[QUOTE=kladner;470841]Shout out to LaurV. Were you in on the digital scene when this happened?[/QUOTE]
Thanks. You forgot the link.
See a [URL="http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?p=470913"]post in my blog[/URL].

This is why we keep archives folks:
[url]https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6991[/url]

[QUOTE=LaurV;470919]Thanks. You forgot the link.
See a [URL="http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?p=470913"]post in my blog[/URL].[/QUOTE]
Thanks for mending my lapse. Thanks even more for the accounts and photos.
:thumbs-up:I am in awe!:thumbs-up:

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[URL="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/science/giraffes-ancestor-fossil.html"]Ancient Fossil Offers a New European Ancestor to Giraffes[/URL]

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[URL="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/are-scientists-doing-too-much-research/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sa-editorial-social&utm_content=link-post&utm_term=the-sciences_blog_text_free&sf129986032=1#"]Are Scientists Doing Too Much Research?[/URL]

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[URL="https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2017/11/09/562933725/monks-for-a-month-college-kids-give-up-talking-and-technology"]Monks For A Month: College Kids Give Up Talking — And Technology[/URL]

[URL="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609380/gene-therapy-grafts-have-repaired-a-childs-devastating-skin-disorder/"]Gene-Therapy Grafts Have Repaired a Child’s Devastating Skin Disorder[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171108131839.htm"]Astronomers discover a star that would not die[/URL]

[URL="https://home.cern/about/updates/2017/11/how-much-does-kilogram-weigh"]How much does a kilogram weigh?[/URL]

[URL="https://www.wired.com/story/the-astounding-engineering-behind-the-giant-magellan-telescope/"]THE ASTOUNDING ENGINEERING BEHIND THE WORLD'S LARGEST OPTICAL TELESCOPE[/URL]

[URL="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/science/nose-smell-circadian-rhythm.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront"]The Circadian Clock in Your Nose[/URL]

[URL="https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-11-visual-intelligence-iq.amp"]Visual intelligence is not the same as IQ[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171114123312.htm"]How emotions influence our internal clock[/URL]

[URL="https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-11-memoryrecognizing-images-briefly-ten-years.html"]Memory—recognizing images seen briefly ten years previously[/URL]

[URL="http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2017/11/economist-explains-8"]How the letters of the alphabet got their names[/URL]

[URL="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/business/dealbook/flying-technology-travel.html"]The Future of Flying? You can see it Now[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171115153631.htm"]Multiplayer video games: Skill at game and intelligence linked[/URL]

[URL="https://spectrumnews.org/news/technology-harry-potter-movies-brings-brain-focus/"]Technology from ‘Harry Potter’ movies brings magic of brain into focus[/URL]

[URL="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/11/sangamo-first-gene-editing-in-body/545960/"]The First Man to Have His Genes Edited Inside His Body[/URL]

[URL="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/18/magazine/how-the-appetite-for-emojis-complicates-the-effort-to-standardize-the-worlds-alphabets.html?mtrref=undefined&gwh=2612704487CA9036A0491D16D039B496&gwt=pay"]How the Appetite for Emojis Complicate the Effort to Standardize the World's Alphabets[/URL]

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"There may be Greenland sharks alive today that were born before Christopher Columbus" -- or perhaps even ones that were born before Greenland was given that name by Eric the Red.

[URL="https://news.yale.edu/2017/11/23/small-distinct-differences-among-species-mark-evolution-human-brain"]Small but distinct differences among species mark evolution of human brain[/URL]

[URL="https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-beautiful-intelligence-of-bacteria-and-other-microbes-20171113/"]Seeing the Beautiful Intelligence of Microbes[/URL]

[URL="http://news.mit.edu/2017/handheld-muon-detector-1121"]Physicists design $100 handheld muon detector[/URL]

[URL="https://newatlas.com/evolution-machine-bacteria-drugs/52349/"]Unnatural selection: The "evolution machine" that drives bacteria to produce new drugs[/URL]

[URL="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/11/how-the-zombie-fungus-takes-over-ants-bodies-to-control-their-minds/545864/"]How the Zombie Fungus Takes Over Ants’ Bodies to Control Their Minds[/URL]

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[QUOTE=rogue;471889]
[URL="https://home.cern/about/updates/2017/11/how-much-does-kilogram-weigh"]How much does a kilogram weigh?[/URL]

[/QUOTE]
Interesting!

The short answer would be 1000 gram :razz:.

Long answer:
Humans have defined the second and meter very accurately:
1 second = 9,192,631,770 transitions between the two levels of (ground state and at 0K) of the caesium-133 atom.

and the meter is derived/defined from the second and the speed of light in a vacuum (a universal constant)
1 meter = length of the path travelled by light in a vacuum in exactly 1/299,792,458 second.

You would think it would be possible to define the kg or gram using a similar technique. A xxxxxx amount of y atoms would come to mind (with for instance Carbon-12 with unified atomic mass (12u) and Avogadro's number for the amount of atoms). As Avogadro's number is defined as the amount of molecules/atoms in 12 gram of Carbon-12. As I understand it, this what they are trying to achieve with a "Silicon sphere kg".

Another approach is using E=mc^2 , as we already have defined c (the speed of light), but we would need something for E (energy). They are now proposing to use E=hv (Planck constant x frequency) or similar technique to define mass in terms of the Planck constant. But then we would need to define/measure the Planck constant first. As I understand it this is the approach they are now pursuing. The new measurement of the Planck constant to 13 parts per billion would meet the requirement for defining a 'new' kg and tying it to a universal constant.

[URL]https://www.nist.gov/physical-measurement-laboratory/plancks-constant[/URL]

[QUOTE=VictordeHolland;472864]

You would think it would be possible to define the kg or gram using a similar technique. A xxxxxx amount of y atoms would come to mind (with for instance Carbon-12 with unified atomic mass (12u) and Avogadro's number for the amount of atoms). As Avogadro's number is defined as the amount of molecules/atoms in 12 gram of Carbon-12. As I understand it, this what they are trying to achieve with a "Silicon sphere kg".

Another approach is using E=mc^2 , as we already have defined c (the speed of light), but we would need something for E (energy). They are now proposing to use E=hv (Planck constant x frequency) or similar technique to define mass in terms of the Planck constant. But then we would need to define/measure the Planck constant first. As I understand it this is the approach they are now pursuing. The new measurement of the Planck constant to 13 parts per billion would meet the requirement for defining a 'new' kg and tying it to a universal constant.
[/QUOTE]

These are all theoretically "easy" methods of course; the limiting factor is not coming up with ideas for the precise redefinition, but rather choosing the new definition whose engineering requirements to reproduce the measurement are the least burden. It's not so hard to acquire some caseisum-133 and measure its state-transition properties, but e.g. things like the silicon sphere require extraordinarily difficult and expensive setups. The new definition must be practically usable.

An amusing alternative approach to a "standard kilogram" is mentioned in [url=https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0612087.pdf]A Proposed Exact Integer Value for Avogadro’s Number[/url]

[QUOTE=rogue;471889][URL="https://home.cern/about/updates/2017/11/how-much-does-kilogram-weigh"]How much does a kilogram weigh?[/URL][/QUOTE]Where?

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;472871]An amusing alternative approach to a "standard kilogram" is mentioned in [url=https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0612087.pdf]A Proposed Exact Integer Value for Avogadro’s Number[/url][/QUOTE]

the problem then is you also can't define a kg becasue if this equates toa new 12 grams then the kg would have to be 83.333333 times it so the value must be divisible by 3 ( okay technically it is in this case).

[QUOTE=science_man_88;472876]the problem then is you also can't define a kg becasue if this equates toa new 12 grams then the kg would have to be 83.333333 times it so the value must be divisible by 3 ( okay technically it is in this case).[/QUOTE]
I doubt we'll ever experimentally find the value of the avogrado constant down to high enough precision that that would be an issue. Note that the constant is 6,xxx 10^23, so if you round off to the nearest whole atom, that is not going to dramatically significantly change the outcome.

[QUOTE=VictordeHolland;472864]Interesting!

The short answer would be 1000 gram :razz:.
[/QUOTE]
Shorter answer: 1kg. :razz:

This reminds me when I was in grade 2 or so, a joker uncle of mine came to visit and my parents told him ho good I was at math (I could multiply two and three digits numbers in my head, with some difficulty, but correct, from an early age, before I even went to school) and he told me "Really? Let's see... there are some geese on the street and they walk in line. How many geese there are if the one in front has two in the back and the one in the back has two in front?" and I replied very fast "Five!" and everybody laugh and I was very proud that he didn't trick me into saying "six", hehe... It didn't last long...

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;472871]An amusing alternative approach to a "standard kilogram" is mentioned in [URL="https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0612087.pdf"]A Proposed Exact Integer Value for Avogadro’s Number[/URL][/QUOTE]
Beautiful! I love that! 84446886^3 ! We already memorized it!

[QUOTE=VictordeHolland;472908]I doubt we'll ever experimentally find the value of the avogrado constant down to high enough precision that that would be an issue. Note that the constant is 6,xxx 10^23, so if you round off to the nearest whole atom, that is not going to dramatically significantly change the outcome.[/QUOTE]

the new units actually fix the constants and base the units off them. so we would need to fix the constant and work from that. also rounding by .5 atoms would be off by 41.6666666666 atoms at the kg scale. we'd also need to drop some prefixes to get whole numbers for all of them.

[QUOTE=VictordeHolland;472908]I doubt we'll ever experimentally find the value of the avogrado constant down to high enough precision that that would be an issue. Note that the constant is 6,xxx 10^23, so if you round off to the nearest whole atom, that is not going to dramatically significantly change the outcome.[/QUOTE][QUOTE=science_man_88;472916]the new units actually fix the constants and base the units off them.
...[/QUOTE]The [url=https://www.bipm.org]Bureau International des poids et des mesures[/url] is indeed planning to set the Avogadro constant to an a defined number (an integer equal to 6,02214129 10^23) in their [url=https://www.bipm.org/en/measurement-units/rev-si/#communication]9th draft[/url] :"The number of entities in one mole is equal to the numerical value of the Avogadro constant which is known as the Avogadro number. As a consequence of the definition of the mole, the Avogadro constant, and the Avogadro number have no uncertainty."

The new proposed definitions and the history of the definitions of the basic units are an interesting reading.

Jacob

[QUOTE=S485122;472946]The [url=https://www.bipm.org]Bureau International des poids et des mesures[/url] is indeed planning to set the Avogadro constant to an a defined number (an integer equal to 6,02214129 10^23) in their [url=https://www.bipm.org/en/measurement-units/rev-si/#communication]9th draft[/url] :"The number of entities in one mole is equal to the numerical value of the Avogadro constant which is known as the Avogadro number. As a consequence of the definition of the mole, the Avogadro constant, and the Avogadro number have no uncertainty."

The new proposed definitions and the history of the definitions of the basic units are an interesting reading.

Jacob[/QUOTE]

luckily that divides by 3 as 602214129 divides by 3, which means the kg would be: 5.018451075 * 10^25 molecules exactly when this defines 12 grams. which means down to picograms are an exact whole number of molecules each.

[QUOTE=LaurV;472909]Shorter answer: 1kg. :razz:

This reminds me when I was in grade 2 or so, a joker uncle of mine came to visit and my parents told him ho good I was at math (I could multiply two and three digits numbers in my head, with some difficulty, but correct, from an early age, before I even went to school) and he told me "Really? Let's see... there are some geese on the street and they walk in line. How many geese there are if the one in front has two in the back and the one in the back has two in front?" and[U] I replied very fast "Five!" and everybody laugh and I was very proud that he didn't trick me into saying "six",[/U] hehe... It didn't last long...[/QUOTE]
I am going out on a limb, here. Why isn't the answer "three"?
[CODE]G1 G2 G3[/CODE]Goose 1 has 2 behind. Goose 3 has 2 in front.

[QUOTE=kladner;472960]I am going out on a limb, here. Why isn't the answer "three"?
[CODE]G1 G2 G3[/CODE]Goose 1 has 2 behind. Goose 3 has 2 in front.[/QUOTE]:tu:

That was my immediate answer but, there again, I'm weird.

[QUOTE=kladner;472960]I am going out on a limb, here. Why isn't the answer "three"?
[CODE]G1 G2 G3[/CODE]Goose 1 has 2 behind. Goose 3 has 2 in front.[/QUOTE]

I had immediately concluded the same, and surmised from the context of his post, and the post-anecdote comment ("it didn't last long") that 3 is in fact the correct answer, and the laughing was because he was smart enough to miss the "obvious" one but not enough to get it right the first time :smile:

Of course, the answer was 3. That is why "everybody laughed" and what "[the happiness] it didn't last long" meant... The fact is they were all laughing and I was thinking they are laughing because I was clever... It took me minutes (and hints from the conversation that was going on around me at the time) to understand the error. Before, I was quite convinced I was right, hehe... I thought you guys know to read my posts by now :razz:

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[URL="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/11/scallops-have-eyes-and-each-one-builds-a-beautiful-living-mirror/547115/?utm_source=atltw"]Scallops Have Eyes, and Each One Builds a Beautiful Living Mirror[/URL]

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[@rogue: I posted the shark link already on 28 Nov.]

[url=https://www.sciencealert.com/bronze-age-artefacts-have-meteorite-iron]The most precious Bronze Age artefacts were made with cosmic materials[/url] | ScienceAlert

Makes sense that ironware made from ready-to-use meteoritic iron before humans had learned to smelt iron from its ore (which innovation defines the transition from the Bronze to the Iron age) would be highly prized rarities. The extraterrestrial origin of the iron may well also explain the mythological "gift from the gods" origins of many fabled weapons.

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[URL="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/limits-of-science/547649/"]Is There a Limit to Scientific Understanding?[/URL]

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[URL="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/11/science/gemstones-diamonds-sapphires-rubies.html?smid=tw-nytimesscience&smtyp=cur&_r=0&mtrref=undefined"]Precious Gems Bear Messages From Earth's Molten Heart[/URL]

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[URL="https://www.technologyreview.com/the-download/609785/artificial-intelligence-just-discovered-new-planets/"]Artificial Intelligence Just Discovered New Planets[/URL]

[URL="https://aeon.co/essays/can-neuroscience-rehabilitate-freud-for-the-age-of-the-brain"]Freud in the scanner[/URL]

[QUOTE=rogue;473850][URL="https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/12/05/left-handers-have-advantage-sports-high-time-pressure-12239"]Left-Handers Have Advantage In Sports With High Time Pressure[/URL][/quote]
They also have an advantage as baseball pitchers, as long as the batters they face are predominantly right-handers. That's why MLB pitching staffs have a disproportionately high % of southpaws.

[quote][URL="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/we-might-absorb-billions-of-viruses-every-day/547415/"]We Might Absorb Billions of Viruses Every Day[/URL][/QUOTE]
All that extra protein for building strong [strike]muscles[/strike] immune cells!

[QUOTE=rogue;474392][URL="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/12/14/harvard-researchers-show-how-brain-distinguishes-friends-from-strangers/5kJkhS9hVlq7knYam24hZO/story.html"]Harvard researchers show how brain distinguishes friends from strangers[/URL][/QUOTE]
Um, via something called 'memory'? Just throwing it out there...

-------------------------

[url=https://www.quantamagazine.org/neutrinos-suggest-solution-to-mystery-of-universes-existence-20171212/]Neutrinos Suggest Solution to Mystery of Universe’s Existence[/url] | Quanta Magazine

Neutrinos and asymmetries ... they just seem to go together.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;475234]They also have an advantage as baseball pitchers, as long as the batters they face are predominantly right-handers. That's why MLB pitching staffs have a disproportionately high % of southpaws.
[/quote]

Um, not true? In a same handed matchup, the pitcher has the platoon advantage, while in an opposite handed matchup, the batter has the advantage.

[QUOTE=Dubslow;475269]Um, not true? In a same handed matchup, the pitcher has the platoon advantage, while in an opposite handed matchup, the batter has the advantage.[/QUOTE]

I may well have misremembered the reason(s) I heard for lefty-pitcher advantge way back when in my little-league days. Reading up on it by way of refresher, the difficulty in stealing (from first, the most-commonly-occupied base, especially between 1st and 3rd, 2nd being in the 'neutral' position w.r.to lefty and righty pitchers) off a lefty pitcher makes much more sense.

[url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jan/03/ancient-dna-reveals-previously-unknown-group-of-native-americans-ancient-beringians]Surprise as DNA reveals new group of Native Americans: the ancient Beringians[/url] | Science | The Guardian

[url=http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/cats-new-year-resolutions-already-broken-2015010994244]Cats’ New Year resolutions already broken[/url] | Daily Mash

[QUOTE=ewmayer;476656]
[url=http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/cats-new-year-resolutions-already-broken-2015010994244]Cats’ New Year resolutions already broken[/url] | Daily Mash[/QUOTE]

Move 'ZIG'. For great justice.

[URL="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/brain-hacking-what-bill-gates-other-tech-titans-want-our-n833156"]Brain hacking: What Bill Gates and other tech titans want with our mind[/URL]

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Someone has a great deal of spare time. :smile:

[url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/16/mexico-500-years-later-scientists-discover-what-killed-the-aztecs]500 years later, scientists discover what probably killed the Aztecs[/url] | World news | The Guardian

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[URL="http://www.techradar.com/news/how-artificial-intelligence-is-creating-new-ways-of-storytelling"]How artificial intelligence is creating new ways of storytelling[/URL]

[URL="http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/connected-and-mobile-devices-putting-a-strain-on-the-environment/waste-management-environmental"]Connected and mobile devices putting a strain on the environment[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new-gel-could-help-fight-against-deadly-drug-resistant-superbugs"]A new gel could help in the fight against deadly, drug-resistant superbugs[/URL]

[URL="https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-01-virus-like-protein-important-cognition-memory.html"]Surprise: A virus-like protein is important for cognition and memory[/URL]

[URL="https://www.us.mensa.org/read/bulletin/features/fire-swords-and-magic/"]Fire, Swords & Magic:
The Art of Sub-Saharan African Swordsmithing[/URL]

[URL="https://www.wired.com/story/how-dirt-could-save-humanity-from-an-infectious-apocalypse/"]HOW DIRT COULD SAVE HUMANITY FROM AN INFECTIOUS APOCALYPSE[/URL]

[URL="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jan/15/gene-editing-and-what-it-really-means-to-rewrite-the-code-of-life"]Gene editing – and what it really means to rewrite the code of life[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/hunter-gatherer-lifestyle-could-help-explain-superior-ability-id-smells"]Hunter-gatherer lifestyle could help explain superior ability to ID smells[/URL]

[URL="http://nautil.us/issue/56/perspective/why-your-biology-runs-on-feelings"]Why Your Biology Runs on Feelings[/URL]

[URL="https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2018/01/19/study-shows-how-the-creative-brain-is-wired-differently/#22ce315631a0"]Study Reveals How The Creative Brain Is Wired[/URL]

[URL="https://www.knowablemagazine.org/article/living-world/2018/microbes-medical-bag"]Microbes in the medical bag[/URL]

[url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-29/how-to-watch-the-super-blue-blood-moon]How to Watch the Super Blue Blood Moon[/url] - Bloomberg

Not to be confused with the similarly rare Mega Boffo Totally Rad Red Moon, mind you.

o [url=https://phys.org/news/2018-02-ice-age-human-witnessed-larger.html]Research suggests toward end of Ice Age, humans witnessed fires larger than dinosaur killer, thanks to a cosmic impact[/url] | Phys.org

The official conclusions from the research do not go so far, but one of the scientists involved speculates that the mass-burning may in fact have caused the ensuing Younger Dryas millennium-long cold snap.

o [url=https://www.livescience.com/61627-ancient-virus-brain.html]An Ancient Virus May Be Responsible for Human Consciousness[/url] | LiveScience

[URL="https://news.mit.edu/2018/engineers-design-artificial-synapse-brain-on-a-chip-hardware-0122"]Engineers design artificial synapse for “brain-on-a-chip” hardware[/URL]

[URL="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jan/23/voice-replacement-technology-adaptive-alternative-communication-vocalid"]How a new technology is changing the lives of people who cannot speak[/URL]

[URL="http://news.mit.edu/2018/new-study-reveals-how-brain-waves-control-working-memory-0126"]New study reveals how brain waves control working memory[/URL]

[URL="https://aeon.co/ideas/how-sound-and-smell-cues-can-enhance-learning-while-you-sleep"]How sound and smell cues can enhance learning while you sleep[/URL]

[URL="http://neurosciencenews.com/music-universal-language-8370/"]Music Really is a Universal Language[/URL]

[URL="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/01/what-was-this-article-about-again/551603/"]Why We Forget Most of the Books We Read[/URL]

[URL="http://earthsky.org/space/what-scientists-can-learn-during-january-31-lunar-eclipse"]January 31 lunar eclipse: What scientists can learn[/URL]

[URL="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-01075-5"]The lost art of looking at plants[/URL]

[URL="http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20180129-welcome-to-monowi-nebraska-population-1"]Welcome to Monowi, Nebraska: population 1[/URL]

[URL="https://www.knowablemagazine.org/article/technology/2018/science-better-beer"]The science of better beer[/URL]

[URL="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jan/31/orcas-killer-whales-can-imitate-human-speech-research-reveals"]Orcas can imitate human speech, research reveals[/URL]

[URL="https://www.voanews.com/a/virtual-reality/4221580.html"]Touching Objects in Virtual Reality Is Now Possible[/URL]

[URL="http://neurosciencenews.com/neuroscience-phrenology-8384"]NEUROSCIENTISTS PUT THE DUBIOUS THEORY OF ‘PHRENOLOGY’ THROUGH RIGOROUS TESTING[/URL]

[URL="https://www.fastcodesign.com/90159132/opera-takes-a-giant-leap-into-the-future"]Opera Takes A Giant Leap Into The Future[/URL]

[URL="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/instead-of-filling-cavities-dentists-may-soon-regenerate-teeth1/"]Instead of Filling Cavities, Dentists May Soon Regenerate Teeth[/URL]

[URL="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/29/how-to-raise-a-prodigy"]How to Raise a Prodigy[/URL]

[url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/8/16985666/alexandra-elbakyan-sci-hub-open-access-science-papers-lawsuit]Meet the pirate queen making academic papers free online[/url] - The Verge, on SciHub founder Alexandra Elbakyan

[url=https://qz.com/1205279/photo-of-an-atom-a-scientist-captured-an-incredible-photograph/]Photo of atom[/url]

[Background: beewolves are solitary digger wasps that carry paralyzed bees into their underground brood cells; these serve as a food supply for their offspring]

[url=https://phys.org/news/2018-02-beewolves-successfully-antibiotics-million-years.html]Beewolves have been successfully using the same antibiotics for 68 million years[/url] | Phys.org
[quote]The discovery of penicillin about 90 years ago and the widespread introduction of antibiotics to combat infectious diseases have revolutionized human medicine. However, in recent decades, the increase in multidrug-resistant pathogens has confronted modern medicine with massive problems. Insects have their own antibiotics, which provide natural protection against germs. A team of scientists from the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena have now found that beewolves, unlike humans, do not face the problem of antibiotic resistant pathogens. These insects team up with symbiotic bacteria which produce an antibiotic cocktail of up to 45 different substances within a single species to protect their offspring against mold fungi. The researchers not only discovered that the number of antibiotic substances is much higher than previously thought, they also proved that the cocktail has remained surprisingly stable since the symbiosis emerged, about 68 million years ago.[/quote]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;479996][Background: beewolves are solitary digger wasps that carry paralyzed bees into their underground brood cells; these serve as a food supply for their offspring]

[url=https://phys.org/news/2018-02-beewolves-successfully-antibiotics-million-years.html]Beewolves have been successfully using the same antibiotics for 68 million years[/url] | Phys.org[/QUOTE]

I'm no expert, but that seems to me to be a startling find, from both the medicine perspective and the animal biology perspective. Good stuff.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;479899][URL="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/8/16985666/alexandra-elbakyan-sci-hub-open-access-science-papers-lawsuit"]Meet the pirate queen making academic papers free online[/URL] - The Verge, on SciHub founder Alexandra Elbakyan[/QUOTE]
The idealist in me would say all (government funded) scientific research should be available freely to the public and I think most would agree The prices universities have to pay to the publishers are just crazy! The publishers are abusing their power (a university needs access to the papers in the 5-6 biggest publishers), so the public is paying twice for research, first to conduct the research and a second time to grant access to it by universities.

That being said, that doesn't make it right what she has been doing. The motivation is admirable, but what she has been doing is in fact copyright infringement...

The real change that needs to happen is by the government and the scientist themselves. The scientists will need to publish more in the open access journals and leave the money-making -prestigious journals sidelined (I understand the appeal of publishing in prestigious journals like Nature) and the government has a role to create the financial incentives to do so. Then there is the issue of quality control, but I think that should be solvable.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;479996][Background: beewolves are solitary digger wasps that carry paralyzed bees into their underground brood cells; these serve as a food supply for their offspring]

[URL="https://phys.org/news/2018-02-beewolves-successfully-antibiotics-million-years.html"]Beewolves have been successfully using the same antibiotics for 68 million years[/URL] | Phys.org[/QUOTE]
I wonder if it is only beewolves which have this adaptation.

Where I grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast, there is a large reddish wasp that we called a "cicada killer." Its nurturing of its young is the same, except that "breakfast" is much larger. (I see that this is an accepted name, not just my family's invention.)
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphecius[/url][INDENT][I][URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphecius_grandis"]Sphecius grandis[/URL][/I] (Say, 1823) – [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_cicada_killer"]Western cicada killer[/URL] (Costa Rica; Mexico: Baja California, Chihuahua, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Yucatán; Nicaragua; USA: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, [U][B]Texas[/B][/U], Utah, Washington)
[/INDENT]Now consider that large breakfast is being buried in the hyper-humid conditions of the Gulf Coast. Molds are omnipresent in that setting. It seems that any wasp with this propensity would need some way to protect its larvae and pupae. A similar symbiosis seems like a strong possibility.

[QUOTE=VictordeHolland;480029]Then there is the issue of quality control, but I think that should be solvable.[/QUOTE]

I think that is the entire source of the problem, not some side issue. Solve this and everything will naturally and quickly follow, regulation or not, intervention or not. But solving this is not so easy.

[URL="https://www.topic.com/the-surprising-success-of-america-s-oldest-living-magazine"]The Surprising Success of America’s Oldest Living Magazine[/URL]

[URL="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/02/more-people-more-words/552764/"]A Language's Popularity Could Influence Its Grammar and Vocabulary[/URL]

[URL="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/12/the-white-darkness"]The White Darkness[/URL]

[URL="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/02/06/583633391/a-tiny-pulse-of-electricity-can-help-the-brain-form-lasting-memories"]A Tiny Pulse Of Electricity Can Help The Brain Form Lasting Memories[/URL]

[URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/02/05/scientists-discover-the-first-planets-outside-the-milky-way/?utm_term=.302cf91b0789"]Scientists may have discovered the first planets outside the Milky Way[/URL]

[URL="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16973914/tvs-crt-restoration-led-gaming-vintage"]Inside the desperate fight to keep old TVs alive[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/02/aquarium-accident-may-have-given-crayfish-dna-take-over-world"]An aquarium accident may have given this crayfish the DNA to take over the world[/URL]

[URL="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/07/books/plagiarism-software-unveils-a-new-source-for-11-of-shakespeares-plays.html"]Plagierism Software Unveils a new Source for 11 of Shakespeare's Plays[/URL]

[URL="http://neurosciencenews.com/eye-image-memory-8489/"]Can’t Get an Image Out of Your Head? Your Eyes Are Helping to Keep it There[/URL]

[URL="https://www.wired.com/story/olympics-opening-ceremony-drone-show/"]INSIDE THE OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY WORLD-RECORD DRONE SHOW[/URL]

[URL="http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180208-an-effortless-way-to-strengthen-your-memory"]An effortless way to improve your memory[/URL]

[URL="https://arxiv.org/abs/1802.04718"]The random walk of cars and their collision probabilities with planets[/URL]

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;480569][URL="https://arxiv.org/abs/1802.04718"]The random walk of cars and their collision probabilities with planets[/URL][/QUOTE]

For an extensive if somewhat lay-level discussion of the results, see [url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/7xj6hs/theres_a_6_possibility_of_the_starman_roadster/[/url]

[QUOTE=Dubslow;480607]For an extensive if somewhat lay-level discussion of the results, see [url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/7xj6hs/theres_a_6_possibility_of_the_starman_roadster/[/url][/QUOTE]There's about a 100% chance the roadster won't exist in one million years. I expect it will have disintegrated long before that.

[QUOTE=retina;480611]There's about a 100% chance the roadster won't exist in one million years. I expect it will have disintegrated long before that.[/QUOTE]Why do you think that?

My answer: it will be in a museum within a century or so and consequently exposed to a much harsher environment than interplanetary space.

[QUOTE=xilman;480621]Why do you think that?

My answer: it will be in a museum within a century or so and consequently exposed to a much harsher environment than interplanetary space.[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure about a century. I'd guess at several centuries.

[QUOTE=xilman;480621]Why do you think that?

My answer: it will be in a museum within a century or so and consequently exposed to a much harsher environment than interplanetary space.[/QUOTE]

I have good odds on it being part of the grand entrance of a moon base, Hotel Musk perhaps.

[QUOTE=xilman;480621]Why do you think that?

My answer: it will be in a museum within a century or so and consequently exposed to a much harsher environment than interplanetary space.[/QUOTE]Thankfully I am not alone in my thinking.

[url]https://www.livescience.com/61680-will-spacex-roadster-survive-in-space.html[/url] [quote]Radiation Will Tear Elon Musk's Rocket Car to Bits in a Year[/quote]

o [url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180222144943.htm]Neanderthals were artistic like modern humans, study indicates[/url] | Science Daily

o [url=https://phys.org/news/2018-02-redraws-family-tree-domesticated-wild.html]Surprising new study redraws family tree of domesticated and 'wild' horses[/url] | Phys.org
[quote]The findings signify there are no longer true "wild" horses left, only feral horses that descend from horses once domesticated by humans, including Przewalski's horses and mustangs that descend from horses brought to North America by the Spanish.[/quote]

o [url=bgr.com/2018/02/21/supernova-birth-amateur-astronomer-victor-buso/]Amateur astronomer witnesses something scientists have been waiting decades for[/url] | BGR -- A pre-supernova energy burst; here the abstract of the resulting [url=]Nature article[/url]:
[quote]It is difficult to establish the properties of massive stars that explode as supernovae[sup]1,2[/sup]. The electromagnetic emission during the first minutes to hours after the emergence of the shock from the stellar surface conveys important information about the final evolution and structure of the exploding star[sup]3,4,5,6[/sup]. However, the unpredictable nature of supernova events hinders the detection of this brief initial phase[sup]7,8,9[/sup]. Here we report the serendipitous discovery of a newly born, normal type IIb supernova (SN 2016gkg)[sup]10[/sup], which reveals a rapid brightening at optical wavelengths of about 40 magnitudes per day. The very frequent sampling of the observations allowed us to study in detail the outermost structure of the progenitor of the supernova and the physics of the emergence of the shock. We develop hydrodynamical models of the explosion that naturally account for the complete evolution of the supernova over distinct phases regulated by different physical processes. This result suggests that it is appropriate to decouple the treatment of the shock propagation from the unknown mechanism that triggers the explosion.[/quote]

o [url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/two-way-communication-possible-single-quantum-particle]Two-way communication is possible with a single quantum particle[/url] | Science News -- Nothing in the article re. how this avoids violating the there-can-be-no-supralight-speed information-transmission law even such "sppoky action at a distance" quantum phenomena are (so far as we know) subject to, but my guess would be that that devil is buried in the "preparing the bolded required state of superposition" details:
[quote]To show that such communication is possible, Walther and colleagues sent single photons through an arrangement of mirrors and other optical devices. The setup put the photon in a superposition, [b]sending it simultaneously to two stations that represented Alice and Bob[/b].

By changing the phase of the light’s electromagnetic wave — shifting where the troughs and peaks of the wave fell — the researchers encoded the photon with a 0 or 1 at each station. [b]Then, at each station, the photon — still in limbo between Alice and Bob — was sent to the opposite station[/b]. Along the way, the photon interacted with itself, interfering like water ripples combining to amplify their strength or cancel out. That interference determined whether the final photon was detected at Alice’s station or Bob’s.[/quote]

And lastly a bit of "bad Olympics physics" to exercize those gray(ing) brain cells: Just a little while ago, NBC (US broadcaster of the Pyeongchang winter olympics) showed a graphic during one of the men's 1000m speedskating races: skater frozen during a high-speed turn, line from skate blate thru CG was superposed, 46 degrees above the horizontal, i.e. 1 degree above 45 degrees. Off to the side was an arrow with a text "2.5 Gs" denoting the centrifugal force allegedly induced by said turn. Even without knowing anything about the skater's speed or the radius of the turn, or resort to calculator or trig tables, it should be easy to spot the error.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;480739]And lastly a bit of "bad Olympics physics" to exercize those gray(ing) brain cells: Just a little while ago, NBC (US broadcaster of the Pyeongchang winter olympics) showed a graphic during one of the men's 1000m speedskating races: skater frozen during a high-speed turn, line from skate blate thru CG was superposed, 46 degrees above the horizontal, i.e. 1 degree above 45 degrees. Off to the side was an arrow with a text "2.5 Gs" denoting the centrifugal force allegedely induced by said turn. Even without knowing anything about the skater's speed or the radius of the turn, or resort to calculator or trig tables, it should be easy to spot the error.[/QUOTE]Maybe the ice rink has a gravity field generator underneath the ice. A small amount of neutronium would do the trick. Lay it out nice and smooth across the base and cover with ice. Easy.

[url=https://thebulletin.org/horsepox-synthesis-case-unilateralist’s-curse11523]Horsepox synthesis: A case of the unilateralist’s curse?[/url] | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

[URL="https://www.us.mensa.org/read/bulletin/features/fire-swords-and-magic/"]Fire, Swords & Magic: The Art of Sub-Saharan African Swordsmithing[/URL]

[URL="https://www.thecut.com/2018/02/after-the-olympics-some-athletes-will-just-give-up.html?utm_campaign=sou&utm_source=tw&utm_medium=s1"]After the Olympics, Some Olympians Will Just Give Up[/URL]

[URL="After the Olympics, Some Olympians Will Just Give Up"]The Slippery Search for Creativity[/URL]

[URL="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2162646-very-creative-people-have-a-special-kind-of-brain-activity/"]Very creative people have a special kind of brain activity[/URL]

[URL="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/secret-family-recipes-copied"]The Dirty Secret of ‘Secret Family Recipes’[/URL]

[URL="https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-simple-algorithm-that-ants-use-to-build-bridges-20180226/"]The Simple Algorithm That Ants Use to Build Bridges[/URL]

[URL="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/woman-who-shaped-study-fossil-brains-180968254/"]The Woman Who Shaped the Study of Fossil Brains[/URL]

[URL="https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-self-taught-artificial-intelligence-has-trouble-with-the-real-world-20180221/"]Why Self-Taught Artificial Intelligence Has Trouble With the Real World[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180220123129.htm"]When it comes to our brains, there's no such thing as normal[/URL]

[URL="https://weather.com/news/news/2018-02-08-mystery-100-trees-fall-northwest-washington"]Meteorological Mystery Surrounds What Caused Massive Tree Fall in Northwest Washington[/URL]

[URL="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/acoustic-caves-rock-art-language-origin-spd/"]Ancient Cave Drawings and Early Human Language Linked in New Study[/URL]

[URL="http://neurosciencenews.com/focus-video-gaming-8513/"]One Hour of Video Gaming Can Increase the Brain’s Ability to Focus[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/how-build-human-brain"]How to build a human brain[/URL]

[URL="https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/soon-you-may-be-able-3d-print-clothing-your-own-ncna848646"]Soon you may be able to 3D print clothing in your own home[/URL]

[url=https://phys.org/news/2018-03-humans-south-africa-toba-super-volcanic.html]Humans thrived in South Africa through the Toba supervolcanic eruption 74,000 years ago[/url] | Phys.org -- Just as marine species fare better than land once during mass extinctions, humans whose diet relies on seafood do better during climatic "nuclear winters".

[url=www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180312-how-siccar-point-changed-our-understanding-of-earth-history]The cliff that changed our understanding of time[/url] | BBC Travel -- No, not Cliff Robertson, nor Cary Granite, though both were undoubtedly gneiss fellows. (Though Cliff was reputed to be afflicted by bouts of excessive sedimentality, especially during prolonged spells of inclement weather.)

That is some fascinating stuff, Ernst. One thing leads to another, and I ended up reading about Harris Tweed, and the results of the Toba super eruption, and baby eels, and...

I found the transcript of an installment of [b]NOVA[/b] from 2006 about Toba I remembered having watched, [url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3312_megavolc.html]Mystery of the Megavolcano[/url]. The NOVA site currently has a stupid tab plastered over the upper-left side of every page I looked at, but you can copy-paste the transcript to a plain-vanilla text file.

One thing I particularly recalled was the way a quaternary tephrochronologist ("volcano detective") named John Westgate dated ash samples, a method called "fission track dating." He found that a bunch of ash samples he had received from an incredibly wide area not only had nearly identical chemistry, but were also just about the same age -- around 75,000 years old.

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;482346]One thing I particularly recalled was the way a quaternary tephrochronologist ("volcano detective") named John Westgate dated ash samples, a method called "fission track dating." He found that a bunch of ash samples he had received from an incredibly wide area not only had nearly identical chemistry, but were also just about the same age -- around 75,000 years old.[/QUOTE]

Indeed, the Toba eruption must've been truly awe-inspiring.

Aside: Someone needs to do an experiment at how well trotting out the impressive job title "quaternary tephrochronologist" works as a bar pick-up line. :) I also enjoy a little mental game in which I try to conjure up words of 20+ letters ... scientific words like this suffixed with e.g. -cally make for a great source, e.g. paleoclimatologically [21], microradiochemically [20], tephrochronologically [21], helioseismologically [20].

Helioseismology sounds like a somewhat interesting area of study. At least, I think I'd like it more than tephrochronology. (Also, I'd never heard that particular Greek word before, [i]tephros[/i]. Who knew there was a scientific field of study devoted to it? Er, I guess besides you two and those who do it of course :smile:)

[QUOTE=Dubslow;482349]Helioseismology sounds like a somewhat interesting area of study. At least, I think I'd like it more than tephrochronology. (Also, I'd never heard that particular Greek word before, [i]tephros[/i]. Who knew there was a scientific field of study devoted to it? Er, I guess besides you two and those who do it of course :smile:)[/QUOTE]

Surely you've heard the word "tephra", volcano ejecta? Interesting mix here, btw - tephra is from Greek word for "ash", magma is from Greek word for "to knead", but "lava" is from Latin "to wash". Uh, I prefer my washing a little cooler and more water-based, thank you very much.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;482358]Surely you've heard the word "tephra", volcano ejecta? [/QUOTE]

Nope! Not all that knowledgeable about volcanoes, really.

[QUOTE=Dubslow;482349]Helioseismology sounds like a somewhat interesting area of study. At least, I think I'd like it more than tephrochronology. [snip][/QUOTE]

It's certainly a [i]hotter[/i] subject. Of course, you don't have to go to the sun to study it. But then, you don't have to go to an erupting volcano to study its ejecta, either.

The shaking and quaking of Mr. Sun is, I have heard, a mechanism for transferring energy from the interior to the surface by sound, more or less -- at a rate much faster than the .5MeV gamma-ray photons produced in the core can pinball their way through, and their avatars emerge, perhaps tens or hundreds of thousands of years later, at much lower energies -- luckily for us!

It would appear that Peter Woit has competition (or company) in the not-even-wrong physics blogging arena:

[url=https://backreaction.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-multiworse-is-coming.html]The Multiworse Is Coming[/url] | BackReaction
[quote]You haven’t seen headlines recently about the Large Hadron Collider, have you? That’s because even the most skilled science writers can’t find much to write about.

There are loads of data for sure, and nuclear physicists are giddy with joy because the LHC has delivered a wealth of new information about the structure of protons and heavy ions. But the good old proton has never been the media’s darling. And the fancy new things that many particle physicists expected – the supersymmetric particles, dark matter, extra dimensions, black holes, and so on – have shunned CERN.

It’s a PR disaster that particle physics won’t be able to shake off easily. Before the LHC’s launch in 2008, many theorists expressed themselves confident the collider would produce new particles besides the Higgs boson. That hasn’t happened. And the public isn’t remotely as dumb as many academics wish. They’ll remember next time we come ask for money.
...
What the particle physicists got wrong was an argument based on a mathematical criterion called “naturalness”. If the laws of nature were “natural” according to this definition, then the LHC should have seen something besides the Higgs. The data analysis isn’t yet completed, but at this point it seems unlikely something more than statistical anomalies will show up.
...
I explained many times previously why the conclusions based on naturalness were not predictions, but merely pleas for the laws of nature to be pretty. Luckily I no longer have to repeat these warnings, because the data agree that naturalness isn’t a good argument.

The LHC hasn’t seen anything new besides the Higgs. This means the laws of nature aren’t “natural” in the way that particle physicists would have wanted them to be. The consequence is not only that there are no new particles at the LHC. The consequence is also that we have no reason to think there will be new particles at the next higher energies – not until you go up a full 15 orders of magnitude, far beyond what even futuristic technologies may reach.

So what now? What if there are no more new particles? What if we’ve caught them all and that’s it, game over? What will happen to particle physics or, more to the point, to particle physicists?

In an essay some months ago, Adam Falkowski expressed it this way:
[i]
“[P]article physics is currently experiencing the most serious crisis in its storied history. The feeling in the field is at best one of confusion and at worst depression”[/i][/quote]
Personally I'm of the opinion that irrespective of the allegedly-supporting theoretical considerations, funding should banned for any search for hypothetical particles with inane, unimaginative, derivative names like gluinos, squarks, Higgsinos and sleptons - but like the faux-physics being done by the "naturalness" folks, that's just my personal aesthetic bias.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;482570]It would appear that Peter Woit has competition (or company) in the not-even-wrong physics blogging arena: [url=https://backreaction.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-multiworse-is-coming.html]The Multiworse Is Coming[/url] | BackReaction
[quote]So what now? What if there are no more new particles? What if we’ve caught them all and that’s it, game over? What will happen to particle physics or, more to the point, to particle physicists?[/quote][/QUOTE]
The [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalness_(physics)]Wikipedia page on Naturalness (physics)[/url] says, [quote]In physics, naturalness is the property that the dimensionless ratios between free parameters or physical constants appearing in a physical theory should take values "of order 1" and that free parameters are not fine-tuned. That is, a natural theory would have parameter ratios with values like 2.34 rather than 234000 or 0.000234.[/quote]
Hmm. Doesn't seem like a very [i]natural[/i] requirement to [i]me[/i].

The above sentiments about particle physics brought to mind a vague memory about a quotation to the effect "physics is over" from around 1900. Looking it up, I found that Lord Kelvin had been unjustly saddled with it: [url=https://www.quora.com/Which-19th-century-physicist-famously-said-that-all-that-remained-to-be-done-in-physics-was-compute-effects-to-another-decimal-place]Which 19th century physicist famously said that all that remained to be done in physics was compute effects to another decimal place?[/url][quote]The actual source of the sentiment attributed to Kelvin appears to be a speech given by Albert Michelson in 1894, at the dedication of the University of Chicago's Ryerson Physical Laboratory:

[quote]While it is never safe to affirm that the future of Physical Science has no marvels in store even more astonishing than those of the past, it seems probable that most of the grand underlying principles have been firmly established and that further advances are to be sought chiefly in the rigorous application of these principles to all the phenomena which come under our notice. It is here that the science of measurement shows its importance — where quantitative work is more to be desired than qualitative work. An eminent physicist remarked that the future truths of physical science are to be looked for in the sixth place of decimals.[/quote]

This might seem surprising coming from one of the scientists responsible for the Michelson-Morley experiment, which Kelvin considered one of the two great clouds hovering over the physics of the 19th century and which was satisfactorily explained only by Einstein's revolutionary work on relativity. But I think that, in the context, it's clear that what Michelson was actually doing was advocating for investing more resources on carrying out high-precision measurements. In the passage quoted, he seems to confuse the need for greater numerical precision in experiments (about which he was absolutely correct) with the settledness of the "grand underlying principles". Michelson was, after all, an experimentalist rather than a theorist.[/quote]

Haha, nice, this is brilliant:

[quote]
You see what is happening here. Conjecturing a multiverse of any type (string landscape or eternal inflation or what have you) is useless. It doesn’t explain anything and you can’t calculate anything with it. But once you add a probability distribution on that multiverse, you can make calculations. Those calculations are math you can publish. And those publications you can later refer to in proposals read by people who can’t decipher the math. Mission accomplished.
[/quote]

[URL="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/its-official-termites-are-just-cockroaches"]It’s official: Termites are just cockroaches with a fancy social life[/URL]

[URL="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/magazine/what-is-the-perfect-color-worth.html"]What is the Perfect Color Worth?[/URL]

[URL="https://www.strategy-business.com/article/Why-Our-Brains-Fall-for-False-Expertise-and-How-to-Stop-It"]Why Our Brains Fall for False Expertise, and How to Stop I[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180308120618.htm"]Memories can be decoded from brain waves during sleep, say researchers[/URL]

[URL="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-women-who-made-the-internet-and-other-stories/"]The Women Who Made the Internet and Other Stories[/URL]

[URL="http://neurosciencenews.com/synesthesia-molecular-8592/"]Seeing Sound: Molecular Clues for Synesthesia Discovered[/URL]

[URL="http://nautil.us/issue/58/self/heredity-beyond-the-gene"]Heredity Beyond the Gene[/URL]

[URL="https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/the-long-knotty-world-spanning-story-of-string/"]The Long, Knotty, World-Spanning Story of String[/URL]

"Xilinx, Inc. [...] today announced a new breakthrough product category called adaptive compute acceleration platform (ACAP) that goes far beyond the capabilities of an FPGA."
[url]https://www.xilinx.com/news/press/2018/xilinx-unveils-revolutionary-adaptable-computing-product-category.html[/url]

[QUOTE=heliosh;482810]"Xilinx, Inc. [...] today announced a new breakthrough product category called adaptive compute acceleration platform (ACAP) that goes far beyond the capabilities of an FPGA."
[URL]https://www.xilinx.com/news/press/2018/xilinx-unveils-revolutionary-adaptable-computing-product-category.html[/URL][/QUOTE]

Sounds interesting, but is there any information on why that "revolution" should be so much faster than their last FPGA line? I didn't spot anything in the referenced page. Maybe someone knows?

Here's a bit more information about the architecture:
[URL]https://www.anandtech.com/show/12509/xilinx-announces-project-everest-fpga-soc-hybrid[/URL]

Thanks.

[URL="http://neurosciencenews.com/learning-mechanism-8645/"]Illuminating Mechanism at Play in Learning[/URL]

[URL="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/why-the-brain-body-connection-is-more-important-than-we-think/"]Why the Brain-Body Connection Is More Important Than We Think[/URL]

[URL="https://www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-find-a-way-to-see-the-grin-of-quantum-gravity-20180306/"]Physicists Find a Way to See the ‘Grin’ of Quantum Gravity[/URL]

[URL="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/07/when-you-give-a-tree-an-email-address/398210/"]When You Give a Tree an Email Address[/URL]

[URL="https://www.popsci.com/origins-of-life-human-ancestors-primer"]A primer on the primal origins of humans on Earth[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/diamonds-reveal-sign-deepest-water-known-inside-earth"]Diamonds reveal sign of the deepest water known inside Earth[/URL]

[QUOTE=rogue;482921][URL="https://www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-find-a-way-to-see-the-grin-of-quantum-gravity-20180306/"]Physicists Find a Way to See the ‘Grin’ of Quantum Gravity[/URL][/QUOTE]

Nice article, thanks!

[url=https://phys.org/news/2018-03-evidence-plume-beneath-yellowstone-national.html]New evidence for plume beneath Yellowstone National Park[/url] | Phys.org

Mantle plumes are of considerable interest to me. I read a lot about volcanology and track volcano news. I had not thought that plumes are a disputed concept, but the article seems to put that to rest, anyway.

My readings make it seem fairly widely accepted that Iceland not only sits on the Mid-Atlantic rift, but also on a hotspot related to a plume. It is theorized that the [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki"]Laki eruption in 1783[/URL] may have been set off by a pulse in the plume. Note the descriptions of the climate effects of Laki, including words by Benjamin Franklin. Among other things, the Mississippi reportedly froze at New Orleans, and there were reports of ice floes in the Gulf of Mexico.
Europe, and Iceland were devastated by the HF and sulfur gases.
[QUOTE]
The outpouring of gases, including an estimated 8 million tons of [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_fluoride"]hydrogen fluoride[/URL] and an estimated 120 million tons of [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur_dioxide"]sulfur dioxide[/URL], gave rise to what has since become known as the "Laki haze" across Europe.[URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki#cite_note-1783%E2%80%931784_Laki_eruption-9"][9][/URL][/QUOTE]My understanding is that the Yellowstone hotspot, while in the same general location, appears more to the East from the surface. IIRC, this is due to the tectonic plate moving Westward. There is debate as to whether the supposed plume can have the same effects as at Yellowstone, as the plate drift brings the [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurentia"]North American Craton[/URL] over it.

