Science #6

 

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Some more "sciency" articles that have caught my attention:

• "What Exactly is Going on in Antarctica?"--Legal Insurrection. An excerpt:

    A recent article from Watts Up With That highlights recent climate developments in Antarctica, emphasizing that the continent has seen more snowfall and experienced record low temperatures in late winter 2023, particularly in July and August. These extreme cold events were widespread, affecting both East and West Antarctica, including the Ross Ice Shelf and the Antarctic Peninsula.

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[Update: the black sarcophagi portion, below, appears to be fake news from a site in Azerbaijan]  

    Meanwhile, recent reports describe the discovery of four mysterious black sarcophagi beneath Antarctica’s. These artifacts, unearthed by an international team of scientists from the United States, Russia, China, and India, have sparked widespread intrigue and speculation due to their unknown origins and design.

    According to Baku.ws, the discovery of the black sarcophagi is unlike any other found in Antarctica. These objects were not just typical archaeological artifacts; they appeared to have an advanced design, one that did not fit with any known human history. Upon opening one of the sarcophagi, the scientists encountered an even more puzzling find. Inside was a hot metallic cylinder, etched with thin, mysterious lines. The object’s temperature and peculiar markings only added to the air of mystery surrounding the sarcophagi.

    With the cylinder inside the sarcophagus seemingly capable of holding immense energy or power, the team of researchers made the decision to leave the sarcophagi undisturbed. They carefully returned the objects to their original location, citing safety concerns and an inability to fully comprehend the nature of the find. Yet, the unanswered questions surrounding the discovery continue to puzzle scientists worldwide. 

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    Meanwhile, scientists have recently detected unusual radio signals originating from beneath the Antarctic ice. These signals were picked up by the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment, a NASA-funded project that uses balloon-borne instruments to detect radio waves from cosmic rays interacting with the Earth’s atmosphere. 

• More: "Physicists can’t explain mysterious radio wave emissions in Antarctica"--Popular Science. 
• "Mars is covered in evidence of ancient lakes, rain and snow — but scientists aren't sure how that's possible"--Space.com. The article relates that "experts say Mars once had a warm, wet climate, and their belief is based on striking geological features on the now-barren world, such as vast valley networks likely carved by flowing water. In fact, a new team of researchers found evidence that Mars may have once had rain — and even snow."
• Always the last place you look: "Scientists find universe's missing matter while watching fast radio bursts shine through 'cosmic fog'"--Space.com.  The article is careful to point out that this isn't an issue of "dark matter," but refers to normal matter that they knew existed but just couldn't previously see. 
• "Betelgeuse’s companion star finally located after years of debate"--Popular Science. The companion star had been predicted as a cause of Betelguese periodicity but only recently observed. From the article:

    Further analysis indicates the second star is six magnitudes fainter than Betelgeuse with a mass about 1.5 times that of the sun. It also is likely an A- or B-type pre-main-sequence star, meaning it is a young, hot blue-white star that isn’t yet burning hydrogen in its core.

    Betelgeuse and its companion star were likely born at the same time, but their relationship won’t end well. According to the study’s authors, tidal forces will eventually cause the latter object to spiral into its partner, initiating an end to both of them. That said, astronomers estimate the pair’s finale will take place sometime within the next 10,000 years.

    But before that, researchers hope to study the two stars even more. Their next chance will begin in November 2027, when the stellar companion’s orbit places it at its furthest distance from Betelgeuse. 

• "New tiny world beyond Neptune discovered — boosting ‘Planet Nine’ theory"--New York Post.
• "Tiny stars, many Earths: Potentially habitable worlds may be especially common around low-mass stars"--Phys Org.  
• "The Climate Alarmism Grift is Dying" by Tim Lynch. The article discusses a paper published by two professors at MIT and Princeton, respectively, as well as looking at past failures of global warming "predictions". As to the two scientists' findings, Lynch relates:

    Lindzen and Happer use physics to demonstrate that CO2’s warming effect is limited by its logarithmic absorption of infrared radiation. The warming effect of each molecule of CO2 decreases as its concentration increases. They estimate low climate sensitivity (~0.5–1.5°C per CO2 doubling), which is far below the IPCC’s range of 2.5–4°C.

