Science News

[Bucky Ball]

Last Sunday on Easter, apparently 60 Minutes had a big piece on the James Webb telescope. Tonight they played two reactions to it.
1. Was a reaction of how amazing science and the telescope is, and
2. was how offensive it was to talk about the Big Bang on Easter Sunday.

OMG. They will die in their ignorance. That still amazes me that people live in the ancient past.

[Thumpalumpacus]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Water may be more widespread and recent on Mars than previously thought, based on observations of Martian sand dunes by China’s rover.

The finding highlights new, potentially fertile areas in the warmer regions of Mars where conditions might be suitable for life to exist, though more study is needed.

Friday’s news comes days after mission leaders acknowledged that the Zhurong rover has yet to wake up since going into hibernation for the Martian winter nearly a year ago.

Its solar panels are likely covered with dust, choking off its power source and possibly preventing the rover from operating again, said Zhang Rongqiao, the mission’s chief designer.

Before Zhurong fell silent, it observed salt-rich dunes with cracks and crusts, which researchers said likely were mixed with melting morning frost or snow as recently as a few hundred thousand years ago.

Their estimated date range for when the cracks and other dune features formed in Mars’ Utopia Planitia, a vast plain in the northern hemisphere: sometime after 1.4 million to 400,000 years ago or even younger.

Conditions during that period were similar to now on Mars, with rivers and lakes dried up and no longer flowing as they did billions of years earlier.

Studying the structure and chemical makeup of these dunes can provide insights into “the possibility of water activity” during this period, the Beijing-based team wrote in a study published in Science Advances.

“We think it could be a small amount ... no more than a film of water on the surface,” co-author Xiaoguang Qin of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics said in an email.

https://apnews.com/article/mars-china-ro...6e720c864f

[Dom]

You know, I think it quite likely that there are or were or will be other life forms out there. To assume though that those are anything with the same evolution as humans as far as desire to go into space, or even develop physical characteristics that would make such a thing a possibility, is too big a jump for me. I think humans are an error of nature, as they are destroying nature. I don't see humans as a good product of evolution. I doubt that this error occurred elsewhere out there.

[Thumpalumpacus]

"Error" implies intent, and I don't believe nature has the capacity to intend anything at all.

[Minimalist]

Right you are, Thump.  Natural Selection has no grand design.  The most successful species is the one that survives to reproduce itself.

In that regard we must regard humans as a roaring success.... at least so far.

That said it does give you an idea of how fucked up all the extinct ones must have been!

[Dom]

"Error" implies intent, and I don't believe nature has the capacity to intend anything at all.

Yes, and I did not mean to imply intent.

[Dom]

Right you are, Thump.  Natural Selection has no grand design.  The most successful species is the one that survives to reproduce itself.

In that regard we must regard humans as a roaring success.... at least so far.

That said it does give you an idea of how fucked up all the extinct ones must have been!

Emphasis on "at least so far". The extinct ones probably ran into inhospitable environment they could not conquer.

Me thinks we will be right there among the "fucked up" ones. And if so, we didn't get all that far in the scope of things.

[Thumpalumpacus]

"Error" implies intent, and I don't believe nature has the capacity to intend anything at all.

Yes, and I did not mean to imply intent.

Right. EbNS is a series of blind alleys. well more than 99% of all species that ever existed are extinct, as I'm sure you know. So the question becomes, are we a "mistake", or are we just shit thrown at a wall and don't seem to be sticking, to use a common metaphor?

[Minimalist]

Much of East Africa is facing a crippling famine.  What is their answer?

They start shooting at one another.

Yeah..... we are fucked long term.

[Fireball]

Much of East Africa is facing a crippling famine.  What is their answer?

They start shooting at one another.

Yeah..... we are fucked long term.

It's win-win, the population is reduced and they can eat the dead! /s

[Thumpalumpacus]

Much of East Africa is facing a crippling famine.  What is their answer?

They start shooting at one another.

Yeah..... we are fucked long term.

"In the long-term, everything is short-term." -- Frank Herbert, Dune.

Humans rarely think beyond the next meal or next orgasm.

[Thumpalumpacus]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — For the first time, scientists have caught a star in the act of swallowing a planet — not just a nibble or bite, but one big gulp.

Astronomers on Wednesday reported their observations of what appeared to be a gas giant around the size of Jupiter or bigger being eaten by its star. The sun-like star had been puffing up with old age for eons and finally got so big that it engulfed the close-orbiting planet.

It’s a gloomy preview of what will happen to Earth when our sun morphs into a red giant and gobbles the four inner planets.

