frost formation.
These consist primarily of water ice, with fine dust deposits accounting for 10-15% of the total.
These likely reflect changes in Mars' orbit and the tilt of Mars' axis of rotation, which is much more unstable than Earth's orientation.
It changes in several cycles with periods ranging from thousands of years to millions of years.
Changes in solar radiation cause significant changes in climate, especially in the polar regions. The Arctic ice sheet is currently thought to be growing.
“The landforms surrounding Mars' north pole, known as pranum boriumfascinating,” said a member of the Mars Express team.
“The poles themselves are covered with a layer of fine dust and water ice. These stack up several kilometers thick and extend for about 1,000 kilometers.”
“Most of this material is not visible here, but you can see the beginning of the planum boreum on the right side of the frame. There are some subtle wrinkles that indicate where layers of material are starting to accumulate.”
“The ground has also become more distinctly stepped, as most clearly seen in the topographical map of the area below.”
“The lowest elevation areas are blue/green, and the highest elevation areas are red/white/brown.”
“These layers formed as a mixture of dust, water ice, and frost that accumulated on the Martian ground over a long period of time.”
“Each layer contains valuable information about Mars' history, telling us how the planet's climate has changed over the past millions of years.”
“During the Martian winter, a thin cap of carbon dioxide ice several meters thick rests on top of that layer. This cap completely disappears into the atmosphere each year during the Martian summer.”
The left side of the image is dominated by a vast strip of undulating sand dunes, extending over 150 km within this frame alone.
This wrinkled, turbulent appearance is very different from the smoother, more primitive terrain seen on the right.
This smooth area shows no obvious signs of erosion and has been spared from being hit by rocks from space. This indicates that the surface is very young and is probably getting younger every year.
“Between these two extremes are two semicircular cliffs, the larger of which is approximately 20 km wide,” the researchers said.
“Within the curves of these cliffs are frost-covered dunes.”
“The sheer scale of the cliffs is evident from the dark shadow they cast on the ground below. Sheer walls of ice can reach up to a kilometer in height.”
“These two cliffs are located in what's called a polar trough, a landform formed when wind pushes and wears down the earth's surface.”
“These appear as wavy ridges in the landscape and are common in this region, creating the characteristic spiral pattern of the polar plateau.”
In the Pacoima neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jose Damian, a street vendor for the past five years, braves temperatures of up to 105 degrees while selling Mexican snacks and shaved ice under the scorching midday sun. He recently experienced heat-related health issues when he felt dizzy and sweaty on his way to Sarah Coughlin Elementary School, prompting him to seek medical attention after losing all the salt in his body.
Residents in Pacoima have long endured extreme heat, with some taking multiple showers a day and struggling to stay cool due to the lack of trees and expensive air conditioning. The neighborhood holds the unfortunate title of being the hottest in Los Angeles and is disproportionately affected by heat-related illnesses, particularly in low-income communities of color like Pacoima.
A recent study shows that areas with a large Latino population, such as Pacoima, are significantly warmer than others in Los Angeles County. This disparity in temperature is exacerbated by the lack of tree canopies and green spaces in the neighborhood, further contributing to the heat island effect.
To combat the extreme heat, community organizations and local officials have joined forces to implement a cooling plan for Pacoima. Initiatives like the “Cool Pavement” project, in partnership with roofing manufacturer GAF, aim to reduce heat absorption in the neighborhood by repaving city blocks with solar reflective coating. This multi-year project not only helps cool the area but also adds vibrant murals and colored pavers to brighten up the community.
Urinary tract infections often cause you to need to urinate more often than usual
Simple Images/Getty Images
Pain that persists even after a urinary tract infection appears to be cured may be caused by an overgrowth of nerve cells in the bladder.
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are most commonly caused by bacteria. Escherichia coli From the feces, it reaches the urethra, bladder, and kidneys. Common symptoms include pain when urinating and an urge to urinate more frequently than usual. These infections primarily affect women, but About half of them will develop a urinary tract infection at some point in their lives.
“One of the big problems with urinary tract infections is that the recurrence rate is very high,” he says. Soman Abraham At Duke University, North Carolina. “However, after treatment, some people may experience the same symptoms of a urinary tract infection even if the infection is gone.”
To understand the root of the ongoing symptoms, Abraham and his colleagues reported persistent pelvic pain due to recurrent urinary tract infections, even though examination revealed no pain.8 analyzed bladder tissue biopsies taken from human women. Escherichia coli in their urine. They also collected biopsies from three women who were not known to have had urinary tract infections. The study did not include transgender people.
The researchers found that women with persistent UTI symptoms had an abnormal overgrowth of nerve cells in their bladders compared to other women. These nerve cells also contained high levels of a peptide called substance p, which causes pain and inflammation.
The researchers then gave the mice recurring urinary tract infections and found that they showed similar persistent signs of pain even after the infection had subsided. When the researchers looked closely at the mouse bladders, they found that immune cells called mast cells, which are located near nerve cells, were highly activated. Mast cells produce so-called nerve growth factors, which stimulate the production of nerve cells.
Antibiotics used to treat UTIs are often less selective for the bacteria they target, affecting beneficial bacterial strains around nerve cells. This damages nerve cells, causing mast cells to work overtime to help replace them, Abraham says.
In the final part of the experiment, the researchers induced urinary tract infections in another set of mice before treating them with a compound that suppresses the production of nerve growth factor. He then induced two more urinary tract infections and found that the mice showed no signs of lingering pain.
The research team hopes the results will help develop effective treatments to prevent ongoing symptoms in people. “You can actually prevent these nerves from growing, which can prevent pain and urinary frequency,” Abraham says.
Some scents are at risk of disappearing forever. Can AI reproduce them?
Brickwinkel/Alamy
Artificial intelligence can assemble formulas to recreate perfumes based on their chemical composition. One day, a single sample may be used to recreate rare scents that are at risk of being lost, such as incense from culturally specific rituals or forest scents that change as temperatures rise.
Idelfonso Nogueira Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology profiled two existing fragrances and determined their scent families (subjective words such as “spicy” and “musky” commonly used to describe perfumes); They classified them by a so-called “odor value” scale. About how strong certain smells are. For example, one of our fragrances received the highest odor value for ‘coumarin’, a group of scents similar to vanilla. The other received the highest odor value for the scent family “alcohol.”
