Science Megathread

[Frodo]

It makes you wonder how differently life would have evolved on a Super Earth, and what it would be like as a human being to live on it.  With a larger planet, gravity would probably be much stronger:

The Sun Used to Have Saturn-Like Rings That Stopped Earth From Being a 'Super-Earth'

[Frodo]

Think about this the next time you buy flowers for Mother's Day:

How 'Flower Power' Quite Literally Transformed Earth Millions of Years Ago

[Frodo]

Scientists conduct biotech research in space - study
Microgravity conditions in space allow the study of disease progression and the aging process more quickly than it can be done on Earth.

According to researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, the future of biotechnology may be in space.

The research, which was published in the peer-reviewed journal Stem Cell Reports last Thursday, shows that the low-gravity conditions of space present an unprecedented opportunity for the development of advanced medical technologies.

The microgravity conditions experienced by astronauts gradually accelerate aging and muscle and bone degradation. Scientists can therefore use these conditions to simulate models of disease progression and even the aging process far more quickly than they could by observing these processes on Earth.

These conditions may also be useful for the mass production of stem cells and for 3D printing of biological tissues, as the lack of gravity makes it easier to use low-viscosity materials. "The processes involved in biofabrication are heavily reliant on biomechanical cues that are affected by gravity," they said, "and microgravity conditions should enable full control over these cues in ways not possible on Earth."

[President Johnson]

Stunning:

https://twitter.com/newscientist/status/1480420960775901185

[Blue3]

Surgeons perform first successful transplant of pig heart to human patient
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/surgeons-perform-first-successful-transplant-pig-heart-human-patient-rcna11687

[Frodo]

We (Homo sapiens) have been around far longer than anyone has ever thought:

Earliest human remains in eastern Africa dated to more than 230,000 years ago

[FT-02 Senator A.F.E. 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

Researchers at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab hit milestone on quest to fusion power

With 192 lasers and temperatures more than three times hotter than the center of the sun, scientists hit — at least for a fraction of a second — a key milestone on the long road toward nearly pollution-free fusion energy.

Researchers at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab in California were able to spark a fusion reaction that briefly sustained itself — a major feat because fusion requires such high temperatures and pressures that it easily fizzles out.

The ultimate goal, still years away, is to generate power the way the sun generates heat, by smooshing hydrogen atoms so close to each other that they combine into helium, which releases torrents of energy.

A team of more than 100 scientists published the results of four experiments that achieved what is known as a burning plasma in Wednesday’s journal Nature. With those results, along with preliminary results announced last August from follow-up experiments, scientists say they are on the threshold of an even bigger advance: ignition. That’s when the fuel can continue to “burn” on its own and produce more energy than what’s needed to spark the initial reaction.

“We’re very close to that next step,” said study lead author Alex Zylstra, an experimental physicist at Livermore.

This illustration provided by the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory depicts a target pellet inside a hohlraum capsule with laser beams entering through openings on either end. The beams compress and heat the target to the necessary conditions for nuclear fusion to occur. (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory via AP)

[Lourdes]

https://twitter.com/moderna_tx/status/1486702116102193161?cxt=HHwWkoC-0dPs6aEpAA...

[Frodo]

That poisonous gas so essential to the first stirrings of life on Earth apparently being hydrogen cyanide:

The first life on Earth depended on a deadly poisonous gas, study suggests

Could the toxic gas used in chemical weapons today have been involved in the birth of life on Earth?

[Frodo]

So the geological periods referred to are the Paleoproterozoic and the Neoproterozoic eras, as well as spanning the great Cambrian Explosion:

Supermountains controlled the evolution of life on Earth


source: https://www.scienceabc.com

Giant mountain ranges at least as high as the Himalayas and stretching up to 8,000 kilometers across entire supercontinents played a crucial role in the evolution of early life on Earth, according to a new study by researchers at The Australian National University (ANU).

The researchers tracked the formation of these supermountains throughout Earth's history using traces of zircon with low lutetium content—a combination of mineral and rare earth element only found in the roots of high mountains where they form under intense pressure.

The study found the most giant of these supermountains only formed twice in Earth's history—the first between 2,000 and 1,800 million years ago and the second between 650 and 500 million years ago. Both mountain ranges rose during periods of supercontinent formation.

Lead author, ANU Ph.D. candidate Ziyi Zhu, said there are links between these two instances of supermountains and the two most important periods of evolution in Earth's history.

"There's nothing like these two supermountains today. It's not just their height—if you can imagine the 2,400 km long Himalayas repeated three or four times you get an idea of the scale," she said.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Just watched this video about the New Madrid quake area.
Chilling stuff.

[emailking]

It makes you wonder how differently life would have evolved on a Super Earth, and what it would be like as a human being to live on it.  With a larger planet, gravity would probably be much stronger:

The Sun Used to Have Saturn-Like Rings That Stopped Earth From Being a 'Super-Earth'

A planet that is twice the size of Earth and 10 times more massive, as posited in the article, would have 2.5 times stronger gravity. So someone who weighs 150 lbs on Earth would weigh 375 pounds on the super Earth.

[Lourdes]

Scientists have possibly cured HIV in a woman for the first time

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-health-and-wellness/scientists-possibly-cured-hiv-woman-first-time-rcna16196

An American research team reported that it has possibly cured HIV in a woman for the first time. Building on past successes, as well as failures, in the HIV-cure research field, these scientists used a cutting-edge stem cell transplant method that they expect will expand the pool of people who could receive similar treatment to several dozen annually.

