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A Billion Degrees of [Science]

XehalusXehalus Registered User regular
edited July 2016 in Social Entropy++


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NASA's Juno spacecraft is opening its eyes to prepare for its first good look at Jupiter.

Juno's nine science instruments were off when the probe entered orbit around the solar system's largest planet Monday (July 4), to reduce complications during that night's make-or-break orbit-insertion engine burn.

The mission team powered up five of those instruments Wednesday (July 6) and plans to turn on the other four before the end of the month, NASA officials said. So Juno should be ready to gather some science data when Juno makes its next close pass by the huge planet on Aug. 27. (The probe is currently in a 53-day orbit around Jupiter.)

"Next time around, we will have our eyes and ears open," Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, said in a statement today (July 8). "You can expect us to release some information about our findings around Sept. 1."


also this week in SCIENCE

Xehalus on
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    XehalusXehalus Registered User regular
    edited July 2016
    369609_5_.jpg
    The Manicouagan Crater in the Canadian province of Quebec is the largest plainly visible impact crater on Earth, and the sixth largest overall. Roughly 100 kilometers in diameter -- a little more than half the size of the Chicxulub Crater in Mexico (the crater associated with the extinction of the dinosaurs) -- it forms a tidy ring of water encircling a large island. The asteroid that made Manicouagan was once considered as a possible trigger for the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, which set the stage for dinosaurs to dominate Earth. Mineral dating, however, shows that the crater was carved more than 12 million years before the mass extinction, so it couldn't have been the cause.

    The Manicouagan impact was far from harmless, however. A new study published to Scientific Reports suggests that it prompted a large extinction event of its own, and may have contributed to the eventual Triassic–Jurassic extinction around 200 million years ago.

    Japanese researchers extensively surveyed a claystone layer that accumulated in a deep seafloor environment in an equatorial region of the Panthalassa Ocean (location marked by the red area in the figure above). The Panthalassa Ocean was the vast body of water that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea. They found that, around 214 to 215 million years ago, approximately the same time of the Manicouagan impact, a great many species of plankton called Radiolarians abruptly disappeared, while tons of new species sprung up. Moreover, the massive turnover in life forms coincided with an anomalous increase in platinum group elements, which the researchers believe originated from an extraterrestrial source. This source -- probably an asteroid -- was between 3.3 and 7.8 kilometers in diameter and slammed the Earth at a speed of around 20 kilometers/second, they estimate. (Figure below: Note that rates of extinction and origination (new species) abruptly increased 214 million years ago.)

    Xehalus on
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    ShortyShorty touching the meat Intergalactic Cool CourtRegistered User regular
    ugh man we're about to get some fuckin' dope pictures of Jupiter I bet

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    MayabirdMayabird Pecking at the keyboardRegistered User regular
    Lots of stuff is horrible. How about something delightful and beautiful: seven newly discovered species of peacock spider.

    They are very tiny, which is probably why these dancing, usually colorful spiders had not been discovered until now.
    australia-spider.JPG

    This is not a video of the newest spiders but it is made by the discoverer.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1355RCne5w0

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    honoverehonovere Registered User regular
    This is the ideal human...
    ...to survive car crashes.

    https://youtu.be/FloSq1-6H40

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    RT800RT800 Registered User regular
    Science is cool.

    I wish I could do maths.

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    XehalusXehalus Registered User regular


    electricity

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    DedwrekkaDedwrekka Metal Hell adjacentRegistered User regular
    Lichtenberg figure

    It also shows up on the skin of people who have been struck by lightning or electrocuted.

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    XehalusXehalus Registered User regular
    bp9xdiq4xtbx.jpg

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    PiptheFairPiptheFair Frequently not in boats. Registered User regular
    you guys heard about the new bofa?

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    TheStigTheStig Registered User regular
    Bank of America?

    bnet: TheStig#1787 Steam: TheStig
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    JoeUserJoeUser Forum Santa Registered User regular
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    -Tal-Tal Registered User regular
    PiptheFair wrote: »
    you guys heard about the new bofa?

    What's updog

    PNk1Ml4.png
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    Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    Xehalus wrote: »
    bp9xdiq4xtbx.jpg

    I love this stuff.

    Old school OG spacecraft = 85 million circuit breakers.
    A few generations later, in the digital age = 75 million circuit breakers and about 10 screens.
    Now = 4 touchpanels. Go fuck yourself.

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    BroloBrolo Broseidon Lord of the BroceanRegistered User regular
    Xehalus wrote: »


    electricity

    holy fuck this is so cool

    do you need to do something to the wood (or get a specific type of wood) to make this happen?