Thanks to the mantle plume story, I happened on this delight:
[LEFT][URL]https://phys.org/news/2018-03-radar-images-large-swath-texas.html[/URL]
[/LEFT]

[CENTER][SIZE=3]Radar images show large swath of Texas oil patch is heaving and sinking at alarming rates
[/SIZE][LEFT]Two giant sinkholes near Wink, Texas, may just be the tip of the iceberg, according to a new study that found alarming rates of new ground movement extending far beyond the infamous sinkholes.

Read more at: [URL]https://phys.org/news/2018-03-radar-images-large-swath-texas.html#jCp[/URL]
[QUOTE]Two giant sinkholes near Wink, Texas, may just be the tip of the iceberg, according to a new study that found alarming rates of new ground movement extending far beyond the infamous sinkholes.

That's the finding of a geophysical team from Southern Methodist University, Dallas that previously reported the rapid rate at which the sinkholes are expanding and new ones forming.

Now the team has discovered that various locations in large portions of four Texas counties are also sinking and uplifting.

Radar satellite images show significant movement of the ground across a 4000-square-mile area—in one place [U]as much as 40 inches over the past two-and-a-half years[/U], say the geophysicists.

"[U]The ground movement we're seeing is not normal.[/U][COLOR=DarkRed][SIZE=4]**[/SIZE] [/COLOR]The ground doesn't typically do this without some cause," said geophysicist Zhong Lu, a professor in the Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences at SMU and a global expert in satellite radar imagery analysis.[/QUOTE][COLOR=DarkRed][SIZE=4]**[/SIZE][COLOR=Black]Well duh!
[/COLOR][/COLOR][/LEFT]
[/CENTER]

[QUOTE=rogue;482921]
[URL="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/07/when-you-give-a-tree-an-email-address/398210/"]When You Give a Tree an Email Address[/URL]
[/QUOTE]
This reminds me of what ESA did with social media for the comet mission with Rosetta and Philae. Conversations between the two on Twitter with #CometLanding and cute art made two robots come 'alive'.

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33zw4yYNGAs[/url]

[QUOTE=VictordeHolland;483062]This reminds me of what ESA did with social media for the comet mission with Rosetta and Philae[/QUOTE]

I agree.

[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32vlOgN_3QQ"]Ambition, The Film, was seriously good fun.[/URL]

[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki_Af_o9Q9s"]Seven minutes of terror [/URL] got somewhat correct the technical with regards to the details of getting to Mars.

May we live in interesting times.

[QUOTE=kladner;483033]Thanks to the mantle plume story, I happened on this delight:
[LEFT][URL]https://phys.org/news/2018-03-radar-images-large-swath-texas.html[/URL]
[/LEFT]

[CENTER][SIZE=3]Radar images show large swath of Texas oil patch is heaving and sinking at alarming rates
[/SIZE][LEFT]Two giant sinkholes near Wink, Texas, may just be the tip of the iceberg, according to a new study that found alarming rates of new ground movement extending far beyond the infamous sinkholes.

Read more at: [URL]https://phys.org/news/2018-03-radar-images-large-swath-texas.html#jCp[/URL]
[quote]Two giant sinkholes near Wink, Texas, may just be the tip of the iceberg, according to a new study that found alarming rates of new ground movement extending far beyond the infamous sinkholes.

That's the finding of a geophysical team from Southern Methodist University, Dallas that previously reported the rapid rate at which the sinkholes are expanding and new ones forming.

Now the team has discovered that various locations in large portions of four Texas counties are also sinking and uplifting.

Radar satellite images show significant movement of the ground across a 4000-square-mile area—in one place as much as 40 inches over the past two-and-a-half years, say the geophysicists.

"The ground movement we're seeing is not normal.[size=4][color=darkred]**[/color][/size] The ground doesn't typically do this without some cause," said geophysicist Zhong Lu, a professor in the Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences at SMU and a global expert in satellite radar imagery analysis.[/quote]
[COLOR=DarkRed][SIZE=4]**[/SIZE][COLOR=Black]Well duh!
[/COLOR][/COLOR][/LEFT]
[/CENTER][/QUOTE]

In fact, they give a possible cause:

[quote][b]Ground movement associated with oil activity[/b]

The SMU researchers found a significant relationship between ground movement and oil activities that include pressurized fluid injection into the region's geologically unstable rock formations.[/quote]

BTW, I didn't see any difference between those two pages...

Sorry. Apparently, I mis-pasted.

It is not just injection wells. It is the preceding decades of drilling, lubricated and flushed by drilling mud. It is water seeping into uncapped, abandoned wells, and dissolving the salt domes which trapped the petroleum, lowering the ground.
It is CO[SUP]2[/SUP] injection to squeeze near-exhausted reservoirs, raising the ground.

[url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/23/researchers-find-a-new-material-for-quantum-computing/]Researchers find a new material for quantum computing[/url] | TechCrunch

Grenada Warns Mariners of Subsea Volcanic Eruption
 

[YOUTUBE]BbDEgcVsf_4[/YOUTUBE]
I think I indicated Kick 'em Jenny correctly, West of Grenada. I'm sure chalsall will let me know. :wink:

[URL="http://www.wfaa.com/article/news/politics/hear-jfks-voice-deliver-the-dallas-speech-he-never-gave-in-1963/287-529200356"]Hear JFK's voice deliver the Dallas speech he never gave in 1963[/URL]

[URL="http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/how-video-games-help-rehabilitate-stroke-survivors/medical-allied-healthcare"]How video games help rehabilitate stroke survivors[/URL]

[URL="https://aeon.co/ideas/how-brain-stimulation-can-boost-memory-if-paired-with-learning"]How brain stimulation can boost memory if paired with learning[/URL]

[URL="http://neurosciencenews.com/brain-learning-8677/"]The Brain Learns Completely Differently than We’ve Assumed Since the 20th Century[/URL]

[URL="http://fortune.com/2018/03/19/ibm-computer-salt-grain-blockchain/"]IBM Built a Computer the Size of a Grain of Salt. Here's What It's For[/URL]

[URL="https://www.quantamagazine.org/robert-langlands-mathematical-visionary-wins-the-abel-prize-20180320/"]Robert Langlands, Mathematical Visionary, Wins the Abel Prize[/URL]

[URL="http://neurosciencenews.com/hearing-silent-flashes-8672/"]Why Do Some People ‘Hear’ Silent Flashes?[/URL]

[URL="http://nautil.us/blog/-you-can-have-emotions-you-dont-feel"]You Can Have Emotions You Don’t Feel[/URL]

[url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/interstitium-fluid-cells-organ-found-cancer-spd/]New Human ‘Organ’ Was Hiding in Plain Sight[/url] | National Geographic

There would seem to be much overlap with the meridians of traditional Chinese medicine.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;483705][url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/interstitium-fluid-cells-organ-found-cancer-spd/]New Human ‘Organ’ Was Hiding in Plain Sight[/url] | National Geographic

There would seem to be much overlap with the meridians of traditional Chinese medicine.[/QUOTE]

Why didn't they just ask a nephrologist with edema patients.

[url=https://www.popsci.com/frog-deadly-fungus-resistance-panama]Frog skin secretions offer the first ray of hope in a deadly fungal epidemic[/url] | Popular Science
[quote]The disease is a skin infection, which is especially problematic for amphibians. Their skin is the entryway for water and electrolytes, and even the gases they need to breathe. Skin care for an amphibian is a matter of life and death.

“There's a disruption to the electrical functioning of the heart and they die from asystolic cardiac arrest,” Voyles says. It’s a kind of heart attack triggered by a chemical imbalance. The disrupted skin doesn’t allow vital components like sodium and potassium to stay in their proper proportions, so the heart stops beating.

How does a frog fight back against such fierce fungal foes? The researchers found that healthy frogs had altered their skin secretions to become more antimicrobial, and better able to fight off the fungal strain. Their study is published in this week’s [i]Science[/i].[/quote]

[url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-yaupon-tea-cassina]The Forgotten Drink That Caffeinated North America for Centuries[/url] | Atlas Obscura
[quote]Cassina, or black drink, the caffeinated beverage of choice for indigenous North Americans, was brewed from a species of holly native to coastal areas from the Tidewater region of Virginia to the Gulf Coast of Texas. It was a valuable pre-Columbian commodity and widely traded…. William Aiton, an eminent British botanist and horticulturist, director of Kew Gardens, and ‘Gardener to His Majesty,’ is credited with giving cassina the scientific name it bears to this day: Ilex vomitoria. Ilex is the genus commonly known as holly. Vomitoria roughly translates to ‘makes you vomit.’
...
As the royal gardener, Aiton knew some of the richest and most powerful people in the British Empire. One of the most profitable and influential forces in that empire was the East India Company, which held a virtual monopoly on the tea trade. Its officers may well have worried that cassina represented a potential replacement for a lucrative British commodity, especially as it grew abundantly within regions then under the control of Spain and France.[/quote]
Clever (mis)use of the Linnean naming system by Mr. Aiton in order to smear competition to the British East India Company's flagship product!