To train the neural network, the researchers used a database of known molecules associated with specific fragrance notes. The AI learned how to generate a set of molecules that match the odor score of each scent family in the sample fragrance.
But simply producing those molecules isn’t enough to recreate the desired scent, Nogueira says. That’s because the way we perceive smells is influenced by the physical and chemical processes that molecules go through when they interact with the air and skin. Immediately after spraying, the “top note” of a perfume is most noticeable, but it disappears within minutes as the molecules evaporate, and the “base note” can remain for several days. To address this, the team selected molecules produced by AI that evaporate under conditions similar to the original fragrance.
Finally, they again used AI to minimize the discrepancy between the odor value of the original mixture and the odor value of the AI-generated mixture. Their ultimate recipe for one of the fragrances showed a slight deviation regarding its “coumarin” and “sharp” notes, but the other appeared to be a very accurate replica.
Predicting the smell of chemicals is notoriously difficult, so the researchers used a limited number of molecules in their training data. But the process could become even more accurate if the database could be expanded to include more, more complex molecules, Nogueira says. He suggests that the perfume industry could use his AI to create recipes that create cheaper, more sustainable versions of fragrances.
richard gerkin Arizona State University and OsmoThe startup, which aims to teach computers how to generate smells the way AI does for images, says that combining AI with physics and chemistry is the strength of this approach, and that it understands how smells are generated. He says that this is because it can explain subtle points that are often overlooked, such as whether the image evaporates into water. But the effectiveness of this process still needs to be confirmed in human studies, he says.
Nogelia and his colleagues are already almost there. In a few weeks, he plans to travel to his colleague’s lab in Ljubljana, Slovenia, to experience the AI-generated scents for himself. “I’m really looking forward to smelling it,” he says.
Sightings of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), formerly known as unidentified flying objects (UFOs), have been reported throughout history. There is growing interest in understanding what these sighting reports mean, given the potential security and safety risks they pose, as well as scientific curiosity. Scientists at the University of Utah and the U.S. Department of Defense see this problem as a key question of human experience and can be examined through a geographic lens: what local factors might increase or decrease the number of reported sightings. I wondered if there was a gender. They used data from the National UFO Research Center and included a total of 98,000 sighting reports over a 20-year period from 2001 to 2020. For each county in the continental United States, they analyzed his two conditions. Light pollution, cloud cover, and canopy cover. And the possibility of an object in the sky, which means near an airport or military installation. Most of the sightings took place in the western United States due to the physical geography of the area: wide open spaces and dark skies.
UAP from declassified video taken by a US Navy aircraft. Image credit: U.S. Navy.
“The idea is that if you have a chance to see something, you're likely to see an unexplained phenomenon in the sky,” said Dr. Richard Medina, a geographer at the University of Utah.
“There's more technology in the sky than ever before, so the question is: what are people actually seeing?”
“This is a difficult question to answer, but an important one because any uncertainty could be a potential threat to national security.”
“Understanding the environmental context of these sightings will help us find explanations for their occurrence and help identify truly anomalous objects that are legitimate threats.”
Dr. Medina and his colleagues looked at the number of sightings per 10,000 people per county and identified significant clusters of low numbers (cold spots) and high numbers of reports (hot spots).
Far more sightings have been reported in the west, northeast, and some isolated areas. Cold spots were in the Central Plains and Southeast.
All results except cloud cover support the general hypothesis that people will see things if they have the chance.
“We have historical ties to the UAP in the West, with military operations at Area 51 in Nevada, Roswell in New Mexico, and here in Utah at the Skinwalker Ranch in the Uinta Basin and the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground.” Dr. Medina said.
“Additionally, we have a strong outdoor community that recreates on public lands year-round. People get outside and look at the sky.”
NUFORC reported sightings for the spatial distribution of the continental United States from 2001 to 2020. Image courtesy of Medina other., doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-49527-x.
In July 2022, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Director of National Intelligence, directed the establishment of the All Area Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) as a single authoritative UAP agency to lead and synchronize a whole-of-government approach. problem.
Previous UAP tracking efforts include the project blue booka U.S. Air Force-led project that investigated UFO sightings from 1947 to 1969.
blue bookThe most famous account is the Roswell, New Mexico incident, which claimed that a flying saucer crashed into a desert town on July 8, 1947, and the alien occupants were recovered by government agents.
Many Roswell residents witnessed this mysterious event, which may have led to a surge in flying saucer sightings that swept the United States.
Silence from government officials led to wild speculation and subsequent cover-up regarding the otherworldly visitors.
The US Air Force later revealed that the incident was caused by a secret multi-balloon project to detect Soviet nuclear tests.
Many UAP sightings have natural explanations. For example, the planet Venus is the usual culprit.
We've seen an increase in UAP reports in recent years, likely related to the rapid increase in spacecraft launches and orbiting satellites, including the Starlink satellite train and the proliferation of personal drones across the night sky. It is considered. The challenge is to parse which reports indicate the real threat.
The authors investigate whether there are temporal considerations for variation in sightings based on sociocultural factors.
For example, were there more reports after the Congressional hearings in July 2023 or after the SpaceX launch?
They are also investigating whether sociocultural factors influence UAP sightings. Whether there is a spike in reports after shows like: X files Will it become popular? Are some cultures more likely to see UAPs because of their beliefs?
“The U.S. government, military, intelligence community, and civilian agencies need to understand what is in their operational domain to ensure the safety and security of our nation and its people,” said Physicist Sean, AARO's first director.・Kirkpatrick said. University of Georgia.
“In this age of ubiquitous sensors and data availability, the unknown is unacceptable. The scientific community has a responsibility to investigate and educate.”
team's paper It was published in the magazine scientific report.
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RM Medina other. 2023. Environmental analysis of the likelihood of public UAP sightings and sky views. science officer 13, 22213; doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-49527-x
Astronomers are gemini north telescope measured a binary supermassive black hole located within the elliptical galaxy B2 0402+379.
Artist's impression of the supermassive black hole binary in elliptical galaxy B2 0402+379. Image credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. daSilva / M. Zamani.
The pair of compact objects at the center of B2 0402+379 are the only supermassive black hole binaries ever resolved in enough detail that both objects can be seen separately.
