Protein plaques in the brain may be caused by mitochondrial dysfunction
Sebastian Kauritzky/Alamy
If you own a car, you’ve probably noticed that your engine becomes less efficient over time. The farther you drive, the more fuel it takes to cover the same distance. Eventually, you’ll end up with so little power that you need a physical push to climb a gentle hill.
It is now becoming clear that much the same holds true for the human brain. Microscopic structures called mitochondria, found in all brain cells, are literally the engines of our thoughts and emotions. As we age, we find it increasingly difficult to generate enough energy to power mental activity. Worse, just like an old car leaves behind a cloud of smoke, the power source of our cells begins to produce unnecessary waste products that slowly pollute our brains. This means that mitochondrial dysfunction may underlie some of the most serious brain diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and motor neuron disease.
According to this “grand unified theory” of neurodegeneration, recharging neurons through restoration of their power plants can prolong healthy brain function. This idea has already inspired some exciting new treatments for age-related brain diseases, with multiple drug candidates under investigation. Some researchers are exploring the possibility of transplanting healthy mitochondria into damaged, aging brains to reactivate them. “If you keep replacing the parts in your car, it can last forever,” he says. claudio soto, a neurologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. “So what happens if we try to run this…
A single atom of krypton trapped in a Buckminsterfullerene cage
University of Nottingham
The krypton atoms become stuck in a “traffic jam” inside the carbon nanotube, unable to pass through each other, allowing scientists to more easily observe how the krypton atoms interact. Researchers hope that this “primary energetic body” can shed light on fundamental physical forces.
Andrey Klobistov and his colleagues at the University of Nottingham, UK, have discovered that the narrow space restricts movement and makes it easier to observe the inside of carbon nanotubes, which are just 1.5 nanometers thick (one-half millionth the width of a human hair). He spent years studying chemical reactions. They have now developed a way to do the same thing with atoms of the rare gas krypton, creating a so-called one-dimensional gas.
The researchers used a buckminsterfullerene molecule, a spherical cage made of 60 carbon atoms, with a krypton atom trapped inside. These molecules are sucked into the carbon nanotube by van der Waals forces, weak attractive forces caused by fluctuations in the electron cloud surrounding the atomic nucleus. Once filled, the tube is heated to 1200 °C and the cage is destroyed. The carbon atoms are absorbed into the nanotube, leaving behind a string of krypton atoms.
A single atom of krypton confined in a Buckminsterfullerene cage inside a nanotube, observed with an electron microscope
University of Nottingham
Klovistov said the result is like a “traffic jam” in which atoms can be observed slowly, rather than flying around at up to 400 meters per second, as they often do in three-dimensional gases. The group used a transmission electron microscope to image atoms, allowing them to accurately measure the distances between them.
“They fundamentally change their behavior,” Klovistov said. “This is a very interesting system. We can track their trajectories, how they move and how they interact. This is a great toy to play with with noble gases. “We can gain a fundamental understanding of the behavior of atoms under extreme confinement.”
Other researchers have already observed that krypton atoms form pairs held together by van der Waals forces. This phenomenon is difficult to observe in unconstrained atoms and can also occur within nanotubes. Klobistov said future experiments will be “full of surprises.”
Future research will investigate how temperature affects primary gas. If you reduce the temperature of a gas in three-dimensional space, it will condense into a liquid and then solidify, but there is no guarantee that the same rules will apply in his one dimension.
“Maybe there's no such thing as a 1D liquid, it's just a 1D solid. It's a bit of a voyage of discovery,” says Klobistov.
AI has great capabilities, but remains an expensive option for some tasks
Yuichiro Kayano/Moment RF/Getty Images
Artificial intelligence may find its way into many people's jobs, but AI computer vision technology is still cheap enough to be valuable to most U.S. companies today, according to Fortune 500 CEOs and Silicon Valley leaders. Not. This finding comes from a study of human tasks, particularly those involving vision, that are at risk of machine automation.
In this study, researchers focused on whether vision tasks involved in various human jobs are economically worth replacing with existing AI computer vision. “There are a lot of tasks that you can imagine applying AI to, but you wouldn't actually want to do because of the cost,” he says. neil thompson Co-authored by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Published today as a working paper.
Thompson and colleagues identified 414 visual tasks in U.S. occupations that could potentially be automated with existing AI technology. These jobs include those of retail store supervisors who visually check to see if products have the correct price tag, or who notice dilated pupils or changes in cheek color that can be warning signs of potential problems. Includes a trained nurse anesthetist who monitors the patient's care.
The researchers calculated the cost of training and operating an AI computer vision model that can handle these tasks with the required precision. We then compared the cost of AI to the cost of human labor. The latter is expressed as a percentage of the employee's total salary and benefits. This is because visual tasks typically make up a small portion of a given employee's job duties.
As a result, while 36 percent of U.S. non-agricultural businesses have at least one employee task that can be automated with AI computer vision, there are few tasks that would be cost-effective to automate using AI. was found to be only 8%.
They also concluded that only 0.4 percent of U.S. non-farm worker pay and benefits is actually cost-effective for employers to automate.
The current cost of AI computer vision means that even large U.S. companies with 5,000 or more employees (over 99.9 percent of all U.S. companies) can cost-effectively automate less than one-tenth of their existing vision tasks. It means that.
While such a finding that AI computer vision would be too costly for most U.S. companies “may sound like a reassuring finding,” “there may be other consequences.” [AI] “Applications with low automation costs.” Gino Gancia at Queen Mary University of London.
rush to Adopts “generation AI” The ability to create new content is already having a negative impact on the number of jobs available and the incomes of human freelancers on online platforms such as: upwork. Gancia's research also shows that regions of the U.S. with industries that are more advanced in adopting AI, such as California, are already experiencing greater job losses.
“In general, we find that new technologies spread unevenly,” Gancia says. “As a result, automation and AI are likely to contribute to increasing inequality between businesses and workers.”
Thompson and his colleagues expect a significant amount of human work to be automated in the long term. But that depends on how quickly the costs of training and developing AI technology come down.
“There is going to be a significant amount of automation going forward, so governments need to start preparing for it,” Thompson said. “But there is plenty of time to put in place real programs that can bring benefits. [displaced] Worker. “
Analytical chemistry could help forensic teams get more information from crime scenes
Orange County Register/Media News Group (via Getty Images)
Even if no bullets are found at the scene, the brand of bullet used in the crime can be determined by analyzing the small pieces of metal left behind.
Forensic experts may try to link a suspect to a crime by analyzing bullets or spent shell casings found at a crime scene and proving that they were fired by the suspect's gun. . But doing so when the bullet is not present at the scene, such as when it has been removed…
The real megalodon may have been longer and slimmer than this illustration.
Kathmandu/Shutterstock
A new analysis of fossil evidence reveals that the megalodon, an ancient shark often depicted as a super-sized great white, was actually a very different beast. A team of shark scientists concluded that this fearsome predator was longer, thinner and hunted in a different way.
He is well known for his depiction of “. meg movie franchise, Otodus megalodon It became extinct about 3.5 million years ago. It was one of the largest marine predators of all time, but no complete skeleton has ever been found, so we don’t know exactly how big it was.
2022 survey by jack cooper Doctors from Swansea University, UK, et al. IRSNB P 9893, It is housed at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels. They found it to be a stocky, powerful shark, similar to the great white shark, built to attack at breakneck speeds to attack its prey.carcharodon carcharius) current –?? but at 15.9 meters long, it is about three times longer.
charles underwood Researchers from Birkbeck, University of London, said the study made “tenuous assumptions” about megalodon’s size, mainly based on the fact that it has teeth similar to great white sharks, although it is much larger. ing. He is part of a group of 26 shark experts aiming to set the record straight with new research.
Underwood said Cooper’s team didn’t realize how incomplete the partial skeleton was. The vertebrae lack the typical size of a shark, tapering toward both the tail and the head, indicating that much of the vertebrae are missing, he said.
The researchers of the new study say that the strength of the spinal column suggests a slender body shape than the great white shark, which would make megalodon sharks very unwieldy.
“It almost certainly doesn’t feed like modern great white sharks,” Underwood said. “You wouldn’t just hover over the ocean floor, wait for the whale to move over it, and then hit the whale from below and basically tear it apart. It’s better than an ambush predator. , you’re going to need more straight-line tracking, longer tracking, because you don’t have top speed. You don’t have acceleration.”
Based on other partial fossils, the largest known specimen of Megalodon was estimated to be 20 meters long. Mr. Underwood believes that it was actually 20% longer than him, and that he was 24 meters long.
But Professor Cooper dismissed the new study as too simplistic, favoring a reconstruction of a shorter, stockier megalodon. “The bottom line is, no matter which theory you support about its body shape, it was a very large shark,” he says. “Of course, a complete skeleton would go a long way in helping us learn more. But I also don’t think we should think that this settles all debates about this very charismatic animal.”
However, the chances of finding a complete, well-preserved specimen may be low. eva stewart A professor at Britain’s Southampton University, who was not involved in the study, said he had recovered many megalodon teeth while searching for a new living species, but had seen no sign of a more complete specimen.
“I think the rest of the skeleton is just not well preserved,” she says. “For megalodon, there’s actually no fossil evidence at all.”
A recent study suggests that the megalodon’s body shape might not have been as chunky as previously thought. Contrary to popular belief, researchers now suspect that this prehistoric fish, also known as the megalodon (Otodus megalodon), may have had a more elongated form, akin to modern slim sharks.
The typical estimation of the megalodon’s length is between 15 to 20 meters (50 to 65 feet), and they inhabited the earth’s oceans from 15 million to 3.6 million years ago. However, the fossil record contains limited evidence of the megalodon, mainly consisting of teeth and vertebrae rather than intact skeletons.
While previous estimates of its body size were based on the bodies of contemporary great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharius), resulting in the assumption of a thick and round body shape, a new study published in the Old Trogia Electronica journal suggests that the megalodon was more than just a larger version of the great white shark. The study contends that the animal may have had similarities to the slimmer modern mako shark.
So what’s the controversy?
Essentially, two groups of scientists are at odds over the actual size and shape of the megalodon.
A study led by scientists from DePaul University and the University of California, Riverside (UCR) employed a CT scanner on a live great white shark to compare its vertebral skeleton to existing reconstructions of the megalodon’s spinal column. This study suggests significant enough differences between the two sharks to propose that the megalodon was not merely a larger great white shark.
However, a UK-based research team utilized advanced 3D modeling to study the body structures of various shark species, including great whites, mako sharks, and salmon sharks. With this approach, they concluded that the megalodon may have been even larger than previously anticipated, with a dorsal fin comparable in size to an adult’s height.
The earlier study’s authors critiqued the new findings, asserting that they rely on circular logic and lack statistical validation. They also mentioned the absence of raw data for future researchers to verify or reproduce the study’s results. Their study was peer-reviewed by prominent shark experts from around the world, although not by the authors of the new study.
Yeah, but…can Jason Statham still defeat Megalodon?
Regardless of the megalodon’s shape, the lifespan and dietary habits of this extinct shark remain unclear. To further advance their understanding, researchers will need to find a complete or near-complete skeleton. The potential elongated body of the megalodon, if confirmed, could prompt a reassessment of its life, diet, and extinction causes.
As for the debate over the megalodon’s size and shape, the fact that it was a large, formidable predator is indisputable. However, the question of whether Jason Statham could defeat it in battle remains up for discussion.
“Even with the interpretation of the megalodon’s shape as more slender, I don’t think the odds for that matchup will change significantly,” Cooper stated. “Regardless of which theory you favor, whether the shark was fat or skinny, the short answer is that megalodon was still a very large shark. Either way, it’s a massive challenge for Statham.”
About our experts
Jack Cooper is a postdoctoral researcher in palaeontology at Swansea University. His research covers scientific report, scientific progress and the Fish Biology Journal.
Professor Catalina Pimiento is a Senior Lecturer in Paleontology at Swansea University. Her research specializes in Frontiers of ecology and evolution, natural ecology and evolution, and scientific progress.
