Tag Archives: shows

Most cats at cat shows found to be lounging around

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intentional cat-likeness

Will cats continue to adopt their famously adorable, overbearing “cat-like” demeanor when forced to endure tons of attention from an enthusiastic public? Simona Cannas and colleagues at the University of Milan in Italy have produced some data that may draw attention to this question.

Their research, “Evaluation of cat behavior during cat shows” was published in the Veterinary Behavior Journal, focusing on the 82 cats at the cat show. (Researchers use technical terminology to describe the event as a “feline exposition.”)

They collected the data with great care. “An observer stood in front of the cage once every hour from 10:00 to 17:00, a total of 8 times for each cat.”

“An analysis of the behavior exhibited by cats on the day of the fair revealed that most of the cats were sleeping (93.9%), resting (62.2%), and looking at their surroundings (92.7%).”

The researchers’ conclusions are still up for debate as to what these cats had in mind. The study concluded that “the cat show environment represents a stressful and stimulating situation for cats. Nevertheless, our results identified few behaviors that cause discomfort or stress. Hmm…further research is needed to confirm and deepen our results.”

What a thread

Very long and thin things make a huge difference in what is possible depending on the length-to-thin ratio that catches the eye of mathematicians.

According to a press release, Researchers at North Carolina State University welcome the development of a “filamentary supercapacitor.” The name comes from the fact that the device is thread-like and can act as a capacitor, storing and releasing electrical charge in a controlled manner. The press release quotes Wei Gao, co-inventor of the technology.

She said: “Imagine being able to make a thread, a regular textile thread, that also becomes a battery. You can basically hide it in your clothes. You will be able to add additional functionality.”

We may be entering an era of thin technology.

As Feedback pointed out (October 1, 2022), the new city planned as part of Saudi Arabia’s Neom project is designed to be 170,000 meters long and 200 meters wide. Could North Carolina’s filamentous supercapacitor technology be integrated into the exoskeletons of Saudi Arabia’s cities? It would be a dramatic leap into the future for a country that claims to want to break away from its current economic dependence on oil.

This suddenly almost plausible possibility is indicative of the foresight of former Duchess of Windsor Wallis Simpson, who wrote almost a century ago that “one can never be too rich or too thin.” He is said to have said.

Measuring addiction

The old saying “If it can be measured, it must be important” has haunted many research efforts to explain why it is important to measure two out of five fingers on a person’s hand. Specifically, the second and fourth fingers. The two-finger quest is similar to addiction in a way. In some cases, this exploration considers addiction itself, perhaps better understood by measuring fingers.

Typically, explanations for finger proportions have spread in vague form, with the idea that hormone levels in the womb before birth somehow explain the relative length of a person’s fingers years later.

There are many and imaginative studies focusing on finger ratios. The types of important mysteries that researchers are trying to explain vary widely.

How diverse is it? Here we introduce some of the themes that have been addressed in numerical ratio research published in recent years. “Hunting success among Hadza hunters.” University students’ religious beliefs. “Parental income disparity and children’s digit ratio.” Artistic ability. “Age at first marriage among semi-nomadic people in Namibia.” “Psychological characteristics in a sample of cave explorers.” A bite wound caused during a fight. “Management Skills of Managers Employed in Public and Private Organizations in Udaipur City”; and “Number of Sex Partners”.

And addiction. Mehmet Gülcan Gülok and his colleagues from various institutions in Turkey recently published “Second to fourth digit (2D:4D) ratio for heroin and cannabis addicts” in the Journal of Ethnicity in Drug Abuse. Like most digit ratio studies, this one was done with great care. “We took the subject’s 2D and 4D lengths using a sensitive caliper and calculated 2D:4D.” And as always, it’s full of promise. “Our findings seem promising regarding whether prenatal hormonal factors are important in the pathogenesis of addiction.”

denver sniff test

If something and the headline seems odd, it might be worth considering. Anyone who stumbles across a gruesome study by an American environmental scientist may initially react to the ambiguity of its title. “Assessing the environmental justice aspects of odor in Denver, Colorado“.

Did that title have a solemn meaning? Is it really interesting? Both? No matter what the intent, Feedback is a tribute to the creator. Their language appealed to Mason Porter’s olfactory and linguistic sensibilities and alerted us.

Mark Abrahams hosted the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founded the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Previously, he was working on unusual uses of computers. His website is impossible.com.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Research shows that binary star systems contain a higher number of habitable exoplanets than previously thought

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In a new study, astronomers from Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology examined the coupled distribution of spin and orbital orbits of exoplanets in binary and triple star systems.

An artist's impression of a giant exoplanet and its two parent stars. Image credit: Sci.News.

An important subset of all known exoplanet systems include host stars with one or more bound stellar companions.

These multistar systems can span a vast range of relative configurations and provide rich insights into the processes by which stars and planets form.