It holds the record for the smallest distance ever directly measured – just 24 light years.
While this close separation portends a strong merger, further research reveals that the pair has been stuck at this distance for more than 3 billion years, raising questions. What is the holdup?
To better understand the dynamics of this system and its stalled merger, Stanford University professor Roger Romani and his colleagues turned to archival data from Gemini North. Gemini multi-object spectrometer (GMOS) This allowed them to determine the speed of stars near the black hole.
“The excellent sensitivity of GMOS allowed us to map the increasing velocity of stars as they approach the center of the galaxy. This allowed us to estimate the total mass of black holes present there.” Professor Romani said.
The authors estimate that the binary star's mass is a whopping 28 billion times that of the Sun, making the pair the most massive binary black hole ever measured.
This measurement not only provides valuable background on the formation of binary systems and the history of their host galaxies, but also confirms the long-held belief that the mass of supermassive binary black holes plays a key role in preventing potential mergers. This supports the theory.
“The data archive provided by the International Gemini Observatory holds a goldmine of untapped scientific discoveries,” said Dr. Martin Still, NSF program director for the International Gemini Observatory.
“Measuring the mass of this extreme supermassive binary black hole is an awe-inspiring example of the potential impact of new research exploring its rich archive.”
Understanding how this binary formed can help predict if and when it will merge. Also, some clues indicate that the pair formed through multiple galaxy mergers.
First, B2 0402+379 is a “fossil cluster,” meaning it is the result of an entire galaxy cluster's worth of stars and gas merging into a single giant galaxy.
Additionally, the presence of two supermassive black holes, coupled with their large combined mass, suggests that they resulted from the merger of multiple smaller black holes from multiple galaxies.
After galaxies merge, supermassive black holes do not collide head-on. Instead, they start slingshotting each other as they settle into a certain trajectory.
Each time a black hole passes, energy is transferred from it to the surrounding stars.
Losing their energy, the pair are dragged together, and gravitational radiation takes over, merging them just a few light years away.
This process has been observed directly in pairs of stellar-mass black holes, first documented by the detection of gravitational waves in 2015, but has never been observed in binaries of supermassive black holes.
With new knowledge about the system's extremely large mass, astronomers concluded that it would take a very large number of stars to slow down the binary enough to make its orbits so close together. .
In the process, the black hole seems to have blown away almost all the material around it, depleting the galaxy's center of stars and gas.
The merger of the two companies stalled in the final stages, as there was nothing left to further slow the companies' trajectory.
“Galaxies with lighter black hole pairs usually seem to have enough stars and mass to quickly merge the two,” Professor Romani said.
“The pair is so massive that we needed a lot of stars and gas to get the job done. But binaries scour the galaxy for such material, causing it to stagnate, making it impossible for our research to do so.” has been made accessible.”
It remains to be determined whether the pair will overcome stasis and eventually merge on a timescale of millions of years, or remain in orbit forever in limbo.
If they merged, the resulting gravitational waves would be 100 million times more powerful than those produced by the merger of stellar-mass black holes.
The pair could potentially conquer that final distance via another galactic merger. In that case, additional material, or potentially a third black hole, could be injected into the galaxy, slowing the pair's orbits enough for a merger.
However, given that B2 0402+379 is a fossil cluster, further galaxy mergers are unlikely.
“We're looking forward to tracking the core of B2 0402+379 to find out how much gas is present,” said Tirth Surti, an undergraduate at Stanford University.
“This should give us more insight into whether supermassive black holes may eventually merge or remain stuck as binaries.”
As former FTX CEO Sam Bankman Fried's sentencing date approaches, an unexpected source has emerged: a plea for clemency from his own family. In a recent filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, SBF's attorneys submitted 29 letters of support, including heartfelt nominations from his mother, father, and siblings.
Barbara Freed, Joseph Bankman, and Gabriel Bankman Freed, the 31-year-old former CEO's mother, father, and brother, all wrote a letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan, expressing SBF's background, personality, and Shedding light on contributions to society. FTX. SBF was convicted of seven felonies, but his family has fervently asked for a lenient sentence, stressing that his life behind bars could have been wasted.
In the letter, Gabriel Bankman Freed said, “Sam made a mistake, but his life will be wasted if he goes to prison. He has a great gift to offer the world.” The family's petition is based on the belief that SBF's talents and abilities could be better utilized outside of prison.
Unlike a trial, the sentencing stage allows personal appeals by friends and family. Judge Lewis Kaplan is scheduled to decide Bankman-Fried's prison term on March 28. Speculation about the possible sentence varies, with experts suggesting a range of 15 to 25 years. However, unless there are special circumstances, it is unlikely that he will be sentenced to a maximum of around 110 years in prison.
SBF's father, Joseph Bankman, expressed concern about the physical danger his son could face in prison and warned of a “draconian sentence”. He highlighted the difficulty of SBF in responding to societal demands and urged courts to consider alternative sentencing options. Joseph Bankman said SBF prioritized repaying investors and minimizing allegations of lavish spending before his arrest.
In a comprehensive letter, Barbara Freed detailed SBF's desire to help others from her childhood to her time in prison. She highlighted his commitment to coaching his fellow inmates for the GED exam. Fried urged Judge Kaplan to consider his son's poor response to social cues and expressed that his son has been “stricken with remorse” since the incident. The collapse of FTX In November 2022.
Reactions regarding Bankman Freed's family seeking pardon
The letter written by Bankman's family downplays the impact of FTX's collapse on investors and Bankman Freed's role in the fraud. Reaction on social media was mixed, with some users criticizing the plea for leniency and comparing it to other lawsuits, including: billy mcfarland A scene from the fire festival.
One user, Kyle Gibson, said: “Those who are writing letters asking for leniency in the SBF sentence are wondering what Fyre Festival's Billy McFarland is doing now and how he is in prison. You should look at how much rehabilitation he has undergone.” Mr Gibson expressed skepticism about SBF's rehabilitation potential and suggested he would return to his previous activities upon release.
Bankman Fried's defense team has recommended a sentence of 63 to 78 months, and prosecutors are scheduled to present their recommendation on March 15. Bankman Freed will celebrate his 32nd birthday on March 6, which will be his first birthday in prison since he was released on bail. The impending sentencing remains a pivotal moment for the former FTX CEO and those following the case closely.
