News Feeds

While toxic in high concentrations, copper is essential to life as a trace element. Many tumors require significantly more copper than healthy cells for growth -- a possible new point of attack for cancer treatment. Medical researchers have now introduced a novel method by which copper is effectively removed from tumor cells, killing them.

Antibacterial drugs are important for treating infections. But increasingly, bacterial resistance to current drugs -- so they don't work well, or even at all -- means new ones are urgently needed. Researchers have demonstrated a potential antibacterial treatment from a modified darobactin, a compound originally from a bacterium. The team reports proof-of-concept animal trials on infections caused by bacteria, including E. coli, that are known to develop drug resistance.

New spray developed by scientists could help boost UK farming and increase the UK's food security.

Traditional police training lacks practical tools for handling mental health crises, leaving officers underprepared. New research provides a promising avenue for addressing this gap using VR training by immersing officers in realistic scenarios. Results show moderate to high engagement in the VR environment, which enhances empathy and highlights its potential as a complement to traditional training. Improving immersion, engagement, and VR familiarity can enhance emotional connections, making well-designed simulations more effective for fostering empathy and sympathy.

A study by researchers presents their low cost, scalable methodology for the early identification of individuals at risk of developing dementia. While the condition remains incurable, there are a number of common risk factors that, if targeted and addressed, can potentially reduce the odds of developing dementia or slow the pace of cognitive decline.

Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses. As many as 280 million people worldwide are affected by this disease, which is why researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model that helps to identify depression based on both speech and brain neural activity. This multimodal approach, combining two different data sources, allows a more accurate and objective analysis of a person's emotional state, opening the door to a new phase of depression diagnosis.

Inspired by the jets of water that squids use to propel themselves through the ocean, a team developed an ingestible capsule that releases a burst of drugs directly into the lining of the stomach or other organs of the digestive tract.

Researchers ahave found a new approach for breaking down PFAS -- a group of human-made 'forever' chemicals commonly used for their water-resistant properties that can carry health risks from long-term exposure. Researchers showcase an effective LED light-based photocatalytic system that can be used at room temperature to break down those key carbon-fluorine bonds. The system is an improvement over traditional chemical manufacturing processes that typically require high temperatures to achieve similar results.

Asking children 'What does a scientist look like?' now results in more illustrations of women and people of color than decades ago. But do generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools also depict the diversity among scientists? Researchers prompted AI image generators for portraits of chemists. They found that none of the collections accurately represents the gender, racial or disability diversity among real chemists today.

Asking children 'What does a scientist look like?' now results in more illustrations of women and people of color than decades ago. But do generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools also depict the diversity among scientists? Researchers prompted AI image generators for portraits of chemists. They found that none of the collections accurately represents the gender, racial or disability diversity among real chemists today.

Using GPT-4o, the model behind ChatGPT, researchers have replicated the personality and behaviour of more than 1000 people, in an effort to create an alternative to focus groups and polling

Today’s Jesus and Mo strip, called “bias,” came with a list of previous strips on the topic (below the cartoon). As usual in this strip, they decry the very behaviors they’re exhibiting. 

The note:

It IS weird that they write so may songs about cognitive biases, isn’t it?

deal
outrage
harbour
gaslight
hymn
fallacy
unwary
blackmail
affect
written
told
spiral
fired

A large planet has been spotted orbiting a dwarf star that is just 3 million years old, offering possible clues to how the worlds in our solar system came into being

IBM has bet big on a modular approach to building quantum computers, and now it has successfully linked two quantum chips together to operate as a single device, a key step towards that goal

Quantum computers could get a boost from artificial intelligence, thanks to a model created by Google DeepMind that cleans up quantum errors

Unbearable heat in China’s megacities reveals the future many of us face, but also suggests ways we can adapt

Last spring, during all the protests, sit-ins, and encampments at my University—nearly all of them by students favoring Palestine vis-á-vis the war—the protestors decided to bring their beefs into my department. In fact, some of the protestors, given their actions, were probably members of our department (Ecology and Evolution) or undergraduate students , as putting up posters and flyers put requires a university ID card to get into the building, some of the actions were surely done in the evening, when you have to request special access to the building and have a good reason for it, and, tellingly, one of the flyers used the motif of Honey the Duck—my duck.   I am showing here just a small selection of flyers and posters that went up last spring.

It hardly requires mention that this kind of ideological propaganda, spread through the department on bulletin boards, white boards, and walls, created a chilling climate. By being posted in “official” places, it gave the imprimatur of the department to an ideological position. Such material is also banned by the University from being affixed to official boards—like the seminar-announcement board below.

