Science News

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/03/08/erie-pa-buried-under-13-feet-of-snowfall-breaks-all-time-record/ In latest news another climate record tumbles.

http://www.citigroup.com/citi/news/2015/150218a.htm If it has to have $100Bn poured in then it is really sustainable? It is a bit like filling the car with a full tank of petrol and then claiming it is running without fuel...until the fuel runs out. That $100Bn represents energy being added to the 'sustainable' system. Energy produced by fossil fuels. If the system is running by itself after 10 years AND is able to produce a big enough surplus to provide for its replacement AND pay back the capital it absorbed then it counts as sustainable. Otherwise I cannot see how it qualifies.

http://joannenova.com.au/2018/03/giant-spanish-bank-spends-e100-b-on-earths-weather-cos-they-are-nice-people/ So what does "spending $100bn" mean? It means consuming $100Bn worth of energy, most of which has come from fossil fuels. Spending money = Consuming energy.

Seen it here. https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/03/07/exclusive-an-ugly-chapter-that-didnt-make-the-bestseller-book-the-politically-incorrect-guide-to-climate-change/

https://phys.org/news/2018-03-chemical-sleuthing-unravels-path-life.html Chemical sleuthing unravels possible path to forming life's building blocks in space March 5, 2018, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Scientists have used lab experiments to retrace the chemical steps leading to the creation of complex hydrocarbons in space, showing pathways to forming 2-D carbon-based nanostructures in a mix of heated gases. The latest study, which featured experiments at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), could help explain the presence of pyrene, which is a chemical compound known as a polycyclic aromatic…

https://phys.org/news/2018-02-simulations-weather-patterns-india-due.html Simulations suggest changes in weather patterns coming to India due to global warming February 27, 2018 by Bob Yirka, Phys.org A team of researchers with the Center for Prototype Climate Modeling, New York University Abu Dhabi, and the University of California has created a computer simulation to predict changes in weather for India in the coming years as the planet warms due to global warming. In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes the data and factors they applied to their models and outlines what the simulations r…

https://phys.org/news/2018-03-species-ravens-nevermore-evidence-speciation.html Two species of ravens nevermore? New research finds evidence of 'speciation reversal' For over a century, speciation—where one species splits into two—has been a central focus of evolutionary research. But a new study almost 20 years in the making suggests "speciation reversal"—where two distinct lineages hybridize and eventually merge into one—can also be extremely important. The paper, appearing March 2 in Nature Communications, provides some of the strongest evidence yet of the phenomenon, in two lineages of Common Ravens."The bottom line is [speciation reversal] is a natural evol…

Ipsos have carried out a survey of what people perceive about the world, versus how it is. In general, particularly when it comes to crime and terrorism, people think things are much worse than they are. The ideas about alcohol consumption by country are quite amusing: stereotypical and generally wrong (you will probably be surprised by the country with the highest alcohol consumption). https://perils.ipsos.com/slides/ And, perhaps not surprisingly, the countries where people are most confident about their answers are also the countries where they are most wrong.

Unprecedentedly wide and sharp dark matter map March 2, 2018, Subaru Telescope Figure 1: 2 dimensional dark matter map estimated by weak lensing technique. The dark matter is concentrated in dense clumps. We can identify massive dark matter halos (indicated by oranges circles). The area shown in this figure is approximately 30 square degrees (a total of 160 square degrees were observed this time). The distribution map without the orange circles is available here. Credit: NAOJ/University of Tokyo A research team of multiple institutes, including the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and University of Tokyo, released an unprecedentedly wide and …

A new type of virus has been found that could have a profound influence on ecosystems. https://phys.org/news/2018-01-virus-ocean.html

What wonders lie beneath... https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/03/scientists-discover-ancient-mayan-city-hidden-under-guatemalan-jungle

Hello forum, If you are interested in a short paper on the Construction of "KAGRA: an Underground Gravitational Wave Observatory" in Japan. https://arxiv.org/pdf/1712.00148.pdf

Astronomers reveal secrets of most distant supernova ever detected February 20, 2018, University of Portsmouth Supernova. Credit: NASA An international team of astronomers, including Professor Bob Nichol from the University of Portsmouth, has confirmed the discovery of the most distant supernova ever detected – a huge cosmic explosion that took place 10.5 billion years ago, or three-quarters the age of the Universe itself. The exploding star, named DES16C2nm, was detected by the Dark Energy Survey (DES), an international collaboration to map several hundred million galaxies in order to find out more about dark energy – the mysterious force believed to …

