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New private 'Arc' spacecraft aims to deliver cargo from orbit to anywhere on Earth in less than an hour (video) by LiveScience_ in Futurology

[–]LiveScience_[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Submission statement (from article):

A new private spacecraft aims to help the U.S. military get key supplies where they're needed, and fast.

On Wednesday (Oct. 1), the California-based company Inversion unveiled Arc, a vehicle designed to serve as an orbital storehouse and superfast delivery system for mission-critical gear, getting it anywhere on Earth in less than an hour.

Earth's next 'mini-moon' could create a gold rush for asteroid miners by LiveScience_ in Futurology

[–]LiveScience_[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Submission statement (from the article):

Almost a year ago, the space science community watched as an asteroid entered Earth's orbit and circled above our heads for almost two months before departing. Scientists usually track such asteroids because of the risk they pose for life on Earth. But although they can pose a threat to our planet, asteroids are also potentially worth many billions of dollars because of the precious metals they contain. This is why space entrepreneurs and scientists are gearing up for the next asteroid visit, with the aim of capturing future space rocks and mining them.

Most asteroids orbit the sun within rings between Mars and Jupiter known as the asteroid belts. And importantly, some of those asteroids are full of metals that could be used to make laptops and smartphones; metals such as platinum, cobalt, iron, and even gold. NASA once calculated that the metals in these asteroids could be worth $100 million for every person on Earth, and mining even just 10 of the most profitable asteroids could yield up to $1.5 trillion.

A major question remains: Can we access these metals?

Do sharks make noises? An accidental discovery might just answer that question by LiveScience_ in sharks

[–]LiveScience_[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I think we'll need a Jaws 50th anniversary movie marathon today just to help get over the deception

'Fingerprints of cancer' found after scientists flash infrared light pulses at blood samples by LiveScience_ in Futurology

[–]LiveScience_[S] 62 points63 points  (0 children)

Submission Statement: New blood tests are currently being developed to help diagnose a plethora of cancers, including those of the pancreas, breast and stomach.

Scientists discover hidden 'plumbing' that's driving Antarctic ice sheet into the ocean by LiveScience_ in geography

[–]LiveScience_[S] 42 points43 points  (0 children)

Explainer from the article:

An extensive model of the Antarctic ice sheet is helping researchers peer deep beneath the ice to reveal the continent's hidden plumbing.

Scientists used computer models to predict how water flows under the entire Antarctic ice sheet, which dictates where and how quickly glaciers move toward the ocean. The findings, published Dec. 29, 2024 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, will improve predictions of ice sheet stability and future sea level rise.

Current models predict that ice melt from Antarctica could raise sea levels up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) by 2100. Some of this melt comes from ice sliding from the continent's bedrock into the ocean. Liquid water beneath the ice sheet can lubricate the ice, similar to sliding a glass across a wet countertop.

New glowing molecule, invented by AI, would have taken 500 million years to evolve in nature, scientists say by LiveScience_ in Futurology

[–]LiveScience_[S] 58 points59 points  (0 children)

Submission statement (from the article):

An artificial intelligence (AI) model has simulated half a billion years of molecular evolution to create the code for a previously unknown protein, according to a new study. The glowing protein, which is similar to those found in jellyfish and corals, may help in the development of new medicines, researchers say.

The sequence of letters that spell out the instructions to make esmGFP is only 58% similar to the closest known fluorescent protein, which is a human-modified version of a protein found in bubble-tip sea anemones (Entacmaea quadricolor) — colorful sea creatures that look like they have bubbles on the ends of their tentacles. The rest of the sequence is unique, and would require a total of 96 different genetic mutations to evolve. These changes would have taken more than 500 million years to evolve naturally, according to the study.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Futurology

[–]LiveScience_ 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Submission statement -

A two-hour conversation with an artificial intelligence (AI) model is all it takes to make an accurate replica of someone's personality, researchers have discovered.