Professor John Hutchinson is Professor of Evolutionary Biomechanics at the Royal Veterinary College. His research spans nature communications, anatomy journal, and scientific progress.
It may be hard to miss, but unimaginably strong bursts of cosmic radiation happen possibly a thousand times every day. They are bright enough to overwhelm our radio telescopes from billions of light-years away.
However, fast radio bursts (FRBs) were not detected until 2007. Despite over a decade of investigation, they remain one of the most intriguing mysteries in astrophysics. Recent research offers new and promising clues about their origins, while also revealing why these space phenomena are so perplexing in the first place.
When FRBs were first discussed in seminars, the big question wasn’t “What astrophysical cause is causing this?” Instead, it was, “Isn’t this just a mechanical failure?”
FRBs last about 1 millisecond and spread out in frequency in a manner very similar to a blip from a pulsar. But the problem is, they don’t come from any known pulsars, they don’t repeat like pulsars, and they’re clearly much more powerful than any pulsar pulses we’ve seen before.
To make matters worse, for many years the only telescope that observed FRBs was the Parkes Observatory in Australia. The debate became even more heated when it turned out that some of the FRB-like bursts observed by Parkes did not come from astronomical sources.
These bursts, called “peritons,” were always suspected to be of terrestrial origin. But clever detective work by astronomers solved the case. Dr. Emily Petrov and her colleagues showed that Periton had a strong correlation with local lunchtime. In reality, radiation leaked from the observatory’s microwave when the door opened too early.
It was eventually revealed that the FRBs were indeed from far away in space. More radio telescopes were configured to record very short bursts of radio waves, and detection rates began to skyrocket.
Those bursts came from all over the sky, suggesting they didn’t originate in our galaxy. In the first decade after the discovery, theorists produced a huge number of papers explaining the possible origins of the bursts.
In 2012, repeated FRBs were discovered, ruling out origins requiring complete destruction, such as supernovae. It was soon discovered that there were many more repeated bursts, mostly occurring at irregular intervals.
As more outbursts are discovered, there is growing evidence that FRBs may be associated with extraordinarily powerful magnetars: neutron stars that rotate in extremely strong magnetic fields.
Recent evidence suggests that at least some FRBs originate from nearby spiral galaxies rather than elliptical galaxies.
Astronomers will need to continue collecting clues, looking for suggestive patterns in the data, and eagerly awaiting observational upgrades that will allow them to pinpoint the FRBs’ local environment.
Whatever the outcome, the fast radio burst is a great example of the fact that in science, when we look at the universe in new and different ways, we almost always discover something surprising that no one had ever thought to look for.
This spring, in a rare synchronized phenomenon that last occurred in 1803, swarms of two different cicadas, one with a 13-year cycle and two with a 17-year cycle, emerge from the ground at the same time.
Billions of winged insects emerge from the Midwest to the Southeast, beginning in late April in some regions and performing noisy mating rituals that tend to fascinate and disgust in equal measure.
This year’s twin feathering is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Although a particular 13-year offspring and his 17-year offspring may appear at the same time, the cycles of a particular pair align only once in his 221 years. Additionally, this year’s groups of cicadas, known as Brood XIII and Brood XIX, happen to have habitats adjacent to each other and narrowly overlapping in central Illinois.
“The last time these two brothers were on the scene, Thomas Jefferson was president, so is that unusual? Yes.” said Gene Kritsky, author of “A Tale of Two Broods,” a book about this year’s double broods.
After 2024, Brood XIII and Brood XIX cicadas will not synchronize their emergence for another 221 years.
These types of cicadas are regular insects that spend most of their lives underground feeding on tree roots. After 13 or 17 years, depending on the mate, the cicada tunnels to the surface and matures, noisily searching for a mate for a month.
Cicadas typically appear on the surface in the spring when soil temperatures reach about 64 degrees Fahrenheit.
Blue dots on the map indicate Brood XIII cicadas, and red dots are areas where Brood XIX has appeared in the past. These areas may experience periodic cicadas in 2024.semi-safari
The Blued XIII cicada appears in the Midwest, primarily in Illinois, but has also spread to Wisconsin, Ohio, and Iowa. Stage XIX cicadas have been sighted in a much wider geographic area, including Missouri, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland.
When these insects emerge, they occur in large numbers. And they are not quiet at all in the mating frenzy.
The insects are known to emit a high-pitched buzz, or mating song, that can reach up to 100 decibels, which is about the same as a motorcycle or a jackhammer.
The insects themselves are harmless to humans, but billions of insects emerge from the ground, making the cicada noisy for several weeks during its lifespan. When that happens, the ground can also be littered with large amounts of dead insects.
In 2019 “ semi-safari This will allow citizen scientists to report cicada sightings from their location.
“I’ve already spoken to six people who want to take a vacation and come to the area for the cicadas,” he said. “In years past, I’ve helped people plan vacations that depart while the cicadas are singing.”
In parts of the Southeast where the Blued XIX cicada occurs, the insects may begin to emerge from underground in late April.
Then, as temperatures warm across the Southeast and Midwest, more cicadas will show up throughout May and June.
When the insect reaches the surface, it sheds its nymph exoskeleton and spreads its wings. It usually takes a few more days for adult skin to harden.
The mating ritual itself is hectic, with cicadas taking only a few weeks to find a mate and lay eggs. This entire process takes approximately 6 weeks.
“By July 1st, they’ll be gone,” Kritsky said.
But while cicadas are on the ground, scientists are keen to track where they appear. Kritsky himself plans to study cicadas in the Chicago area, and hopes people in the Midwest and Southeast will report sightings using the Cicada Safari app.
Mapping insect ranges helps researchers understand how cicadas adapt and change between cycles. During this year’s double emergence, scientists are also interested in whether mating will occur between two different chicks.
But beyond science, Kritsky said this year is also a chance to experience a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon.
“This year marks 50 years since I started researching cicadas,” he says. “Many of us will be in the borderlands of Illinois, driving back and forth, meeting for coffee and eating pie.”
Humans are not the fastest or strongest species. We have no wings, fangs, claws, poison, or armor. Physically, we are primarily controlled by nature.
However, the words “run the same way'' are ironic. This is because humans physically dominate all other species in one area: long-distance running. Thanks to our bipedalism and unique sweat glands, humans can continue running long after other species have collapsed from exhaustion.
Humans have evolved to train their bodies, or exercise, over long periods of time. But while many people actually enjoy exercise, they're in the minority (as evidenced by uncrowded gyms and abandoned New Year's resolutions in mid-February).
So why doesn't everyone enjoy exercise, even though we've evolved to do so? It’s because of the mysterious complexity of the human brain.Evolving abilities does not automatically evolve want to use it. Armored creatures do not want to be actively attacked.
Although physical exercise is not that Bad, but still usually unpleasant and uncomfortable. It must be so. You end up pushing your body to its physical limits, which leads to significant discomfort. There are limits for a reason.
What does the brain think about exercise?
Another problem is that the human brain is extremely sensitive to wasted effort. Research has shown that the insular cortex contains dedicated circuitry. Calculate the effort required for an action – They are there to ask “Is it worth it?”
This is a trend that evolved to prevent us from wasting vital resources on pointless endeavors, such as walking 20 miles to buy a handful of berries.
However, regular exercise to “get in shape” requires constant and great effort. It's all about gradual progress and uncertain rewards (it's impossible to guarantee success in advance). In other words, your brain tends to ask, “Is it worth it?” It would be difficult to keep quiet.
This trait also means that we typically prefer things that give us the most reward with the least amount of effort. So we choose the path of least resistance, stick to our routine, and stay in our comfort zone.
Starting to exercise means changing everything for an uncertain result. To keep us safe, our brains typically tend to value risk over reward, making us more reluctant to engage in physically demanding activities.
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So while our bodies may be adapted to continuous exercise, our brains are adapted to avoid it in many ways. And we have built a world for ourselves where avoiding physical activity is a viable option.
Thankfully, the human brain is an incredibly complex organ, so there are some metaphorical tricks up your sleeve. Most obviously, it is not dominated by more primitive and direct instincts and impulses. Many species' thought processes are limited to “Food, eat!”, “Danger, run!”, “Pain, avoid!”, but we have evolved beyond that.
The human brain is capable of forming multiple long-term goals and ambitions. We are rarely satisfied with just day-to-day survival. We simply simulate a desired future scenario, figure out how to achieve it, and then…do it. Or at least strive towards it.
This directly affects how our brains process motivation and willpower in many interesting ways. First, it allows you to delay gratification. In other words, you will realize that it is important to refuse the reward now.Can lead to bigger rewards later, and act accordingly.
In this case, eating four bags of potato chips as a family while watching TV is fun in the moment, but going to the gym will make you fitter, stronger, and fitter later on.
And then there's the “just world” fallacy. Here we assume the world is fair and that is what makes us believe. research shows this – No matter how much suffering you suffer, it will always lead to reward. As the saying goes, no pain, no gain.
How the brain increases motivation
So how does the brain process all these different motivations? Self-contradiction theory suggests that we have multiple “selves” active in our minds at any given time. The “real” self, the “ideal” self, and the “ideal” self.
Your “actual” self is your current state, or how you are right now. Your “ideal self” is yourself. want Something to do. And your “ideal” self is one that does whatever it takes to become your “ideal” self.you do what you do should What I'm doing. In other words, if your “ideal” self is a professional soccer player and your “real” self is not, then the “ideal” you is someone who has to train, exercise, and train a lot to get better at soccer. It's someone who spends their time.
This is just one framework for how motivation works when it comes to physical exercise. Of course, there are many other factors that play an important role, such as time constraints, body image, and ease of movement.
However, as far as the brain is concerned, there are processes that prevent movement and processes that promote movement. Ideally, you'll end up focusing more on the latter than the former. Also, moving weights is a classic exercise, so it's a good idea to start somewhere.
Scientists have made a monumental discovery about what lies beneath a mysterious mass buried below Mars’ equator, revealing the presence of ice that could be crucial in planning for potential life on the red planet.
New data from ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft has uncovered ice extending several kilometers below the surface of Mars, providing unprecedented insight into the planet’s subsurface.
Fifteen years ago, Mars Express explored the wind-sculpted Medusae fossai formation, which is where the ice is currently located. The spacecraft initially found large deposits estimated to be 2.5 km (1.6 miles) deep, but the content of these deposits remained a mystery until now. Scientists have since confirmed that the deposit stretches an incredible 3.7 km (2.3 miles) deep and is thicker than previously thought.
The volume of ice discovered is substantial, with enough water content to cover Mars with a layer 1.5 to 2.7 meters (4.9 to 8.9 feet) deep if melted – equivalent to the Red Sea’s capacity on Earth.
“Interestingly, the radar signal is consistent with what you would expect to see from layered ice, and from the polar caps of Mars, which we know to be very ice-rich,” said Thomas Watters of the Smithsonian Institution, lead author of the study.
The recent discovery, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, constitutes the largest detection of water in this region of Mars yet. The presence of water could significantly impact future human exploration of Mars, potentially favoring equatorial locations over the ice-rich polar caps.
“The finding of water ice buried underground on Mars does not directly provide optimism for discovering extraterrestrial life there, but it does offer hope for human colonization on the red planet,” commented Dr. Darren Baskill, an astronomy lecturer at the University of Sussex.
The deposit’s location close to the equator suggests that the water ice is a relic from Mars’ history, challenging current understandings of the planet’s climate and prompting further research into its implications.
About our experts
Dr. Darren Baskill is an Outreach Officer and Lecturer in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Sussex. He previously lectured at the Royal Observatory Greenwich and organized the annual Astronomical Photographer of the Year competition.
A full moon low on the horizon is one of the most fascinating sights in the night sky. It is also one of the easiest astronomical phenomena to observe. You don't need any special equipment to see the full moon, and you don't need a star map to find it.
It's helpful to learn a little about the different craters on the moon. By observing the moon regularly, you can see how its characteristics change as the moon waxes and wanes.
