Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 72

Astronomers have used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to perform observations on the furthest known star.

Hubble's image.

The star is called Earendel, which was named after a character in J.R.R Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" prequel book "The Silmarillion". The half-elven character in the book carries a jewel called a "Silmaril" across the sea, also called the morning star, which translates in Old English to the dawn star. As for the star itself, Earendil was found through gravitation lensing by observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, and its 12.9 billion light-years from Earth, making it the most distant star ever observed.

NASA has taken to its social channels to announce that it's Mars rover has snagged its latest sample of the Red Planet.

On the NASA Perseverance Twitter account, the space agency explains that the Perseverance rover has successfully grabbed its eleventh Mars sample, which has the potential to give researchers more clues on the history of Mars and if it ever contained ancient life.

NASA also linked to its website where it outlined its updated plan on getting Perseverance's samples back to Earth and how the new plan now includes two new helicopters that designs will be based on Ingenuity's, Perseverance's scout helicopter currently positioned alongside the rover in the Jezero Crater.

Astronomers have captured new images of the 30 Doradus, a star-forming region, also known as the Tarantula Nebula.

The images were captured using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, focusing on the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy that orbits the Milky Way galaxy. Contained inside the galaxy is the Tarantula Nebula, home to some of the most massive stars known, greater than 150 times the mass of our Sun. It is one of the most active star-forming regions in the galactic neighborhood, found approximately 170,000 light years from Earth.

The latest image shows data from ALMA overlaid over infrared images taken previously of the nebula. This data is shown in the bright orange parts of the image, representing very cold, dense gas that could collapse to form new stars. A study has been published accompanying the images has been published in The Astrophysical Journal.

A study on the atoms titled "Tracking single adatoms in liquid in a Transmission Electron Microscope" has been published in the journal Nature.

Researchers from the University of Manchester have stacked two-dimensional materials to create a novel "nano-petri dish," allowing them to observe individual atoms as they move in liquid. The "double graphene liquid cell" contains a 2D layer of molybdenum disulfide (MoS) with liquid flowing through it while sandwiched between two layers of graphene. Using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the researchers could observe lone atoms moving throughout the MoS layer.

The new footage from the experiment shows platinum atoms swimming in the liquid surrounding the (MoS). Bright spots appear and disappear, showing the platinum atoms as they adsorb, or bind, to the surface of (MoS) structure before desorbing back into the liquid. Analyzing this footage will allow researchers to compare how atoms move in real life with theoretical predictions and determine how liquid affects atomic behavior.

A study on the parasite titled "Are Toxoplasma-infected subjects more attractive, symmetrical, or healthier than non-infected ones? Evidence from subjective and objective measurements" has been published in the journal PeerJ.

Researchers from the University of Turku found that the common Toxoplasma gondii parasite may change a human host's appearance to make them more attractive to prospective partners. It's been estimated that 30-50% of people worldwide are infected with T. gondii, and the parasite has been shown in a previous study to make infected male rats more sexually attractive to uninfected female rats, allowing the parasite to spread further.

The Polish Academy of Sciences now maintains that "from a purely scientific perspective," domesticated house cats in Europe, and therefore in Poland, should be considered an "invasive alien species."

Felis catus, the domestic cat, was only domesticated roughly 10,000 years ago in the ancient civilizations of the Near East. The presence of cats in Europe is only due to human activity, meaning it can be classified as an alien or non-native species to Europe. The Institute of Nature Conservation in Poland noted the "clear scientific evidence" of the negative impact that domesticated cats have on native biodiversity, leading to their classification as invasive.

Poland's alien species database includes almost 1,800 species', including raccoons, mandarin ducks, and more. According to accepted definitions, the majority are also invasive, though this does not mean they are a threat to Poland or the European Union (EU). As such, no regulation requires domesticated cats to have their population controlled or permits needed for ownership.

Earth may soon, or possibly has already, been hit by a solar storm that came from a hole in the surface of the Sun.

Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have warned that on August 2, there is a chance that Earth will be smacked with a high-speed stream of solar wind that has a chance of causing a minor G1-class geomagnetic storm. The G1-class is the lowest on the 5-point scale, with G5 being the more severe. A storm of such low caliber still has an impact on the planet, with officials' scale indicating it can cause weak or mild degradation of radio communications and GPS signals.

The solar stream of "gaseous material is flowing from a southern hole in the sun's atmosphere," writes spaceweather.com. Notably, the solar material is capable of rushing out of coronal holes, such as the one that recently released this solar stream, at speeds of 1.8 million miles per hour. If lined up with Earth, these particles collide with Earth's magnetic field, compressing it and charging the molecules in the atmosphere. This interaction causes auroras, such as the Northern and Southern lights.