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    tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    I'm not sure if there's a coating on it or they just haven't totally sanded off the varnish
    but on Monday I regain access to a high-voltage power supply and a bunch of leads, and I'm sure I can drum up some wood from somewhere, so I'm going to try it

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    DedwrekkaDedwrekka Metal Hell adjacentRegistered User regular
    edited July 2016
    Brolo wrote: »
    Xehalus wrote: »


    electricity

    holy fuck this is so cool

    do you need to do something to the wood (or get a specific type of wood) to make this happen?

    The couple of instructables and tutorials I've found say to coat the wood in a mixture of water and baking soda because the wood won't conduct the electricity very well on it's own and you want it traveling over the surface.

    They also use about 2000 volts, so, you know be careful.

    http://makezine.com/2015/06/10/burn-fractal-patterns-plywood/

    Dedwrekka on
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    DedpuppyDedpuppy Registered User regular
    tynic wrote: »
    I'm not sure if there's a coating on it or they just haven't totally sanded off the varnish
    but on Monday I regain access to a high-voltage power supply and a bunch of leads, and I'm sure I can drum up some wood from somewhere, so I'm going to try it

    Before you do... read this.
    instructables.com/id/Woodburning-with-Electricity/
    Safety is very important

    f9uosTq.png

    Battle.net:Ritalynn#1974
    XBL: Tranewrek
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    tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Pff who needs a face. Or a body without significant burns. Or a heartbeat.

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    BroloBrolo Broseidon Lord of the BroceanRegistered User regular
    i'm gonna attach one to my tip and one to my taint and give myself some badass electrocock powers

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    Duke 2.0Duke 2.0 Time Trash Cat Registered User regular
    Sir, we told you this is an S&M club not a superhero academy

    last week when you were Superman because the hot wax didn't hurt that much we thought it was cute, but you are ruining the mood we are going for here

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    PiptheFairPiptheFair Frequently not in boats. Registered User regular
    TheStig wrote: »
    Bank of America?

    bofa deeze nuts fucker

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    M.D.M.D. and then what happens? Registered User regular
    I get to assist in teaching science this year at my new Uni, i'm totally frightened of messing that up

    on the other hand I get to start some new research stuff, although working with ChemE's on batteries/catalysts stuff, or working with lasers on materials, or working with microwave catalysis are all cool sounding and difficult to choose between

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    Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    PiptheFair wrote: »
    TheStig wrote: »
    Bank of America?

    bofa deeze nuts fucker

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnedkVrgFF0

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    JedocJedoc In the scuppers with the staggers and jagsRegistered User regular
    M.D. wrote: »
    I get to assist in teaching science this year at my new Uni, i'm totally frightened of messing that up

    on the other hand I get to start some new research stuff, although working with ChemE's on batteries/catalysts stuff, or working with lasers on materials, or working with microwave catalysis are all cool sounding and difficult to choose between

    On the one hand, a major breakthrough in battery technology will make the internal combustion engine look like the Zip Disk in terms of historical impact. On the other hand, a true scientist will always err on the side of lasers. On the third hand, that third hand was probably caused by whatever the fuck microwave catalysis is.

    GDdCWMm.jpg
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    DedpuppyDedpuppy Registered User regular
    Jedoc wrote: »
    M.D. wrote: »
    I get to assist in teaching science this year at my new Uni, i'm totally frightened of messing that up

    on the other hand I get to start some new research stuff, although working with ChemE's on batteries/catalysts stuff, or working with lasers on materials, or working with microwave catalysis are all cool sounding and difficult to choose between

    On the one hand, a major breakthrough in battery technology will make the internal combustion engine look like the Zip Disk in terms of historical impact. On the other hand, a true scientist will always err on the side of lasers. On the third hand, that third hand was probably caused by whatever the fuck microwave catalysis is.

    Which means you should go with the one that will give you superpowers. Always.

    f9uosTq.png

    Battle.net:Ritalynn#1974
    XBL: Tranewrek
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    M.D.M.D. and then what happens? Registered User regular
    Ha yea the laser research is actually my favorite of the three, mainly because it's super cool and exciting and also lasers. The downside to it is that I don't know what type of job I can get after I finish at this Uni in 5ish years

    The battery one is the more practical one as a lot of folks are working to improve battery tech, and I'm sure I can find an industry job with either a battery company, or maybe even a larger tech company like IBM or so

    The microwave one is neat cause you take transitional metals / some rare earth and react them with organic linker compounds in a microwave and hope it doesnt blow up (the vessel they are mixed into is sometimes referred to as a bomb ha). However the reasoning for doing this is to create catalysts much more efficiently and quickly. I've done this research in my undergrad and we made stuff in 8 minutes that traditionally would take 24 hours or so.