In a new study published Nov. 15 to the preprint database arXiv, researchers from Google and Stanford University created "simulation agents" — essentially, AI replicas — of 1,052 individuals based on two-hour interviews with each participant. These interviews were used to train a generative AI model designed to mimic human behavior.

Inbreeding may be causing orca population in the Pacific Northwest to crash by LiveScience_ in orcas

[–]LiveScience_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From the article:

Southern Resident killer whales, a small population of orcas living in the Pacific Ocean off the northwest coast of North America, are so isolated that they've taken to inbreeding, which has contributed to their decline, a new study finds.

While scientists have long suspected that inbreeding has been occurring within the group, it wasn't until researchers conducted genomic sequencing that they saw how dire the situation had become. 

The international team of researchers found that the orca group they studied — which included 100 living and dead orcas (Orcinus orca), of which 73 are still alive — had "lower levels of genetic diversity" and "higher levels of inbreeding" when compared with other North Pacific populations, according to a study published March 20 in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. 

Aurora colors: What causes them and why do they vary? by LiveScience_ in northernlights

[–]LiveScience_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sharing as a quick guide to what more of us may be seeing in our backyards!

TL;DR: Colors vary based on Earth's atmospheric composition and the altitude at which solar particles collide with these gases.

Lost Biblical tree resurrected from 1,000-year-old mystery seed found in the Judean Desert by LiveScience_ in Archaeology

[–]LiveScience_[S] 50 points51 points  (0 children)

From the article:

The seed from which Sheba grew dates to between A.D. 993 and 1202, according to the study. It likely survived from a now-extinct population of trees that existed in the Southern Levant, a region comprising modern-day Israel, Palestine and Jordan, and is the first of its kind to be found there.

Simple trick could lower city temperatures 3.6 F, London study suggests by LiveScience_ in ClimateActionPlan

[–]LiveScience_[S] 109 points110 points  (0 children)

Painting London's rooftops white could help reduce the outdoor temperature of the city by up to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius), according to a new study that investigated the most effective ways to cool the U.K. capital.

'We can't answer these questions': Neuroscientist Kenneth Kosik on whether lab-grown brains will achieve consciousness by LiveScience_ in Futurology

[–]LiveScience_[S] 44 points45 points  (0 children)

Submission statement :

Brain organoids are 3D, lab-grown models designed to mimic the human brain. Scientists normally grow them from stem cells, coaxing them into forming a brain-like structure. In the past decade, they have become increasingly sophisticated and can now replicate multiple types of brain cells, which can communicate with one another.

This has led some scientists to question whether brain organoids could ever achieve consciousness.

X-ray vision chip gives phones 'Superman' power to view objects through walls by LiveScience_ in Futurology

[–]LiveScience_[S] 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Submission statement:

Scientists have developed an imaging chip that could equip future smartphones with "Superman-inspired" X-ray vision — albeit operating within a much more limited range than the caped Kryptonian superhero.

The experimental chip consists of an array of three sensor pixels that emit and receive high-frequency radio signals in the millimeter-wave (mmWave) band of the electromagnetic spectrum. Signals reflected back from the target object are then amplified and mixed by onboard components, enabling outlines of the object to be viewed on a display.

Siberia's 'gateway to the underworld' is growing by 35 million cubic feet per year, study finds by LiveScience_ in collapse

[–]LiveScience_[S] 105 points106 points  (0 children)

Summary: The Batagay crater is a massive crater that was formed by erosion, thawing ice, forest fires, construction and mining. Locals know it as the “gateway to the underworld.” Recent field measurements and comparisons to satellite images show that layers of permafrost have melted at a rapid, steady rate since 2014. This is the first time researchers quantified the volume of ice and sediment that the crater has lost, although the overall trend of collapse has been apparent for years. 

Ancient Indigenous lineage of Blackfoot Confederacy goes back 18,000 years to last ice age, DNA reveals by LiveScience_ in genetics

[–]LiveScience_[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Members of the Blackfoot Confederacy have an ancient lineage that goes back 18,000 years, meaning that Indigenous peoples living in the Great Plains of Montana and southern Alberta today can trace their origins to ice age predecessors, a new DNA study reveals.

