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This being Sunday, John Avise is here with some pictures, and remember that he’s moved on to butterflies. John’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them.

First, I’d like to wish all WEIT readers a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, a Joyous Coynezaa, or whatever else you may be celebrating during this special season.  This week continues the series on butterflies that I’ve photographed in North America.  I’m continuing to go down my list of species in alphabetical order by common name.

Bramble Green Hairstreak (Callophrys dumetorum):

Brazilian Skipper (Calpodes ethlius), underwing:

Brown Elfin, Callophrys augustinus:

Cabbage White (Pieris rapae), male:

Cabbage White, female:

Cabbage White, underwing:

California Dogface (Zerene eurydice), male underwing:

JAC: This butterfly was on a stamp:

Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Designed by Stanley Galli., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

California Dogface female underwing:

California Dogface, male upperwing:

California Dogface, female upperwing:

California Dogface, larvae on False Indigo Bush (Amorpha fruticosa):

California Hairstreak (Satyrium californica):

California Ringlet (Coenonympha california), dark morph:

California Ringlet, light morph:

California Ringlet, mating pair:

If pro-RFK Jr. propaganda wins the day, I am confident we will soon find out a tough truth- MAHA is all about RFK and has everything to do with vaccines.

The post Dr. Joseph Marine: “MAHA is More Than RFK and Has Little to do With Vaccines” first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

Through the Artemis Program, NASA will send the first astronauts to the Moon since the Apollo Era before 2030. They will be joined by multiple space agencies, like the ESA and China, who plan to send astronauts (and “taikonauts”) there for the first time. Beyond this, all plan to build permanent habitats in the South Pole-Aitken Basin and the necessary infrastructure that will lead to a permanent human presence. This presents many challenges, the most notable being those arising from the nature of the lunar environment.

Aside from the extremes in temperature, a 14-day diurnal cycle, and the airless environment, there’s the issue of lunar regolith (aka moondust). In addition to being coarse and jagged, lunar regolith sticks to everything because it is electrostatically charged. Because of how this dust plays havoc with astronaut health, equipment, and machinery, NASA is developing technologies to mitigate dust buildup. Seven of these experiments will be tested during a flight test using a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket to evaluate their ability to mitigate lunar dust.

Another major problem with lunar regolith is how it gets kicked up and distributed by spacecraft plumes. With essentially no atmosphere and lower gravity (16.5% of Earth’s), this dust can remain aloft for extended periods of time. Its jagged nature, resulting from billions of years of meteor and micrometeoroid impacts and a total lack of weathering, is abrasive to any surface it comes into contact with, ranging from spacesuits and equipment to human skin, eyes, and lungs. It will also build up on solar panels, preventing missions from drawing enough power to survive a lunar night.

In addition, it can also cause equipment to overheat as it coats thermal radiators and accumulates on windows, camera lenses, and visors, making it harder to see, navigate, and acquire accurate images. Kristen John, the Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative technical integration lead at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, said in a NASA press release: “The fine grain nature of dust contains particles that are smaller than the human eye can see, which can make a contaminated surface appear to look clean.”

Addressing the Problem

These technologies were developed by NASA’s Game Changing Development program within the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). The “Lunar Gravity Simulation via Suborbital Rocket” flight test will study regolith mechanics and lunar dust transport in a simulated lunar gravity environment. The payload includes projects for mitigating and cleaning dust using multiple strategies. They include:

ClothBot:
This compact robot is designed to simulate and measure how dust behaves in a pressurized environment, which astronauts could bring back after conducting Extravehicular Activities (EVAs). The robot relies on pre-programmed motions that simulate astronauts’ movements when removing their spacesuits (aka “doffing”), releasing a small dose of lunar regolith simulant. A laser-illuminated imaging system will then capture the dust flow in real-time while sensors record the size and number of particles.

Electrostatic Dust Lofting (EDL):
The EDL will examine how lunar dust is “lofted” (kicked up) when it becomes electrostatically charged to improve models on dust lofting. During the lunar gravity phase of the flight, a dust sample will be released that the EDL will illuminate using a UV light source, causing the particles to become charged. The dust will then pass through a sheet laser as it rises from the surface while the EDL observes and records the results. The EDL’s camera will continue to record the dust until the mission ends, even after the lunar gravity phase ends and the UV light is shut off.

The Lunar Lab and Regolith Testbeds at NASA’s Ames Research Center. Credit: NASA/Uland Wong.

