The following is an excerpt from the Lost in Space-Time newsletter. Every month, we Give a keyboard to a physicist or mathematician and let them talk about some fascinating ideas from their corner of the universe. You can sign up for Lost in Space-Time for free here.
“Science is written in the language of mathematics,” Galileo declared in 1623. And over the past few centuries, science has become increasingly mathematical. Mathematics now seems to have complete supremacy, especially in the fields of quantum physics and relativity. Modern physics education seems to include deriving theories such as…
Sora introduces a groundbreaking artificial intelligence software that empowers users to produce remarkably lifelike videos based on simple verbal instructions.
OpenAI, the mastermind behind Dall-E and ChatGPT, is pushing boundaries with the soon-to-be-released service.
This innovation seemingly emerged out of nowhere. Previous attempts at AI-generated videos were less than impressive, to put it lightly. But with Sora, things are changing.
How did OpenAI achieve this feat? Can you use these tools today? And what does this mean for the future of video and content creation? Let’s dive deep into the modern tools and their implications.
What is Sora?
Sora is an AI tool capable of generating full videos up to 1 minute long. For instance, by simply entering a prompt like “a group of cats worshipping a giant dog,” Sora can potentially display videos matching that description.
Amidst the social media buzz and specialized computing communities, Sora’s unexpected rise may have gone unnoticed. There wasn’t any grand announcement or extensive advertising campaign; it just appeared abruptly.
OpenAI has showcased various sample videos where Sora impressively produces lifelike visuals. These videos feature mirror reflections, intricate liquid movements, and falling snow particles.
How does Sora work?
Sora operates similarly to previous AI image generators but with added complexity. It utilizes diffusion modeling to convert video frames into static images, which are then reconstructed into a cohesive video.
To train Sora, example videos and corresponding textual descriptions are provided to help the model understand the relationship between images and actions depicted in the videos.
This process challenges the model to understand intricate details like 3D models, motion, reflections, shadows, and other complex features to replicate accurately.
For transparency, OpenAI offers a detailed explanation of how the model functions on its website, although the sources of the training videos remain undisclosed.
How to use Sora AI
Currently, Sora is not available to the general public. OpenAI exercises caution in releasing such powerful tools, starting with a small “red team” of individuals who assess potential risks and harms of the technology.
Following this, a select group of visual artists, designers, and filmmakers will gain insight into how the tool functions for creative endeavors. Eventually, Sora may become accessible to the public, likely following OpenAI’s pay-as-you-go model.
Is Sora the best AI video generator?
Based on the videos unveiled so far, Sora appears to be a significant leap ahead of previous AI video generation attempts. Early endeavors in AI-generated videos, like Will Smith eating spaghetti or the ”Peppoloni Hug Spot” commercial, paled in comparison.
Contrasting those early attempts with Sora’s work reveals a stark contrast. Sora’s videos boast accurate lighting, reflections, and human-like features, even tackling complex scenarios like people entering and exiting the frame.
Despite its impressive capabilities, Sora is not without flaws. Glitches like disappearing body parts, sudden appearances, and floating feet are observable in its videos. As the public gains access, more videos will expose both strengths and weaknesses of the model.
Curious about what goes on inside a black hole? Wondering about the origins of the Big Bang and how the forces of the universe came together? These are some of the biggest questions humanity has about the universe, and new discoveries are bringing us closer to the answers than ever before.
Scientists have made a breakthrough in measuring gravity in the quantum world, with British, Dutch, and Italian teams utilizing new technology to detect weak gravity on small particles. By suspending particles weighing just 0.43 mg at ultra-low temperatures, they were able to isolate the vibrations of the particles using magnets and superconducting devices.
This groundbreaking technique allowed scientists to measure weak attractive forces of only 30 attonewtons (aN), a force smaller than that of a bacterium on a table’s surface. Previously, understanding how gravity worked at the microscopic level had eluded scientists, but this discovery has shed light on the interaction of forces with particles at a small scale.
Lead author of the study, Tim Hooks from the University of Southampton, noted that scientists have been struggling for a century to understand how gravity and quantum mechanics interact. This new discovery brings us closer to unraveling the mysteries of the universe and potentially paves the way for further advancements in measuring quantum gravity.
By continuing to refine the method used in this study, researchers hope to delve deeper into the forces that govern the universe, ultimately leading to a better understanding of the very structure of our cosmos.
“We are on the brink of new discoveries about gravity and the quantum world,” said Professor Hendrik Ulbricht, one of the study authors.
Some of the gas erupts from the supermassive black hole located at the center of galaxy cluster SDSS J1531+3414 (abbreviated SDSS J1531) until it reaches a temperature high enough to form numerous star clusters. Cooled down.
Multi-wavelength image of the massive galaxy cluster SDSS J1531+3414.Image credits: NASA / CXC / SAO / Omorui other. / STScI / Tremblay other. / Astron / Loafers / NASA / CXC / SAO / N. Walk.
SDSS J1531 is a huge galaxy cluster containing hundreds of individual galaxies and a huge reservoir of hot gas and dark matter.
At the center of SDSS J1531, two of the cluster's largest galaxies collide with each other.
Surrounding these merging giants are 19 large star clusters called superclusters, arranged in an “S” shape similar to beads on a string.
Dr. Osase Omoruyi and colleagues at Harvard University and the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics are using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the LOFAR radio network, and other telescopes to discover how this chain of unusual star clusters formed. I found out what happened.
The discovery of evidence of an ancient mega-eruption in SDSS J1531 provided important clues.
The eruption may have occurred when a supermassive black hole at the center of one of the large galaxies produced a very powerful jet.
As the jet traveled through space, it pulled surrounding hot gas away from the black hole, creating a huge cavity.
“We're already observing this system as it existed 4 billion years ago, when the Earth was just forming,” Omoruyi said.
“This ancient cavity is a fossil of the black hole's influence on its host galaxy and its surroundings, and tells us about important events that occurred almost 200 million years ago in the history of this star cluster.”
Evidence for the cavity comes from bright X-ray emission “wings” seen on Chandra that track dense gas near the center of SDSS J1531.
These wings form the edges of the cavity, and the less dense gas between them is part of the cavity.
LOFAR shows radio waves from the remains of the jet's energetic particles filling a huge cavity.
Taken together, these data provide convincing evidence for an ancient great explosion.
Astronomers also discovered cold and warm gas near the cavity's opening, detected by the Atacama Large Millimeter and Submillimeter Array (ALMA) and Gemini North Telescope, respectively.
They argue that some of the hot gas pushed out of the black hole eventually cooled down to cold, warm gas.
They believe that the tidal effects of the two galaxies merging compressed the gas along a curved path, forming the star cluster in a “string-bead” pattern.
“We reconstructed the sequence of events that may have occurred within this cluster over a wide range of distances and times,” said Dr. Grant Tremblay, also of Harvard University and the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
“It started when a black hole, just one light-year in diameter, formed a cavity about 500,000 light-years wide.”
“This single event triggered the formation of young star clusters almost 200 million years later, each several thousand light-years in diameter.”
Although the authors only looked at the radio waves and cavity from one jet, black holes typically fire two jets in opposite directions.
They also observed radio emissions further out from the galaxy that could be the remains of a second jet, but it was unrelated to the detected cavity.
They speculate that radio and X-ray signals from other eruptions may have diminished to the point where they could no longer be detected.
“We believe the evidence for this large-scale eruption is strong, but further observations from Chandra and LOFAR will confirm the case,” Dr. Omoruyi said.
“We hope to learn more about the origins of the cavities we have already detected and find the cavities we expect to find on the other side of the black hole.”
Omase Omorui other. 2024. A “string bead” star formation associated with one of the most powerful she-AGN outbursts observed in the Cool Core Galaxy Cluster. APJ, in press. arXiv: 2312.06762
SN 1987A is the only supernova visible to the naked eye in the past 400 years and the most studied supernova in history. This event was a nuclear collapse supernova, meaning that the compressed remains of its core formed either a neutron star or a black hole. Evidence for such compact objects has long been sought, and while indirect evidence for the existence of neutron stars has been found before, most likely the effects of high-energy emissions from young neutron stars have not been detected. This is the first time I have done so.
Webb observed the best evidence to date for radiation from neutron stars in SN 1987A. Image credits: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / C. Fransson, Stockholm University / M. Matsuura, Cardiff University / MJ Barlow, University College London / PJ Kavanagh, Maynooth University / J. Larsson, KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
SN 1987A was first observed on February 23, 1987 at the edge of the Large Magellanic Cloud, about 163,000 light-years away.
This was the first supernova to be observed with the naked eye since Johannes Kepler witnessed one more than 400 years ago.
About two hours before the first visible light observation of SN 1987A, three observatories around the world detected a burst of neutrinos that lasted just a few seconds.
The two different types of observations were associated with the same supernova event and provided important evidence that informs theories about how nuclear collapse supernovae occur.
This theory included the expectation that supernovae of this type would form neutron stars or black holes.
Since then, astronomers have been searching for evidence of these compact objects at the center of expanding debris.
Indirect evidence for the presence of neutron stars at the center of remnants has been discovered in recent years, with observations of much older supernova remnants such as the Crab Nebula showing that neutron stars have been found in many supernova remnants. has been confirmed.
However, until now no direct evidence of neutron star formation in the aftermath of SN 1987A has been observed.
“Theoretical models of SN 1987A suggest that the 10-second burst of neutrinos observed just before the supernova explosion led to the formation of a neutron star or black hole,” said lead author of the study. said Claes Fransson, an astronomer at Stockholm University.
“However, no convincing signs of such a newborn object due to a supernova explosion have been observed.”
“With this observatory, we found direct evidence of ejection caused by a newborn compact object, likely a neutron star.”
In the study, Dr. Franson et al. mm and NIR spec Instruments on NASA/ESA/CSA's James Webb Space Telescope observed SN 1987A at infrared wavelengths, showing that a heavy mass whose outer electrons have been stripped (i.e., atoms have become ionized) near where the star exploded occurred. They found evidence of argon and sulfur atoms. .
They modeled a variety of scenarios in which these atoms could be driven solely by ultraviolet or They discovered that it could have been ionized only by the wind. (Pulsar wind nebula).
If the former scenario were true, the neutron star's surface would be about 1 million degrees Celsius, cooling from about 100 billion degrees Celsius at the moment it formed at its collapse center more than 30 years ago.
Professor Mike Barlow of University College London said: “The detection of strong ionizing argon and sulfur emission lines from the very center of the nebula surrounding SN1987A using Webb's MIRI and NIRSpec spectrometers suggests a central source of ionizing radiation. This is direct evidence of the existence of .
“Our data can only match neutron stars as the power source of ionizing radiation.”
“This radiation is not only emitted from the multi-million-degree surface of a hot neutron star, but also from the pulsar winds that may be produced when a neutron star spins rapidly, dragging charged particles around it. It can also be emitted from nebulae.”
“The mystery surrounding whether neutron stars are hidden in dust has been going on for more than 30 years, so we are very happy to have solved it.”
“Supernovae are the main source of the chemical elements that make life possible, so we want to accurately derive the supernova model.”
“No other object like the neutron star SN 1987A is so close to us and formed so recently. The surrounding material is expanding, so we'll see more of it over time. It will be.”
