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Fluoropolymers have become an integral part of modern society, both in industrial and consumer applications. When these high-performance materials reach the end of their useful life, they can end up in both industrial and household waste. Researchers analyzed the contribution of waste incineration of fluoropolymers to the release of low-molecular, non-polymeric fluorinated compounds. Their experiments showed nearly complete destruction of fluoropolymers in combustion at the temperatures and residence times typical of European incinerators.

Readers find automated news articles poorer than manually-written texts in relation to word choice and use of numbers.

Researchers have developed a faster and more accurate method for acquiring and reconstructing high-quality 3D surface measurements. The approach could greatly improve the speed and accuracy of surface measurements used for industrial inspection, medical applications, robotic vision and more.

Researchers have developed a new AI tool that uses imaging data to also detect less frequent diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

Young people today are growing up in a social media-saturated world where technology plays a central role in shaping most of their experiences. And the rapid rise of social media use has consequently created parental and societal fears about young people's social and psychological well-being. Now, a team of researchers has used real social media data to show that young people may indeed be more sensitive to social media feedback (likes) than adults, and that this directly impacts their engagement and their mood.

Using a few zaps of electricity to the skin, researchers can stop bacterial infections without using any drugs. For the first time, researchers designed a skin patch that uses imperceptible electric currents to control microbes.

Producing materials such as steel, plastics and cement in the United States alone inflicts $79 billion a year in climate-related damage around the world, according to a new study by engineers and economists. Accounting for these costs in market prices could encourage progress toward climate-friendly alternatives.

A team of engineers has published a study on how international air travel has influenced the spread of COVID-19, finding Western Europe, the Middle East and North America as leading regions in fueling the pandemic.

A historical supernova documented by Chinese and Japanese astronomers in 1181 has been lost for centuries, until very recently. Yet, the newly found remnant shows some stunning characteristics that are puzzling astronomers. Now, it surrenders its secrets. A team provides the first detailed study of the supernova's structure and speed of expansion in 3D.

The new visualization tool developed by researchers at HHMI's Janelia Research Campus helps scientists uncover activity patterns in large-scale neural recordings -- the first step in the development of new theories about how individual neurons and circuits enable behavior.

An old physical phenomenon, known as the Hall effect, has revealed some new tricks. New findings have potential implications for understanding fundamental physics of quantum materials and developing applied technologies such as quantum communication and harvesting energy via radio frequencies.

An old physical phenomenon, known as the Hall effect, has revealed some new tricks. New findings have potential implications for understanding fundamental physics of quantum materials and developing applied technologies such as quantum communication and harvesting energy via radio frequencies.

Just to fill in the Nooz, here are a few items:

First, there’s a Google Doodle (click on screenshot below) celebrating the “Rise of the Half Moon”, in which you can play a game demonstrating your knowledge of the lunar cycle.

*Slate has an article criticizing the institutional neutrality of universities (as embodied in Chicago’s Kalven Report). Why? Because these are parlous times (e.g., Trump is running and universities ust denounce him and his policies. The author happens to be the President of Wesleyan University!

This may seem straightforward, but in the wake of Oct. 7 and controversies over statements (or the lack of statements) concerning the atrocities, many academic leaders have embraced a doctrine of “institutional neutrality.” Recalling the bruising hearings with lawmakers in December 2023 and the campus protests of last spring, it seemed to many safer to celebrate a doctrine that called for silence. Few people, of course, want corporate-sounding university statements that say next to nothing while trying to please everyone, but now presidents, deans, and others are being told not to participate in debates about the issues of the day. After years of encouraging “more speech” as a sign of a school’s commitment to freedom of expression, the fear of offending students, faculty, and, especially, lawmakers and donors has led many academic leaders to retreat from the public sphere.

This is exactly the wrong time for such a retreat. Although academic leaders usually stay neutral about a candidate’s political statements, today’s campaign rhetoric is not politics as usual. The threats to higher education made by former President Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance are not subtle. Although for decades schools have interacted well with Republican and Democratic representatives, the brazen VP candidate has declared that “universities are the enemy.” The Trump agenda promises to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion departments and to punish those schools who do not live up to a right-wing version of civil rights standards. Trump has promised to close down the Department of Education and fire the accreditors who now certify which schools are eligible for governmental support. The folks who brought us the fraudulent Trump University now threaten to dismantle a higher-education ecosystem that is still (for now) the envy of the rest of the world. We must not be neutral about this.