Hermes Lunar-G:
The Hermes Lunar-G project, developed by NASA, Texas A&M, and Texas Space Technology Applications and Research (T-STAR), is based on a facility (Hermes) that previously operated on the International Space Station (ISS). Like its predecessor, the Lunar-G project will rely on repurposed Hermes hardware to study lunar regolith simulants. This will be done using four canisters containing compressed lunar dust simulants. When the flight enters its lunar gravity phase, these simulants will decompress and float around in the canisters while high-speed cameras and sensors capture data. The results will be compared to microgravity data from the ISS and similar flight experiments.

Dust Mitigation Strategies

The data obtained by these projects will provide information on regolith generation rates, transport, and mechanics that will help scientists refine computational models. This will allow mission planners and designers to develop better strategies for dust mitigation for future missions to the Moon and Mars. Already, this challenge informs several aspects of NASA’s technological developments, ranging from In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) and construction to transportation and surface power. Said John:

“Learning some of the fundamental properties of how lunar dust behaves and how lunar dust impacts systems has implications far beyond dust mitigation and environments. Advancing our understanding of the behavior of lunar dust and advancing our dust mitigation technologies benefits most capabilities planned for use on the lunar surface.”

The test flight and vehicle enhancements that will enable the simulation of lunar gravity are being funded through NASA’s Flight Opportunities program.

Further Reading: NASA

The post NASA is Developing Solutions for Lunar Housekeeping’s Biggest Problem: Dust! appeared first on Universe Today.

New research suggests that our best hopes for finding existing life on Mars isn’t on the surface, but buried deep within the crust.

Several years ago NASA’s Curiosity rover measured traces of methane in the Martian atmosphere at levels several times the background. But a few months later, the methane disappeared, only for it to reappear again later in the year. This discovery opened up the intriguing possibility of life still clinging to existence on Mars, as that could explain the seasonal variability in the presence of methane.

But while Mars was once home to liquid water oceans and an abundant atmosphere, it’s now a desolate wasteland. What kind of life could possibly call the red planet home? Most life on Earth wouldn’t survive long in those conditions, but there is a subgroup of Earthly life that might possibly find Mars a good place to live.

These are the methanogens, a type of single-celled organism that consume hydrogen for energy and excrete methane as a waste product. Methanogens can be found in all sorts of otherwise-inhospitable places on Earth, and something like them might be responsible for the seasonal variations in methane levels on Mars.

In a recent paper submitted for publication in the journal AstroBiology, a team of scientists scoured the Earth for potential analogs to Martian environments, searching for methanogens thriving in conditions similar to what might be found on Mars.

The researchers found three potential Mars-like conditions on Earth where methanogens make a home. The first is deep in the crust, sometimes to a depth of several kilometers, where tiny cracks in rocks allow for liquid water to seep in. The second is lakes buried under the Antarctic polar ice cap, which maintain their liquid state thanks to the immense pressures of the ice above them. And the last is super-saline, oxygen-deprived basins in the deep ocean.

All three of these environments have analogs on Mars. Like the Earth, Mars likely retains some liquid water buried in its crust. And its polar caps might have liquid water lakes buried underneath them. Lastly, there has been tantalizing – and heavily disputed – evidence of briny water appearing on crater walls.

In the new paper, the researchers mapped out the temperature ranges, salinity levels, and pH values across sites scattered around the Earth. They then measured the abundance of molecular hydrogen in those sites, and determined where methanogens were thriving the most.

For the last step, the researchers combed through the available data about Mars itself, finding where conditions best matched the most favorable sites on Earth. They found that the most likely location for possible life was in Acidalia Planitia, a vast plain in the northern hemisphere.

Or rather, underneath it. Several kilometers below the plain, the temperatures are warm enough to support liquid water. That water might have just the right pH and salinity levels, along with enough dissolved molecular hydrogen, to support a population of methanogen-like creatures.

Now we just have to figure out how to get there.

The post Where’s the Most Promising Place to Find Martian Life? appeared first on Universe Today.

I think in the last year a trope has originated in which orange cats are said to be mischievous and weird.  I’m not sure about that, but several studies (two below) report a paper that has apparently found the gene that, when mutated, causes a cat to be orange. From the first source (click on headlines to read):

Orange cats have earned an online reputation for being chaotic, energetic rascals. But among scientists, they’ve long been known for something else: the enduring mystery of their distinctive coats.

