Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted November 27, 2018 Author Subscriber Posted November 27, 2018 10 minutes ago, Mel81x said: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/11/802-eleventy-which-802-11ax-and-802-11ay-explained/ A brief discussion about the new AX and AY standards in 802.11 wireless tech. The MIMO with MU/SU explanation is so fantastic and yet saddening because we have really nothing that actually uses it. Still, the new standards in 2019 will make multi-device connectivity with faster switch protocols so much better for households with multiple devices. Now, if those nice ladies and gents on the power side of the science could put their heads together and come up with better battery life we might actually see better connectivity. And, just as an add-on this is a great read about 1Gbps connections of course all on SU-MIMO device with single line of sight and usage. https://rethinkresearch.biz/articles/china-to-leapfrog-broadband-world-to-dominate-1-gbps-connections/ China to leapfrog broadband world to dominate 1 Gbps connections The Chinese are in everything atm and more than likely they are going to land on Mars, Jupiter, Saturn etc before we know it, then it will be "Beam me up, Chinese takeaway" with broadband 2 Quote
Subscriber Mel81x+ Posted November 27, 2018 Subscriber Posted November 27, 2018 On a more serious 'scientific' topic, who in the world on a consumer level even needs a damn 1Gbps connection? Even porn comes in for much less and has a streaming packet transfer rate that will run on a measly 4Mbps connection with stable throughput. 2 Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted November 27, 2018 Author Subscriber Posted November 27, 2018 (edited) Science & Environment Climate change: CO2 emissions rising for the first time in four years Global efforts to tackle climate change are way off track says the UN, as it details the first rise in CO2 emissions in four years. The emissions gap report says that economic growth is responsible for a rise in 2017 while national efforts to cut carbon have faltered. To meet the goals of the Paris climate pact, the study says it's crucial that global emissions peak by 2020. But the analysis says that this is now not likely even by 2030 The report comes days before a major UN climate conference starting in Poland from 2-14 December. The report comes days before a major UN climate conference starting in Poland from 2-14 December. UK summers could be over 5C warmer by 2070 Dire warning on US climate change impacts Attenborough takes a seat at climate talks What is the emissions gap? For the last nine years, UN Environment have produced an assessment of the latest scientific studies on current and future emissions of greenhouse gases. It highlights the difference between the level of greenhouse gas emissions that the world can sustain to keep temperatures within safe limits, with the levels that are likely based on the promises and actions taken by countries. This year's report records the largest gap yet between where we are and where we need to be. Why are emissions rising again? Between 2014 and 2016, global emissions of CO2 from industry and the production of energy were essentially stable while the global economy grew modestly - but in 2017 these emissions went up by 1.2% pushed along by higher GDP. While the rise might seem small, it needs to be seen in the context of efforts to keep global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5C, as recently outlined in a key IPCC report. According to the UN, to keep the world below that target, global greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 would have to be 55% lower than today. "There is still a tremendous gap between words and deeds, between the targets agreed by governments worldwide to stabilise our climate and the measures to achieve these goals," said Dr Gunnar Luderer, from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and one of the authors of the study. The scientists say that to tackle the gap, nations must raise their ambition fivefold to meet the 1.5C goal. Right now, the world is heading for a temperature rise of 3.2C by the end of this century the report says. No peaking? One key aspect of the study is about the peaking of global greenhouse emissions. The report says that peaking of emissions in 2020 is "crucial for achieving the temperature targets in the Paris agreement," but the scale of the current efforts is insufficient. The study says that by 2030, around 57 countries representing about 60% of global emissions will have peaked. Nowhere near where the world needs to be. Does the report point the finger at countries that are doing badly? In some ways yes. The study says that countries including Argentina, Australia, Canada, the EU (including the UK), South Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the US, are falling short of achieving their nationally determined contributions for 2030. Three countries, Brazil, China and Japan are currently on track, while three others, India, Russia and Turkey are set to beat their targets. The authors believe that some of these achievements may be down to settling relatively low targets for their national plans. Is there any positive news in the report? Undoubtedly, yes. The UN is placing great hopes in what it terms "non-state actors", meaning local, city and regional governments, businesses and higher education institutions can have major impacts on the future gap. They estimate that, right now, more than 7,000 cities from 133 countries and 6,000 companies with at least $36 trillion in revenue have pledged to take climate action. But the authors believe this is just scratching the surface. With over 500,000 publicly traded companies worldwide, there are many more that can take steps that cumulatively would have a significant impact on the gap. The study says that there is the potential to cut emissions from this sector by 19 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent per year by 2030 - that's enough to keep the world on a 2-degree path. The future is fiscal? The report also suggests that government tax plans could