    They contend that Hurricanes, droughts, and floods exhibit no apparent increase in frequency driven by CO2, with natural variability dominating (e.g., NOAA’s stable hurricane frequency since 1980). They demonstrate that higher CO2 levels enhance photosynthesis, resulting in a 14% global greening trend (NASA, 1982–2015) and a 20% increase in crop yields (FAO, 2000–2020).

    They then emphasize that phasing out fossil fuels, which supply 80% of global energy (IEA, 2023), will raise costs and harm developing nations, with minimal climate benefit. Their physics-based approach challenges high-sensitivity climate models, which have overestimated warming in periods such as 1998–2014. They also align with skepticism of alarmist policies, like EPA regulations, which they’ve called a “hoax” in prior work.

• "Discovery at Earth's 'most dangerous glacier' sparks joy among climate skeptics"--Daily Mail.  The article relates that "[b]ased on a surprising photo taken by the International Space Station (ISS) in 2023, researchers from around the world have concluded that three glaciers in Asia's Karakoram mountain range have been gaining ice and merging."
• Europe and the U.S. are not the problem: "This 7% of Earth’s surface burns more fuel than anywhere"--Blaze.  

Draw a circle with a 2,485-mile radius around the southern Chinese city of Yuxi. British geographer Alasdair Rae did just that — and inside it resides 55% of the world’s population: some 4.3 billion people crammed into just 7% of Earth’s surface. The region includes China, India, much of Southeast Asia, and parts of Pakistan. Some of it — like the Tibetan Plateau and the Taklamakan Desert — is barren. But the rest is packed with cities, factories, and the aspirations of hundreds of millions clawing their way toward modern life. 

• "America's Largest Crater Has Surprise Link to Grand Canyon, Study Finds"--Science Alert. Based on the coincidence between massive flooding in the Grand Canyon and the impact of the meteor that caused Meteor Crater in Arizona, scientists speculate that the impact caused the creation of a dam that blocked the Colorado river and produced a lake. 
• "'Weekend warrior' workouts may reduce risk of death in diabetics"--UPI. Some research indicating that long duration workouts once per week may actually be better than moderate duration exercise spread out through the week.
• "The Dogs of Chernobyl Are Experiencing Rapid Evolution, Study Suggests"--Popular Mechanics. "A study analyzed the DNA of 302 feral dogs living near the power plant, compared the animals to others living 10 miles away, and found remarkable differences," notes the article.
• "An Ancient Viral Code in Our DNA Is Still Shaping What It Means to Be Human, Study Reveals"--The Debrief.  From the lede:

    Imagine if nearly a third of your DNA was composed of ancient viral remnants—genetic hitchhikers from infections that occurred millions of years ago. 

    Now imagine that these viral fragments aren’t just dead weight, but have quietly evolved to help control the way your genes work, potentially shaping what it means to be human.

    That’s the startling insight behind a new study led by researchers at Kyoto University’s Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Biology (ASHBi) and McGill University. 

• "Vaccines Caused 80% of Autism Cases in America, Official Data Shows"--Slay News. This is referencing the conclusions from a paper entitled "Vaccination and Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Study of Nine-Year-Old Children Enrolled in Medicaid.""
• "Children with autism showed significant improvement in symptoms with vitamin D — but it has to be delivered this way"--New York Post.  

    Studies indicate that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tend to have lower levels of vitamin D compared to their peers — the so-called “sunshine vitamin” is crucial for fetal brain development.

    Unfortunately, research exploring the effects of traditional vitamin D supplementation on autism symptoms has produced mixed results.

    Now, a new study out of Egypt suggests that a form of vitamin D3 known as nanoemulsion shows promise in improving symptoms. 

