Science News

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Thread for incidental finds, etc.

Breakthrough in converting carbon dioxide into fuel using solar energy
Date:
February 16, 2022
Source:
Lund University
Summary:
A research team has shown how solar power can convert carbon dioxide into fuel, by using advanced materials and ultra-fast laser spectroscopy. The breakthrough could be an important piece of the puzzle in reducing the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere in the future.

Content continues on linked article.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Bronze Age women altered genetic landscape of Orkney, study finds
Huddersfield team rewrites the history of prehistoric Orkney with ancient DNA
Date: February 7, 2022
Source: University of Huddersfield
Summary: An international team has used ancient DNA to rewrite the history of the Scottish Orkney islands to show that Orkney actually experienced large-scale immigration during the Early Bronze Age, which replaced much of the local population.

Continues on link.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The last day of the dinosaurs

Date: February 23, 2022

Source: Uppsala University

Summary:
The asteroid which killed nearly all of the dinosaurs struck Earth during springtime. This conclusion was drawn by an international team of researchers after having examined thin sections, high-resolution synchrotron X-ray scans, and carbon isotope records of the bones of fishes that died less than 60 minutes after the asteroid impacted.

Continues on link.

[Minimalist]

In relation to the OP, plants convert water, sunlight, and CO2 into sugar which is an energy source.  You would think that humans could figure out how to do what the simplest green plants can do, wouldn't you?

[Antonio]

In relation to the OP, plants convert water, sunlight, and CO2 into sugar which is an energy source.  You would think that humans could figure out how to do what the simplest green plants can do, wouldn't you?

capitalism works in strange ways . When it's profitable it may happen . 
Right now I want the glory of being the first civilian to walk on the moon . Worship me , peasants

[Gawdzilla Sama]

In relation to the OP, plants convert water, sunlight, and CO2 into sugar which is an energy source.  You would think that humans could figure out how to do what the simplest green plants can do, wouldn't you?

Hydroponics

[Minimalist]

Hydroponics grows plants.  What these people seem to be suggesting is a way to skip the plant part and go right to creating energy.  That would be a fantastic breakthrough.  In the short term it would probably be safer than fusion which would rely on really advanced engineering and while we can get that to work there are obvious problems like Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. 

It does not sound as if these people are envisioning creating a star in a can right here on earth.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Death spiral: A black hole spins on its side
Date: February 25, 2022
Source: University of Turku
Summary: Researchers found that the axis of rotation of a black hole in a binary system is tilted more than 40 degrees relative to the axis of stellar orbit. The finding challenges current theoretical models of black hole formation.

Continues on link.

[Cavebear]

In relation to the OP, plants convert water, sunlight, and CO2 into sugar which is an energy source.  You would think that humans could figure out how to do what the simplest green plants can do, wouldn't you?

No.  If it was simple, we would have developed green skin or green roofs that could do it directly.

But we ARE getting there in our own sneaky tech way.  I mean, in a century, we may be wearing solar hats to power our devices and maybe even feeding us...  My grandad saw the first powered flight and then us landing on the moon.  He was amazed.  Never underestimate tech advances...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"I told Orville. I told Wilbur. Now I'm tellin' YOU, that damn thing will never get off the ground."

[Cavebear]

"I told Orville. I told Wilbur. Now I'm tellin' YOU, that damn thing will never get off the ground."

Sayeth the bee that supposedly can't fly. LOL! By airfoil design, they shouldn't. I'll regret mentioning this...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"I told Orville. I told Wilbur. Now I'm tellin' YOU, that damn thing will never get off the ground."

Sayeth the bee that supposedly can't fly.  LOL!  By airfoil design, they shouldn't.  I'll regret mentioning this...

Even bugs ignore our human limitations.

[Cavebear]

"I told Orville. I told Wilbur. Now I'm tellin' YOU, that damn thing will never get off the ground."

Sayeth the bee that supposedly can't fly.  LOL!  By airfoil design, they shouldn't.  I'll regret mentioning this...

Even bugs ignore our human limitations.  

I keep telling the hummingbirds that...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Go tell House Atreides.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Largest ever human family tree: 27 million ancestors
Date: February 24, 2022
Source: University of Oxford
Summary: Researchers have taken a major step towards mapping the entirety of genetic relationships among humans: a single genealogy that traces the ancestry of all of us.

Continues on link.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

A 'hot Jupiter’s' dark side is revealed in detail for first time
The planet’s night side likely hosts iron clouds, titanium rain, and winds that dwarf Earth’s jetstream.
Date: February 21, 2022
Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Summary: Astronomers have obtained the clearest view yet of the perpetual dark side of an exoplanet that is 'tidally locked' to its star. The planet is WASP-121b, a massive gas giant nearly twice the size of Jupiter.

[Thumpalumpacus]

A 'hot Jupiter’s' dark side is revealed in detail for first time
The planet’s night side likely hosts iron clouds, titanium rain, and winds that dwarf Earth’s jetstream.
Date: February 21, 2022
Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Summary: Astronomers have obtained the clearest view yet of the perpetual dark side of an exoplanet that is 'tidally locked' to its star. The planet is WASP-121b, a massive gas giant nearly twice the size of Jupiter.

While on Earth, water cycles by first evaporating, then condensing into clouds, then raining out, on WASP-121b, the water cycle is far more intense: On the day side, the atoms that make up water are ripped apart at temperatures over 3,000 Kelvin. These atoms are blown around to the night side, where colder temperatures allow hydrogen and oxygen atoms to recombine into water molecules, which then blow back to the day side, where the cycle starts again.

The team calculates that the planet's water cycle is sustained by winds that whip the atoms around the planet at speeds of up to 5 kilometers per second, or more than 11,000 miles per hour.

