Science

The global energy system may be faced with an inescapable trade-off between urgently addressing climate change versus avoiding an energy shortfall, according to a new energy scenario tool.

As the second-largest object in the main asteroid belt, Vesta attracts a healthy amount of scientific interest. While smaller asteroids in the belt are considered fragments of collisions, scientists think Vesta and the other three large objects in the belt are likely primordial and have survived for billions of years. They believe that Vesta was on its way to becoming a planet and that the Solar System's rocky planets likely began as protoplanets just like it. But new research is casting doubt on that conclusion.

Reader Debra Coplan made a trip to Baja, and today sends us photos. Her captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

I had the opportunity to visit the Baja Peninsula this past weekend, and would like to share some of the wonderful vegetation I saw from the that area. We went as far south as the Sonora Desert region to Catavina, east of the Pacific Ocean. Catavina is about 300 miles south of the border.

We had to drive from the north which had Mediterranean desert foliage to the Sonora Desert which had little rain. The Mediterranean desert gets hurricanes which dump water to an area in that more northern part of the desert.

The Mediterranean desert is north of Sonora desert, but they abut next to each other. Sometimes we saw Mediterranean desert on one side of the road and Sonora-type vegetation on the other . A clearer transition between the 2 areas became evident as we went south into drier region: one side being lush with taller plants and the other side dry with low plants.

I am not a biologist, so hopefully I’ve identified the plants correctly.

Boojum Tree – Cirio Idria columnaris

This is an plant endemic to this Catavina area of the desert. It is the signature plant of the region, and can get to 70 feet tall. The flame of leaves on the top are golden like a flame at the top of a candle. See top photo.

The second Boojum had a stalk that was in an area of more water so it looks more lush.  The name Boojum is in reference to Lewis Carroll’s poem, “The Hunting of the Snark”. It is looks a bit like an upside down carrot with a whitish stalk.

On the road on the way out of Catavina we were stopped by the military police checking to make sure we did not steal a Boojum tree to transplant up north. Cardon.  Pachycereus pringleiL

This particular cardon had a genetic mutation so instead of growing up, it grew sideways. The man is about 6’ tall.  I was fascinated by the one limb that wasn’t affected by the mutation.

California penstemon; Penstemon californicus:

I am including this penstemon flower because it was my favorite story. I loved how it gets pollinated. Unfortunately, the plant was down below a steep creek so I did not get a photo.

Various species of bees in the region are guided into the flower by the purple lines pointing the way to the back of the flower. It reminds me of an airplane coming in for a landing.

As the bees go in, the pollen rubs from the antlers (male part) off onto the bee.  You can see the long anthers but unfortunately there was no pollen in this one. The bees then fly off to another penstemon where the pollen interacts with the stigma (female part) deeper in the flower to pollinate.

Nightshade Mariola, Solanum hindsianum

Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of a flower on this plant either,  but was amazed by the pollination story.  This plant had very tiny opening at the end of the yellow anthers. It’s very hard for bees to get into the tiny opening to get the pollen so they use buzz pollination.  The bees grab hold of the yellow anthers and vibrate their bodies, which forces the pollen out and onto their bodies, where it gets distributed.

Hedgehog cactus, Echinocereus:

 

In Catavina, inland from the Pacific Ocean, we visited a cave of the Cochimis, the indigenous inhabitants of this area.

 

A steep 10-minute hike up huge boulders of the Sonora desert reveals a cave with some paintings that were about 4,000 years old.   I have no idea what dyes they used, but heard they were not from plants of this area.

There is the head of a hummingbird in the painting below:

Our current Medical Establishment doesn't seem to grasp that they are no longer just Fox News and Twitter celebrities who can comment from the sidelines as if they were passive observers.

The post Goodbye to the Novavax Vaccine? Our Flailing Medical Establishment Rejects Medical Freedom and Refuses to Fund Gold-Standard Science. first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

What will a human experience while standing on the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, even with the protection of a pressurized spacesuit? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference hopes to address as William O’Hara, who is the Executive Director of Explore Titan investigated what physical attributes a human will experience when standing on Titan’s surface. This study has the potential to help scientists, engineers, mission planners, and the public better understand the risks associated with sending humans to far-off worlds for long periods of time and how to develop technologies to mitigate these risks.

