science
- Scientists accidentally discovered deep-sea 'jelly' creatures fused into a 'single entity' after an injurydigitimed.com Scientists accidentally discovered deep-sea 'jelly' creatures fused into a 'single entity' after an injury
Scientists accidentally discovered deep-sea 'jelly' creatures fused into a 'single entity' after an injury
Cool!
Also, yuck!
- Does spanking harm child development? Major study challenges common beliefswww.psypost.org Does spanking harm child development? Major study challenges common beliefs
New research indicates that spanking has minimal effects on children’s development, explaining less than 1% of behavioral outcomes. The study suggests that controlled, limited spanking may be effective for some young children, especially when used alongside milder discipline methods.
- Birds Practice Singing in Their Sleep
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20847663
Scientists had previously observed sleeping birds making movements that resembled lip-syncing. In earlier work, Mindlin and his colleagues implanted electrodes in two Zebra Finches; for a recent study in Chaos, they did the same for two Great Kiskadees. This let them record and compare neuron and muscle activity in the sleeping birds.
When awake, Zebra Finches sing a well-regulated line of staccato notes. But their sleeping song movements are fragmented, disjointed and sporadic—“rather like a dream,” Mindlin says. A dozing finch seems to silently practice a few “notes” and then add another, producing a pattern of muscle activity that reminds Mindlin “of learning a musical instrument.”
- People with dyslexia and dyscalculia show less bias, study showswww.plymouth.ac.uk People with dyslexia and dyscalculia show less bias, study shows
University of Plymouth news: A new research study led by our School of Psychology shows that people with dyslexia and dyscalculia show less bias.
- Physicists Generated Sound Waves That Travel in One Direction Onlywww.sciencealert.com Physicists Generated Sound Waves That Travel in One Direction Only
A new way to create silence.
> Imagine three people huddled in a circle so when one speaks, only one other hears. Scientists have created a device that works like that, ensuring sound waves ripple in one direction only.
>
> The device, developed by scientists at ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, is made up of a disk-shaped cavity with three equally-spaced ports that can each send or receive sound.
> In an inactive state, sound transmitted from port 1 is audible to ports 2 and 3 at equal volumes. Sound waves bounce back to port 1 as an echo as well.
> When the system is running, however, only port 2 hears port 1's sounds.
> The trick is to blow swirling air into the cavity at a specific speed and intensity, which allows the sound waves to synchronize in a repeating pattern. That not only guides the sound waves in a single direction, but gives more energy to those oscillations so they don't dissipate. It's kind of like a roundabout for sound.
> The scientists say their technique may inform the design of future communications technologies. New metamaterials could be made to manipulate not just sound waves but potentially electromagnetic waves too.
Please incorporate this technology into TVs so I don't have to hear them through the wall.
- UTSW study explores link between high school IQ and alcohol usewww.utsouthwestern.edu UTSW study explores link between high school IQ and alcohol use
A person’s IQ during high school is predictive of alcohol consumption later in life, according to a study by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers published in Alcohol and Alcoholism.
- New Autism Research Finds That Autistic Brains Are Differently Wiredwww.forbes.com New Autism Research Finds That Autistic Brains Are Differently Wired
Neurodiversity advocates say that autistic brains are differently wired. New autism research finds that neuron density is different in two key areas of autistic brains.
- Jupiter's Great Red Spot is being squeezed, Hubble Telescope finds — and nobody knows why (video)www.space.com Jupiter's Great Red Spot is being squeezed, Hubble Telescope finds — and nobody knows why (video)
Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot has been under constant observation since the 19th century, but this new development is unprecedented.
Jupiter pics. still don't know why
- 'Islands' of regularity discovered in the famously chaotic three-body problemphys.org 'Islands' of regularity discovered in the famously chaotic three-body problem
When three massive objects meet in space, they influence each other through gravity in ways that evolve unpredictably. In a word: Chaos. That is the conventional understanding. Now, a researcher from the University of Copenhagen has discovered that such encounters often avoid chaos and instead follo...