It also appears that water isn't alone in circulating around the planet. The astronomers found that the night side is cold enough to host exotic clouds of iron and corundum -- a mineral that makes up rubies and sapphires. These clouds, like water vapor, may whip around to the day side, where high temperatures vaporize the metals into gas form. On the way, exotic rain might be produced, such as liquid gems from the corundum clouds.

Someone took some good drugs.

[Vera]

Kilonova afterglow potentially spotted for first time

"For the first time, Northwestern University-led astronomers may have detected an afterglow from a kilonova.

A kilonova occurs when two neutron stars—some of the densest objects in the universe—merge to create a blast 1,000 times brighter than a classical nova. In this case, a narrow, off-axis jet of high-energy particles accompanied the merger event, dubbed GW170817. Three-and-a-half years after the merger, the jet faded away, revealing a new source of mysterious X-rays.

As the leading explanation for the new X-ray source, astrophysicists believe expanding debris from the merger generated a shock—similar to the sonic boom from a supersonic plane. This shock then heated surrounding materials, which generated X-ray emissions, known as a kilonova afterglow. An alternative explanation is materials falling toward a black hole—formed as a result of the neutron star merger—caused the X-rays.

Either scenario would be a first for the field. The study was published today (Feb. 28), in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

"We have entered uncharted territory here in studying the aftermath of a neutron star merger," said Northwestern's Aprajita Hajela, who led the new study. "We are looking at something new and extraordinary for the very first time. This gives us an opportunity to study and understand new physical processes, which have not before been observed."

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Tyrannosaurus rex may have been misunderstood

By Katie Hunt, CNN

Updated 8:36 PM ET, Mon February 28, 2022

(CNN)Few dinosaurs exude the same mystique as Tyrannosaurus rex, but the tyrant lizard king that once roamed across North America might have been misunderstood.

A new analysis of the bones and teeth of 37 T. rex specimens suggests that the dinosaur might need to be regrouped into three separate species -- with the fearsome predator that lived 90 million to 66 million years ago potentially getting two sibling species: tyrant lizard queen and tyrant lizard emperor.

Continues on link.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

'Exceedingly rare' fossil of giant flying reptile discovered on Scottish island

By Katie Hunt, CNN

Updated 5:02 AM ET, Tue February 22, 2022

(CNN)Winged reptiles known as pterosaurs -- airplane-size creatures that swooped through the skies as dinosaurs walked the Earth -- were the first vertebrate animals to evolve powered flight.

A spectacular three-dimensional fossil of one previously unknown pterosaur has been discovered on the shore of the Isle of Skye, off the west coast of Scotland.

With a wingspan of more than 2.5 meters (8.2 feet), it's the biggest pterosaur ever discovered from the Jurassic period and last flapped its wings 170 million years ago. Its sharp teeth, which would have snapped up fish, still retain their shiny enamel.

In the Cretaceous period, immediately before the asteroid strike that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago, pterosaurs like Quetzalcoatlus reached the size of fighter jets, with a 12-meter (40-foot) wingspan.

Continues on link.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Take that! you guitar players.
Singing in the brain
Neuroscientists have identified a population of neurons in the human brain that respond to singing but not other types of music
Date: February 22, 2022
Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Summary: For the first time, neuroscientists have identified a population of neurons in the human brain that light up when we hear singing, but not other types of music.

Continues on link.

[Cavebear]

Take that! you guitar players.  
Singing in the brain
Neuroscientists have identified a population of neurons in the human brain that respond to singing but not other types of music
Date: February 22, 2022
Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Summary: For the first time, neuroscientists have identified a population of neurons in the human brain that light up when we hear singing, but not other types of music.

Continues on link.

So THAT is where earworms come from? I get lyrics running through my head too damn often. Really stupid and annoying ones (Doris Day, Dean Martin, Wayne Newton). But not instrumentals much. And I love The Ventures...

[Astreja]

Take that! you guitar players.  
Singing in the brain
Neuroscientists have identified a population of neurons in the human brain that respond to singing but not other types of music
Date: February 22, 2022
Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Summary: For the first time, neuroscientists have identified a population of neurons in the human brain that light up when we hear singing, but not other types of music.

Well, that confirms that my brain is even weirder than previously suspected - I *do* get instrumental earworms, and in fact can conjure them and switch channels to a different tune at will.  Currently have the opening guitar riff of a Blind Guardian song playing in my head.

I call this my "phonographic memory."    You definitely want me on your team for a "Name That Tune" competition, because I very often ID a song in the first 1/4 second from the first chord or drum hit.

[Cavebear]

Take that! you guitar players.  
Singing in the brain
Neuroscientists have identified a population of neurons in the human brain that respond to singing but not other types of music
Date: February 22, 2022
Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Summary: For the first time, neuroscientists have identified a population of neurons in the human brain that light up when we hear singing, but not other types of music.

Well, that confirms that my brain is even weirder than previously suspected - I *do* get instrumental earworms, and in fact can conjure them and switch channels to a different tune at will.  Currently have the opening guitar riff of a Blind Guardian song playing in my head.

I call this my "phonographic memory."    You definitely want me on your team for a "Name That Tune" competition, because I very often ID a song in the first 1/4 second from the first chord or drum hit.

I had an apartmentmate once who was so good at guessing songs of the 60s (for free drinks at the bar) that he was banned from competition.  He would sometimes whisper the answer in my ear though...

I on the other hand knew broadway musicals and especially lyrics to Jesus Christ Superstar that I got free meals in the college dining hall, (and shared) so it worked out fairly.

[airportkid]

I call this my "phonographic memory."    You definitely want me on your team for a "Name That Tune" competition, because I very often ID a song in the first 1/4 second from the first chord or drum hit.

Well, maybe watch this old classic first!