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Aug 30, 2020

Black hole ‘hair’ could be detected using ripples in space-time

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

Black holes are celestial objects with such massive gravity that not even light can escape their clutches once it crosses the event horizon, or point-of-no-return. The event horizons of black holes lock secrets deep within them — secrets that could completely revolutionize our understanding of physics.

Unfortunately, for decades many scientists thought whatever information falls into a black hole might be lost forever. But new research suggests that ripples in space-time, or gravitational waves may carry a faint whisper of this hidden information by revealing the presence of wispy “hairs” on a black hole’s surface.


Hair may record the information swallowed by the gravitational monsters.

Aug 30, 2020

An asteroid the size of a high-rise will fly near Earth on September 1

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks

It is reported that the dimensions of the celestial body are from 22 to 49 meters. According to the space agency, at the minimum distance to the planet – about 120 thousand kilometers – the asteroid will come up at 19.12 Moscow time. The asteroid is moving at 8.16 kilometers per second.

Note that the celestial body was discovered on March 2, 2011. It belongs to the group of “Apollo”, that is, asteroids, whose flight paths cross the Earth’s orbit.

Aug 30, 2020

As the Pandemic Drags on, More People Are Smoking More Weed

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Dealers are struggling to keep up, and particularly in Australia.

Aug 30, 2020

Scientists Use Fruit Peel to Turn Old Lithium-Ion Batteries Into New

Posted by in categories: economics, food

Scientists led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a novel method of using fruit peel waste to extract and reuse precious metals from spent lithium-ion batteries in order to create new batteries.

The team demonstrated their concept using orange peel, which recovered precious metals from battery waste efficiently. They then made functional batteries from these recovered metals, creating minimal waste in the process.

The scientists say that their waste-to-resource approach tackles both food waste and electronics waste, supporting the development of a circular economy with zero waste, in which resources are kept in use for as long as possible. An estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of food waste and 50 million tonnes of e-waste are generated globally each year.

Aug 30, 2020

The Answer Wall

Posted by in category: futurism

Circa 2018

Is water wet? – The Answer Wall.


I provided this answer last week: Wetness is a perception, not an objective fact, and perceptual clues for wetness are actually not so straightforward, as you can see in this physiology article: bit.ly/wetness-perception. So, is water wet? Sorta maybe.

Aug 30, 2020

The origins of water

Posted by in categories: materials, space

Our blue planet having water seems such a simple and obvious fact that the question of why Earth has water at all feels like a trivial one. However, the origin of this key ingredient for life has remained a long-standing topic of debate. According to models of Solar System formation, Earth, as an inner Solar System planet, should have little to no water. On page 1110 of this issue, Piani et al. ([ 1 ][1]) analyze enstatite chondrite meteorites, a material similar to Earth’s main building blocks, and address the origins of Earth’s water.

Early models of planetary formation predicted that the nebular gas near our young Sun was too hot to form ice.

Aug 30, 2020

At least 463 million students around the world have no access to digital or broadcast lessons, UNICEF report says

Posted by in category: futurism

Aug 30, 2020

We Can Now See Inside the Human Body With the Greatest Detail To Date

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

This laser technology can see inside our bodies like never before 🤯.

Aug 30, 2020

Starship SN6 prepares for hop — Super Heavy is coming

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

Starship SN6 is aiming to conduct a 150-meter hop test on Sunday, just a few weeks after SN5 completed the first Starship prototype launch. SN6’s test will be a near-mirror of SN5’s short flight, with both prototypes aiming to refine SpaceX’s launch and landing operations. Meanwhile, additional Starships continue to evolve, along with preparations for the Super Heavy booster, which – according to Chief Designer Elon Musk – could conduct an initial test hop by October.

SN5 and SN6:

Continue reading “Starship SN6 prepares for hop — Super Heavy is coming” »

Aug 30, 2020

“Jumping” DNA Regulates Human Neurons

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Summary: Transposable elements team up with evolutionary recent neurons to influence differentiation and physiological function of neurons in brain development.

Source: EPFL

The human genome contains over 4.5 million sequences of DNA called “transposable elements”, these virus-like entities that “jump” around and help regulate gene expression. They do this by binding transcription factors, which are proteins that regulate the rate of transcription of DNA to RNA, influencing gene expression in a broad range of biological events.