Now, two independent studies by American and Japanese scientists have probed the genetic origins of these cats’ color—and, working separately, the teams reached the same conclusion. They suggest that orange cats have their bright, warm pelts as a result of genetic variations on their X chromosomes. The papers, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, were recently posted to the preprint server bioRxiv.

Scientists Greg Barsh from Stanford University and Hiroyuki Sasaki from Japan’s Kyushu University and their teams studied feline genomes to pinpoint which protein encoded by a cat’s genes brought out the orange hue. What they found was astonishing: a tiny deletion on the cat’s DNA influenced its entire color scheme.

“Our work provides an explanation for why orange cats are a genetic unicorn of sorts,” Kelly McGowan, a Stanford University geneticist who participated in the American study, says to Tom Howarth at Newsweek. The orange cat is a “fascinating exception” to the way orange-like color variants occur in many other domestic species, such as dogs, sheep, horses or rabbits, she adds.

In most other mammals, mutations in a protein called Mc1r lead to red hair color. But this has failed to explain orange color patterns in cats. “It’s been a genetic mystery, a conundrum,” Barsh tells Science’s Sara Reardon.

Instead, the new studies point to a gene called Arhgap36, a protein on the X chromosome. It had never been in the lineup of potential candidates for the “orange gene,” so to speak, because it controls aspects of embryonic development. As a result, scientists thought major mutations to Arhgap36 would likely kill the animal, Barsh said.

Nevertheless, Barsh’s team found that Arhgap36 in orange cats produced almost 13 times more RNA—molecules that help translate DNA into proteins the body can use—compared to the same gene in other types of cats. When they took a closer look, they saw that an increased amount of Arhgap36 in melanocytes, or skin cells that produce hair color, led to production of a light red pigment, making a cat’s fur appear orange.

From The Smithsonian Magazine (click to read):

The article below from phys.org implies (it’s never stated explicitly in the non-scientific literature) that the gene which, when mutated, causes orange-colored fur, also causes black or other coloration when it occurs in other forms. Since the genes for coloration are on the X chromosome, and males are XY (the Y carries no color genes), males can be black or orange, but never both because they have only one X chromosome=. Females, with two Xs, can show both colors, and that’s why calico and tortoiseshell cats, with black and orange, as well as white, are nearly always females, as you see below. (Rare XXY torties occur, and they’re male but show the black-and-orange pattern.

The reason why you have different-colored patches of fur in torties and calicos is because “dosage compensation” in females in effected by having one X chromosome turned off in each cell, and adjacent cells inherit that condition. Thus one gets patches of orange and black (or white) corresponding to parts of the fetal kitten in which the different X chromosomes are activated and inactivated.

Here’s a calico cat (female):

Ellisn95, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

As Wikipedia notes, “A calico cat is not to be confused with a tortoiseshell, who has a black undercoat and a mostly mottled coat of black/red or blue/cream with relatively few to no white markings. ”  Here’s a tortie:

Lucashawranke, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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Iceland harbors the saga of the Yule Cat (Jólaköttur ), whose myth originated around 1862, It is a fearsome felid. As Wikipedia notes:

The Yule cat (Icelandic: Jólakötturinn, IPA: [ˈjouːlaˌkʰœhtʏrɪn], also called Jólaköttur and Christmas cat) is a huge and vicious cat from Icelandic Christmas folklore that is said to lurk in the snowy countryside during the Christmas season and eat people who do not receive new clothing before Christmas Eve. In other versions of the story, the cat just eats the food of people without new clothes. Jólakötturinn is closely associated with other figures from Icelandic folklore, considered the pet of the ogress Grýla and her sons, the Yule Lads.

ZME Science says the story actually originated in the Dark Ages but wasn’t written down until the mid-1800s. Here’s how the myth goes:

In Medieval Iceland, employers rewarded their employees and members of their households with new clothes and sheepskin shoes. The gifts were made as a reward for a year of hard work and as a motivator to finish the work before Christmas — particularly processing the autumn wool. Here’s the thing, though: if you didn’t have new clothes for Christmas, the dreaded Yule Cat would come out and eat you — and this was no ordinary cat.

It towers above the tallest buildings, prancing around Iceland looking for people without new clothes. It especially looks for children and inspects them to see if they have new garments. If they were too lazy to earn them, the unfortunate children might just end up on the menu of the Yule Cat.

