The Random Science Thread

Discussion in 'Open Discussion' started by Barnstable, Aug 25, 2015.

  1. Barnstable

    Barnstable Supreme Fuzzler of Lakersball.com Staff Member

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    I love science, so I make dis topic

    "
    Black Holes Aren't As Black As Thought, Says Stephen Hawking In New Theory

    August 25, 2015 | by Jonathan O'Callaghan

    [​IMG]
    photo credit: Hawking revealed his findings today in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH.
    Share on facebook27.3K Share on twitter407 Share on reddit Share on google_plusone_share More Sharing Services

    Stephen Hawking says he may have solved a problem that has plagued astrophysics for 40 years: the information loss paradox.

    For decades, scientists have argued about what happens to the information relating to the death of a star that forms a black hole. It’s known that nothing, not even light, can escape from a black hole owing to its intense gravitational pull. Quantum mechanics, though, says that information cannot be destroyed; general relativity says it must be. Hence, the information loss paradox.

    In the 1970s, Hawking said black holes could emit “information-less photons” via quantum fluctuations – tiny perturbations in space-time – called Hawking radiation, but in 2004 he produced a new theory that claimed information could actually escape from a black hole. How that would occur wasn’t clear, but now he says he has an answer.

    “I propose that the information is not stored in the interior of the black hole as one might expect, but on its boundary, the event horizon,” he said today at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Specifically, he says a “super translation” takes place, which is essentially a hologram of the information. It means that information can survive and escape from a black hole at the event horizon, the boundary at which nothing is said to be able to break free.

    They key to this theory is Hawking radiation. Hawking says it can “pick up” information and move it beyond the event horizon. But it’s not all good news; the information is essentially useless. “The information about ingoing particles is returned, but in a chaotic and useless form,” said Hawking. “This results in the information paradox. For all practical purposes, the information is lost.”

    [​IMG]

    The event horizon is the boundary beyond which nothing, not even light, can escape. NASA/JPL-Caltech.

    Hawking worked on the idea with theoretical physicists Malcolm Perry from the University of Cambridge and Andrew Strominger from Harvard University. Together with a host of theoretical physicists in Stockholm, they will discuss the research throughout this week before presenting their concluding thoughts this Saturday.

    “The message of this lecture is that black holes ain't as black as they are painted,” Hawking said yesterday. “They are not the eternal prisons they were once thought. Things can get out of a black hole both on the outside and possibly come out in another universe.”

    He elaborated that, if a black hole was large enough and rotating, it could have a passage to a parallel universe. “But you couldn’t come back to our universe,” he said. “So although I’m keen on space flight, I’m not going to try that.”

    You can watch a video of Hawking revealing his findings below."



    This is a huge revelation if hawking is correct. It seems to mean a Blackhole breaks all things, even light down to it's base elements. In time, what if we learned to measure, find and reconstitute those components?
     
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  2. John3:16

    John3:16 Moderator Staff Member

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  3. LTLakerFan

    LTLakerFan - Lakers Legend -

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    Makes perfect sense to me.

    [​IMG]
     
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  4. SamsonMiodek

    SamsonMiodek - Lakers 6th Man -

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    I already love this thread!!!!!
     
  5. sirronstuff

    sirronstuff - Lakers Legend -

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    I didn't realize Hawking was racist.
     
  6. Barnstable

    Barnstable Supreme Fuzzler of Lakersball.com Staff Member

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  7. Helljumper

    Helljumper - Lakers All Star -

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    The enterprise of science is crazy. I've been working on R&D for a diagnostic device, just doing basic experimentation for a job that I feel lucky to have as my first job out of college. Research has been relatively promising and suddenly I might get a small ownership stake in what is technically a billion dollar company as well as my name on research papers and patents. Hooray for start ups! :)
     
  8. LTLakerFan

    LTLakerFan - Lakers Legend -

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    ^^^ Oh hell yeah!! [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  9. Barnstable

    Barnstable Supreme Fuzzler of Lakersball.com Staff Member

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    That's great man. Sounds like even a small stake could be incredible!!
     
  10. Barnstable

    Barnstable Supreme Fuzzler of Lakersball.com Staff Member

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  11. Barnstable

    Barnstable Supreme Fuzzler of Lakersball.com Staff Member

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    "
    Baby Tortoises Found On Galapagos Island For First Time In Over 100 Years


    After more than a century without a single baby tortoise sighting on theGalapagos island of Pinzón, a small group of the tiny, shelled youngsters have been spotted again.