The shortest day in recorded history has been confirmed to have occurred on June 29th, 2022.

The speed of Earth's rotation, and thus its day length, has been measured by atomic clocks daily since the 1960s. On June 29th, Earth completed one full rotation in 1.59 milliseconds (ms) less than 24 hours, and continues a trend found in recent years. The previous shortest day was recorded on July 19th, 2020, at 1.47 ms fewer than 24 hours, and the one before that was on July 16th, 2019, and was shorter than 24 hours by 0.95 ms.

Earth's rotational speed has decreased over time, taking a handful of milliseconds longer to complete a rotation every century. However, fluctuations are still observed on a smaller time scale, with some days being shorter or longer than the standard 24 hours. Some scientists suggest the change in day length could be the result of various factors, including the 'Chandler wobble,' which refers to the small movement of Earth's North and South Poles.

NASA's database that tracks all of the discovered near-Earth objects has been updated with an asteroid that was only discovered on July 26, 2022.

Using NASA's Center for Near Earth Object (CNEOS) database that includes all of the known objects that are due to make a close approach with Earth, the asteroid now dubbed 2022 OE2 has been added.

The diameter of 2022 OE2 is believed to be anywhere between 558 and 1,247 feet, with astronomers giving such a large discrepancy from the assumptions that have to be made on the asteroids composition, or outer material, which dictates how much light is reflected from its surface, and therefore the data astronomers interpret to generate a prediction of the diameter of the asteroid.

A new study published in the journal Biogeosciences by Tohoku University climate scientist Kunio Kaiho has offered a new perspective on the future of the planet.

The study that details that over the last hundreds of millions of years, the Earth has gone through many different changes and that throughout that time, it has undergone mass extinction level events that have wiped out plant and animal species. Many of these drastic changes were triggered by naturally occurring events such as volcanoes or asteroid impacts, but regardless of the source, the surrounding environment, and its inhabitants were required to adapt to survive.

Published last month, the study states that evolution needs time to adapt to a new environment and according to the study's results, human-made climate change may trigger a mass extinction event that will occur over a much shorter window of time than previous events of its caliber. Notably, the last mass extinction happened over about 60,000 years.

Former Navy fighter pilot Lt. Ryan Graves has sat down with Lex Fridman to discuss his encounter with UFOs, his profession, and many more interesting topics surrounding autonomous weapons systems, AI, and more.

The former Navy fighter pilot was asked about his perspective on the famous 2015 UFO "Gimbal" video that was captured by US fighter pilots that were traveling back to the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt when an object popped up on their radar. The footage shows one mysterious object in center frame, but listening to the footage, the pilots can be heard saying, "there's a whole fleet of them, look on the SA". This statement was backed up by Graves, who was airborne during the Gimbal encounter.

Graves explains that his squadron of pilots, and other squadrons of pilots were observing multiple objects and not just a singular UFO. The SA, or Situational Awareness page, gives pilots what Graves describes as a "God's eye" or "top-down" of all the contacts on the radar. "What they essentially saw was, if we were to consider we're above the object, offset to the north of the object, there was a formation of about somewhere between four and six of these in a rough wedge formation."

A former Navy fighter pilot who has encountered multiple UFOs or now refferred to as Unidentified Flying Phenomena (UAP) has sat down to explain some of the most famous UFO videos from the perspective of a pilot.

Lt. Ryan Graves is a former Navy fighter pilot that has worked on advanced researchers and development programs for DARPA, the Office of Naval Research, and Airforce Research Labs - specializing in advanced topics such as AI-assisted air-to-air combat, manned-unmanned teaming technology and more.

Notably, Graves and his squadron have encountered UFOs on multiple occasions, with one of instances being the famous declassified and released "Gimbal" UFO video that was captured by a Navy fighter jet from the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, off the eastern seaboard, near the Florida coast.

A team of researchers have published a photograph snapped by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, and it's believed to be of a supernova occurring out in deep space.

The team of scientists released a group of images that showcase the galaxy SDSS J141930.11+525159.3, and according to reports, the team believes it may have captured Webb's first supernova as the object that was photographed gained in brightness between the several photographs that were taken.

More specifically, the researchers say that objects dimming and brightening are key indicators of a supernova occurring, however, this has yet to be confirmed as more observations are needed. Furthermore, Webb isn't designed to capture supernovas as it's equipped to observe distant planets, scan their atmospheres for signs of life, see far into the early universe, and much more.

Researchers have taken a decapitated Egyptian mummy head and performed a CT scan revealing clues about its origin.

