Ongoing important Science news thread

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Deadly killer asteroids heading towards earth

For those who don’t want to read it, it doesn’t say this.

This has always been a threat, it will always be a threat, they are working on ways to reduce the threat.

[jayswin]

Figured.

[CaptainCrunch]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1125524077739945985


Sobering report from the UN on Biodiversity


https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/un-glo...port-1.5124089

Species loss is accelerating to a rate tens or hundreds of times faster than in the past, the report said. More than half a million species on land "have insufficient habitat for long-term survival" and are likely to go extinct, many within decades, unless their habitats are restored. The oceans are not any better off.


"Humanity unwittingly is attempting to throttle the living planet and humanity's own future," said George Mason University biologist Thomas Lovejoy, who has been called the godfather of biodiversity for his research. He was not part of the report.


"The biological diversity of this planet has been really hammered, and this is really our last chance to address all of that," Lovejoy said.

This comes down to fighting and actually having a plan for climate change, water air and land pollution, reducing deforestation.


And the major offenders have to sign on board, the China's, US, and others.

[jayswin]

Well, this was always coming and here's the easy breakdown...

1. Superpowers have the worst consumption and production and the biggest power and importance to change

2. They use their power to a) not change or b) use their power to manipulate the stats and message, making it out like the medium and small countries are to blame and need to change

3. Lots of people and countries understand the needs and talk big about change, but very few people and countries are willing to do what it takes to make a change, because that means choosing between the well being and prosperity of your people and the greater good.


Saying do it for the greater good is great and all, but who's actually going to do it? Would you sacfrice your country for the greater good? We're being forced into it here in Canada by US manipulation and it's going to be dire in 20 years.


The planet as we know it is going down and it's starting to look like we could actually see some serious downfall to our planet in our lifetime. But like George Carlin says "The planet will be fine, it's the people that are ****ed".

[Harry Lime]

4. Depopulation of ocean life, acidification, biowaste and pollution of the ocean. There is no way to make money fixing this, so nothing will be done about it.

[Fuzz]

New plastic material can be recycled again and again
A new material called PDK can be disassembled and reassembled at a molecular level.


PDK monomers, however, can be completely separated from their additives simply by immersing the object in a highly acidic solution. "With PDKs, the immutable bonds of conventional plastics are replaced with reversible bonds that allow the plastic to be recycled more effectively," explained team leader Brett Helms. Objects made with the material can then be reshaped, recolored and upcycled again and again and again. A watchband could become part of a keyboard, which could then be used to make a phone case.

https://www.engadget.com/2019/05/07/...ar-recyclable/


Cool stuff. Plastics are obviously a massive problem, so being able to re-use them like this could really help reduce waste.

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

https://www.engadget.com/2019/05/07/...ar-recyclable/


Cool stuff. Plastics are obviously a massive problem, so being able to re-use them like this could really help reduce waste.

Perhaps the real solution was be a home based 3D printer with open source plans. Use this remoldable plastic and fix a lot of our crappy broken products. The team that figures out that problem will be tripping over piles of cash.

[Fuzz]

That's fine for small scale stuff, but it's all the disposable things like laundry deterg jugs, shampoo etc...if they could reuse those that would make a real difference.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

That's fine for small scale stuff, but it's all the disposable things like laundry deterg jugs, shampoo etc...if they could reuse those that would make a real difference.

It would be so easy with a bit of buy in.

Have refills & dispensers available at the grocery store the same way you do with 18L water jugs.

[rubecube]

From last month but still pretty interesting for someone like me who suffers from childhood-related PTSD and depression and also has Crohn's disease.

https://www.technologynetworks.com/n...HktmE.facebook

A Columbia University study has found that adversity early in life is associated with increased gastrointestinal symptoms in children that may have an impact on the brain and behavior as they grow to maturity.

The study was published online March 28 in the journal Development and Psychopathology.

