Science News

This is a selection of news during the last days on phys.org that have caught my attention in the last days, for one reason or another. Developments in Environmentally-Friendly Technology: New screening system may point the way to clean, renewable hydrogen power https://phys.org/news/2022-03-screening-renewable-hydrogen-power.html Sewer treasure: Engineers reveal how to optimize processes for transforming wastewater sulfur to valuable materials https://phys.org/news/2022-03-sewer-treasure-reveal-optimize-wastewater.html Archaeology: Origin of the 30,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf discovered https://phys.org/news/2022-02-year-old-v…

We want to diversify science reporting. Diverse Sources is a database that connects journalists with underrepresented* experts from around the world. The goal is to diversify media coverage—since we all know that it's a huge problem. Journalists at the New York Times, Washington Post, Business Insider, National Geographic, etc. all use the database, and it's a great opportunity to talk about your work. You can sign up for the database at DiverseSources.org/join (it only takes 5 minutes!) and learn more about it at DiverseSources.org/about. *Underrepresented includes, but is not limited to, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, geographic loca…

“Science should be about the open questions that everyone is trying to solve, and not about who was right and who was wrong,” said Dr Julia Bodensteiner, a co-author of the study from the ESO who proposed the “vampire star” explanation. Black hole that was closest yet found does not exist, say scientists in U-turn | Black holes | The Guardian

They speak of time and space, and then ask, what is time made up of? A distortion of space, or vice versa? Imagine a universe where nothing exists. Then there was the first particle, a flower, or a horse, or a human being, who knows. That very first particle was called the arbitrary unit by which every other thing that came after it would be measured. Obviously there was the very first thing ever created in the universe, however. So the difference between that very first particle, particle A, and particle B, is called the very first second, or unit of time. What caused particle B to be created? Particle A's machinations or the same source that creat…

"For the first time, doctors have collected detailed brain wave activity before and after a sudden death. In their interpretation, the researchers suggest life may indeed 'flash before our eyes'—but other experts aren’t so convinced." That quote is from a Popular Science article discussing a conclusion presented by Estonia doctors from their assessment of brain waves recordings of a patient in epileptic distress who unexpectedly died amid the seizure they were monitoring. The doctors recorded evidence of gamma and alpha waves, which they associated with "dreaming and memory retrieval", "information processing and the visual cortex" respectively. In a Frontiers in…

https://phys.org/news/2022-01-earliest-human-eastern-africa-dated.html?fbclid=IwAR3qOIHmKKO6EsILQUbh6DCngk5MjeQl3pI-ugX_n6yrHc5k-WPp5GhYkEM

"A mathematician from Harvard University has (mostly) solved a 150-year-old Queen's gambit of sorts: the delightful n queens puzzle. In newly self-published research (meaning it has not yet been peer-reviewed), Michael Simkin, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard's Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications, estimated the solution to the thorny math problem, which is based loosely on the rules of chess." That quote is from a Popular Mechanic's article on research self-published through Cornell University. I don't quite understand the math, but I thought it might be an interesting read if only for its references to chess. Enjoy!

There were several posts recently about food safety issues. The following recent case might be of interest in this light: Student had legs, fingers amputated after eating leftover Chinese (nypost.com)

Last Wednesday a professional diver was attacked and killed by an estimated 4mtr Great White Shark. This is the first death from shark attack in near 60 years on Sydney's many beaches, but what makes this attack out of the ordinary, is that it wasn't just a nudge or bite and then swimming away, this poor swimmer was attacked from below, launched into the air, and (as described by onlookers) landed again with a thud. The attack then continued, and sadly not much of the vicitm has been found so far. According to witnesses, he was attacked from below, launched into the air, and landed like a car back into the water. The attack then continued and the victim was dragged furthe…

https://www.sciencealert.com/we-ve-just-found-a-pair-of-asteroids-that-only-formed-300-years-ago Astronomers Spot The Youngest Pair of Asteroids Ever Discovered in The Solar System: MICHELLE STARR : 7 FEBRUARY 2022 A pair of asteroids orbiting the Sun formed less than 300 years ago, a new study has revealed. This makes them the youngest pair of asteroids ever discovered in the Solar System, by a factor of 10. The discovery could tell us more about how asteroids crumble, while raising some intriguing new questions. "It's very exciting to find such a young asteroid pair that was formed only about 300 years ago, which was like this morning – not even…

https://phys.org/news/2022-02-spacex-elon-musk-1st-orbital.html SpaceX's Elon Musk: 1st orbital Starship flight maybe March: SpaceX's Elon Musk said Thursday that the first orbital flight of his towering Starship—the world's most powerful rocket ever built—could come in another month or two. While he anticipates failures, he's confident Starship will reach orbit by the end of this year. Musk provided his first major Starship update in more than two years while standing alongside the 390-foot (119-meter) rocket at SpaceX's Texas spaceport. He urged the nighttime crowd, "Let's make this real!" "This is really some wild stuff here," he sai…

https://phys.org/news/2022-02-asteroids-sample-earth-reveals-solar.html What are asteroids made of? A sample returned to Earth reveals the solar system's building blocks; Just over 12 months ago, we were sitting at Woomera, in the Australian outback, waiting for a streak of light in the sky to testify that the Hayabusa2 spacecraft had returned from its voyage to collect a little piece of a near-Earth asteroid called Ryugu. Unfortunately for us, it was cloudy in Woomera that day and we didn't see the spacecraft come in. But that was the only imperfection we saw in the return. We found and retrieved Hayabusa2, brought it back to Woomera, cleaned and examined …

https://phys.org/news/2022-02-earth.html Earth's water was around before Earth: To understand how life emerged, scientists investigate the chemistry of carbon and water. In the case of water, they track the various forms, or isotopes, of its constituent hydrogen and oxygen atoms over the history of the universe, like a giant treasure hunt. Researchers from the CNRS, Paris-Saclay University, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), and the University of Pau and the Pays de l'Adour (UPPA), with support from the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), have followed the trail of the isotopic composition of water back to the start…