A scientist takes a photo of a single atom using an ordinary camera: https://qz.com/1205279/photo-of-an-atom-a-scientist-captured-an-incredible-photograph/ (Didn't we have someone here recently claiming that atoms don't exist!) Five ways the heaviest element on the periodic table is really bizarre: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/5-ways-heaviest-element-periodic-table-really-bizarre Discrepancy in neutron lifetime measurements might hint at new physics (but probably not dark matter): https://www.quantamagazine.org/neutron-lifetime-puzzle-deepens-but-no-dark-matter-seen-20180213/ (I wonder is this might be relevant to the discrepancy in the amount of of lithi…

The BBC report on the long term orbital behaviour of Musk's Tesla, launched by the Falcon Heavy last week. Here is an extract: The Tesla car that Elon Musk launched into space is likely to stay there for tens of millions of years before crashing into the Earth or Venus. That's the conclusion of an analysis by Czech and Canadian researchers. They calculated that the roadster has a 6% chance of colliding with Earth and a 2.5% probability of hitting Venus over the next million years. But there's no cause for concern: if it eventually returns to Earth, most of the vehicle will burn up. The team's computer simulations suggest there is a very sli…

In a (now trashed) thread, Moontanman linked to an interesting story about the role of retroviruses in brain function and memory: That was a very poorly written article (in one sentence, I couldn't even work out what the "it" referred to). But it still looked like very interesting, so here is a better one (with references to the original papers): https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-00492-w

https://phys.org/news/2018-02-astrophysicists-planets-extragalactic-galaxies-microlensing.html Astrophysicists discover planets in extragalactic galaxies using microlensing February 2, 2018, University of Oklahoma The gravitational lens RX J1131-1231 galaxy with the lens galaxy at the center and four lensed background quasars. It is estimated that there are trillions of planets in the center elliptical galaxy in this image. Credit: University of Oklahoma A University of Oklahoma astrophysics team has discovered for the first time a population of planets beyond the Milky Way galaxy. Using microlensing—an astronomical phenomenon and the only known…

A recent report on TYT (re: youtube How AI Is Being Used To Create Fake Porn) says AI systems are available on the internet with instructions telling novice users, ones with no programming experience, how to use the AI. Furthermore, someone has created a video editing system that allows the person to trade faces in the video for one in a picture. Thus, anyone may show up in a porn movie. Not good. Adolescents will grow up developing AI and some of them will do good things. Of course there are serious developers using AI, too. It is good to know how easy it is to use AI. I think everyone needs to now about this technology, Forewarning perhaps can lessen the shock…

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

New evidence may push back the appearance of modern humans to 500,000 years. Early human migration out of Africa and interbreeding with more archaic humans is thought to have occured. https://www.livescience.com/61532-oldest-human-fossils-outside-africa.html?

„Biologists in Shanghai, China, have created the first primates cloned with a technique similar to the one used to clone Dolly the sheep and nearly two dozen other species. The method has failed to produce live primates until now” https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-01027-z

The purpose of this thread is to discuss the current tectonic activity around the Pacific Rim. Mods please move to Earth Science if you feel it fits better there. The Alaska quake is the big news, but there is other activity to consider - volcanic in japan and Indonesia. Here is my contribution to kick off. If anyone could embed the video I would be grateful http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-42785939/the-philippines-most-active-volcano-mount-mayon-erupts

AutoML is the first AI automation tool that I've heard of; although, there may be others. Previously, before the current AI epoch, Computer Aided Engineering and Design systems of various types were sold. However, few were a commercial success. The AutoML team seems to have a good technique, since they are integrating AI into the system they are designing and putting AI into the systems it produces. Any time they can save developing will be used for other things. In the limit, an AI will be able to do anything a human can. At this time this tool falls short of that goal, but I believe they will continue to improve AutoML and perhaps build other related tools. Th…

The director of the NIEHS wrote an editorial for PloS Biology highlighting the lack of regulation on potential harmful pollutants and called for more research and policies to address these gaps. One would think that this is not controversial as it clearly within the mission of the NIEHS. In response, the House Science Oversight Committee wants to investigate her for, wait for it.... "lobbying".

Can London, Paris and Hong Cong file similar suits? Will these lawsuits smother the oil companies?