Science News

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-physicists-neutron-stars-bigger-previously.html Physicists predict neutron stars may be bigger than previously imagined: When a massive star dies, first there is a supernova explosion. Then, what's left over becomes either a black hole or a neutron star. That neutron star is the densest celestial body that astronomers can observe, with a mass about 1.4 times the size of the sun. However, there is still little known about these impressive objects. Now, a Florida State University researcher has published a piece in Physical Review Letters arguing that new measurements related to the neutron skin of a lead nucleus may require scie…

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-extraterrestrial-radioactive-isotope-seabed-implications.html MAY 14, 2021 Extraterrestrial radioactive isotope found in seabed has implications for Earth's origins:\ The first-ever discovery of an extraterrestrial radioactive isotope on Earth has scientists rethinking the origins of the elements on our planet. The tiny traces of plutonium-244 were found in ocean crust alongside radioactive iron-60. The two isotopes are evidence of violent cosmic events in the vicinity of Earth millions of years ago. Star explosions, or supernovae create many of the heavy elements in the periodic table, including those vital fo…

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-discovery-geologic-plate-tectonic.html Discovery of new geologic process calls for changes to plate tectonic cycle: Geoscientists at the University of Toronto (U of T) and Istanbul Technical University have discovered a new process in plate tectonics which shows that tremendous damage occurs to areas of Earth's crust long before it should be geologically altered by known plate-boundary processes, highlighting the need to amend current understandings of the planet's tectonic cycle. Plate tectonics, an accepted theory for over 60 years that explains the geologic processes occurring below the surface of Earth, holds that its outer…

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-space-telescope-golden-mirror-wings.html Space telescope's golden mirror wings open one last time on Earth: The process of deploying, moving, expanding and unfurling all of Webb's many movable pieces after they have been exposed to a simulated launch is the best way to ensure they will perform as intended once in space. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn For the last time while it is on Earth, the world's largest and most powerful space science telescope opened its iconic primary mirror. This event marked a key milestone in preparing the observatory for launch later this year. As part of the NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's …

Article about Tokomaks in Britain and America Interestingly set in the business section, not the science section of the BBC. However it does offer some useful up to date facts and figures. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56843149

NASA has found water on the Moon's lit surface. https://www.npr.org/2020/10/26/927869069/water-on-the-moon-nasa-confirms-water-molecules-on-our-neighbors-sunny-surface?t=1603753199805 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-01222-x#_blank Abstract from Nature Astronomy: Interesting news, though not Earth-shattering, probably.

A new report has provided new estimates for COVID-19 deaths. Verified death numbers obviously are a lower estimate. By looking at excess deaths and accounting for non-COVID-19 related deaths the authors estimate a current death toll of 6.9 millions globally (more than double of verified cases). In the US the estimated total deaths are over 900k. In the UK both numbers are closer (209k vs 150k).

Another piece of the puzzle of life. Seems to present very primitive form of cell differentiation, with only two types of cells. A billion year old fossil, which provides a new link in the evolution of animals, has been discovered in Torridon, Scotland. https://phys.org/news/2021-04-billion-year-old-fossil-reveals-link-evolution.html The organism was spherical in shape, suggesting also that cellular differentiation, "tissue" formation, and body plan were very primitive. https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)00424-3

A new attempt to find the universe's age revealed troubling flaws. https://futurism.com/hubble-broke-understanding-universe

Interesting side effect of covid pandemic protocols:

Just heard the news that Michael Collins from Apollo 11 has died. He was 90 years old and will be remebered as being the "lonliest man in the world" orbiting the Moon while his two companions, the late Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the surface. Condolences to his family and friends.

What is to happen when the batteries wear out ? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56574779

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-astronomers-hint-silhouette-spaghettified-star.html Astronomers see first hint of the silhouette of a spaghettified star: For decades astronomers have been spotting bursts of electromagnetic radiation coming from black holes. They assumed those are the result of stars being torn apart, but they have never seen the silhouette of the actual material ligaments. Now a group of astronomers, including lead author Giacomo Cannizzaro and Peter Jonker from SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research/Radboud University, has for the first time observed spectral absorption lines caused by strands of a spaghettified star. Publication in Monthl…

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-scientists-dark-energy.html Scientists make further step towards understanding dark energy: The extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) collaboration has released its latest scientific results. These results include two studies on dark energy led by Prof. Zhao Gongbo and Prof. Wang Yuting, respectively, from National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC). The study led by Prof. Zhao was recently published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Based on eBOSS observations, Prof. Zhao's team measured the history of cosmic expansion and structure growth in a huge …

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/news/exotic-compact-objects-could-soon-break-physics-new-study-suggests/ar-BB1fTnjz?ocid=BingNews

We have had several threads and discussions about this topic this news qwould seem to indicate we are not yet there.