“We showed for the first time that a system where everything is coordinated stacks up unexpectedly,” he said. Dr. Malena Ricean astronomer at Yale University.

“The planet orbits in exactly the same direction as the first star rotates, and the second star orbits its system in the same plane as the planet.”

Dr. Rice and his colleagues used a variety of sources, including the Gaia DR3 catalog of high-precision stellar astronomical measurements, the planetary system composite parameter table from the NASA Exoplanet Archive, and the TEPCat catalog of spin-orbit angle measurements of exoplanets. to create a 3D geometric shape. Number of planets in a binary star system.

Astronomers found that nine of the 40 star systems they studied were in “perfect” locations.

“This could indicate that planetary systems prefer to move toward ordered configurations,” Rice said.

“This is also good news for life forming in these systems.”

“A star's companion star with a different alignment can wreak havoc on a planetary system, overturning the planet or flash-heating the planet over time.”

“And what would the world look like on a warmer Tatooine?”

“During some seasons of the year, there would be continuous daylight, and one star would illuminate one side of the Earth, and another star would illuminate the other side.”

“But that sun's light isn't always scorching, because one of the stars is farther away.”

“At other times of the year, both stars will illuminate the same side of the Earth, and one star will appear much larger than the other.”

of study will be published in astronomy magazine.

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Malena Rice other. 2024. Orbital geometry and stellar inclination of multistar systems hosting exoplanets. A.J., in press. arXiv: 2401.04173

Source: www.sci.news

Brain Scan Shows How Neural Network Boosts Creativity

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Practicing mindfulness improves creative thinking

Giraxia/Getty Images

It's easy to name people who have evolved human thinking, from Jane Austen to Albert Einstein, Zaha Hadid to Ai Weiwei, but why are these people so much more creative than others? It's much more difficult to explain what kind of thinking you do. Are their brains just built that way, or can anyone learn it? The mystery of creativity has long puzzled scientists. Now, researchers are finally making some progress towards closing the curtain. Even better, their insights can help us all exercise a little more original thinking.

Some of them are exciting insights This stems from the “dual process theory” of creativity, which distinguishes between idea generation and idea evaluation. Idea generation involves digging deep into existing knowledge for seeds of inspiration. Perhaps it is done by drawing analogies from completely different areas. Free association is key at this stage, as one thought leads to another, more original insight. The second phase, idea evaluation, requires you to apply a more critical eye to select the ideas that best fit your goals. Novelists must decide whether strange, supernatural plot twists will excite readers or turn them off. Engineers must consider whether a fish-inspired airplane would be practical and efficient. Large projects require these two stages to be repeated many times during the long and winding journey from concept to completion.

Brain scans of people engaged in creative problem solving suggest that idea generation and evaluation relies on…

Source: www.newscientist.com

Study shows the world’s happiest people don’t reside in Scandinavia

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Consider the happiest country in the world. Are you thinking of somewhere in Scandinavia? Well, a new study has brought to light something that may have been overlooked. They are actually the happiest people in the world, but they are often not included in rankings.

In global happiness rankings, such as the World Happiness Report (WHR), researchers typically note a correlation between high levels of life satisfaction and high incomes. However, these rankings often fail to differentiate between small indigenous groups and the overall population of a nation. In some of these communities, money has a minimal impact on daily life and livelihoods.

A new paper suggests that not all happiness is tied to money. In fact, it turns out that some low-income societies, particularly those that rely on nature rather than money, exhibit significantly higher life satisfaction and may even be some of the happiest people in the world.

“The frequently observed strong correlation between income and life satisfaction is not universal and proves that the wealth generated by developed economies is not fundamentally necessary for humans to live happy lives.” – Professor Victoria Reyes Garcia, senior author of the study

Who is the happiest person in the world?

Although not conducted by the same research institute as WHR, this new study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and measured happiness in a similar way. The WHR asks respondents to imagine a ladder with 10 being the best life and 0 being the worst, and then evaluate their life on that scale.

In this study, researchers translated the question into local languages: “Taking all aspects into consideration, how satisfied are you with your life on a scale of 0 to 10?”

The research team collected responses from 2,966 people from 19 indigenous and local communities around the world. Only 64 percent of households surveyed in these communities had any cash income.

These 19 communities had an average score of 6.8, with the lowest score being 5.1. However, four of these communities scored above 8/10 and, if included in the WHR, these small societies would be among the happiest people in the world. In 2023, WHR found that the countries with the highest scores were Finland (7.8), Denmark (7.6), and Iceland (7.5).

The highest scores were reported in Latin America, despite many of these societies having suffered from histories of marginalization and oppression, according to the authors.

Researchers say the findings are positive news for sustainability in the face of climate change, as this research suggests that people can achieve high levels of happiness without the need for resource-intensive economic growth.

They encourage future research to examine specific factors that influence well-being in societies where money is not central, such as family and social support, spirituality, and connection to the natural world.