“One common reason children show up at doctors’ offices is intestinal complaints,” said Nim Tottenham, a professor of psychology at Columbia and senior author on the study. “Our findings indicate that gastrointestinal symptoms in young children could be a red flag for future emotional health problems.”

Scientists have long noted the strong connection between the gut and brain.

Previous research has demonstrated that a history of trauma or abuse has been reported in up to half of adults with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), at a prevalence twice that of patients without IBS.

“The role of trauma in increasing vulnerability to both gastrointestinal and mental health symptoms is well established in adults but rarely studied in childhood,” said study lead author Bridget Callaghan, a post-doctoral research fellow in Columbia’s psychology department. In addition, she said, animal studies have demonstrated that adversity-induced changes in the gut microbiome – the community of bacteria in the body that regulates everything from digestion to immune system function–influence neurological development, but no human studies have done so.

“Our study is among the first to link disruption of a child’s gastrointestinal microbiome triggered by early-life adversity with brain activity in regions associated with emotional health,” Callaghan said.

[DownInFlames]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

It would be so easy with a bit of buy in.

Have refills & dispensers available at the grocery store the same way you do with 18L water jugs.

Seriously. Supermarkets should be like Bulk Barn where you bring your own reusable containers to buy everything. We're starting to get used to bringing bags to put groceries in. The amount of packaging we throw out is gross, and even if it gets recycled that's still wasteful.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

Seriously. Supermarkets should be like Bulk Barn where you bring your own reusable containers to buy everything. We're starting to get used to bringing bags to put groceries in. The amount of packaging we throw out is gross, and even if it gets recycled that's still wasteful.

I agree. Food is tricky in bulk like that due to allergies/intolerances.

But with the amount of detergents people use that alone would be a big step in the right direction.

[jayswin]

I wonder if that initative could start with detergent companies. What a great idea for a company to be the first to put huge pallet sized bins of their detergent in Walmart and other stores.

They save money by not paying for millions of packages, pass a bit of that on to the customer and they could have a winner. There'd be so many people who would bring their one-time-buy detergent containers in for the savings combined with the feeling of doing right for the environment.

[DownInFlames]

Just when you thought the universe couldn't get any weirder. I don't think we'll ever be able to prove something like this until we can find a way to explore other dimensions, which seems unlikely.

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/0...-of-space-time

[Fuzz]

Reading that has me thinking we may never understand space time, and all the quantum properties of it.


And by we I mostly mean me.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

Just when you thought the universe couldn't get any weirder. I don't think we'll ever be able to prove something like this until we can find a way to explore other dimensions, which seems unlikely.

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/0...-of-space-time

Of course, the entire simulation was designed so that we can’t figure out how it’s working.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Reading that has me thinking we may never understand space time, and all the quantum properties of it.


And by we I mostly mean me.

You're not alone

I think i'd rather just not think about "space time" and just think about time itself as a human invented progress of our existence

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Well, this could certainly be a game-changer in the era of resistant bacteria strains. Bacteriophages (viruses that specifically infect bacteria) are genetically engineered to basically become a new form of antibiotic.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0508134554.htm

The work is the first to demonstrate the safe and effective use of engineered bacteriophages in a human patient, says Graham Hatfull, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Such a treatment could offer a personalized approach to countering drug-resistant bacteria. It could even potentially be used more broadly for controlling diseases like tuberculosis.

"The idea is to use bacteriophages as antibiotics -- as something we could use to kill bacteria that cause infection," Hatfull says.

[CaptainCrunch]

Northern Lights to be visible across Canada over the next couple of days


https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/n...-sun-1.5135482

[troutman]

NASA to get an extra $1.6 billion to put the first woman on the moon

https://www.newscientist.com/article...box=1557833603


Inside the new space race: Who’ll be the first back to the moon?

Nations from the US to China and companies such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX are vying to leave Earth again. But why – and are we ready for a second space age?

https://www.newscientist.com/article...k-to-the-moon/