Science

Dear readers, send in your wildlife photos, as we (aka “I”) need them.

Today we have an unusual series: the world from above, taken on a plane by David Jorling. David’s comments are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

This series of photos were taken from a non stop flight from Phoenix to Portland. These pictures were taken as dawn was breaking on December 2, 2024. Based on the coordinates recorded on my iphone, this appears to be the Osgood Mountains in Northern Nevada, near or at the area where it has been reported a large Lithium deposit has been found.

This I believe is the Santa Rosa Range in Northern Nevada, near the town of Paradise Valley: Now over Oregon, this is Steens Mountain, which is about as remote an area you can find in Oregon’ and also one of the most beautiful.  I highly recommend a visit if the reader has  not been there.   You can drive to the peak and look east for miles. There is only one place to stay nearby which called French Glen, where good meals are served family style.

 

The plane is now approaching Portland from the East over the Columbia River Gorge. My window is facing south which provides a nice view of Mt. Hood looking south.. I have climbed to the summit, but that’s not saying much, as it has been reported that it is the most climbed peak in North America.  The best place to stay is Timberline Lodge, which is on the south face of the mountain:\

A closer look at MT Hood. The peaks on the horizon are from left: Mt bachelor, neat the City of Bend, Two of the Three Sister peaks, Mt Jefferson directly above Mt Hood, and I believe Mt Washington: on the right.

This is one of two reservoirs known as Bull Run, which supplies Portland with mosy of its water.  This is a few miles east of My Hood:

The plane went past the Portland airport and is turning to approach it from the west, just as the sun was rising:

The "skyglow" produced when light from cities bounces off clouds can help cyanobacteria and other aquatic microbes grow at night

Microbial communities feeding on geothermal methane seeps beneath the Antarctic ice sheet could resemble life-supporting environments on frozen worlds in our solar system and beyond

A network of Earth's best clocks will be synchronised with the most accurate one ever sent into space. But the device has a short shelf life: it will burn up in the atmosphere at the end of the decade as the ISS deorbits

Water filters made from untreated wood can remove more than 99 per cent of particles, taking out many harmful bacteria and microplastics

Astrobiologists are dying to send another mission to study Enceladus, the icy moon that orbits Saturn and has active plumes emanating from its surface, A team from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) proposes an Enceladus Orbitlander that would conduct in-situ measurements of Enceladus' plumes, which could confirm the presence of organics and maybe even life in its interior.

What can Helium-3 (3He) being discharged from the Sun teach us about 3He creation and the Sun’s activity? This is what a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated 3He-rich solar energetic particles (SEPs) emitted by the Sun in late 2023. This study has the potential to help astronomers better understand how solar activity could contribute to the production of 3He, the latter of which remains one of the most desired substances due to its potential for nuclear fusion technology on Earth.

Two new studies have sparked fresh debate about a faraway planet with a weird atmosphere. One of the studies claims additional evidence for the presence of life on the planet K2-18 b, based on chemical clues. The other study argues that such clues can be produced on a lifeless world.

Sometimes an old telescope can still impress. That is certainly the case for Hubble, which is rapidly approaching the 35th anniversary of its launch. To celebrate, the telescope's operators are collaborating with ESA to release a series of stunning new photographs of some of the most iconic astronomical objects the telescope has observed. As of the time of writing, the latest one to be released is a spectacular new image of a favorite of millions of amateur astronomers - the Sombrero Galaxy.

Seahorses (Hippocampus spp.) which are fish, have an unusual reproductive system. The males get “pregnant”, meaning that they carry the eggs, which are deposited in the male’s pouch by the female and then fertilized there. (Note: this doesn’t mean that seahorse males are “females”, or that there are more than two sexes!)  We don’t really know why males gestate the eggs, but we do know that females produce eggs faster than males can gestate them. This means that, unlike most animals, females compete for the attention of males.  Here’s a birth; National Geographic says that 2,000 babies are being born. Wikipedia says that the babies can be as few as 5 or as many as 25.

That’s your biology of the day; and I am sorry that for the next few days I won’t be posting much.

 

An international team of physicists has made a significant observation of the BKT phase transition in a 2D dipolar gas of ultracold atoms. This groundbreaking work marks a major milestone in understanding how 2D superfluids behave with long-range and anisotropic dipolar interactions.

An international team has succeeded in producing new, efficient thermoelectric materials that could compete with state-of-the-art materials, offering greater stability and lower cost.

Conventional thinking holds that the metal site in single atom catalysts (SACs) has been a limiting factor to the continued improvement of the design and, therefore, the continued improvement of the capability of these SACs. More specifically, the lack of outside-the-box thinking when it comes to the crucial hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), a half-reaction resulting in the splitting of water, has contributed to a lack of advancement in this field. New research emphasizes the importance of pushing the limits of the metal site design in SACs to optimize the HER and addressing the poisoning effects of HO* and O* that might affect the reaction. All of these improvements could lead to an improved performance of the reaction, which can make sustainable energy storage or hydrogen production more available.

Clathrates are characterized by a complex cage structure that provides space for guest ions too. Now a team has investigated the suitability of clathrates as catalysts for electrolytic hydrogen production with impressive results: the clathrate sample was even more efficient and robust than currently used nickel-based catalysts. They also found a reason for this enhanced performance. Measurements at BESSY II showed that the clathrates undergo structural changes during the catalytic reaction: the three-dimensional cage structure decays into ultra-thin nanosheets that allow maximum contact with active catalytic centers.

A study has found a rare form of one-dimensional quantum magnetism in a metallic compound, offering evidence into a phase space that has remained, until now, largely theoretical. The study comes at a time of growing global interest in quantum materials that redefine the boundaries between magnetism, conductivity, and quantum coherence.

A study has found a rare form of one-dimensional quantum magnetism in a metallic compound, offering evidence into a phase space that has remained, until now, largely theoretical. The study comes at a time of growing global interest in quantum materials that redefine the boundaries between magnetism, conductivity, and quantum coherence.

Scientists have demonstrated a sort of holographic strip that splits a single laser beam into five bespoke beams that create an optical knot. The work shows that optical knots could be used as a reliable method to transmit encoded information or to measure turbulence in pockets of air.

Researchers have demonstrated a significant performance increase in cooling technology for high-power electronic devices. They designed novel capillary geometries that push the boundaries of thermal transfer efficiency. This study could play a crucial role in the development of next-generation technology.

Researchers have demonstrated a significant performance increase in cooling technology for high-power electronic devices. They designed novel capillary geometries that push the boundaries of thermal transfer efficiency. This study could play a crucial role in the development of next-generation technology.

Research from NASA's Curiosity rover has found evidence of a carbon cycle on ancient Mars.