Whether you're an experienced astronomer, a budding astrophotographer or someone with an interest in astrology, it's useful to know when the next full moon will be visible in the UK. For those who want to try their hand at moon photography, expert Pete Lawrence has put together a guide on how to take great photos of the moon. This guide is full of helpful (and practical!) tips and hints.
Discover more amazing views of the night sky with our beginner's guide to astronomy, and record natural fireworks on your calendar. All 2024 meteor showers are listed in our definitive guide.
When is the next full moon?
Next full moon is January 25, 2024, also known as the Wolf Moon. Other names for January's full moon include Moon After Yule, Ice Moon, and Old Moon.
A full moon is part of a lunar cycle that takes 29.53 days (29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 3 seconds) to complete. In other words, a full moon occurs every 29.53 days. Since this is less than one calendar month, you may see two full moons in one month, and that “extra” full moon is known as a “blue moon.”
During the Full Moon phase of the lunar cycle, the Moon, Earth, and Sun are aligned, with the Moon 180 degrees opposite the Sun. That's why during a full moon, the moon rises and the sun sets (and vice versa).
Full moon day in 2024
January 25th, 5:54pm: wolf moon
February 24th, 12:30pm: snow moon
March 25th, 7am: worm moon
April 23rd, 11:49pm: pink moon
May 23rd, 1:53pm: flower moon
June 22nd 1:08am: strawberry moon
July 21st 10:17am: back moon
August 19th, 6:26pm: sturgeon moon
September 18th, 2:34am: corn moon
October 17th 11:25am: hunter's moon
November 15th, 9:28pm: beaver moon
December 15th 9:02am: cold moon
When will the 2024 supermoon occur?
Supermoon is an unofficial name that has become increasingly popular in recent years. This refers to a full moon that appears larger and brighter than other full moons that year.
Because the Moon orbits the Earth in an elliptical shape, its distance from us changes throughout the year. When the moon is closest to us, this is called lunar perigee. When it is farthest from us, it is known as the moon's apogee.
When perigee occurs near a full moon, the moon appears larger and brighter, creating a supermoon. Typically, this is when the Moon is about 360,000 km or less from us, but this is not always the case.
2024 supermoon dates
sturgeon supermoon
August 19th: 361,969 kilometers (224,917 miles)
corn supermoon
September 18th: 357,485 kilometers (222,131 miles)
hunter's supermoon
October 17th: 357,363 kilometers (222,055 miles)
beaver supermoon
November 15th: 361,866 kilometers (224,853 miles)
What is the lunar cycle?
The moon appears to change shape throughout the lunar cycle.
new moon
waxing crescent moon
1st quarter
The waxing Gibbs moon
full moon
The fading gibbous moon
3rd quarter
waning crescent moon
Another new moon.
We can see the moon because it reflects light from the sun. As it orbits the Earth, the amount of light reflected back to us changes. When the moon passes between the sun and the earth, light can no longer be reflected back to us and a new moon occurs.
A full moon occurs when the Earth is between the sun and the moon, when the moon's surface is completely illuminated by the sun. During those hours, only part of the moon can reflect light back to Earth.
If the moon orbits the Earth in the same plane that the Earth orbits the sun, the moon will block light from the sun every time a new moon occurs.
However, this does not happen because the Moon orbits at an angle of about 5 degrees compared to the Earth's orbit of the Sun. When the Moon passes through the Earth's orbit and her three celestial bodies, the Earth, Moon, and Sun, line up.
This is called Shijiji. A solar eclipse occurs when a lunation occurs during a new moon, and a lunar eclipse occurs when a lunation occurs during a full moon.
How can I photograph the moon at night?
To photograph the moon with your phone, you may need to play around with your camera settings. No flash, lower ISO and set focus to 100.
If you don't know how to make these changes, use the Night Photography app ( night cap– Available at app store£2.99) gives you more control over your camera settings than the regular camera app.
If you're using a digital camera, start with an aperture between f/11 and f/16 and a shutter speed between 1/60 and 1/125 seconds. A tripod can help reduce shaking in low-light situations when you need to hold the camera still and keep the shutter open a little longer.
To get the best photos of the moon, you need to be creative with your shots so that you can fit the moon in the frame depending on the surrounding scenery. There is a lot of software available to help you plan where you will see the moon or anything else in the night sky ( moon locator App – available at android device, free).
To find more software worthy of your home screen, check out our guide to the best astronomy apps.
Moon photography is a great way to get started with astrophotography. The moon's appearance changes throughout the month. Not only the shape changes, but also the craters and the moon. Similarly, shadows create tricks of light that make the moon a brilliant subject.
You don't need much in terms of equipment. If you have a smartphone and a tripod, you can take good photos.
Related: Read Pete Lawrence's expert guide on how to photograph the moon. It features beginner, intermediate, and advanced projects that you can try at home.
Does the moon rotate?
Yes, the moon rotates. But it is tidally locked and rotates in sync with Earth's orbit, so for every Earth orbit he makes one revolution.
This means that the same side is always facing us as we move around the Earth. This is why we have the term “dark side of the moon,” which refers to the side we never see. In fact, that side of the moon receives as much sunlight as the side we see, so the correct term is “far side of the moon.”
What is a Blood Moon? How can I see it?
“During a total lunar eclipse, the moon turns red because Earth's atmosphere scatters blue light and only lets red light through. This is called a blood moon,” says Abigail Beale.
The next total lunar eclipse visible from the UK will be on 14 March 2025 (UK, Europe, Africa, the Americas, East Asia, Australia).
We have some time before we wait for the next Blood Moon. Below are the dates of the next total lunar eclipse that will result in a blood moon.
March 14, 2025:UK, Europe, Africa, America, East Asia, Australia
September 7, 2025:UK, Europe, Asia, Australia
March 3, 2026: America, Asia, Australia
December 31, 2028:UK, Europe, Asia, Australia, Western US, Canada
Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a casual observer, a good meteor shower is always fun to watch
These occur at the same time every year, but you don’t need expensive equipment to get the most out of them. In fact, you’re better without a telescope. By using just your eyes, you can take in a wider field of view and see more meteors.
Why do meteor showers occur on specific days?
As the Earth orbits the Sun, each year we pass through the same stream of debris left behind by comets and sometimes asteroids. In the case of periodic comets such as the large comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which is the parent object of the summer Perseid meteor shower, the stream is replenished each time it passes.
Summarized meteor showers in 2024
In this article, we have summarized all the meteor showers in 2024, their maximum period, and the number of meteors that can be observed.
Learn about constellations
While you wait for that all-important peak night, why not brush up on your constellations with our handy astronomer’s guide for beginners? Having a broad understanding of constellations will help you identify and observe the radiance of each meteor shower. It will help you get the most out of your experience.
Full moon calendar
If you prefer the moon, check out our full moon calendar. All dates, names, and times are compiled into one comprehensive list. It also includes some trivia about the moon.
What is a meteor shower?
A meteor shower is a cascade of meteors, also called shooting stars, that flash across the sky and leave a trail of light in their wake. They occur on certain days every year and can be a spectacular sight if conditions are right.
When is the next meteor shower?
After the quadrant meteor shower in January, Britain’s next major meteor shower will be the Lyrids, followed quickly by Eta Aquarius in April. The peaks of these showers are expected on April 22-23 and May 6, respectively, so mark your calendars.
Meteor Showers in 2024
See below the dates of all 2024 meteor showers, along with peak times and number of meteors seen per hour.
quadrant meteor shower
Active: December 28, 2023 – January 12, 2024 peak: January 3-4, 2024 Price/hour: 110 radiation: Boes Parent body: Probably 2003 EH1, but not confirmed yet Peak moon illumination: 59-49%
Urinidae
Active: December 17th to 26th peak: December 22nd-23rd Price/hour: Ten radiation: Ursa Minor Parent body: Comet 8P/Tuttle Peak moon illumination: 61-51%
Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) The peoples of mainland Alaska overlapped with the first peoples of this region for at least 1,000 years. However, it is unclear how mammoths used the space they shared with humans. In a new study, scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and elsewhere analyzed a 14,000-year-old female mammoth tusk discovered at an archaeological site in Fairbanks. swan point They showed that she migrated nearly 1,000 km (621 miles) from northwestern Canada to inhabit the Shaw Creek watershed in interior Alaska, an area with the highest concentration of early remains in interior Alaska. Early Alaskans appear to have built their settlements based in part on the prevalence of mammoths, utilizing them for raw materials and perhaps food.
The piece shows three mammoths being observed by an ancient Alaskan family from a sand dune near the Swan Point ruins, a seasonal hunting camp inhabited 14,000 years ago. Image credit: Julius Csostonyi.
The woolly mammoth at the center of the study, named Elmayujaye by the Healy Lake Village Council, was discovered at Swan Point, Alaska's oldest archaeological site, which also contained the remains of a juvenile mammoth and a baby.
Mammoth fossils have also been found at three other sites within 10 km of Swan Point.
In the study, University of Alaska Fairbanks researcher Audrey Rowe and her colleagues conducted detailed isotopic analysis of complete tusks and genetic analysis of the remains of many other mammoth individuals, comparing the subject's movements and similar Pieced together relationships with other mammoths in location and environment. Neighborhood.
They determined that the Swan Point area was likely the gathering place for at least two closely related but distinct maternal herds.
“This is a fascinating story about the complexity of mammoth life and behavior, about which we have little insight,” said Dr. Hendrik Poynar, director of the McMaster Center for Ancient DNA at McMaster University.
The authors sequenced the mitochondrial genomes of eight woolly mammoths found at Swan Point and other nearby sites to see if and how they were related.
They also conducted isotopic analysis of a 14,000-year-old tusk from Elmayujaye (Elma) taken from Swan Point.
“Mammoth tusks grew like tree trunks, with thin layers showing steady growth, and isotopes of different elements such as oxygen and strontium providing information about the target's movements,” the researchers said. Ta.
“The female mammoth lived most of her life in a relatively small area of the Yukon Territory and died when she was about 20 years old.”
“As she grew older, she traveled more than 1,000 kilometers in just three years, settling in interior Alaska and dying near related babies and boys, suggesting that she may have been the matrilineal leader. unknown.”
“Mammoths are estimated to behave much like modern elephants, with females and young living in close-knit matrilineal herds, and adult males traveling alone or in looser groups of males. They are often thought to have a wider range than females.
The researchers extracted and analyzed ancient DNA from Elmayujay's tusks and found that the mammoth was closely related to other mammoths at the same site, and more distantly related to other mammoths at a nearby site called Holzmann. found.
“Early humans had a deep understanding of mammoths and the art of hunting them, and used mammoth habitats for scavenging and hunting detritus as raw material for tools,” the researchers said.
“In addition to the direct effects of hunting on mammoth populations, human activities and settlements have also affected mammoth populations indirectly by restricting mammoth movement and access to preferred grazing areas. There is a possibility.”
“For early people in Alaska, these areas were important for observation and viewing, as well as potential food sources,” Dr. Poyner said.
The data collected suggests that people organized seasonal hunting camps based on where mammoths congregated, and that this may have had an indirect effect on the localized extinction of mammoths in Alaska, which was further exacerbated by a rapidly changing climate and changes in vegetation. This suggests that it may have played a role.
However, such deprivation does not seem to have affected the mammoths involved.
“She was a young adult in her prime,” said Professor Matthew Wooler, director of the Alaska Stable Isotope Facility and a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
“Her isotopes showed that she was not malnourished and that she died during the same season as the Swan Point seasonal hunting camp where her tusk was found.”
“This is more than just looking at stone tools and ruins and making assumptions. This analysis of lifetime migration is very helpful in understanding how humans and mammoths lived in these areas,” McMaster said. said Dr. Tyler Murchy, a postdoctoral fellow at the university.
a paper The findings were published in this week's magazine scientific progress.