    The recent births are helping to pull the critically endangered animals back from the brink of extinction after they were nearly laid to waste as a result of human activity.

    "I'm amazed that the tortoises gave us the opportunity to make up for our mistakes after so long," researcher James Gibbs who was among the first to see the hatchlings in December, told The Dodo.



    [​IMG]

    (James Gibbs)


    When sailors first landed on Pinzón Island in the mid-18th century, they inadvertently triggered an environmental catastrophe that has taken generations to correct. Rats aboard those early vessels quickly gained a foothold in the fragile ecosystem, feasting on the eggs and hatchlings of the island's tortoises who, up until then, had few natural predators.

    The rats were so devastating, in fact, that over the following decades not a single tortoise offspring survived the onslaught — setting the species on the path to extinction.

    But just as human activity nearly spelled doom for the imperiled animals, it has also helped to save them.



    [​IMG]

    (Wikimedia)


    In the 1960s, with only 100 tortoises remaining, conservationists launched a concerted effort to preserve the species. The few unhatched eggs that could be found were carefully collected and incubated on another island, where they were hatched and raised for five years — until they were large enough not to be attacked by rats — before being released back on Pinzón. But the rodent problem still plagued any eggs that remained on the island.

    Then, in 2012, biologists used helicopters to distribute poison designed to attract only rats. It was a first-of-its-kind operation, but it worked; Pinzón was recently declared rat-free.

    "The incredible eradication of rats on this island, done by the park service and others, has created the opportunity for the tortoises to breed for the first time," says Gibbs.



    [​IMG]

    (James Gibbs)


    "We did a survey [in December] to see if it was working for the tortoises, and we found 10 new hatchlings. This is the first time they've bred in the wild in more than a century."

    While 10 might hardly seem like a baby boom, Gibbs says it's just the tip of the iceberg:

    "Given projection probabilities, I'm sure there were a hundred times more hatchlings out there."

    Gibbs and his team spotted 300 tortoises in all on the trip, which he says suggests that there are now more than 500 estimated to be currently living on the island."

    https://www.thedodo.com/galapagos-tortoises-945526940.html
     
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  12. LTLakerFan

    LTLakerFan - Lakers Legend -

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    I'll say this about that ^^^. Rats suck!!
     
  13. Barnstable

    Barnstable Supreme Fuzzler of Lakersball.com Staff Member

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  14. alam1108

    alam1108 - Lakers Legend -

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    Apparently NASA has a big announcement tomorrow.
     
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  15. alam1108

    alam1108 - Lakers Legend -

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    http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2015-302&rn=news.xml&rst=4722


    NEWS | SEPTEMBER 28, 2015
    NASA Confirms Evidence That Liquid Water Flows on Today's Mars

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    [​IMG]


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    Dark, narrow streaks on Martian slopes such as these at Hale Crater are inferred to be formed by seasonal flow of water on contemporary Mars. The streaks are roughly the length of a football field. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
    › Full image and caption
    New findings from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars.

    Using an imaging spectrometer on MRO, researchers detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks are seen on the Red Planet. These darkish streaks appear to ebb and flow over time. They darken and appear to flow down steep slopes during warm seasons, and then fade in cooler seasons. They appear in several locations on Mars when temperatures are above minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 Celsius), and disappear at colder times.

    "Our quest on Mars has been to 'follow the water,' in our search for life in the universe, and now we have convincing science that validates what we've long suspected," said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water -- albeit briny -- is flowing today on the surface of Mars."

    These downhill flows, known as recurring slope lineae (RSL), often have been described as possibly related to liquid water. The new findings of hydrated salts on the slopes point to what that relationship may be to these dark features. The hydrated salts would lower the freezing point of a liquid brine, just as salt on roads here on Earth causes ice and snow to melt more rapidly. Scientists say it's likely a shallow subsurface flow, with enough water wicking to the surface to explain the darkening.

    "We found the hydrated salts only when the seasonal features were widest, which suggests that either the dark streaks themselves or a process that forms them is the source of the hydration. In either case, the detection of hydrated salts on these slopes means that water plays a vital role in the formation of these streaks," said Lujendra Ojha of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta, lead author of a report on these findings published Sept. 28 by Nature Geoscience.

    Ojha first noticed these puzzling features as a University of Arizona undergraduate student in 2010, using images from the MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). HiRISE observations now have documented RSL at dozens of sites on Mars. The new study pairs HiRISE observations with mineral mapping by MRO's Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM).