“It was clear that there had to be a high-energy radiation source at the center of the SN 1987A debris to produce the ions observed in the ejecta,” Dr. Franson said.
“The paper discusses a variety of possibilities, but we found that only a few scenarios are likely, and all of them involve newly formed neutron stars.”
of paper Published in the February 22, 2024 edition of the Journal science.
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C. Franson other. 2024. Emission lines from ionizing radiation from a compact object in the remains of supernova 1987A. science 383 (6685): 898-903; doi: 10.1126/science.adj5796
The lunar lander, known as Odysseus, is in good condition but resting on its side a day after making history as the first civilian spacecraft to touch down on the moon’s surface and the first U.S. lunar landing since 1972, a company official confirmed on Friday.
The landing craft caught one of its six landing legs on a rock near the end of its final descent, causing it to tip over on its side, according to a data analysis by aeronautical engineers at Houston-based Intuitive Machines.
Despite the unexpected landing, Odysseus is believed to be stable and near its planned landing site near a crater called Malapart A in the moon’s south polar region, said Stephen Altemus, CEO of Intuitive Machines.
“We are in contact with the lander and are actively sending commands to it in order to capture the first images of the lunar surface from the landing site,” Altemus added.
An update on the mission’s status posted on the company’s website early Friday confirmed that Odysseus was still operational.
Although initial reports indicated that the lander had landed upright, company officials clarified that it had actually landed on its side due to telemetry errors, but most of the payloads onboard were still functional, allowing for communication.
While there are some challenges, such as certain antennas pointing towards the surface and solar panels facing in the wrong direction, the spacecraft’s battery is fully charged and the mission director remains optimistic about fulfilling all payload requirements.
Odysseus utilized liquid methane and liquid oxygen propellants and performed well during its flight to the moon, making it the first of its kind in space exploration.
After overcoming navigation system issues during the final approach and descent to the moon, engineers successfully landed the spacecraft, reestablished communication, and are now monitoring its operation as it begins its mission on the lunar surface.
Following the news of the lander tipping over, Intuitive Machines’ stock experienced a 30% decline in extended trading on Friday, offsetting gains made earlier in the day.
Detailed explanations are provided by paleontologists from Germany, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Dinocephalosaurus orientalis a remarkable marine reptile from the Middle Triassic of China, based on seven beautifully preserved specimens.
repair of Dinocephalosaurus orientalis It is depicted in a school of large predatory actinopterygian fishes. Saurictis. Image credit: Marlene Donnelly.
Dinocephalosaurus orientalis They lived in what is now China during the Triassic period about 240 million years ago.
This aquatic reptile could reach up to 6 m (20 ft) in length and had an extremely long neck with 32 separate vertebrae.
the animal looked very similar Tanystropheus hydrides another strange marine reptile that lived during the Middle Triassic period of both Europe and China.
“Both reptiles were similar in size and had some common skull features, including a fish-catching type of dentition,” said Dr Nick Fraser, head of natural sciences at the National Museum of Scotland, and colleagues. Stated.
“but, Dinocephalosaurus orientalis It is unique in having more vertebrae in both its neck and torso, giving it a more snake-like appearance. ”
Dinocephalosaurus orientalis. Image credit: National Museums of Scotland.
Dinocephalosaurus orientalis They are strictly marine reptiles and almost certainly gave birth at sea.
The exact function of its extraordinarily long neck is unknown, but it almost certainly helped catch fish, and in one specimen it is preserved in the stomach contents.
Despite superficial similarities, this reptile was not closely related to the famous long-necked plesiosaur, which evolved only about 40 million years later and inspired the Loch Ness Monster myth.
“This discovery allows us, for the first time, to see the entire body of this amazing long-necked animal,” Dr Fraser said.
“This is another example of the weird and wonderful world of the Triassic that continues to baffle paleontologists.”
“With its striking appearance reminiscent of the long, serpentine dragon of Chinese mythology, we are confident it will capture imaginations around the world.”
Dinocephalosaurus orientalis First described in 2003, the discovery of additional, more complete specimens has allowed the authors to fully describe this strange long-necked creature for the first time.
“Among the amazing discoveries we made in the Triassic of Guizhou, Dinocephalosaurus orientalis It probably stands out as the most remarkable,” said Professor Li Chun, a paleontologist at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.
of findings Published in today's magazine Earth and Environmental Sciences: Papers of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
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Stephen NF Speakman other. Dinocephalosaurus orientalis Li, 2003: A remarkable marine archosaur from the Middle Triassic of southwestern China. Earth and Environmental Sciences: Papers of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, published online on February 23, 2024. doi: 10.1017/S175569102400001X
Recent rains have accelerated land movement in the landslide-prone coastal city of Rancho Palos Verdes in Los Angeles County, altering previously uncharted landslide areas, as stated in a city news release.
The sedimentary rock layers in the area tilt toward the sea, causing clay layers to expand and become slippery when saturated with water due to minimal friction, explained Onderdonk.
Concerning areas are expanding due to heavy rains, with a decades-old plan to dewater slopes in the Avalon Cove landslide area significantly slowing down movement, but recent acceleration led to the closure of Wayfarer’s Chapel, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. in Avalon Cove.
The city of Rancho Palos Verdes, faced with risks to homes and roads, is urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to proceed with state and federal emergency declarations for expedited emergency fixes through the permitting process, as mentioned here.
Many coastal cities in California are vulnerable to landslides.
A tarp covers the bluff behind the house overlooking Capistrano Beach in Dana Point, California. Several seaside areas are dealing with concerns of landslides and coastal erosion following recent storms that hit the state. NBC News
Drone footage of beach houses built on a landslide rubble in Dana Point made headlines recently. Scientists are studying how climate change affects landslides, expected to be detailed in a 2022 study in “Geophysical Research Letters.”
Research indicates that atmospheric river storms in the San Francisco Bay Area coincide with landslides about 76% of the time and are becoming more frequent and intense on the West Coast due to a warming atmosphere’s increased water vapor absorption and transport capacity.
Edward and Debbie Winston-Levin, residents of Dana Point, express concerns about coastal erosion impacting their property and affecting nearby amenities.
After recent storms in California, Edwards, who lives in Dana Point, looks out at his waterfront home amid concerns about landslides and coastal erosion. NBC News
Various coastal cities are making adaptations due to the changing landscape, with plans in motion to address potential risks and impacts.
Experts caution that protecting California’s iconic beaches while safeguarding cliffside homes poses a challenging dilemma for communities.
Uranus (left) and Neptune (right) have several more moons
NASA, ESA, Mark Showalter (SETI Institute), Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), Andrew I. Hsu, Michael H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley)
Astronomers have discovered new moons around Uranus and Neptune for the first time in 10 years. These are the faintest moons ever discovered orbiting a planet, confirming a long-held idea about moons in the outer solar system.
Scott Shepherd from the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., discovered these moons using the Magellan Telescope in Chile and confirmed them using several other large telescopes around the world. “We looked about four times deeper than anyone has ever looked,” Shepherd said. “These satellites are at the edge of our capabilities. They’re just faint, faint points of light.”
Typically, when looking for the moon, you can only get a maximum exposure of about 5 minutes before it becomes overexposed and the moon’s movement renders it useless. Shepard and his team got around this problem by taking many of these five-minute images in quick succession, observing them for hours, and then combining the darker parts of the images. This allowed them to find dim points of light shining from the faintest moons ever discovered, as well as the smallest moons ever discovered around each planet.
The new moon around Uranus is tentatively named S/2023 U1, but will eventually be given the name of a Shakespearean character, along with the planet’s other moons. It is only about 8 kilometers in diameter and orbits once every 680 Earth days.
One of the new moons around Neptune is called S/2021 N1, and we await its official name from Greek mythology. With a diameter of about 14 kilometers, it takes about 27 Earth years to orbit the planet, making it the farthest moon from its host planet ever discovered. This is also the darkest moon ever discovered.
Discovery image of Uranus’ new moon S/2023 U1 with scattered light from Uranus and trails from background stars
Scott S. Shepherd/Carnegie Institution for Science
The brighter, larger moon discovered orbiting Neptune is called S/2002 N5. As its name suggests, this satellite was first discovered more than 20 years before, but was lost before astronomers could confirm its orbit. “The moon can get lost really easily,” Shepard says. “Basically, you need really good weather, your telescopes need to work perfectly, and everything needs to go well to detect these satellites.” If something goes wrong and a planned observation is lost, the satellite moves out of orbit and becomes very difficult to find again.
Each of the three new moons has an orbit similar to the other two moons in its planetary system, and these fellow travelers form small groups that orbit together. This means that each of these groups likely formed together when larger moons broke up during the early solar system chaos.
“Until now, it was unclear whether Uranus and Neptune had a group of exomoons like Jupiter and Saturn,” Shepard said. “We believe these are debris from satellites that were once much larger, but we’ll probably find many more smaller satellites.” Unfortunately, we’re reaching the limits of what we can discover with current technology, he says it may take even longer before these smaller moons are discovered around Uranus and Neptune.
A device that can measure the force of gravity on particles lighter than a single grain of pollen could help us understand how gravity works in the quantum world.
Despite being stuck to the ground, gravity is the weakest force known to us. Only very large objects, such as planets and stars, generate enough gravity to be easily measured. Doing the same for a very small object at a fraction of the distance and mass in the quantum realm is also possible because the size of the force is so small, but a nearby larger object could overwhelm the signal. It is very difficult because there is
now hendrik ulbricht and colleagues at the University of Southampton in the UK have developed a new way to measure gravity on a small scale, using tiny neodymium magnets weighing about 0.5 milligrams that are suspended in a magnetic field that opposes Earth's gravity.
Small changes in the magnetic field of a magnet caused by the gravitational influence of nearby objects can be converted into a measure of gravity. The whole thing is cooled to near absolute zero and suspended on a spring system to minimize external forces.
This probe can measure the gravitational pull of objects weighing just a few micrograms. “We can increase the sensitivity and push the study of gravity into a new regime,” Ulbricht says.
He and his team found that a 1-kilogram test mass rotating nearby could measure a force of 30 atton-Newtons on a particle. An atnewton is one billionth of a newton. One limitation is that the test mass must be moving at a suitable velocity to cause gravitational resonance with the magnet. Otherwise, it will not be strong enough to pick up the force.
The next stage of the experiment will reduce the test mass to the same size as the magnetic particles so that gravity can be tested while the particles exhibit quantum effects such as entanglement and superposition. Ulbricht said this would be difficult because with such a small mass, all other parts of the experiment would need to be incredibly precise, such as the exact distance between the two particles. Masu. It may take at least 10 years to reach this stage.
“The fact that they even attempted this measurement is appalling to me,” he says. julian starlingis a UK-based engineer, as it is difficult to separate other gravitational effects from the exploration mass. Professor Starling said that in this experiment, the anti-vibration system appeared to have had a small but significant effect on airborne particles, so researchers need to find ways to minimize the gravitational effects of the anti-vibration system. It states that there is.
2023 was the hottest year ever recorded on Earth. This included oceans around the world, where records fell like dominoes. Last week, about 5,000 scientists gathered in New Orleans for the American Geophysical Union’s biennial marine science conference. Environmental reporter James Dineen was there to take the temperatures of researchers who have been observing changes occurring in the ocean. You can listen to his segment around 05:00 in the embedded player or read the transcript below.
transcript
James Dineen: There was one thing on everyone’s mind at the world’s largest gathering of marine scientists. It’s heat.
England: “Warming over the past few decades, especially in 2023, is sweeping the sector.”
James: Matthew England is an oceanographer at the University of New South Wales in Australia. He was one of thousands of marine scientists who gathered in New Orleans to discuss the latest research on what’s happening in the ocean.
There will be presentations on everything from new species of octopus to robot flying fish. However, rising temperatures are gaining attention.
England: “The burning of fossil fuels, the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, we know that it is trapped heat, and we know that more than 90 per cent of it escapes into the ocean. I know.”
Last year’s average sea surface temperature broke previous records, rising about 0.2 degrees Celsius above 2022 levels. The amount of heat in the ocean at a depth of 2,000 meters also broke a new record. Then, an abnormal marine heat wave occurred from the Atlantic Ocean to the Sea of Japan.
England: “This was the first year on record where it was difficult to find waters that were not warmer than average.”
Researchers here are working to understand the causes and consequences of that fever.
Let’s consider the mystery of the extent of sea ice in Antarctica. It was surprisingly strong until 2016, but it declined sharply that year. The record low was set again in 2022, but then again in 2023 when the Antarctic winter ice did not recover.
But perhaps the most obvious victim of 2023 temperatures was coral reefs. Large areas of coral, especially around the Florida Keys in the Gulf of Mexico, bleached and died.
Ian Enox of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration studies coral reefs in the Keys. He says seeing so many corals die was a painful experience, but it only drove home the urgency for action.
Enoch: “Some people will see this and feel downtrodden. And I’ve seen people come together and be motivated to actually do something meaningful and be able to confront this issue head on. I’ve seen the exact opposite situation.”
Amy Aprile of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts is working on different approaches to restoring coral ecosystems. There are many ideas. But one of her new approaches her team is working on is underwater use. sound.
Apryl: Sound is a basic signal used by coral reef organisms. We understand that it is part of their communication strategy and what they rely on to create a healthy environment. ”
In tests on coral reefs in the Virgin Islands, researchers found that broadcasting underwater recordings of healthy coral reef ecosystems increased the rate at which coral larvae attached to the reef. This could help make coral restoration more effective in the face of rising temperatures.
Apryl: This year has been unprecedented. But the thing that sticks with me and keeps me optimistic is that we’re just getting started and we’re just scratching the surface in putting these solutions into action.
This frigid landscape in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, is a sight to behold, but it may not stay like this for long, so enjoy it while you can.
When snow falls in these places, it hardens into thick ice that flows over the land, forming glaciers, and when it melts, it creates huge reservoirs of water that sustain life. These are ancient and important resources.
Photographing from a helicopter, Burtynsky was shocked to see that the glacier had retreated dramatically since his last visit 20 years ago. The history of glaciers in this range dates back 150,000 years, he said, but they are rapidly shrinking due to global warming caused by human activity.
“When it's gone, it's gone, and the whole ecosystem and the whole living system is changed forever,” Burtynsky says. His images, he says, are designed to remind us of what has been lost. New work It also focuses on soil erosion in Turkey and the impact of coal mining on Australia.
Burtynsky is currently exhibiting in another exhibition in London. extraction/abstraction. It also explores the impact humans have on the planet and is on display at Saatchi's gallery until May 6th.
“I was faced with an overflowing immensity.” An underwater river.
alamy stock photo
From the age of 10, I was allowed to swim alone in the Nieuwe Maas River. The cold water shocked me, calmed me down and stole my heart. I went into the water, lay on my back, closed my eyes, and floated away. Then I staggered back along the stony shore, my legs turning blue and numb from the cold. I wrapped a towel around her and put her head in my lap, shivering. I let the water drain from my ears and the sound of the car returned. It took me a long time to convince myself to stand up again because I didn’t want to go home. As I put my weight down, the stone pressed into the thin soles of my feet, and every time I left the beach I told myself that if I just put the same stone in my pocket and went out into the water, I would never have to go again. I’m going home again.
It was an effective illusion. I was able to continue because I knew I didn’t have to. Every time I swam a little, and every time I climbed ashore, the stones dug deeper into my feet. One afternoon in early fall, I felt particularly hopeless. I couldn’t see any realistic way to escape from Geat’s situation, and I lived in constant fear of him. Storm clouds were approaching and the beach was deserted. I felt a dangerous tremor, felt free to ignore my own safety, and grimaced as I continued into the water. The water burned me and an amazing energy coursed through my body. It was very cold. When I reached the point where my shoulders were submerged in the water, my chest began to spasm and I swallowed a mouthful of bitter water. Then, as if from far away, very faintly, I felt it trying to give way.
I opened my eyes and dove into the water, digging and kicking out. Although it was only a few meters deep, it felt like I was digging another tunnel, entering a crack and swimming through a new realm, my own secret chamber. The water was muddy with the movement of my limbs, but when I stopped I suddenly saw everything clearly. The large rocks on the riverbed were dotted with insects, sponges, limpets, and lichens. Beyond that, green and purple river grass floats. It didn’t make the slightest sound. No water pressure thuds in your ears, no competing voices in your head. I hung horizontally, staring at the scene floating below the water’s surface, there was no further movement clouding my vision, but suddenly, as if out of nowhere, everything around me came to life fully alive. As if he realized that it was happening.
There was no gap between my body and the living world. I was pressed against the teeming vastness, where every cubic millimeter of water was dense with living things. These creatures were so small that I couldn’t see them, but somehow I felt their presence, their camaraderie around me.I wasn’t looking out of the water. towards Life, I looked straight ahead. into the The vast patchwork of water life that supports my body flows into my nostrils, ears, tiny cracks and crevices in my skin, swirls through my hair, and enters the same eyes that observed it. In what felt like minutes but should have been just seconds, I found myself floating in a web of entirely different worlds, important and complex places, and an almost infinite number of independent life forms. , I saw it scoop up countless creatures with every slight change. And the undulation of the body.
extracted from Ascension in progress Written by Martin McInnes, published by Atlantic Books. Ascension in progress This is the latest recommended book from the New Scientist Book Club.Register here and read along
Bitcoin’s mysterious founder Satoshi Nakamoto dismissed early concerns about the cryptocurrency’s potential to consume large amounts of electricity and contribute to carbon emissions, according to newly released emails.
The true identity of Bitcoin’s creator was never revealed, but after Bitcoin’s creation in January 2009, Nakamoto (a pseudonym) remained active in online forums and emails until late 2010, after which he was removed from the project and stopped communicating with him. .
Casimir Funk, the Polish biochemist who coined the term “vitamin” to describe a group of important molecules that help keep us alive, is the subject of today’s Google Doodle.
There have been theories for thousands of years about how food affects health. In ancient Greece and Rome, early physicians invented the “humoral” theory. This theory states that food must have the right balance of wetness, dryness, hotness, and coldness to keep the four essential humors of the body in check (fire, earth, blood, and phlegm). Much later, doctors made clearer connections, such as the observation that consuming citrus fruits like lemons helped prevent scurvy in sailors during long voyages.
In the late 19th century, scientists were trying to understand the cause of beriberi. Beriberi can affect a person’s nervous and cardiovascular systems and is now known as vitamin B1 deficiency. In 1897, Christian Eikman published a study based on experiments with chickens, proposing that a diet containing brown rice was more effective in preventing beriberi than a diet consisting only of white rice.
Casimir Funk read Aikman’s paper and set himself the challenge of finding a compound that confers protective properties on brown rice. In 1912, Funk was able to isolate the chemical believed to be responsible, and discovered that it contained characteristic nitrogen compounds called amines, which he identified as important amines, or vitamins. I named it. Eventually, scientists realized that vitamins don’t necessarily have to contain an amine group, so they dropped the final “e.”
Funk suggests that similar compounds may be present in many other “deficiencies,” as he calls them, “talking about the beriberi and scurvy vitamins. It means a substance that prevents disease.” Funk also correctly suggested that there are vitamins that prevent pellagra and rickets.
The compound Funk isolated and named “anti-beriberi factor,” now called vitamin B3, or niacin, does not actually prevent beriberi. Two years ago, Japanese scientist Umetaro Suzuki isolated vitamin B1 from brown rice and pinpointed its role in preventing beriberi. However, his research was published in a Japanese magazine, and the first Western translation, written in German, did not describe it as a new discovery.
Thirty-five years after Funk’s initial discovery, scientists have discovered a total of 13 remaining vitamins, including eight B vitamins and vitamins A, C, D, E, and K. Funk continued his research into vitamins and continued his research into pharmaceuticals. For the rest of his career, he remained with the company. He produced the first widely used vitamin concentrate in the United States called his OSCODAL, which contained liquid vitamins A and D.
Although vitamins are recognized to help prevent certain diseases, the use of vitamins as supplements is still debated among scientists. A recent meta-analysis found that there is not enough evidence that supplements and vitamins prevent cancer or heart disease for most people.
“Humanity exists on a scale intermediate between elementary particles and the observable universe.” Milky Way Galaxy.
Shutterstock/Nednapa
When measured by orders of magnitude, it is sometimes argued that humanity lies somewhere between subatomic particles and the observable universe. (Put another way, we are somewhere between nothing and everything.) Whether or not this claim is strictly true, it commands attention and sympathy in all kinds of ways. I call. Each of our lives may feel like a whole universe, extremely important and infinite in scope, but from another perspective, each life is completely insignificant and fleeting. This is an impossible paradox, and this state of both surplus and surplus of value presents creative and moral opportunities. I love how these opportunities are explored in fiction, how scale makes human life, and indeed all life, unfamiliar, the infinite nature of its expanse, and I'm interested in what it can do to remind us of the improbability and wonder of its existence.
In each of my novels, especially At Ascension, I placed non-intuitive spatial and temporal perspectives next to the characters' more mundane concerns. Telescopes and microscopes explore deep time, evolution, and the life cycles of parasites and viruses alike. In addition to this, the characters eat, pace between rooms, have anxious, circular thoughts, worry about their families, and are bored. The lens zooms in and out from “domestic” to “foreign” scenes. I am not doing this to ridicule or belittle my characters, but rather that we are both infinite and infinitesimal, equal to the very big and the very small. I'm trying to evoke something in that paradoxical quality of closeness.
I've always been drawn to fiction that attempts this. When scenes with completely different perspectives collide, the effect is surprising, exhilarating and unforgettable. My favorite example is her 1927 novel by Virginia Woolf. To the lighthouse I first read it when I was a teenager. In the opening chapter, “The Window,'' page 134, Woolf gives us, through the character of Mrs. Ramsay, a consciousness so luminous that it seems impossible to define or limit it. In the next part, “Time Passes,” the perspective changes dramatically. The house is empty and the people have long left. Mrs. Ramsay, in her two short lines in parentheses, like an afterthought, we are informed that she has passed away.