[Leohendo9]

some great new videos out about tesla new batteries made in house. going to change the game if you pair it with their new mining techniques making the whole process greener and safer.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Lucy was the first female Ape cavewomen everyone knows Blk females we came from,the Bible says Hebrews from Adam and Eve, and blacks have albino kids not whites having Blk babies

We evolved from a Jr Chomp that's why we have dwarfism from the primary family because our chromosome are similar to Chimps and primates we arent chimps but we are primates definitely

I know that the Adam and Eve story is biblical not historical and so was the resurrection of Christ based on James son of Joseph like Jesus was, no last names were buried in Ossuary Box

Hebrews were the original cave people, Lucy and Blks we're the first primate, Lucy was half human and half primate in 2M BC and we all came from Blk female my mom told me This  she was chimp like that's why African females can be dwarfs just like Caucasian

We determine how species are related thru chromosomes just like Lions, tigers are cates and bears, wolves are dogs and rabbits and guinea pigs are rodents, and chimps and humans are primates and dwarfism exist


Latinos, Asians are yellow skinned and mixture of Blk and white

[Dr. MB]

Lucy was the first female Ape cavewomen everyone knows Blk females we came from,the Bible says Hebrews from Adam and Eve, and blacks have albino kids not whites having Blk babies

We evolved from a Jr Chomp that's why we have dwarfism from the primary family because our chromosome are similar to Chimps and primates we arent chimps but we are primates definitely

I know that the Adam and Eve story is biblical not historical and so was the resurrection of Christ based on James son of Joseph like Jesus was, no last names were buried in Ossuary Box

Hebrews were the original cave people, Lucy and Blks we're the first primate, Lucy was half human and half primate in 2M BC and we all came from Blk female my mom told me This  she was chimp like that's why African females can be dwarfs just like Caucasian

We determine how species are related thru chromosomes just like Lions, tigers are cates and bears, wolves are dogs and rabbits and guinea pigs are rodents, and chimps and humans are primates and dwarfism exist


Latinos, Asians are yellow skinned and mixture of Blk and white

Did Dr. Yakub play any part in the creation of the white race in European caves?

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

I am not saying that you are not supposed to believe in God but BlKs don't come from Hebrews they come from us because Lucy was found in Africa not Israel, Buddhist say God isn't a person but an alien or force if nature as the. universe and Prophets even Jesus and he studied Buddhist are High Priest


I wanted always know why I was born Blk not Caucasian or not a female because men and Blk are the dominant species and there are more females in world but we determine the sex of child maybe in another life since there might be reincarnation since I was born Blk already I will be another race

[Frodo]

I love how they make it sound like this event is about to happen any day now...

2 monster black holes are headed toward a collision that will rock the fabric of space-time
The two black holes will merge about 10,000 years from now and ripple the fabric of space-time in the process.


source: https://cosmosastronaut.com/

Astronomers have discovered two supermassive black holes that are 99% of the way to a violent collision that will rock the very fabric of space-time.

The black holes, which share the name PKS 2131-021, are locked in a dance of doom about 9 billion light-years from Earth, according to a study published Feb. 23 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The two objects have moved steadily toward each other for about 100 million years, according to a statement from NASA, and now they share a binary orbit, with the two black holes orbiting each other every two years or so.

About 10,000 years from now, the two black holes will merge, sending gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of space-time originally predicted by Albert Einstein — surging across the universe, the researchers said. Though none of us will witness that epic collision, studying PKS 2131-021 now could reveal new information about how supermassive black holes form and what happens when two of them collide.

[Frodo]

And we have every reason to expect Congress and our international partners (even Russia) to sign off on the extension, which is likely to be the last for the International Space Station:

White House directs NASA to extend International Space Station operations through 2030
But the outpost's other partners have to sign on as well.


source

What We Learned from the Space Station this Past Year

20 Breakthroughs from 20 Years of Science aboard the International Space Station

In light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its repercussions, it is a good bet that though Russia will continue cooperating with the United States on maintaining the International Space Station until 2030, it will likely be for the last time:

The Russian invasion of Ukraine will have myriad impacts on spaceflight

[Frodo]

Here is an excellent beginners guide to the new James Webb Space Telescope:

https://twitter.com/BalboaCapital/status/1501364396483829762

[Frodo]

I know people are going to get confused when this article talks about a 'land bridge' between Europe and Asia, so I am going to post a map of the world (as best we know) at the time of the Eocene 50 million years ago:

Millions of years of animal migration hold clues to the mystery of ‘lost continent’
A low-lying landmass, which scientists have dubbed Balkanatolia, enabled mammals from Asia to cross into Europe.

[Frodo]

There was a silver lining to the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and that was the Space Race, sparked by the successful launch of the Sputnik satellite and culminating with the U.S. beating the Soviets to the moon by landing astronauts to the lunar surface and safely bringing them back, while seeing major advances in science and engineering along the way.  The same competitive drive we saw then could see humanity reach new heights in a new Space Race while we are in the beginning stages of a new Cold War, this time between the United States and the People's Republic of China:

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Did you know Muslim, Christianity is intertwined with Pharoahs, three religions believes on the Pyramids and they each believed that they were the vessels to God to bring in the Rapture and there is beliefs that the Ancient Aliens we're the ones that built the pyramids not us

[Dr. MB]

Did you know Muslim, Christianity is intertwined with Pharoahs, three religions believes on the Pyramids and they each believed that they were the vessels to God to bring in the Rapture and there is beliefs that the Ancient Aliens we're the ones that built the pyramids not us

I think that claiming ancient aliens built the pyramids denies the accomplishments of the Egyptian civilization. I'm a big believer in aliens and UFOs but a lot of the ancient alien theory doesn't quite make sense to me.

[Frodo]

Apparently the original Human Genome Project from around 2000 (and I remember the news hype around the discovery) wasn't able to sequence the entire genome, although they did get over 90% of it.  This time, researchers were able to finish the remaining portion:

https://twitter.com/PBS/status/1509953814484377606