The US is taking definitive steps toward nuclear fusion, with plans to build its first plant by the 2040s.
Nuclear fusion represents the Holy Grail of energy production. Unlike nuclear fission, fusion involves combining atoms rather than splitting them apart. Fusion is cleaner than fission, producing helium as a byproduct, rather than radioactive waste. There is also minimal chance of the kind of explosive chain reaction that can occur when ripping atoms apart. Deuterium — the primary fuel used in fusion — is distilled from sea water, unlike the rare-earth elements used in fission.
Despite its advantages, there are still many hurdles to overcome. Chief among them is developing a method that produces substantially more energy than the cost of fusion.
A group of US scientists believe they can overcome the challenges, and have set the 2040s as their goal for establishing the first power plant in the US, according to Science.
“The community urgently wants to move forward with fusion on a time scale that can impact climate change,” says Troy Carter, a fusion physicist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “We have to get started.”
“Let’s talk about a very dangerous event, an event that might in your lifetime happen here on planet earth,” says space scientist and YouTube star Anton Petrov. “I don’t want to scare you too much but this is something you should be familiar with. So let’s talk about this unusual event known as a geomagnetic storm. This event might cause World War 3. Here is why actually it is a very potential threat to our planet.”
Anton Petrov, the host of a popular YouTube channel with nearly 600,000 subscribers and over 142 million video views, tells us in his latest video that we should all be very worried about a massive geomagnetic storm that will definitely happen in our lifetimes:
EMP Will Annihilate Technology In Just A Few Hours
What exactly are these geomagnetic storms and why are they so dangerous? You may have already heard of the so-called Carrington event that happened back in 1859. In a nutshell, it was such a powerful solar storm that even back then when we just started using the Telegraph for a first attempt at long-distance communication the actual paper that was used in the Telegraph was set on fire.
This was an extremely powerful event that if it happened today would most likely have a huge impact on most of the modern technology. It would very likely wipe almost all of the data and destroy a lot of, if not all of, the devices that we have on the planet. They are not EMP protected or are not protected from the electromagnetic pulse. Some of the military technology might survive but most of the civilian technology will probably be completely annihilated within only a few hours.
The Scary Part: CME Events Are Pretty Common
Here is the scary part. There have been a lot of recent studies that decided to focus on trying to estimate how often such events occur. Even though the Carrington event happened about 150 years ago these events could have been a lot more common than we thought. For the past few months, I’ve been collecting a few papers on the subject to see what scientists have discovered in the last year or so.
What exactly are these events and how do they even form? All of this starts on the surface of our Sun. Magnetic lines form on the Sun’s surface and these lines actually have a tendency to then snap. In other words, once in a while, these magnetic loops have a tendency to reconnect and this magnetic reconnection can then lead to a release of a tremendous amount of so-called coronal mass.
Very Powerful CME Barely Missed Earth In 2012
These CME events, or coronal mass ejection events, are pretty common. The Sun is essentially a sphere where they can go in any direction around the solar system. But once in a while, if we’re really unlucky, they will point at just the right direction at where Earth is going to be. In other words, when this CME is headed toward Earth it can, unfortunately, intersect with our planet and then cause a lot of disturbance on the surface.
Interestingly, a few years ago in 2012, a very powerful CME occurred that was headed right at our planet but missed us by just a little bit. The so-called solar storm of 2012 could have been the next Carrington event had it crossed our planet but we got really lucky and it didn’t. It just missed us. Since then scientists have been very active at trying to establish how often these events occur and are trying to come up with some sort of a way of avoiding certain damage that will occur when they do come here. The problem today is that most of our technology is completely unprepared for this and because of our reliance on technology and the lack of these very powerful events we have so far been pretty lucky.
Another very powerful event occurred back in 1989 in my home province of Quebec in Canada. I was too young to remember what exactly happened but according to my parents, it was a pretty serious event with essentially most of the province being completely in the dark because of the geomagnetic storm. It completely wiped the electric grid of the whole province. This event was so powerful that a very large Aurora was visible very far south, even in places like Florida. This very powerful event also had a lot of effect on various satellites. It also affected some of the computers that were already used back then.
CME Event Could Look Like Start Of World War 3
More terrifyingly, this event also caused a very large blackout of communications across the planet. This is actually one of the scariest parts of these geomagnetic storms. A typical CME would ionize our atmosphere so much that you would not be able to have any kind of electromagnetic communication anywhere. The radio communication would cease to operate. It could also lead to the failure of various cooling mechanisms inside nuclear reactors.
This is actually one of the scarier parts. Imagine, you have no communication and all you nuclear technology is failing and satellites are either failing or are completely unresponsive. Well in some sense, this really looks like someone is about to start World War 3. I’m pretty sure that countries like China that are not even used to seeing this would panic completely. With a complete lack of communication and understanding of what’s happening a country might accidentally push that red button and start another world war.