I will never forget the shock and excitement I felt when I read this for the first time. I didn't know you could do something like this in fiction. Wolf's boldness and ambition took my breath away. She tragically demonstrated the power and danger of all her consciousness. This is a truism that cannot be repeated enough. Life feels endless, but it passes in the blink of an eye. Many of Woolf's novels are interested in this cacophony, as she lived through both world wars as well as the rapid advances in telescope power that changed all understanding of the size of the universe. This is no coincidence. And many believe that Woolf was not only an avid reader of astronomy books and his science fiction, but also that he had a lifelong commitment to writing that rivaled his most ambitious works. This seems obvious to people, but it's not surprising. SCIENCE FICTION.
main character of Ascension in progress, Lee Hasenbosch is a microbiologist who travels through deep space. Not only is she astonished to see the entire Earth, but she also experiences disappointment as she sees it disappear. Anthropocentrism – arguably the default perspective in English fiction – has never seemed so absurd. As she approaches the Oort Cloud, she becomes aware of other orders of life around her, ranging from algae food stocks to bacterial colonies that move between her and the rest of her crew. There is nothing beyond the ship's compound walls.
From an early age, Lee pursued the origins of life and became obsessed with the theory of life after an epiphany during a near-drowning experience. symbiosis And I was shocked at how impossible it was. It is almost impossible for life to exist, yet it is here. At the same time, she questions her own childhood and its influence on the person she became. Her life and work are centered around the pursuit of this ambiguous origin. So which scale is “correct”? Is she really interested in a universal story or a personal story? The answer, of course, is both. Neither answer alone is sufficient.
Martin McInnes Ascension in progress, published by Atlantic Books, is the New Scientist Book Club's latest pick.Register here and read along
Well, this is where Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Frank Herbert's original story ends. sand dunes.
Abandoned into the wilds of the arid planet Arrakis by the invading forces of House Harkonnen, young Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) learns the ways of the desert, accepts his genetic and political destiny, and quickly becomes the focus of fanaticism. (A third film, a sequel by author Frank Herbert, is in the works. dune messiah) Cosmic scourge.
Alejandro Jodorowsky's efforts in the mid-1970s never came to fruition (at least not to Swiss artist HR Giger). alien (made famous for his foray into film design), to David Lynch's four-hour-plus Farago, which was edited to nearly two hours before its release in 1984, approaching (but only getting closer to) coherence. The industry has assumed that: dunes This epic is too vast to be photographed easily. But the logic is that if you put enough resources into it, it will eventually collapse.
That this is exactly the wrong lesson was perfectly demonstrated by John Harrison's 2000 miniseries version for the Sci Fi Channel and its sequel. children of the dunes – both were absurdly under-resourced and satisfying stories that fans did, even if critics didn’t.
This time it's Villeneuve's effort.like him blade runner 2049 (which, by the way, is a much better movie), uses visual stimulation to cover up the gaping holes in the plot. Yes, the story is dunes It's spectacular. But it's also strange in the fullest sense of the word.
This is a story about a human empire that reached cosmic proportions without the aid of computers, thinking machines, or sentient robots, which were overthrown long ago in Earth's shadow phase. dunes A universe known as the “Butlerian Jihad”.
Throughout its rise, humanity has bred individuals, medicated them, and otherwise distorted them into beings more like God. As time passes, you teeter on the edge of gaining power as you conquer the universe. The drug-like “spice” mined on the planet Arrakis is not only a rare resource fought over by great rivals, but also the spiritual gateway that will allow humanity to survive in this distant future.
If any one of these elements is left unexplored (or, as here, ignored completely), you'll end up with a ton of fights, swordplay, explosions, crowd scenes, and giant sandworms. A desert is left behind. The unwritten rules of special effects cinematography come into play. Because I assert that the higher the cost of these wriglers, the stupider they are. Ears ring, heart races, and by morning the whole experience evaporates like a long (2 hours and 46 minutes) fever-filled dream.
Dave Bautista as Beast Laban is embarrassingly better than the rest of the cast. The beast is Harkonnen, the alpha predator in this harsh world, but Bautista is the only actor capable of expressing fear. Javier Bardem's desert leader Stilgar is played for laughs (but honestly, name one desert leader in the history of cinema that hasn't been). Chalamet stands still in front of the camera. His lover, played by Zendaya, grimaces and growls like Bert Lahr's Cowardly Lion in the movie. wizard of oz.
Dune: Part 2 ' was an expensive ($190 million) film and had the good sense to spend much of its budget in front of the camera. This makes it easy to watch, fun, and sometimes even thrilling.make something good dunes However, movies need some kind of eccentricity. On the contrary, Villeneuve is that terrible thing, a “safe pair.”
A machine learning model figured out how to keep the robot stable on three legs while opening a door with one leg.
Philip Arm, Mayank Mittal, Hendrik Kolvenbach, Marco Hutter/Robot Systems Laboratory
The robot dog can open doors, press buttons, and pick up backpacks with one leg while balancing on its other three legs.
Quadruped robots like Spot, the star of Boston Dynamics' viral video, typically require arms attached to their bodies to open doors or lift objects, which adds significantly to their weight. This can make it difficult for the robot to maneuver through tight spaces. .
philip arm Researchers at ETH Zurich in Switzerland used a machine learning model to teach an off-the-shelf robotic dog to perform tasks using one of its legs while remaining stationary or moving with the other three. I taught you to do it.
“We can't do everything with our legs that we can do with our arms. We're much more dexterous with our hands at the moment. But what's really important is making this work in applications where there are mass constraints, or in robots. “The idea is to make this work in applications where you don’t want the added complexity, such as space exploration, where every kilogram counts,” Arm says.
To train the dog, the ANYmal robot from ANYbotics, Arm and his team gave the machine learning model the goal of finding a specific point in space on one of the robot's legs. The model then took control of his remaining three legs and independently worked out how to keep the robot balanced when standing and walking.
Arm and his team can now remotely control the robot to perform actions such as picking up backpacks and putting them in boxes, or collecting rocks. Currently, the robot can only perform these tasks when controlled by a human, but Arm hopes future improvements will allow the dog to autonomously manipulate objects with its paws.
genus mouse pseudosyndrome It is one of the few terrestrial placental mammals to have established itself in Australia without human intervention.
The delicate rat of the Pilbara (Pseudomys pyruvalensis). Image credit: Ian Boole.
of Native little mouse (Pseudomys delicaturus)The mouse, also known as the delicate mouse, was previously thought to be a single species that spread across a vast country, from the Pilbara in Western Australia, across parts of the Northern Territory, through Queensland to the New South Wales border. It was getting worse.
“Thanks to new genetic technology, we now identify not one but three species of these delicate mice.”
“Identifying undescribed species and giving them official names will go a long way in ensuring they are properly managed.”
“Although it may be difficult for amateurs to tell the species apart, this discovery is important for the future of this small mouse.”
“The two new species did not receive conservation or research attention because we did not know they were there.”
“For example, we don't know whether population declines were not detected as a result of all three species being assessed as a single unit.”
“This delicate rat was not a priority for conservation, but that's because the distribution of the rat was thought to be three times larger than it actually is. That would allow for a reassessment.”
“Sensitive mice differ from the mice you encounter in your home or backyard in several important ways.”
“Mus musculus, black rats and brown rats are non-native species that have been introduced to Australia since European colonization.”
“Evolutionarily and ecologically, they are very different from native rodents. They compete with our native species for resources.”
“Delicate mice are part of a group of native rodents that have evolved in Australia over the past five million years. They are an important part of Australia's natural environment and ecosystem.”
“The delicate mouse is Australia's smallest rodent. Weighing only 6 grams, it's really small.”
Researchers also discovered that the delicate mice were able to adapt well to their environment, whether it was an arid desert or a forest.
“These three species will now be referred to by common names that reflect their habitat: Western or Pilbara delicate mouse, Eastern delicate mouse and Northern delicate mouse,” they said. Stated.
The history of water on Mars is an interesting mystery not only to planetary scientists but also to the general public. The Red Planet currently has water in the form of ice at its poles, trace amounts of gas in its atmosphere, and an unknown amount of groundwater below the surface bound to minerals and ice. However, there is strong evidence that ancient Mars may have had long-lived streams, rivers, and lakes. There is still much to learn about what Mars was like and how it has changed over time. One approach is to examine water inventories at different points in time. This time, NASA's Perseverance spacecraft discovered hydrated magnesium sulfate (similar to Epsom salts) and dehydrated magnesium sulfate (similar to Epsom salts) formed by water flowing through cracks in the volcanic rock at the floor of the 3.8 billion-year-old Jezero Crater. Discovered calcium sulfate. These hydrated minerals trap water inside and record the history of when and how they were formed. Returning samples of these minerals to Earth will allow researchers to examine Mars' water and climate history, and perhaps evidence of ancient life, using the most sensitive instruments possible.
Jezero Crater on Mars. Image credit: NASA/Tim Goudge.
Planetary scientists believe that Mars may once have had long-lived rivers, lakes, and streams.
Currently, water on Mars exists in polar ice and is trapped beneath the planet's surface.
In a new study, Dr. Andy Zaja and his colleagues at the University of Cincinnati show that the hydrothermal system based on hydrated magnesium sulfate that the rover identified in volcanic rocks may have existed on this planet. revealed.
“When these rocks cool and break down, they become habitable for life,” Dr Chaya said.
“We have yet to find conclusive evidence of life in these deposits. But if fossil microbes were trapped within the rocks, they would be too small to be seen by spacecraft. ”
“These hydrated minerals trap water inside and record the history of how and when they formed.”
“Bringing samples of these minerals back to Earth will allow researchers to examine Mars' water and climate history, and possibly evidence of ancient life, using the most sensitive instruments possible.”
Perseverance began a systematic exploration from the bottom of the crater to the front of a delta formed by ancient rivers and drainage channels. There he encountered sedimentary rocks containing trapped minerals and another avenue for evidence of ancient life.
And last year, the rover reached the rim of the crater, once a huge lake, and is investigating deposits of magnesium carbonate, which can be formed geologically or biologically from bacteria.
“The decision to send Perseverance to Jezero Crater appears to be paying off,” Dr. Zaja said.
“There were other places I could have gone that could have been just as good.”
“We won't know until we investigate everything. But there was a good reason why Jezero was chosen, and it was completely justified.”
Next, the rover will leave Jezero Crater and explore a larger area.
“We are likely to find rocks that are more than 4 billion years old,” Dr. Zaya said.
“And Mars may have stromatolites and rocks that contain evidence of ancient layered bacterial mats that are visible to the naked eye.”
“On Earth, these rocks can be found in extreme environments such as geyser basins.”
“We hope Perseverance whets our appetite for further exploration of Mars.”
“And once we bring the samples back, we'll be able to study Mars for years to come with instruments that haven't been invented yet, looking for evidence of ancient life.”
of result ” Published in the January 2024 issue. Geophysical Research Journal: Planets.
_____
Sandra Siljestrom other. Evidence of alteration of sulfate-rich fluids at the floor of Jezero Crater on Mars. JGR: Planet 129 (1): e2023JE007989; doi: 10.1029/2023JE00798
In a new study, astronomers from Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology examined the coupled distribution of spin and orbital orbits of exoplanets in binary and triple star systems.
An artist's impression of a giant exoplanet and its two parent stars. Image credit: Sci.News.
An important subset of all known exoplanet systems include host stars with one or more bound stellar companions.
These multistar systems can span a vast range of relative configurations and provide rich insights into the processes by which stars and planets form.
“We showed for the first time that a system where everything is coordinated stacks up unexpectedly,” he said. Dr. Malena Ricean astronomer at Yale University.