Read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

CRISPR gene therapy shows promise in treating severe inflammatory conditions

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New treatment cuts the gene for kallikrein, a protein involved in inflammation (illustrated)

BIOSYM TECHNOLOGIES, INC./Science Photo Library

Nine people with a rare genetic disease that causes a life-threatening inflammatory response appear to have been cured after taking part in the first trial of a new version of CRISPR-based gene therapy.

This condition, called hereditary angioedema, causes sudden swelling of tissue that affects parts of the body such as the face and throat, similar to aspects of an allergic reaction, but cannot be treated with anti-allergy drugs.

Ten people who received a one-time gene therapy administered directly into the body saw a 95 per cent reduction in the number of 'swelling attacks' in the first six months after the treatment took effect. . Since then, all but one have had no further seizures for at least a year, although one patient who received the lowest dose had one mild seizure. “This is potentially a cure,” he says Padmalal Gurugama At Cambridge University Hospital in the UK, we worked on a new approach.

Hereditary angioedema is usually caused by mutations in the gene that encodes a protein called C1 inhibitor, which is involved in suppressing inflammation, which is part of the immune response.

People with this condition may experience a sudden buildup of fluid under their skin several times a month, which is painful and can cause suffocation if it gets stuck in the throat. This attack can be caused by a virus, changes in hormone levels, or stress.

Existing drugs that can reverse attacks work by blocking another molecule involved in inflammation called kallikrein, which is made in the liver. Because people can be born without the ability to make kallikrein without adverse effects, the results suggest that it is safe to permanently block kallikrein through gene therapy, Gurgama said.

The new treatment, developed by a company called Intellia Therapeutics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, consists of genetic material designed to cut the kallikrein gene. It is encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles and taken up by liver cells. One person was treated in the UK and nine in New Zealand and the Netherlands.

An unusual feature of this therapy is that it is administered directly to humans, a method also referred to as “in vivo” delivery. “They get one infusion and that's it,” he says. julian gilmore from University College London was not involved in the study. “It's very appealing.”

So far, most other CRISPR-based gene therapies have been administered “outside the body.” This means a more complex and time-consuming procedure of taking some of a person's cells outside the body, changing the cells in a lab, and then reinjecting them.

CRISPR gene therapy is being developed for multiple genetic diseases, with the first treatments recently approved in the UK and US to help patients with two forms of genetic anemia: sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. Ta.

The success of the latest trial is “very exciting,” Gilmore said. Development of CRISPR-based treatments for people with various liver-related conditions, called transthyretin amyloidosis. “This technology could be applied to any disease caused by a mutant protein produced exclusively in the liver, where it is desirable to knock down that protein,” he says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

India’s initial snow leopard study shows that there are only 718 of them remaining

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Snow leopard in Ladakh, India

Wim van den Heever/naturepl.com

India’s first snow leopard survey estimates that there are 718 big cats living in six mountainous regions of the country.

They make up about 10 to 15 percent of the world’s population, and conservationists believe they number between 3,000 and 5,400 people.

snow leopard (panthera uncia) inhabit vast areas of remote mountainous regions, making them one of the most difficult predators to study.

The study, led by Wildlife Trust of India, was conducted from 2019 to 2023 and involved setting up 1,971 camera traps covering 120,000 square kilometers of habitat.

This represents over 70 per cent of the snow leopard’s potential habitat across the trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Approximately 34 percent of this area is under legal protection.

While 241 cats were photographed, evidence of leopard feces, fur, and body marks was found in the survey area, which covers approximately 100,000 square kilometers.

Snow leopards live in 12 countries in Asia, but primarily in the rugged Himalayas of China and India. The species was listed as endangered in 1972 and reclassified as endangered in 2017, but is still considered to be in decline.

“Snow leopards are beautiful, mysterious, ghostly animals, but they’re so much more than that,” says biologist George Schaller, who first photographed a snow leopard in Pakistan in 1971. “Snow leopards tend to symbolize the region and people of the time.” We begin to focus on the region as a whole, not just the snow leopard. Protecting it therefore protects the area for the benefit of all wildlife and local communities. ”

India’s goal is to use this baseline for long-term population surveys to improve monitoring, said Bhupender Yadav, India’s Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Forests and Climate Change. This is what the agency did in his 1970s with Project Tiger, creating conservation measures to increase the tiger population.

“These periodic assessments provide valuable insights to identify challenges, address threats, and develop effective conservation strategies,” says Yadav.

But some local figures fear the announcement could backfire. “This is one of the rarest animals, and this number may change the way we look at it,” said wildlife photographer Morap Namgair. snow leopard tour In Ladakh. “People might think 718 is an exaggeration, so it might change the psychology of conservation.”