be hugely important in tackling emissions. It says that carbon taxes or carbon trading systems cover only 15% of the global carbon output, which could rise to 20% if China implements its planned market. But the report says that half of the emissions from fossil fuels are not taxed at all and only 10% are priced at a level consistent with keeping warming to 2C. "When governments embrace fiscal policy measures to subsidise low-emission alternatives and tax fossil fuels, they can stimulate the right investments in the energy sector and significantly reduce carbon emissions," said Jian Liu, UN Environment's chief scientist. "If all fossil fuel subsidies were phased out, global carbon emissions could be reduced by up to 10% by 2030. Setting the right carbon price is also essential. At $70 per tonne of CO2, emission reductions of up to 40% are possible in some countries." What happens now? This report is aimed at informing delegates to next week's key climate conference in Katowice, Poland. Negotiators will be trying to finish the rules on how to implement the rule book of the Paris agreement - but the report's authors hope it can push countries to greater levels of ambition. "Germany and Europe could demonstrate leadership in this area by pledging complete greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050 and a clear strengthening of the emission reduction targets for 2030," said Dr Gunnar Luderer. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46347453 Edited May 3, 2019 by CaaC - John Restore photos Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted November 28, 2018 Author Subscriber Posted November 28, 2018 Science & Environment Strong chance of a new El Niño forming by early 2019 By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent 27 November 2018 The World Meteorological Organization says there's a 75-80% chance of a weak El Niño forming within three months. The naturally occurring event causes changes in the temperature of the Pacific Ocean and has a major influence on weather patterns around the world. It is linked to floods in South America and droughts in Africa and Asia. El Niño events often lead to record temperatures as heat rises from the Pacific. El Nino's long reach to Antarctic ice Our warming world and El Nino According to the WMO update, sea surface temperatures in the east-central tropical Pacific have been at weak El Niño levels since October. However the atmosphere has not yet responded to the extra warmth that's produced by the upwelling seas. Scientists have been predicting the likelihood of a new event since May this year, with confidence increasing. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology are now estimating that an El Niño event will start in December. US forecasters are saying there's a 90% chance of the event starting in January. The WMO models say that a fully fledged El Niño is estimated to be 75-80% likely between December and February 2019. At this point, the WMO says its predictions for the event range from just a warm-neutral condition through to a moderate strength event with sea surface temperatures peaking between 0.8C to 1.2C above average. The chance of a strong event is currently low. "The forecast El Niño is not expected to be as powerful as the event in 2015-2016, which was linked with droughts, flooding and coral bleaching in different parts of the world," said Maxx Dilley, director of WMO's Climate Prediction and Adaptation branch. "Even so, it can still significantly affect rainfall and temperature patterns in many regions, with important consequences to agricultural and food security sectors, and for management of water resources and public health, and it may combine with long-term climate change to boost 2019 global temperatures," he said. In terms of food security, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have issued a report detailing the countries that could suffer food shortages as a result of the event. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46347451 Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted November 29, 2018 Author Subscriber Posted November 29, 2018 Richard Branson is taking a submarine down the world's largest sinkhole Annabel Fenwick-Elliott 19 hrs ago © istock What lies beneath Belize's Great Blue Hole? It looks, at first, like a giant, flat, ink blot in the sea, but underneath this sinkhole – the largest in the world – is a cavern large enough to swallow two Boeing 747s with room to spare. Famed marine explorer Jacques Cousteau didn't discover the sinkhole, located in the Caribbean sea off the coast of Belize, but he did name it "The Great Blue Hole" in 1971, and it's been a magnet for scuba divers ever since. Now, in the first mission of its kind, Cousteau's grandson and Sir Richard Branson are plunging to the deep, dark bottom of it in a submarine as part of an expedition that will be streamed live and broadcasted globally on the Discovery Channel. This will be quite a feat. Scuba divers generally only descend to a maximum of 130 feet underwater, so what lies beneath that remains largely uncharted territory, and there's a lot of it. Branson and Fabien Cousteau will join Aquatica Submarines' chief pilot Erika Bergman and make several expeditions into the sinkhole this weekend in a remote-piloted Stingray 500 submarine, to collect data and map out the submerged cave. Some 100,000 years ago, this natural marvel was a network of caves that sat above sea level, with ceilings hanging with limestone stalagmites and stalactites. Over time and during our planet's latest glacial period, rising sea levels eventually flooded the structure and it collapsed to form the sinkhole it is today. The Great Blue Hole was measured by scientists using sonar technology in 1997, but this will be the first since then and by far the most thorough exploration. Bergman's team hope to gather scientific data on marine aspects including water quality and bacterial activity, as well to attain high-resolution footage and a detailed plan of the Hole's internal structure for the first time. Intriguingly, they're intent on discovering what is theorised to be an oxygen-depleted layer at its base which could offer vital clues about environmental forces potentially related to the fall of the Mayan civilisation between 800 and 1000 AD. "One of the most interesting marks that we are really excited to do is oxygen testing," Bergman told Endgadget. "We've heard that in the Blue Hole there is an anoxic layer near the bottom [and] things don't degrade in anoxic areas so we could find preserved life." Branson is hoping that his involvement in the project will generate awareness around ocean conservation, and is supporting the goal of protecting at least 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030. The broadcast will be live on the Discovery Channel from 9–11pm on Sunday, December 2, and Richard Branson will be speaking to Telegraph Travel about what the team unearths next week. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/richard-branson-is-taking-a-submarine-down-the-worlds-largest-sinkhole/ar-BBQcXQA?ocid=chromentp 2 Quote
nudge Posted November 29, 2018 Posted November 29, 2018 7 minutes ago, CaaC - John said: Richard Branson is taking a submarine down the world's largest sinkhole Annabel Fenwick-Elliott 19 hrs ago © istock What lies beneath Belize's Great Blue Hole? It looks, at first, like a giant, flat, ink blot in the sea, but underneath this sinkhole – the largest in the world – is a cavern large enough to swallow two Boeing 747s with room to spare. Famed marine explorer Jacques Cousteau didn't discover the sinkhole, located in the Caribbean sea off the coast of Belize, but he did name it "The Great Blue Hole" in 1971, and it's been a magnet for scuba divers ever since. Now, in the first mission of its kind, Cousteau's grandson and Sir Richard Branson are plunging to the deep, dark bottom of it in a submarine as part of an expedition that will be streamed live and broadcasted globally on the Discovery Channel. Hide contents This will be quite a feat. Scuba divers generally only descend to a maximum of 130 feet underwater, so what lies beneath that remains largely uncharted territory, and there's a lot of it. Branson and Fabien Cousteau will join Aquatica Submarines' chief pilot Erika Bergman and make several expeditions into the sinkhole this weekend in a remote-piloted Stingray 500 submarine, to collect data and map out the submerged cave. Some 100,000 years ago, this natural marvel was a network of caves that sat above sea level, with ceilings hanging with limestone stalagmites and stalactites. Over time and during our planet's latest glacial period, rising sea levels eventually flooded the structure and it collapsed to form the sinkhole it is today. The Great Blue Hole was measured by scientists using sonar technology in 1997, but this will be the first since then and by far the most thorough exploration. Bergman's team hope to gather scientific data on marine aspects including water quality and bacterial activity, as well to attain high-resolution footage and a detailed plan of the Hole's internal structure for the first time. Intriguingly, they're intent on discovering what is theorised to be an oxygen-depleted layer at its base which could offer vital clues about environmental forces potentially related to the fall of the Mayan civilisation between 800 and 1000 AD. "One of the most interesting marks that we are really excited to do is oxygen testing," Bergman told Endgadget. "We've heard that in the Blue Hole there is an anoxic layer near the bottom [and] things don't degrade in anoxic areas so we could find preserved life." Branson is hoping that his involvement in the project will generate awareness around ocean conservation, and is supporting the goal of protecting at least 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030. The broadcast will be live on the Discovery Channel from 9–11pm on Sunday, December 2, and Richard Branson will be speaking to Telegraph Travel about what the team unearths next week. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/richard-branson-is-taking-a-submarine-down-the-worlds-largest-sinkhole/ar-BBQcXQA?ocid=chromentp This is so cool! I loved Cousteau documentaries growing up; remember watching his undersea Odyssey of the Cousteau Team on tele with my grandad every weekend... So I'm very excited about his grandson being involved in this. And they will actually air it live! Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted November 30, 2018 Author Subscriber Posted November 30, 2018 Science & Environment Satellites warn African farmers of pest infestations By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News 30 November 2018 UK researchers have developed an early warning system to prevent the crops of African farmers from being devastated. The Pest Risk Information Service (Prise) combines temperature data and weather forecasts with computer models. It then sends farmers a mobile phone alert so that they can take precautions. It is hoped that the system will boost yields and increase farm incomes by up to 20%. Prise is being used in Kenya, Ghana and Zambia and will be rolled out soon in other parts of the world. Prise is an upgrade of a highly successful UK Aid scheme run by the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International development charity (CABI). It uses a network of so-called "plant doctors" and clinics to advise farmers when pests or diseases destroy their crops. Image captionFarmers and plant doctors have access to an app to help them diagnose pest infestations and suggest remedies The "doctors" draw on a database using an app to help them to diagnose the issue and then prescribe the right pesticide and other measures. Walter Wafula, who grows Maize in Bungoma in Kenya, told BBC News that the service had transformed his family's lives. "Because of the increased income from my farm, my kids can now go to a better school and the life at home has improved because I can provide the basic needs for my family," he said. So far, the scheme has helped 18.3 million farmers, in 34 countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas. On average farm incomes and yields are 13% higher for those using the service. But Prof Charlotte