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    TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    Turns out, this whole time you've been eating your boogers, you were just taking care of your health.

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    PiptheFairPiptheFair Frequently not in boats. Registered User regular
    a group of starlings is called a murmuration
    a group of otters on land is a romp
    buffalos is an obstinancy

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    ChicoBlueChicoBlue Registered User regular
    What's a group of Pips called?

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    PiptheFairPiptheFair Frequently not in boats. Registered User regular
    a shitpost

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    DedwrekkaDedwrekka Metal Hell adjacentRegistered User regular
    Who needs Mars, the European Space Agency wants to 3D print a colony on the Moon.

    The plan is to send robots to the south pole of the Moon on the side counter to Earth to both increase the amount of solar activity while reducing the amount of Radio/Satelite/EM traffic (because they also want to install radio telescopes nearby). The first wave of robots will collect and prepare regolith for use as a building material.

    Then they will send inflatable habitats and the D-Shape 3D printer.
    A D-Shape printer is capable of printing out a small building out of sand, one layer at a time. What it will be used for is building a regolith structure which will house the inflatable habitat.
    d-shape-1.jpg
    “3D printing offers a potential means of facilitating lunar settlement with reduced logistics from Earth,” added Scott Hovland of ESA’s human spaceflight team. “The new possibilities this work opens up can then be considered by international space agencies as part of the current development of a common exploration strategy."

    "As a practice, we are used to designing for extreme climates on Earth and exploiting the environmental benefits of using local, sustainable materials,” remarked Xavier De Kestelier of Foster + Partners Specialist Modelling Group. “Our lunar habitation follows a similar logic.”

    The UK’s Monolite supplied the D-Shape printer, with a mobile printing array of nozzles on a 6 m frame to spray a binding solution onto a sand-like building material.
    3D ‘printouts’ are built up layer by layer – the company more typically uses its printer to create sculptures and is working on artificial coral reefs to help preserve beaches from energetic sea waves.

    “First, we needed to mix the simulated lunar material with magnesium oxide. This turns it into ‘paper’ we can print with,” explained Monolite founder Enrico Dini. “Then for our structural ‘ink’ we apply a binding salt which converts material to a stone-like solid. Our current printer builds at a rate of around 2 m per hour, while our next-generation design should attain 3.5 m per hour, completing an entire building in a week.”

    Italian space research firm Alta SpA worked with Pisa-based engineering university Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna on adapting 3D printing techniques to a Moon mission and ensuring process quality control. The effect of working in a vacuum was also assessed.

    “The process is based on applying liquids but, of course, unprotected liquids boil away in vacuum,” said Giovanni Cesaretti of Alta. “So we inserted the 3D printer nozzle beneath the regolith layer. We found small 2 mm-scale droplets stay trapped by capillary forces in the soil, meaning the printing process can indeed work in vacuum.”
    _86136479_lunar_base_labelled_624.png

    As a test they've already printed structures from a lunar regolith analog, including a 1.5 ton block of construction material. The plan is for a hollow, closed-cell design similar to honeycomb material, though this is covered over with a solid layer in all renderings of the final design.

    NASA wants to try and get in on this, though their budget is tied up in Mars and the Asteroid Redirect Mission
    Bolden had recently come back from Europe, where, he said, he participated in discussions with nations now scripting a space-exploration road map. These conversations touched on many topics, including to what degree other countries wish to cooperate with NASA on its Asteroid Redirect Mission, he said.

    "Although Mars is the ultimate destination for humanity, we mustn't forget that there are lots of other places in the solar system. And there are places where humans will go and must go," Bolden said. "A lot of our international partners are interested in lunar exploration."

    "We're going to spend a 10-year period of time between 2020 to 2030 in cis-lunar space," Bolden said, "trying to establish an infrastructure in lunar orbit from which we can help entrepreneurs, international partners and the like who want to get down to the surface of the moon."

    NASA "can't lead it," Bolden added. "But I hope you'll let me have at least one astronaut on the mission that goes down to the surface of the moon … because there is invaluable experience to be gained from doing that."
    Just a reminder that NASA is still on track to pluck a boulder from near-earth orbit and place it in orbit around the moon, maybe giving the moon it's own temporary, upstart satellite while NASA tests out various procedures including mining.

