Mo's moderately interesting sci/tech thread

[thoreau]

This isn't perpetual motion. He's running waste heat through a device that converts temperature gradients into electricity. It only works as long as the waste heat is coming from somewhere, e.g. a building radiating heat away, or hot water from industrial plants. During the day, the solar panels won't be warmer than the sky, but at night they can be, so they can be net radiators of energy instead of net absorbers.

I think the article somewhat overstates what's going on here. It's really integrating two functionalities into the same device, one of them converting sunlight into electricity and the other converting heat flow into electricity. It makes sense to combine these functions mainly because solar panels have to be outside and away from things that might absorb the radiated heat and warm up the immediate vicinity. If the immediate vicinity of the device warmed up then it wouldn't be a net radiator of heat, the amount leaving would equal the amount entering. But as long as the immediate vicinity is unobstructed then heat will just keep radiating away (as long as you're pumping in waste heat from somewhere). The environs that make for a good solar panel location (unobstructed view of the sky to receive light) also make for a good heat radiator location (unobstructed view of the sky to radiate heat upward).

[D.A. Ridgely]

This isn't perpetual motion.

Hey, man, don't harsh my magical thinking buzz!

[thoreau]

Here's a good article on the subject (though the headline is still a bit of hype):

[JD]

Interesting thing I just learned about nicotine metabolism: one of the main metabolites of nicotine is a chemical called cotinine. It, like nicotine, seems to have some psychoactive properties and there's some research into how much of the effects of nicotine are actually the effects of cotinine.

But the really interesting thing is that it turns out that menthol doesn't just have a flavor and pseudo-cooling effect: it also appears that menthol affects cotinine metabolism, slowing its clearance from the body. That might explain both the continuing popularity of menthol cigarettes and some of the health differences seen between White and Black populations of smokers.

[Aresen]

This has interesting implications WRT the formation of the precursors of life:

Protein discovered inside a meteorite

A team of researchers from Plex Corporation, Bruker Scientific LLC and Harvard University has found evidence of a protein inside of a meteorite. They have written a paper describing their findings and have uploaded it to the arXiv preprint server.

In prior research, scientists have found organic materials, sugars and some other molecules considered to be precursors to amino acids in both meteorites and comets—and fully formed amino acids have been found in comets and meteorites, as well. But until now, no proteins had been found inside of an extraterrestrial object. In this new effort, the researchers have discovered a protein called hemolithin inside of a meteorite that was found in Algeria back in 1990.

[JD]

Waxworms have the ability, via symbiosis with their gut bacteria, to digest polyethylene and excrete ethylene glycol. This is by itself not an answer to plastic pollution, but could help provide new pathways to plastic recycling.

[JD]

A team of researchers at the University of New South Wales has discovered/rediscovered nuclear electric resonance (i.e., the electric analog to NMR). The surprising thing is that the possibility of this was actually suggested back in 1961, but had been almost forgotten as nobody had been able to make much progress on it, and then Dr. Morello's team at UNSW Sidney accidentally rediscovered it while doing NMR experiments.

[Warren]

A team of researchers at the University of New South Wales has discovered/rediscovered nuclear electric resonance (i.e., the electric analog to NMR). The surprising thing is that the possibility of this was actually suggested back in 1961, but had been almost forgotten as nobody had been able to make much progress on it, and then Dr. Morello's team at UNSW Sidney accidentally rediscovered it while doing NMR experiments.

RTFA and have no idea what they're talking about.

[JD]

An interesting piece on the physical nature of glass and what an "ideal glass" would look like: https://www.quantamagazine.org/ideal-gl ... -20200311/

[JD]

SpaceX has launched a GPS III satellite, which is pretty cool. This bit made me twitchy, though:

GPS III, Lockheed Martin explains, will make GPS three times more accurate. Gene McCall, former chair of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, wrote in National Defense Magazine in April that this suggests accuracy would increase from 28 inches to a very precise nine inches.

If you don't understand the words "accurate" and "precise", maybe don't write science articles.

Edit: image to explain, in case it was needed.

[Highway]

SpaceX has launched a GPS III satellite, which is pretty cool. This bit made me twitchy, though:

GPS III, Lockheed Martin explains, will make GPS three times more accurate. Gene McCall, former chair of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, wrote in National Defense Magazine in April that this suggests accuracy would increase from 28 inches to a very precise nine inches.

If you don't understand the words "accurate" and "precise", maybe don't write science articles.

Edit: image to explain, in case it was needed.

I think their usage is fine. They're saying it's going from your top left, to the top right. So it's 'precise' at 28 inches accuracy, and 'very precise' at 9 inches accuracy.

[Hugh Akston]

It's also an article in a popular publication, not a scientific/technical publication. 'Accurate' and 'precise' are more or less synonymous in this context, in the parlance of our times.

[JD]

DNA study has proven conclusively that there was contact between Polynesian and South American peoples, something that had long been suspected because of the existence of the sweet potato and similar names for it in both places.

Scientists said on Wednesday an examination of DNA from 807 people - from 14 Polynesian islands and Pacific coastal Native American populations from Mexico to Chile - definitively resolved the matter.