- World’s oldest known (representational) artwork in Indonesian cave dated using laserswww.nature.com World’s oldest known artwork in Indonesian cave dated using lasers
A cave painting on a southeast Asian island is estimated to be at least 51,200 years old.
Laser-induced imaging of radioactive elements was used to work out the age of an ancient cave painting on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. The results reveal that the narrative scene is 51,200 years old, making it the earliest known example of representational art. This study challenges previous dating methods and suggests a deeper origin for human image-making and storytelling.
TL;DR or if you don't have access to the article: the researchers invented a faster, less-destructive and more-accurate rock art dating method & applied it to humanity's oldest known rock art in Sulawesi, Indonesia. The art is at least 51,200 years old (authors' lower estimate)!
Edit: contrary to what the news title original stated: this is the oldest representational art, not the literal oldest human-created art.
The paper itself (open access): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07541-7
- In double breakthrough, mathematician solves two long-standing problemswww.sciencedaily.com In double breakthrough, mathematician solves two long-standing problems
A professor who has devoted his career to resolving the mysteries of higher mathematics has solved two separate, fundamental problems that have perplexed mathematicians for decades.
Pham Tiep, the Joshua Barlaz Distinguished Professor of Mathematics in the Rutgers School of Arts and Science's Department of Mathematics, has completed a proof of the 1955 Height Zero Conjecture posed by Richard Brauer, a leading German-American mathematician who died in 1977. Proof of the conjecture -- commonly viewed as one of the most outstanding challenges in a field of math known as the representation theory of finite groups -- was published in the September issue of the Annals of Mathematics.
- Black Hole Tears Star to Shreds, Flings Its Guts Toward Another Star Nearbygizmodo.com Black Hole Tears Star to Shreds, Flings Its Guts Toward Another Star Nearby
The gargantuan object is driving a "cosmic two-for-one" that could shed light on the source of a weird kind of X-ray.
- Pictured: Blue boulders seen on surface of Marswww.yahoo.com Pictured: Blue boulders seen on surface of Mars
Blue boulders have been seen on the surface of Mars in a vast crater believed to have been created by an asteroid.
- Here’s Why Hurricane Milton Caused So Many Tornadoesgizmodo.com Here’s Why Hurricane Milton Caused So Many Tornadoes
A meteorologist explains why dozens of twisters touched down across the Florida peninsula before the storm's landfall.
- Your brain changes based on what you did two weeks agowww.newsweek.com Your brain changes based on what you did two weeks ago
A workout or restless night from two weeks ago could still be affecting you—positively or negatively—today.
- 2-bn-year-old rock harbors living microbes, rewrites life's historyinterestingengineering.com 2-bn-year-old rock harbors living microbes, rewrites life's history
A 2-billion-year-old rock in South Africa has yielded an incredible discovery: living microbes trapped within its sealed fractures.
- The science behind why people think they're right when they're so, so wrongwww.nbcnews.com The science behind why people think they're right when they're so, so wrong
A new study illustrates the saying, "you don't know what you don't know."
- World-first therapy using donor cells sends autoimmune diseases into remissionwww.nature.com World-first therapy using donor cells sends autoimmune diseases into remission
The treatment’s success in three people raises hopes for mass production of cutting-edge CAR T therapies.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/21130734
- Complete (telomere-to-telomere diploid genome) sequencing of genomes of six ape specieswww.biorxiv.org Complete sequencing of ape genomes
We present haplotype-resolved reference genomes and comparative analyses of six ape species, namely: chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, Bornean orangutan, Sumatran orangutan, and siamang. We achieve chromosome-level contiguity with unparalleled sequence accuracy (<1 error in 500,000 base pairs), completel...