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Audrey G. Lowe other. 2024. The female woolly mammoth's lifelong migration ends in an ancient Alaskan hunter-gatherer camp. scientific progress 10(3); doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adk0818
Two weeks before the pandemic lockdown in March 2020, I flew to Tucson, Arizona, and knocked on the door of a suburban ranch-style home. I was there to visit Stuart Hammeroff. He is an anesthesiologist and co-inventor with Nobel Prize-winning physicist Roger Penrose of a radical proposal for how conscious experience arises: that it has its origins in quantum phenomena in the brain.
Such ideas, in one form or another, have existed on the fringes of mainstream consciousness research for decades. There is no solid experimental evidence that quantum effects occur in the brain, as critics claim, and aside from a clear idea of how quantum effects produce consciousness, they come in from the cold. Not that it was. “It was very popular to bash us,” Hammeroff told me.
But after a week of questioning him about the concept, I realized that at least his version of quantum consciousness is widely misunderstood. Partly, I think it’s Hammeroff’s fault. He gives the impression of a single package. In fact, his ideas are a series of independent proposals, each forcing us to confront important questions about the relationship between fundamental physics, biology, and the indescribable thing called consciousness. I am.
Furthermore, during my visit I saw several experiments that Hammeroff had proposed come to fruition, and it became clear that his ideas could be applied to experimental research. Researchers have now provided preliminary evidence suggesting that fragile quantum states can persist in the brain and that anesthetics can influence those states.
Artist's impression of a pulsar orbiting a black hole – one possible interpretation of the mysterious binary star system
Daniel Hutseller (artsource.nl)
Some 40,000 light-years away, a strange object could be either the heaviest neutron star or the lightest black hole ever seen, and it resides in a mysterious celestial void that astronomers have never directly observed. .
Neutron stars form when a star runs out of fuel and collapses due to gravity, creating a shock wave called a supernova and leaving behind an extremely dense core. Astrophysical calculations show that these nuclei must remain below a certain mass, about 2.2 times the mass of the Sun, or they will collapse further to form a black hole.
However, black holes have only been observed to have a mass more than five times that of the sun, leaving a gap in scale between neutron stars and black holes. Gravitational-wave observatories have observed several dense objects in this gap, but astronomers have never discovered them with conventional telescopes.
now, Ewan Barr Researchers at Germany's Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy discovered an object with 2.5 times the mass of the Sun by observing pulsars orbiting around it. A pulsar is a neutron star that emits pulses of light at regular millisecond intervals due to a strong magnetic field.
As predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, pulsars emit light with great regularity, but very large nearby objects can distort these rhythms. Dr. Barr and his team were able to calculate the mass of the pulsar's partner by observing the pulsar's pulses for more than a year using his MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa.
“What we've discovered in this binary system appears to go beyond that [upper limit for neutron star mass]This suggests that there is some new physics going on here and that this is either a new type of star, or simply a black hole, the lightest stellar-mass black hole yet discovered. “There will be,” Barr said.
Pulsars are located in globular clusters, which are dense regions of stars and some rare objects that can pass close to each other. These unusual interactions could explain the mysterious object, Barr said.
If it's a black hole, researchers will be able to test theories of gravity that weren't possible before. “A pulsar is just a ridiculously accurate measuring device in orbit around a black hole, but it's not going anywhere. It's going to be around for the next billion years,” Barr says. “So this is an incredibly stable and natural test bed for investigating the physics of black holes.”
“If it's a neutron star, it would be more massive than any neutron star we've ever seen,” he says. Christine Dunn At Durham University, UK. “This actually tells us about the ultimate density that a star can support before it collapses under its own gravity and becomes a black hole. We need to understand the physics of matter at such extreme densities. I don't know what the limits are.”
Barr and his team plan to observe the pulsar with other telescopes over the next few years, looking for clues about what the object is. If it were a black hole, we would see the pulsar's orbit change over time, as the black hole dragged through spacetime around it, much like a ship dragging a small boat behind it. Or if it's a neutron star, more sensitive instruments might be able to detect the light.
Japan's Smart Lander for Lunar Exploration (SLIM) has landed on the moon. Although the spacecraft is not operating perfectly, the successful landing follows a series of recent failed moon landings by governments and private spaceflight companies, and remains encouraging for international efforts to explore the moon. . With this landing, Japan will become the fifth country to land on the moon, following the United States, Soviet Union, China, and India.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched SLIM in September 2023, and the spacecraft took a long orbit to the moon, circling the Earth several times to conserve fuel. It has been orbiting the moon since December, taking images of the surface and preparing for landing.
The January 19 touchdown marked the first use of a technology engineers dubbed “smart eye,” which allows SLIM to aim its landing spot with extreme precision. SLIM determined its position by comparing images from its onboard camera with data from other spacecraft orbiting the moon, then autonomously navigated to a landing site on the slopes of Sioli Crater. JAXA officials are continuing to analyze how well the targeting protocol worked.
Initial signals from SLIM suggest that the solar panels do not appear to be operational, so the spacecraft is operating on battery power for now. If spacecraft operators are unable to figure out what's wrong with the solar cells and get them working, SLIM's scientific capabilities could be hampered and its lifespan significantly shortened. According to JAXA officials, battery life is expected to be only a few hours. It's possible the spacecraft will regain solar power, but for now JAXA's priority is to return as much data as possible to Earth before its batteries run out.
As SLIM descended to the lunar surface, two small rovers, each carrying a small payload of scientific instruments, also descended. One of them is designed to bounce rather than roll on wheels, and the other is a tennis ball. He was designed by toy manufacturers to roll on the moon, with a sphere slightly smaller than a ball. The spacecraft appears to be functioning normally.
Spacecraft landing sites are potentially important. Previous observations suggest that material may have come from inside the moon during the impact that formed the crater. SLIM's scientific instruments can study these minerals to learn about the formation and evolution of the Moon. A successful landing and the scientific data collected will provide useful data for the many spacecraft scheduled to travel to the moon from around the world in the coming years.
A mother manatee (pictured above) swims up to a cave diver in a flooded cave in Quintana Roo, Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Klaus ThiemannThey captured amazing photos of these endangered mammals living in unique, unexplored habitats. “Of course I think she's looking at me,” Tyman says. “But in reality, she's probably seeing what's on camera.”
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Carved into the limestone by flowing water, this cave system is thought to be up to 16,000 kilometers long and connects coastal and inland cenotes, freshwater-filled sinkholes created when cave roofs collapse. is. Timan and his fellow divers have been exploring this system (pictured above) to photograph manatees, which, unlike humans, can easily navigate passages.
Although manatees have likely lived in the area for generations, it is estimated that fewer than 250 manatees exist in the Mexican Caribbean, Tiemann said. Timan is concerned that nearby construction projects are endangering aquatic species in the area. A new railway line will further develop this popular tourist destination (pictured above). Construction can impede the flow of water through the system, starving it of oxygen and trapping manatees. Wastewater from surface runoff and sewage systems degrades the water quality of local aquifers.
Although the coastal area is protected as a manatee sanctuary, it does not extend as far inland as the manatees were photographed. So while the discovery of manatees in a relatively pristine cave system is good news, these habitats may not remain pristine for very long.
Dinosaurs may have been big and scary, but they weren’t lumbering beasts of prey. The more we learn about them, the more we realize how misguided our early reconstructions were. This glossy image feature compares historical depictions with our current knowledge. The difference is amazing.
white hole
Perhaps the most surprising scientific discovery of the past decade is that the universe is filled with black holes. They have been detected in an astonishing variety of sizes, with some having masses slightly more than the Sun and others billions of times larger. But what happens when black holes die? Carlo Rovelli reveals how they can rise again into new reflected forms. white hole.
dry january
Hard science shows that no matter how much alcohol you drink, it’s not good for your health. So should we reconsider the way we drink?
body dysmorphic disorder
If you suffer from body dysmorphia, an intense obsession with flaws in your appearance, you are not alone. It is thought to affect one in five young people. How is technology changing the way we see ourselves? We’ve taken a closer look at this often debilitating condition and put together a practical guide to alleviate your worries.
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meta quest 3: Tech expert Alex Hughes straps on the Meta Quest 3 and takes it for a spin. This headset has yet to deliver a truly viable home VR experience. finally Tell us about the future of virtual reality?
Do you have a genius dog? Scientists have identified the characteristics of a unique type of genius dog, and it all depends on how well they know their toys. If your dog can retrieve a toy by calling its name instead of chewing it up, you may have a genius.
Yellowstone eruption: National park. Wonders of nature. An existential threat? There are approximately 1,500 active volcanoes on Earth, 170 of which are in the United States. Few of these have captured our imaginations or evoked a collective sense of existential dread like Yellowstone. So, is the supervolcano threat worth the hype?
Issue 401 Released on January 19, 2024
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.
NASA/ESA/CSA Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a small, active galaxy within GN-z11, an extremely bright galaxy that existed just 420 million years after the Big Bang, more than 13 billion years ago. detected a black hole. The existence of this multi-million solar mass black hole in the early universe challenges current assumptions about how black holes form and grow.
GN-z11, shown in the inset, was 13.4 billion years ago, just 400 million years after the Big Bang. Image credits: NASA / ESA / P. Oesch, Yale University / G. Brammer, STScI / P. van Dokkum, Yale University / G. Illingworth, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Astronomers believe that supermassive black holes found at the centers of galaxies like the Milky Way have grown to their current size over billions of years.
But the size of this newly discovered black hole suggests that black holes may form in another way. That means black holes could be “born big,” or eat matter five times faster than previously thought.
According to the Standard Model, supermassive black holes form from the remains of dead stars, which can collapse to form black holes about 100 times the mass of the Sun.
If this newly detected black hole grows as expected, it will take about a billion years to grow to its observed size.
However, when this black hole was detected, the universe was less than 1 billion years old.
Dr Roberto Maiolino, an astronomer at the University of Cambridge, said: “Since the last time such a massive black hole has been observed was in the very early days of the universe, we need to consider other ways in which black holes could form.'' Ta.
“Very early galaxies were so rich in gas that they would have been a buffet for black holes.”
Like all black holes, GN-z11's young black hole is accreting matter from its host galaxy to fuel its growth.
But it turns out that this ancient black hole gulped down matter much more energetically than its later cousins.
GN-z11 is a compact galaxy, about 100 times smaller than the Milky Way, but a black hole may be having a negative impact on its development.
When a black hole consumes too much gas, it pushes it away like a super-fast wind.
This “wind” could stop the star formation process and slowly kill the galaxy, but it would also kill the black hole itself, because it would also cut off its source of “food.”
“This is a new era. The huge leap in sensitivity, especially in the infrared, is like upgrading from Galileo's telescope to a modern telescope overnight,” Dr. Maiorino said.
“Before Mr. Webb came online, I thought the universe beyond what the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope could see might not be all that interesting.”
“But that wasn't the case at all. The universe is very generous with what it shows us, and this is just the beginning.”
“Webb's sensitivity means that even older black holes may be discovered in the coming months or years,” he added.
“We hope to use Webb's future observations to find smaller 'seeds' of black holes. We hope to find out the different ways in which black holes form – do they start out large? “It may help us understand the different ways black holes can form, such as whether they grow rapidly or whether they grow quickly.”
a paper The survey results were published in a magazine Nature.
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R. Maiolino other. A small, active black hole that existed in the early universe. Nature, published online on January 17, 2023. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07052-5
A new genus and species of a large wind dragon that lived about 218 million years ago has been described from a large portion of its carapace discovered in Texas, USA.
Aerosaurus life restoration chest typothorax. Image credit: Smokeybjb.
Aitosaurus is an extinct quadrupedal heavily armored reptile aetosaurs.
Their name means “eagle lizard” and comes from the fact that their skull resembles that of a bird.
These creatures could reach lengths of up to 6 m (20 ft) and were geographically widespread during the Late Triassic.
“Aetosaurs are a group of quadrupedal armored reptiles whose terrestrial ecology is inferred to include both herbivory and omnivory,” said a paleontologist at the University of Texas at Austin. William Reyes and his colleagues.