“The planet orbits in exactly the same direction as the first star rotates, and the second star orbits its system in the same plane as the planet.”
Dr. Rice and his colleagues used a variety of sources, including the Gaia DR3 catalog of high-precision stellar astronomical measurements, the planetary system composite parameter table from the NASA Exoplanet Archive, and the TEPCat catalog of spin-orbit angle measurements of exoplanets. to create a 3D geometric shape. Number of planets in a binary star system.
Astronomers found that nine of the 40 star systems they studied were in “perfect” locations.
“This could indicate that planetary systems prefer to move toward ordered configurations,” Rice said.
“This is also good news for life forming in these systems.”
“A star's companion star with a different alignment can wreak havoc on a planetary system, overturning the planet or flash-heating the planet over time.”
“And what would the world look like on a warmer Tatooine?”
“During some seasons of the year, there would be continuous daylight, and one star would illuminate one side of the Earth, and another star would illuminate the other side.”
“But that sun's light isn't always scorching, because one of the stars is farther away.”
“At other times of the year, both stars will illuminate the same side of the Earth, and one star will appear much larger than the other.”
A robotic spacecraft made history Thursday by becoming the first civilian spacecraft to land on the moon and the first U.S. vehicle to accomplish the feat in more than 50 years.
The lander, built by Intuitive Machines, touched down on the moon around 6:23 p.m. ET after overcoming a late-stage malfunction with its onboard laser equipment. The Nova-C lander, nicknamed Odysseus, was the first American spacecraft to reach the moon’s surface since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
“Houston, Odysseus has found a new home,” Tim Crane, the company’s chief technology officer, radioed back from the control room as employees cheered and celebrated.
It took several minutes to confirm the landing. As expected, mission controllers lost contact with the spacecraft as it made its final descent.
The company said it was able to detect a weak signal from one of Odysseus’ antennas, but needed more data to determine how the spacecraft landed and in what conditions. About two hours later, the team received good news.
“After troubleshooting communications, flight controllers confirmed that Odysseus was upright and beginning to transmit data,” Intuitive Machines said. mentioned in the X update. “Currently, we are working on downlinking the first images from the lunar surface.”
Intuitive Machines CEO Stephen Altemus called the landing an “outstanding effort” and praised the entire team. “I know this was a blow, but we’re on the ground and communicating. Welcome to the moon,” Artemus said.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson also congratulated Intuitive Machines on their landing, calling the milestone a “victory.”
“Odysseus took the moon,” Nelson said in a video message played during a live broadcast of the event. “This feat is a huge step forward for all humanity.”
Odysseus was launched into space on February 15th aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The 14-foot-tall lander then traveled more than 620,000 miles over six days to reach the moon.
The landing time was adjusted several times on Thursday as Intuitive Machines adjusted the spacecraft’s orbit around the moon.
When Odysseus descended to the moon’s surface, he targeted a landing site near a crater called Malapart A, near the moon’s south pole. The moon’s south polar region has long intrigued scientists because water ice is thought to be relatively abundant in the region’s permanently shadowed craters. .
Odysseus travels with a combination of commercial cargo and NASA scientific equipment. The lander is expected to spend about a week collecting data on the lunar surface before lunar night begins and the spacecraft powers down.
About an hour before landing, the company also scrambled to resolve a problem with its laser equipment, which is designed to help the rover assess the lunar surface terrain and find a safe, non-hazardous landing site. . Odysseus’s laser rangefinder was inoperable, but a sensor from NASA’s scientific instruments aboard the lander was reused.
The mission is part of the Commercial Lunar Landing Services Program, established by NASA to help private companies develop lunar landers. NASA will eventually hire these companies to transport cargo and scientific equipment to the moon’s surface as part of the agency’s broader ambitions to return astronauts to the moon.
NASA awarded Intuitive Machines $118 million to perform the moon landing.
Last month, another company tried unsuccessfully to send a lander to the moon under the same NASA program. The spacecraft, built by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology, suffered a catastrophic failure shortly after launch, forcing the company to abort the entire mission.
In addition to being the first commercial spacecraft on the moon, Odysseus also joined an elite club. To date, only the space agencies of the United States, the former Soviet Union, China, India, and Japan have successfully made a controlled or “soft landing” on the moon. Moon.
Photo taken by the Odysseus spacecraft in lunar orbit
intuitive machine
Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lander has landed on the moon. This is the first time a private company has landed a spacecraft on the moon, a welcome success after a string of recent high-profile landing failures by other companies.
The Odysseus spacecraft launched on a Falcon 9 rocket on February 14 for the flight, called the IM-1 mission. It entered lunar orbit on February 21st and landed near the moon's south pole on February 22nd.
Live footage from air traffic controllers became tense as the scheduled landing time passed without any contact from the lander. Finally, minutes after Odysseus was scheduled to land, Tim Crane, mission director in Intuitive Machines' mission control room, said, “We're receiving a signal. It's faint, but it's definitely there.'' “I'm doing it.”
The signal indicated that the spacecraft had landed on the moon, but the state of the spacecraft is still unknown. However, the landing was successful. “We know this has been a pain, but we're on the surface,” said Stephen Altemus, CEO of Intuitive Machines. “Welcome to the moon”
Before this landing, three other companies attempted to send landers to the moon. SpaceIL's Beresheet spacecraft was launched in 2019, and ispace's Hakuto-R mission was launched in 2022, but both crash-landed and were destroyed.
Astrobotic's Peregrine lander didn't even get very far after launching in January. A fuel leak forced the operators to return to Earth to burn up in the atmosphere. The success of the IM-1 has brought Intuitive Machines into an elite club. To date, only the national space agencies of the Soviet Union, the United States, China, India, and Japan have successfully landed on the moon.
Now that we have landed safely, we can begin the second part of the IM-1 mission. Odysseus carried six NASA payloads and six commercial payloads to the Moon. Some of these already serve that purpose, such as landing aids and cameras to take pictures of the landing. Some people have succeeded simply by reaching the moon. Perhaps most notable is artist Jeff Koons' collection of his 125 small sculptures. Other instruments are also now beginning their missions, including instruments that will measure how the moon's surrounding environment affects its surface.
The IM-1 mission is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, through which government contracts are awarded to private companies to build spaceflight capabilities through public-private partnerships. Three more moon landings are planned through CLPS in 2024, including an Intuitive Machines mission to harvest water ice from the moon's south pole.
What does this mean? McCann distills the answer into her 46-word sentence, which gains more meaning with each dozen readings. Or it doesn't make much sense.
The sentence is as follows: “Such a relationship is speculated to be based on a hypothesized but poorly understood genetic link between handedness, personality, and political beliefs and attitudes; genetic predisposition The effect of left-handedness in the population may have a much larger impact on the correlation. blatant left handed level. ”
Feedback points out that these 46 words, and the paper as a whole, leave a lot to the imagination.
in lonely splendor
A person's individuality shines more when they are alone than when they are with friends.
In particular, researchers from the University of Melbourne in Australia and the University of Edinburgh in the UK say that “vocalization is rare when other sheep are present, suggesting that this behavior is a response to loneliness.”
when nothing is good
James Hodges writes: “In response to your segment about doctors waiting for patients to recover on their own, it's completely part of our job.
“I'm a pediatrician. We take doing nothing very seriously. “Cat-like observation and admirable inactivity” are firmly believed in our world. It's a belief. We often admit patients with viral illnesses for which there is no cure. We watch, we support, and the child gets better.
“There are certainly times when doing nothing is the best treatment. If you have a child who is quite unwell and unstable, getting excited will make the condition worse. We often use the 'minimum response' approach.” This is a categorical way of telling your child to leave you alone. If possible, let your child sleep with your parents so they don't bother you too much. Never force the needle or medicine into it. Experienced pediatric nurses are very good at this (it's truly an art of medicine).
“This is not just children who are acutely unwell. Babies with colic (most of the time) do not become adolescents with colic. There are countless childhood diseases that we do not treat. Depurative purpura is a great example. There are a lot of places where we're treating it, but there's pretty little evidence that it's changing anything.
“Children's physiology is really amazing, and I often feel like a passenger, watching them fix themselves, sometimes providing reassurance and distraction. It's such a great job. .”
(Feedback indicates that, with this letter being an exception, nearly all answers we receive on this question are from retired physicians.)
fresh as an onion
Dimple Devi and her colleagues have devised a way to use onions to extend the freshness of milk.
When used in this way, researchers say onions have almost endless benefits. “Addition of onion peel extract to biopolymers decreased water content, water solubility, swelling index, and transparency, and significantly increased antioxidant activity and total phenolic content.'' Utilized agricultural/food processing waste that is generated in large quantities.”
The report does not address the question of how consumers would react to the idea that milk is protected despite not being flavored. – onion.
keep carrying it
As Ken Taylor peruses the ever-growing list of trivial superpowers in his feedback, he asks questions about his abilities. As a teenager, I delivered milk and could manage 6 full pint milk bottles and 10 empty milk bottles. As an adult, I was able to impress my friends by carrying four pints of beer (beer without a handle) with my fingers spread wide and wrapped around the rim. It looks pretty cool as long as you don't drop it. Does this count as a superpower? It's your phone. ”
Ken's calm tenacity as he carries the container embodies the Carry On tradition.
Mark Abrahams hosted the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founded the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Previously, he was working on unusual uses of computers.his website is impossible.com.
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Micrograph of a cross-section of a mouse brain highlighting neural pathways (green)
Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute/Scientific Photo Library
By analyzing a mouse’s brain activity, scientists can tell where the animal is and the exact direction the mouse is looking. With further research, the findings could one day help robots navigate autonomously.
The mammalian brain uses two main types of neurons for navigation. “Head direction cells” indicate where the animal is facing, and “grid cells” help provide her two-dimensional brain map of where the animal is located.
To learn more about the firing of these neurons, Vasilios Marlas and colleagues at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, worked with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory to analyze data from previous studies.
In this experiment, probes were inserted into the brains of several mice. They then combined data about their neural firing patterns with video footage showing their position and head position as they moved around their open environment.
Because of this, Marlas and his colleagues developed an artificial intelligence algorithm that can figure out where the mouse is looking and where it is.
In practice, it’s similar to the drop pins and directional arrows on your smartphone’s map app, except instead of connecting to GPS satellites, scientists analyze the subjects’ brain activity.
“This method eliminates the reliance on updating GPS coordinates based on preloaded maps, satellite data, etc.,” Marulas says. “In a sense, the algorithm ‘thinks’ and perceives space in the same way as a mammalian brain.”
AI could eventually allow intelligent systems to move autonomously, he says. “In other words, we are taking advantage of the way the mammalian brain processes data and incorporating it into the architecture of our algorithms.”
Adam Hines Researchers from Australia’s Queensland University of Technology say the smartphone app analogy is helpful. “The location information (drop pin) and the direction (blue arrow) match, and during navigation, as he moves, the two pieces of information are constantly updated. Grid cells are like GPS, heading cells are It’s like a compass.”
Some AIs may be able to hack websites without human assistance
Ole.CNX/Shutterstock
Researchers have discovered that OpenAI’s artificial intelligence model GPT-4 has the ability to hack websites and steal information from online databases without any human assistance. This suggests that individuals and organizations without hacking expertise could unleash AI agents to carry out cyberattacks.
