Science

Feedback is entertained by the commotion at the International Association for Cryptologic Research's recent elections, where results could not be decrypted after an "honest but unfortunate human mistake"

We've long known that we move through the Universe relative to the cosmic microwave background, but a new study of radio galaxies finds an even faster result, which could contradict the standard model of cosmology.

We know that pets influence our microbiome, but scientists have now found that having a dog seems to change this ecosystem in a way that could boost our well-being

The covid-19 pandemic opened the door to once-controversial human challenge trials. Now, volunteers are willingly catching norovirus and influenza to reveal how our immune systems really fight back

More than half a million satellites are planned to launch by the end of the 2030s, and simulations suggest they will have a severe impact on space-based astronomy

The European Space Agency has release its ESA/Webb Picture of the Month and it features a pair of dwarf galaxies engaged in a tentative dance, like nervous partners at a social. The pair are a staggering 24 million light-years away. But even at that great distance, the pair of galaxies is the closest-known interacting pair of dwarfs, other than the Milky Way's Magellanic Clouds, where both the stellar populations and the gas bridge linking the galaxies have been observed.

The latest Jesus and Mo strip, called “cruelty”, came with the note, “Those poor boys. Has she no feelings?”

The barmaid stymies the boys with her humility, for neither of them could ever echo her sentiments. 

We’re down to one contributor (fortunately, Rik Gern, who sent today’s photos has several submissions), but I’d appreciate your good wildlife photos if you have them. Thanks!

As I said, Rik Gern, from Austin Texas, sent some photos, and they’re of fungi. Rik’s captions and IDs are below, and you can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them.

Here is a collection of four mushroom species found in Wisconsin’s north woods last September, as identified by iNaturalist.

Our first specimen is an Earthy powdercap (Cystoderma amianthinum). The environment in which I found it was in accordance with Wikipedia’s description (“damp mossy grassland, in coniferous forest clearings”), but an image search made me dubious. Perhaps some well informed readers can weigh in. Whatever its true identity, it was plentiful in mossy clearings.

Next we have three photos of the Funeral bell (Galerina marginata). The name provides a not-so-subtle clue that the mushroom is highly poisonous and should not be consumed.

I love the coloring on the cap of the Fragile brittlegill (Russula fragilis):

The last mushroom in this set, Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria, four photos) is a classic storybook/fairytale mushroom! It’s supposed to have psychotropic effects once you boil away the toxins, but I’ll leave it to the more dedicated cosmic cowboys to test that hypothesis. Judging from the pictures on Wikipedia, I’d guess that his one is the subspecies flavivolvata, known as American fly agaric:

A surprisingly mature spiral galaxy named Alaknanda has been spotted just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang—far earlier than astronomers believed such well-structured galaxies could form. With sweeping spiral arms, rapid star formation, and an orderly disk resembling our Milky Way, it defies long-held theories about how slowly galaxies should assemble. Thanks to JWST and gravitational lensing, researchers could examine the galaxy in remarkable detail, revealing that the early Universe was far more capable and dynamic than expected.

For thirty years, SOHO has watched the Sun from a stable perch in space, revealing the inner workings of our star and surviving crises that nearly ended the mission. Its long-term observations uncovered a single global plasma conveyor belt inside the Sun, detailed how solar brightness subtly shifts over the solar cycle, and turned SOHO into an unexpected comet-hunting champion with more than 5,000 discoveries.

Conventionally, the moon is thought to have formed during one big impact, but a three-impact model might make more sense

Recently the city of San Francisco sued several food giants (Kraft Heinz, Mondelez and Coca-Cola) for deceptively marketing “ultraprocessed foods” and then externalizing the resulting health care costs onto the public. They cite a recent Lancet review which concludes: “The totality of the evidence supports the thesis that displacement of long-established dietary patterns by ultra-processed foods is a key driver of the […]

The post The War Over Ultraprocessed Foods first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

There’s been a lot of speculation recently about interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS - much of which is probably caused by low quality data given that we have to observe it from either Earth, or in some case Mars. In either case it’s much further away that what would be the ideal. But that might not be the case for a future interstellar object. The European Space Agency (ESA) is planning a mission that could potentially visit a new interstellar visitor, or a comet that is making its first pass into the inner solar system. But, given the constraints of the mission, any such potential target object would have to meet a string of conditions. A new paper by lead Professor Colin Snodgrass of the University of Edinburgh of his colleagues, discusses what those conditions are, and assesses the likelihood that we’ll find a good candidate within a reasonable time of the mission's launch.

Earth’s orbit is getting crowded with broken satellites and leftover rocket parts. Researchers say the solution is to build spacecraft that can be repaired, reused, or recycled instead of abandoned. They also want new tools to collect old debris and new data systems that help prevent collisions. The goal is to make space exploration cleaner and more sustainable.

To celebrate 25 years since the completion of the International Gemini Observatory, students in Chile voted for the Gemini South telescope to image NGC 6302 — a billowing planetary nebula that resembles a cosmic butterfly. The International Gemini Observatory is partly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and operated by NSF NOIRLab.

Today, the deserts of the Arabian peninsula are inhospitable – but 100,000 years ago, the area was full of animals and ancient humans

The famous double-slit experiment brings into question the very nature of matter. Its cousin, the quantum eraser experiment, makes us question the very existence of time – and how much we can manipulate it

Why is the Universe filled with matter? Why isn't it an equal amount of matter and antimatter? We still don't know the answer, but a new approach looks at the symmetries of extended models of particle physics and finds a possible path forward. It's a knotty problem that may just have a knotty solution.

Two clashing ideas about disorder inside black holes now point to the same strange conclusions, and it could reshape the foundations of how we think about space and time

Today we have some lovely parrot photos by Scott Ritchie from Cairns in Oz (his Facebook page is here). Scott’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them.

And on to New South Wales. First stop, Eden. This is at the southeaster-most point where Australia turns north. The first night we drove down to the end of the beach along an elevated ridge. There, I heard the unmistakable almost cat-like call, but softer, of the Yellow tailed Black Cockatoo [Zanda funerea]. Here are some images I got of this small group that was feeding in Banksia seeds along the road. I particularly like the yellow cheek and the nice soft masklike feathers around their beak. There’s a story to tell here that will be given in the photos below.

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos (YTBC), love Banksia seeds:

Indeed, they become single-minded in their pursuit of these seeds. Taste pretty good:

But while they’re chewing away, there could be danger about. Raptors could suddenly appear from the sky and clean them up. Have them for dinner, literally:

These are smart group, smart birds that travel in small parties—perhaps a family group. And they usually have a sentinel bird. This bird perches high in a tree, eyes peeled for signs of trouble. He called out my presence straight away. He’s often calling by chirping away to his mates. Everything’s fine. Enjoy your meal. I particularly like the cute little mask that they wear over the bill. Reminds me of the Covid mask, the P95:

Anyway, the Cockeys continue to feed:

And they are loving it!:

All of a sudden the sentinel urgently calls. You can see his mask, pulled up even higher, with urgent calls “Warning, warning. Incoming. Take flight now.”:

And sudden suddenly off they go, flying as one right over my head!:

And who should fly by, who may have had his eyes on the cockies, but a White-bellied Sea-eagle [Icthyophaga leucogaster]. He passes behind and flies down the beach:

And is chased by a Masked Lapwing [Vanellus miles] screaming “stay away stay away!” The YTBC warning system worked!: