Powerful Space Laser

Powerful, radio-wavelength laser light has been detected emanating from the greatest distance across deep space yet.

It's a type of massless cosmic object called a megamaser, and its light has traveled for a jaw-dropping 5 billion light-years to reach us here on Earth. The astronomers who discovered it using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa have named it Nkalakatha – an isiZulu word meaning "big boss".

The discovery has been accepted into The Astrophysical Journal Letters and is available on preprint server arXiv.

"It's impressive that, with just a single night of observations, we've already found a record-breaking megamaser," said astronomer Marcin Glowacki of the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Australia.

"It shows just how good the telescope is."

A maser is the microwave equivalent of a laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation). Rather than emitting visible light, a maser emits microwave and radio wavelengths that are stimulated and amplified. For an astrophysical maser, the processes that amplify the light are cosmic; planets, comets, clouds, and stars can all produce masers.

As you may have guessed it, a megamaser is therefore a maser with some serious oomph. Generally these emissions are produced by an object that is going absolutely ham in some way; for instance, active supermassive black holes can produce megamasers.

When the data came in from the first night of a survey planned for 3,000 hours, Glowacki and team found the signature of a very specific type of megamaser, bright in wavelengths amplified by stimulated hydroxyl molecules, consisting of one hydrogen atom and one oxygen atom.  READ MORE...

Bandit Cat

 

Communicating Fungi

A new study has identified patterns of nerve-like electrical activity being produced by fungi. What's more, patterns within the activity appear to be comparable to similar structures in humans speech.

Assuming the impulses might be influencing other cellular activities in a network of fungi, it's a finding that could shed new light on communication in mycological organisms.

Computer scientist Andrew Adamatzky, from the University of the West of England in the UK, was able to spot up to 50 different 'words' or groups of spikes of activity produced by the fungi networks that were studied.

Electrical buzzes in fungi have been known about for years, but analyzing this activity as if it were a language could stand to reveal many things we don't know about what this fungi phenomena represents.

"Assuming that spikes of electrical activity are used by fungi to communicate and process information in mycelium networks, we group spikes into words and provide a linguistic and information complexity analysis of the fungal spiking activity," writes Adamatzky in his new paper.

Caterpillar fungi being analyzed. (Andy Adamatzky)

Adamatzky looked at electrical activity across four types of fungi, looking for patterns in ghost fungi (Omphalotus nidiformis), Enoki fungi (Flammulina velutipes), split gill fungi (Schizophyllum commune), and caterpillar fungi (Cordyceps militaris).

Electrical activity was detected and recorded using tiny microelectrodes inserted across areas where the fungi had colonized, and spikes in activity were then organized into groups. Each type of fungi varied in terms of its spike duration and length, with some spikes lasting up to 21 hours.  READ MORE...

Crystal

Tiger Friend

Solar Emergy

A team of engineers at Stanford University have developed a solar cell that can generate some electricity at night.
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The research comes at a moment when the number of solar jobs and residential installations are rising.

While standard solar panels can provide electricity during the day, this device can serve as a "continuous renewable power source for both day- and nighttime," according to the study published this week in the journal Applied Physics Letters.

The device incorporates a thermoelectric generator, which can pull electricity from the small difference in temperature between the ambient air and the solar cell itself.

"Our approach can provide nighttime standby lighting and power in off-grid and mini-grid applications, where [solar] cell installations are gaining popularity," the study said.

Mini-grid applications refer to independent electricity networks. These can be used when a population is too small or too far away to extend the grid.

It wasn't until recently that solar energy declined in price and became much more affordable. Some companies have bought into the program, and California has even incentivized the shift to solar.  READ MORE...

Classic Sunday Morning Newspaper Cartoons

 

Student Disconnection

In 20 years of teaching at Doane University, Kate Marley has never seen anything like it. Twenty to 30 percent of her students do not show up for class or complete any of the assignments. The moment she begins to speak, she says, their brains seem to shut off. If she asks questions on what she’s been talking about, they don’t have any idea. On tests they struggle to recall basic information.