Telecommunications Could Be Wiped Out
The effects of a typical CME don’t even end there. A typical CME would also affect our ozone layer, decreasing it quite dramatically. It would also significantly increase various types of radiation in the upper atmosphere, turning flying or being in space into a very dangerous endeavor. If you are in an airplane, if it doesn’t crash obviously, you might experience a tremendous amount of radiation that you would not experience otherwise.
In the last decade, so much of the technology is essentially interdependent with telecommunication and with space technology. There are a lot more satellites today and a lot more rocket launches happening every year. All of this is in a sense a bubble that’s forming that could be completely wiped overnight by a CME which nobody is prepared for. The computers that we use, smartphones, and very likely all of our bank accounts would most likely not operate for at least a few days, possibly weeks, and possibly be completely wiped entirely.
It’s Going To Happen A Lot Sooner Than You Think
My hope lies in the idea that one day we will realize that it’s going to happen and start making things a little bit more EMP proof. It’s going to happen and possibly a lot sooner than you think. Some of the recent studies including one of the most comprehensive ones in the last few months decided to investigate the frequency of potential CMI’s and find out the average frequency for an extremely powerful storm.
They found a perfect opportunity to study these at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich in England that’s been active for a very very long time with data of up to 150 years. Scientists also looked at another famous and active observatory in Melbourne, Australia that has a similar amount of data available. The most important thing about these two observatories is their location is actually antipodal. What this means is that they are almost exactly on the opposite sides of the earth.
Scientists Expect A “Great Event” To Happen Every 25 Years
By being on two opposite sides, it allows us to study the magnetic effects in a lot more detail and essentially create a very interesting and very accurate magnetic index of our planet. They refer to this as the aa index. By using this index, the scientists behind the paper identified several events in the last 150 years when the magnetic emissions coming from our Sun were a lot higher than they were otherwise. In other words, other potential Carrington like events.
Unfortunately, what they discovered is that we can expect a great event to happen at least once every 25 years. However, a Carrington like event would only happen every 150 years or so. Such a great event would be only a little bit weaker than a typical Carrington like event suggesting that we might still have a few years in reserve before such an event occurs. But here’s the thing, even a great event would be enough to destroy and severely disrupt modern communication.
A Great Event Should Occur In The Next 10 To 15 Years
In the last few years, we’ve been really ignoring the fact that our Sun can be occasionally extremely active. As a matter of fact, in the last decade or so, our Sun basically spoiled us. The magnetic emissions and various solar emissions were so low that we almost forgot that it can even happen. Judging by their predictions, a great event should definitely occur in the next 10 to 15 years which is kind of troubling. Other similar studies confirm the results as well.
There was another study from Japan that discovered a similar finding including identifying several events that we ignored simply because the technology just didn’t exist yet. There were several major events back in 1921 and in 1872 all which were comparable to a Carrington event as well. Interestingly, some of the scientists even started discovering these reports of solar storms from various archaeological evidence and by looking at the written records by advanced civilizations that lived in the past.
Modern Technology Can Be Wiped Out By An EMP
For example, the Assyrian civilization kept a very detailed analysis of everything including the night skies and they’ve had several observations of these very powerful electromagnetic storms that resulted in the Aurora which could only be explained as another CME event. In other words, human civilization has always experienced these events but back then it wasn’t really a big deal. Now it’s a much bigger deal.
A lot of our modern civilization depends on the technology that can be completely wiped by a typical electromagnetic pulse. This is something that we definitely need to take seriously. More studies of our Sun are needed and we need to start thinking about how to protect our technology from a potential coronal mass ejection that could come our way and disrupt our life once and for all.
Need To Prepare – EMP Event Could Happen Anytime
Now today, we have several studies that do focus on trying to analyze the Sun and predict some of these emissions but we’re still not there yet. We need to have more satellites observing the Sun and more studies trying to understand how these CME’s work. Luckily, the Parker Solar Probe that’s slowly coming closer and closer to the Sun is going to provide a tremendous amount of data that will help us with this.
But remember, these events happen really quickly. By the time that it occurs, it’s going to give us almost no time to prepare and to protect our technology. We need to be ready in advance. This, of course, includes creating technology that is ready for these events. It also includes trying to create satellites that will not fail if a CME occurs. Most importantly, modern banks need to have a lot of backup systems in order for all of us not to suddenly become bankrupt overnight.
It’s also very important to just be aware that these events happen if suddenly you find yourself in a complete blackout and not being able to communicate with anyone. CME’s and events like the Carrington event do happen a lot more frequently than we initially thought. Most of the scientists agree that these events will definitely occur in our lifetime, possibly 10 years, maybe 15, but they could happen even sooner.