Another large community has been discovered in an unsuspected location: Sprawling sponge gardens found deep beneath the Arctic sea ice - CNN

Astronomers try to do something about this sky pollution. Will they succeed? Are they justified in their demands? Astronomers Rally to Stop Satellite Megaconstellations From Ruining the Sky (gizmodo.com) Astronomers Join Forces to Push Back Against Satellite 'Pollution' Ruining The Skies (sciencealert.com)

https://phys.org/news/2022-02-australia-lucky-country-snakes.html Seven reasons Australia is the lucky country when it comes to snakes: extracts: Australians are actually extremely lucky when it comes to snakes. Here are seven reasons why. 1. Our snakes bolt away from us 2. We have very few snakebite deaths 3. If you do get bitten, you're very unlikely to lose a limb 4. We have great access to excellent antivenom and other treatments 5. We have the world's only snake venom detection kits 6. Snakebites are covered by Medicare 7. Snake venom is actually saving lives The article concludes thus....... Rather t…

Image source, Historic England Image caption, The Sweet Track in Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve is protected as a scheduled monument A 6,000-year-old wooden walkway over wetlands is no longer under threat thanks to conservation work. The Sweet Track, in the Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve in Somerset, is set to be removed from Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register. The prehistoric track was built by the first farming communities in 3,806 BC and is the UK's oldest wooden walkway. BBC news article. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-…

https://phys.org/news/2022-02-zircon-one-off-gift-mars.html Shocked zircon find a 'one-off gift' from Mars: Curtin University researchers studying a Martian meteorite have found the first evidence of high-intensity damage caused by asteroid impact, in findings that have implications for understanding when conditions suitable for life may have existed on early Mars. Published in leading journal Science Advances, the research examined grains of the mineral zircon in Martian meteorite NWA 7034. The meteorite, colloquially known as "Black Beauty", is a rare sample of the surface of Mars. The original 320-gram rock was found in northern Africa and first r…

https://phys.org/news/2022-01-chemist-extraterrestrial-life.html Have we been looking for extraterrestrials in all the wrong places? San Diego State University chemists are developing methods to find signs of life on other planets by looking for the building blocks of proteins in a place they've never been able to test before: inside rocks. After collaborating with researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in La Cañada Flintridge in 2019, Jessica Torres, a doctoral student studying chemistry at SDSU, is experimenting with ways to extract amino acids from porous rocks that could be used on future rovers. Previous research has looked for evidence …

https://phys.org/news/2022-01-lunar-jupiter-moon-powerful-rocket.html Space travel is all about momentum. Rockets turn their fuel into momentum that carries people, satellites and science itself forward into space. 2021 was a year full of records for space programs around the world, and that momentum is carrying forward into 2022. Last year, the commercial space race truly took off. Richard Branson and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos both rode on suborbital launches—and brought friends, including actor William Shatner. SpaceX sent eight astronauts and 1 ton of supplies to the International Space Station for NASA. The six tourist spaceflights in 2021 were a…

https://phys.org/news/2022-01-extreme-exoplanet-complex-exotic-atmosphere.html An international team including researchers from the University of Bern and the University of Geneva as well as the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS analyzed the atmosphere of one of the most extreme known planets in great detail. The results from this hot, Jupiter-like planet that was first characterized with the help of the CHEOPS space telescope, may help astronomers understand the complexities of many other exoplanets—including Earth-like planets. The atmosphere of Earth is not a uniform envelope but consists of distinct layers that each have characteristic…

This item in the news has attracted my attention first because it reminded me of a banner on the walls of my biology class in HS, with the quote by F. Engels, "Labor Made Us Human". That Engels' speculation AFAIK never had any scientific support but was good for Marxist propaganda. Now this other narrative appears to be a result of sampling bias. This is interesting by itself. But, I also have a question. Even if there were a correlation between the dietary change and anatomical changes in human evolution, how a causal relation between them was deduced? “Meat Made Us Human” Evolutionary Narrative Starts To Unravel (scitechdaily.com)

https://phys.org/news/2022-01-nets-bycatch-sharks-wildlife-fishing.html Lighted nets dramatically reduce bycatch of sharks and other wildlife while making fishing more efficient: In a win-win for commercial fisheries and marine wildlife, researchers have found that using lighted nets greatly reduced accidental bycatch of sharks, rays, sea turtles, and unwanted finfish. Publishing their results in the journal Current Biology, the researchers found that lighted gillnets reduced total fisheries bycatch by 63 percent, which included a 95 percent reduction in sharks, skates, and rays, an 81 percent reduction in Humboldt squid, and a 48 percent reduction in unwan…

https://phys.org/news/2022-01-life-earth.html Addressing one of the most profoundly unanswered questions in biology, a Rutgers-led team has discovered the structures of proteins that may be responsible for the origins of life in the primordial soup of ancient Earth. The study appears in the journal Science Advances. The researchers explored how primitive life may have originated on our planet from simple, non-living materials. They asked what properties define life as we know it and concluded that anything alive would have needed to collect and use energy, from sources such as the Sun or hydrothermal vents. In molecular terms, this would mean tha…