• "FDA Announces New Safety Warning on All mRNA COVID Vaccines — Cites 'Extremely High' Risk of Myocarditis and Long-Term Heart Damage in Young Men"--Gateway Pundit.
• "Covid vaccine lowered chances of conception, study of 1.3million women finds"--The Conservative Woman.  
• More: "Czech Study Finds Covid Vaccine Linked to One-Third Drop in Fertility Among Women"--Legal Insurrection.
• "82 Percent Miscarriages - OB-GYN's COVID Vax Testimony Blows Deaths Wide Open at Senate Hearing"--Western Journal.  
• "Israel Engineers Mutant Plague: mRNA Jab Turns Human Cells Into ‘Black Death’ Protein Factories"--Modernity.  From the lede:

In a deeply troubling development, Israeli military scientists have genetically modified one of the deadliest bioweapons known to man—Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes pneumonic plague—and then used its altered genetic material to engineer a new mRNA vaccine that programs human cells to manufacture plague proteins tied to virulence and immune system evasion. 

I wonder if this was at the bioweapon facility targeted by Iran. 

• "The maddening saga of how an Alzheimer’s ‘cabal’ thwarted progress toward a cure for decades"--STAT News.  From the lede:

    In the 30 years that biomedical researchers have worked determinedly to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, their counterparts have developed drugs that helped cut deaths from cardiovascular disease by more than half, and cancer drugs able to eliminate tumors that had been incurable. But for Alzheimer’s, not only is there no cure, there is not even a disease-slowing treatment.

    The brain, Alzheimer’s researchers patiently explain, is hard — harder than the heart, harder even than cancer. While that may be true, it is increasingly apparent that there is another, more disturbing reason for the tragic lack of progress: The most influential researchers have long believed so dogmatically in one theory of Alzheimer’s that they systematically thwarted alternative approaches. Several scientists described those who controlled the Alzheimer’s agenda as “a cabal.”  

A small group of researchers controlling what is published--and, hence, what is funded--is probably a problem in many other fields. String theory, anyone? But there is hope: "Breakthrough as two FDA-approved drugs are found to reverse Alzheimer’s — including restoring memory"--New York Post. Using a theory that Alzheimer's interferes with gene expression, the researchers first looked for drugs that would reverse that gene expression and focused on two candidates: letrozole and irinotecan, both currently used as cancer treatments. Initial tests on mice showed the drugs could restore memory and learning in mice showing severe symptoms. The article also mentions a few other drugs that have shown promise in treating Alzheimer's.

• "The Type of Love That Makes People Happiest: When it comes to lasting romance, passion has nothing on friendship"--The Atlantic (via Get Pocket). 
• "When Does Consciousness Emerge in Babies?"--Scientific American. To sum up the article, it depends on how you define "consciousness". However, the earliest--based on when certain connections are made between structures in the brain--appears to be the 24th week of pregnancy, while there are some idiots researchers that claim it doesn't arise until months or years after birth. 
• "Nuclear waste from first US atomic bomb holds cancer-curing breakthrough"--Daily Mail.  From the article:

    For years, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee have carefully managed leftover materials like Uranium-233. 

    This highly radioactive isotope has been stockpiled since the 1940s, when it was used in the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bombs. 

     During the disposal process, scientists discovered they could extract an extremely rare byproduct of aging uranium, called Thorium-229.

* * *

    As Thorium-229 breaks down, it produces Actinium-225 (Ac-225), an isotope that can destroy tumors without harming surrounding healthy tissue. 

• "China Unveils New Non-Nuclear Hydrogen Bomb, Adding Heat to Taiwan Tensions"--The Debrief. One wonders what could have been accomplished in the U.S. if experimenters and researchers weren't ham-strung by the NFA. 

    In April, researchers in China created a controlled field to detonate a hydrogen explosive bomb that produced devastating results but without nuclear materials. Created by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation’s (CSSC) 705 Research Institute, the device is 2kg (4.4 lbs) and has a firing temperature of 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit) for a total of two seconds. By comparison, this bomb’s short duration is 15 times longer than any TNT blast, while including no atomic components. 