“They have achieved a nearly global geographic distribution, but are stratigraphically restricted to the Late Triassic.”
“Most species of wind dragons reach a total length of 2 to 6 meters (6.6 to 20 feet).”
dubbing Garsapelta Murerithe newly identified species grew up to 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) long.
This extinct animal lived in what is now the United States during the Middle Triassic period, about 218 million years ago.
Hypothetical reconstruction of Garsapelta Mureri: (a) Carapace seen from the back, and (bf) cross-sectional view of the carapace seen from the back. Cross-sectional views of (b) posterior neck and anterior trunk, (c) mid-trunk, (d) posterior trunk and sacrum, (e) anterior caudal region, and (f) mid-caudal region. Arrows indicate anatomical direction. A – Anterior, D – Dorsal, L – Lateral, M – Medial. Image credit: Jeffrey Martz / Reyes other., doi: 10.1002/ar.25379.
Its fossilized skeleton was discovered. Cooper canyon formation Located in Garza County, Texas.
It was recovered with an associated carapace containing elements of both the left and right sides of the body.
The discovery of Garsapelta Mureri “This provides new insights into interspecific variation in the carapace of etosaurs,” the paleontologists said.
“It is clear that the morphology of the lateral osteoderm determines the final topological position of the bone. Garsapelta Murerirecover it as a sister taxon of . Desmatostini”
“The similarities between the two are Garsapelta Mureri, Rioaribascus chamensisand the paratipothrasin The discoveries from Colorado's Eagle Basin indicate a biostratigraphic range that we believe is probably limited to Revuelto's putative holochronozone (215 to 207 million years ago), but It suggests that we are working on the emergence of a new group of wind dragons that may be just as old. The latest Adamanian. ”
William A. Reyes other. Garsapelta Mureri generation. Such. In November, a new species of wind dragon (archosaur: pseudosaur) was discovered in the middle Cooper Canyon Formation of the late Triassic (middle Norian) in the Dokum Group, Texas, USA, and the morphological characteristics of the wind dragon's carapace. its impact on our understanding of difference; anatomical records, published online on January 11, 2024. doi: 10.1002/ar.25379
TOKYO — Japan will attempt a precision landing on Friday, aiming to become the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the moon. This would be a boost for a space program that has been hit by a wave of setbacks and overshadowed by rival China.
was namedmoon sniper'', the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s spacecraft is attempting to land within 100 meters (328 feet) of its target, but JAXA says the technology is unprecedented and that it will It is said to be essential in the search for human habitability.
Japan is increasingly seeking to play a larger role in space, partnering with Washington to counter China's military and technological might.Japan boast In collaboration with many private space startup companies, astronaut To the moon as part of NASA's Artemis program.
However, JAXA has faced multiple setbacks, including launch failure In March, a new flagship rocket, the H3, was announced, aimed at matching cost competitiveness with private rocket providers like SpaceX.
JAXA's Smart Lander for Lunar Exploration (SLIM) spacecraft will begin its 20-minute touchdown phase on a one-way mission at midnight Saturday (15:00 GMT Friday), covering an area about two kinetic tracks on the lunar surface. Attempt to land at the target location. The slope of a crater just south of the moon's equator.
“No other country has achieved this. If Japan can prove that it has this technology, it will provide a huge advantage for future international missions like Artemis,” said Shinichiro Sakai, JAXA's SLIM project manager. said.
Chandrayaan 3 in India in August Had made The historic touchdown to the Moon's South Pole was a major technological feat considering the rugged terrain and underlines India's rise as a nation. Major players In space.
JAXA emphasizes that its high-precision technology will be a powerful tool in future exploration of the hilly lunar poles, which are considered a potential source of oxygen, fuel and water. Japan is also planning an unmanned lunar polar exploration jointly with India in 2025.
Professor Kazuto Saiki of Ritsumeikan University, who developed the SLIM near-infrared camera that analyzes lunar rocks after landing, says, “Japan cannot compete with the United States, China, and India in terms of resources when it comes to developing lunar surface projects.'' .
“We should focus on building popular technologies such as pinpoint landings and near-infrared cameras that foreign exploration projects aim to adopt.”
JAXA has twice landed on small asteroids, but landing on the moon is much more difficult due to gravity, as seen in many recent failures.
Last year, a Japanese probe to start ispace crashes into the moon RussiaThe Luna 25 followed suit. A lander from American startup Astrobotic suffered a fuel leak last week. Force Giving up a touchdown attempt.
“Mistakes happen, but Japan is a very experienced space power and has been conducting very complex space operations for many years,” said Bredin Bowen, an associate professor at the University of Leicester who specializes in space policy. To tell.
“Japan may not be as big as the old United States or the Soviet Union or today's China, but it has always been there in terms of capability and niche advanced technology.''
SLIM's high-precision landing “won't be a game changer,” but its demonstration and the construction of lightweight spacecraft that Japan has been pursuing could reduce the cost of each mission and bring moonshots to space agencies around the world. Bowen added that there is.
JAXA says it will take up to a month to verify whether SLIM achieved its high-precision goals after touchdown.
Upon landing, SLIM will also deploy two mini-probes, a hopping vehicle the size of a microwave oven and a wheeled rover the size of a baseball, to take photos of the spacecraft. The robot was jointly developed by technology giant Sony Group, toy maker Takara Tomy, and several Japanese universities.
Launch of the Peregrine Lunar Module on a Vulcan rocket on January 8th
APFootage / Alamy Stock Photo
The mission of the Hayabusa lander is over. The American company that built Astrobotic, a lunar lander whose plans failed, was unable to complete its trip to the moon due to a fuel leak, so it was brought back and burned in Earth's atmosphere.
What was wrong with the Hayabusa lander?
Just seven hours after launching on a Vulcan rocket on January 8, engineers noticed that Peregrine wasn't facing the right direction and its solar panels weren't charging the batteries that power its electronics. Shortly afterward, it was discovered that fuel was leaking from the aircraft. It was eventually determined that the oxidizer tank had ruptured, probably due to a stuck valve, and that the leak had generated a small amount of thrust, causing the probe to change direction. By the time everything was figured out, Peregrine had already lost too much fuel to reach the moon, let alone perform the maneuvers needed to land gently on the moon.
The peregrine falcon was in space for days, but what was it doing all that time?
Astrobotic's engineers were able to correct Peregrine's orientation, and once the solar panels were oriented in the correct direction, the battery was charged. This will allow Peregrine operators to perform a quick test ignition of the main engine and power on the onboard spacecraft, allowing them to better understand the spacecraft's operation in space and determine what went wrong. Helpful. They also remotely switched on some scientific instruments and made measurements of radiation in interplanetary space that could provide useful scientific insights. By operating the spacecraft for several days, Astrobotic will also be able to decide whether to extend its mission in space by changing from its planned moon landing, or continue on its way back to Earth. I was given time to do it.
Why did it have to be brought back to Earth rather than left in space?
Although the peregrine falcon could have survived a little longer in Earth orbit, there were some risks to leaving it there. Eventually, the spacecraft will run out of fuel completely and become essentially a cannonball flying uncontrollably around the Earth. This type of space debris can cause significant damage to operating satellites.a statement The Astrobotic article says: “Ultimately, we have to balance the risk of a damaged spacecraft causing problems with our own desire to extend Peregrine's life, operate the payload, and learn more about the spacecraft. .”
Wouldn't it be dangerous to bring it back to Earth?
It's actually much safer to return the spacecraft to Earth. Satellites are regularly deorbited in this way, usually burning up in the incredible heat they experience as they plummet through the atmosphere. The falcon was also carefully targeted towards the Pacific Ocean just east of Australia to minimize the risk of any surviving debris hitting populated areas.
What about the other things Peregrine was carrying?
In addition to scientific instruments, the spacecraft also carried two controversial payloads sent into space by a company called Celestis, which provides what is called a “commemorative spaceflight.” These two vessels of hers contained cremated human remains. Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry and actors James Doohan and Nichelle Nichols. It is unclear whether the capsule survived Earth's atmosphere and ended up in the ocean.
Why do missions to the moon continue to fail?
Indeed, this is the third mission to land on the moon that has failed in the last year, but that's only partially due to the difficulty of sending a probe into space and making a soft landing hundreds of thousands of kilometers away. Lunar landing attempts have also increased significantly, many using new equipment and protocols that have not yet been tested. While there are understandably some growing pains, more moon landings are planned in the future, and Astrobotic executives are already discussing plans to try again.
After more than a week in space, the doomed lunar lander met a violent end Thursday as it burned up in Earth’s atmosphere, ending its mission.
A private spacecraft named Peregrine was designed to travel to the moon and settle on its surface. However, shortly after launching into orbit on January 8, the lander suffered a severe propellant leak, forcing operators to abort the entire mission.
Astrobotic Technology, the Pittsburgh-based company that developed the lander, said Thursday that the limp spacecraft safely burned up in Earth’s atmosphere in a remote stretch of the South Pacific Ocean at about 4:04 p.m. ET. announced.
in Updates posted on XThe company confirmed it had lost contact with the spacecraft just before 4 p.m. ET, suggesting the lander had re-entered the atmosphere, but officials said they were “waiting for independent confirmation from a government agency.” ” he added.
An early failure left the Peregrine lander with no means of reaching the moon. Astrobotic’s team fought for nine days to save the spacecraft and its onboard equipment and extend the remainder of the mission.
Engineers were able to stabilize the spacecraft, but Astrobotic said last week it would not be possible to attempt a controlled landing on the moon.
“We applaud @Astrobotic’s perseverance,” NASA announced Tuesday. Statement posted on X.
The Peregrine mission attracted attention because it was the first American lunar lander launched into space in more than 50 years. If successful, Peregrine would also have become the first commercially developed spacecraft to land on the moon.
Besides NASA, the former Soviet Union, China, and India are the only countries to have successfully made a controlled landing, or “soft landing,” on the moon’s surface. Japan aims to join that elite club on Friday when it attempts to land its Smart Lander for Lunar Exploration (SLIM).
Peregrine’s mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Module Services Program, which was established to encourage private companies to develop new lunar landers and ultimately help NASA bring cargo and scientific equipment to the lunar surface. You can now hire this lander for transport.
Another Houston-based company, Intuitive Machines, plans to launch its own commercially developed lander next month as part of the same NASA effort.
The Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program is part of the agency’s Artemis program, with the goal of returning astronauts to the Moon over the next few years, eventually establishing regular flights to the Moon, and building a lunar base camp. It is said that NASA recently announced the postponement of two upcoming Artemis missions, pushing back a lunar circumnavigation flight that was scheduled to launch later this year to 2025 and pushing back Artemis’s first landing attempt to next year.
A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive star
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg3005
Some 40,000 light-years away, a strange object could be either the heaviest neutron star or the lightest black hole ever seen, and it resides in a mysterious celestial void that astronomers have never directly observed. .
Neutron stars form when a star runs out of fuel and collapses due to gravity, creating a shock wave called a supernova and leaving behind an extremely dense core. Astrophysical calculations show that these nuclei must remain below a certain mass, about 2.2 times the mass of the Sun, or they will collapse further to form a black hole.
However, black holes have only been observed to have a mass more than five times that of the sun, leaving a gap in scale between neutron stars and black holes. Gravitational-wave observatories have observed several dense objects in this gap, but astronomers have never discovered them with conventional telescopes.
now, Ewan Barr Researchers at Germany's Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy discovered an object with 2.5 times the mass of the Sun by observing pulsars orbiting around it. A pulsar is a neutron star that emits pulses of light at regular millisecond intervals due to a strong magnetic field.
As predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, pulsars emit light with great regularity, but very large nearby objects can distort these rhythms. Dr. Barr and his team were able to calculate the mass of the pulsar's partner by observing the pulsar's pulses for more than a year using his MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa.
“What we've discovered in this binary system appears to go beyond that [upper limit for neutron star mass]This suggests that there is some new physics going on here and that this is either a new type of star, or simply a black hole, the lightest stellar-mass black hole yet discovered. “There will be,” Barr said.