Over time, the legend evolved. You don’t need to buy new clothes every year, one way to avoid the Yule Cat’s claws is by being generous: Gifting clothes to the less fortunate also keeps the cat at bay.

Here’s a cartoon of a girl with new clothes who gets saved from the  Jólaköttur, while her brother, bereft of new garb, seems to have been badly scratched (though not eaten):

And below is a video of Björk singing a song about the Jólaköttur.  The Icelandic lyrics are at the YouTube site, and here’s their Google translation (Listen for the word “Jólakötturrinn” in the first line.)

You know the Christmas cat
that cat was a giant
People didn’t know where he came from
or where he went

He opened his eyes
both glowing
It wasn’t for the fainthearted
to look at them

The combs were sharp as thorns
up from his back
and the claws on his hairy paws
were ugly to see

That’s why the women competed
with combs and looms and spinning wheels
and knitted colorful scarves
or little socks

Because the cat wasn’t allowed to come
and tease the children a little
They had to make clothes
from the adults

And when the lights were turned on on Christmas Eve
and the cat peeked in
the children stood there, red and excited
with their parcels

He waved the stele strongly
he jumped and he scratched and blew
and was sometimes up in the valley
or out on the headland

He hovered, hungry and fierce
in the bitterly cold Christmas snow
and made the hearts tremble
on every farm

If there was a pitiful sleigh outside
the misfortune was immediately certain
Everyone knew that he hunted men
but did not want mice

He laid down on the poor people
who did not get any new sleighs
for Christmas – and struggled and lived
in the poorest conditions

From that he took the food
at once
all of their Christmas food
and ate it most of the time almost by himself
if he could

That was why the women competed
with combs and looms and spinning wheels
and knitted colorful scarves
or little socks

Some of them got aprons
and some had received shoes
or something that was considered necessary
but that was enough

Because the cat could not eat anyone
who received some clothing
Then she hissed rather badly
and ran away

Whether she still exists, I do not know
but her path would be sad
if everyone next
had some bread

You may now have in mind
to help, if there is a need
maybe some children
who do not get anything

Perhaps, the search for those who suffer
from the lack of light in the world around
gives you a good day
and a merry Christmas

**********************

The description of this video, which appears to have gone viral, is this:

This hilarious video shows the moment a hungry moggy would not let anything get in the way of his dinner. Plume the cat bursts through a wall of snow after his owner put a dish of his favourite grub out and calls the famishing feline.

The cat, who is a sprightly 14-year-old, was caught on camera by his owner Ann Got after she noticed he tried to make a hole in previous snowdrifts. As the footage rolls, a chilly Plume can be seen outside before Ann, 25, opens the back door to reveal a pile of snow up against. Then as Ann shouts she has food seconds later Plume bashes his way through the snow drift.

Ann said: “This happened after a huge snowstorm in Gaspe, in Quebec, Canada, on February 16. “Plume had made this entrance before then I was thinking he can make it again and then after some more snow he did it again. “I have been surprised but the funny reaction, but we have had some people say he was thrown through, which he was definitely not. “He’s just a very straightforward cat.” Video licensing : agencemediafailsworld@gmail.com

 

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Lagniappe from Cat Memes: From Iceland, a depiction in lights of the Jólaköttur:

h/t: Russell

Live from Washington DC; News Items: The Science of Tipping, JonBenet Ramsey Case, Primordial Black Holes, Oldest Alphabet, Food Distribution, Goop Spiral; Live Q&A; Science or Fiction

Entanglement is perhaps one of the most confusing aspects of quantum mechanics. On its surface, entanglement allows particles to communicate over vast distances instantly, apparently violating the speed of light. But while entangled particles are connected, they don’t necessarily share information between them.

In quantum mechanics, a particle isn’t really a particle. Instead of being a hard, solid, precise point, a particle is really a cloud of fuzzy probabilities, with those probabilities describing where we might find the particle when we go to actually look for it. But until we actually perform a measurement, we can’t exactly know everything we’d like to know about the particle.

These fuzzy probabilities are known as quantum states. In certain circumstances, we can connect two particles in a quantum way, so that a single mathematical equation describes both sets of probabilities simultaneously. When this happens, we say that the particles are entangled.

When particles share a quantum state, then measuring the properties of one can grant us automatic knowledge of the state of the other. For example, let’s look at the case of quantum spin, a property of subatomic particles. For particles like electrons, the spin can be in one of two states, either up or down. Once we entangle two electrons, their spins are correlated. We can prepare the entanglement in a certain way so that the spins are always opposite of each other.