CME Event Could Look Like Start Of World War 3 Says Anton Petrov
“Using modern data the scientists behind a new paper proposed that there should be around 36 different CETI’s (Communicating Extra-terrestrial Intelligent Civilizations) in the Milky Way Galaxy,” says popular science YouTube star Anton Petrov. “For this particular study, they took what we know about planet Earth to try and discover similar other locations somewhere in the galaxy where obviously similar conditions could lead to other life as we have on earth.”
Anton Petrov, host of the YouTube channel “What Da Math” with over 526,000 subscribers, discusses a new scientific paper that finds there are likely at least 36 intelligent earth-like civilizations in our galaxy:
New Solution To the Fermi Paradox
A new paper finds another solution to the Fermi paradox by proposing the reworking of the so-called Drake equation. This is the famous equation that tries to calculate how many potential extra-terrestrial intelligent civilizations there should be in our vicinity. Most of the time the results (of studies like this) suggest that there should be actual civilizations around us or at least somewhere in the galaxy.
But every once in a while we do have to rework the equation simply because we collect more data in regards to various exoplanets out there. As of 2020, we’ve discovered over 4,000 different exoplanets and we now have a pretty good picture of how many different types of planets there are and also what kinds of stars usually have these terrestrial planets and how many of these stars do often have terrestrial planets in the habitable zone.
Study Finds 36 Intelligent Civilizations In Our Galaxy
Using the modern data the scientists behind this paper proposed that there should be around 36 different CETI’s (Communicating Extra-terrestrial Intelligent Civilizations) in the Milky Way Galaxy. A lot of their ideas are based on the modern understanding of the galactic formation and the formation of stars in different galaxies. Most importantly, it involves the idea of metalicity. Metalicity in astronomy refers to pretty much everything except for hydrogen and helium. Hydrogen and helium are non-metals where everything else is considered to be metals.
We know that planetary formation depends on metallicity. The more metallic the star is the more likely it is going to have terrestrial planets and even other planets orbiting around it. Stars that are low in metallicity will either have gas giants or might not even have planets at all. When it comes to metallicity in galaxies we even have this term known as the galactic habitable zone. Essentially, in a typical galaxy we think that the inner part of the galaxy is not really habitable. First of all it has low metallicity and secondly it is usually very active and has a lot of different flares going on, usually from the black hole itself.
Scientists Seek To Discover Earth Replicas
Most of the stars on the outskirts are the only areas where we could possibly find terrestrial planets capable of supporting life. So in order for us to find life somewhere, we need to be looking at areas of high metallicity and away from the black hole. All of this comes into consideration when trying to work out this new 2020 edition of the Drake Equation.
For this particular study, they took what we know about planet Earth to try and discover similar other locations somewhere in the galaxy where obviously similar conditions could lead to other life as we have on earth. They are looking at stars that are four to five billion years old and that are in habitable zones and have metallicity that is similar to the ones in our own solar system. Basically, what the scientists behind this paper are trying to discover are the replicas of the solar system in our own galaxy.
Potentially 200 Intelligent Civilizations In Milky Way
The scientist behind this paper make a very important assumption that it is very likely that many civilizations do go extinct. Before they go extinct they make an assumption that every civilization will have at least 100 years of communication using very similar devices to what we have here. Basically, electromagnetic communication using radio waves to communicate to the rest of the world and of course the rest of the galaxy.
They make the assumption that somewhere out there there are similar species to humans that are trying to reach out and are trying to search for extraterrestrial intelligence living on planets very similar to planet Earth around stars similar to our own Sun. One of their more strict assumptions is that their planet has to be about 4.5 to 5.5 billion years old and they’re also in a very similar stage of advancement and in a very similar stage of their intelligence to humans.
If you take all of these numbers into consideration we actually come up with a number that is about 36. The lowest number (per the study) of intelligent civilizations is 4 and the highest number is over 200. If all of them are equally distributed across the galaxy this means that the nearest such civilization to us is going to be at a distance of about 17,000 light-years away. The closest distance potentially being 7,000 light-years.
Study Finds 36 Intelligent Civilization In Our Galaxy – Anton Petrov
There have been many things that have slowed 5G adoption: competing types of 5G, available spectrum, security concerns over Chinese vendors and more. One of the biggest issues, however, may be surprise to some. Evidently, there is a serious shortage of “tower climbers” available, according to VentureBeat.
Tower climbers are the term for individuals who climb cell phone towers to install new equipment or maintain existing components. The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation heard testimony from various witnesses “that there aren’t enough workers to actually build the 5G infrastructure U.S. citizens are expecting over the next decade.”
FCC commissioner Brandan Carr said the industry needs “20,000 additional tower climbers and telecom techs to complete the U.S. 5G buildout.” The agency is planning to address the shortage by offering 12-week training programs that will be available at technical schools and community colleges. Earnings potential—for a job that does not require a four-year degree—is more than $70,000 a year.
With that kind of opportunity, it’s a safe bet the FCC will have no trouble coming up with 20,000 climbers.