Namgeir believes local people must take the lead in conservation efforts. “As locals, we share the mountain, so we have a responsibility to keep its numbers at the same level, if not increase,” he says. “They are the world’s most difficult animals to study, and we may never know how many there are. But we are committed to our efforts because protecting them protects us all.” Have to.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

New Research Shows Comet Wild 2 Contains a Large Amount of Young Solar System Dust

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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

Source: www.sci.news

UV Light Found to Inactivate Coronavirus Particles, New Study Shows

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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has had a profound impact on humanity. Prevention of infection by disinfecting surfaces and aerosols using non-chemical methods is highly desirable. Ultraviolet C (UVC) light is uniquely positioned to achieve pathogen inactivation.in new paper in a diary ACS PhotonicsScientists have reported the inactivation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus by UVC radiation and are investigating the mechanism.

David other. demonstrated inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 by 266 nm UVC light. This closely matches the absorption spectra of RNA and aromatic amino acids.Image credit: David other., doi: 10.1021/acsphotonics.3c00828.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 spreads through nosocomial, public, and workplace-based infections.

Transmission is thought to be direct through respiratory droplets or indirect through fomites, leading to increased interest in virus disinfection.

The SARS-CoV-2 virion consists of a core of nucleic acid strands containing the virus's genetic information, surrounded by a lipid membrane with protruding protein spikes. Each component is required for infection.

In the new study, Sumeet Mahajan and colleagues at the University of Southampton investigated how ultraviolet laser light affects each of these key components and destroys the virus.

By using special lasers with two different wavelengths, they were able to see how each viral component breaks down under bright light.

They found that the genomic material was highly sensitive to degradation, and the protein spike lost the ability to bind to human cells.

UV light includes UVA light, UVB light, and UVC light. Very little UVC light with frequencies below 280 nm reaches the Earth's surface from the sun.

The authors used UVC light in their study, which is less studied because of its antiseptic properties.

UVC light is strongly absorbed by various viral components, such as genetic material (about 260 nm) and protein spikes (about 230 nm), allowing the team to choose laser frequencies of 266 nm and 227 nm for this project.

Researchers found that low-power 266nm light causes RNA damage and affects the genetic information of viruses.

266 nm light also damaged the structure of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, reducing its ability to bind to human cells by breaking disulfide bonds and aromatic amino acids.

Although 227 nm light was less effective at inducing RNA damage, it was effective at damaging proteins through oxidation, a chemical reaction involving oxygen that unravels protein structures.

Importantly, SARS-CoV-2 has one of the largest genomes of any RNA virus. This makes them particularly sensitive to genomic damage.

“Inactivating airborne viruses with light provides a versatile tool for disinfecting public spaces and sensitive equipment that is difficult to decontaminate using traditional methods,” Professor Mahajan said.

“We found differences in the susceptibility of the molecular components of the virus to light inactivation. This opens up the possibility of fine-tuned disinfection techniques.”

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George David other. Mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 inactivation using UVC laser irradiation. ACS Photonics, published online on December 25, 2023. doi: 10.1021/acsphotonics.3c00828

Source: www.sci.news

Breakthrough App Shows Promise in Alleviating Tinnitus Symptoms

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Tinnitus, a ringing in the ears, can be a debilitating problem for those who suffer from it. However, a team of researchers has discovered a potential solution to this issue.

The survey results have been published in the magazine Frontiers of audiology and otology, and an international research team can effectively reduce symptoms in just a few weeks with an app that includes sound therapy and various training courses. The study involved 30 people with tinnitus, and almost two-thirds of them experienced “clinically significant improvement” from using the app. The team will now conduct a large-scale trial in the UK in collaboration with University College London Hospital. According to Suzanne Purdy, Waipapa Taumata Rau Professor of Psychology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, cognitive behavioral therapy is known to help people suffering from tinnitus, but it is expensive and often difficult to access.

“[The app] Cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, relaxation exercises, and sound therapy can be combined to train your brain’s responses and reduce tinnitus. The sounds you perceive fade into the background and become less noticeable.”

The new app aims to tune out the sound of tinnitus, giving the mind and body tools to suppress stress hormones and responses, and reduce the brain’s tendency to focus on the sound. The Mindear app is currently available for download for Apple and Android users. Some features are free in the app, but many are locked behind a paywall after a 7-day free trial (requires a £13 monthly subscription). Another app, the sound tinnitus app, is currently undergoing clinical trials in the UK.

About 1.5 million people in Australia, 4 million in the UK and 20 million in the US suffer from severe tinnitus, according to Dr. Fabrice Bardy, an audiologist at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, and lead author of the study published in the journal Frontiers of audiology and otology. He adds, “One of the most common misconceptions about tinnitus is that there’s nothing you can do about it; you just have to live with it. This is simply not true. Tinnitus Support Expertise The support of professionals with knowledge and expertise can reduce the fear and anxiety associated with a healthy patient experience.”