Pulsars are located in globular clusters, which are dense regions of stars and some rare objects that can pass close to each other. These unusual interactions could explain the mysterious object, Barr said.
If it's a black hole, researchers will be able to test theories of gravity that weren't possible before. “A pulsar is just a ridiculously accurate measuring device in orbit around a black hole, but it's not going anywhere. It's going to be around for the next billion years,” Barr says. “So this is an incredibly stable and natural test bed for investigating the physics of black holes.”
“If it's a neutron star, it would be more massive than any neutron star we've ever seen,” he says. Christine Dunn At Durham University, UK. “This actually tells us about the ultimate density that a star can support before it collapses under its own gravity and becomes a black hole. We need to understand the physics of matter at such extreme densities. I don't know what the limits are.”
Barr and his team plan to observe the pulsar with other telescopes over the next few years, looking for clues about what the object is. If it were a black hole, we would see the pulsar's orbit change over time, as the black hole dragged through spacetime around it, much like a ship dragging a small boat behind it. Or if it's a neutron star, more sensitive instruments might be able to detect the light.
Artist's thoughts on SLIM after landing on the moon
JAXA
Japan is preparing for its first moon landing. The Smart Lunar Survey Lander (SLIM) is scheduled to land on the lunar surface on January 19th. If all goes well, Japan will become the fifth country to land a probe on the moon, following the United States, Soviet Union, China and India.
SLIM launched in September 2023 and took a long, narrow path to the moon, making a steep descent to conserve fuel. It entered lunar orbit in December and has since taken images of the lunar surface and slowly lowered its altitude in preparation for landing.
This spacecraft's landing technique is so precise that it has been nicknamed the “Moon Sniper.” It is designed to match images from its onboard camera with data from other lunar rovers to determine its location and autonomously navigate to a precise landing site. “[It] “We can expect 20 minutes of breathless, numbing fear,” said Kenji Kushiki, one of the mission managers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). in a statement.
If successful, future missions will be equipped to land exactly where they want to land, rather than within a few dozen square kilometers of their desired spot, as is the case today. “Lunar orbiting satellites… have provided a large amount of high-resolution observation data of the lunar surface,” Kushiki said. “Thus, interest in lunar science and resource exploration has shifted from 'somewhere on the moon's surface' to 'that rock next to this particular crater.'”
When the spacecraft lands, it releases a pair of probes with new and strange ways to travel across the moon's surface. Lunar Expedition Vehicle-1 (LEV-1) is designed to fly around rather than roam on wheels like traditional rovers. LEV-2 is a sphere slightly smaller than a tennis ball that was designed by toy manufacturers to roll on the ground. take a picture. The lander itself also carries scientific instruments to survey the area around the crater that will be the target of the landing.
The landing is part of a large-scale international effort to explore the moon. India's Chandrayaan-3 lander reached the moon's surface in August 2023, but there were a series of failures. A lander sent by Japan's iSpace company crashed last April, Russia's Luna 25 had a similar accident in August, and more recently the US crashed. Astrobotic's Peregrine lander suffered a fuel leak and failed to reach the moon. If this mission is successful, it could be the moment when lunar exploration gets back on track.
It is unclear which components of multivitamins are involved in improving cognitive function.
Asia Vision/Getty Images
Studies have shown that taking a daily multivitamin slows the rate of memory decline in older adults.
This study is the third randomized trial to yield such results, and adds to a growing body of evidence that multivitamins can slow age-related cognitive decline.
“The result is the equivalent of delaying cognitive aging by two years, which is huge,” he says. joan manson from Harvard Medical School was involved in all three clinical trials. These were part of a larger study, funded by the makers of cocoa supplements, to examine whether taking multivitamins and cocoa extract supplements could help prevent heart disease and cancer in people over 60.
Some participants also took a memory test designed to measure whether any of the supplements were having a psychological effect.
The latest trial compared both types of supplements with a placebo pill in 573 people who took in-person memory tests at the start of the study and two years later. Those who took a multivitamin called Centrum Silver performed slightly better on memory tests than those who took a placebo pill.
This is similar to the results of two other arms of a large study that administered memory tests to people online or over the phone.
“The results of this study suggest that multivitamins hold promise as a safe and affordable strategy to protect memory and slow cognitive aging in older adults,” Munson says.
It is unclear which components of multivitamins are responsible for their effects.
Duane Mellor The British Dietetic Association says the trial was not designed to investiage memory effects and further research specifically set up to study this issue is needed. “The results need to be treated with caution,” he says. “It's not a definitive study.”
Robots that can grow around trees and rocks like vines could be used to construct buildings or measure pollution in hard-to-reach natural environments.
Vine-like robots are not new, but they are often designed to rely only on a single sense, such as heat or light, to grow upwards, making them less effective than others in certain environments. It doesn't work well.
Emanuela del Dottore The Italian Institute of Technology and colleagues have developed a new version called FiloBot that can use light, shadow, or gravity as a guide. It grows by wrapping a plastic filament into a cylindrical shape, adding a new layer to the body just behind the head that contains the sensor.
“Our robot has a built-in microcontroller that can process multiple stimuli and direct growth at a precise location, namely at the tip, ensuring that the structure of the body is preserved.” she says.
According to Dottore, having such fine control over the direction of the tip means the robot can easily navigate unfamiliar terrain by wrapping around trees and using shadowed areas of leaves as guideposts. This means that it can be moved.
FiloBot grows at approximately 7 millimeters per minute. Although slower than many traditional robots, this gentler progress could mean less disruption to sensitive natural environments, she says.
The researchers don't know exactly what the robot will be used for at this point, but they hope it can be deployed to collect data in areas that are difficult for humans to reach, such as the tops of trees.
The first members of our species to reach China may have entered this region from the north
Esteban de Armas / Alamy
Modern humans lived in what is now China by 45,000 years ago. This discovery means our species arrived in this region thousands of years earlier than commonly thought, probably via a northern route through present-day Siberia and Mongolia.
A team co-led by Francesco d'Errico Researchers from the University of Bordeaux in France reexamined an archaeological site in northern China called Shiyu. Originally, he was excavated in 1963 during the turbulent period of China's Cultural Revolution. “It couldn't have been a better time to find such an important site,” D'Errico says.
Shiyu is an outdoor site located in a river gorge. There, 30 meters deep, sand and other sediments were deposited, which the first excavators divided into four horizontal layers, from the bottom of which the second layer contained human It was found that there was evidence of residence in
Excavators discovered more than 15,000 stone artifacts and thousands of animal bones. There was also part of a hominin skull, which anthropologist Wu Lukang identified as a modern human.homo sapiens).
Some of the artifacts were later transferred to the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing. However, those left behind at the local facility were lost, including the hominin bones. “We own maybe 10 percent of the stone tools,” D'Errico says.
D'Errico and his colleagues re-excavated Shiyu to determine its age. They dated 15 sediment samples using a technique called photostimulated luminescence and carbon-dated 10 animal bones and teeth. The hominid layer is approximately 44,600 years old.
D'Errico believes the excavator was “knowledgeable” and correctly identified the skull.
The Shuyu tribe is probably homo sapienssay Alina Katzenovic from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology in Novosibirsk, Russia, was not involved in the study.
The new study therefore suggests that modern humans arrived in northern China about 45,000 years ago. This would postpone the arrival of our species to China by about 5,000 years.Derico claims to be the next oldest homo sapiens China's site Tengen Cave 40,000 years ago.
Some researchers argue that our species may have arrived earlier than that, up to 260,000 years ago. However, D'Errico points out that researchers: criticized much of the evidence As for the presence of such early humans in this region.
Humans probably entered Asia from Africa and spread through multiple routes, Katzenovich said. They not only explored the tropical southern regions of Asia, but also headed further north. Katzenovich says there are signs of modern human presence in the area. Obi Rakhmat Cave Uzbekistan 48,800 years ago. Perhaps our species reached Shiyu and then China via this route. north route.
When modern humans reached new areas, they encountered hominids that were already living there, such as Neanderthals and Denisovans further east. Genetic evidence shows that we interbred with them. There may also have been cultural exchanges, and the Shiyu artifacts also include what appear to be more ancient human tools.
There is also evidence of long-distance contact. The Shiyu team identified four fragments of obsidian, a volcanic glass. They were able to track them as far as 800 and 1000 kilometers northeast of Shiyu. D'Errico said it was unlikely that the residents traveled this distance themselves, so they were probably part of the group's network. In line with this, Kazenovich said some of Shiyu's artifacts resemble items found as far east as Korea.
The image on the right is the latest and best image of a black hole.
EHT collaboration
Thanks to an update to the world’s first black hole image taken a year later, we now have the most detailed observation of a black hole to date.
In 2019, researchers released an image of the supermassive black hole known as M87*, located 55 million light-years away at the center of galaxy M87. The image, the world’s first glimpse of a black hole, was taken during the first observations in 2017 by a network of radio astronomical observatories around the world called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT).
Now, the EHT collaboration has released tracking images of M87* taken during 2018 observations using additional telescopes in Greenland.
As the name suggests, these objects do not emit light, so the light in the image does not come out of the black hole. What we see instead is the silhouette of a black hole at the center of a mass of hot material, pulled inward by its powerful gravity.
“This image tells us that the black hole’s shadow is permanent and still exists,” says the EHT scientist. Eduardo Ross. “You can see that the ring is a beautiful circle. It’s very circular, not an oval or anything. We also see an enhancement on the south side in this ring, which is what we expected.”
This enhancement, visible as a slightly bright glow under the slightly displaced shadow of M87*, is due to the distortion of space-time associated with the black hole’s rotation (as explained by Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity). This is due to
The additional telescopes have slightly increased the resolution of the images, greatly increasing the amount of data that can be cross-referenced with observations from other telescopes. However, less than ideal weather made viewing conditions difficult. This means the resolution is not as high as theoretically expected, Ross says.
The distribution of ions at the air-water interface plays a decisive role in many natural processes. Some studies suggest that large ions tend to exhibit interfacial activity, suggesting that the ions sit above the water surface, thereby inducing an electric field that determines the interfacial water structure. But new research by chemists at the University of Cambridge and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research casts doubt on this view. Their results show that ions in typical electrolyte solutions are actually located in subsurface regions and that such interfaces stratify into two characteristic aqueous layers.
Littman other. They show that the ions and water molecules at the surface of most aqueous salt solutions, known as electrolyte solutions, are organized in a completely different way than previously understood.Image credit: Littmann other., doi: 10.1038/s41557-023-01416-6.
Many important reactions related to climate and environmental processes occur where water molecules come into contact with air.
For example, ocean water evaporation plays an important role in atmospheric chemistry and climate science.
Understanding these responses is critical to efforts to reduce human impact on the planet.
The distribution of ions at the air-water interface can influence atmospheric processes. However, accurately understanding the microscopic reactions at these important interfaces has been hotly debated.
Dr. Yair Littman of the University of Cambridge and his colleagues set out to study how water molecules are affected by the distribution of ions at the very point where air and water meet.
Traditionally, this has been done with a technique called oscillatory sum frequency generation (VSFG).
Using this laser irradiation technique, it is possible to directly measure molecular vibrations at these key interfaces.
However, while the strength of the signal can be measured, this technique does not measure whether the signal is positive or negative, which has previously made the results difficult to interpret. Furthermore, using only experimental data can lead to ambiguous results.
The authors overcame these challenges by utilizing a more sophisticated form of VSFG, called heterodyne detection (HD)-VSFG, to study different electrolyte solutions.
We then developed sophisticated computer models to simulate the interface in various scenarios.
The combined results showed that both positively charged ions, called cations, and negatively charged ions, called anions, are depleted from the water-air interface.
The cations and anions of simple electrolytes orient water molecules both upward and downward.
This is a reversal of the textbook model that teaches that ions form an electric double layer, orienting water molecules in only one direction.
