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Feb 28, 2024

Possibly habitable Trappist-1 exoplanet caught destroying its own atmosphere

Posted by in category: space

Trappist-1e is the fourth planet from the red dwarf star at the heart of this fascinating planetary system of rocky worlds. Astronomers have previously discovered that Trappist-1b, the closest exoplanet to the star, seems to have already lost its atmosphere.

The team thinks voltage-driven Joule heating could also be impacting Trappist-1f and Trappist-1g, stripping them of their atmospheres as well, albeit to a lesser extent than they see happening with Trappist-1e. That’s because, at 0.038 and 0.04683 times the distance between Earth and the sun from their star respectively, these planets are moving slower through the red dwarf’s stellar winds than Trappist-1e is.

“Closer-in planets of Trappist-1 will have an even more extreme fate, and further out ones a bit milder,” Garraffo said. “I would imagine that all Trappist-1 planets are going to have a hard time holding on to any atmosphere.”

Feb 28, 2024

Roger Penrose’s Mind-Bending Theory of Reality

Posted by in categories: neuroscience, quantum physics

Nobel Laureate Sir Roger Penrose on his Orch OR theory of consciousness that could change what we know about time, the universe and reality, by incorporating the physics of consciousness. Explore mind blowing facts about our reality that show consciousness in quantum mechanics.

▶️ Read the article on Forbes.com https://rb.gy/s5uzf.
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Feb 28, 2024

Precise Recovery: Aligning Orion and Artemis II Crew for Safe Retrieval

Posted by in category: space travel

One of the most crucial steps—if not the most crucial step—in safely returning astronauts to the Earth from space is the recovery process. This can happen either on land or sea, but for NASA’s upcoming Artemis II mission, the Orion capsule will be conducting a splashdown like the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and currently SpaceX Dragon capsules. This is why the Artemis II crew recently participated in Underway Recovert Test 11 (URT-11) on Febraury 24, which was the 11th scheduled mockup recovery test using a mockup capsule designed to simulate the exact conditions they will endure after splashing down from their historic mission.

NASA Artemis II crew members and U.S. Navy personnel seen participating in Underway Recovery Test 11 (URT-11) in the Pacific Ocean on Feb. 25, 2024. (Credit: NASA/Kenny Allen)

“Our highly choreographed recovery operations will help ensure the final phase of NASA’s first crewed mission to the Moon in more than 50 years ends as a success,” Lili Villareal, who is NASA’s landing and recovery director, said in a statement.

Feb 28, 2024

How sensory gamma rhythm stimulation clears amyloid in Alzheimer’s mice

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Stimulating a key brain rhythm with light and sound increases peptide release from interneurons, driving clearance of Alzheimer’s protein via the brain’s glymphatic system, new study suggests.

Feb 28, 2024

A First-of-Its-Kind Signal Was Detected in The Human Brain

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Scientists have identified a unique form of cell messaging occurring in the human brain, revealing just how much we still have to learn about its mysterious inner workings.

Excitingly, the discovery hints that our brains might be even more powerful units of computation than we realized.

Back in 2020, researchers from institutes in Germany and Greece reported a mechanism in the brain’s outer cortical cells that produces a novel ‘graded’ signal all on its own, one that could provide individual neurons with another way to carry out their logical functions.

Feb 28, 2024

James Webb Space Telescope finds ‘extremely red’ supermassive black hole growing in the early universe

Posted by in categories: cosmology, space travel

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered an “extremely red” supermassive black hole growing in the shadowy, early universe.

The red hue of the supermassive black hole, seen as it was around 700 million years after the Big Bang, is the result of the expanding universe. As the universe balloons outward in all directions, light traveling toward us gets “redshifted,” and the redshifted light in this case indicates a cloak of thick gas and dust shrouding the black hole.

Feb 28, 2024

Lex Fridman Podcast

Posted by in category: futurism

Feb 28, 2024

Classification_of_the_approaches_to_the.docx

Posted by in category: futurism

Classification of approaches to technological resurrection.


Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. Never email yourself a file again!

Feb 28, 2024

Study unlocks nanoscale secrets for designing next-generation solar cells

Posted by in categories: engineering, life extension, nanotechnology, solar power, sustainability

Perovskites, a broad class of compounds with a particular kind of crystal structure, have long been seen as a promising alternative or supplement to today’s silicon or cadmium telluride solar panels. They could be far more lightweight and inexpensive, and could be coated onto virtually any substrate, including paper or flexible plastic that could be rolled up for easy transport.

In their efficiency at converting sunlight to electricity, perovskites are becoming comparable to silicon, whose manufacture still requires long, complex, and energy-intensive processes. One big remaining drawback is longevity: They tend to break down in a matter of months to years, while silicon can last more than two decades. And their efficiency over large module areas still lags behind silicon.

Now, a team of researchers at MIT and several other institutions has revealed ways to optimize efficiency and better control degradation, by engineering the nanoscale structure of perovskite devices.

Feb 28, 2024

Multiple Sclerosis Diagnostics/Genetic Scoring Could Expedite Sight-Saving Treatment

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, neuroscience

The results of research led by scientists at the University of Exeter, and at King’s College London, suggests that young people could be spared from going blind by a new genetic risk tool that could also help predict patients who will progress to multiple sclerosis (MS) earlier, and get treatment started earlier. The study has shown for the first time that combining genetic risk for MS with demographic factors significantly improves MS risk prediction in people presenting with the eye disorder, which is called optic neuritis (ON).

Tasanee Braithwaite, MD, consultant ophthalmologist to the Medical Eye Unit at Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, and adjunct senior lecturer at King’s College London said, “As a doctor caring for many patients with optic neuritis, I’m excited by the possibility of translating this pilot research into front line clinical care in the near future. Whilst more research is needed, our study provides a strong signal that we could better identify patients at high risk of MS, perhaps enabling these people to have earlier MS treatment in the future. Whereas, if we could better identify people whose optic neuritis is very unlikely to result from MS, we could treat these people urgently to reduce irreversible vision loss and blindness.”

Braithwaite is senior author of the team’s published paper in Nature Communications, titled “Applying a genetic risk score model to enhance prediction of future multiple sclerosis diagnosis at first presentation with optic neuritis,” in which they concluded, “This study indicates that a combined model might enhance individual MS risk stratification, paving the way for precision-based ON treatment and earlier MS disease-modifying therapy.”