But below is one of the anti-Israel posters that appeared in the spring. This one was affixed to the board above, which is supposed to be reserved for seminar announcements and other official department business. At least the poster itself says who created and disseminated it: Students for Justice in Palestine (who else?).  But this kind of political propaganda is not supposed to be put on official department boards.

Our department chair, recognizing the inappropriateness of these postings, sent out an email banning them, and he and the staff removed them. Since the beginning of this academic year the protests (save one poster) have not appeared in our department.

Here’s a whiteboard inside one of the buildings used by our department. This kind of drawing is not, I think, against University regulations, but it’s surely inappropriate. Note that it’s a Palestinian flag. Had I drawn an Israeli flag on the board, it would have lasted about an hour! (I do not, of course, parade my political views on department sites.)

The one below was almost certainly made by a member of our department or an undergraduate (I consider grad students as “department members”), and was affixed illegally because all posters must be on bulletin boards and must show the name of the group posting them. Again, Palestinian flags are used in a display of departmental affinity.

Below is the poster that I consider the most odious one. It was placed on several bulletin boards, including the official seminar board shown in the first photo. Not only is it illegally posted, but, to my shock, it used my own special duck, Honey, as an advertisement for “freeing Palestine.”

Now clearly this is aimed at me.  To their credit, the office staff, recognizing this, had removed similar posters from the department, hoping I wouldn’t see them. But I did.

My reaction was one of anger, for I loved that duck, and to use her to promote the “freeing of Palestine” (whatever that means) is a direct attack on me for being pro-Israeli. It was, I thought, like using pictures of someone’s pets to promote terrorism.

I suppose the person who put this up, whoever he or she is, calculated that this would intimidate or provoke me.  It did not. It only made me more resolute in my desire to support others who favored Israel (particularly the Jewish students), and I did so until the end of the school year.

But it did have an effect that was probably unintended, and which I suppose the posters are happy about.  It made me wonder who would do such a thing, especially in a department, where we’re all supposed to be colleagues. Now I’m sure that none of my faculty colleagues would do this, but my guess is that the perp was a graduate student or undergraduate. That is only a guess, of course. But the result is that this poster, combined with the propaganda above, has made me feel alienated from the department, something that I haven’t felt since 1986 when I began my job here, for this has always been a collegial department.  Now, when I am in a departmental group like a party or coffee hour, I wonder if someone there could have produced these hateful displays, and so I’ve largely stopped going to these groups.

As I said, this kind of mishigass has largely stopped. And the perpetrators are of course unknown, since they do this work when nobody is around. I’m sure they realize, since they clearly know my proclivities, that I think their moral compass is skewed 180°.  But they’ll never give up their anonymity, for they are cowards, like their confrères who wear masks during public demonstrations.

A camera aboard the Mars Express orbiter finds a new lease on life.

Sometimes, limitations can lead to innovation. A recent paper highlights how researchers are utilizing the VMC (Visual Monitoring Camera) aboard the European Space Agency’s (ESA) venerable Mars Express orbiter.

The work is a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the University of the Basque Country.

A Mars Webcam

Mars Express is ESA’s first Mars mission. Launched on a Soyuz rocket, Mars Express arrived in orbit around the Red Planet on Christmas Day 2003. The VMC was designed for one primary purpose: to monitor the departure of the ill-fated Beagle 2 lander, which was released from Mars Express on December 19th, just under a week prior to orbital insertion. The camera was switched off after the Beagle 2 release was complete, then brought back online in 2007.

One of the final images of Beagle 2, taken by VMC shortly after separation. Credit: ESA/Mars Express

“(The) VMC camera was originally intended to take only a few snapshots of the lander release,” Alejandro Cardesín-Moinelo (ESA Mars Express Science Operations) told Universe Today. “The camera was then ‘forgotten’ for a few years until it was switched on again in 2007 as an engineering test. This showed a great value for public outreach and so it started to be operated regularly. In recent years, VMC images started getting more and more popular and raised the attention of the community due to its scientific potential.”

A Unique Orbit

The VMC was initially only tasked with taking supplementary images of Mars. A 2016 collaboration saw a push to upgrade the camera for scientific use. In 2018, it found a role monitoring the Martian weather. Mars Express is in a nearly polar orbit. Its distant 11,560 kilometer apoapsis vantage point along its 7.5 hour orbit is ideal for full disk observations.

The small VMC camera has a 40 by 30 degree wide field of view. This means it monitor full disk weather on Mars. Mars Express also offers the key advantage of a more flexible orbit versus other missions. The mission sees regions at different times and at illuminations.

