science | M Thomas Apple Author Page

Synthetic human embryos – yeah, now that’s not controversial…

July 7, 2023
MThomas

The synthetic embryos – only days or weeks old – could help researchers study the earliest stages of human development and explain pregnancy loss.

Nobody is currently suggesting growing them into a baby.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-65914934

Well, that’s a relief….

This is the first time that has been achieved using human material. Although, they are not truly “synthetic”, as the starting material was cells cultured from a traditional embryo in the laboratory.

Great, but…

She has already developed synthetic mouse embryos with evidence of a developing brain and beating heart.

Come on, BBC. I think you can see where this is going…

Meanwhile, scientists in China have implanted synthetic monkey embryos into female monkeys – although, all the pregnancies failed.

Yep. Straight to the monkey house.

Seriously, did scientists actually think this was not going to cause a whole lot of people to get upset all over again?

Natural embryo (top), synthetic embryo (bottom). They look pretty similar…

This may indeed be a good way to study infertility causes and how embryos develop, but even the possibility of creating an embryo from a stem cell should have set off warning bells. 14-day limit or not, somebody’s going to get really tempted to do something else with them…

I’m thinking up all sorts of SciFi stories from this…

Another James Webb discovery: UV actually helps life

July 3, 2023
MThomas

Images of the Orion Nebula, c/o ESA and NASA (it’s complicated…)

For the first time ever, a team of international scientists detected a carbon compound known as methyl cation (pronounced cat-eye-on), or CH₃⁺, in d203-506. CH₃⁺ is significant for understanding how life began on Earth — and how it might develop elsewhere.
https://www.astronomy.com/science/jwst-spots-a-molecule-vital-to-life-in-protoplanetary-disk/

Ultraviolet radiation (UV) is known for destroying complex carbon-based molecules. But could it also provide the energy for them to exist?

Another James Webb discovery: UV actually helps life

July 3, 2023
MThomas

For the first time ever, a team of international scientists detected a carbon compound known as methyl cation (pronounced cat-eye-on), or CH₃⁺, in d203-506. CH₃⁺ is significant for understanding how life began on Earth — and how it might develop elsewhere.
https://www.astronomy.com/science/jwst-spots-a-molecule-vital-to-life-in-protoplanetary-disk/

Ultraviolet radiation (UV) is known for destroying complex carbon-based molecules. But could it also provide the energy for them to exist?

In search of dark energy and dark matter

July 3, 2023
MThomas

A European-built orbital satellite was launched into space on Saturday from Florida on a mission to shed new light on dark energy and dark matter, the mysterious cosmic forces scientists say account for 95% of the known universe.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jul/01/euclid-telescope-lifts-off-in-search-of-the-secrets-of-dark-universe

Like the James Webb telescope, the Euclid will be positioned in a LaGrange point (L2, in this case), rather than in high Earth orbit.

If all goes well.

It’s interesting that the Guardian article says the telescope was “designed and built entirely by Esa,” although NASA supplied parts and its launching pad was made available and the telescope was launched using a SpaceX rocket. And ESA consists of nearly 2000 scientists from the US, Canada, and Japan as well as various European countries.

It’s a joint project. That’s how science should work in the first place.

(For more on dark matter, dark energy, gravity, and quantum mechanics, check this out.)

Phosphorus on Enceladus boosts chances for life?

July 2, 2023
MThomas

According to legend, the ancient giant Enceladus vents sulfur from his tomb. According to data, Saturn’s tiny moon Enceladus vents more than that.
https://www.astronomy.com/science/phosphate-find-on-enceladus-boosts-chances-for-life/

Scientists have suspected for a long time that this tiny moon of Saturn may be the best place in our solar system to look for life.

Now they have confirmed evidence of all six crucial elements necessary for life to exist (life as we know it, anyway): carbon (C), hydrogen (H), nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), phosphorus (P), and sulphur (S). If present as a phosphate, essential for DNA and RNA to exist, the discovery of phosphorus on the 310-mile-wide Enceladus may indicate life of sort sort, perhaps at a microscopic level beneath the icy surface.

One guess is that the oceans of Enceladus have at least 100 times more phosphorus than the Earth’s oceans. That would make for quite the carbonated fizzy pop. Methane has already been seen coming out out of various “ice geysers” (a.k.a. cryovolcanoes). Since methane results from rotten organic material, there logically should be something alive out there.