And speaking of caffeinated beverages, on the bad-science (or better, bad reading of the science) front:

[url=www.businessinsider.com/how-coffee-drinking-affects-cancer-risk-acrylamide-2018-1]California requires Starbucks and coffee shops to post cancer warning[/url] - Business Insider

Everything gives you cancer
 

[QUOTE][URL="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-coffee-drinking-affects-cancer-risk-acrylamide-2018-1"]California requires Starbucks and coffee shops to post cancer warning[/URL] - Business Insider [/QUOTE]
[YOUTUBE]WsQyru5ACmA[/YOUTUBE]

Re: Everything gives you cancer
 

[QUOTE=kladner;483853][url=http://www.businessinsider.com/how-coffee-drinking-affects-cancer-risk-acrylamide-2018-1]California requires Starbucks and coffee shops to post cancer warning[/url][/QUOTE]
Although this does [i]not[/i] involve a food additive, it brings to mind the "Delaney Clause,"
[quote]no additive shall be deemed to be safe if it is found to induce cancer when ingested by man or animal, or if it is found, after tests which are appropriate for the evaluation of the safety of food additives, to induce cancer in man or animal[/quote]
because this (in)famous provision does not make any qualification as to the [i]amount[/i] of the additive required to cause cancer. Although, apparently, the FDA did [i]not[/i] invoke the Delaney Clause when it took cyclamates off the GRAS list ([b]G[/b]enerally [b]R[/b]egarded [b]A[/b]s [b]S[/b]afe), this particular ban led to a lot of ridicule of the idea of banning something which might cause cancer if you ingested a wholly improbable amount. I mean, geez -- you can die if you drink too much [i]water[/i] in too short a time.

Sounds like something similar is going on with acrylamides. When do the cancer warnings go up for French fries, potato chips, biscuits, pastries, and everything else fried, baked, roasted, or braised? Good heavens, those lovely brown bits you scrape off the pan and into the liquid -- carcinogenic?? And here I'm rather [i][b]fond[/b][/i] of them. [Sorry!]

Yessirree, Bob, everything you eat and drink, as well as the air you breathe, all cause cancer. This leads to the conclusion that, if you avoid eating, drinking, and breathing, you won't get cancer. And this conclusion is correct, because you'll be dead within minutes!

BTW, I've seen news stories around Thanksgiving or Christmas, telling people [b]NOT[/b] to pour the pan drippings from roasting a turkey down the drain -- it'll clog the pipes. No kidding. But then, they go on to advise people to put the pan drippings in the [i]garbage[/i]. Good grief, you can't make turkey gravy without pan drippings! Telling people to throw that ambrosia in the garbage is a [i]crime against humanity[/i], by God!

Extreme magnification of an individual star at redshift 1.5 by a galaxy-cluster lens
[url]https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-018-0430-3[/url]
Or if you prefer the DOI link:
doi:10.1038/s41550-018-0430-3

Redshift z = 1.49
That is somthing like 9 Giga lightyears in comoving distance (if I looked at the right graph??)

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180327093954.htm"]Newfound 'organ' had been missed by standard method for visualizing anatomy[/URL]

[URL="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/03/27/alzheimers-memories-could-switched-back-implant/"]Alzheimer’s memories could be switched back on with implant [/URL]

[URL="https://www.planetizen.com/news/2018/03/97831-self-driving-cars-most-likely-future-shared-robotaxis"]Self-Driving Cars' Most Likely Future: Shared 'Robotaxis'[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/5-things-about-saturn-cassini-mission"]5 things we’ve learned about Saturn since Cassini died[/URL]

[URL="https://www.fastcompany.com/40549744/algorithms-cant-tell-when-theyre-broken-and-neither-can-we"]Algorithms Can’t Tell When They’re Broken–And Neither Can We[/URL]

[URL="http://news.berkeley.edu/2018/03/29/social-jetlag/"]Poor grades tied to class times that don’t match our biological clocks[/URL]

[URL="http://nautil.us/issue/58/self/unhappiness-is-a-palate_cleanser"]Unhappiness Is a Palate-Cleanser[/URL]

[QUOTE=rogue;484136][URL="https://www.fastcompany.com/40549744/algorithms-cant-tell-when-theyre-broken-and-neither-can-we"]Algorithms Can’t Tell When They’re Broken–And Neither Can We[/URL][/QUOTE]

So all those of us who have spent a significant portion of our adult lives debugging code have been wasting our time?

[QUOTE=ewmayer;484187]So all those of us who have spent a significant portion of our adult lives debugging code have been wasting our time?[/QUOTE]

Some of us prefer to call it "job security".

[url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/06/science/vikings-navigation-sunstones.html]The Crystals That May Have Helped Vikings Navigate Northern Seas[/url] | New York Times
[quote]If the Vikings oriented their ship with calcite, cordierite or tourmaline at least every three hours, the model showed, they had a 92 to 100 percent chance of getting within sight of Greenland. These are “surprisingly large success rates” for navigating in overcast conditions, the authors noted. The key to sunstone navigation is polarization, a process that filters light rays so they can only move in one plane. Sunlight starts out oscillating in multiple planes, but atmospheric particles create concentric rings of polarized light around the sun, even on cloudy days. Though some animals, like ants and crickets, can detect these patterns, polarization is practically indiscernible to the naked human eye…. The study’s authors hope to settle the score with the ultimate test: a round-trip voyage between Norway and Greenland, navigated by sun compass and sunstones.[/quote]

[url=https://phys.org/news/2018-03-hidden-medical-text-thousand-years.html]Hidden medical text read for the first time in a thousand years[/url] | Phys.org
[quote]To recycle the limited material available for parchment, 11th-century scribes scrubbed and replaced the original text with layers of calcium, a rudimentary form of white-out, and then wrote a book of psalms on top of the original text. Earlier studies had revealed traces of the text beneath the hymns, but it was difficult to read the original translation of Galen – both texts were written in similar ink and the underlying text had been well-scrubbed.[/quote]
"Seek ye the Castle aaaaarrrrrrrggghhhhhhhh..."

Quantum simulator offers faster route for prime factorization
 

[url]https://phys.org/news/2018-04-quantum-simulator-faster-route-prime.html[/url] [quote="https://phys.org/news/2018-04-quantum-simulator-faster-route-prime.html"]One of the interesting things about the new method is that it doesn't use any kind of computer, either classical or quantum. Instead it involves a physical quantum system—a "quantum simulator"—that, when encoded with the number to factor, exhibits a probability distribution of energy values that is equivalent to the probability distribution of the prime factor candidates of the encoded number.

<snip>

The physicists theoretically demonstrated that the proposed quantum simulator can factor numbers that are many orders of magnitude larger than those that have been factored with quantum computers. In their paper, they report the results of using their method to determine the probability distribution of the prime factors of a number with 24 digits. Further, the method does this with far fewer resources than required by classical factoring algorithms.[/quote]24 digits isn't particularly exciting, but it is nice to see a new method being explored.

[URL="https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/8-things-2018-kids-wont-experience/"]8 things kids born in 2018 will never experience, thanks to technology[/URL]

[URL="https://www.quantamagazine.org/new-brain-maps-with-unmatched-detail-may-change-neuroscience-20180404/"]New Brain Maps With Unmatched Detail May Change Neuroscience[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180403140403.htm"]A letter we've seen millions of times, yet can't write[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180402085846.htm"]People use emotion to persuade, even when it could backfire[/URL]

[URL="http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/aware-or-unaware-exploring-the-brain-during-unconsciousness/medical-allied-healthcare"]Aware or unaware: Exploring the brain during unconsciousness[/URL]

[URL="https://logicmag.io/02-the-mother-of-all-swipes/"]The Mother of All Swipes[/URL]

[URL="https://www.us.mensa.org/read/bulletin/features/pilgrimage-as-a-teaching-tool/"]Pilgrimage as a Teaching Tool[/URL]