People from four island sites in French Polynesia - Mangareva and the Pallisers in the Tuamotu archipelago and Fatu Hiva and Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands - bore DNA indicative of interbreeding with South Americans most closely related to present-day indigenous Colombians at around 1200 AD.

[Eric the .5b]

DNA study has proven conclusively that there was contact between Polynesian and South American peoples, something that had long been suspected because of the existence of the sweet potato and similar names for it in both places.

Scientists said on Wednesday an examination of DNA from 807 people - from 14 Polynesian islands and Pacific coastal Native American populations from Mexico to Chile - definitively resolved the matter.

People from four island sites in French Polynesia - Mangareva and the Pallisers in the Tuamotu archipelago and Fatu Hiva and Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands - bore DNA indicative of interbreeding with South Americans most closely related to present-day indigenous Colombians at around 1200 AD.

Neat. So Thor Heyerdahl might turn out to have been kiiiinda-sorta right about something.

(Very very kinda-sorta because he not only claimed South Americans rather than Asians originally colonized Polynesia, but that they were pushed back by a conquering race of North Americans from the British Columbia region around 1100 AD.)

[JD]

New progress on ornithopters. (Not human-carrying size, sorry Dune fans.)

Growing radishes ON THE MOON! OK, not really on the moon, but experiments suggest that they might grow just fine in lunar regolith.

[Mo]

New progress on ornithopters. (Not human-carrying size, sorry Dune fans.)

Growing radishes ON THE MOON! OK, not really on the moon, but experiments suggest that they might grow just fine in lunar regolith.

Is desert sand as nutrient poor as lunar regolith. I can’t imagine that desert sand is that devoid of organic material and nitrogen.

[dbcooper]

New progress on ornithopters. (Not human-carrying size, sorry Dune fans.)

Growing radishes ON THE MOON! OK, not really on the moon, but experiments suggest that they might grow just fine in lunar regolith.

They'll need to bring all their own carbon with them.

[lunchstealer]

You guys.

Size of this DNA black brane is 109 times longer than the size of the earth's core and compacted interior it.

These dark DNAs not only exchange information with DNAs but also are connected with some of the molecules of water and helps them to store information and have memory.

Paul Byrne @ThePlanetaryGuy

What

(and I cannot stress this enough)

*the fuck*


Open Access Macedonian Journal of Mededical Science:

A Black Hole at the Center of Earth Plays the Role of the Biggest System of Telecommunication for Connecting DNAs, Dark DNAs and Molecules of Water on 4+N- Dimensional Manifold

[JD]

Honestly, modern physics is so weird it's hard for the non-specialist to tell when something is batshit crazy, but "However, on the four-dimensional manifold, DNAs are contracted at least four times around various axis's and waves of earth couldn't read their information" does sound a bit fishy. Maybe it sounded better in the original Macedonian.

[thoreau]

Nowadays it's entirely possible that such notions are discussed at Cabinet meetings.

[lunchstealer]

Nowadays it's entirely possible that such notions are discussed at Cabinet meetings.

Maybe we can use this technology to inject into people on the inside, so they can predict earthquakes. We should ... has anybody looked into that?

Formation of Neural Circuits in an Expanded Version of Darwin's Theory: Effects of DNAs in Extra Dimensions and within the Earth's Core on Neural Networks

Abstract

Aim: In this paper, inspiring Darwin's theory, we propose a model which connects evolutions of neural circuits with evolutions of cosmos. In this model, in the beginning, there are some closed strings which decay into two groups of open strings.

Methods: First group couple to our universe from one side and produce matters like some genes of DNAs and couple to an anti-universe from another side with opposite sign and create anti-matters like some anti-genes of anti-DNAs. Second group couple to the star and planet's cores like the earth's core from one side and produce anti-matters like stringy black anti-DNA and couple to outer layers of stars and planets like the earth from other side and produce matters like some genes of DNAs on the earth. Each DNA or anti-DNA contains some genetic circuits which act like the circuits of receiver or sender of radio waves. To transfer waves of these circuits, some neurons emerge which some of them are related to genetic circuits of anti-DNAs in anti-universe, and some are related to genetic circuits of stringy black anti-DNA within the earth's core. A collection of these neural circuits forms the little brain on the heart at first and main brain after some time.

Results: To examine the model, we remove effects of matters in outer layers of earth in the conditions of microgravity and consider radiated signals of neural circuits in a chick embryo. We observe that in microgravity, more signals are emitted by neural circuits respect to normal conditions. This is a signature of exchanged waves between neural circuits and structures within the earth's core.

Conclusion: These communications help some animals to predict the time and place of an earthquake.

Keywords: DNAs; Darwin; Earth; Earthquake; Extra dimensions; Neural network.

[Aresen]

Sounds positively velikovskian.

[dead_elvis]

Sounds like the ramblings of a certain personified protomolecule.

[Eric the .5b]

Stealing that batshit if I ever play Mage: the Ascension again and need a Son of Ether concept.

[Jake]

Maybe we can use this technology to inject into people on the inside, so they can predict earthquakes. We should ... has anybody looked into that?

We're looking into that very strongly.