Queen Nefertiti is one of the most famous and mysterious characters in the study of ancient Egypt.
The story of Queen Nefertiti has captured the imaginations of generations of historians, archaeologists and simple history lovers alike for thousands of years.
Queen Nefertiti disappeared over 3,000 years ago, after ruling Egypt alongside her husband Amenhotep IV, in a fog of mystery.
Did Queen Nefertiti die? Did she take another name and rule as co-regent? No one knows for sure, but after a recent discovery inside the tomb of none other than the famed Tutankhamen, we may be closer to at least knowing where her final resting place is.
British archaeologist Nicolas Reeves, after studying high-resolution images published last year, noticed cracks in the walls disguised by the iconic Egyptian art covering the inside of King Tut’s tomb.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9BHVD4Iloo
He believes they could be the remnants of former passageways to a tomb on the other side of the wall.
That, combined with the fact that the artistic depictions seem similar to others which have been identified as Tutankhamen and Queen Nefertiti, leads Reeves to believe that perhaps the famous queen is buried there in Tut’s tomb.
Queen Nefertiti could be just on the other side of the wall.
Speaking of the wall, Reeves said, “Without all this distracting color you can see all sort of things. You can see lines that indicate corners of cut walls, and these are the things that I noticed first.”
He added, “If I’m right, this is simply part of the entrance to the tomb of Nefertiti. The tomb, I think, continues beyond this wall. There will be a burial chamber beyond there.”
So exciting! However, we may have to wait to find out for sure if Queen Nefertiti is indeed buried on the other side of the wall.
First, Reeves will scan the proposed tomb of Queen Nefertiti using radar and thermal imaging. Then, a structural problem must be solved.
Egyptian Antiquities Minister Mamdouh El Damati said, “We must find a way to protect the tomb of Tutankhamen. Does that mean we will dig from above, below or from the side? We don’t know.”
Are you excited to find out if Queen Nefertiti’s burial place has actually been found?
Stephen Hawking set the scientific world aflame last month when he announced that he could have possible solved the mystery of what happens to matter when it gets sucked into a black hole.
Stephen Hawking proposed that all may not be lost if one is sucked into a black hole. In fact, he said you could possibly land in another universe much like, or very different than, our own.
As interesting as Stephen Hawking’s theory is, he isn’t going to be the guinea pig.
He said, “The hole would need to be large and if it was rotating it might have a passage to another universe. But you couldn’t come back to our universe.”
He added, “So, although I’m keen on space flight, I’m not going to try that.”
For those of us that may not be science junkies, Dr. Don Lincoln explained Stephen Hawking’s theory in this way, “He is countering the claim that the black hole gobbles and destroys the information by positing that the information never actually falls into the black hole. Instead, the information is held on the black hole’s surface — the event horizon.”
He added, “This is an intriguing thought and is analogous to how holograms are made. Holograms are two-dimensional sheets of, for example, plastic that can make three-dimensional images. All of the information of three dimensions is encoded in the two dimensional plastic.”
Intersting stuff! But, does the theory of one of the world’s most famous scientists hold water?
Well, it seems we will have to wait for Hawking’s paper on the subject, on which he is collaborating with Malcolm Perry of Cambridge University and Andrew Strominger of Harvard University.
That will be the next step in what Lincoln deemed a “very long journey.”
Are you a theoretical physics enthusiast? What do you think of this new theory proposed by Stephen Hawking that takes a swipe at all we were taught in high school about the notorious black holes?
Facebook recently released a study it commissioned from neuromarketing agency SalesBrain looking at how people’s brains respond to ads on smartphones versus televisions. It’s certainly worth noting that much of Facebook’s business depends on people buying mobile ads, but the findings indicate that smartphone-based content tends to resonate more.
Specifically, the study looked at how the brain responds via engagement, attention, emotion, and retention. They divided participants into two groups. The first group was shown ads ranging from movie trailers to brand ads at 30 to 120 seconds in length, first on televisions then on smartphones. The second group viewed the ads in the opposite order.
According to Facebook, people were more attentive and felt more positively toward what they saw on smartphones compared to TV. They found that people were more distracted and had to work harder to process what they were consuming on TV.
“We found that overall mobile was on par with TV with regards to emotional intensity and engagement,” said Helen Crossley, Head of Audience Insighs at Facebook IQ. “Having said that, emotions and engagement were significantly higher for a couple of the ads. People were equally likely to be as engaged on mobile as they were on TV. As an added layer on top of the neuro research, we also saw an uplift in message recall when participants viewed the stimuli on TV followed by viewing it on a smartphone.”