The UK government has declined an offer to rejoin the ITER fusion experiment as a full member, following its exclusion from the project after leaving the EU. Instead, the UK will concentrate on domestic fusion initiatives in both the public and private sectors.
ITER, the world’s largest nuclear fusion experiment, is currently being built in France and is expected to be finished by 2025 after facing significant delays. It is funded by an extensive international collaboration involving countries such as China, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea, the United States, and the European Union.
Previously, the UK had access to ITER through its EU membership. However, post-Brexit, the UK is no longer part of the EU. Negotiations with the EU have disclosed that the UK will rejoin Horizon Europe, a joint scientific research effort, but not Euratom, which is focused on nuclear energy.
The Head of Euratom Research, Elena Righi, has advocated for the UK’s formal return to the ITER experiment. However, the UK government supports its decision to opt-out, believing that private sector investment in fusion research is a more efficient and cost-effective approach than utilizing commercial reactors.
Righi made these remarks during an event in Oxfordshire, England, celebrating the accomplishments of the JET fusion reactor, which was permanently shut down last year and is now slated for decommissioning.
“The European Commission and the Council of the EU express regret in their joint statement over the UK’s decision not to participate in the Euratom project and the Fusion for Energy joint venture,” stated Righi. “The EU institutions have strongly advocated for the UK’s participation in all four programs starting in 2028, including ITER and the European Commission’s three other large-scale fusion research projects,” he added.
“This move will facilitate a unified European fusion community to continue its collaborative efforts and resolve the existing disconnection between UKAEA participation and eurofusion [the European fusion research group], ultimately enabling more substantial UK integration in ITER’s construction and operation. “
New Scientist reached out to the European Commission for clarification on Righi’s comments, but did not receive a response.
During the same event, Andrew Bowie, the British Atomic Energy Minister, highlighted the UK’s support for refraining from rejoining the ITER project and reiterated the allocation of £650m for UK alternatives to Euratom. This funding will be utilized for a blend of private and public research endeavors.
“The ultimate goal of all the experiments, all the research, and the significant work at JET is to integrate into the power grid and supply electricity to homes and businesses,” Bowie emphasized. “Substantial private sector involvement will also be crucial to make fusion power commercially viable and introduce solar energy into households.”
“The decision not to rejoin was the right one. We believe that the UK has progressed to a stage where rejoining would divert resources, time, and funds away from advancing the fusion project. It wasn’t an ideological choice but a pragmatic one,” he stated.
Mr. Bowie mentioned that the UK is open to exploring new collaboration methods with ITER, including personnel exchanges, but explicitly ruled out re-entering the project officially, affirming the government’s support for this decision.
The UK is also developing plans for a fusion power plant, known as the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP), which is projected to generate net energy gain by 2035, surpassing input electricity production within five years.
Juan Matthews, a researcher at Britain’s Dalton Institute for Nuclear Research at the University of Manchester, has expressed optimism over the potential of spherical reactors like STEP to offer smaller and more cost-effective fusion power compared to larger designs like ITER.
“We’ve faced ongoing delays. We seem stuck in the ‘big project syndrome,’ where plans go awry and costs escalate. Improved communication between the STEP initiative and ITER could pave the way for power generation achievements ahead of Europe. I am very hopeful about the utilization of spherical tokamaks,” Matthews elaborated.
Elon Musk is suing OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman for prioritizing profit over humanity’s interests, contrary to its core mission.
As the wealthiest individual globally and a founding director of the AI company behind ChatGPT, Musk alleges that Altman violated OpenAI’s founding covenant by striking an investment deal with Microsoft.
The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco, accuses OpenAI of prioritizing profit over human well-being by shifting its focus to developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) for commercial gain rather than humanitarian purposes.
Musk claims that OpenAI has essentially become a subsidiary of Microsoft, the world’s largest tech company, under new leadership, diverting from its original principles outlined in the founding agreement.
The lawsuit raises concerns about AGI posing a significant threat to humanity, particularly if it falls into profit-driven companies’ hands, like Google.
Originally founded to be a nonprofit, open-source organization working for the greater good, OpenAI’s alleged transition to a profit-centric entity under Microsoft’s influence has prompted Musk to take legal action.
The lawsuit contends that the development of OpenAI’s GPT-4 model, shrouded in secrecy, deviates from their initial mission and breaches contractual obligations.
Musk, who played a significant role in establishing OpenAI but exited in 2018, claims that the company’s recent actions concerning AGI technology are in direct conflict with its intended purpose.
The lawsuit aims to compel OpenAI to adhere to its original mission of developing AGI for humanity’s benefit, not for personal gain or for tech giants like Microsoft.
The deal between OpenAI and Microsoft is now facing scrutiny from competition authorities in various regions, including the US, EU, and UK.
Elon Musk is concerned about the pace of AI development
Chesnot/Getty Images
Elon Musk asked the court to resolve the issue of whether GPT-4 is artificial general intelligence (AGI). Lawsuit against OpenAI. The development of his AGI, which can perform a variety of tasks just like humans, is one of the field’s main goals, but experts say it will be up to judges to decide whether it qualifies for GPT-4. The idea is “unrealistic,” he said.
Musk was one of the founders of OpenAI in 2015, but left the company in February 2018 due to controversy over the company’s change from a nonprofit model to a profit-restricted model. Despite this, he continues to support OpenAI financially, with the legal complaint alleging that he donated more than $44 million to OpenAI between 2016 and 2020.
Since OpenAI’s flagship ChatGPT launched in November 2022 and the company partnered with Microsoft, Musk has warned that AI development is moving too fast, but with the latest AI model to power ChatGPT, Musk has warned that AI development is moving too fast. The release of GPT-4 made that view even worse. In July 2023, he founded xAI, a competitor of OpenAI.
In a lawsuit filed in a California court on March 1st, Musk said through his lawyer, “A judicial determination that GPT-4 constitutes artificial general intelligence and is therefore outside the scope of OpenAI’s license to Microsoft.” I asked for This is because OpenAI is committed to only licensing “pre-AGI” technology. Musk has a number of other demands, including financial compensation for his role in helping found OpenAI.