Tinnitus itself is not a disease, but is usually a symptom of another underlying health condition, such as damage to the auditory system or tension in the head and neck. While there is no known cure for tinnitus, management strategies and techniques can help patients. For more information, please visit the provided links.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Newly color-corrected image shows that Uranus and Neptune have a greenish-blue hue

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The so-called ice giants Uranus and Neptune are the most distant giant planets in the solar system. Our knowledge of these worlds was revolutionized by his flybys of NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft on January 24, 1986 and August 25, 1989, respectively. Since these Voyager encounters, our knowledge of the visible appearance of these worlds has come primarily from images reconstructed from observations from Voyager 2 Imaging Science System (ISS), images were recorded with several separate filters ranging from ultraviolet to orange. In these images, Uranus appears pale green and Neptune appears dark blue, and the perception of the relative colors of these planets has become generally accepted. However, new research has revealed that the two ice giants are actually much closer in color.

Voyager 2/ISS images of Uranus and Neptune, released shortly after the Voyager 2 flybys in 1986 and 1989, respectively, were used in this study to determine the best estimates of the true colors of these planets. The filtered image was compared with the reprocessed version.Image credit: Irwin other., doi: 10.1093/mnras/stad3761.

Professor Patrick Irwin of the University of Oxford said: “While the well-known Voyager 2 image of Uranus was released in close to ‘true’ color, the image of Neptune has actually been stretched and enhanced. As a result, it was artificially too blue.”

“Although artificially saturated colors were known to planetary scientists at the time and images were published with descriptive captions, over time that distinction has been lost. I lost it.”

“By applying our model to the original data, we were able to reconstruct the most accurate representation to date of the colors of both Neptune and Uranus.”

In the study, Professor Irwin and his colleagues space telescope imaging spectrometer On board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (STIS) Multi-unit spectroscopic explorer (MUSE) ESO’s Very Large Telescope.

This means that the STIS and MUSE observations can be processed unambiguously to determine the actual apparent colors of Uranus and Neptune.

Astronomers used these data to rebalance the composite color images recorded by Voyager 2’s camera. Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).

This revealed that Uranus and Neptune are actually quite similar shades of greenish-blue.

The main difference is that Neptune has a slight hint of additional blue. Models revealed that this is due to Neptune’s thin haze layer.

The study also provides an answer to the long-standing mystery of why Uranus’ color changes slightly during the sun’s 84-year revolution.

The authors first reached their conclusion after comparing images of the ice giant with measurements of its brightness recorded in blue and green wavelengths from 1950 to 2016 by the Lowell Observatory in Arizona.

These measurements showed that Uranus appears slightly greener during the summer and winter solstices, when one of the planet’s poles points toward our star.

However, at the vernal equinox, when the sun is above the equator, the sun takes on a somewhat blue hue.

Part of the reason for this is known to be because Uranus has a very unusual rotation.

During its orbit, it effectively rotates almost sideways. This means that during the planet’s summer solstice, either the north or south pole points almost directly in the direction of the sun and Earth.

This is therefore important because changes in reflectivity in the polar regions have a large effect on Uranus’ overall brightness as seen from Earth.

Astronomers have not been very clear about how or why this reflectance differs.

This led the researchers to develop a model that compares the spectra of Uranus’ polar and equatorial regions.

They found that in polar regions, green and red wavelengths are more reflective than blue wavelengths. Part of the reason is that red-absorbing methane is about half as abundant near the poles as it is at the equator.

But this wasn’t enough to fully explain the color change, so the researchers looked at the gradually thickening icy surface of the planet’s sunlit pole during the summer. We added a new variable to the model in the form of a haze “hood”. We move from the vernal equinox to the summer solstice.

Astronomers believe it is likely made up of particles of methane ice.

When simulated in the model, the ice particles further increased reflection in green and red wavelengths at the poles, providing an explanation for why Uranus is green at the summer solstice.

“This is the first study to match quantitative models with image data to explain why Uranus’s color changes during its orbit,” Professor Irwin said.

“Thus, we prove that Uranus at the summer solstice is greener, not only because methane abundance is reduced in the polar regions, but also because the thickness of brightly scattering methane ice particles is increased. it was done.”

“The misperceptions of Neptune’s colors and the unusual color changes of Uranus have puzzled us for decades. This comprehensive study finally puts an end to both problems. ” said Dr. Heidi Hummel, a researcher at the Association of Universities for Astronomical Research (AURA).

of result will appear in Royal Astronomical Society Monthly Notices.