The Telomere-to-telomere consortium's primate project. We now have complete, diploid genomes of six ape species (chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, Bornean orangutan, Sumatran orangutan, and siamang). Maybe this will show up on Nature or somewhere next year :D
Manuscript is literally just out on biorxiv.org past Saturday... So title/details subject to change, and unfortunately there are no fancy news articles making it any easier to read
Links:
- Double standards in promotion and tenure (for underrepresented minority faculty: especially if you are a women of colour)www.nature.com Double standards in promotion and tenure - Nature Human Behaviour
Despite much anecdotal evidence, few studies show pervasive racial bias in promotion and tenure decisions. By analysing 1,571 real promotion and tenure cases across five US universities, Masters-Waage et al. find double standards negatively applied to scholars of colour, and especially women of colo...
Despite much anecdotal evidence, few studies show pervasive racial bias in promotion and tenure decisions. By analysing 1,571 real promotion and tenure cases across five US universities, Masters-Waage et al. find double standards negatively applied to scholars of colour, and especially women of colour, even after accounting for scholarly productivity.
Shortcoming of this paper is that it is
- 1500+ individuals from five typical research-intensive US-based institutions, so other countries/types of institutions might see differences. Two HBCUs were also excluded, wouldn't be surprised if they see less racism.
- I believe it was mentioned somewhere that the team only looked at Black and Hispanic faculty members, because other minorities are too few in numbers to look at... If you are wondering, Asians/Asian Americans are not considered minorities in academia.
Original paper, open access & quite easy to read if you are interested
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01977-7
Dataset:
- https://osf.io/9xu65/?view_only=8af03fe8158c43a185ce807a17e43431
The associated Science News articles, both original URL and archive.org ver:
- https://www.science.org/content/article/racial-bias-can-taint-academic-tenure-process-one-particular-point
- https://web.archive.org/web/20241005023358/https://www.science.org/content/article/racial-bias-can-taint-academic-tenure-process-one-particular-point
- Interesting Engineering: Hybrid energy raft could power 1,000 homes a day with wave, wind, solarinterestingengineering.com Wave, wind, solar hybrid energy raft can power 1,000 homes daily
NoviOcean's innovative Hybrid Energy Converter combines wave, wind, and solar power, generating double the energy of wind alone.
NoviOcean’s wave power technology, developed over several years, has been tested in wave pools and a real environment near Stockholm. A small version powers homes on Svanholmen island, proving the concept works at sea.
On one square kilometer, 15 wave power plants can generate 15 MW, compared to offshore wind’s 10 MW. Combined, they can produce 25 MW, sharing the costs of the sea area and transmission cable.
According to the firm, the hybrid approach delivers more consistent energy, as waves generate power for days after the wind subsides. Additionally, wave plants can be placed closer to shore without visually disturbing the coastline.
- A bright comet will be visible in northern skies soon. How to see it.www.usatoday.com A bright comet will be visible in northern skies soon. How to see it.
Comet C/2023 A3 will make its closest approach to Earth and sun, its first in 80,000 years.
>Where to look for C/2023 A3 in the night sky
For observers in the Northern Hemisphere, comet C/2023 A3 can be found in the constellation Sextans and will rise one hour before the sun, according to Astronomy.com.
The comet will be best viewed in mid-October, rising up from the western horizon and be visible in the southwestern sky at nightfall, weather permitting. That will likely be its best and brightest appearance until it starts to fade from view by Nov. 7, according to SkyandTelescope.com.
- The coolest new space pictures: September 2024www.planetary.org The coolest new space pictures: September 2024
The Polaris Dawn private space mission performed the first-ever commercial spacewalk and livestreamed the highlights.
- Why trolls, extremists, and others spread conspiracy theories they don’t believe
Admiral Patrick @dubvee.org Lockedarstechnica.com Why trolls, extremists, and others spread conspiracy theories they don’t believeSome just want to promote conflict, cause chaos, or even just get attention.
Some just want to promote conflict, cause chaos, or even just get attention.
