Science News

https://phys.org/news/2018-08-dark-quarks.html Quarks are the smallest particles that we know of. In fact, according to the Standard Model of particle physics, which describes all known particles and their interactions, quarks should be infinitely small. If that's not mind-boggling enough, enter dark quarks – hypothetical particles that have been proposed to explain dark matter, an invisible form of matter that fills the universe and holds the Milky Way and other galaxies together. Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-08-dark-quarks.html#jCp A Supplementary article: https://phys.org/news/2018-08-potential-harbingers-physics-persist-lhc.html The p…

https://phys.org/news/2018-08-long-sought-higgs-boson.html Long-sought decay of Higgs boson observed August 28, 2018, CERN Six years after its discovery, the Higgs boson has at last been observed decaying to fundamental particles known as bottom quarks. The finding, presented today at CERN1 by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is consistent with the hypothesis that the all-pervading quantum field behind the Higgs boson also gives mass to the bottom quark. Both teams have submitted their results for publication today. The Standard Model of particle physics predicts that about 60% of the time a Higgs boson will decay to…

The Aeolus satellite will measure wind velocities of earth's atmosphere from space using ultra-violet laser light. But how does the physics work? This is what the article said about it:- Aeolus will fire an ultraviolet laser through the atmosphere and measure the return signal using a large telescope The light beam gets scattered back off air molecules and small particles moving in the wind at different altitudes https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45100090

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-45023403/what-boils-at-196c-and-could-help-cut-pollution BBC short video which claims that the pollution from the refrigeration system in lorries is greated that the pollution from the lorry engine itself. This system replaces that refrigeration system with aone based on compression liquid nitrogen that has zero pollution, though overall its pollution must also depend on the pollution from the energy source to the liqufication plant. Sorry I don't know how to embed this. If anyone can do that or tell me how I would be grateful.

https://phys.org/news/2018-08-physicists-demystify-einstein-spooky-science.html Physicists race to demystify Einstein's 'spooky' science August 27, 2018 by Cynthia Dillon, University of California - San Diego Schematic of the 2018 “Cosmic Bell” experiment at the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory in the Canary Islands, where two large telescopes observed the fluctuating color of light from distant quasars (red and blue galaxies). The green beams indicate polarization-entangled photons sent through the open air between stations separated by about one kilometer. Credit: Andrew S. Friedman and Dominik Rauch When it com…

A female who died around 90,000 years ago was half Neanderthal and half Denisovan, according to genome analysis of a bone discovered in a Siberian cave. This is the first time scientists have identified an ancient individual whose parents belonged to distinct human groups. The findings were published on 22 August in Nature1.https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06004-0

https://phys.org/news/2018-08-year-australian-reveals-steep-decline.html 32-year Australian study reveals steep decline in student belief that God created humans August 21, 2018, University of New South Wales The top figure shows the percentage of students who, between 1986 and 2017, choose one of four options in relation to the human evolution: (1) humans were created by God within the last 10,000 years (green); (2) humans evolved over millions of years with the whole process guided by God (blue); (3) humans evolved over millions of years but God had no part in this process (red); or (4) they are uncertain what they think (yellow). Figures include li…

The title says most of it, here is an inspiring extract Four years ago, Brian and his fellow students at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, came up with this low-cost, reusable device called Matibabu which detects malaria quickly without drawing blood. Although still in prototype stage, the society judges called his malaria testing machine "simply a game changer" in the fight against this deadly disease. Magnets and matiscope "Matibabu" means "treatment" in Swahili, and the machine uses magnets and a custom-made portable device called a matiscope. This shines a red beam of light on to the user's finger, detecting a substance called haemozoin c…

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-08-core-error-underlies-belief-creationism.html Core thinking error underlies belief in creationism, conspiracy theories: study: August 20, 2018, Cell Press: It's not uncommon to hear someone espouse the idea that "everything happens for a reason" or that something that happened was "meant to be." Now, researchers reporting in Current Biology on August 20 have found that this kind of teleological thinking is linked to two seemingly unrelated beliefs: creationism, the belief that life on Earth was purposely created by a supernatural agent, and conspiracism, the tendency to explain historical or current events in terms of s…

https://techxplore.com/news/2018-08-team-world-first-ever-d-ceramics.html extract: 4-D printing is conventional 3-D printing combined with the additional element of time as the fourth dimension, where the printed objects can re-shape or self-assemble themselves over time with external stimuli, such as mechanical force, temperature, or a magnetic field. In this research, the team made use of the elastic energy stored in the stretched precursors for shape morphing. When the stretched ceramic precursors are released, they undergo self-reshaping. After heat treatment, the precursors turn into ceramics. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::…

Hello to all, I've recently created my YouTube channel called "Backed by Science" where so far I've posted 2 videos. The link to my channel is provided below: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg92N7DgEUEgtFtpSf_SIoQ/featured My intention is to provide answers to health related questions and discuss health and fitness matters based purely on scientific evidence. My purpose is to see a disease free world where no one will ever have to suffer at the hands of poverty and unaffordability of health costs. As its the first time I've ever made videos using my knowledge of science, I wish to rece…