The problem is, of course, that ideologues will always maintain that this ia a crucial election, and the university must pronounce on it. If ever there was a slippery slope, this is one. And the article makes an error:

External controlling of the curriculum, monitoring entrance exams, and policing faculty are direct threats to our educational missions, and these are not the only ones. Institutional leaders should also be speaking out against the mass deportation the Republican nominees threaten. So many of our schools have made a place for Dreamers, those students who were brought to the United States as children, and whose status in a second Trump administration is uncertain. Now Trump has promised to deport legal immigrants as well. His nasty nativism is antithetical to the recruitment of international students, a practice that has been a boon to higher education and to the world. We must not be neutral about this.

Apparently author Roth doesn’t realize that the University did issue an official pronouncement favoring protection of the Dreamers and legislation to keep them here.  Other stuff that the overheated author wants us to issue statements about has nothing to do the mission of a University:

Educators should give up the popular pastime of criticizing the woke and call out instead the overt racism that has rippled through the Trump campaign over the past few months. The rhetoric about pet-eating Haitians is the most sensational example, but when a presidential candidate speculates about immigrants’ genetic disposition to commit crimes while also calling minorities “vermin,” we are fully in the zone of racist hate.

We do not call out stuff like making false assertions that Haitians eat dogs. Stupid though it is, what does that have to do with the mission of a university?

*Once again Anthony Blinken has made a futile trip to Israel to try persuading the Jewish state to lose the war.  Apparently he envisions a Gaza ruled by the Palestinian Authority, a position he’s held for some time, and a position that’s beyond stupid.

The United States sees a new opportunity to revive cease-fire efforts after the killing of top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israeli forces in Gaza last week. But there’s no indication that the warring parties have modified their demands since talks stalled over the summer.

There was also no immediate sign of a breakthrough after Blinken met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials on Tuesday.

Israel blamed the failure of talks on Sinwar’s hard-line stance, but Hamas says its demands for a lasting cease-fire, full Israeli withdrawal and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners have not changed. Hamas blamed the failure of the talks on Israel’s demand for a lasting military presence in parts of Gaza.

Apparently Blinken also touted an Egyptian plan for a limited hostage release in return for a short cease fire (not acceptable; they must let all the hostages go) and told Israel they have to keep the humanitarian aid flowing to northern Gaza, though Israel is trying to defeat Hamas there by providing humanitarian corridors for civilians to evacuate northern Gaza so Israel can impose a siege on Hamas to eliminate it there. But no dice: the aid must keep coming, and Hamas gets the lion’s share of it.

*Speaking of Israel, that country has had to change its plans for its reprisal on Iran for the recent missile attack; this is because Israel’s original reprisal plans were leaked from somewhere in the U.S. government (suspects have been floated).

Israel has been forced to delay a potential retaliatory attack on Iran after details of the planning were leaked from the US, Britain’s The Times newspaper reported Thursday.

According to the report, citing an unnamed intelligence source with knowledge of Israeli deliberations, Israel is worried that even though no potential targets were named in the leak, the details provided could help Iran predict certain patterns of attack.

The Times said Israel has developed an alternative plan but needs to war-game it before proceeding.

. . . “The leak of the American documents delayed the attack due to the need to change certain strategies and components,” the source said. “There will be a retaliation, but it has taken longer than it was supposed to take.”

Marked top secret, the documents first appeared online Friday on the Telegram messaging app and quickly spread among Telegram channels popular with Iranians.

I say Israel should go for Iran’s nukes, though of course the Biden administration, for reasons best know to itself, seems to have forbidden that.

*A Wall Street Journal poll reports that “Trump takes narrow lead over Harris in closing weeks of race.”

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Donald Trump has opened a narrow lead in the presidential race, as voters have adopted a more positive view of his agenda and past performance and a more negative view of Kamala Harris, a new Wall Street Journal poll finds.

The national survey finds that Trump is leading Harris by 2 percentage points, 47% to 45%, compared with a Harris lead of 2 points in the Journal’s August survey on a ballot that includes third-party and independent candidates. Both leads are within the polls’ margins of error, meaning that either candidate could actually be ahead.

The survey suggests that a barrage of negative advertising in the campaign and the performance of the candidates themselves have undermined some of the positive impressions of Harris that voters developed after she replaced President Biden as the presumed and then confirmed Democratic nominee.

. . . Views of Harris have turned more negative since August, when equal shares of voters viewed her favorably and unfavorably. Now, the unfavorable views are dominant by 8 percentage points, 53% to 45%. Moreover, voters give Harris her worst job rating as vice president in the three times the Journal has asked about it since July, with 42% approving and 54% disapproving of her performance.