The decapitated head was found in an attic in Kent, England, and has recently been put under a CT scan that revealed it's at least 2,000 years old. Preliminary results from X-ray scans performed at Canterbury Christ Church University found that the head was once an adult female, which was then followed up by CT scans at the Maidstone Hospital that revealed the woman had a poor diet as her teeth were worn down.

Notably, the testing found tubing inside the left nostril as well as in the spinal canal. The researchers noted that the tubing is made of an unknown material and that it's unknown if the tubing was placed there during the mummification process or at a later date. Furthermore, the brain was removed as a part of the mummification process.

On Saturday, a large rocket fell back to Earth, causing many onlookers to believe it was a meteor entering Earth's atmosphere.

It was later confirmed that the rocket was China's Long March 5B which was launched from Earth on July 24. The rocket rook a new laboratory module to China's new space station that is currently under construction, marking the third flight of the Long March 5B since its first launch in 2020. Now, US Space Command has confirmed that the Long March 5B rocket reentered Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean at approximately 12:45 pm EDT on Saturday.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson commented on the event and said that China's space agency failed to provide technical details such as "specific trajectory information" for where the rocket would fall, potential debris impacting a certain area, and the dispersal impact location. Notably, Nelson goes on to say that all space-faring nations should do their own due diligence with sharing this vital information before the reentry is made. Nelson added, "Doing so is critical to the responsible use of space and to ensure the safety of people here on Earth."

A collection of over 180 fossils has been uncovered in a farmer's field in Gloucestershire, England.

The site contained roughly 183-million-year-old fossils, including fish, marine reptiles, squids, and insects. The part of the country where the fossils were found was deep underwater when these animals died, explaining how they were found inland. Among the fossils was an exquisite Pachycormus fish from the Jurassic period, which was digitally modeled in 3D by Steven Dey of ThinkSee3D.

The site was discovered at Court Farm, Kings Stanley, with the fossils being found in rock layers that haven't been exposed for over a century. Sally and Neville Hollingworth found the site and were also responsible for uncovering mammoth remains at a nearby location that were ultimately featured in the 2021 "Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard" BBC documentary. Most of the fossils found at the new site will be donated to the local Museum in the Park in Stroud, England.

The Mini Cheetah robot was made at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and has previously been seen backflipping.

The robot learned to run faster than ever before after the researchers from MIT's Improbable AI Lab replaced its running controller with a "learn-by-experience model." The previous running controller was "analytically designed" and was a system designed by human engineers to manage the robot's balance and general locomotion. However, this process is tedious and requires too much manual labor to account for every potential terrain or situation the robot can encounter.

Simulations allow the robot to "accumulate 100 days' worth of experience on diverse terrains" in only three hours, equipping it with skills to handle those situations that it can pull from when it encounters a similar scenario in real life. This approach allowed the Mini Cheetah to learn how it could run at record speeds without requiring a human to design the capability manually. The team at MIT is expanding this approach to other robotic systems, like hands that can pick up and handle various objects, to teach them diverse skills without as much manual work.

A study on the Sixth Mass Extinction titled "Relationship between extinction magnitude and climate change during major marine and terrestrial animal crises" has been published in the journal Biogeosciences.

Kunio Kaiho, a Japanese climate scientist from Tohoku University, has estimated when we might see the next mass extinction event on Earth. Five major extinction events have been identified in Earth's history and are usually associated with some form of extreme climate change, either due to heating or cooling, such as what followed from the impact of the Chicxulub asteroid that caused the last mass extinction event.

Kaiho found a roughly linear relationship between Earth's average surface temperature and Earth's biodiversity, with greater deviations from the norm associated with extinction events of a greater magnitude. Global cooling events resulted in the largest mass extinctions with cooling of about 7°C, while for global warming events, they occurred with about 9°C warming.

A study on the physics discovery titled "Automated discovery of fundamental variables hidden in experimental data" has been published in the journal Nature Computational Science.

Researchers from Columbia Engineering have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) program that could derive the fundamental variables of physics from video footage of physical phenomena. The program analyzed videos of systems like the swinging double pendulum, which researchers already know four "state variables" exist for; the angle and angular velocity of each arm. Within a few hours, the AI determined there were 4.7 variables at play.

The space junk crash-landed on a sheep paddock in outback New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

Mick Miners, who runs a sheep farm in Numbla Vale, NSW, found an almost three-meter-high (9.8 feet) object that had struck the ground on his property. Jock Wallace, the owner of a nearby farm, reported a similar foreign object that had appeared on his land. Many residents in NSW reported a loud bang on July 9th throughout the state that is believed to be associated with the re-entry of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft through Earth's atmosphere.