    The European view: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Building_a_lunar_base_with_3D_printing
    The US view: http://www.space.com/29285-moon-base-european-space-agency.html

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    BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    fuck yes space programs

    BahamutZERO.gif
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    MethuselahMethuselah United StatesRegistered User regular
    M.D. wrote: »
    Ha yea the laser research is actually my favorite of the three, mainly because it's super cool and exciting and also lasers. The downside to it is that I don't know what type of job I can get after I finish at this Uni in 5ish years

    The battery one is the more practical one as a lot of folks are working to improve battery tech, and I'm sure I can find an industry job with either a battery company, or maybe even a larger tech company like IBM or so

    The microwave one is neat cause you take transitional metals / some rare earth and react them with organic linker compounds in a microwave and hope it doesnt blow up (the vessel they are mixed into is sometimes referred to as a bomb ha). However the reasoning for doing this is to create catalysts much more efficiently and quickly. I've done this research in my undergrad and we made stuff in 8 minutes that traditionally would take 24 hours or so.

    I am doing some catalysis research right now before leaving for grad school! It's interesting science but man I don't get super enthused by chemistry. Condensed matter physics though, woah boy. What kinda lasers / materials / characterizations are we talking about here?

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    PeenPeen Registered User regular
    Have you guys seen these Transit Elevated Buses? I demand to see those produced en-mass immediately, that looks like it would rule compared to a normal bus.

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    BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    Peen wrote: »
    Have you guys seen these Transit Elevated Buses? I demand to see those produced en-mass immediately, that looks like it would rule compared to a normal bus.

    huh
    it will be interesting to see if those work out in practice

    BahamutZERO.gif
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    DisruptedCapitalistDisruptedCapitalist I swear! Registered User regular
    If it shares the road there will still be problems especially since drivers have a hard time following the painted lines.

    "Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
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    DedwrekkaDedwrekka Metal Hell adjacentRegistered User regular
    The reason it didn't go much of anywhere before was because it turns out that it doesn't work very well on streets that aren't very straight, have regular commercial traffic, or which have pretty steep turns. The cabs of the design shown are too long to have a good turning radius, and even under good conditions the wall on the outside edge of the turn will overlap traffic lanes while turning. They've gotten around that flaw by making the track mostly straight the entire way through. The clearance underneath is also only 7ft high, meaning that SUVs and trucks will be impossible to fit under it.
    While I've been really hopeful for that design, I don't think it's held up well to practical application. In areas where there is a surplus of straight road with no commercial traffic, it's pretty great, but the design just wouldn't work on American or European roads.

    I really want to see them address some of the issues because I think that if you can make a mass transit option that can share the space without needing to build much more infrastructure, you'll be golden, but they haven't done much iteration on the design in the years since it's unveiling that will help it reach a larger area.

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    PeenPeen Registered User regular
    Yeah I figured all of that was true but dang man, it looks too cool to abandon and way better than these half baked street cars that cities keep kicking around. Fuck rails, go over the cars is what I say.

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    tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    'Neural dust' is here. Tiny, implantable sensors converting ultrasound signals from outside the body into electricity to control a nerve or muscle fibre. Currently they're a little large (around 1mm) - but UC Berkeley is trying to bring them down to around 50um.

    http://news.berkeley.edu/2016/08/03/sprinkling-of-neural-dust-opens-door-to-electroceuticals/
    A major hurdle in brain-machine interfaces (BMI) is the lack of an implantable neural interface system that remains viable for a substantial fraction of a primate lifetime. Recently, sub-mm implantable, wireless electromagnetic (EM) neural interfaces have been demonstrated in an effort to extend system longevity. However, EM systems do not scale down in size well due to the severe inefficiency of coupling radio waves at mm and sub-mm scales.

    We propose an alternative wireless power and data telemetry scheme using distributed, ultrasonic backscattering systems to record high frequency (~kHz) neural activity. Such systems will require two fundamental technology innovations: 1) thousands of 10 – 100 um scale, free-floating, independent sensor nodes, or neural dust, that detect and report local extracellular electrophysiological data via ultrasonic backscattering, and 2) a sub-cranial ultrasonic interrogator that establishes power and communication links with the neural dust.

    nervemote750-410x273.jpg

    Among many other things, this means we could finally have feasible, precise BCI. What a time to be alive!

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    TallahasseerielTallahasseeriel Registered User regular
    Truly we live in the cyber punk future.

This discussion has been closed.