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Patrick G.J. Irwin other. 2024. Model the seasonal cycle of Uranus’ color and size and compare it to Neptune. MNRAS 527 (4): 11521-11538; doi: 10.1093/mnras/stad3761

Source: www.sci.news

New Fossil Discovery Shows Baleen Whales Adapted to Large Bodies in Cold Southern Waters for the First Time

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Baleen whales (mysterious animals) are the largest animals on Earth. How they achieved such enormous sizes is still debated, and research to date has focused primarily on when they grew, rather than where they grew. was. Paleontologists now report on the remains of a toothless baleen whale (chaeomysticete) from South Australia. At an estimated length of 9 meters, it is the largest baleen whale from the early Miocene. Analysis of body size over time shows that ancient baleen whales in the Southern Hemisphere were larger than those in the Northern Hemisphere.

Mysterious gigantism from the early Miocene. Image credit: Ruairidh Duncan

It was previously thought that the onset of the Ice Age in the Northern Hemisphere about 3 million years ago triggered the evolution of truly gigantic baleen whales.

The new study, led by Dr James Rule of Monash University and the Natural History Museum in London, reveals that this evolutionary size jump did, in fact, occur as early as 20 million years ago, and in the exact opposite direction in the southern hemisphere. I made it.

The major discovery came from a study of 16- to 21-million-year-old fossils held in Museum Victoria’s collection.

This specimen, the anterior end of the lower jaw of a large edentulous baleen whale, was discovered in 1921 on a cliff face on the banks of the Murray River in South Australia, but was largely unrecognized in collections.

In their study, Dr. Ruhl and colleagues explain how whales evolved to be larger in the southern hemisphere rather than the northern hemisphere, and that whales have been larger in the southern hemisphere throughout their evolutionary history (about 20 million to 30 million years). It was shown that

The discovery highlights the vital importance of the Australian and wider Southern Hemisphere fossil record in putting together a global picture of whale evolution.

The Murray River whale fossil confounds that theory, although previous leading theories were based primarily on fossils found in the northern hemisphere.

“The Southern Hemisphere, and Australia in particular, has always been overlooked as a frontier for fossil whale discovery,” says Dr Eric Fitzgerald, a palaeontologist at Museums Victoria Research Institute.

“Like the Murray River whale, the fossil whale discoveries in the south have shaken up whale evolution, giving us a more accurate, truly global picture of what was happening in the oceans in ancient times. .”

Researchers have discovered that the tip of a baleen whale’s jaw can expand depending on its body size.

They estimated the baleen whale to be about 9 meters long.

“The largest whales alive today, such as the blue whale, reach the length of a basketball court,” Dr. Ruhl said.

“About 19 million years ago, Murray River whales were nine meters long, already a third of this length. So baleen whales were well on their way to becoming ocean giants.”

of result will appear in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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James P. Rule other. 2023. A huge baleen whale emerges from its cold cradle in the south. Procedure R. Soc. B 290 (2013): 20232177; doi: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2177

Source: www.sci.news

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Asteroids Found to Predate the Solar System, New Study Shows

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Astronomical observations have shown that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are abundant and widespread in the interstellar medium. A PAH molecule consists of several adjacent aromatic rings terminated with hydrogen. In the new study, scientists conducted laboratory isotope analysis of PAHs in samples of the asteroid Ryugu and meteorite Murchison collected by JAXA’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft. They argue that at least some of the Ryugu PAHs formed in cold interstellar clouds and therefore must be older than our solar system.

This image of asteroid Ryugu was taken on June 26, 2018 by the Telescopic Optical Navigation Camera (ONC-T) aboard JAXA’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft from a distance of 13.7 miles (22 km).Image provided by: JAXA / University of Tokyo / Kochi University / Rikkyo University / Nagoya University / Chiba Institute of Technology / Meiji University / University of Aizu / AIST

PAHs contain about 20% of the carbon in the interstellar medium.

These can be produced in the circumstellar environment (temperatures above 1000 K), in cold interstellar clouds (temperatures around 10 K), or by the processing of carbon-rich dust particles.

“PAHs are organic compounds composed of carbon and hydrogen that are common on Earth but also occur in celestial bodies such as asteroids and meteorites,” said study co-author and director of the Western Australian Center for Organic Isotope Geochemistry. said researcher Professor Kriti Grice. Curtin University.

“We conducted controlled combustion experiments on plants in Australia and found that PAHs found in debris from the asteroid Ryugu returned to Earth by a Japanese spacecraft in 2020, and comparable to the Murchison meteorite that landed in Australia in 1969. I compared them physically.”

“We analyzed the bonds between light and heavy carbon isotopes in PAHs to reveal the temperatures at which they form.”

“Selected PAHs from Ryugu and Murchison were found to have different characteristics, with smaller ones probably forming in cold outer space and larger ones probably forming in warmer regions such as near stars or inside celestial bodies. It is thought to have been formed in the environment.”

A model of the molecular structure of ribose and an image of the Murchison meteorite. Image credit: Yoshihiro Furukawa.

“Understanding the isotopic composition of PAHs can help elucidate the conditions and environments in which these molecules were formed, providing insight into the history and chemistry of astronomical objects such as asteroids and meteorites,” says the study. said Dr. Alex Holman, co-author and fellow Westerner. Australian Center for Organic and Isotopic Geochemistry at Curtin University.