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-comprehensive-emdrive.html In a comprehensive new test, the EmDrive fails to generate any thrust: The EmDrive is a hypothetical rocket that proponents claim can generate thrust with no exhaust. This would violate all known physics. In 2016, a team at NASA's Eagleworks lab claimed to measure thrust from an EmDrive device, the news of which caused quite a stir. The latest attempt to replicate the shocking results has resulted in a simple answer: The Eagleworks measurement was from heating of the engine mount, not any new physics. The EmDrive is a relatively simple device: It's an empty cavity that isn't perfectly symmetric…

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-whitest-hereand-coolest-literally.html The whitest paint is here—and it's the coolest. Literally: In an effort to curb global warming, Purdue University engineers have created the whitest paint yet. Coating buildings with this paint may one day cool them off enough to reduce the need for air conditioning, the researchers say. In October, the team created an ultra-white paint that pushed limits on how white paint can be. Now they've outdone that. The newer paint not only is whiter but also can keep surfaces cooler than the formulation that the researchers had previously demonstrated. "If you were to use this paint t…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-56662742 From the BBC 1 hour ago.

Beautiful little shark babies have been hatched out of eggs laid at the aquarium.

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-giant-radio-pulses-pulsars-hundreds.html Giant radio pulses from pulsars are hundreds of times more energetic than previously believed: A global science collaboration using data from NASA's Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) telescope on the International Space Station has discovered X-ray surges accompanying radio bursts from the pulsar in the Crab Nebula. The finding shows that these bursts, called giant radio pulses, release far more energy than previously suspected. pulsar is a type of rapidly spinning neutron star, the crushed, city-sized core of a star that exploded as a supernova. A young, isolate…

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-stardust-pale-blue-dot-carbon.html We are made of stardust, the saying goes, and a pair of studies including University of Michigan research finds that may be more true than we previously thought. The first study, led by U-M researcher Jie (Jackie) Li and published in Science Advances, finds that most of the carbon on Earth was likely delivered from the interstellar medium, the material that exists in space between stars in a galaxy. This likely happened well after the protoplanetary disk, the cloud of dust and gas that circled our young sun and contained the building blocks of the planets, formed and warmed up. Carbon w…

The prevailing theory among scientists is that roughly three quarters of all the stuff in the universe is made up of “dark matter,” a mysterious substance that interacts with visible matter via gravity. Despite its ubiquitousness, though, scientists have yet to find direct evidence of its existence. According to a new study by an international team of scientists however, this search could be for nothing, NBC News reports. Instead, they argue that our limited scientific understanding of gravity may be unable to account for the strange gravitational behavior of galaxies. In other words, it’s not dark matter causing the behavior — we simply don’t fully understand t…

The authors of PNAS paper, Global hydroclimatic response to tropical volcanic eruptions over the last millennium, believe they may have identified significant and extended effects of tropical eruptions that go beyond those predicted by current climate models. From the paper: Significance: Future large tropical volcanic eruptions will induce global hydroclimatic changes, superimposed on anthropogenic climate change. Understanding how volcanic eruptions affect global hydroclimate is therefore critically important. Tejedor et al. use a new paleoclimatic product, which combines information from high-resolution proxies and climate models, to estimate volcanic impacts on h…

https://phys.org/news/2021-03-astronomers-image-magnetic-fields-edge.html Astronomers image magnetic fields at the edge of M87's black hole: The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, which produced the first-ever image of a black hole, has today revealed a new view of the massive object at the center of the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy: How it looks in polarized light. This is the first time astronomers have been able to measure polarization, a signature of magnetic fields, this close to the edge of a black hole. The observations are key to explaining how the M87 galaxy, located 55 million light-years away, is able to launch energetic jets from its core. …