“Stunning” is the word she uses to describe the level of disengagement she and her colleagues have witnessed across the Nebraska campus. “I don’t seem to be capable of motivating them to read textbooks or complete assignments,” she says of that portion of her students. “They are kind kids. They are really nice to know and talk with. I enjoy them as people.” But, she says, “I can’t figure out how to help them learn.”

Marley, a biology professor, hesitates to talk to her students about the issue, for fear of making them self-conscious, but she has a pretty good idea of what is happening. In addition to two
years of shifting among online, hybrid, and in-person classes, many students have suffered deaths in their families, financial insecurity, or other pandemic-related trauma. That adds up to a lot of stress and exhaustion. In a first-year seminar last fall, Marley says, she provided mental-health counseling referrals to seven out of her 17 students.

Marley knew the pandemic was wreaking havoc on people’s lives. But she didn’t expect that its impact on learning would be so profound, even when students returned, with excitement, to campus.

She is far from alone. The Chronicle recently asked faculty members to share their experiences with student disengagement this academic year. More than 100 people wrote in to describe a disconcerting level of disconnection among students, using words like “defeated,” “exhausted,” and “overwhelmed.”

While a self-selected group, the respondents, several of whom agreed to be interviewed, represent a range of institutions: community colleges, large public universities, small private colleges, and some highly selective institutions. They described common challenges: Far fewer students show up to class. Those who do avoid speaking when possible. Many skip the readings or the homework. They have trouble remembering what they learned and struggle on tests.  READ MORE...

Car Crossing

 

Pyramids, Pharaohs, and Secrets

Egyptian pyramids are ancient pyramid-shaped stone constructions located in Egypt. 

The number of objects identified as Egyptian pyramids is about 100. Most of the pyramids were built as tombs for the pharaohs of the ancient and middle kingdoms. The oldest is the Pyramid of Djoser, created by the architect Imhotep between 2667-2488 BC.

Picture from pixabay.com

What are the facts about pyramids?
The most incredible Pyramid in the Giza complex is 147 meters high, with a base side of 230 meters, and took between 20 and 30 years to build. It is located about 25 kilometers southwest of Cairo, Egypt’s capital.

The Great Pyramid, also known as the Pyramid of Khufu, has 2.6 million cubic meters and is greater than the two Giza colossi, the pyramids of Menkaure and Khafre. All of the pyramids are said to have been coated with gleaming limestone at one point, but this has since been removed and reused in various construction projects throughout the millennia.

Each Pyramid at Giza is part of a larger complex that includes a tomb temple and a network of interconnected pathways. The monuments are essentially the last resting sites of Egypt’s famous pharaohs.  READ MORE...

Coffee?

Caucasian Born

 

Mountain Views

 

Giant Stone in Costa Rica

Archaeologists have excavated giant stone spheres in the Diquís Delta of Costa Rica.

Stone spheres are found on the small island of Isla del Caño and the Diquís Delta, where over 300 stone Petrospheres have been previously identified from the Diquís culture.

The Diquís culture emerged in the Valley of the Rio Grande de Térraba, where they established complex social, economic, and political systems to govern their society.

During the Chiriquí Period between AD 800 – 1500, many settlements grew into large communities around the alluvial lands of the Térraba River and its main tributaries, constructing large structures using round-edged boulders, paved areas, burial sites, and circular or rectangular mounds with stone walls.

The Diquís reached an apex of cultural development during this period, with Diquís artisans creating elaborate ceramic, bone, and gold objects, and sculpturing stone spheres in important zones within the settlements. Stone spheres were also placed in alignments in public plazas, or along the approach to the dwellings of the ruling elite or chieftains.

Archaeologists from the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) and the National Museum of Costa Rica (MNCR) have excavated 6 stone spheres as part of a wider project to preserve the monuments.

The team focused on the Finca 6 archaeological site located in the canton of Osa in the Puntarenas Province, in which stone spheres have deteriorated due to alterations derived from the constitution of the rock, damage caused by humidity, and floods resulting from hurricanes and tropical storms.   READ MORE...