There has been a lot of research on the types of people who believe conspiracy theories, and their reasons for doing so. But there’s a wrinkle: My colleagues and I have found that there are a number of people sharing conspiracies online who don’t believe their own content.
They are opportunists. These people share conspiracy theories to promote conflict, cause chaos, recruit and radicalize potential followers, make money, harass, or even just to get attention.
There are several types of this sort of conspiracy-spreader trying to influence you.
- How to win a Nobel prize: what kind of scientist scoops medals?www.nature.com How to win a Nobel prize: what kind of scientist scoops medals?
What subjects have past winners studied? What age were they when they won? Where do they live? Nature crunched the data on every science prizewinner to find out.
Let's not say the quiet part out loud.
This is a data visualization of three papers on this topic by the Nature team. The three papers are listed below (all are open access!). You are not misreading them (including the second paper), the titles mean what they say.
- Mitsis P. The Nobel Prize time gap. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01418-8
- Tol RSJ. The Nobel family. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-024-04936-1
- Ioannidis JPA, Cristea I-A, Boyack KW. Work honored by Nobel prizes clusters heavily in a few scientific fields. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234612
- October's new moon will bring us a spectacular 'ring of fire' eclipsewww.space.com October's new moon will bring us a spectacular 'ring of fire' eclipse
October's new moon will occur today (Oct. 2) and create a dazzling annular solar eclipse.
>The new moon occurs on Wednesday, Oct. 2, at 2:49 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (1849 GMT), according to the U.S. Naval Observatory, and for observers in the southeastern Pacific islands and southern Chile and Argentina there will be an annular solar eclipse.
counts me out.
- Fly brain sheds light on human thought processwww.bbc.com Fly brain sheds light on human thought process
A new map showing 50 million neural connections is a 'huge leap' to understanding our own brains.
Now for the first time scientists researching the brain of a fly have identified the position, shape and connections of every single one of its 130,000 cells and 50 million connections.
It's the most detailed analysis of the brain of an adult animal ever produced.
One leading brain specialist independent of the new research described the breakthrough as a "huge leap" in our understanding of our own brains.
- Making climate models relevant for local decision-makersnews.mit.edu Making climate models relevant for local decision-makers
A climate modeling downscaling method developed by MIT scientists leverages a machine-learning technique called adversarial learning to produce simulations faster and at finer resolutions, making them relevant to use on local levels for assessing risks of extreme weather.
Interesting application of machine learning to actually reduce computational intensity for once...
- A hurricane’s aftermath may spur up to 11,000 deathswww.sciencenews.org A hurricane’s aftermath may spur up to 11,000 deaths
Hurricanes like Helene may indirectly cause deaths for years. Stress, pollution and a loss of infrastructure could all contribute to tropical cyclone fatalities.
- Does Betelgeuse have a companion star?
New analysis of Betelgeuse’s brightness variations and other data points to a small, close companion for this giant star.
- 1.5 billion cosmic objects dazzle in the largest infrared Milky Way map ever createdwww.popsci.com 1.5 billion cosmic objects dazzle in the largest infrared Milky Way map ever created
‘We have changed the view of our galaxy forever.’
- Largest brain map ever reveals fruit fly’s neurons in exquisite detailwww.nature.com Largest brain map ever reveals fruit fly’s neurons in exquisite detail
Wiring diagram lays out connections between nearly 140,000 neurons and reveals new types of nerve cell.
"... Researchers are hoping to do that now that they have a new map — the most complete for any organism so far — of the brain of a single fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster). The wiring diagram, or ‘connectome’, includes nearly 140,000 neurons and captures more than 54.5 million synapses, which are the connections between nerve cells.
... The map is described in a package of nine papers about the data published in Nature today. Its creators are part of a consortium known as FlyWire, co-led by neuroscientists Mala Murthy and Sebastian Seung at Princeton University in New Jersey."
See the associated Nature collection: The FlyWire connectome: neuronal wiring diagram of a complete fly brain, which also has links to the nine papers
All nine papers are open access!