“We did not expect that the mobile viewing experience would produce more positive emotions. This was surprising,” said Dr. Christophe Morin, Founder and CEO of SalesBrain. “You would assume that because the TV screen is larger than a smartphone screen that the bigger screen would yield a more positive emotional response. It seems that when viewing a stimulus our neurological systems don’t really require a grandiose experience to feel a response. Overall, the more data that we seem to be exposed to, the more effort is placed on our brain. And, in some way, due to its size, the smartphone may provide a more efficient, less energy-demanding experience.”
“It is our conclusion that the smartphone experience is more immersive than the experience of TV viewing overall,” he added. “When the same ad stimulus played on a smartphone, the reaction was greater than TV on both attention and positive emotion, and, to some degree, on engagement, which was quite remarkable.”
While the conclusions drawn by the study definitely suit Facebook’s best interests as a business, they also make sense when you think about how likely you are to look at your phone while you’re watching TV. How often has your phone distracted you from your TV viewing? How often has your TV distracted you from your phone? I bet the former has happened a lot more.
The people behind the study discuss it more on the Facebook IQ site.
Amazon wants your kids to grow up knowing more about the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. The online retailer has just launched a dedicated marketplace for STEM toys for kids of all ages.
“STEM toys encourage kids to develop skills in the core disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and math,” says Amazon on its new page. “We chose these toys because they have clear goals and encourage kids to learn STEM skill while having fun.”
Some featured products include LEGO sets, Roominate systems, modular robotics kits, light circuit kits, LightUp Edison kits, a Solar System planetarium, and remote control machines. On the page, you can filter toys by age (Preschool, 5-7 year, 8-11 years, and 12+ years) or by Amazon’s own editor picks.
Of course, promoting STEM values is a noble cause, but Amazon isn’t just doing this for the sake of young minds. According to TechCrunch, “the retailer notes that not only are STEM toys a ‘hot trend’ in education, but they were also the second-most visited section and the second highest in terms of sales volume on Amazon’s 2014 Holiday.”
Anne Boleyn is one of the most famous faces and stories in all of history, but that famous face in now under speculation.
Anne Boleyn had many portraits painted of her while she was Henry VIII’s second wife.
These portraits are treasured items, since many of them were destroyed after Anne Boleyn’s infamous beheading for fear that her image would upset the king.
However, scientists have determined that these treasured portraits may not actually be Anne Boleyn.
Using facial recognition experts and a new algorithm that maps faces from portraits for comparison to other portraits, scientists say that the face of Anne Boleyn in some of the portraits doesn’t match the miniature of Boleyn from the British Museum that they are using as a reference.
The miniature is the only undisputed likeness of Anne Boleyn.
The portraits in question include the “Anna Bolina” portrait, a late 16th century copy of a painting from 1533, which hangs in London’s National Portrait Gallery. Also among those in question is the famous Hever Castle portrait, a late 16th century painting which is a copy of a portrait from Tudor England, and a second picture of Anne Boleyn from the National Portrait Gallery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dlJ3VvDUNU
The latter is even wearing her signature “B” pendant seen in many of Anne Boleyn’s portraits.
Professor Amit Roy-Chowdhury, of the University of California, is the creator of the algorithm. He said of the project, “The goal of this project is to be able to use state of the art face recognition to identify the individuals seen in a particular portrait.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1Drcxp4wms
He added, “These portraits have some importance. They probably represent someone of social standing, or some important event, and we often want to identify who is the person in the portrait. The goal is to be able to identify individuals whose identities may not be absolutely certain.”
The new algorithm has not only possibly solved mysteries surrounding portraits of Anne Boleyn, but has also opened a proverbial can of worms in regard to some Shakespeare portraits.
The famous Cobbe portrait, which dates from around 1610, is probably not the playwright and is possibly poet Thomas Overbury. The Hampton Court Palace portrait has also been forced under speculation thanks to the new algorithm.
This is pretty interesting stuff! This might raise a lot more questions than it answers.
What do you think of the potential of this new facial recognition algorithm?
This post brought to you by HP Matter. The content and opinions expressed below are that of WebProNews.
These days, massive technological shifts – driven by big data, mobility, security and cloud computing – are rapidly transforming business and society. Entire industries are being completely transformed, and healthcare is one of them. These trends are unlocking new possibilities for hospitals, researchers, doctors and patients.
I don’t know if you’re aware that HP has a digital magazine in partnership with Fast Company called HP Matter, but it provides some pretty fascinating content about such trends, and the latest issue looks at the healthcare industry specifically.
One particularly interesting area at the crossroads of technology and healthcare is on our increasing understanding of the brain. There’s a piece on San Francisco startup Emotiv and how it’s harnessing brain power to translate thoughts into action. It looks at a girl who was left in a semi-vegetative state by a car accident for nearly ten years, and a device called a neuro-headset (one of the latest advancements in wearable technology), which has helped her to convey emotions.
The device reads the mind, and uses sensors to translates brain activities into actions. It’s applications go beyond healthcare, however. It actually lets the user manipulate objects with their mind like a science fiction movie. You can use the device to control a home-automated system, and turn on the lights or the television, for example, just by thinking about it.