“Our study shows that the surface of a simple electrolyte solution has a different ion distribution than previously thought, and that the ion-rich subsurface determines the composition of the interface. .At the top you have a few layers of pure water, then you have the ions, the “dense layer,'' and finally the bulk salt solution,'' Dr. Littman said.
“Our paper shows that combining high-level HD-VSFG with simulation is a valuable tool that contributes to the molecular-level understanding of liquid interfaces,” said Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research researchers said Dr. Kuo-Yang Chiang. .
“These kinds of interfaces exist everywhere on Earth, and studying them not only helps our fundamental understanding, but can also lead to the development of better devices and technologies.” said Professor Misha Bonn, also of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research.
“We are applying these same methods to study solid/liquid interfaces, which could have applications in batteries and energy storage.”
of study It was published in the magazine natural chemistry.
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Y. Littman other. Surface stratification determines the structure of interfacial water in simple electrolyte solutions. nut.chemistry, published online on January 15, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41557-023-01416-6
In bottom trawling, a weighted net is dragged across the ocean floor.
NarisaFotoSS/Shutterstock
Bottom trawling releases about 340 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, according to the first study to estimate these emissions. This represents almost 1% of the world's CO2 emissions, but is a major contribution that has been overlooked until now.
Trawling involves dragging a weighted net across the ocean floor to capture bottom-dwelling fish, crustaceans, and shellfish. Although this method of fishing is widely used around the world, it is controversial because the fishing gear damages undersea environments such as cold-water reefs. Some corals are thousands of years old.
“Trawling is a highly destructive fishing method as the nets and weights dragged along the bottom destroy marine habitat, which can take years to rebuild and recover.” he says. Micah Peck from the University of Sussex, UK, was not involved in the study.
It also stirs up sediment, releasing the oxygen needed by microorganisms to break down organic matter into carbon dioxide. Otherwise, these deposits could continue to accumulate for thousands of years, with the organic matter within them preserved by low-oxygen conditions. This means that carbon is effectively trapped.
In 2021, trisha atwood Researchers at Utah State University in Logan combined a study that looked at the amount of carbon dioxide released during trawling with data on the global scale of trawling. global fishing watch.The team concluded that released in large quantities into the seawater.
But the big unanswered question was how much of the CO2 released from the sediments would be emitted into the atmosphere.
“A lot of countries and different institutions started contacting us about that research,” Atwood says. “But they basically said, as long as it just stays in the ocean, we don't really care.”
So the team teamed up with researchers who had developed computer models of ocean circulation. According to these models, about 55 percent of the CO2 released into the water by trawling will be released into the atmosphere after nine years.
“I was surprised that more than half of them came out,” Atwood said. “And it shows up very quickly.”
According to the global carbon budget, the total amount of CO is2 emissions from human activities Increased to 40.9 billion tons Therefore, if the team's estimates are correct, trawling accounts for about 0.8 percent of global emissions. Air and maritime transport: 2.8%.
Conservationists say the discovery strengthens the case for reducing trawling. “Many marine habitats are trawled at least once a year, resuspending sediment and releasing carbon into the atmosphere,” Peck said. “Banning destructive fishing practices is key to the future of healthy marine ecosystems and the marine ecosystems that depend on them.”
“Measures to reduce the carbon impact of trawling gear are urgently needed, but they must be done as part of a just transition,” said Gareth Cunningham. marine conservation association, is calling for a ban on trawling in so-called marine reserves around the UK. “There is no one-size-fits-all model and solutions will vary by location.”
However, not all researchers are satisfied with this number. “I'm very skeptical of their estimates,” he says. Jan Gerd Hiddink At Bangor University, UK.
Hiddink believes that much of the carbon that reaches the ocean floor is in forms that are difficult to decompose, such as bones, and that carbon is not released even when sediments are disturbed.Atwood's team is probably overestimate emissions Up to 1000x, he claims.
Atwood said this estimate is based on actual measurements. “We conducted a study to measure the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from the ocean floor in areas where trawling takes place,” she says.
She says that the amount of carbon dioxide emitted could be more or less than these studies suggest, although there is a lot of uncertainty because so few such studies have been done. says.
Mr Atwood says the government needs to start calculating the carbon footprint of trawling. “This allows us to decide whether emissions should be regulated,” she says.
What is clear is that Global Fishing Watch's trawling data is based on boats sending automatic signals to satellites, and many trawlers do not have such systems, so the extent of trawling remains under-studied. That means it's bigger than expected.
“We know that we underestimate the global scale and perhaps the intensity of trawling,” Atwood says.
The trawling industry also has an opportunity to sell carbon credits in exchange for reduced emissions, she says. “If you were to put a price on it in today's independent market, it's a $100 million market.”
used by astronomers CSIRO's Australian Telescope Compact Array captured the most detailed radio images ever seen of the 47-member Tukanae star cluster, the second brightest globular cluster in the night sky.
paduano other. identified new radio sources (white squares) at the center of 47 Tucanae (red circles).Image credit: Paduano other., doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad0e68.
Tucanae 47, also known as NGC 104, is a massive ancient globular cluster located approximately 15,300 light-years south of the constellation Tucanae.
At about 120 light-years in diameter, this cluster is so large that despite its distance, it appears to be about the same size as the full moon.
Home to millions of stars, 47 Tucanae is one of the brightest and most massive globular clusters known and is visible to the naked eye.
“Globular clusters are very old, gigantic balls of stars found around the Milky Way. They are incredibly dense, with tens to millions of stars packed together inside the ball.” said Dr. Arash Bahramian, astronomer at the Curtin University Node of the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR).
“Our images are of 47 Tucanae, one of the most massive globular clusters in the galaxy. It has more than a million stars and a very bright, very dense core.”
The ultra-high-sensitivity radio images of 47 species of Tucanidae were created from more than 450 hours of observations with CSIRO's Australian Telescope Compact Array (ATCA).
“The 47 Tukanae are visible to the naked eye and were first cataloged in the 1700s,” Dr. Bahramian said.
“By imaging in great detail, we were able to discover an incredibly faint radio signal at the center of the cluster that was previously undetectable.”
“The detection of the signal is an exciting discovery and can be attributed to one of two possibilities,” said Dr. Alessandro Paduano, also from ICRAR's Curtin University Node.
“First, the 47 Tukanae may contain black holes with masses between the supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies and the stellar black holes created by collapsing stars. .”
“Intermediate-mass black holes are thought to exist within globular clusters, but they have not yet been clearly detected.”
“If this signal turns out to be a black hole, it would be a very important discovery and the first radio detection of a black hole in a star cluster.”
The second possible source is a pulsar. This is a rotating neutron star that emits radio waves.
“This is an interesting discovery scientifically, as a pulsar so close to the center of a cluster could be used to search for as yet undetected central black holes,” Paduano said.
NASA’s Stardust mission returned rocky material from the coma of comet 81P/Wild 2 (pronounced “Wild-2”) to Earth on January 15, 2006. Comet Wild 2 contains volatile ice, which may have accreted beyond Neptune’s orbit. The Wild 2 sample was expected to be rich in primordial molecular cloud material, i.e., interstellar and circumstellar particles. Instead, it turns out that Wild 2’s interstellar component is very small, and nearly all of the returned particles formed in a wide and diverse region of the solar nebula. Although some features of the Wild 2 material resemble primitive chondrite meteorites, the diversity of its composition attests to a very different origin and evolutionary history from asteroids. Wild 2 has very little impact debris from asteroids, and may have accreted dust from the outer and inner Solar System before the solar nebula dispersed.
Comet 81P/Wild 2. Image courtesy of NASA.
wild 2 is a small comet in the shape of a flat sphere, approximately 1.65 x 2 x 2.75 km (1.03 x 1.24 x 1.71 miles).
Discovered by Paul Wilde on January 6, 1978, this comet has an orbital period of 6.2 years.
Wild 2 is known as a fresh periodic comet. It orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, but it did not always follow this orbit.
Originally, this comet’s orbit was between the orbits of Uranus and Jupiter. On September 9, 1974, a gravitational interaction between Wild 2 and Jupiter changed its orbital period from her 43 years to her 6.2 years.
“Eighteen years after NASA’s Stardust mission returned the first known sample from a comet to Earth, the true nature of the icy object is coming into focus,” says the new study. said author Ryan Oriol, a researcher at Washington University in St. Louis.
“When Stardust launched in 1999, many scientists predicted that the comet’s rocky material would be dominated by the primordial dust that built our solar system, the ‘stardust’ from which the mission takes its name. I was there.”
“But the actual samples told a different story: Wild 2 contained a potpourri of dust formed from various early events in the solar system’s history.”
For Dr. Oriole, the discovery that Wild 2 contained records of “local” events was exciting.
“This comet was a witness to the events that shaped the solar system into what we see today,” he said.
“Because the comet was kept in a cold storage in space for almost its entire life, it avoided the heat and water alterations seen in asteroid samples.”
“Comet Wild 2 contains things never seen before in a meteorite, including rare carbon and iron assemblages and precursors to the igneous globules that make up the most common type of meteorite. . And all of these objects are beautifully preserved within Wild 2.”
“Almost 20 years later, scientists have had enough time to analyze the tiny amounts of material returned from the Stardust mission, less than a milligram (think a grain of sand). You might see it.”
“But this material is dispersed into thousands of tiny particles on a collector the size of a pizza.”
“Almost every Wild 2 particle is unique and has a different story to tell. Extracting and analyzing these grains is a time-consuming process. But the scientific benefits are huge. .”
“Most of the Wild 2 particles have not yet been studied and certainly hold many more surprises. Over time, we will be able to study the samples using new techniques that did not exist at the start of the mission.” Masu.”
“Stardust samples, microscopic particles taken from celestial bodies less than two miles wide, contain a deep record of the past that spans billions of miles. After 18 years of studying this comet, we have We now have a better understanding of the dynamic formative period.”
study Published in Journal November 2023 issue geochemistry.
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Ryan C. Oriol. 2023. Comet 81P/Wild 2: A record of the solar system’s wild youth. geochemistry 83 (4): 126046; doi: 10.1016/j.chemer.2023.126046
Paleontologists from the CSIC National Museum of Natural History have identified a new genus and species of medium-sized cat from a partial jaw found in the urban area of Madrid, Spain.
Mandible, skull, masticatory muscles, and life-like reconstruction Mageliferis Pegnai. Image credit: Jesus Gamarra.
A new breed of cat, its name is Mageliferis Pegnai lived in what is now Spain about 15.5 million years ago (mid Miocene).
belonged to felineThey have a bony hyoid bone, which allows them to purr, but not to roar.
Fossilized remains are Mageliferis Pegnai They were discovered in 2007 at Principe Pio-2, a recently discovered fossil locality located in the urban limits of the city of Madrid, Spain.
The specimen is very well preserved, showing a complete hemimandible and all teeth except the incisors.
It is very complete and in very good preservation, providing very interesting information for making paleoecological inferences about this new feline.
“We recovered a nearly complete jaw with almost all teeth preserved in exceptional condition,” Dr. Siliceo said.
“What was most surprising was that underneath it was a small second molar, a tooth that does not exist in all modern and fossil cats. pro airlus”
“Compared to modern cats, the half-jaw of cats is Mageliferis Pegnai Principe's Pío-2 is felis sylvestrisindicates a similar size. caracal caracal, Reptile Lus Servaland Lynx'' said the paleontologists.
“Nevertheless, if we show the mandibles of these species with the same mandibular length for ease of comparison, the dentition of the new species is clearly smaller than that of the latter species, giving the specimen a more robust appearance; Has a relatively robust appearance; high mandibular body very similar to larger mandibular body Lynx”
According to the authors, Mageliferis Pegnai It is thought that they were able to generate a powerful bite force when hunting, which allowed them to kill relatively large prey.
