New Scientific Discoveries, Part Vier

[Gorth]

Fusion... always a hot topic

At least, I find it interesting. Some day, you'll buy fusion cells for your highway man at the fuel station

 

[Gfted1]

Itll be a turning point for humanity. But I cant really sus out whats important in some of the headlines; ^this reactor just broke a record for "energy extraction" but the Chinese reactor broke a record for "runtime".

[rjshae]

Potential Third Planet Discovered Orbiting Proxima Centauri

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Using data from the Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations (ESPRESSO) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have detected a candidate short-period sub-Earth planet circling Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf located only 4.23 light-years away in the constellation of Centaurus.

Hopefully, the Webb ST will be able to give us a better picture of the system using its coronagraph.

[rjshae]

Confessions of a former fireball: How Earth became habitable

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Most scientists believe that Earth began with an atmosphere much like that of the planet Venus. Its skies were filled with carbon dioxide—more than 100,000 times the current level of atmospheric carbon—and Earth's surface temperature would have exceeded 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Biological life would have been unable to form, much less survive under such conditions, scientists agree.

 

 

[Guard Dog]

Will Transformers Take Over Artificial Intelligence?

This was a pretty interesting read. But, God help me, when I read the title this was where my brain went:

[Amentep]

"Autobots wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons! "  It was an interesting read.

[Gfted1]

NASA releases first image from an in-focus Webb telescope | Ars Technica

[Gfted1]

Scientists Have Finally Sequenced a 'Gapless' Human Genome | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine

[rjshae]

Webb Space Telescope Completes First Multi-Instrument Alignment

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The sixth stage of aligning NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s mirrors to its scientific instruments so they will create the most accurate and focused images possible has concluded. While the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) continues its cooldown, optics teams have successfully aligned the rest of the observatory’s onboard instruments to Webb’s mirrors. Previous alignment efforts were so accurate that the team concluded no additional adjustments to the secondary mirror are necessary until the seventh and final stage, which will involve MIRI when it has fully cooled.

 

[rjshae]

Most Precise Ever Measurement of W Boson Mass Differs From Standard Model Prediction

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The new precision measurement, published in the journal Science, allows scientists to test the Standard Model of particle physics, the theoretical framework that describes nature at its most fundamental level. The result: The new mass value shows tension with the value scientists obtain using experimental and theoretical inputs in the context of the Standard Model.

 

[rjshae]

Differences between the Moon’s near and far sides linked to colossal ancient impact

[Gfted1]

Scientists Have Eradicated Liver Cancer in Rats Using Non-Invasive Sound Waves (sciencealert.com)

[Zoraptor]

Probing Uranus is top priority this decade.

I'm guessing with that headline one journalist's life aims are now complete.

[rjshae]

Speaking of "sound" treatments, I read this interesting result recently:

Diabetes successfully treated using ultrasound in preclinical study

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Promising new research has raised the possibility of treating type 2 diabetes without drugs. Across three different animal models researchers have demonstrated how short bursts of ultrasound targeted at specific clusters of nerves in the liver can effectively lower insulin and glucose levels.

It "sounds" almost like an archaic medical treatment, but if it works that will be enormous.

[Bartimaeus]

Regular Blood Donations Can Reduce Toxic Forever Chemicals in the Bloodstream

Forever chemicals has long been a concern of mine - bloodletting's not exactly my ideal method of figuring a way to get them out of the body, but at least it's there as a possible way to reduce them.

[rjshae]

4 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Regular Blood Donations Can Reduce Toxic Forever Chemicals in the Bloodstream

Forever chemicals has long been a concern of mine - bloodletting's not exactly my ideal method of figuring a way to get them out of the body, but at least it's there as a possible way to reduce them.

Pass them along to somebody else? 

[Gorth]

7 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Regular Blood Donations Can Reduce Toxic Forever Chemicals in the Bloodstream

Forever chemicals has long been a concern of mine - bloodletting's not exactly my ideal method of figuring a way to get them out of the body, but at least it's there as a possible way to reduce them.

I sense a market opportunity for jars of leeches...

[majestic]

It only took 600 years, but now those medieval quacks have been vindicated. Turns out apparently there is a way how wet cupping can detox you even without suffering from haemochromatosis. Who would have thought?

Just checked, theoretically I could donate blood plasma 50 times per year, i.e. pretty much once per week, and it pays 30€ per donation to boot. Huh. That's a pretty penny and has health benefits. Regular medical checkups and blood testing included. Win-win-win, I guess.

[rjshae]

All of the bases in DNA and RNA have now been found in meteorites

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Space rocks that fell to Earth within the last century contain the five bases that store information in DNA and RNA, scientists report April 26 in Nature Communications.

These “nucleobases” — adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine and uracil — combine with sugars and phosphates to make up the genetic code of all life on Earth. Whether these basic ingredients for life first came from space or instead formed in a warm soup of earthly chemistry is still not known (SN: 9/24/20). But the discovery adds to evidence that suggests life’s precursors originally came from space, the researchers say.

 

Which pretty much suggests that life can form anywhere that the conditions are right. Now if we could just find some elsewhere...

[rjshae]

NASA's Webb telescope is now in full focus, ready for instrument commissioning

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Alignment of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is now complete. After full review, the observatory has been confirmed to be capable of capturing crisp, well-focused images with each of its four powerful onboard science instruments. Upon completing the seventh and final stage of telescope alignment, the team held a set of key decision meetings and unanimously agreed that Webb is ready to move forward into its next and final series of preparations, known as science instrument commissioning. This process will take about two months before scientific operations begin in the summer.

 

[Gfted1]

Astronomers Are About to Make a Massive Announcement About Something in The Milky Way (sciencealert.com)

[Chilloutman]

5 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

Astronomers Are About to Make a Massive Announcement About Something in The Milky Way (sciencealert.com)

Looks like scientists are learning from game dev companies, making announcements of announcements - whats next? Are they going to do trailers? xD

[Gorth]

I know at least one Danish scientist who is not going to get a job at Pfizer...

 

[rjshae]

Comparing the Incredible Webb Space Telescope Images to Other Infrared Observatories

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The images released by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) team last week aren’t officially ‘first light’ images from the new telescope, but in a way, it feels like they are. These stunning views provide the initial indications of just how powerful JWST will be, and just how much infrared astronomy is about to improve.

Sweet!

[Chilloutman]

On 4/29/2022 at 3:53 PM, Gfted1 said:

Astronomers Are About to Make a Massive Announcement About Something in The Milky Way (sciencealert.com)

so anyone knows what was this about?