Take a look:
As the narrator in the video notes, this opens up a whole new world for quadriplegics.
We’d encourage you to check out the latest issue of HP Matter. You can Register for HP Matterfor a chance to win an HP SlateBook x2, which is an Ultrabook and tablet in one. There will be weekly drawings taking place throughout the rest of January and February.
What current technological advancement in healthcare interests you?
On Halloween, Google hosted a talk with neuroscientists Timothy Verstynen and Bradley Voytek about neuroscience and zombies. Now as the holidays draw near, Google has made the talk available for our viewing pleasure (and in Night of the Living Dead black and white).
The talk is mainly about Verstynen’s book “Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep?”
Google says:
In this groundbreaking study, the fearless duo dissect the puzzle of what has happened to the zombie brain to make the undead act differently than their human prey. Each chapter draws on zombie popular culture and identifies a characteristic zombie behavior that can be explained using neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and brain-behavior relationships. Through this exploration they shed light on fundamental neuroscientific questions such as: How does the brain function during sleeping and waking? What neural systems control movement? What is the nature of sensory perception?
The authors are members of the Zombie Research Society and are preparing grant applications to research the coming zombie apocalypse.
Annie Jump Cannon is the subject of a doodle today on Google’s homepage, as the search giant celebrates her 151st birthday.
Cannon was an astronomer whose work was considered instrumental in the development of contemporary stellar classification. She, along with Edward C. Pickering, is credited with the creation of the Harvard Classification Scheme. This is said to be the first “serious attempt” to organize and classify stars based on temperature.
Cannon’s astronomy career spanned 40 years, and during that time, helped women gain respect within the scientific community. She died in 1941, the year after she retired. The American Astronomical Society presents an award in her name to female astronomers each year.
Space has been of particular interest lately when it comes to Google doodles. The company recently ran one to celebrate the Philae probe, which soft-landed on a comet.
ADHD is often described by doctors and educators as one of the worst things a child can have. After all, it’s terrible if a child can’t pay attention, right? As it turns out, ADHD does have some benefits as well.
Business Insider reports that recent research has found that ADHD isn’t quite as bad as we previously thought. In fact, it could be said that ADHD offers some benefits to those who have the condition.
Perhaps the most important benefit of ADHD is that it allows those who have it to be more creative. In one study, children with ADHD came up with more creative toy designs than those without it. Adults with the condition performed similarly well when tasked to come up with uses for seemingly unrelated items. There is a downside to all this though. It was found that those with ADHD performed worse than those without when it came to tasks involving abstract concepts.
Speaking of abstract concepts, those with ADHD have also been found to be better at showing their emotions. It’s certainly true that giving into every emotion can sometimes be troubling. In this case, however, it’s been found that giving into emotions helps us better process them. In other words, those with ADHD will have an easier time of getting through emotional outbursts.
Interestingly enough, ADHD may have also been an evolutionary advantage for some of our ancestors. It’s been found that those with the disorder have increased perception which helps them notice things that others may not. It’s theorized that early humans with ADHD were the ones who helped tribes spot predators and other dangers.
Finally, those with ADHD may be the perfect candidate for jobs with multiple responsibilities. It’s well known that those with the disorder have trouble focusing on any one task. That’s why jobs involving a single task are an ADHD sufferer’s worst nightmare. Thankfully, many modern jobs now require workers to take on multiple responsibilities and that’s where those with ADHD shine. Who knows – it may even one day be something employers look for in job applicants.
All of this isn’t to say that living with ADHD is a cakewalk. It can be a terrible disorder with children especially having a really rough time of it. That’s why the above pros are only meant to show that it’s not all bad. A little hope can go a long way to help those suffering from disorders like ADHD.
For more information on ADD/ADHD, here’s a helpful resource:
Piotr Naskrecki, a Harvard researcher, was recently crucified online for killing the puppy-sized spider he found while walking through a rainforest in Guyana at night. Naskrecki reportedly killed the spider, which was a South American Goliath birdeater, and brought it back to a museum for study. His blog post about the incident sparked a firestorm of criticism on the Internet.
Naskrecki’s Facebook page has been inundated with hateful comments because he killed the spider. He even received a death threat for his actions, but Naskrecki maintains that it was part of his job to do it. “We usually bring these substances that are designed to put them down very gently,” he said of the chemicals he used to neutralize the spider.
The researcher responded to negative comments about him online with a blog post titled, “Involuntary Bioslaughter and Why a Spider is Dead”. In it, Naskrecki explained that he was in Guyana to catch specimens for the Center for the Study of Biological Diversity at the University of Guyana.