Human activities including hunting and hiking are driving mammals around the world to be more active at night, when they’re less likely to run into people, according to a new study. The consequences of this shift are still unclear, but scientists suspect it could threaten the survival of several animal populations. Coyotes are among the more than 60 mammal species that have shifted to a more nocturnal schedule when living around people. http://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05430-4

https://phys.org/news/2018-08-renovations-big-nuclear-astrophysics-lab.html In nature, the nuclear reactions that form stars are often accompanied by astronomically high amounts of energy, sometimes over billions of years. This presents a challenge for nuclear astrophysicists trying to study these reactions in a controlled, low-energy laboratory setting. The chances of re-creating such a spark without bombarding targets with high-intensity beams are unfathomably low. However, after recent renovations to its accelerator, one laboratory reported record-breaking performance. Following six years of upgrades to the Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source (ECRIS) at t…

https://phys.org/news/2018-08-quiet-sunday-night-supermassive-black.html Earlier this year, on a quiet Sunday night, my colleague Jack and I found the fastest-growing supermassive black hole in the known universe. We were fortunate to be part of the team that made one of the greatest discoveries in astronomy this year. This supermassive black hole, or quasar, is 20 billion times the mass of our Sun and is 12.5 billion light years away from Earth. It expands 1 per cent every million years and it devours a mass equivalent to our Sun every two days. Officially, it is called SMSS J215728.21-360215.1, but we call it the hungry monster. The 'we' that made the dis…

Hi, I'm not a "hard" scientist (history of art), but by accident I stumbled across a recent scientific book (published by Wiley, written by University professor) which contains what I think are many plagiarized sections (some identical, some with very minor changes). I contacted Wiley about this more than a month ago, but haven't gotten a reply nor have they taken any action about the book. I have no idea where I could best report this situation, I have no personal stake in this (the copied texts are not by me or anyone I know), but don't like knowing about such a situation and not doing anything about it. Do I post my evidence here (in whichever subforum you prefer)…

https://phys.org/news/2018-07-einstein-date-lorentz-violation-high-energy.html New study again proves Einstein right: Most thorough test to date finds no Lorentz violation in high-energy neutrinos July 16, 2018 by Jennifer Chu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology The universe should be a predictably symmetrical place, according to a cornerstone of Einstein's theory of special relativity, known as Lorentz symmetry. This principle states that any scientist should observe the same laws of physics, in any direction, and regardless of one's frame of reference, as long as that object is moving at a constant speed. For instance, as a consequence of Lorentz …

https://phys.org/news/2018-08-kepler-supernova-explosion-survivors-left.html After the Kepler supernova explosion, no survivors were left behind: A new study argues that the explosion that Johannes Kepler observed in 1604 was caused by a merger of two stellar residues. The Kepler supernova, of which only the supernova remnant remains, took place in the constellation of Ophiuchus, in the plane of the Milky Way, 16,300 light years from the sun. An international team led by the researcher Pilar Ruiz Lapuente (UB-IECC y CSIC), in which IAC researcher Jonay González Hernández participated, has tried to find the possible surviving star of the binary system in whi…

Hurricanes are catastrophically destructive. Beyond their toll on human life and livelihoods, hurricanes have tremendous and often long-lasting effects on ecological systems. Despite many examples of mass mortality events following hurricane, hurricane-induced natural selection has not previously been demonstrated. Immediately after we finished a survey of Anolis scriptus—a common, small-bodied lizard found throughout the Turks and Caicos archipelago—our study populations were battered by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Shortly thereafter, we revisited the populations to determine whether morphological traits related to clinging capacity had shifted in the intervening si…

I don't much understand moon phases, but most documented moon phases show a full moon at the height of illumination. Timedate.com (with the exception of China) showed the full moon on the 27th when the moon was the furthest from the earth. (A Micro Moon) However, timedate.com also showed that the height of illumination was on the 28th for the same parts of the world. Did they say the full moon was on the 27th just so they could call it a micro moon? To Recap: For most countries, the moon was furthest away on the 27th, but he height of illumination was on the 28th Parts of China had a true micro moon on the 28th when it was both furthest from the earth a…

Not sure if this article has been shared yet. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jul/25/huge-underground-lake-discovered-on-mars-say-astronomers

https://phys.org/news/2018-07-black-holes-ever-growing-balls.html Black holes really just ever-growing balls of string, researchers say July 26, 2018 by Misti Crane, The Ohio State University Black holes aren't surrounded by a burning ring of fire after all, suggests new research. Some physicists have believed in a "firewall" around the perimeter of a black hole that would incinerate anything sucked into its powerful gravitational pull. But a team from The Ohio State University has calculated an explanation of what would happen if an electron fell into a typical black hole, with a mass as big as the sun. "The probability of the electron …

On an island off Australia’s north-central coast, researchers are conducting an unprecedented experiment: mixing endangered animals that have evolved genetic defences against their biggest foe with those that haven’t, in the hope that their offspring will take after the wiser parent. The subject of the experiment is one of Australia’s most imperilled marsupials, the northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus). This squirrel-sized carnivore is struggling to survive a decades-long onslaught of poisonous and invasive cane toads, which quolls mistake as prey, with devastating results. In the 80 years since agriculture officials introduced the cane toad (Rhinella mari…

I wish to find out if a tree so heavily pruned is still capable of survival. Please comment. (Picture attached)

https://phys.org/news/2018-07-century-old-riddle-resolveda-blazar-source.html More than century-old riddle resolved—a blazar is a source of high-energy neutrinos An international team of scientists has found the first evidence of a source of high-energy cosmic neutrinos, ghostly subatomic particles that can travel unhindered for billions of light years from the most extreme environments in the universe to Earth. The observations, made by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station and confirmed by telescopes around the globe and in Earth's orbit, help resolve a more than a century-old riddle about what sends subatomic particles…