Watts, chief scientific adviser for the UK's Department for International Development, which funds the plant doctor scheme, says a new initiative with CABI and the UK Space Agency (UKSA) will use the network to prevent, rather than just mitigate infestations. She says the idea is to use satellite data collected by the UKSA to develop a system that is able to predict when pest infestations will strike a week or more in advance. Satellites can provide accurate land temperature information, which is one of the most important drivers of pest infestations. This, combined with weather data and computer models, can be used to give farmers enough time to spray pesticide and take other precautions. CABI worked with the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council, to develop the project. Prof Watts told BBC News that the early indications are that the system is working. "Farmers are completely dependent on crops and the predictability of having a good yield to survive and also to send their kids to school," she said. "So if we can reduce the impact of pests, if we can enable them to get better yields - which we are already seeing - it will mean that we can help them move out of poverty." https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46370601 Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted November 30, 2018 Author Subscriber Posted November 30, 2018 Scientists created a clock so accurate that it measures space-time Olivia Goldhill 1 hour ago © Provided by Atlantic Media, Inc. To mark the passage of time, you could track the height of the sun in the sky or the passing of the seasons. Or, you could measure the vibrations of an atom. That’s what scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Maryland have done, creating two clocks that each trap 1,000 atoms of the element ytterbium in grids of lasers. These lasers are able to measure the atoms’ vibrations with near-perfect accuracy (there’s roughly one billionth of a billionth chance of error.) The scientists have measured time in atom vibrations not simply to show off, but because the scientific definition of a second is determined by the frequency of these vibrations. As Katherine Foley wrote in Quartz, scientists in 1967 defined a second as “9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation” of an atom of the isotope cesium-133 atom at temperatures of absolute zero. The research behind the atomic clocks, published in Nature on Nov. 28, shows that not only are the devices highly accurate, they also excel in other measures of clock evaluation: Stability (how much a clock’s frequency changes over time), and reproducibility (how closely the two clocks tick at the same frequency). The scientists behind these clocks have created atom clocks before, but their latest version is even more accurate, thanks in part to thermal and electric shielding, which protects the atoms from external electric fields. Indeed, they’re so accurate that they show the effect of gravity, as predicted by Einstein’s theory of relativity: The stronger the pull of gravity, the slower the vibrations of atoms and the passing of time. This effectively means that the clocks are showing not simply time, but also their distance from a center of gravity. They’re effectively measuring the space-time continuum. That means, for example, they could potentially be used to perfectly measure the Earth’s shape, since gravity gets stronger as you get closer to the Earth’s core. The clocks’ sensitivity to gravity also means in theory that they could be used to detect the presence of dark matter. We don’t know what dark matter is, but we know it distorts gravity, and so these clocks could potentially pick up on it. Currently, these clocks are far too big to transport. But the NIST researchers are building a portable version, which could be used to measure time around the world. Effectively, they’ll be able to show exactly where time passes more slowly, down to the tiniest vibration of atomic time. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/scientists-created-a-clock-so-accurate-that-it-measures-space-time/ar-BBQjnmN?li=BBoPRmx 1 Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 5, 2018 Author Subscriber Posted December 5, 2018 Science & Environment Fossil preserves 'sea monster' blubber and skin By Paul Rincon Science editor, BBC News website 1 hour ago Scientists have identified fossilised blubber from an ancient marine reptile that lived 180 million years ago. Blubber is a thick layer of fat found under the skin of modern marine mammals such as whales. Its discovery in this ancient "sea monster" - an ichthyosaur - appears to confirm the animal was warm-blooded, a rarity in reptiles. Its skin also resembles that of modern whales and dolphins, having lost the scales characteristic of its ancestors. The researchers say the skin was smooth, still somewhat flexible, and retained evidence of the animal's camouflage pattern. The sea-going reptile was counter-shaded - darker on the upper side and light on the underside. This counter-balances the shading effects of natural light, making the animal more difficult to see. "Ichthyosaurs are interesting because they have many traits in common with dolphins, but are not at all closely related to those sea-dwelling mammals," said co-author Mary Schweitzer, professor of biological sciences at North Carolina State University (NCSU). Their similar appearance suggests that ichthyosaurs and whales evolved similar strategies to adapt to marine life - an example of convergent evolution. Prof Schweitzer said: "They have many features in common with living marine reptiles like sea turtles, but we know from the fossil record that they gave live birth, which is associated with warm-bloodedness." Co-author Johan Lindgren, from Lund University in Sweden, told BBC News: "Blubber is found in living marine mammals but notably also adult individuals of the leatherback sea turtle. Its primary role in all of these animals seems to be insulation, and the leatherback is unique in many aspects. "It has metabolic rates that are higher than are those of typical reptiles, and a suite of measures for heat retention and control, and collectively these enable adult leatherbacks to venture into cold water environments. "So, ichthyosaurs were able to control their body temperature at least as well as leatherbacks, but then it is hard to say if they were fully endothermic (warm-blooded) or not." The researchers identified the blubber and skin remains on a well-preserved ichthyosaur specimen held by the Urweltmuseum Hauff in Germany. It was discovered in Holzmaden quarry, in the country's south-west, which has produced many other well-preserved fossils from the Jurassic Period. The fossil was subjected to an exhaustive analysis of its microscopic structure and molecular composition. "Both the body outline and remnants of internal organs are clearly visible," said co-author Johan Lindgren, from Lund University in Sweden. "Remarkably, the fossil is so well-preserved that it is possible to observe individual cellular layers within its skin." The researchers identified cell-like microstructures which probably held pigment, and an internal organ thought to be the animal's liver. The blubber-like material contained fragments of fatty acid molecules. "This is the first direct, chemical evidence for warm-bloodedness in an ichthyosaur because blubber is a feature of warm-blooded animals," said Prof Schweitzer. To provide additional support for this idea, the researchers artificially matured the blubber of a modern porpoise, exposing it to high temperatures and pressures - as it would be during the process of fossilisation. The resulting "matured" porpoise blubber shared many features with the fossilised version. Most reptiles today are cold-blooded, meaning their body temperature is determined by the warmth of their surroundings. Blubber's main function is as an insulator to help marine mammals maintain a high body temperature regardless of the ambient temperature of ocean water. As for the ichthyosaur's skin, the camouflage pattern would have provided protection from Jurassic predators such as flying pterosaurs, attacking from above, and pliosaurs (even bigger marine reptiles), which would have attacked from below. Dr Lindgren said: "Given the density of pigment cells, and the fact that they occur in both the epidermis and dermis, we hypothesise that ichthyosaurs had a really dark dorsal (upper) skin, which is also what you see in many extant whales that are deep divers (as ichthyosaurs) and venture into cold, arctic regions (as did ichthyosaurs). "A melanic (dark) colouration would benefit ichthyosaurs as a UV protection while at the sea surface, but could perhaps also help ichthyosaurs thermoregulate as is the case in the leatherback sea turtle." Losing the scales and evolving smooth skin would also have helped ichthyosaurs manoeuvre more easily underwater. Johan Lindgren said the still-flexible skin meant the specimen must have been fossilised so fast that organic molecules were trapped inside the mineral component of the fossil. "Soft tissues, such as skin, have hitherto been considered to be so labile (easily broken down) that the only way they can survive is via full replacement by minerals. However, as it turns out when these minerals are removed, some of the original organics remain," Dr Lindgren explained. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46457674 1 Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 10, 2018 Author Subscriber Posted December 10, 2018 Science & Environment 'Digital museum' brings millions of fossils out of the dark By Victoria GillScience correspondent, BBC News, Washington DC 9 December 2018 (Video - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46497406) The bid to create a "global digital museum" has been welcomed by scientists, who say it will enable them to study valuable specimens that are currently "hidden" in museum drawers. Museums including London's Natural History Museum and the Smithsonian in Washington DC are involved. They have set out ambitious plans to digitise millions of specimens. Digitally recording the 40 million fossils at the Smithsonian will take an estimated 50 years. But five years into the project, the team says it is "bringing dark data into the light" for crucial research. The day the fossil feathers flew What is digitisation? Kathy Hollis from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, who is leading the project there, explained: "We are trying to make our entire collection available digitally for researchers to use online from anywhere in the world. "And we're pretty sure that this is the largest fossil collection in the world. "We have over 40 million specimens in the collection - it records the entire history of life, so if it has a fossil representative, it's likely here within the collection." Items on public display in museums represent only a tiny fraction of the collections stored away in drawers. "And there are drawers here in the museum that hasn't been opened for decades," said Kathy Hollis. That is problematic if scientists want to use all of those specimens - the collective evidence of millions of years of evolution on our planet - to understand how life works and changes. "So we're bringing all of this data out into the light for research," she added. In a recent paper in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, scientists described the process of digitising museum collections as mobilising "dark data". The authors said this would enhance researchers' ability to understand how our environment changed in the past and therefore to build a picture of the impact of future environmental change. Can a digital fossil ever be as useful as the real thing? In some cases, it is far more useful. For the vast majority of the digitisation project, museums will capture high-quality images and all of the key information - age, species, where the specimen was discovered - to make available online. That alone is valuable - studying digital marine fossils, for example, is already enabling researchers to understand how marine life in changing sea levels and ocean temperatures. But the most detailed digital data can actually be better than a real fossil. Prof Emily Rayfield at the University of Bristol uses CT scans of dinosaur skulls and other bones to build computer models for research. "We can actually use the digital data to test how these animals functioned," she told BBC News. While it would be difficult even to lift the real, fragile, fossilised skull of diplodocus, for example, Prof Rayfield is able to twist, turn, compress and stress her digital dinosaur bones to reveal how the animals would have moved, what they ate and how they interacted with their environment. This helped her and her colleagues to solve one the great puzzles about the sauropods - the small-headed, huge bodied dinosaurs in the same related group as the famous diplodocus. "People have wondered how an environment could possibly have supported and provided food for so many multi-tonne, plant-eating giants," she explained. "One of the ideas has been that the differences in the neck length, the skull shape, and the tooth shape enabled them to feed on different things. "One of my students has been able to use the digital data to test this idea." This essentially meant rebuilding each digital dinosaur's jaw muscles and testing how it bit and chewed. "This showed that the different types of sauropods were indeed feeding in different ways and therefore probably on different types of food, which enabled the environment to sustain so many of these 10-plus tonne dinosaurs at once." Prof Rayfield's colleague at Bristol University, Prof Philip Donoghue, uses digital scans of ancient, fossilised microorganisms to produce large-scale versions that reveal far more detail about how the they lived. He told BBC News that a digital fossil would transform scientists' ability to study life on Earth. "We need to ensure though," he added "that a digital museum is properly and consistently recorded and curated, so that the data is of the highest possible quality." The BBC's Victoria Gill and Jonathan Amos are in Washington DC covering the annual American Geophysical Union meeting, the largest gathering of Earth and space scientists in the world. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46497406 Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 10, 2018 Author Subscriber Posted December 10, 2018 We need to put back the women who were written out of science history Claire Jones 23 hrs ago © Provided by Independent Digital News & Media Limited Caroline Herschel languishes in the shadow of her brother William Can you name a female scientist from history? Chances are you are shouting out Marie Curie. The twice Nobel Prize-winning Curie and mathematician Ada Lovelace are two of the few women within western science to receive lasting popular recognition. One reason women tend to be absent from narratives of science is because it’s not as easy to find female scientists on the public record. Even today, the numbers of women entering science remain below those of men, especially in certain disciplines. A-level figures show only 12 percent of candidates in computing and 22 percent in physics in 2018 were women. Another reason is that women do not fit the common image of a scientist. The idea of the lone male genius researcher is remarkably persistent. But looking to history can both challenge this portrayal and offer some explanation as to why science still has such a masculine bias. For a start, the traditional view of science as a body of knowledge rather than an activity ignores women’s contributions as collaborators, focusing instead on the facts produced by big discoveries (and the men who made them famous). The 19th-century astronomer, Caroline Herschel, languishes in the shadow of her brother William. Physicist Lise Meitner missed out on the 1944 Nobel Prize for the discovery of nuclear fission, which went to her junior collaborator, Otto Hahn, instead. Even Curie was attacked in the press for supposedly taking credit for her husband’s Pierre work. © Time Life Pictures Chemists Pierre Curie and wife Marie Curie in their laboratory. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) The historian Margaret Rossiter has dubbed this systematic bias against women the “Matthew Matilda Effect”. Before the 20th century, women’s social position meant the only way they could typically negotiate access to science was to collaborate with male family members or friends and then mostly only if they were rich. This left them prey to the traditional hierarchical assumption of woman as supporter and helper to man. An obituary in Nature in December 1923 of the physicist and electrical engineer Hertha Ayrton, who won the Royal Society’s Hughes Medal for original research in 1906, illustrates this. The obituary criticized Ayrton for neglecting her husband, stating that instead of concentrating on her science she should have “put him into carpet slippers” and “fed him well” so he could do better science. The tone of this obituary set the stage for her legacy to be forgotten. © Provided by Independent Digital News & Media Limited Hertha Ayrton was criticized for not supporting her husband (University of Cambridge) These lasting attitudes about a woman’s “proper” role works to obscure scientific contribution. They also lead us to ignore women working as collaborators in areas historically more welcoming, such as science writing, translation, and illustration. As well as forgetting female scientists, we forget too that science has only been a profession since the late 19th century. Then it moved to new institutional settings, leaving women behind in the home where their science became invisible to history. For example, few remember pioneers such as Henderina Scott, who in 1903 was one of the first to use time-lapse photography to record the movement of plants. Women’s exclusion from professional spaces at this time is one reason why women became more active in scientific disciplines that still relied heavily on fieldwork, such as astronomy and botany. This is where science began splitting into a hierarchy of male-dominated “hard” sciences, such as physics, and “soft” sciences, such as botany and biological science, that was seen as more acceptable for women. Shutout Women were typically refused admission to elite scientific institutions, so we do not find their names on fellowship lists. The first women were elected as fellows of the Royal Society in 1945, and the French Academy of Science didn’t admit its first female fellow until 1979. When the Royal Geographical Society debated the possibility of female fellows in 1892 and 1893, an angry dispute between council members was conducted via the letters page of The Times and it only finally admitted women in 1913. Yet, scientific women worked through the cracks. Between 1880 and 1914, some 60 women contributed papers to Royal Society publications. And some women continued to work as scientists without pay or titles. Dorothea Bate was a distinguished paleontologist who was associated with the Natural History Museum from 1898 yet wasn’t paid or made a member of staff until 1948 when she was in her late sixties. Why this pervasive ambivalence to female scientists? In the late 19th century, science taught that there were innate intellectual differences between the sexes which limited women’s suitability for science. (Another reason why scientific societies did not want their prestige tarnished by female fellows.) Charles Darwin argued that evolutionary competition led to the higher development of male brains. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/spotlight/we-need-to-put-back-the-women-who-were-written-out-of-science-history/ar-BBQJtZy?ocid=chromentp Quote
nudge Posted December 11, 2018 Posted December 11, 2018 Quote Deep down: 'Zombie' bacteria found miles below Earth's surface Earth is teeming with life miles beneath the surface, scientists have discovered, leading to speculation that our distant ancestors may even have evolved deep underground. Researchers at the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) said they had found barely-living 'zombie' bacteria and tiny worms, inhabiting entirely new ecosystems more than 5km into the crust. The lifeforms are so numerous that their mass may be up to 385 times that of all humans. And some are so odd and striking, living for millions of years without replicating, that scientists may need to rewrite the fundamental concept that all cellular life can be divided into three domains of archaea, bacteria, and eukaryote. "They are not Christmas ornaments, but the tiny balls and tinsel of deep life look like they could decorate a tree as well as Swarovski glass," said Dr Jesse Ausubel, of the Rockefeller University, a founder of the DCO, which is made up of dozens of international researchers. "Why would nature make deep life beautiful when there is no light, no mirrors?" The team, which includes scientists from Oxford and Bristol universities, and University College London, drilled 2.5km into the seabed and searched the world's deepest mines looking for microbes deep within the planet. They found that the mass of life underground would fill up twice the volume of all the world's oceans and is so diverse that it has been dubbed a "subterranean Galapagos", with tiny creatures existing on strange diets of rock and methane which can live at temperatures up to 121°C. Dr Mitch Sogin, Co-chair of the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, US, said: "Exploring the deep subsurface is akin to exploring the Amazon rainforest. There is life everywhere, and everywhere there's an awe-inspiring abundance of unexpected and unusual organisms. "Molecular studies raise the likelihood that microbial dark matter is much more diverse than what we currently know it to be, and the deepest branching lineages challenge the three-domain concept introduced by Carl Woese in 1977." The researchers are hoping their work could help answer the question of whether life started deep in the Earth, possibly in hydrothermal vents, before migrating up towards the Sun. They also want to find out how life below the surface influences that above. And finding organisms which can exist in the deepest, darkest places on Earth might will help those looking for microbes on other planets understand the conditions that can support life, even when it seems impossible. The new research was presented at the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting. https://www.independent.ie/world-news/deep-down-zombie-bacteria-found-miles-below-earths-surface-37614776.html So they live deep down under the Earth's crust for incredibly long time and they eat rock and their own dead proteins??? Weird stuff Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 11, 2018 Author Subscriber Posted December 11, 2018 (edited) 'Zombie' bacteria hint life on Earth began deep underground Sarah Knapton 23 hrs ago Earth is teeming with life miles beneath the surface, scientists have discovered, leading to speculation that our distant ancestors may even have evolved deep underground. Researchers at the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) said they had found barely-living ‘zombie’ bacteria and tiny worms, inhabiting entirely new ecosystems more than three miles into the crust. The lifeforms are so numerous that their mass may be up to 385 times that of all humans. And some are so odd and striking, living for millions of years without replicating, that scientists may need to rewrite the fundamental concept that all cellular life can be divided into three domains of archaea, bacteria, and eukaryote. “They are not Christmas ornaments, but the tiny balls and tinsel of deep life look they could decorate a tree as well as Swarovski glass,” said Dr Jesse Ausubel, of The Rockefeller University, a founder of the DCO, which is made up of dozens of international researchers. “Why would nature make deep life beautiful when there is no light, no mirrors?" The team, which includes scientists from Oxford and Bristol universities, and University College London, drilled one and a half miles into the seabed and searched the world’s deepest mines looking for microbes deep within the planet. They found that the mass of life underground would fill up twice the volume of all the world’s oceans and is so diverse that it has been dubbed a ‘subterranean Galapagos,’ with tiny creatures existing on strange diets of rock and methane