    The spectrometer observations show signatures of hydrated salts at multiple RSL locations, but only when the dark features were relatively wide. When the researchers looked at the same locations and RSL weren't as extensive, they detected no hydrated salt.

    Ojha and his co-authors interpret the spectral signatures as caused by hydrated minerals called perchlorates. The hydrated salts most consistent with the chemical signatures are likely a mixture of magnesium perchlorate, magnesium chlorate and sodium perchlorate. Some perchlorates have been shown to keep liquids from freezing even when conditions are as cold as minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 70 Celsius). On Earth, naturally produced perchlorates are concentrated in deserts, and some types of perchlorates can be used as rocket propellant.

    Perchlorates have previously been seen on Mars. NASA's Phoenix lander and Curiosity rover both found them in the planet's soil, and some scientists believe that the Viking missions in the 1970s measured signatures of these salts. However, this study of RSL detected perchlorates, now in hydrated form, in different areas than those explored by the landers. This also is the first time perchlorates have been identified from orbit.

    MRO has been examining Mars since 2006 with its six science instruments.

    "The ability of MRO to observe for multiple Mars years with a payload able to see the fine detail of these features has enabled findings such as these: first identifying the puzzling seasonal streaks and now making a big step towards explaining what they are," said Rich Zurek, MRO project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

    For Ojha, the new findings are more proof that the mysterious lines he first saw darkening Martian slopes five years ago are, indeed, present-day water.

    "When most people talk about water on Mars, they're usually talking about ancient water or frozen water," he said. "Now we know there's more to the story. This is the first spectral detection that unambiguously supports our liquid water-formation hypotheses for RSL."

    The discovery is the latest of many breakthroughs by NASA's Mars missions.

    "It took multiple spacecraft over several years to solve this mystery, and now we know there is liquid water on the surface of this cold, desert planet," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "It seems that the more we study Mars, the more we learn how life could be supported and where there are resources to support life in the future."

    There are eight co-authors of the Nature Geoscience paper, including Mary Beth Wilhelm at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California and Georgia Tech; CRISM Principal Investigator Scott Murchie of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland; and HiRISE Principal Investigator Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in Tucson, Arizona. Others are at Georgia Tech, the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique in Nantes, France.

    The agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin built the orbiter and collaborates with JPL to operate it.

    More information about NASA's journey to Mars is available online at:

    https://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars

    For more information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit:

    http://www.nasa.gov/mro

    Media Contact

    Guy Webster / DC Agle
    Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
    818-354-6278 / 818-393-9011
    guy.w.webster@jpl.nasa.gov. / agle@jpl.nasa.gov

    Dwayne Brown / Laurie Cantillo
    NASA Headquarters, Washington
    202-358-1726 / 202-358-1077
    dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov / laura.l.cantillo@nasa.gov

     
    Last edited: Sep 28, 2015
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  16. Barnstable

    Barnstable Supreme Fuzzler of Lakersball.com Staff Member

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    That's a huge discovery by NASA. I honestly never even suspected there was any water still on Mars just from the pictures.

    If there's water, there's probably life
     
  17. alam1108

    alam1108 - Lakers Legend -

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    It truly is. A lot of people don't realize how big this is, it's water for crying out loud! It can possibly lead to so much more.

    And it's evidence of flowing water, with salt!
     
  18. John3:16

    John3:16 Moderator Staff Member

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    Why?

    Honest question. I've never understood the correlation between water and the probability of life. I understand our bodies are made up of water, but I don't look at a cup of water and think "life."
     
  19. Barnstable

    Barnstable Supreme Fuzzler of Lakersball.com Staff Member

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    Water is a common component of all life as we know it, whether we have it in our bodies, a friendly environment for procreation, and it also protects from some things that can be hostile to biological life like ultraviolet light
     
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  20. Weezy

    Weezy Moderator Staff Member

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    Being a good conspiracy theorist, I believe NASA, or at least one of these agencies has known this and more for a long time. Why it's trickled out to us as if we are dumb and can't handle these things is beyond me. I believe NASA also relatively recently said that the universe, and more importantly, our galaxy is teeming with life. The whole Drake equation thing kinda went out the window and nobody seemed to notice.

    I believe if we had technology to go to the moon in '69, and the SR-71 in '64/'66, that we can't imagine the technologies we have today that we aren't told about. I also don't understand why when we send rovers to Mars, they go to barren, boring parts, rather that interesting sites like Cydonia. What don't they want us to see? But anyway, this probably isn't the thread for this, but I get a little tired of the trickles of space into we get, when I believe we know a lot more than we're told, for who knows why.
     

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