However, it is unlikely that Mr. Musk will prevail. Not only because of the merits of litigation, but also because of the complexity in determining when AGI is achieved. “AGI doesn’t have an accepted definition, it’s kind of a coined term, so I think it’s unrealistic in a general sense,” he says. mike cook At King’s College London.
“Whether OpenAI has achieved AGI is hotly debated among those who base their decisions on scientific facts.” Elke Beuten De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. “It seems unusual to me that a court can establish scientific truth.”
However, such a judgment is not legally impossible. “We’ve seen all sorts of ridiculous definitions come out of US court decisions. How can anyone but the most outlandish of her AGI supporters be persuaded? Not at all.” Staffordshire, England says Katherine Frick of the university.
It’s unclear what Musk hopes to achieve with the lawsuit – new scientist has reached out to both him and OpenAI for comment, but has not yet received a response from either.
“It’s in OpenAI’s interest to constantly hint that their tools are improving and getting closer to this, because it keeps the attention and the headlines flowing,” Cook says. But now they may need to make the opposite argument.
Even if the court were to rely on expert viewpoints, any judge would have a hard time ruling in Musk’s favor at best, or uncovering differing views on the hotly debated topic. will have a hard time. “Most of the scientific community would now say that AGI has not been achieved if the concept was considered sufficiently meaningful or sufficiently accurate,” says Beuten.
The ancient relationship between Mexico City and water dates back to the city’s origins. Situated on a former lakebed that was drained after the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, the city now relies on underground aquifers and a network of canals, dams, and reservoirs from the Kutsamara water system for its main water supply.
Approximately 70% of the city’s water comes from underground sources, with the remaining 30% supplied by the Cuzamara system to the Mexico City metropolitan area and the Toluca Valley. However, increasing urbanization and overuse of aquifers have led to land subsidence, causing the city to sink at a rate of about 20 inches per year since 1950 due to continued groundwater extraction.
Despite efforts to repair and upgrade aging infrastructure, Mexico City’s water system struggles to keep pace with the demands of a rapidly growing population. Climate change further exacerbates the water crisis, with persistent drought and rising temperatures leading to decreased precipitation and limited water replenishment for aquifers and dams.
This water scarcity crisis has sparked protests and unrest among residents, with many areas facing severe water shortages. Efforts to conserve water and prioritize its usage have been urged by local authorities, as communities like Iztapalapa struggle to cope with limited water access.
For residents like Hernández Villa, conserving water has become a daily challenge, with measures like reducing laundry frequency and bathing in containers to stretch their limited water supply. The urgent need for sustainable water management and infrastructure upgrades is evident, as Mexico City grapples with a worsening water crisis.
Dennis Chou reported from New York City and Alvinson Linares from Mexico City.
In Sierra Greer’s novel Annie Bot, a female robot is created to be the perfect girlfriend for her owner.
alamy stock photo
From Adrian Tchaikovsky to Hao Jingfan to Natasha Pulley, many of the biggest names in science fiction are releasing new releases this month. We, the readers, can choose whether we want to peer into the ruins of an alien civilization, follow the possibility of the coming singularity and its aftermath, or enter the world of sex robots. To each of them, I would say, yes, please come join us. But I think it’s Stuart Turton’s new high-concept thriller that I’m most excited about. This thriller depicts crime and science fiction, with a murder taking place on an island surrounded by the fog that has destroyed the rest of the planet, and is one of my favorites. Blend.
If all these new titles aren’t enough to keep you busy this March, you might want to revisit Cixin Liu’s epic. three body problem, in anticipation of Netflix’s upcoming adaptation. Or please join us. new sciencet Book Club, I just started reading Martin McInnes’ novels Ascension in progress. The story from a mysterious trench at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean to deep space has just been published in paperback and is an amazing read.
Is Tchaikovsky single-handedly supporting the science fiction industry? I think he might be, since he’s really prolific and definitely brilliant. alien clay This novel, the first of two new novels to be published over the coming months, is set on the faraway world of Kiln, where the ruins of an alien civilization have been discovered. Professor Arton Dagdev, who has always wanted to study extraterrestrial life, is exiled to the Kiln for his political activities and has to work in a concentration camp. Can he uncover the world’s secrets before he is killed?
I’m a big Turton fan. I’ve loved his smart, high-concept murder mysteries ever since his debut. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle From his latest historical crime novel. devil and dark water. His latest outings have a decidedly sci-fi tinge. The setting is a world destroyed by a murderous fog that has attacked the planet. The only thing that survives is the island, where 122 villagers and 3 scientists live happily together, until one of the scientists is found stabbed to death, when the island’s security system is degraded and the fog disappears. Everyone on the island will die as a result. It will take 107 hours if the murder case is not solved. That’s already a lot to accept, but everyone’s memories have also been wiped by the security system. Sounds complicated, but I believe Turton is great, so I’ll put it next on my list.
Mars is the setting for Natasha Pooley’s new novel
Pulley is a relatively recent discovery for me, ever since my mother finally convinced me to find time to read her historical and fantasy novels. Filigree Street Clockmaker (That made me happy). This latest installment is set after an environmental catastrophe. January, a refugee from Earth who is now a second-class citizen on Mars because her body has not yet adapted to low gravity, enters into a marriage of convenience with xenophobic Martian politician Aubrey Gale. However, Aubrey Gale turns out to be very different from their methods. Featured in Mars news. I love a good romance combined with his sci-fi setting, so this is a must-read for me.
2054: Novel Written by Elliot Ackerman and James Stavridis
Mr. Stavridis is not just a novelist, but also former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Admiral James Stavridis.He and Ackerman are bestselling authors 2034. In this follow-up study, 20 years after the U.S. Nuclear War, the president of the United States collapsed and died while addressing the nation. Conspiracy theories spread and civil war breaks out. Meanwhile, computer scientists and intelligence experts believe they know what’s behind the assassination: a major advance in AI. This sounds thrilling and provocative, and is something you should devote a fair amount of your time to reading.
Hugo Award-winning Jing Fan’s new sci-fi thriller is set in a future where a mysterious, highly intelligent alien race comes into contact. His three scientists, unconvinced that aliens are a threat, join forces to thwart a potentially disastrous military response.