“Collecting and preservation of physical specimens is an integral, irreplaceable element of biological sciences. There is hardly a branch of biology that does not rely on the examination of organisms’ bodies… be it for the purpose of their identification, understanding of the functions of their respiratory system, or the speed of transmission of neural signals,” Naskrecki wrote. He added that because the birdeater was the largest spider in the world, it was the “perfect specimen to teach spider morphology.” Naskrecki also claimed that the species was not protected nor endangered, so his actions were not a threat to the species’ survival.
According to the Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, where Naskrecki works, the spider can weigh up to six ounces. Its name is apparently misleading as the spider doesn’t eat birds, but prefers to hunt for worms, rats and other small animals.
Rheumatoid arthritis risk among women has always been higher than men, and now a new study finds that women who carry babies could be getting rheumatoid arthritis much more often.
Rheumatoid arthritis has been tied to many factors, including lifestyle choices, diet, and previous infections, but a new study says that harmful cells from fetuses carrying harmful genes from the father may have a lot more to do with it.
According to the study, some versions of the immune system gene HLA-DRB1, known as the shared epitope alleles, could be to blame. These cells are responsible for the immune system’s response to infection and, in transplant medicine, for differentiating between one’s own cells and those that are foreign.
Giovanna Cruz, MS, graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, and first author on the new study says,
“During pregnancy, you’ll find a small number of fetal cells circulating around the mother’s body, and it seems that in some women, they persist as long as several decades. Women with rheumatoid arthritis are more likely to have this persistence of fetal cells, known as fetal microchimerism, than women without the condition, suggesting that it is a potential risk factor for the development of rheumatoid arthritis.”
“Why it happens, we don’t know, but we suspect HLA genes and their activity may be involved,” she added.
In other words, the body’s immune system could be attacking these leftover cells from a baby, sometimes 20 or 30 years later, causing a reaction in the form of rheumatoid arthritis.
Cruz said, “We don’t yet understand how the shared epitope and other HLA alleles influence rheumatoid arthritis risk, but one possibility is that interactions between the proteins these genes encode may stimulate the autoimmune symptoms of the disease.”
Very interesting! Hopefully this new study can help researchers in getting closer to a cure for rheumatoid arthritis.
Here’s some good news as you head into the weekend.
Alton Brown’s instant-classic cooking/science show Good Eats is now on Netflix. For years, fans of the show have pestered Food Network, as well as Brown himself, to make this happen. It joins other Food Network shows like Cutthroat Kitchen (also an Alton Brown affair), Cupcake Wars, and Chopped – which are also new additions to the Netflix catalog.
There are new episodes of some Travel Channel shows as well, including Man v. Food and Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.
Good news, right?
So here’s the bad news – the selection is limited, to say the least.
You won’t find full seasons of Good Eats, Chopped, or No Reservations. Instead, you’ll find “collections” consisting of 25 hand-picked episodes. These collections are not season-specific.
Long story short – yes, there are now Good Eats episodes on Netflix, but not many.
The reason for all of this is a recent licensing deal that Netflix inked with Scripps Networks, whose umbrella shields Food Network, HGTV, and Travel Channel. According to the Wall Street Journal, “the deal appears to be limited in scope, with one person familiar with the matter saying the life of it is ‘relatively short.’ The deal only covers the U.S., not other territories, the person said…”
You may recall that Food Network shows like Chopped used to be available on Amazon Prime Instant Video – but were dropped in March. that’s because Scripps’ and Amazon let their licensing deal expire.
Point being, these deals have a history of being brief. What does this mean for the future of shows like Good Eats and Chopped on Netflix? Simply put – enjoy it while you can. And while you can remain hopeful that more episodes could be added at some point, don’t count on it.
Plus, if you’re really needing your Good Eats fix, the whole show’s on YouTube. And remember, it’s all the Good Eats you’re ever going to have…
Stephen Hawking is a man who loves to talk science and very rarely religion. While Hawking references God often in reports and findings, he recently admitted that he is an atheist and doesn’t believe in God.
While attending the Starmus festival in the Canary Islands, Hawking was interviewed by the Spanish paper El Mundo. He talked about the origins of the universe and said that he doesn’t think the universe was created by God or any other divine power.
“Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation. What I meant by ‘we would know the mind of God’ is, we would know everything that God would know, if there were a God, which there isn’t. I’m an atheist,” he said.
Hawking has talked about religion and science before and believes that God and other deities were created by humans to make sense of space, time and the world before science came along to explain it.
He said that while science and religion will constantly oppose each other, science will eventually win because it is based on facts and evidence instead of authority.
While Hawking may not believe that God exists, he does believe in aliens or otherworldly beings. He says that meeting aliens may not be a good thing and thinks such an encounter would be similar to what the Native Americans experienced when Christopher Columbus came to America.
He also claims that space travel could help save humanity.
“It could prevent the disappearance of humanity by colonizing other planets,” he told El Mundo.
Why do you think Hawking is so quick to dismiss God and religion, but so eager to believe in extraterrestrials?