which can live at temperatures up to 249F (121C). Dr. Mitch Sogin, Co-chair of the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, US, said: “Exploring the deep subsurface is akin to exploring the Amazon rainforest. There is life everywhere, and everywhere there's an awe-inspiring abundance of unexpected and unusual organisms. “Molecular studies raise the likelihood that microbial dark matter is much more diverse than what we currently know it to be, and the deepest branching lineages challenge the three-domain concept introduced by Carl Woese in 1977.” The researchers are hoping their work could help answer the question of whether life started deep in the Earth, possibly in hydrothermal vents, before migrating up towards the Sun. They also want to find out how life below the surface, influences that above. And finding organisms which can exist in the deepest, darkest places on Earth might help those looking for microbes on other planets understand the conditions that can support life, even when it seems impossible. “Our studies of deep biosphere microbes have produced much new knowledge, but also a realization and far greater appreciation of how much we have yet to learn about subsurface life," said Dr Rick Colwell, of Oregon State University. “For example, scientists do not yet know all the ways in which deep subsurface life affects surface life and vice versa. “And, for now, we can only marvel at the nature of the metabolisms that allow life to survive under the extremely impoverished and forbidding conditions for life in deep Earth.” The new research was presented at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/zombie-bacteria-hint-life-on-earth-began-deep-underground/ar-BBQM0xM?ocid=chromentp 1 2 Edited January 30, 2019 by CaaC - John Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 11, 2018 Author Subscriber Posted December 11, 2018 13 minutes ago, nudge said: So they live deep down under the Earth's crust for incredibly long time and they eat rock and their own dead proteins??? Weird stuff AAAAAAGGGGGGG!!!! I was just putting that in and you beat me to it Could you delete my one please as I have no delete button, we must have been typing this post at the same time but you were quicker in posting XXXX Quote
nudge Posted December 11, 2018 Posted December 11, 2018 1 minute ago, CaaC - John said: AAAAAAGGGGGGG!!!! I was just putting that in and you beat me to it Could you delete my one please as I have no delete button, we must have been typing this post at the same time but you were quicker in posting XXXX Why delete, it's ok, two sources are always better than just one Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 11, 2018 Author Subscriber Posted December 11, 2018 8 minutes ago, nudge said: Why delete, it's ok, two sources are always better than just one Ok, it's weird, I had set that up as a draft with the pictures to add and put the post in later, you must have been posting that when I was retrieving the draft from my memos to put my one in, great minds think alike lol. Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 11, 2018 Author Subscriber Posted December 11, 2018 50 minutes ago, nudge said: So they live deep down under the Earth's crust for incredibly long time and they eat rock and their own dead proteins??? Weird stuff Bed Mites & Dust Mites are just as bad, I put the frights up the wife when I showed her a picture of the little fuckers and told her to try and keep her mouth closed at night time in bed as no matter how clean you are and the bedding they can still exist and crawl in your mouth. Quote
nudge Posted December 11, 2018 Posted December 11, 2018 1 minute ago, CaaC - John said: Bed Mites & Dust Mites are just as bad, I put the frights up the wife when I showed her a picture of the little fuckers and told her to try and keep her mouth closed at night time in bed as no matter how clean you are and the bedding they can still exist and crawl in your mouth. Well thanks for that, I suddenly don't feel like sleeping anymore 1 Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 11, 2018 Author Subscriber Posted December 11, 2018 It's the same as ear-wigs, I can't stand them fuckers and they give me the creeps with their pinchers on the tail end, they say they got the name ear-wigs as once one crawled in a blokes ear and started nesting in the eardrum. Quote
nudge Posted December 11, 2018 Posted December 11, 2018 5 minutes ago, CaaC - John said: It's the same as ear-wigs, I can't stand them fuckers and they give me the creeps with their pinchers on the tail end, they say they got the name ear-wigs as once one crawled in a blokes ear and started nesting in the eardrum. What I really hate is those nasty fuckers: Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 11, 2018 Author Subscriber Posted December 11, 2018 1 minute ago, nudge said: What I really hate is those nasty fuckers: I can remember when I was a young lad and I would keep my bike in a coal cupboard, many a time I would move an empty coal sack to get my bike and dozens of them fuckers would fall out with their backs up and pinchers wide open, they gave me the shivers. Quote
Subscriber Mel81x+ Posted December 11, 2018 Subscriber Posted December 11, 2018 Since we're on the topic of bacteria and all things icky. https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/12/whats-eating-this-400-year-old-painting-a-whole-ecosystem-of-microbes/ "A new study describes the complex ecosystems of bacteria and fungi that live and feast on a 17th-century painting—and how other species of bacteria may one day help art conservators fight back." 1 Quote
nudge Posted December 11, 2018 Posted December 11, 2018 2 minutes ago, CaaC - John said: I can remember when I was a young lad and I would keep my bike in a coal cupboard, many a time I would move an empty coal sack to get my bike and dozens of them fuckers would fall out with their backs up and pinchers wide open, they gave me the shivers. Yeah, the ones here (giant centipedes) are also venomous; I know quite a few people who got bit and had nasty infection as a result... Quote
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