“You literally don’t have to understand anything; you just let the agent hack your website on its own,” he says. Daniel Kang At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “We believe this will significantly reduce the required expertise…
Planting forests helps reduce further global warming by absorbing some of the carbon dioxide we emit into the atmosphere. But the global climate benefit could be about 15 to 30 percent smaller than previously estimated, due to other influences such as sunlight absorption by trees.
“We're not saying don't plant trees,” he says. james webber at the University of Sheffield, UK. It's just that the climate benefits aren't as big as we thought, he says.
The impact of trees will depend in part on what other actions are taken to address climate change. Weber and his colleagues showed that the more forests are planted, the greater the benefits. “It’s more positive and efficient to do other things at the same time,” he says.
It has long been known that plants have both warming and cooling effects. In particular, dark foliage can have a warming effect by absorbing light that would otherwise be reflected into the space. This effect is strongest when trees are replaced by snow or ice, but can occur in other situations as well.
Plants also release volatile organic compounds into the air. “Those are the chemicals that create the smell of the forest,” team members say james king also at the University of Sheffield.
These biogenic compounds can affect the climate in a variety of ways. One important example is that it can react with chemicals in the atmosphere that react with methane. “So the methane stays around longer, and methane is a powerful greenhouse gas,” Weber said.
Compounds emitted by plants can also react with nitrogen oxides to form ozone, another greenhouse gas.
These effects will lead to further warming. However, compounds of biological origin can also form aerosol particles that reflect sunlight and have a cooling effect.
To understand the overall climate impact of afforestation, the researchers incorporated these and other processes into a climate model in which all available land is forested. This means, for example, trees that are located in areas that are currently grasslands, but not in farmland or urban areas.
“To our knowledge, this is the first time this has been done on a global scale and based on a plausible reforestation scenario,” King said.
The researchers modeled two scenarios. For one, little is being done to tackle climate change other than planting trees. In this case, the warming avoided by CO2-absorbing forests is reduced by 23 to 31 percent, once other forest impacts are taken into account.
In the second, more optimistic scenario, strong action is taken to limit further warming. In this case, avoided warming was reduced by 14 to 18 percent.
One reason for the difference is that reducing fossil fuel emissions reduces aerosols from air pollution. In a polluted world, adding more aerosols from forests won't make much of a difference, but in a cleaner world, the cooling effect will be greater.
The team acknowledges that the model is still incomplete and does not include all feedback effects. For example, it includes the greenhouse effect of ozone, but not its effects on vegetation. High levels of ozone can kill trees, meaning less CO2 is removed from the atmosphere. The model also does not include the effects of wildfires.
“It's very complicated,” King says. “It's not really possible to consider all feedback in one study.”
“Importantly, this study shows that preventing deforestation is a much more efficient way to mitigate climate change compared to reforestation, and therefore should be prioritized. It’s a necessity,” he says. Stephanie Law Climate Scientist at WWF in Washington, DC.
Another feedback missing from the model is the cooling effect of water evaporating from leaves, which can be greater in tropical regions, Roe says. So the climate benefits of tree planting may be overestimated, she says, but the study doesn't yet tell the full story.
Additionally, tree planting has many other benefits for humans and wildlife, including reducing erosion, maintaining water supply and quality, providing food and jobs, and reducing extreme heat in the region. “Afforestation, especially reforestation in forest biomes with native species, is absolutely worth pursuing,” says Lo.
“We've always known that forests have a warming effect under certain conditions and a cooling effect under others. What this study shows is that forests have an overwhelming net The effect is a cooling effect.” thomas crouser in ETH Zurich Swiss.
“But most importantly, even if the effects of cooling were not as great, we still need to conserve our natural forests to support the planet's biodiversity and the billions of people who depend on it.” “There is,” he says.
Chemical reactions in volcanic pools may have contributed to the birth of life on Earth
Michael S. Nolan/Alamy
One of the most important molecules in living organisms is synthesized from scratch under everyday conditions. The discovery suggests that this chemical formed naturally early in Earth's history and may have played a role in the origin of life.
The substance in question is called pantetheine. It is not a well-known name at the DNA or protein level. However, pantetheine is an important component of a larger molecule called pantetheine. acetyl coenzyme A, A “cofactor” that helps enzymes work.
“Coenzyme A is present in every organism ever sequenced,” he says. Matthew Powner At University College London.
Powner has spent most of his career discovering ways to make biomolecules from simple chemicals in a way that can occur naturally. Over the past decade, he has shown that: aminonitrile can be used to make nucleotide – the building blocks of DNA – and peptide, Short version of protein.
His team has now shown that aminonitrile can be used to make pantetheine in a series of reactions starting with simple chemicals like formaldehyde. This was done in water, often at such dilute concentrations that the reaction mixture appeared like clear water. The team sometimes used heat to speed up their work, but otherwise did not need to intervene once the reaction started.
“We just put everything in one pot. We literally just throw everything in, we don't change anything, we don't do anything, and we have a 60% yield of product,” Powner says.
Acetyl coenzyme A is involved in the synthesis of several biologically important chemicals. Some of the oldest microbial groups use processes involving microorganisms to obtain carbon from the environment.
Importantly, pantetheine is the active portion of the acetyl-coenzyme A molecule. No more than one bit is “essential to its functionality,” Powner says.
“Obtaining key organic biological cofactors from scratch,” he says, is impressive, “not to mention one of such centrally important ones.” Zachary Adam from the University of Wisconsin-Madison was not involved in the study.
For Adam, the importance of this research extends beyond pantetheine and acetyl coenzyme A. “They report this particular part of the cofactor, but intermediates have been shown to be important as well,” he says. Other chemicals produced in the process have been shown to aid in the production of other biomolecules. “They're building a network of compounds.”
Many ideas about the origin of life have assumed that a small set of biomolecules formed long before other molecules. For example, the “RNA world” hypothesis states that first life was made solely of RNA, and other chemicals such as proteins and lipids were added after RNA was able to make them. .
Powner is one of several researchers pushing for an alternative scenario in which many important molecules form early and interact from the beginning. “These products can all be products of the same chemical reaction,” he says. Rather than starting with just RNA, or just peptides, “it might be easier to make them all together, so the chemical reactions they perform are integrated from the original state.”
Even if it's sweet, it's over
Most people die when they get old.
Roughly speaking, that short sentence can summarize the Dutch/Danish/British study called “.Coffee and tea sugar use and long-term mortality risk in older Danish adult men: 32 years of follow-up in a prospective cohort study”.
The study states: “A total of 2,923 men (mean age at participation: 63±5 years) were included, of whom 1,007 (34.5%) had added sugars. Over 32 years of follow-up, 2581 participants ( 88.3%) died, 1677 (87.5%) in the non-sugar group and 904 (89.9%) in the sugar group.
The nifty and parsimonious summary of the feedback is reminiscent of Yoshiro Nakamatsu's speech at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. (Nakamatsu, also known as Dr. Nakamatsu, won the Ig Nobel Prize in Nutrition in 2005 for photographing and retrospectively analyzing every meal he consumed over a 34-year period; (This will continue into 2024.) Mr. Nakamatsu said: Speeches should be short. ”
shocking news
Practicing mindfulness allows you to focus on one thing at a time. A 10-year-old study called “The Role of Mindfulness-Based Psychological Support in the Process of ECT'' has been attracting attention and feedback has continued.
ECT is an acronym for electroconvulsive therapy. This study was one of the most successful attempts, and perhaps the only one, to intentionally combine mindfulness with this therapy.
The researchers reported that after receiving the electric shock, the patients “remained cognitively functional enough to participate in simple mindfulness-based psychotherapy, with no evidence of difficulty recalling new information.” are doing.
They (researchers), then at the Mid-Central District Health Board in Palmerston North, New Zealand, came to a multisyllabic conclusion.
They write: “This study confirms the benefits of Ultrabrief Pulsed ECT in reducing adverse cognitive effects…but also proves that psychological interventions and physical treatments are not mutually exclusive.”
take care of the dishes
Just one year later, American researchers published a study called “.Washing dishes to wash dishes: Brief instruction in informal mindfulness practices.”. They had a goal in mind. “We found that compared to a control condition, participants who received mindful dishwashing instruction reported higher levels of mindfulness, perceived attention, and positive We hypothesized that it would show emotion,” they wrote.
They tested their hypothesis on 51 college students and reported that the test was successful. Their study ended with the big-picture recognition that “the implications of these findings are wide-ranging.”
Be mindful of mindfulness
You can also become aware of mindfulness. Three researchers (two at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland and one at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia) took a close look at the large body of research published on mindfulness and found out what they thought they saw. Published research. Their research isExploring the past, present, and future of the field of mindfulness: A multi-technique bibliographic review” and are more or less dissatisfied that many people are not paying attention to these studies.
The researchers explain why so few people are paying attention to mindfulness research: “Low citation rates may simply indicate that the document pertains to a narrow field of research. Therefore, it should not be misinterpreted as evidence of poor quality.”
resistance to antibiotics
David Gordon added his non-normative perspective to the collection of professional opinions on feedback on whether “medicine equals entertaining the patient while nature influences healing” .
“Every intervention comes with potential side effects, so it makes sense to avoid unnecessary interventions. As a retired family physician, I try to control the fear caused by symptoms and treat self-limiting and primarily viral infections.” By explaining the natural history of acute respiratory tract infections, we have significantly reduced antibiotic prescriptions, especially for mothers with young children.
“These principles can sensibly be applied to other medical scenarios. Unfortunately, this is not good for business, nor for doctors, nor for the pharmaceutical companies who unavoidably act as proxies.” The number of “re-examinations” to deal with undiagnosed anxiety is decreasing. More importantly, in the long run, patients are denied the belief that all illnesses require a prescription. ”
loss of power
Superpowers are not all permanent, even the little things readers add to their feedback summaries. Grainne Collins reveals: “I had a superpower: I could look at any list or table of numbers and immediately see that there was a mistake.” It might take him 10 minutes to figure out what was wrong. But I was always right. Unfortunately, since my dyslexia has been cured (I can now tell the difference between “shape'' and “kara'' without studying), my superpower has also been cured! ”
Mark Abrahams hosted the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founded the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Previously, he was working on unusual uses of computers.his website is impossible.com.
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Crohn’s disease can cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, and weight loss
Jacob Wackerhausen/iStockphoto/Getty Images/www.peopleimages.com
A one-year study of 386 people found that receiving advanced treatment soon after diagnosis of Crohn’s disease improves outcomes for patients.
This disease is a lifelong inflammatory bowel disease; impact millions of peopleIn the world. Symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, fatigue, and weight loss.
“These symptoms have a huge impact on people’s quality of life, education, relationships, and ability to work,” he says. Miles Parks at Cambridge University. “While there is no cure, there are ways to reduce some of these negative outcomes.”
Treatment often includes dietary changes, immunosuppressants, and steroids. In the UK, a drug called infliximab (an antibody that targets a specific protein in the body that is thought to contribute to intestinal inflammation) is given to people who regularly experience flare-ups of Crohn’s disease, or other mild symptoms. It can be prescribed to people who are not responding to. Treatment.
“This is a ‘step-up’ approach where treatment is progressively escalated in a reactive manner as the disease returns,” he says. Nurlaminnuralso at the University of Cambridge.