Dog Watching Television

 

Microplastics in Lungs

Microplastic pollution has been discovered lodged deep in the lungs of living people for the first time. The particles were found in almost all the samples analysed.

The scientists said microplastic pollution was now ubiquitous across the planet, making human exposure unavoidable and meaning “there is an increasing concern regarding the hazards” to health.

Samples were taken from tissue removed from 13 patients undergoing surgery and microplastics were found in 11 cases. The most common particles were polypropylene, used in plastic packaging and pipes, and PET, used in bottles. Two previous studies had found microplastics at similarly high rates in lung tissue taken during autopsies.

People were already known to breathe in the tiny particles, as well as consuming them via food and water. Workers exposed to high levels of microplastics are also known to have developed disease.

Microplastics were detected in human blood for the first time in March, showing the particles can travel around the body and may lodge in organs. The impact on health is as yet unknown. But researchers are concerned as microplastics cause damage to human cells in the laboratory and air pollution particles are already known to enter the body and cause millions of early deaths a year.

“We did not expect to find the highest number of particles in the lower regions of the lungs, or particles of the sizes we found,” said Laura Sadofsky at Hull York medical school in the UK,a senior author of the study. “It is surprising as the airways are smaller in the lower parts of the lungs and we would have expected particles of these sizes to be filtered out or trapped before getting this deep.”  READ MORE...

Muscles

 

Human Gut Microbiota

Have you heard about the food additive E415? It is also known as xanthan gum. Most likely, you eat it several times a week. Xanthan gum is used in everyday foods such as baked goods, ice cream and salad dressings. The additive is also widely used as a substitute for gluten in gluten-free foods.

New research now shows that xanthan gum affects our gut microbiota.

The study was recently published in Nature Microbiology by a team of scientists at NMBU in collaboration with the University of Michigan and several other international partners.

"We were surprised at how much the human gut bacteria have adapted to this additive since it was introduced into the modern diet only fifty years ago," says NMBU researcher Sabina Leanti La Rosa (above).

When it was first introduced, xanthan gum was thought to not affect us as it was not digested by the human body. However, the new study shows that the additive nevertheless affects the bacteria that live in our intestines. And these bacteria are important for our health and well-being.

"The gut bacteria we have investigated show genetic changes and a rapid adaptation to enable them to digest this particular additive," explains professor Phil Pope.

He leads the Microbial Ecology and Meta-Omics group at NMBU, where the researchers who conducted the new study work.  READ MORE...

Compass

On Being Caucasian

 

"U ain't WOKE bro..."

"Bro...  I b  WOKE as I wanna b..."

Woke (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK) is an English adjective meaning 'alert to racial prejudice and discrimination' that originated in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE). Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities such as sexism, and has also been used as shorthand for left-wing ideas involving identity politics and social justice, such as the notion of white privilege and slavery reparations for African Americans.    SOURCE:  Wikipedia

As an English major in college, I have problems with the phrase:  STAY WOKE...  it is ok to be racially aware and try one's best not to be prejudiced when dealing with minorities...  but, it is another thing to talk about and write as if you are grammatically illiterate.  I just turn my mind off when I hear something like that...

Being Woke or staying Woke pisses me off more than it should because I don't give a flying flip about what my ancestors may or may not have done from 1776 until 1865...  They were not me and I was not them...  I am not sure if I give a shit about what my father or my grandfather may or may not have done for the same reason(s).  And, I feel confident that my daughter does not give a shit about what I should or should not have done.

In point of fact, the black population in the USA is only 12% of the total while the white population in the USA is 60%...  and, while I am not gifted in math, I believe the white population is FIVE TIMES GREATER than the black population...  Of course, the white population does not include Hispanics or multi-racial (whatever the hell that means).

Wealthy blacks don't bitch as loud as non-wealthy blacks...  I wonder why that is?

As this continues to flow through our society, I fear that America will become more un-unified than it already is and could possibly take us into some sort of internal civil war between whites and blacks.  In my humble opinion that internal civil war should be between the HAVES and the HAVE NOTS...  this is the soul and core of our problem...