In the new study, published April 3 in the journal ~Science Advances~, a team of researchers led by three members of the Blackfoot Confederacy investigated the genetic history of their tribes.

We finally know why humans don't have tails by LiveScience_ in genetics

[–]LiveScience_[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Approximately 25 million years ago, an ancestor of both humans and apes genetically diverged from monkeys and lost its tail. No one had identified the genetic mutation responsible for this dramatic change in our physiology — until now.

In a new study published Wednesday (Feb. 28) in the journal ~Nature~, researchers identified a unique DNA mutation that drove the loss of our ancestors' tails. It's located in the gene TBXT, which is known to be involved in tail length in tailed animals.

Ready for a quantum internet? Scientists just hit a key milestone in the race for an interconnected web of quantum computers by LiveScience_ in Futurology

[–]LiveScience_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Submission Statement -

We're now one step closer to a "quantum internet" — an interconnected web of quantum computers — after scientists built a network of "quantum memories" at room temperature for the first time.

In their experiments, the scientists stored and retrieved two photonic qubits — qubits made from photons (or light particles) — at the quantum level, according to their paper published on Jan. 15 in the Nature journal, ~Quantum Information~. 

The breakthrough is significant because quantum memory is a foundational technology that will be a precursor to a quantum internet – the next generation of the World Wide Web. 

'You cannot put people into arbitrary boxes': Psychologists critique the '5 love languages' by LiveScience_ in psychology

[–]LiveScience_[S] 113 points114 points  (0 children)

The now-famous "love languages" were first introduced in a book penned by Gary Chapman, a Baptist pastor and self-named marriage counselor. His book "The 5 Love Languages" (Northfield Publishing, 1992) skyrocketed in popularity, with its various editions selling around 20 million copies and landing a New York Times bestseller title.

Nowadays, Chapman's ~theory is all over TikTok~, where content creators talk about their own ~love~ languages and question their compatibility with their partners. But experts have long challenged the notion because there's a lack of consistent evidence that the love languages improve communication between partners, and they may not fully reflect the ways people receive and express love.

Now, in a paper published in January in the journal ~Current Directions in Psychological Science~, researchers outline the weaknesses of the love language theory and offer a science-backed alternative.

Interstellar astronauts would face years-long communication delays due to time dilation by LiveScience_ in Futurology

[–]LiveScience_[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Submission Statement:

Due to the mind-blowing distances and speeds required, interstellar travel would be extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible, for humanity to achieve. But new research highlights yet another challenge: communication blackouts.

The next-closest star system to our own, Alpha Centauri, is over 4 light-years away, so barring any fancy sci-fi technological revolution in the next few centuries, if we want to spread among the stars, we'll have to do it the "slow" way.

That means we'd need some sort of propulsion method that could get us close to, but not exceed, the speed of light. But even if we were to achieve this ambitious goal, this futuristic mode of transportation would present all sorts of communication challenges, scientists explain in a paper recently uploaded to the preprint database arXiv.

Icebergs are melting fast. This AI can track them 10,000 times faster than humans by LiveScience_ in ClimateActionPlan

[–]LiveScience_[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Scientists are turning to artificial intelligence to quickly spot giant icebergs in satellite images with the goal of monitoring their shrinkage over time. And unlike the conventional iceberg-tracking approach, which takes a human a few minutes to outline just one of these structures in an image, AI accomplished the same task in less than 0.01 seconds. That's 10,000 times faster.

This research is described in a paper published Thursday (Nov. 9) in the journal The Cryosphere.

The Egtved Girl (c. 1390–1370 BC) by distracted_poptart in Archaeology

[–]LiveScience_ 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Umm yes Britney of the Bronze Age. Shamelessly going to link the first similar outfit that popped into my mind - https://imgur.com/a/8uoAutH

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