If we measure the first particle, we might randomly find the spin pointing up. What does this tell us about the second particle? Since we carefully arranged our entangled quantum state, we now know with 100% absolute certainty that the second particle must be pointing down. Its quantum state was entangled with the first particle, and as soon as one revelation is made, both revelations are made.

But what if the second particle was on the other side of the room? Or across the galaxy? According to quantum theory, as soon as one “choice” is made, the partner particle instantly “knows” what spin to be. It appears that communication can be achieved faster than light.

The resolution to this apparent paradox comes from scrutinizing what is happening when – and more importantly, who knows what when.

Let’s say I’m the one making the measurement of particle A, while you are the one responsible for particle B. Once I make my measurement, I know for sure what spin your particle should have. But you don’t! You only get to know once you make your own measurement, or after I tell you. But in either case nothing is transmitted faster than light. Either you make your own local measurement, or you wait for my signal.

While the two particles are connected, nobody gets to know anything in advance. I know what your particle is doing, but I only get to inform you at speed slower than light – or you just figure it out for yourself.

So while the process of entanglement happens instantaneously, the revelation of it does not. We have to use good old-fashioned no-faster-than-light communication methods to piece together the correlations that quantum entanglement demand.

The post Can Entangled Particles Communicate Faster than Light? appeared first on Universe Today.

A study introduces a novel thermodynamic concept called the 'centotectic' and investigates the stability of liquids in extreme conditions -- critical information for determining the habitability of icy moons like Europa.

Researchers have made a meaningful advance in the simulation of molecular electron transfer -- a fundamental process underpinning countless physical, chemical and biological processes. The study details the use of a trapped-ion quantum simulator to model electron transfer dynamics with unprecedented tunability, unlocking new opportunities for scientific exploration in fields ranging from molecular electronics to photosynthesis.

Researchers have made a meaningful advance in the simulation of molecular electron transfer -- a fundamental process underpinning countless physical, chemical and biological processes. The study details the use of a trapped-ion quantum simulator to model electron transfer dynamics with unprecedented tunability, unlocking new opportunities for scientific exploration in fields ranging from molecular electronics to photosynthesis.

Researchers have developed a new material for sodium-ion batteries, sodium vanadium phosphate, that delivers higher voltage and greater energy capacity than previous sodium-based materials. This breakthrough could make sodium-ion batteries a more efficient and affordable alternative to lithium-ion, using a more abundant and cost-effective resource.

The latest AI model from OpenAI achieved an “impressive leap in performance” but it still hasn’t demonstrated what experts classify as human-level intelligence

Researchers developed a biosensing technique that eliminates the need for wires. Instead, tiny, wireless antennas use light to detect minute electrical signals in the solution around them.

A research team has revealed that to use the aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) system safely over the long term it is crucial to investigate the groundwater quality before operating the system and to continuously monitor the water quality.

Advances in solid-state battery research are paving the way for safer, longer-lasting energy storage solutions. A recent review highlights breakthroughs in inorganic solid electrolytes and their role in improving battery performance. The study also addresses key challenges, such as interfacial compatibility, while proposing innovative strategies for next-generation battery technologies.

Researchers have developed a new technology that improves the precision and integration density of synthetic genetic circuits.

One of the biggest mysteries in science -- dark energy -- doesn't actually exist, according to researchers looking to solve the riddle of how the Universe is expanding. For the past 100 years, physicists have generally assumed that the cosmos is growing equally in all directions. They employed the concept of dark energy as a placeholder to explain unknown physics they couldn't understand, but the contentious theory has always had its problems. Now a team of physicists and astronomers are challenging the status quo, using improved analysis of supernovae light curves to show that the Universe is expanding in a more varied, 'lumpier' way.

Researchers trained a large language model to read medical charts, looking for signs that kids with ADHD received the right follow-up care when using new medications.

Using field sensors, various ecological modelling technologies and deep learning algorithms, a French research team has developed a method for mapping the risk of collisions between animals and vehicles along transport infrastructures. In the future, it could contribute to collision management in autonomous vehicles thanks to connected infrastructures.

Using field sensors, various ecological modelling technologies and deep learning algorithms, a French research team has developed a method for mapping the risk of collisions between animals and vehicles along transport infrastructures. In the future, it could contribute to collision management in autonomous vehicles thanks to connected infrastructures.