To see what happens if this more powerful treatment is used as early as possible, Parkes and Noor et al. studied 386 newly diagnosed Crohn’s disease patients aged 16 to 80 in the UK. Recruited people.
They were divided into two groups. One patient received infliximab immediately regardless of symptoms, and the other was treated with other Crohn’s disease drugs. If symptoms persist or continue to worsen, participants in the second group will also be prescribed infliximab, in line with a “step-up” approach.
After one year, 80 percent of patients who initially received infliximab had their symptoms under control over time, compared with only 15 percent of those who did not receive treatment immediately.
Additionally, only 0.5% of people in the group who received infliximab immediately required abdominal surgery for Crohn’s disease, compared to 4.5% in the second group.
The results of this study suggest that giving patients with Crohn’s disease intensive treatment as soon as they are diagnosed may be more effective in improving their lives, Dr. Noor said.
Parks said the extra money spent on medication would be balanced out by not having to pay for subsequent scans, colonoscopies and surgeries for people with repeated relapses.
“People with Crohn’s disease don’t want to be hospitalized or undergo surgery. They want to go out into the outside world and live their lives. Anything that speeds the path to remission. It can only be a good thing,” says Ruth Wakeman of the charity Crohn’s & Colitis UK.
Intuitive Machines is preparing to create history as the first private company to land on the moon following last week’s launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Nova-C lander named Odysseus (affectionately nicknamed “Odie”) is scheduled to touch down at 5:30pm ET (10:30pm GMT) and everything is proceeding as planned. This will be the first instance of an American-led mission reaching the moon since the end of the Apollo program over 50 years ago.
The mission is part of NASA’s Artemis Commercial Lunar Payload Service (CLPS) initiative, aiming to return humans to the moon by the end of this decade, led by a private company.
Since NASA’s Apollo 11 landed in 1969, several countries including the former Soviet Union, China, India, and Japan have successfully placed equipment on the moon.
Today’s “space race” is different not only because more countries are involved but also due to the private sector having a central role on the forefront. It is now possible for an individual or company with sufficient funds to place something on the moon.
The mission includes all of NASA’s key experiments, with a total of six experiments collecting data critical to NASA’s crewed Artemis missions later this decade. This leaves room for additional unique additions.
1. Puffer jacket
Columbia Sportswear has developed a lining for the Omni-Heat Infinity Jacket, designed to keep explorers warm in harsh environments, to be used on the Odie during the mission to protect the lander’s equipment from extreme temperatures.
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
2. Photos for the gram
Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus challenged students back in 2019 to capture photos of the landing from a third-person perspective, leading to the creation of the EagleCam which is poised to capture snapshots of the lunar landing.
The EagleCam is the first third-person photo camera for a landing and also serves as the first moon landing project built by a college student, it also uses WiFi on the moon.
3. Miniature satellite
Renowned American artist Jeff Koons has created 125 stainless steel sculptures depicting the moon as seen from Earth, along with an array of scientific equipment to be placed on the moon.
4. (Almost) All Human Knowledge
The Arch Mission Foundation is sending a permanent archive of human information along with the lander, ensuring that human knowledge is safely stored for posterity.
According to Intuitive Machines, the repository includes archives like the Rosetta Project, Long Now Foundation content, Project Gutenberg content, and other cultural archive datasets, and an English version of Wikipedia.
5. A very stylish file cabinet
Lone Star Data Holdings has secured a location for the Independence data center within the IM-1 mission, allowing the safe storage and transmission of documents on the moon.
When can we see the moon landing?
Coverage of the Intuitive Machine’s moon landing can be followed live through NASA’s web services from 4pm ET (9pm GMT). Live videos and comments can be accessed through NASA TV, NASA+ streaming service, or the NASA app.
About our experts
Science writer and journalist Joel Renstrom and computer scientist and author Peter Bentley provided insights for this story.
Being optimistic, believing in your abilities, practicing affirmations, being grateful, and setting clear goals can bring real benefits. But is manifestation pure pseudoscience, or does it mean something? We look at how the WOOP approach can actively support you on your journey towards realizing your dreams. I’ll go.
volcanic eruption
After three years of violent eruptions, experts now believe that Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula has entered a new phase of volcanic activity.
counterintuitive universe
The world is not what it seems. This special feature explores how science has exposed fallacies and false beliefs about heaven and earth throughout history.
planet nine
Something strange is happening beyond Neptune, and it may change everything we think we know about our solar system. Could orbital oddities reveal the existence of undiscovered planets near our heavens? Or is it something else?
plus
CES 2024’s biggest innovations: Every year, Las Vegas hosts the Consumer Electronics Show, where technology manufacturers from around the world gather to unveil their latest developments. From transparent technology to domestic robots and the latest cooking appliances, technology expert Alex Hughes shares some of the highlights.
Pothole: There are 750,000 potholes in Britain’s roads, creating a crater-like structure. These can cause serious damage to vehicles and pose a danger to drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. But with bacteria and self-healing asphalt, it could be smooth again.
First moon base: Head to the moon’s south pole to peer inside what may be the first human habitation on the moon. Initially he planned to house 144 people, but the modular design of the Lunar Habitat Master Plan will expand and evolve with the inhabitants.
don’t forget that BBC Science Focus Also available on all major digital platforms. There is a version of android, Kindle Fire and Kindle e-readers, but also, iOS app For iPad and iPhone.
The black hole in the newly discovered quasar SMSS J052915.80-435152.0 (J0529-4351) accretes about 1 solar mass per day on top of its existing mass of 17 billion solar masses.
This image of the exceptional quasar J0529-4351 is from the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey DR10. Adjacent M stars are displayed in red.Image credit: Wolf other., doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02195-x.
In 1963, Dutch-born American astronomer Maarten Schmidt identified the first quasar, known as 3C 273. It appeared as a very bright star of magnitude 12, and its redshift suggested that it was one of the most distant objects known in the universe. time.
These two facts suggest an incredibly huge light output, and ever since, newly discovered quasars have impressed with their ability to emit enormous amounts of energy from small regions of the universe. Ta.
This can only be explained by the conversion of gravitational energy into heat and light in a highly viscous accretion disk around a supermassive black hole.
Currently, about 1 million quasars are known, but a few specimens stand out. In 2015, ultraluminous quasar J0100+2802 was confirmed to be a supermassive black hole with 10 billion solar masses.
In 2018, an even brighter object, J2157-3602, was discovered, which contains a supermassive black hole with a mass of 24 billion solar masses.
Its brightness suggests rapid growth, but its existence is difficult to explain. When black holes start from the debris of a star's collapse and grow temporarily, they are not expected to reach appreciable mass in the time between the Big Bang and the black hole era. observation.
The quasar that broke the new record is so far from Earth that it took more than 12 billion years for its light to reach us.
The object, called J0529-4351, was first detected using the 2.3 meter telescope at the ANU Siding Spring Observatory.
Australian National University astronomer Christian Wolff and colleagues then turned to ESO's Very Large Telescope, one of the world's largest telescopes, to confirm the full nature of the black hole and measure its mass. Toward.
“We have discovered the fastest growing black hole ever known. It has a mass of 17 billion suns and eats just over one sun a day. This makes it the fastest growing black hole in the known universe. It will be a bright object,” Dr. Wolf said.
The material drawn into this black hole in the form of a disk emits so much energy that J0529-4351 is more than 500 trillion times brighter than the Sun.
“All this light comes from a hot accretion disk seven light-years in diameter, which must be the largest accretion disk in the universe,” said Dr. Student Samuel Lai.
“Given what we know about many other less impressive black holes, it's surprising that it hasn't been detected before. It was hiding in plain sight,” says the Australian National said Dr. Christopher Onken of the university.
This finding is reported in the following article: paper in diary natural astronomy.
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C.Wolf other. Accretion of solar masses per day by a 17 billion solar mass black hole. Nat Astron, published online on February 19, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02195-x
Despite intensive efforts to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD), substantial residual CVD risk remains, even in people who receive all guideline-recommended interventions. Niacin (vitamin B3) is an essential micronutrient fortified in staple foods, but its role in CVD is poorly understood. Excessive amounts of niacin's breakdown products may be associated with an increased risk of death, heart attack, and stroke, according to a new study.
Niacin is an essential micronutrient that is fortified in staple foods beyond dietary requirements. Image credit: Ferrell other., doi: 10.1038/s41591-023-02793-8.
Although CVD is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, only a portion of the attributable risk is explained by established risk factors.
Despite significant advances in treatment, the risk of residual cardiovascular disease remains high, and it has been suggested that additional, as yet unrecognized factors contribute to cardiovascular disease.
Research has previously shown that niacin (vitamin B3) reduces levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
However, this vitamin does not seem to have the expected effect in reducing CVD risk, the so-called “niacin paradox”.
“Our study shows that niacin breakdown products can promote vascular inflammation, providing a potential explanation for this discrepancy,” said Cleveland Clinic researcher Stanley Hazen, Ph.D. said.
In the study, the authors analyzed plasma samples from 4,325 people in three patient cohorts, including men and women from the United States and Europe.
They found that two breakdown products of niacin, the metabolites N1-methyl-2-pyridone-5-carboxamide (2PY) and N1-methyl-4-pyridone-3-carboxamide (4PY), are associated with increased CVD risk. I discovered that
In subsequent human genetic studies and mouse studies, the research team found that this increased risk is due to these breakdown products increasing the abundance of the pro-inflammatory protein VCAM-1 within the endothelial cells lining the blood. showed that it may be mediated by the ability of one of the (4PY). ship.
“Further studies are needed in large-scale studies to investigate the association between niacin and its degradation products and CVD,” the researchers said.
their findings It was published in the magazine natural medicine.
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M. Ferrell other. 2024. End metabolites of niacin promote vascular inflammation and contribute to cardiovascular disease risk. Nat Med 30, 424-434; doi: 10.1038/s41591-023-02793-8
Yellow-bellied shrike (Prionops alberti). Image credit: University of Texas at El Paso.
First described in 1933, the shrike is a member of the bird family. Bangidae.
Also known as the King Albert Shrike, this bird is distinguished by its black plumage and bright yellow crown.
This species is endemic to the mountains of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“The yellow shrike is endemic to the western slopes of the Albertine Rift in Central Africa, an area that has been largely inaccessible due to war and security issues, but has recently become safe to visit. '' said Dr. Michael Harvey.ornithologist University of Texas El Paso.
Dr. Harvey and his colleagues made the discovery during a six-week expedition to the Itombwe Massif, a mountain range in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“It was a shocking experience to encounter these birds,” Dr Harvey said.
“I knew they might be possible here, but I wasn't prepared for how grand and unique it would be.”
The ornithologists walked more than 121 kilometers (75 miles) deep into the Itumbwe massif, studying birds, amphibians and reptiles along the way.
While exploring the cloud forest on the side of a mountain, they encountered a striking black bird with a bright yellow “helmet”, the long-eared shrike.
“These birds appeared to be a fairly noisy and active flock in the mid-levels of the forest,” they said.
A total of about 18 birds were spotted at three locations during the expedition.
“This gives us hope that perhaps this species still maintains a reasonably healthy population in the remote forests of this region,” Dr Harvey said.
“However, mining, logging, and deforestation for agriculture are encroaching deep into the forests of the Itombwe Mountains.”