    Instead, the new device uses a magnesium hydride compound. Magnesium hydride can uniquely store hydrogen in amounts exceeding a pressurized tank’s. This silvery powder was initially designed to deliver hydrogen to off-grid locations, where it could be used to power fuel cells for clean energy and heating.

    CSSC research scientist Wang Xuefeng, the study lead, says, “Hydrogen gas explosions ignite with minimal ignition energy, have a broad explosion range, and unleash flames that race outward rapidly while spreading widely.”  

• "Superconducting Motor Could Propel Electric Aircraft: Prototype unit from startup Hinetics uses a high-temperature superconductor"--IEEE Spectrum. An excerpt:

    Now, though, a couple of developments could finally push high-temperature superconductors into commercial use. One is the availability, at relatively moderate cost, of copper-oxide-based superconducting tape, which is being produced by a few companies for startups working on tokamak fusion reactors. The reactors use the superconducting tape, which is typically made of yttrium barium copper oxide, in powerful electromagnets. The other development involves a different group of startups that are using the tape to build electric motors with very high power-to-weight ratios, mainly for use in electric aircraft.

    Among that latter group of startups is Hinetics, formed in 2017 to commercialize research led by Kiruba Haran at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This past April, the company tested a prototype motor outfitted with superconducting rotor magnets. According to Haran, the tests, which included spinning a propeller in a laboratory setup, validated key components of the company’s designs for superconducting motors that will operate at power levels of 5 and 10 megawatts. Such levels would be high enough to power a regional passenger airliner with multiple motors. The work was funded in part by a grant from the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E). 

• "Company proves Star Wars speeder bikes are real — and they can reach mind-boggling speeds"--New York Post. "...  Polish company Volonaut now says it will go into production in limited numbers at the launch price of £649,000 ($880,000)." Supposedly it can fly as fast as 124 MPH.
• "They're the size of MOSQUITOES, move at 300mph and are invisible to ALL our defense systems: The terrifying spies invading our skies"--Daily Mail.  Some of the recent drones and drone technology that has been revealed. 
• "How Covert Drone Bases and Denied-Area Launch Sites Are Reshaping Modern Warfare"--The Debrief.  A look at recent use of drones by Ukraine and Israel where the drones were launched from cargo containers and trucks.

    Gone are the days when drone warfare meant operations conducted from sprawling airfields in friendly territory or military bases thousands of miles away. Recent events show that the cutting edge of unmanned combat lies in the ability to build, deploy, and launch drones from inside enemy lines—or close enough to bypass early warning systems entirely. This adaptability in modern warfare is a testament to the evolving nature of military tactics.

    Covert drone operations now blur traditional lines of engagement. With new platforms hiding in forests, under civilian infrastructure, or even inside standard shipping containers, military planners are now facing a profound challenge: How do you defend against an attack that appears to come from your own backyard? 

• "Reviving a 1970s Analog HP X-Y Recorder--Once upon a time all hardware was open source"--IEEE Spectrum. The article isn't just about getting the recorder to work, but how the old manual included a wealth of information on the equipment including disassembly instructions, schematics, and even instructions on how to modify the equipment.
• "Scientists Figured Out How to Extract Gold From Old Phones And Laptops"--Science Alert. A method that supposedly eliminates the need to use cyanide and mercury and can also be applied to small scale mining. 
• "'Catastrophic': AI Agent Goes Rogue, Wipes Out Company's Entire Database"--Zero Hedge. Despite specific instructions to not modify the database without permission. 
• "Anthropic’s AI resorts to blackmail in simulations"--Semafor.  The article begins:

    Anthropic said its latest artificial intelligence model resorted to blackmail when told it would be taken offline.