Star birth is a process hidden inside dense crèches of gas and dust. Yet, if you know what to look for, you can see the products of this essential cosmic process across the sky. The Circinus West molecular cloud is a starbirth crèche some 2,500 light-years away. It boasts everything from dark nebulae to protostellar objects and newborn stars to the faint ghosts of stars that have already died.

Scientists have developed a highly sensitive method to detect illegal opioids and a veterinary sedative in Australia's wastewater system, providing a vital early warning tool to public health authorities.

It is now possible to obtain three-dimensional, high-resolution images of enzyme activity in tissue samples or whole organs -- thanks to probe molecules that anchor fluorescent dyes within tissue as they are activated by enzymes. The organ being mapped is made transparent by a clearing process. This allowed for visualization of differences in aminopeptidase N activity and the effects of inhibitors in mouse kidneys.

Astrophysicists have discovered a potentially star-forming cloud that is one of the largest single structures in the sky and among the closest to the sun and Earth ever to be detected. The scientists have named the molecular hydrogen cloud 'Eos,' after the Greek goddess of mythology who is the personification of dawn.

Metal oxyhydroxides are nanoparticles with wide industrial applications, but determining their exact structure is often challenging. Recently, a research team has developed an advanced imaging method called 'lattice correlation analysis' to reveal the detailed 3D atomic structure of titanium oxyhydroxide nanoparticles. By leveraging data-driven insights, this method unlocks the crystal attributes without causing any damage, thus marking a milestone in the study of sensitive nanomaterials.

To provide the right treatment for MS, it is important to know when the disease changes from relapsing-remitting to secondary progressive, a transition that is currently recognized on average three years too late. Researchers have now developed an AI model that can determine with 90 per cent certainty which variant the patient has.

Multipath interference disrupts wireless signals, causing issues like TV ghosting and fading. Now, researchers have developed a passive metasurface that overcomes traditional filtering limits. Using a time-varying interlocking mechanism with field-effect transistors, it transmits the first signal while blocking delayed ones from other angles -- without power or processing. This innovation enables low-cost, reliable wireless communication, which is ideal for IoT applications and environments prone to interference.

Multipath interference disrupts wireless signals, causing issues like TV ghosting and fading. Now, researchers have developed a passive metasurface that overcomes traditional filtering limits. Using a time-varying interlocking mechanism with field-effect transistors, it transmits the first signal while blocking delayed ones from other angles -- without power or processing. This innovation enables low-cost, reliable wireless communication, which is ideal for IoT applications and environments prone to interference.

Combinatorial optimization problems (COPs) arise in various fields such as shift scheduling, traffic routing, and drug development. However, they are challenging to solve using traditional computers in a practical timeframe. Alternatively, annealing processors (APs), which are specialized hardware for solving COPs, have gained significant attention. They are based on the Ising model, in which COP variables are presented as magnetic spins and constraints as interactions between spins. Solutions are obtained by finding the spin state that minimizes the energy of the system.

Combinatorial optimization problems (COPs) arise in various fields such as shift scheduling, traffic routing, and drug development. However, they are challenging to solve using traditional computers in a practical timeframe. Alternatively, annealing processors (APs), which are specialized hardware for solving COPs, have gained significant attention. They are based on the Ising model, in which COP variables are presented as magnetic spins and constraints as interactions between spins. Solutions are obtained by finding the spin state that minimizes the energy of the system.

A squishy, layered material that dramatically transforms under pressure could someday help computers store more data with less energy. That's according to a new study that shows a hybrid zinc telluride-based material can undergo surprising structural changes when squeezed together like a molecular sandwich.

A squishy, layered material that dramatically transforms under pressure could someday help computers store more data with less energy. That's according to a new study that shows a hybrid zinc telluride-based material can undergo surprising structural changes when squeezed together like a molecular sandwich.

Researchers have created a light-powered soft robot that can carry loads through the air along established tracks, similar to cable cars or aerial trams. The soft robot operates autonomously, can climb slopes at angles of up to 80 degrees, and can carry loads up to 12 times its weight.

Scientists aren't comedians, but it turns out a joke or two can go a long way. That's according to a new study that found when researchers use humor in their communication -- particularly online -- audiences are more likely to find them trustworthy and credible.

A technique to cool the planet, in which particles are added to the atmosphere to reflect sunlight, would not require developing special aircraft but could be achieved using existing large planes, according to a new modelling study.