Now we just have to get back out there and figure out a way to find them.

Chemical traces reveal first-generation stars

June 16, 2023
MThomas

The link below includes a night sky in Montana, which makes little sense when the researchers were in Beijing and Honolulu…

“The first-generation star we observed has the potential to become the oldest star we have ever seen,” said Alexander Heger, a professor in the school of physics and astronomy at Monash University in Australia who was part of the research team. “It probably had only lived for 2 1/2 million years and then exploded.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/chemical-traces-offer-evidence-universes-earliest-stars-rcna88790

Oh, and it also was discovered to be 260 times the size of our own Sun…just as theorized.

More importantly, this involved scientists from three different countries (China, Japan, and Australia), sharing information and working together for science.

Imagine if that spirit of cooperation could be extended into other domains…

Plume of water seen on Saturn’s moon

May 31, 2023
MThomas

The record-breaking plume reached nearly 6,000 miles into space – covering the distance between Ireland and Japan – and poured water into the void at an estimated rate of 300 litres a second.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/may/30/astronomers-see-6000-mile-water-vapour-plume-blasting-from-saturn-moon

Note that the water jetted out into space nearly 40 times longer than the actual size of the moon (about 500 in diameter, or as the Gurdian puts it “500-mile-wide” for those who forgot the meaning of “diameter).

Enceladus is probably the best bet for life elsewhere in the solar system due to its water — and while whipping around Saturn once per day, which is likely the reason for underwater volcanos and other vents that may provide the proper chemistry for life.

Also the perfect place to trick an inexperienced asteroid hunter crew…

Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse! Betel…

May 26, 2023
MThomas

Betelgeuse, the closest red giant to Earth, has long been understood to move between brighter and dimmer in 400-day cycles. But from late 2019 to early 2020, it underwent what astrophysicists called “the great dimming”, as a dust cloud obscured our view of the star.

Now, it is glowing at 150% of its normal brightness, and is cycling between brighter and dimmer at 200-day intervals – twice as fast as usual…It is currently the seventh brightest star in the night sky – up three places from its usual tenth brightest.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/may/26/its-new-territory’s-why-is-betelgeuse-is-glowing-so-brightly-and-behaving-so-strangely?

Betelgeuse is the closet red giant Star to our solar system, one of the shoulders of the Greek constellation of Orion.

The cultural information in the linked article was actually more interesting than the phenomenon observed. For instance, the fact that an Aboriginal people in Australia saw it long before the Greeks did was something I didn’t know.

(Although ancient humans in what is now Germany apparently carved an image of it around 32,000 years ago…)

And that the Greek name comes originally from the Arabic “bat al-jawzāʾ” meaning “giant’s shoulder.”

And all three cultures saw the star as connected with fire held by a giant hunter of some sort.

And so have ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, and probably everyone else, too. We just can’t help personifying even the stars.

The kicker?

When it does eventually explode, it could – over the course of a week – grow so bright that it will be visible during daylight, and cast shadows at night.

Now that’s something I’d like to be around to see. Hmm. If only I could manage to live for another 10- to 100,000 years…

Cancel your asteroid insurance – for the next thousand years

May 22, 2023
MThomas

Of all the asteroids they modeled, the one with the largest risk of impact was a kilometer-wide asteroid known as 1994 PC1. Over the next thousand years, the probability that 1994 PC1 will cross within the orbit of the Moon is a paltry 0.00151%, hardly worth worrying about.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/cancel-asteroid-insurance-earth-declared-150002866.html

Thanks to Glen Hill over at Engagin’ Science (formerly Scientia, which apparently was far too Latin- and science-esque for search engines to handle) for bringing this (not-so Earth-shattering) info to my attention.

Sorry, folks. Hollywood was once again wrong (sigh).

😂

A taste of Scientia

May 5, 2023
MThomas

The word has just come in that a fellow traveler has set up his own blog about science.

It’s called Science.

(In Latin, Scientia.)

Glen is a good friend of mine, and not only is he a good scientist, he’s also a good writer. His avowed goal is to raise science literacy and share his love of science with the world.

We may even steal posts from each other from time to time. Or photos (like the one above ⬆️🌏).

Check it out: https://scientiameansscience.blogspot.com

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