Official "Science News" Thread

[Nick]

Originally Posted by kladner

It's hard to be emotionally open and hopeful when that is not being modeled for you by your caretakers.

More generally, in the words of Hermann Hesse:
Truth is lived, not taught.

[rogue]

Researchers work to identify areas of the brain that help us wake up

Mindfulness meditation and relaxation response affect brain differently

This tool lets you see–and correct–the bias in an algorithm

Can a Parent’s Life Experience Change the Genes a Child Inherits?

Asking this one question can make you feel like you have more time

The chords of the universe

Scientists Have Invented a Software That Can 'See' Several Minutes Into The Future

THE UNIVERSE IS NOT A SIMULATION, BUT WE CAN NOW SIMULATE IT

Einstein’s Greatest Theory Validated on a Galactic Scale

[rogue]

Try these two smart techniques to help you master your emotions

'Music of speech' linked to brain area unique to humans

Going nowhere fast

Brains May Teeter Near Their Tipping Point

Rosetta Image Archive

How Long Can We Live? The Limit Hasn’t Been Reached, Study Finds

The scientific reason your brain never runs out of problems to find

The Real Frankenstein and Its Author

The Iconic Hula Hoop Keeps on Rolling

[heliosh]

There's maybe a new particle.
https://gizmodo.com/why-particle-phy...rio-1827185890

[xilman]

I'm attending the Exoplanets II conference this week.

Very good stuff and very inspirational to me, at least. I'm now convinced that I can do bleeding-edge observational research with the telescope I now have.

More information on Twitter #Exoplanets2

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by rogue

This tool lets you see–and correct–the bias in an algorithm

Any info on which biased algorithms said tool uses to make its determinations? Who's watching the watchers?

[Spherical Cow]

Originally Posted by xilman

I'm attending the Exoplanets II conference this week.

Very good stuff and very inspirational to me, at least. I'm now convinced that I can do bleeding-edge observational research with the telescope I now have.

More information on Twitter #Exoplanets2

Wow- thanks for posting that. Looks like some fascinating papers and posters. Sounds like a great attitude there; one of the posters is labeled "From a never to be published paper."

Norm

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

Any info on which biased algorithms said tool uses to make its determinations? Who's watching the watchers?

Read the article for yourself. After all, fair's fair.

[rogue]

It actually is possible to train your brain to become smarter

Spiders can Fly Hundreds of Miles using Electricity

Theory Suggests That All Genes Affect Every Complex Trait

First LSD brain imaging study offers insights into consciousness

Newborn planet pictured for the first time

Coldest Place on Earth Found

Predicting Intelligence from Brain Scans

The mind-bendy weirdness of the number zero, explained

We Have Reached Peak Screen. Now Revolution Is in the Air

[ewmayer]

The South-Polar IceCube neutrino detector caught a big one (300 TeV):

Solving the Mystery of Cosmic Rays | UW–Madison

With the help of an icebound detector situated a mile beneath the South Pole, an international team of scientists has found the first evidence of a source of high-energy cosmic neutrinos, a ghostly subatomic particle that can travel in a straight line for billions of light years, passing unhindered through galaxies, stars and anything else nature throws in its path.

The observation, made by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, helps resolve a more than century-old riddle about what sends subatomic particles such as neutrinos and high-energy cosmic rays speeding through the universe.

Since they were first detected more than a hundred years ago, cosmic rays – highly energetic particles that continuously rain down on Earth from space – have posed an enduring mystery: What creates and propels the particles across vast distances? Where do they come from?

Two papers published this week (July 13, 2018) in the journal Science include the first tangible evidence that a blazar – a giant elliptical galaxy with a massive, rapidly spinning black hole at its core – is the source of a high-energy neutrino detected Sept. 22, 2017 by the National Science Foundation-supported IceCube Observatory. A signature feature of blazars are twin jets of light and elementary particles that shoot like laser beams from the poles on the axis of the black hole’s rotation. (Although not visible to the naked eye, the galaxy, denoted by astronomers as TXS 0506+056, is situated in the night sky just off the left shoulder of the constellation Orion and is an estimated 4 billion light years from Earth.)
...
Following the Sept. 22 detection, the IceCube team quickly scoured the detector’s archival data and discovered a flare of more than a dozen astrophysical neutrinos from late 2014 and early 2015, coincident with the same blazar, TXS 0506+056. That independent observation greatly strengthens the initial detection of a single high-energy neutrino and adds to a growing body of data that indicates the blazar is the first known accelerator of the highest energy neutrinos and cosmic rays.

The twin jets of light and elementary particles that emanate from the blazar are so bright because one is pointing directly at Earth. Blazar jets are also known to flare for periods of minutes to many months, increasing the intensity of the beam by a factor of 10 or more.

I wonder if each such flare is the result of a star system getting swallowed up by the black hole? The 'archival data' snip implies a flare rate of roughly one per year, and the largest known supermassive black holes weigh in at several billion solar masses, so if the age of the galaxy in question at the time the flare occurred (i.e. ~4 billion years ago) were not an of magnitude smaller or larger than this, it would be plausible. The article didn't say anything re. the estimated mass of the SMBH at center of the galaxy in question - would appreciate if someone with a Science subscription who reads this thread would be kind enough to let us know if that number is given in either source article.

As to why neutrinos, as opposed to cosmic rays, are uniquely suited to such work, again from the UW article:

Because cosmic rays are charged particles, their paths cannot be traced directly back to their sources due to the powerful magnetic fields that litter interstellar and intergalactic space, which warp their trajectories. Neutrinos, however, are uncharged particles, unaffected by even the most powerful magnetic field. Because they interact with matter at only very small subatomic distances and have almost no mass – hence their nickname “ghost particle” – neutrinos travel in a straight line from where they originate, breezing through planets, stars and entire galaxies, giving scientists a pointer almost directly to their source.

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

Read the article for yourself. After all, fair's fair.

There are multiple ways to define fairness–one recent talk at a conference on fairness considered 21 definitions. Since it’s difficult to agree on what “fair” means, there are statistical limitations in modeling, and adjusting for bias in every variable sacrifices accuracy, Chowdhury says that “there’s no way to push a button and settle for algorithmic fairness.” But the Fairness Tool is a way to begin fixing some important problems.

AI algo on the wall, which fair is fairest of them all?