Here’s a plot of who people would vote for, but note that the difference is well within the margin of error

By contrast, views of Trump have turned rosier. Voters recall his time as president more positively than at any point in this election cycle, with 52% approving and 48% disapproving of his performance in office—a 4-point positive job rating that contrasts with the 12-point negative rating for Harris.

Moreover, voters give Trump a solid edge in most cases when asked about the candidates’ agendas and policies. By 10 points, more voters have a favorable than unfavorable view of Trump’s economic plan for the country, while unfavorable views of Harris’s economic plan outweigh positive views by 4 points.

Favorability ratings, showing a big boost for Harris after Biden decided not to run. So much being made from a difference of a few points!

I have no idea whether this decline means anything, and, as Election Day nears, I am trying to pay less attention to polls. I well remember when the polls predicted a Clinton victory over Trump, and then I watched the election results come in while I was in Hong Kong (I’d already voted). As the needle moved toward Trump, I got more and more depressed, and as the election was called, I went for a long, rambling Walk of Despair, not even knowing how I got back to my hotel. This is what comes from paying attention to polls, especially when the elecdtion is this close.

Zapping the skin with electricity could stop bacteria that live there harmlessly from entering the body and causing blood poisoning

Despite talk of a green recovery, global greenhouse gas emissions continued to rise as the world emerged from coronavirus lockdowns

When flying to Las Vegas know you’re in another world the moment you step off the plane and enter the terminal. This is what you see. The waiting passengers are right next to a bank of new-generation slot machines.  No, there is no pulling of handles: they’re all electronic and replete with sounds and flashing lights:

I ubered to the hotel where the CSICon meetings are taking place, which happens to be the Horseshoe Las Vegas (for luck I suppose, formerly known as Bally’s).  The main floor is completely filled with slots roulette tables, and other venues of gambling which have been called “a tax on stupidity”:

After waiting four hours to check into my room (I spent it in the food court reading a book I’m reviewing), I finally got a place to stay. CSICon begins this morning; the website is here and you can see the schedule here. Today is mostly workshops, but tonight at 8 pm physicist Brian Cox will receive the Richard Dawkins Award,  As noted by Wikipedia, the award is

. . . . currently presented by the Center for Inquiry to an individual associated with science, scholarship, education, or entertainment, and who “publicly proclaims the values of secularism and rationalism, upholding scientific truth wherever it may lead.” They state that the recipient must be approved by Dawkins himself.

The award will be announced by CFI and Dawkins Foundation President Robyn Blumner, and then there will be a video by Dawkins explaining why Cox is getting the award, and that is followed by the formal presentation (it will be a lovely staatuette) by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson (see below).  Cox will then give a keynote address. Tyson himself got the award in 2022, and I was honored to join the panoply in 2015.

Last night a few people forgathered for dinner at Gordon Ramsey’s Steakhouse in the Paris Casino next door.  It was a lovely meal hosted by CFI.  The wine was chosen by an astrophysicist who is also an oenophile, and is far more competent than I to select the wines. Here he is instructing the waiter that the bottle he brought was, in fact, not of the vintage noted on the menu. We got another bottle:

My meal included a starter of onion soup, heavy with cheese and thick, onion-flavored broth:

And then the famous Gordon Ramsey beef wellington, which was excellent.

On Saturday, after I speak in the morning, a frew friends and I will head to what is often regarded as Vegas’s best buffet, the Bacchanal at Caesar’s Palace, across the street. You can’t consider a trip to Vegas complete without a visit to a buffet.

Here’s a tour of the Bacchanal. I plan to concentrate on the seafood: crustaceans and oysters, and fill in the gaps with the lamb and a passel of desserts.

Neutron stars and black holes are the remnants of dead stars. They typically form as part of a supernova explosion, where the outer layers of an old star are violently cast off while the core of the star collapses to form the remnant. This violent origin can have significant consequences for both the remnant and the surrounding environment.

One thing that can happen is that the remnant can get a “natal kick,” which causes the remnant to speed away from the supernova remnant. We see this with some neutron stars, where we observe the neutron star leaving the remnant at speeds of more than 800 kilometers per second. We aren’t entirely sure what causes such large natal kicks, but they aren’t uncommon. One would assume the same thing could happen for stellar black holes. In fact, given the greater intensity of a black-hole forming supernova, you might think the kick would be even larger. But recent observations suggest that sometimes a stellar black hole can form with hardly any kick at all.

The observations focus on a black hole known as V404 Cygni. It has a mass about 10 times that of the Sun and is about 8,000 light-years away. It is also a microquasar. There is a small star that orbits V404 so closely that material is captured by the black hole. The captured material has created an accretion disk and jets similar to those formed by supermassive black holes in distant galaxies. It was discovered in 1938 and is easily observed in both visible and x-rays. With a decent telescope, you could even observe it from your backyard. Needless to say, V404 has been quite well studied.