“This research gives us valuable insight into how organic compounds form extraterrestrially and where in the universe they come from.”

“Through the use of high-tech methods and creative experiments, we show that select PAHs on asteroids can form even in cold space.”

of result Published in this week’s magazine science.

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Sarah S. Zeichner other. 2023. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Ryugu samples formed in the interstellar medium. science 382 (6677): 1411-1416; doi: 10.1126/science.adg6304

Source: www.sci.news

Research shows that individuals who are unable to burp may experience feelings of anxiety and depression | Latest Science and Technology Updates

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A new study has found that people who are unable to burp due to a rare health condition feel more anxious, depressed and embarrassed.

Published on December 20th, the study was conducted by experts from around the world to investigate the social impact of retrograde cricopharyngeal muscle dysfunction (R-CPD), also known as “inability to burp syndrome.”

R-CPD involves dysfunction of the cricopharyngeus muscle, which prevents the patient from relaxing enough to expel gas. It was first reported in 1987, but it wasn’t given an official name until 2019.

Out of the 199 people who participated in the study, 98% reported feeling bloated, 93% reported a “socially unpleasant rumbling sound,” 89% reported excessive flatulence, and 55% reported difficulty vomiting.

R-CPD patients often have to lie down or force themselves to vomit to relieve painful symptoms.

Although the condition can be treated by injecting Botox into the affected muscles, the treatment is not available on the NHS in the UK and must be carried out in private.

Researchers found that participants reported high levels of embarrassment, anxiety, and depression, which also negatively impacted their relationships and work lives.

Read more from Sky News:
There’s a risk of painful injuries in the bedroom this Christmas
Christmas vegetables that may help fight cancer

“R-CPD is a disease that is unfamiliar to many healthcare providers and leaves patients underserved. It affects not only their daily lives but also their personal and professional relationships. It will affect you.”

“Understanding and raising awareness of the basic characteristics of the disease has the potential to improve diagnosis and treatment rates and improve quality of life.”

A spokesperson for NHS England said: “Clinical evidence for this condition is very limited due to the small number of people coming forward with the condition, but NHS staff have been advised by NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) to Establishing clinical advice, providing care and services appropriate to patients with specific conditions and needs.”

Source: news.sky.com

Study Shows Abdominal Circumference Grows During the Holiday Season

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increase in perimeter

Some people get bigger during the holidays than they were before the holidays. A team from the University of Castilla-La Mancha and the University of Valladolid in Spain surveyed several first-year undergraduate nursing students and found that Preliminary study on the increase in BMI of health science students during Christmas vacation”.

Researchers assessed changes in weight and waist circumference in 67 students over the Christmas break. They asked students to take measurements on December 23, the day before the holidays officially began, and again at two designated locations during the holidays, and finally when the university’s general activities officially resumed on December 23. Measured on the 13th of the month.

(Presumably the students were honest and accurate. However, the study did not include the following: “This was an exploratory pilot study of self-reports. It is known that these reports tend to underestimate weight. ) The self-reported numbers show that: On average, students gained about 0.5 kg during their vacation and gained it back by the time they returned to campus.

The study states, “Overall, for both men and women, students who weighed more tended to gain more weight.” Research suggests that what students ate (not just the amount) may have played a significant role. “Students who were on a high-fat diet showed more significant weight changes.”

What kind of new hill of beans does this amount of pounds above and below equate to? The study found that “weight gain is not surprising, but it does show that young people may gain weight during the holiday period.” ” concludes.

What about the size of the student’s waistline (referred to in research as “abdominal circumference”)? It increased by about 1 centimeter on average and stayed that way. In other words, people tended to gain just a little bit more weight after the holidays.

A little moment on holiday

The little things that happen during the holidays are especially memorable because of their timing.

The same is true of a snake that bites a man’s genitals while defecating. GH Dijkema and his colleagues from Rhine State Hospital in the Netherlands reveal the details in a report called “.Scrotal necrosis after cobra (Naja annulifera) poisoning”.

At its core, this is a simple story. The research team condenses the basic facts into one sentence. “A 47-year-old otherwise healthy man was vacationing in a nature reserve in South Africa when a snake jumped out of the toilet and bit him on the genitals while he was using the toilet.”

Enough detail has been added to fill two and a half pages, punctuated by three photos of injured body parts. The authors also add some kind thoughts: In countries known for snakes, always flush the toilet before sitting down. ”

new holiday traditions

Some families like to get together to read aloud holiday stories, especially the Christmas stories written by Charles Dickens. But for families who are tired of hearing the same old words year after year, there is an alternative. Perhaps most beneficial is to take a business-like approach.

Yukyung Kim has identified a number of stories that you and your family can read aloud to each other as you look forward to the arrival of the new year, because no one will stop you.