IRIS-1 IC camera at the heart of VMC. Credit: ESA Mars Express as a Weather Satellite

“VMC has proven to be a great asset in the global monitoring of the Martian atmosphere, complementing all other scientific instruments and providing very useful information on meteorological phenomena, mostly atmospheric aerosols, ice clouds and dust storms” says Cardesín-Moinelo. “Among the many scientific contributions, the main discovery was the striking Arsia Mons ‘elongated cloud’ spotted in 2018, a 1,500 kilometer cloud which had not been reported by any previous mission.”

Evolution of the cloud seen over Arsia Mons. Credit: ESA/Mars Express.

The imaging workflow for VMC uses bias, flat and dark frames, not unlike what amateur astrophotographers use to process images. VMC is similar to old turn-of-the-century webcams, and produces small images that are easy to transmit back to Earth.

This also allows the VMC to carry out serious science. The instrument is calibrated for full disk photometry, useful for tracking weather and changes on Mars. Though VMC has a limited dynamic range, running a variety of exposures allows for the HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging needed to reveal elusive features. Smartphone cameras use this sort of ‘hack’ to tease out detail.

Evolution of a Mars Camera

“VMC is similar to a ‘cheap’ standard cell-phone camera of the early 2000s, with less than 0.2 megapixels,” says Cardesín-Moinelo. “This cannot provide a huge level of detail, but is located in an ‘extraordinary place,’ flying around Mars. This allows us to retrieve tens of images of the full disk of Mars every day so we can monitor the atmospheric clouds and dust storms, which we could not do with any other instrument. This kind of ‘cheap’ wide camera has proven very useful, so we are now pushing to fly an up-to-date camera in future missions, with more resolution and better performance to improve the global monitoring of the planet.”

But VMC had other issues to overcome as well in order to provide crucial science data. First, Mars Express’s internal clock isn’t entirely accurate. Plus, engineers fixed VMC on the chassis of the spacecraft. This means it points where Mars Express points during operations. In addition to using star field shots to get a fix on the spacecraft’s position, the team uses transits of the moons Phobos and Deimos across the disk of Mars as a clock to calibrate images and verify timestamps.

A montage of VMC images. Credit: ESA.

VMC isn’t alone in monitoring Martian weather. The United Arab Emirates’ Mars Hope also does full disk imaging and can help see what’s currently going on. These opposing view points are handy to have as dust storm season evolves. Other instruments such as JunoCam aboard NASA’s Juno mission in orbit around Jupiter are designed solely around a similar sort of public collaboration.

Small Cameras for Small Missions

Finally, these sorts of basic off-the-shelf cameras are becoming standard equipment on smallsats. Examples in planetary science include the Mars Cube One MarCO-A and B cubesats which hitched a ride with NASA’s Mars Insight lander which flew past Mars in 2018, the Minerva-II landers aboard the Hayabusa 2 asteroid mission, and the Italian Space Agency’s LICIACube mission which witnessed the DART impact into asteroid Dimorphos in 2022.

Certainly, this is a game-changer for Martian weather predictions. It’s fascinating to see the unique images of Mars provided by VMC, as a demonstration of how old hardware in space can find a new purpose.

The post How Scientists Repurposed a Camera on ESA’s Mars Express Mission appeared first on Universe Today.

Reader David Hughes sent some photos of Zambezi and the fabled Victoria Falls, which have always been on my bucket list. David’s comments are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them.

In October this year I took part in a group tour to southern Africa, starting off in Zambia and then going overland through the national parks and wildlife reserves of northern Botswana. Our starting point was a couple of days based at a comfortable lodge on the northern (Zambian) shore of the Zambezi River, about 45 km upstream from the Victoria Falls. Our first taste of the African wild came with a couple of leisurely boat cruises along the Zambezi.

This photo shows a riverside landscape along the Zambian shore. The antelope grazing near the water are impala (Aepyceros melampus), the most common medium-sized herbivore across all the areas we visited:

As you might expect, there is an abundant and diverse community of fish-eating birds along the river. The group shown here includes black-headed heron (Ardea melanocephala), great egret (Ardea alba), African sacred ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) and white-breasted cormorant (Phalacocorax lucidus):

One of the benefits of exploring the river on a slow, quiet boat is that you can get much closer to birds and animals than you could on foot, or in a noisy motor vehicle. This is the African wattled lapwing (Vanellus senegallus):

Just to remind us that we were indeed in Africa, a basking Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus):

The habitual companion of the crocodile throughout the inland waters of Africa, a trio of dozing hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius):

A river cruise is also a great way to see many of the land mammals as they come down to drink. This female greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) is accompanied by a pair of oxpeckers, I think the yellow-billed oxpecker, Buphagus africanus:

A Nile monitor lizard (Varanus niloticus). This one was about a metre and a half long:

The river cruise also gave us our first view of African bush elephants (Loxodonta africana). The elephants here, with access to permanent water, have a much easier life than their cousins living in the drier areas we were shortly to visit:

After cruising the Zambezi, the next day was spent visiting the spectacular Victoria Falls (Mosi-oa-Tunya in the local vernacular). The Falls consist of a long, winding gorge with water cascades at particular points. These pictures were taken from the Zimbabwean side of the gorge, which is generally considered to give the better views. To get there from Zambia involves buying a temporary visa to cross the international border, then an additional fee to get into the park area (all payable in hard currency, of course), but it’s well worth it:

Another view of one of the cascades. October is late in the dry season, and the water volume is relatively low. During the wet season there’s much more water going over the edge but this throws up so much spray that it can be difficult to see the Falls in their true magnificence:

A final view of the Falls. Near the centre, some people are just visible at the top of the cliffs, giving a sense of scale:

There’s a pleasant walking trail which follows the line of the gorge, and some wildlife to be seen. This young male Cape bushbuck (Tragelaphus sylvaticus – although the taxonomy of these antelopes is disputed) was obviously used to people and quite happy to pose for photos next to the trail:

CubeSats are becoming more and more capable, and it seems like every month, another CubeSat is launched doing something new and novel. So far, technology demonstration has been one of the primary goals of those missions, though the industry is moving into playing an active role in scientific discovery. However, there are still some hurdles to jump before CubeSats have as many scientific tools at their disposal as larger satellites. That is where the Space Industry Responsive Intelligent Thermal (SpIRIT) CubeSat, the first from the Univeristy of Melbourne’s Space Lab, hopes to make an impact. Late in 2023, it launched with a few novel systems to operate new scientific equipment, and its leaders published a paper a few months ago detailing the progress of its mission so far.

SpIRIT represents a first not only for the Melbourne Space Lab but also for Australia as a whole. Their space agency was first set up in 2018 and began funding the SpIRIT project in 2020, as the COVID pandemic started making joint development efforts difficult. To contribute to the nation’s overall learning of how to build and control CubeSat, as much equipment as possible was sourced directly from Australian companies, including an ion drive from Neumann Space and a solar panel platform from Inovor Technologies.

However, the most exciting part of the SpIRIT mission was the instruments explicitly designed for it. There were several interesting ones, including HERMES, an X-ray and gamma-ray detector; TheMIS, a thermal management system used to cool HERMES; LORIS, an edge computing system; and Mercury, for use in low-latency communications.

This video describes the importance of SpIRIT to the Australian space program.
Credit – Australian Space Agency YouTube Channel

Each system is designed to address a specific development problem plaguing CubeSats more generally. They aren’t typically able to capture light in specific wavelengths, such as gamma waves, because the sensors for those wavelengths, which include infrared, require active cooling systems that are too bulky to fit into a CubeSat’s space constraints.

Additionally, the sheer amount of data collected by modern sensors would be overwhelming for the communication links available to standard CubeSats. A single sensor could produce as much as 100Gb of data per day, while a standard downlink channel would allow only 1Gb of data to be sent back to Earth. Combining “edge computing,” where preliminary data processing is done on the CubeSat, with a low-latency communication line is SpIRIT’s solution to that problem. However, TheMIS would also have to deal with the additional heat generated by inefficiencies in the processing unit.

Preliminary results of the project look good, with HERMES beginning complete observations in March and TheMIS successfully managing thermal loads automatically. LORIS has successfully captured some camera images and started performing image recognition algorithms. Mercury has been more of a struggle, with intermittent communication happening throughout the satellite’s lifetime. Since the whole project has primarily been considered a technology demonstration mission, those growing pains are understandable and don’t seem to affect the overall mission operation.

Members of the Spirit Team discuss the development of the project.
Credit – ARES Unimelb YouTube Channel

In addition to technical derisking, many of the lessons the mission operators at the Melbourne Space Lab learned were about managing space projects more generally. Project management and personnel allocation might not be the most interesting topics, but they are necessary for completing a technical project like SpIRIT.

With over 2000 successful CubeSat launches, SpIRIT is another valuable industry contribution. As CubeSats become more widely used as scientific platforms, expect to see more and more efforts like SpIRIT reporting on their progress soon.

Learn More:
Trenti et al. – SpIRIT Mission: In-Orbit Results and Technology Demonstrations
UT – A Gamma Ray Burst Lasted So Long it Triggered a Satellite Twice
UT – A 2022 Gamma Ray Burst Was So Powerful, it was Detected by Spacecraft Across the Solar System
UT – What are CubeSats?

Lead Image:
Depiction of the SpIRIT CubeSat.
Credit – Trenti et al.

The post SpIRIT CubeSat Demonstrates a Operational Gamma and X-Ray Detector appeared first on Universe Today.