Our science fiction columnist Emily Wilson gives this novel very high praise.It is said to be perfect for fans of never let me go and my dark vanessa, which I definitely count among them, is the story of Anniebot, a female robot created to be the perfect girlfriend for her owner, Doug. The problem is that she’s starting to think about what she really wants from her life.
high voltage Written by Chris Sugden and Jen Sugden
By the author of the podcast drama series victorio city, this novel is described as perfect for fans of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams – Hello, it’s me. The setting is 1887 “Even Greater London,” an “urban plane” that covers the entire lower half of England, where Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s “Legion of Engineers” builds and destroys anything they deem necessary. There is. Meanwhile, Archibald Fleet and Clara Entwistle establish the country’s first private detective agency and take on a series of impossible bank robberies that keep the police busy and one kidnapping case after another.
This first contact novel is a sequel to Johnston’s novel. space between us Then we see the alien Enceladon disappearing into the water off the west coast of Scotland. I would like to start with the first one in this series.I highly value Johnston as a crime writer (his Skefus The series is peppered with morbid black humor, so I’d love to try out some of his science fiction work as well.
This cyberpunk satire sounds like fun. Following on from the TV sensation whose title is the novel, the next season will take place in the neo-medieval state organization “Inner Azure”, where the country has been (by its own choice) separated from the rest of the world for almost a century. It has been blocked off…until now. To entertain viewers around the world, the show’s producers must assemble a group of misfits who try to run the country.
Adam Malek’s third collection of short stories explores plant-based skyscrapers, a zombie apocalypse, how time dilation affects marriages, as well as reluctant sex robots and the terrible parenting skills of a billionaire space industrialist. is promised to us.
Cat Janis, the singer who gained fame on TikTok for dedicating her final song to her son, has passed away from cancer, as announced by her family on Wednesday.
Her family announced The news was shared on her Instagram account: “This morning, from her childhood home, surrounded by her loving family, Katherine peacefully entered the light and love of her Heavenly Creator.
“We are forever grateful for the outpouring of love that Duchess Kate and our family have received over the past few months. Kat has seen her music go places she never expected. I am resting with the peace of mind that I will continue to provide for my son through music. None of this would have been possible without your support.”
Janice had sarcoma cancer, a rare type that affects bones and soft tissues. She passed away at the age of 31.
Janice documented her cancer journey on TikTok, revealing that she discovered a lump on her neck in November 2021, which later turned out to be cancer. Despite announcing she was cancer-free in July 2022, it returned in her lungs, leading her to hospice care last month.
Proceeds from Janice’s viral song were dedicated to her son after she learned about her impending death.
Her song “Dance You Outta My Head,” released on January 19th and dedicated to her youth, topped the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart and made it into the Top 10 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. The song garnered over 12 million streams worldwide on Spotify.
“I transferred all the rights to my songs to my son so that I could leave him something. I don’t have much,” the singer wrote in a video Posted on TikTok on January 15th, urging fans to save this song for the future.
In her final TikTok video, Janice expressed her strength and mentioned feeling trapped due to her health, looking forward to dancing with God in heaven.
NSO Group, a maker of advanced cyberweapons, has been instructed by a US court to provide WhatsApp with the code for its Pegasus and other spyware products as part of an ongoing legal battle.
The ruling, issued by Judge Phyllis Hamilton, deals a significant blow to WhatsApp, owned by Mehta, who has been in a legal dispute with NSO since 2019 over allegations that the Israeli company’s spyware targeted 1,400 WhatsApp users over a two-year period, marking a major legal victory that lasted weeks.
NSO’s Pegasus code and other surveillance product codes sold by the company are considered highly classified national secrets. NSO is overseen by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, which must authorize all sales of licenses to foreign governments.
Despite NSO’s request to be exempt from the case’s discovery obligations due to US and Israeli restrictions, Judge Hamilton sided with WhatsApp. She ordered NSO to produce the spyware code and provide information on relevant spyware features used during a specified period.
However, on another issue, Hamilton ruled in favor of NSO, exempting the company from disclosing client names or server architecture details at this time.
A spokesperson for WhatsApp celebrated the court’s decision, stating that it marks a significant step in protecting users from illegal attacks by spyware companies. NSO declined to comment, and the legal battle continues.
NSO’s Pegasus software, once deployed against a target, grants unauthorized access to calls, emails, photos, location, and encrypted messages on mobile phones. The Biden administration blacklisted NSO in 2021, citing actions contrary to US foreign policy and national security interests.
NSO sells spyware to governments worldwide, claiming that the deploying agency is responsible for its use. Investigations have revealed countries like Poland, Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, India, Hungary, and the UAE using NSO technology against dissidents, journalists, activists, and civil society members.
NSO argues that Pegasus aids law enforcement and intelligence agencies in combating crime, protecting national security, and apprehending terrorists, child abusers, and violent criminals.
Concerned about the proliferation and misuse of products like Pegasus, the Biden administration announced a new policy imposing global visa restrictions on individuals involved in exploiting commercial spyware, extending to EU member states and Israel.
Environmentally friendly virtual currency project green bitcoin More than $1 million was raised during the limited-time presale phase.
With an innovative gamified staking model and energy-efficient foundation, Green Bitcoin offers token holders a way to stake their tokens and generate revenue.
Gamified staking model offers a unique way to earn money
Green Bitcoin’s gamified staking model has a unique twist that allows token holders to attempt to predict Bitcoin’s daily price movements, and if successful, they receive a reward based on their accuracy and staking size. You can earn different rewards.
This system resets daily, ensuring continuous engagement.
Unlike common staking protocols with fixed yields, Green Bitcoin’s model offers dynamic yields.
As outlined in green bitcoin white paper the project has allocated over 27% of its total token supply to staking rewards, ensuring a huge amount of incentives for accurate BTC price prediction.
This pool of funds will be distributed over two years.
Green Bitcoin raises over $1 million as crypto market rapidly grows
Based on the revival of the cryptocurrency market, green bitcoin presale has crossed the $1 million mark and is offering discounted tokens to potential investors.
Unlike typical pre-sale setups, the team at Green Bitcoin encourages long-term holding by allowing users to immediately stake their purchased tokens.
Coinsult, a reputable blockchain security company, audited Token smart contract.
According to the company, there is growing interest in the project on Green Bitcoin’s social channels. of the project telegram groups I have seen growth over the past week. green bitcoin twitter account The number of followers has increased to 3,400.
Green Bitcoin is also featured in YouTube videos named: crypto boy praised its “Predict-to-Earn” model.
About Green Bitcoin
Green Bitcoin is a new crypto project on the Ethereum chain that offers a greener and more sustainable alternative to Bitcoin, as well as innovative “earn predictions” including staking rewards and weekly challenges for holders provide the element.
The Green Bitcoin Project was launched in late 2023 with a pre-sale hard cap goal of $7 million and has raised over $1 million to date. Smart contracts are audited by Coinsult.
Green Bitcoin is the source of this content. This press release is for informational purposes only. This information does not constitute investment advice or investment recommendations.
Within the vast expanse of space, the Holtzmann Shield serves as a mobile force field capable of shielding individual soldiers in combat. This shield, generated by a device attached to a belt, can divert fast-moving projectiles away from the wearer, although slow-moving objects like combat knives can breach the barrier.
Creating such force fields presents a significant challenge in reality. Gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces are the four fundamental forces in nature. While gravity is too feeble to function as a local force field, the nuclear force is robust but limited to the atomic nucleus.
Physicist Professor Jim Al Khaliliand researchers at the University of Surrey are exploring the possibilities of constructing force fields based on electromagnetism, a force more potent than gravity and with a longer reach compared to the nuclear force. However, this force only affects charged objects, necessitating the charging of detected flying objects.
One proposed method involves bombarding objects with positron beams, which are antimatter particles with the same mass as electrons but opposite charge. The annihilation of positrons and electrons can potentially charge and deflect incoming projectiles, offering a route to building force fields.
Though theoretically possible, this technology is likely a distant prospect, possibly not materializing for another 20,000 years. In the meantime, research is underway on electric armor for tanks, which replaces heavy steel plates with energized thin metal plates separated by insulation to store a significant charge. This innovative armor system improves efficiency and reduces weight, enhancing the agility of armored vehicles.
In the science fiction universe of Dune, the spice melange is commonly referred to as “spice” and is a valuable narcotic substance. It is produced from the excrement of young sandworms found only in the deserts of the planet Arrakis.
This spice has various health benefits, such as increasing lifespan. Due to its highly addictive nature, there is a high demand for it, making it a valuable commodity. The control of Spice leads to control over all other factions in the Dune universe.
This phenomenon may have historical parallels in the real world. In her 2008 book chapter on melange, science writer Dr. Carol Hart mentions how coca leaves in pre-Columbian America were similar to melange and were mostly used by the ancient Inca nobility and priestly class to maintain power through a monopoly on coca leaves.
The spice also possesses mind-altering properties, allowing the post-human species known as Guild Navigators to see across vast distances of space to navigate spaceships on long interstellar journeys. The Navigators reside in tanks where they constantly inhale orange spice gas that mutates their bodies significantly.
Even minimal exposure to the spice causes the user’s eyes to turn a deep navy blue, a characteristic seen among the Fremen of Arrakis due to constant spice exposure. This effect is akin to the persistent pupil dilation associated with recreational drug use globally.
The Bene Gesserit also use spices, which grant them the ability to see the future and enhance their mental abilities. This mirrors the rise of nootropics, or “smart pills,” used by individuals seeking a cognitive edge. While these drugs claim to improve memory, attention, creativity, and motivation, they are sometimes prescribed for conditions like ADHD and dementia.
However, there are concerns about using nootropics without a prescription. A 2020 study by Harvard Medical School revealed that these supplements may contain unapproved pharmaceutical drugs, posing serious health risks, as noted by study author Dr. Peter Cohen.
More than 1 billion people around the world, or approximately 1 in 8 people, are obese, making it the most common form of malnutrition in nearly every country.
Francesco Branca Researchers from the World Health Organization (WHO) compiled data from more than 3,600 studies published over the past 35 years to understand how obesity rates have changed between 1990 and 2022. The study included approximately 230 million people in 197 countries. The researchers then calculated participants’ BMI (a score based on height and weight) to estimate how obesity rates changed over time.
During the study period, global obesity prevalence more than doubled in adults aged 20 years and older and quadrupled in children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 years. By 2022, obesity rates among women and girls have increased in approximately 93% of countries. The same was true for boys in all but five countries. France was the only country where obesity rates among men did not increase.
Adult obesity rates rose the most in countries in the Caribbean, the Middle East, and North Africa. Meanwhile, the biggest increases in child and adolescent obesity were in Brunei, Chile, Polynesia, Micronesia, and Caribbean island states.
Obesity increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers, and a variety of other health problems. “It is very worrying that the obesity epidemic that was evident among adults in many parts of the world in 1990 is now being reflected in school-age children and adolescents,” he said. Majid Ezati researchers from Imperial College London, one of the study’s senior authors, said in a press release.
Researchers believe that calorie- and sugar-rich processed foods, which have become more widely available around the world in recent decades, are partly to blame for the skyrocketing obesity rates. However, researchers note that focusing on individual behaviors such as diet and exercise has had, and will continue to have, little impact on the prevalence of obesity. To truly prevent and manage obesity, governments around the world need to implement policies that make healthy food and physical activity more accessible and affordable, Branca said in a press release.
Reionization of the universe happened about 500 million to 900 million years after the Big Bang. This represents the transformation of neutral hydrogen into an ionized gas and marks the end of the “Dark Ages” in the history of the universe. Currently, astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have obtained spectra of eight ultrafaint dwarf galaxies that existed less than a billion years after the Big Bang. Their observations could help settle long-standing scientific debates about the driving force of reionization and could also be essential to understanding the formation of the first galaxies.
Astronomers estimate that 50,000 near-infrared sources are represented in the Webb image of galaxy cluster Abel 2744. Image credits: NASA / ESA / CSA / I. Labbe, Swinburne Institute of Technology / R. Bezanson, University of Pittsburgh / A. Pagan, STScI.
There is still much we don’t understand about the period in the early history of the universe known as the Era of Reionization.
It was a time of darkness, without stars or galaxies, and filled with a thick fog of hydrogen gas, until the first stars ionized the surrounding gas and light began to pass through.