“If it’s any consolation, this will happen in about 5 billion years,” said co-author Morgan MacLeod of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

This galactic feast happened between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago near the Aquila constellation when the star was around 10 billion years old. As the planet went down the stellar hatch, there was a swift hot outburst of light, followed by a long-lasting stream of dust shining brightly in cold infrared energy, the researchers said.

While there had been previous signs of other stars nibbling at planets and their digestive aftermath, this was the first time the swallow itself was observed, according to the study appearing in the journal Nature.

https://apnews.com/article/star-eats-pla...osition_08

[Minimalist]

“If it’s any consolation, this will happen in about 5 billion years,” 

If the xhristards are right they'll be watching from "heaven" where they will have spent the prior 5 billion years kissing jesus' ass.  Sounds like fun.

[airportkid]

... reduced brain volume that begins at an average consumption level of less than one alcohol unit a day -- the equivalent of about half a beer -- and rises with each additional drink ...

I wonder what this would mean for people who don't have any brains to begin with 

[polymath257]

Right you are, Thump.  Natural Selection has no grand design.  The most successful species is the one that survives to reproduce itself.

In that regard we must regard humans as a roaring success.... at least so far.

That said it does give you an idea of how fucked up all the extinct ones must have been!

The average survival time for mammal species is about 2-3 million years. Modern humans have been around about 300,000 (upper estimate currently). I doubt we will make it to the average.

[Cavebear]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — For the first time, scientists have caught a star in the act of swallowing a planet — not just a nibble or bite, but one big gulp.

Astronomers on Wednesday reported their observations of what appeared to be a gas giant around the size of Jupiter or bigger being eaten by its star. The sun-like star had been puffing up with old age for eons and finally got so big that it engulfed the close-orbiting planet.

It’s a gloomy preview of what will happen to Earth when our sun morphs into a red giant and gobbles the four inner planets.

“If it’s any consolation, this will happen in about 5 billion years,” said co-author Morgan MacLeod of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

This galactic feast happened between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago near the Aquila constellation when the star was around 10 billion years old. As the planet went down the stellar hatch, there was a swift hot outburst of light, followed by a long-lasting stream of dust shining brightly in cold infrared energy, the researchers said.

While there had been previous signs of other stars nibbling at planets and their digestive aftermath, this was the first time the swallow itself was observed, according to the study appearing in the journal Nature.

https://apnews.com/article/star-eats-pla...osition_08

I saw something about that. Binary stars can feed off each other in cycles until one sheds stellar mass and either disrupts the binary orbit or changes both stars. And gravity-drawn planets are just a snack. Well, simplifying...

[Cavebear]

Right you are, Thump.  Natural Selection has no grand design.  The most successful species is the one that survives to reproduce itself.

In that regard we must regard humans as a roaring success.... at least so far.

That said it does give you an idea of how fucked up all the extinct ones must have been!

The average survival time for mammal species is about 2-3 million years. Modern humans have been around about 300,000 (upper estimate currently). I doubt we will make it to the average.

That is an interesting question. Most species don't last long. But some do.

For humans, I think the equation has changed. We are more able to control our survival than most previous species. Our level of intelligence and self-awareness in unprecedented. We could move out into the universe and reduce our risk of one bad event or disease killing us off. On the other hand, we could do it to ourselves without evolution even being involved.

[Thumpalumpacus]

https://apnews.com/article/star-eats-pla...osition_08

I saw something about that.  Binary stars can feed off each other in cycles until one sheds stellar mass and either disrupts the binary orbit or changes both stars.  And gravity-drawn planets are just a snack.  Well, simplifying...

Yeah, this wasn't a binary star system, but simply a star eating a planet the size of Jupiter, whole. The important part is that we actually captured it in data. A hot-gas planet being devoured as an hors d'oeuvre to a dying solar system.

[Cavebear]

I saw something about that.  Binary stars can feed off each other in cycles until one sheds stellar mass and either disrupts the binary orbit or changes both stars.  And gravity-drawn planets are just a snack.  Well, simplifying...

Yeah, this wasn't a binary star system, but simply a star eating a planet the size of Jupiter, whole. The important part is that we actually captured it in data. A hot-gas planet being devoured as an hors d'oeuvre to a dying solar system.

One of my favorite series is 'How The Universe Works'. When I find it, I'll watch it over almost anything. Three of the most interesting are inter-planetary gravitational effects within our own solar system as planets moved around, the effects of binary stars on each other, and about the origin of our moon. Well, I could keep listing interesting ones, but you understand.

I did read about the new observation. I love how astronomy advances and shows us new events.

[airportkid]

We are truly living at the edge of history, or should it be called the precipice?

I commend science for giving it a name, but the better name might be the FUBAR epoch.