Scientist Craig Venter, known for being one of the first to sequence the human genome, spoke at Google’s Zeitgeist conference in Arizona this week. The topic: reprogamming DNA to create “a more information-driven species”.
Yeah, it’s some pretty mind-bending stuff.
We had the opportunity to listen to him speak in person at SXSW a few years ago, earlier in his work with synthetic life. It’s truly fascinating. If you’ve got twenty minutes to kill, watch the video above.
Since the beginning of time humans have looked up to the heavens and wondered if anything or anyone is looking back. Scientists have said that there could be life on other planets, but most people want to know if there could be intelligent life somewhere out there.
One of the planets that is most like Earth is Mars and some scientists say that if life were to exist on another planet or if it ever did before our time, it would have happened on Mars.
There have been numerous probes sent to the red planet to gather evidence about the surface and atmosphere and to collect samples and photos from Mars.
Some of the things found by these probes have been shocking and several people have claimed that there are many strange shapes on Mars that appear to be objects and structures that were made by humans or another intelligent life form.
A recent photo from Mars shows what many people believe to be a thigh bone. NASA’s Curiosity rover sent back a collection of photos that show a pile of what appears to be bones. Any bones being present on Mars would be considered a sign that life once existed there, but these bones appeared to belong to a human or large animal.
People everywhere were talking about the thigh bone, but NASA rained on everyone’s parade pretty quickly and said that the object in the photo was not a thigh bone or any bone for that matter. It was just a weathered old rock that just happened to have a peculiar shape.
Of course, many people yelled cover up, but NASA maintains that the photo does not show any bones. NASA claims that they want to find proof of life on Mars just as badly as everyone else, but say they are not likely to find it.
According to NASA, the Curiosity rover has found evidence that Mars was once a habitable place in the ancient past, but there is no evidence that creatures large enough to leave a bone behind ever existed on the planet.
“If life ever existed on Mars, scientists expect that it would be small simple life forms called microbes,” NASA officials said. “Mars likely never had enough oxygen in its atmosphere and elsewhere to support more complex organisms. Thus, large fossils are not likely.”
Do you believe there is other intelligent life out there?
As you may recall, Google announced the formation of a new company called Calico lat fall, aimed at studying aging and its effects on health and well-being (or as some us put it, keeping us from dying).
We’re tackling aging, one of life’s greatest mysteries.
Calico is a research and development company whose mission is to harness advanced technologies to increase our understanding of the biology that controls lifespan. We will use that knowledge to devise interventions that enable people to lead longer and healthier lives. Executing on this mission will require an unprecedented level of interdisciplinary effort and a long-term focus for which funding is already in place.
It goes on to say that Calico is made up of scientists from the fields of medicine, drug development, molecular biology, and genetics, and shows off the team:
It also says, it will post career opportunities as they become available, and that its ability to handle press inquiries will be limited, but does include an email address for such inquiries.
While the big bang theory seems simple enough – the universe exploded forth from a single point due to ever-increasing temperatures and extreme pressure and has been expanding ever since – it is anything but. Since the 1920s, the big bang theory has been the best scientific explanation for how our universe came into existence. With new scientific discoveries coming every day, however, the scientific community has learned more and more about the origins of the universe over the past 90-odd years. Now, a new theory states that our known universe may simply be a “mirage”.
Over the years, the once solid big bang theory has become riddled with holes and unexplained phenomena. One of the main issues with the theory is the idea of how an entire universe, governed by so many scientific rules and laws, could have ever existed in a singularity, where the rules of physics simply cease to matter or exist.
If the theory put forth by researchers at the Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics in Canada is true, then our universe most likely never existed in a singularity point, eliminating that potential hole in the big bang theory.
Was a 3D-black hole from the surface of a 4D-universe the creator of our universe? http://t.co/gcgiYkK0Jh
The new theory goes even further than that, however, by replacing the whole enchilada. Instead of a single point exploding and giving birth to a new universe, the researchers at the Perimeter Institute believe that our universe may be the three-dimensional event horizon of a four-dimensional black hole, created by the collapse of a four-dimensional star in a four-dimensional universe.
Now, while that theory may sound too-fantastical to be true, the researchers guarantee that it is backed by scientific principles and pure mathematics. And, while no one may understand what a four-dimensional universe may look or act like, the concept of this three-dimensional “mirage” is one most people are already familiar with: Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”.
Their shackles have prevented them from perceiving the true world, a realm with one additional dimension. Plato’s prisoners didn’t understand the powers behind the sun, just as we don’t understand the four-dimensional bulk universe. But at least they knew where to look for answers.
Unfortunately, this theory may bring more questions than answers – as most scientific theories are wont to do. The black hole theory answers the question as to how our universe came into being, but fails to answer the obvious – from whence did the four-dimensional universe arise? The world may never know…