Astronomers have spent decades trying to identify sources that emit radiation powerful enough to gradually remove this hydrogen fog that blanketed the early universe.
“Our discovery reveals the important role played by ultrafaint galaxies in the evolution of the early universe,” said astronomer Dr. Irina Chemelinska from the Paris Institute of Astrophysics.
“They produce ionizing photons that convert neutral hydrogen into ionized plasma during the reionization of the universe.”
“This highlights the importance of understanding low-mass galaxies in shaping the history of the universe.”
“These cosmic power plants collectively emit more than enough energy to accomplish their work,” said Dr. Hakim Atek, also of the Paris Institute of Astrophysics.
“Despite their small size, these low-mass galaxies produce large amounts of energetic radiation, and their abundance during this period is so great that their collective impact alters the state of the entire universe can do.”
In the study, astronomers captured and analyzed the spectra of eight very faint galaxies magnified by the lensing star cluster Abel 2744.
They found that these galaxies emit large amounts of ultraviolet light, at levels four times higher than previously thought.
This means that most of the photons that reionized the Universe likely came from these dwarf galaxies.
“With the web, we have stepped into uncharted territory,” said Dr. Themiya Nanayakkara, an astronomer at Swinburne University of Technology.
“Our study reveals more provocative questions that must be answered in efforts to chart the evolutionary history of our beginnings.”
of result It was published in the magazine Nature.
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H. Atek other. 2024. Most of the photons that reionized the universe came from dwarf galaxies. Nature 626, 975-978; doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07043-6
Astronomers have known for decades that the powerful light emitted by massive stars can disrupt planetary disks of dust and gas that swirl around young stars, the cradles of planetary birth. However, important questions remained unanswered. How fast does this process occur and will there be enough material left to form a planet?
NASA/ESA/CSA Using the James Webb Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers are now discovering the Orion Nebula, a nursery for stars, and specifically the protoplanetary disk named d203-506. I’m researching. Although it was confined to a small area, it exploded to an abnormally large size. This makes it possible to measure material loss rates with unprecedented precision.
bernet other. We observed the protoplanetary disk d203-506 illuminated by the far-ultraviolet rays of the Orion Nebula.Image credit: Berne other., doi: 10.1126/science.adh2861.
Young, low-mass stars are often surrounded by relatively short-lived protoplanetary disks of dust and gas, which are the raw materials for planet formation.
Therefore, the formation of gas giant planets is limited by processes that remove mass from the protoplanetary disk, such as photoevaporation.
Photoevaporation occurs when the upper layers of a protoplanetary disk are heated by X-rays or ultraviolet protons, raising the temperature of the gas and ejecting it from the system.
Because most low-mass stars form in clusters that also include high-mass stars, protoplanetary disks are expected to be exposed to external radiation and experience photoevaporation due to ultraviolet radiation.
Theoretical models predict that deep ultraviolet light creates a region of photodissociation, a region where ultraviolet photons projected from nearby massive stars strongly influence the gas chemistry on the surface of the protoplanetary disk. However, it has been difficult to observe these processes directly.
Dr. Thomas Howarth of Queen Mary University of London and his colleagues investigated the effects of ultraviolet irradiation using a combination of infrared, submillimeter wave, and optical observations of the protoplanetary disk d203-506 in the Orion Nebula using the Webb and ALMA telescopes.
By modeling the kinematics and excitation of the emission lines detected within the photodissociation region, they found that d203-506 loses mass rapidly due to heating and ionization by deep ultraviolet light.
According to the research team, the rate at which this mass is lost from d203-506 indicates that gas could be removed from the disk within a million years, suppressing the ability of gas giants to form within the system. It is said that there is.
“This is a truly exceptional case study,” said Dr Howarth, co-author of the paper. paper It was published in the magazine science.
“The results are clear: this young star is losing a staggering 20 Earth masses of material per year, suggesting that Jupiter-like planets are unlikely to form in this system.” .”
“The velocities we measured are in perfect agreement with theoretical models and give us confidence in understanding how different environments shape planet formation across the universe.”
“Unlike other known cases, this young star is exposed to only one type of ultraviolet light from a nearby massive star.”
“Because there is no 'hot cocoon' created by higher-energy ultraviolet light, the planet-forming material is larger and easier to study.”
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Olivier Verne other. 2024. Photoevaporation flow caused by far ultraviolet rays observed in a protoplanetary disk. science 383 (6686): 988-992; doi: 10.1126/science.adh2861
WASHINGTON — Tails were once a feature of our ancient animal ancestors. Why did they disappear?
Around 20 to 25 million years ago, during the split between apes and monkeys, the evolutionary branches of our family tree shed their tails. Scientists have been puzzled about the reasons behind this change since the time of Darwin.
Now, a group of researchers has pinpointed at least one crucial genetic mutation that played a role in this transformation.
“We identified a single mutation in a highly important gene,” explained Beau Xia, a geneticist at the Broad Institute and one of the authors of the study that was recently published in Nature magazine.
By comparing the genetic makeup of six types of great apes, including humans, and 15 species of tailed monkeys, researchers found significant genetic differences between the two groups. To test their hypothesis, they used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to alter the same genetic spot in mouse embryos, leading to the birth of tailless mice.
Xia cautioned that there may be other genetic factors contributing to the loss of tails.
An intriguing aspect of this evolutionary change is whether the absence of tails conferred an advantage to our ape ancestors and ultimately to humans. Was it a random mutation or did it serve a purpose in survival?
“It could have been purely coincidental, but it may have provided a significant evolutionary benefit,” suggested Miriam Konkel, an evolutionary geneticist at Clemson University who was not part of the study.
Various theories speculate on the advantages of being tailless. Some suggest that it may be linked to the development of upright walking in humans.
Rick Potts, who leads the Human Origins Project at the Smithsonian Institution and was not involved in this study, believes that the absence of tails in some apes could be due to their vertical posture even when still in trees. This transition might have been the initial step.
Although not all great apes are land dwellers, orangutans and gibbons are examples of tailless apes that continue to live in trees. Their movements differ significantly from monkeys, as they do not need tails for balance while moving among branches.
Study co-author Itai Yanai, a biologist at New York University, acknowledges that losing the tail was a major change. However, the true reasons behind it remain a mystery that can only be unraveled with a time machine.
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