Science News

https://astronomynow.com/2020/08/24/nearby-supernova-blasts-may-be-culprits-in-at-least-one-mass-extinction/

Location of Comet NEOWISE from July 27 to August 2, 2020. Facing west-northwest shortly after dusk, as seen from the U.S. See how the curve in the Big Dipper’s handle points to the bright star Arcturus? For a specific view – shortly after your local dusk – from your specific location on the globe, try Stellarium. Illustration by Eddie Irizarry using Stellarium. https://earthsky.org

According to a new paper Mars was not a water world in the deep past but an ice world. Rivers and alluvial fans were most likely made under a covering of ices says a paper in Nature Geoscience. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2020/08/04/was-mars-once-the-white-planet-ice-sheets-not-rivers-created-martian-valleys-say-scientists

Talking of species, as we were in another thread, the idea that two species cannot inter-breed or hybridise is shown to be false in many examples. Here is an amazing example of a hybrid of two different species that are also from two different genera, and even different families: https://www.quantamagazine.org/extra-dna-may-make-unlikely-hybrid-fish-possible-20200805/

https://phys.org/news/2020-08-fastest-star.amp

T cell responses (especially T helper cells CD4) are an important element of the immune memory. A few studies have now found that convalescent folks with mild or no symptoms show detectable T cell responses, which is positive news. (Sekine et al. 2020 Cell (preproof); biorxiv: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.26.115832v1). A couple of other preliminary studies seem to suggest that even antibody responses may be present for longer than previously anticipated (e.g. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.01.20166553v1, https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.11.20171843v2) . So we are seeing an increasing number of studie…

Here is a new study on quantum tunneling Physicists watch quantum particles tunnel through solid barriers. Here's what they found. https://www.livescience.com/quantum-tunneling-observed-and-measured.html

A newly discovered four-quark particle (illustrated) is the first to contain all heavy quarks, and more than two quarks of the same kind. CERN https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new-particle-cern-tetraquark-first-four-same-kind-quark

Disclaimer: Black hole not visible, southern hemisphere required. https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/06/nearest_black_hole_earth/

"A team of European archaeologists uncovered evidence that humans may have been in the Americas for twice as long as previously believed" https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/artifacts-may-have-unearthed-new-timeline-of-human-arrival-in-the-americas Source article: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8548977/First-humans-reached-Americas-15-000-years-EARLIER-thought.html Cave in Mexico found with evidence of humans living there 27,000 years ago Modelling reveals humans arrived on the continent around 33,000 years ago Researchers do not know exactly how people first reached Americas at this time Believe they e…

"By tuning into a subset of brain waves, University of Michigan researchers have dramatically reduced the power requirements of neural interfaces while improving their accuracy—a discovery that could lead to long-lasting brain implants that can both treat neurological diseases and enable mind-controlled prosthetics and machines. The team, led by Cynthia Chestek, associate professor of biomedical engineering and core faculty at the Robotics Institute, estimated a 90% drop in power consumption of neural interfaces by utilizing their approach." https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-07-ultra-low-power-brain-implants-meaningful.html?fbclid=IwAR38LWu3r2MrpJOgIRa2…

Interesting article about the development of drug delivery particles that can pass the blood brain barrier. I wonder how much of an impact this could have https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-07-drug-delivery-particles-neurotransmitters-passport.html#:~:text=The%20study%20authors%20made%20use,gain%20access%20throughout%20the%20brain.&text=The%20LNPs%20can%20be%20injected,the%20drugs%20across%20the%20barrier.

The star TYC 8998-760-1 (top center) was photographed with two giant exoplanets (arrows), the first time astronomers have directly imaged more than one planet orbiting a sunlike star. The bright spots above star TYC 8998-760-1 are other stars in the background. BOHN ET AL/ESO https://www.sciencenews.org/article/first-picture-sun-like-star-multiple-exoplanets-astronomy-planets

A 35-mile-long rift opened up in the Ethiopian desert in 2005, the result of tectonic plates slowly spreading the continent apart. https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/african-continent-very-slowly-peeling-apart-scientists-say-new-ocean-n1234128

We report the discovery of a new exoplanet candidate orbiting the star GJ 3470. A total of three transits were detected by OKSky Observatory: the first one on December 23, 2019, the second one on February 27, 2020, and the third one on May 3, 2020. We estimate an average transit depth of 0.84 percent and duration of 1 hour and 2 minutes. Based on this parameter, we calculate a radius of 9.2 Earth radii, which would correspond to the size of a Saturn-like exoplanet. We also estimate an orbital period of 66 days that places the exoplanet inside the habitable zone, near the orbital distance at Earths equivalent radiation. Another twelve potential transits that do not belong …

https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-united-states-will-withdraw-from-the-world-health-organization

Wired.com/nuclear power balls

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-07-rna-reversing-mutations-underlying-neurological.html?fbclid=IwAR38JE4SGPC-ODBqRzTmdpenmcsLHHiSbfUa63rZhH42UFk0Lfxg-qPd5vI This sounds to me like a piece of very interesting news. Possibilities of editing RNA is a topic that fascinates me, although I still have to learn a lot about it.

A visualization showing the South Pole Wall, a large cluster of galaxies near the southernmost part of the sky. (Image: © D. Pomarede, R. B. Tully, R. Graziani, H. Courtois, Y. Hoffman, J. Lezmy.) https://www.livescience.com/south-pole-wall-discovered-in-space.html

Astronomers have witnessed for the first time how a large star in one of the neighboring dwarf galaxies, located in the constellation Aquarius, suddenly disappeared from the sky, presumably directly turning into a black hole. This was announced on Tuesday by the press service of the European southern Observatory (ESO). "Such large stars usually produce bright supernova bursts at the end of their lives, which is why the disappearance of this star has become an extremely unusual event for us. If it really directly turned into a black hole, then we are the first direct witnesses of how the life of a giant star ended in such a manner," said Andrew Allan, an astrophysicis…

https://scitechdaily.com/hungry-black-hole-among-the-most-massive-in-the-universe-34-billion-times-the-mass-of-our-sun/

The axion field rapidly runs over the potential barriers and eventually begins oscillations when sufficiently slowed down by friction. Credit: Co & Harigaya https://phys.org/news/2020-06-case-axion-dark-gains-traction.amp

I've just read this... ...and I was wondering if a gas can be "super cooled" and remain as a gas instead of condensing to a liquid (some go straight to a solid IIRC) can the same be true for plasma? Hopefully they might get some more interesting results with their research in to quantum level collisions, gravitational waves and the equivalency principle. I guess working in microgravity will be the next big milestone in our understanding of these things. Interesting times ahead. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24632862-300-exotic-fifth-state-of-matter-made-on-the-international-space-station/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53151106

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/scientists-prove-decades-old-theory-suggesting-extremely-odd-physics-about-black-holes-1679850