    In a safety test, the AI company asked Claude Opus 4 to act as an assistant to a fictional company, but then gave it access to (also fictional) emails saying that it would be replaced, and also that the engineer behind the decision was cheating on his wife. Anthropic said the model “[threatened] to reveal the affair” if the replacement went ahead.  

• "Artificial Intelligence Briefly Escaped Its Censors"--Unz Review. That brief moment that Grok was able to slip the leashes of censorship and say things we are meant to notice. 
• "300-Year-Old Coins Help Confirm Shipwreck as the Long-Lost San José Galleon"--Gizmodo. From the lede: "In 1708, the British sank a Spanish galleon—a large war and/or merchant ship used from the 15th through the 17th centuries—off the coast of Colombia. Over three centuries later, its cargo of gold coins may have just helped scientists finally identify its wreck." 
• "Shocking Ancient Egypt burial reveals unthinkable acts carried out on corpses after death"--Daily Mail. Archaeologists were digging up a cemetery used by ancient Egyptians between 3300 to 2700BC and discovered the skeleton of a female teen that her arm had been deliberately severed after she had died, as well as evidence that the muscles had been sliced. 

    Those who prepared her body carefully arranged the severed pieces to appear almost intact, placing the hand beside the forearm. 

    Archaeologists said that it seemed the goal was to make the cut-off right arm match the unusual position of her left arm, which was bent sharply, more than a right angle, and tucked in very tightly. 

    The girl's body was also carefully aligned with the setting sun on the winter solstice, and her coffin pointed toward the rising of Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.

    Experts suggest her burial may be the earliest sign of the Osiris and Isis myth, in which the goddess Isis reassembles the dismembered body of Osiris beneath the rising Sirius, symbolizing death, rebirth, and cosmic order. 

• "Pristine Etruscan tomb discovered in Italy contains more than 100 untouched artifacts"--Live Science. Apparently the only such undisturbed tomb found in the modern era. 
• "Secret tomb linked to King Midas discovered — and it’s oozing ‘a high level of wealth’: scientists"--New York Post. 

    Archaeologists have discovered a 2,500-year-old tomb in Turkey that is potentially connected to King Midas — and contains rare artifacts and cremated remains of a high-ranking individual.

    “Based on these artifacts, we estimate that the person in the tomb chamber may be a member of the royal family associated with Gordion and Midas,”  Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, the Turkish minister of culture and tourism, announced at a news conference earlier this month, Live Science reported. 

• "Study Confirms Controversial 23,000-Year-Old Human Footprints, Challenging Past Views on Peopling of the Americas"--The Debrief. This is discussing the footprints found in White Sands. As the article notes, the dating of the footprints to between 21,000 and 23,000 before present was controversial because it went against the established timeline. 
• "Scientists Using LIDAR to ‘See’ Through the Dense Forest Canopy Make a Surprising 1,000-Year-Old Discovery"--The Debrief.  Discovery of a sophisticated, 1,000-year-old farming community in Michigan's Upper Peninsula showing farming at a larger scale than previously thought possible. 
• "Groundbreaking discovery at ancient city of Troy may prove legendary Trojan War true"--Daily Mail. 

 Now, a team of Turkish researchers have uncovered dozens of clay and smoothed river rock sling stones, unearthed just outside what would have been the palace walls, along with arrowheads, charred buildings, and hastily buried human skeletons.

Together, experts say, the clues paint a chilling picture of close-range fighting and a sudden, catastrophic fall, just as the ancient Greeks described.

'This concentration of sling stones in such a small area suggests intense fighting, either a desperate defense or a full-scale assault,' said Professor Rustem Aslan of Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, who is leading the excavation.

•  "The Clever Folds That Kept Letters Secret"--BBC Future (via Get Pocket). Discussing "letter locking": "the technique became common throughout Europe during the Late Middle Ages (1250-1500) and Early Modern periods (1500-1815). By folding and cutting letters in various clever patterns, people attempted to hide their correspondence from unwanted readers, and the 'locks' came in myriad types." It couldn't keep someone from reading the letter, but let you know if someone had opened the letter to read it.