“The Principe pio-2 feline may have preyed on relatively larger prey than other extant felines of similar size,” the researchers said.
their paper this month, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
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Manuel J. Salesa other. Unraveling the diversity of early cats: A new genus of cats (Carnivora, Felidae) from the mid-Miocene of Madrid (Spain). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, published online on January 9, 2024. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2023.2288924
According to a new study, Greenland’s ice sheet has lost approximately 1,965 square miles to glacier retreat since 1985, which is about the same area as the state of Delaware. The study utilized satellite images to track the retreat and discovered that iceberg collapse is accelerating in Greenland, with previous analyses potentially underestimating its impact. The authors of the study noted that the current estimates of ice sheet mass balance may underestimate recent mass loss from Greenland by up to 20%. In recent decades, nearly all of Greenland’s glaciers have thinned or retreated.
The study, published in the journal Nature, is another indication that Greenland’s ice is melting at a rapid rate. There is growing concern among scientists that global warming could trigger a major ice sheet tipping point. If Greenland’s ice completely melts, sea levels could rise by almost 7 feet and change ocean circulation patterns. Additionally, the study suggests that the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change may be underestimating how much ice is being lost in Greenland.
Several studies published last year highlighted Greenland’s rapid changes, including one that found the rate of glacier retreat in the 21st century to be twice as fast as the 20th century. Another study showed that floating ice shelves in northern Greenland have lost over 35% of their total volume and are weakening, which could threaten ice sheet stability.
In November, a report by 60 leading snow and ice scientists raised concerns about the fate of the world’s ice sheets, warning that if global average temperatures rise to about 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial baselines, the planet could see sea level rise of more than 40 feet in the coming centuries. The report also indicates that by 2 degrees Celsius, most of Greenland, most of West Antarctica, and vulnerable parts of East Antarctica will have a very long-term chance of warming, leading to relentless sea level rise and decline.
Do not panic! Disease X doesn’t exist yet, but it might someday. Disease The term, coined in 2017, can be used to mean a newly discovered pathogen or a known pathogen with newly acquired pandemic potential. According to the latter definition, covid-19 was the first disease X. However, in the future another disease may appear.
Why are people talking about it now?
The World Health Organization is warning world leaders about the risks of future pandemics at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, this week. “Some people say this could cause panic,” says WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “No. It’s happened so many times in our history that it’s better to anticipate what might happen and be prepared for it.”
What will be the next disease, X?
We don’t know – that’s why it’s called Disease X. Coronaviruses, a large group of viruses, have long been seen as prime candidates for causing new pandemics, even before the COVID-19 outbreak. That’s because the new coronavirus was not the first dangerous pathogen in this group. In 2002, another coronavirus began to spread in China. It caused a type of pneumonia called SARS, which killed about one in 10 people who contracted it, before being stopped by strict infection control measures. Another more deadly coronavirus, called MERS, occasionally occurs and causes pneumonia that kills one in three people infected. However, recent research suggests that it will be more difficult for SARS and MERS to cause new pandemics. That’s because almost everyone in the world now has antibodies to the virus that causes COVID-19, and these appear to offer partial protection against most other pathogens in the coronavirus family. It is.
Are there any other candidates with pandemic potential?
Many diseases, some well-known and some less well-known, can pose a global threat. Influenza strains have caused several global pandemics in the past, including the 1918 “Spanish Flu,” one of the deadliest diseases in history. A highly virulent avian influenza virus is currently sweeping the world, and birds can sometimes infect mammals. causing mass deaths. Just this week, he was named as the culprit behind the deaths of 17,000 baby elephant seals in Argentina last October. There are other sources of infection, including Ebola, which causes severe bleeding, and Zika, a virus transmitted by mosquitoes that can cause babies to have smaller heads if infected during pregnancy. WHO updated its report List of pathogens with the highest pandemic potential In 2022.
What can be done to stop disease X?
There’s some good news. The COVID-19 pandemic may have made it easier to stop future Disease X outbreaks. COVID-19 has spurred the development of new vaccine designs, including those that can be quickly repurposed to target new pathogens. For example, this has led to the emergence of mRNA-based vaccines. The formula contains a short piece of genetic material that causes the body’s immune cells to produce the coronavirus’s “spike” protein, but can be updated to allow the cells to mass-produce a different protein by simply rewriting the mRNA sequence. there is a possibility.
Is there anything else I can do to fight disease X?
Mr Tedros said countries needed better early warning systems for emerging diseases and health services needed to be more resilient to unexpected spikes in demand. “When hospitals exceed capacity, [with covid], we lost a lot of people because we couldn’t manage them. There wasn’t enough space and there wasn’t enough oxygen. ” Tedros said health services must be able to scale up response capacity on demand to avoid the same thing happening when Disease X occurs. Fortunately, they can make such preparations without knowing exactly what disease X will be. “Disease X is a placeholder,” he says. “You can prepare for any illness.”
Robot dodecahedron mounted on a submersible (circled area)
brennan phillips
The robotic dodecahedron can capture fragile deep-sea animals, collect tissue samples, and build three-dimensional scans of the creatures, potentially speeding up the cataloging of deep-sea life. Up to 66% of marine species are still unknown to science.
brennan phillips RAD2 Sampler and colleagues at the University of Rhode Island have developed the RAD2 Sampler, which is designed to be mounted on any submersible to collect fresh tissue samples in situ from living animals. They hope this will reveal more about the creature than existing techniques, which are typically exposed to stress when pulled up from the depths.
RAD2 is a dodecahedron with an internal volume large enough to hold a basketball. It can be folded and unfolded on command to temporarily capture organisms for detailed examination and take small tissue samples that are stored directly on board the submarine for later genetic analysis. It is designed to.
The ultimate goal is to take a small biopsy and release the animal relatively unscathed, but RAD2's current technique (called tissue cutting) is “a little more crude,” Phillips said.
RAD2 has already been tested on two expeditions, collecting up to 14 tissue samples a day at a depth of around 1200 meters. “We could get small pieces of tissue, and sometimes we could get whole animals,” he says. “It depended on how big it was. So I can't say we've been able to release the animal unharmed after that, but we're moving towards that.”
The robot sampler is also equipped with a 4K resolution video camera to capture high-quality footage of the animal in motion, and a virtual model of the animal is constructed by various 3D scanning devices. In the future, Phillips said, he might be able to put sensors on each of his 12 sides of the dodecahedron and take different measurements of living things at once.
Phillips called other sampling methods “outdated” and said they essentially require people to manually put things into jars for later analysis, or use submersibles to do the same thing. Masu.
Preservation at the point of collection using RAD2 improves the quality of tissue samples and also allows researchers to detect which genes are expressed, further informing animal behavior and physiology. Phillips said it could shed some light. “This is a luxury item,” he says. “This is the best you can get with this animal, better than anyone we’ve ever had.”
eva stewart Researchers at the University of Southampton in the UK say that while digital data on deep-sea life can be a useful tool for research, there is no substitute for capturing and preserving entire samples.
“There are thousands of type specimens here. [at the university]” says Stewart.Some of them were collected by Swedish scientists carl linnaeusShe died in 1778 and says: Once you have the specimen, you are done. Even as our science changes, we can keep coming back to it. ”
But Stewart said underwater scans are useful for gelatinous and other delicate animals that are difficult to collect intact, and for how the creatures behave in their natural environment, rather than after being hoisted onto the deck of a boat. I agree that it may be helpful to understand.
“We've been conducting research to examine gene expression in sea cucumbers because we want to understand how sea cucumbers behave when they're stressed or affected by things like climate change,” says Stewart. he says. “But when you collect them and bring them to the surface, it's stressful. So being able to harvest tissue from them in a more natural way means you know what their natural baseline is, so they can It means we may be able to see more clearly what happens when placed in different environments.”
You can learn more about david atance del olmo Researchers from the University of Alcalá in Spain analyzed mortality data from 194 countries from 1990 to 2010. These countries can generally be classified into five groups according to longevity trends.
The group with the highest life expectancy consisted of countries with the highest incomes, including Australia, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the rest of Western Europe. Rwanda and Uganda were the only groups with the lowest life expectancy.
Comparing the average life expectancy of men and women in these countries, men in Rwanda and Uganda experienced the largest increase in life expectancy, from just 30.85 years in 1990 to 45.22 years, an increase of 14.37 years in 2010. became. Life expectancy for women in these countries increased by just 0.94 years from 50.37 years to 51.31 years during this period.
Among the group with the longest life expectancy, the average life expectancy in 1990 was 4.84 years, favoring women. This decreased slightly to 4.77 years for her in 2010, but researchers predict that the gap will narrow further, reaching 3.4 years for him by 2030.
The researchers observed the same trends for three other groups of countries.
Although the researchers only looked at data through 2010, they expect similar trends to continue into the present. However, they acknowledge that COVID-19 may have had an impact on human life expectancy, particularly for men.
In recent decades, both men and women have benefited from medical advances and increased awareness of diseases such as AIDS, Del Olmo said. Smoking and alcohol-related deaths, which particularly affect men, were also down, which may have contributed to narrowing the gap in life expectancy between men and women, he said.
“This study is consistent with epidemiological trends that suggest global life expectancy is increasing and gender disparities are narrowing over time,” he says. Brandon Yang at the University of California, San Francisco.
Tardigrade observed using a fluorescence microscope.Some organs are highlighted with fluorescent markers
Smythers et al/PLoS ONE (CC-BY 4.0)
Tardigrades are known for their ability to withstand extreme environments, and we now know how they do this. Small molecular sensors inside cells can detect when harmful molecules called free radicals are produced in excess, causing a state of dormancy.
Tardigrades, also known as tardigrades, are eight-legged microscopic invertebrates found throughout the world. Under adverse conditions such as sub-zero temperatures and strong radiation, the creatures shrink into a dry ball called a tongue and enter a deep hibernation state.
“Tardigrades do not breed under extreme conditions, but they can overwinter.” Derrick Colling At Marshall University in West Virginia. “We wanted to understand how they could step in there.”
To study, Kolling and colleagues exposed tardigrades to high levels of hydrogen peroxide, sugar, salt, or temperatures of -80°C (-112°F) to induce Tun. As a result of these stresses, tardigrades produce harmful, highly reactive molecules called oxygen free radicals.
The free radicals then go on to react with other molecules, team members say. leslie hix At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Importantly, the research team discovered that free radicals oxidize an amino acid called cysteine, which is one of the building blocks of proteins in the body. These reactions change protein structure and function and signal the onset of quiescence.
In experiments where cysteine oxidation was prevented, tardigrades were unable to enter the tun state. “Cysteine acts like a kind of regulatory sensor,” Hicks says. “This allows the tardigrade to sense its environment and respond to stress.”
When conditions improved, the researchers discovered that the cysteine was no longer oxidized and instructed the tardigrades to wake up from the tongue.
“Whether this is a universally conserved protection mechanism and whether this is conserved across tardigrade species is a really important question,” Hicks says. Her answers, she says, could help us better understand the aging process and how to make long-term space travel a reality.
Two weeks before the pandemic lockdown in March 2020, I flew to Tucson, Arizona, and knocked on the door of a suburban ranch-style home. I was there to visit Stuart Hameroff. He is an anesthesiologist and co-inventor with Nobel Prize-winning physicist Roger Penrose of a radical proposal for how conscious experience arises: that the origins of conscious experience lie in quantum phenomena in the brain.
Such ideas, in one form or another, have existed on the fringes of mainstream consciousness research for decades. There is no solid experimental evidence that quantum effects occur in the brain, as critics claim, and aside from a clear idea of how quantum effects produce consciousness, they come in from the cold. Not that it was. “It was very popular to bash us,” Hameroff told me.
But after a week of questioning him about the concept, I realized that at least his version of quantum consciousness is widely misunderstood. Partly, I think it’s Hameroff’s fault. He gives the impression of a single package. In fact, his ideas are a series of independent proposals, each forcing us to confront important questions about the relationship between fundamental physics, biology, and the indescribable thing called consciousness.
Furthermore, during my visit I saw several experiments that Hameroff had proposed come to fruition, and it became clear that his ideas could be applied to experimental research. Researchers have now provided preliminary evidence suggesting that fragile quantum states can persist in the brain and that anesthetics can influence those states.
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