“We are in discussions with other researchers and conservation groups about further efforts to protect forests and shrike in this region.”
“Now is a great time to protect these tropical forests so species like the long-eared shrike are not lost before they are known and studied.”
The lamprey and human hindbrains are built using very similar molecular and genetic toolkits, according to a new study led by the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.
These images show an adult lamprey (top and left) and a developing lamprey embryo. Image credit: Stowers Medical Research Institute.
“Our research on the hindbrain (the part of the brain that controls important functions such as blood pressure and heart rate) is essentially a window into the distant past and can serve as a model for understanding the evolution of complexity. “, said Dr. Hugo Parker. Researcher at Stowers Medical Research Institute.
Like other vertebrates, sea lampreys have a backbone and skeleton, but they noticeably lack a jaw, a characteristic feature of the head.
Most vertebrates, including humans, have jaws, so this striking difference in sea lampreys makes it a valuable model for understanding the evolution of vertebrate traits.
“About 500 million years ago, at the origin of vertebrates, there was a split between jawless and jawed animals,” said Dr. Alice Bedois, also of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.
“We wanted to know how vertebrate brains evolved and whether there is something unique to jawed vertebrates that jawless vertebrates don't.”
Previous research had identified genes that structure and subdivide the sea lamprey's hindbrain as identical to genes in jawed vertebrates, including humans.
However, these genes are part of an interconnected network or circuit that needs to be initiated and directed to properly build the hindbrain.
In a new study, the authors identify common molecular cues known to direct head-to-tail patterning in a variety of animals as part of a genetic circuit that guides hindbrain patterning in the lamprey. .
“We found that the same genes, as well as the same cues, are involved in hindbrain development in sea lampreys. This suggests that this process is ancestral to all vertebrates. ,” Dr. Bedwa said.
“This signal is called retinoic acid, commonly known as vitamin A.”
Researchers have known that retinoic acid signals the genetic circuits that build the hindbrains of complex species, but they believe it is involved in more primitive animals like sea lampreys. was not considered.
Surprisingly, they discovered that the lamprey's core hindbrain circuit is also initiated by retinoic acid, providing evidence that these sea monsters and humans are much more closely related than expected.
“People thought that because lampreys don't have jaws, their hindbrains don't form like other vertebrates,” says Dr. Rob Krumlauf, a researcher at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.
“We showed that this fundamental part of the brain is built exactly the same way as in mice, and even in humans.”
Signaling molecules that signal cell fate during development are well known.
Now, researchers have discovered that retinoic acid plays another key role in signaling important steps in development, such as the formation of the brainstem.
Furthermore, if hindbrain formation is a conserved feature in all vertebrates, other mechanisms must be involved to explain its incredible diversity.
“We all come from a common ancestor,” Dr. Bedwa said.
“The lamprey provided further clues.”
“We now need to go further back in evolutionary time to discover when the genetic circuits controlling hindbrain formation first evolved.”
of study It was published in the magazine nature communications.
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AMH Bedwa other. 2024. Lamprey reveals the origins of retinoic acid signaling and its coupling to vertebrate hindbrain segments. Nat Commune 15, 1538. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-45911-x
The study looked at men who produced less than 1.5 million sperm per milliliter of semen, which is considered to produce very few or no sperm.
Joshua Resnick/Shutterstock
Relatives of men who have infertility problems may be at increased risk of cancer, and the odds vary widely from family to family.
Research suggests that certain relatives within three generations of such men are more likely to develop a variety of cancers, including cancers that affect the colon, testicles, and uterus. However, the risk varies by family lineage and whether the man is infertile or subfertile.
Joey Ramsay Researchers at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City suspected this might vary from family to family. To find out, they analyzed the sperm counts of 360 men who produced fewer than 1.5 million sperm per milliliter of semen and 426 men who produced no sperm at all. These men were matched in age to more than 5,600 of his others with whom he had at least one biological child. Researchers do not know whether any of the participants were transgender.
Next, they obtained information on cancer diagnoses in the men's first-, second-, and third-degree relatives from Utah's database.
The research team found that relatives of men with low sperm counts within three generations were more likely to develop colon and testicular cancer compared to the general population, and some of those related to men with low sperm counts They discovered there was a high chance of developing sarcoma, Hodgkin said. Lymphoma, cancer of the uterus and thyroid. Both of these groups had much higher rates of bone and joint cancer than the general population.
The researchers then used specially developed software to determine the increased risk of cancer combinations in 34 body regions within different families (both fertile and infertile groups). We have detected a tendency to This resulted in “clustering” that allowed trends within families to be detected.
Two-thirds of male relatives who did not have sperm were at no higher risk of cancer than the general population. However, other families showed a significantly increased risk of various types of cancer, and that risk varied by family lineage, with higher risks for childhood, adolescent, and young adult cancers. There were people too.
Relatives of men with low sperm counts all had an increased risk of at least one type of cancer compared to the general population, but the degree of risk and type of condition varied.
It is unclear why this increased risk occurs, but it may be due to genetic factors or common environmental exposures among relatives. It is hoped that further research will investigate this and lead to tests that identify families at higher risk, Ramsay said.
Archaeologists have discovered traces of an ancient ocher-based multicomponent adhesive in 40,000-year-old stone tools unearthed in Le Moustiers, France.
Photographs, drawings and details of stone tools from Le Moustiers, France. Image credit: D. Greinert / Schmidt other., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adl0822.
“These surprisingly well-preserved tools show technical solutions that are broadly similar to examples of tools made by early modern humans in Africa, but the exact recipes reflect a Neanderthal 'spin.' “This is the manufacture of hand tool grips,” he said. Radu Iovita, researcher at New York University's Center for Human Origins Research.
In the study, Dr. Iovita and colleagues examined stone tools with traces of red and yellow colorants excavated from the French ruins of Le Moustiers, discovered in the early 20th century.
These stone tools were made by Neanderthals during the Middle Paleolithic period, between 120,000 and 40,000 years ago.
They are kept in the collection of the Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Berlin, but have not been studied in detail until now.
“The products had been individually wrapped and left untouched since the 1960s. As a result, the remains of attached organic matter were very well preserved,” says Eva, a researcher at the Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Berlin. Dr. Dutkiewicz said.
Researchers found traces of ocher and asphalt mixtures on some Mousterian stone tools, such as scrapers, flakes, and blades.
Ocher is a naturally occurring earth pigment. Bitumen is a component of asphalt and can be produced from crude oil, but it also occurs naturally in soil.
“I was surprised to find that it contained more than 50% ocher. This is because air-dried asphalt can be used directly as an adhesive, but adding so much ocher would cause it to lose its adhesive properties. '' said Dr. Patrick Schmidt, a researcher at the University of Tübingen.
Scientists tested these materials in tensile tests and other measurements used to determine strength.
“The situation was different when we used liquid bitumen, which is not very suitable for bonding. When you add 55% ocher, a malleable mass forms,” said Dr. Schmidt.
It was sticky enough to pierce stone tools, and did not stick to hands, making it ideal as a material for handles.
In fact, microscopic examination of the signs of wear from use on these stone tools revealed that the adhesive on Le Moustier's stone tools had been used in this way.
“The tool showed two types of micro-wear: one is the typical grinding of sharp edges, which is usually caused by machining other materials,” says Dr. Iovita.
“Secondly, there was a bright polish distributed all over what appeared to be the hand grip, but not anywhere else. We interpreted it to be the result of wear and tear.”
The use of adhesives containing several ingredients, including various sticky substances such as tree resins and ocher, was known from early Homo sapiens in Africa, but not since early Neanderthals in Europe. It wasn't known.
Overall, the development of adhesives and their use in tool manufacturing is considered to be some of the best physical evidence of early human cultural evolution and cognitive abilities.
“Composite glue is thought to be one of the first expressions of modern cognitive processes that are still active today,” said Dr. Schmidt.
In the Le Moustiers area, ocher and asphalt had to be collected from remote locations, which required a great deal of effort, planning and a targeted approach.
“Given the overall circumstances of the find, we believe that this sticky material was created by Neanderthals,” Dr. Dutkiewicz said.
“Our research shows that early homo sapiens “African Neanderthals and European Neanderthals had similar thought patterns,” Dr. Schmidt said.
“Their adhesion techniques have the same importance for understanding human evolution.”
Regarding this research, paper Published in today's magazine scientific progress.
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Patrick Schmidt other. 2024. Ocher-based composite adhesives used in Mousterian typesetting have recorded mixed recognition and significant investment. scientific progress 10(8); doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adl0822
A European satellite that is malfunctioning is expected to fall to Earth and plunge uncontrollably through the atmosphere on Wednesday.
The European Space Agency said that most of the dead satellite is anticipated to burn up in the atmosphere and any surviving debris is unlikely to cause harm. However, it is challenging to determine the exact time and location of the spacecraft’s fall.
According to the Latest blog posts, the space agency estimated that the re-entry time will be around 10:41 a.m. ET on Wednesday, which would take approximately two hours. Based on the satellite’s orbit, the spacecraft was expected to be somewhere off the coast of North America in the Pacific Ocean during that period.
The space agency explained that much of the uncertainty about the re-entry of satellites is due to the challenge of predicting atmospheric density. Changes in air density, influenced by solar activity, impact the drag experienced by objects passing through Earth’s atmosphere.
The space agency stated that although there is uncertainty about the re-entry point of the dead satellite, it is unlikely to pose a threat to populated areas.
“Most of the satellites will burn out, and the surviving debris will be scattered somewhat randomly over a ground orbit averaging hundreds of kilometers long and tens of kilometers wide (this is why the risks involved are so great). “The reason for this is low),” said an expert from the agency’s Space Debris Countermeasures Office. I wrote it in a blog post.
The spacecraft, known as European Remote Sensing 2 or ERS-2, was an Earth observation satellite that collected data about Earth’s oceans, polar caps, and surface. The space agency said the satellite, launched in April 1995, was also used to monitor severe floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters in remote areas of the world.
A rare bird with a spectacular yellow crown has been photographed for the first time in the tropical mountains of the Democratic Republic of Congo, almost 20 years after it was last seen.
Yellow-bellied shrike (Prionops alberti)Also known as the King Albert Shrike, it is a small bird that lives in the damp forests of the Albertine Rift Mountains in Central Africa. Adults are covered in glossy black feathers, with a magnificent crown of bright golden feathers on their heads. Their eyes are surrounded by distinctive orange tissue called wattles.
After not being seen for many years, the long-eared shrike was listed as an endangered species. Find a lost bird partnership.
michael harvey Researchers at the University of Texas at El Paso finally encountered this phenomenon again during a six-week expedition into the Itobwe Mountains from December 2023 to January 2024.
As team members wandered through the cloud forest, they encountered a flock of elusive birds.
“It was a shocking experience to come across these birds. I knew it might be possible here, but I wasn't prepared for how spectacular and unique it would be in my life.” ,” Harvey said in a statement.
A total of 18 Long-tailed Shrikes were spotted at three locations during the expedition. This suggests that there may be healthy populations of birds currently considered vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The group also developed the red-bellied mushroom frog (Articular leptis hematogaster), last seen in the 1950s.
“Now is a great time to protect these tropical forests so we don't lose species like the long-eared shrike before they are known and studied,” Harvey said. Ta.
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