Kim compiled this material as the main part of his master’s thesis at the University of Liberal Arts and Convergence Sciences in South Korea, which he titled “.Research on CEO New Year’s greetings: Research using text mining method”. As most holidaymakers know, “CEO” is an acronym for the phrase “Chief Executive Officer.”

Kim’s summaries of these New Year’s stories are more businesslike than those of Dickens’ Christmas stories. Mr. Kim said: “This study analyzed the New Year speeches of his CEOs of major Korean companies… [I] We analyzed 545 New Year’s speeches announced by the top 66 Korean companies by market capitalization from 2012 to 2021. ”

Many Korean CEO New Year’s greetings can be found on the Internet or by sending a request in a complimentary tone to the company headquarters. After a night of listening to families loudly proclaim these CEO stories, no matter what happens in the next few days, it will feel like the start of a vibrant year.

Muddy white christmas

Calcium carbonate (CaCO) is the reason we have a white Christmas in warm places, as opposed to snow covering the ground in colder climates.3) precipitates in calm water. CaCO3 It falls to the ocean floor and is covered with thick white lime mud.

Sam Purkiss and his team at the University of Miami, Florida, published a study on this titled “.It’s always a white Christmas in the Bahamas: Temperature and hydrodynamics localize winter mud production on the Great Bahama Bank.”.

As a Christmas Eve reading, the writing isn’t as good as Dickens (or Korean CEO), but you can have your relatives enjoy the lyrical parts. For example, “spatial heterogeneity in aragonite saturation is high in winter, and zones of peak bleaching are located in areas of locally increased saturation.”

Set to festive music and a cheerful atmosphere, a dramatic reading of Calcium Carbonate’s White Christmas will change everyone’s thoughts for the better.

Mark Abrahams hosted the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founded the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Previously, he was working on unusual uses of computers.his website is impossible.com

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Vitamin B3 Shows Promise in Treating Chronic Inflammatory Pain

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Mitochondria in specific sensory neurons may be linked to chronic pain

Beast of the Beast Science / Alamy

A type of vitamin B3 called nicotinamide riboside reduces persistent pain in mice, suggesting it may also treat chronic pain in humans.

Inflammation (the body’s first line of defense against injury and pathogens) is a major cause of pain. However, some people experience continued pain even after the inflammation has subsided.

To understand why, Niels Eichelkamp and colleagues from Utrecht University in the Netherlands analyzed the effects of inflammation on mitochondria, the powerhouses of cells. Previous research has linked chronic pain to mitochondrial dysfunction, particularly in specialized nerve cells called sensory neurons that sense changes in the environment.

The researchers injected a substance that causes inflammation into the hind legs of 15 mice. They then measured the amount of oxygen consumed by the mitochondria in the animals’ sensory neurons, which indicates mitochondrial function. They found that a week after the inflammation had subsided, the mitochondria were consuming significantly more oxygen than before the injection, suggesting that the inflammation caused lasting changes in their function. Further experiments linked these mitochondrial changes to increased pain sensitivity in the rodents even after inflammation had subsided.

The researchers then analyzed molecular byproducts of chemical reactions called metabolites in the animals’ mitochondria. They compared these to mitochondrial metabolites in naive mice. caused inflammation. The researchers found that levels of nicotinamide riboside in the mitochondria of the mice’s sensory neurons were lower than expected after the inflammation subsided. This is a type of vitamin B3 that is important for mitochondrial function.

So, about a week after inducing inflammation in another group of 12 mice, Eichelkamp and his team gave half of them a high dose of nicotinamide riboside (500 milligrams per kilogram of body weight). administered. In comparison, her recommended daily amount of vitamin B3 for most adults is 14 milligrams and 16 milligrams. They then assessed the animals’ sensitivity to pain by measuring how quickly they removed their paws from the heat. Mice that did not receive nicotinamide riboside withdrew their paws twice as fast on average as those that did, suggesting that the supplement reduced pain.

Taken together, these findings reveal two things. One is that inflammation can impair mitochondrial function in sensory neurons, and these dysfunctions increase the risk of chronic pain even after inflammation has subsided. Second, taking nicotinamide riboside supplements may help treat this chronic pain by restoring mitochondrial function.

However, people with chronic pain should not rush to take these supplements. “[This research] Still inside the rodent. How does that translate to humans? We need to check that first,” Eikelkamp said. In clinical trials, nicotinamide riboside may be ineffective or have unintended consequences, he says.

Even if these findings apply to humans, they probably only apply to certain types of chronic pain, such as chronic inflammatory diseases, Eikelkamp says. For example, more than 20 percent A proportion of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic disease characterized by persistent joint inflammation, continue to experience pain even when inflammation levels are low. Therefore, it makes sense to test these findings in that demographic first.

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Source: www.newscientist.com