Science News

The research was published in the journal Nature Communications. Source: University of Tokyo https://newatlas.com/biology/rna-evolution-origin-life/ RNA molecules can replicate in a process like evolution, which may have implications for the origins of life, according to a new study Researchers at the University of Tokyo have created an RNA molecule that can not just replicate, but “evolve” into a diverse range of more complex molecules. This find could plug a major gap in the puzzle of how life on Earth began. Exactly how life arose from non-living matter is one of the most profound mysteries of science. It’s long been hypothesized that RNA acted…

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-video-astronomers-reveal-remarkable-simulations.html It looks like fireflies flickering in the darkness. Slowly, more and more amass, lighting up the screen in large chunks and clusters. But this is not a video about insects. It's a simulation of the early universe, a time after the Big Bang when the cosmos transformed from a place of utter darkness to a radiant, light-filled environment. The stunning video is part of a large suite of simulations described in a series of three papers accepted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Created by researchers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard &a…

https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/brain-computer-interface-als-beer-b2043126.html ‘I want a beer’: Paralysed man communicates first words in months using brain implant A completely paralysed man, who was left unable to communicate for months after losing the ability to even move his eyes, has used a brain implant to ask his caregivers for a beer. A completely paralysed man, who was left unable to communicate for months after losing the ability to even move his eyes, has used a brain implant to ask his caregivers for a beer. Composing sentences at a rate of just one character per minute, the man also asked to listen to the band Tool “loud”, requested a…

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-octopuses-squid-crabs-emotions.html Octopuses can solve complex puzzles and show a preference for different individuals, but whether they, and other animals and invertebrates, have emotions is being hotly debated and could shake up humans' moral decision-making, says a York University expert in animal minds. Most countries don't recognize invertebrates, such as octopuses, crabs, lobsters and crayfish, as sentient beings that can feel pain, but the United Kingdom is considering amendments to its animal welfare legislation that would recognize this. "A London School of Economics (LSE) report commissioned by the U.K. government fo…

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-nasa-roman-mission-cosmic-theories.html NASA's Roman mission will test competing cosmic acceleration theories by Ashley Balzer, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center: These six cubes show the simulated distribution of galaxies at redshifts 9, 8, 5, 3, 2, and 1, with the corresponding cosmic ages shown. As the universe expands, the density of galaxies within each cube decreases, from more than half a million at top left to about 80 at lower right. Each cube is about 100 million light-years across. Galaxies assembled along vast strands of gas separated by large voids, a foam-like structure echoed in the present-day universe on…

Weather is OK. It's a go. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59782057 Live:

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-scientists-stephen-hawking-black-hole.html Scientists may have solved Stephen Hawking's black hole paradox Researchers may have solved Professor Stephen Hawking's famous black hole paradox—a mystery that has puzzled scientists for almost half a century. According to two new studies, something called "quantum hair" is the answer to the problem. In the first paper, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, researchers demonstrated that black holes are more complex than originally thought and have gravitational fields that hold information about how they were formed. The researchers showed that matter collapsing …

Great Oxygenation Event: MIT Scientists’ New Hypothesis for One of the Grand Mysteries of Science (scitechdaily.com)

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-deforestation-brazilian-amazon-february.html Record deforestation in Brazilian Amazon in February: Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon set a new record for the month of February, according to official data released Friday, the latest sign of a surge in destruction under President Jair Bolsonaro. Satellite images show 199 square kilometers (77 square miles) of forest cover—an area more than half the size of the US capital Washington—were lost in Brazil's Amazon region last month, according to Brazilian space agency INPE's Deter monitoring program. That was the highest figure for February since the program began in August …

Too complex to understand. Let AI to come up with patterns. The evolution, evolvability and engineering of gene regulatory DNA | Nature

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-07/russian-shelling-destroys-ukraine-atomic-lab-built-with-u-s?fbclid=IwAR0cTlxe8stoafLUeex4Ac4g2Xd6F6PMjOMLz2rYBW8R1DmEcDiD5r7H4y8

"Scientists discovered an absolutely massive bacterium that can be seen without the aid of a microscope and lurks among the mangroves of Grande-Terre in the Caribbean, Science magazine reported." That comment is from a Live Science article about a new bacterium, 2 centimeters long, that was recently discovered in the Caribbean. Enjoy!

This project aims to produce 300,000 tonnes annually of hydrogen and derivatives from solar and wind electricity and water. The African nation aiming to be a hydrogen superpower - BBC 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…