But this new work found something new. The team identified a companion star orbiting the close binary. The star has been known for a while, but it wasn’t until we had detailed observations from the Gaia spacecraft that the team could prove it orbits the other two. It takes 70,000 years for the distant companion to make a single orbit, but it is gravitationally bound to the other two. So V404 Cygni is a triple system, not a binary one. Which is a bit strange. When the black hole formed, it should have been kicked away from the system. The close companion could have hung on, but the distant companion shouldn’t still be bound. So what gives?

When the team looked at the dynamics of the system, they found the natal kick of the black hole could have been no larger than 5 km/s. In astronomical terms, that’s essentially nothing. Therefore, V404 must have had no natal kick. If it formed from a supernova explosion, that would be unlikely. To figure out this mystery, the team looked at various models that might produce such a system. Everything from highly symmetric supernova explosions to direct collapse models where the black hole formed slowly and quietly rather than with a single big boom. It turns out the quiet approach is the most likely. It seems V404 gradually accumulated material from its close companion until it just collapsed to become a black hole, and it did so quietly enough for the third companion to go along for the ride.

Reference: Burdge, Kevin B., et al. “The black hole low mass X-ray binary V404 Cygni is part of a wide hierarchical triple, and formed without a kick.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2404.03719 (2024).

The post The First Triple Star System Found Containing a Black Hole appeared first on Universe Today.

It was 1969 that humans first set foot on the Moon. Now, over 50 years later we are setting sights on building lunar bases. The ability to complete that goal is dependent on either transporting significant amounts of material to the Moon to construct bases or somehow utilising raw lunar materials. A team of Chinese researchers have developed a technique to create bricks from material that is very similar to the soil found on the Moon. The hope is that the lunar soil can in the future, be used to build bricks on the Moon.

As we step out into the Solar System the Moon is the perfect starting point. Lunar bases are an essential part in our longer term goals providing a lower gravity launch environment. With space agencies and private companies working on a sustainable presence on the Moon the prospect of a lunar base is really picking up momentum. The Artemis program hopes to return humans to the Moon by the mid 2020’s and ultimately create a permanent presence. It would serve as a scientific research location, centre for extraction of lunar material and a stepping stone for missions to Mars. 

Artist rendition of a future lunar base. (Credit: ESA – P. Carril)

Such a base would likely be built near the lunar south pole where there is plenty of water ice in the deep shadowy craters. The ice can be readily turned into drinking water, oxygen and even rocket fuel. It’s not only NASA driving this development, private companies like Space X and Blue Origin are also working on aspects of the missions. 

The team of researchers from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology have recently released a video clip revealing their results. The team led by Ding Lieyun have utilised substances similar to lunar soil to create lunar bricks that can be used to build structures on the Moon. The bricks are black and the team claim three times stronger than standard construction concrete bricks.

Five lunar soil compositions were simulated with a number of different process used to attempt to create the bricks. The different techniques will enable the team to gain sufficient scientific data to assess the viability of the different types of soil. The soil variations that the team explored simulate the different materials found near the Chang’e-5 landing site, some basaltic, others mostly anorthosite. 

A close-up view of astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s bootprint in the lunar soil, photographed with the 70mm lunar surface camera during Apollo 11’s sojourn on the moon. There’ll soon be more boots on the lunar ground, and the astronauts wearing those boots need a way to manage the Moon’s low gravity and its health effects. Image by NASA

The bricks will now be tested in a number of different ways to assess their strength and properties. They will also explore any likely degradation in the properties due to the lunar environment. The vacuum, extreme temperature changes and high levels of cosmic radiation. The bricks will now be sent to the Chinese space station aboard the Tianzhou-8 spacecraft to continue the analysis following exposure to cosmic radiation and returned by the end of 2025.

Source : Chinese Researchers Develop ‘Lunar Bricks’ for Future Lunar Base Construction

The post Building Bricks out of Lunar Regolith appeared first on Universe Today.

Millions of Americans are taking herbal remedies that may be toxic to the liver.

The post Widespread Use of Dietary Supplements Linked to Liver Damage first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

Meanwhile, in Dobrzyn, Hili has grasped a fundamental truth:

Hili: History is happening in front of our eyes. A: What do you mean? Hili: That not everything is clearly visible.  

Hili: Historia dzieje się na naszych oczach.
Ja: Co chcesz przez to powiedzieć?
Hili: Że nie wszystko dokładnie widać.