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A Mutation in One Gene May Have Made Humans Long-Distance Runners
Approximately 2-3mn years ago, a mutation to the CMAH gene in the ancestors of human beings functionally inactivated that gene, which consequently led to a cascading series of dramatic biological changes, affecting everything from fertility rates, to innate immunity, to affecting the rates and risk factors of certain cancers (such as due to eating red meat).
And, now, researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, in a paper in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, have argued for adding something else to the list: long-distance running.
In studying laboratory mice engineered to lack their own version of the CMAH gene, the researchers observed greater proneness to muscle dystrophy. Suspecting this may be related to humans being one of the best distance-runners in the animal kingdom, they eventually compared the altered and unaltered mice on treadmills, and found that the altered mice showed increased performance and resistance to fatigue, more capillaries for supplying blood and air, increased mitochondrial respiration (mitochondria being the powerhouses of cells), and greater hind limb muscle development.
As to why this mutation was naturally selected for our species, it likely reflects an evolutionary transition from being a species that spent much of our time in the forests, climbing and swinging around in trees, to a species that migrated into grasslands where tree coverage was sparser, often with great distances between clusters of trees and requiring us to traverse greater and greater distances between these and, ultimately, to embrace a more grounded life.
#BlindMeWithScience #Evolution #EvolutionaryBiology
Approximately 2-3mn years ago, a mutation to the CMAH gene in the ancestors of human beings functionally inactivated that gene, which consequently led to a cascading series of dramatic biological changes, affecting everything from fertility rates, to innate immunity, to affecting the rates and risk factors of certain cancers (such as due to eating red meat).
And, now, researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, in a paper in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, have argued for adding something else to the list: long-distance running.
In studying laboratory mice engineered to lack their own version of the CMAH gene, the researchers observed greater proneness to muscle dystrophy. Suspecting this may be related to humans being one of the best distance-runners in the animal kingdom, they eventually compared the altered and unaltered mice on treadmills, and found that the altered mice showed increased performance and resistance to fatigue, more capillaries for supplying blood and air, increased mitochondrial respiration (mitochondria being the powerhouses of cells), and greater hind limb muscle development.
As to why this mutation was naturally selected for our species, it likely reflects an evolutionary transition from being a species that spent much of our time in the forests, climbing and swinging around in trees, to a species that migrated into grasslands where tree coverage was sparser, often with great distances between clusters of trees and requiring us to traverse greater and greater distances between these and, ultimately, to embrace a more grounded life.
#BlindMeWithScience #Evolution #EvolutionaryBiology
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Artificially Intelligent Glider Rides Air Thermals Like a Bird
While we tend to associate bird flight with the flapping of their wings, in fact, the most impressive displays of avian air prowess is observed in soaring birds, which can often ride on warm air currents called thermals for hours with little to no flapping of their wings.
How do they learn to do this? To-date, this has been a more-or-less total mystery. What if we could learn to do it ourselves? Surely that would give us some insight into the phenomenon?
Of course, we can't, God having not given us wings as the old saying goes, but we were given something almost as good: our big human brains. Researchers at the University of California San Diego applied their own well trained brains to the problem, and devised a solution: a self-flying glider.
Equipped with an onboard computer, and with a 2-meter wingspan, the glider uses a Machine Learning algorithm to test various navigation decisions, with each decision that increases its altitude being rewarded.
Using this, the glider was able to learn how to optimize its position and angle for riding thermal currents in a mere 15-hours, faster than many if any birds learn the skill, though admittedly the glider is still likely an amateur by comparison.
What it has already learned may yield vital insights into avian soaring skills, which may even be applicable to practical human technologies, as well.
#BlindMeWithScience #AI #Biology
While we tend to associate bird flight with the flapping of their wings, in fact, the most impressive displays of avian air prowess is observed in soaring birds, which can often ride on warm air currents called thermals for hours with little to no flapping of their wings.
How do they learn to do this? To-date, this has been a more-or-less total mystery. What if we could learn to do it ourselves? Surely that would give us some insight into the phenomenon?
Of course, we can't, God having not given us wings as the old saying goes, but we were given something almost as good: our big human brains. Researchers at the University of California San Diego applied their own well trained brains to the problem, and devised a solution: a self-flying glider.
Equipped with an onboard computer, and with a 2-meter wingspan, the glider uses a Machine Learning algorithm to test various navigation decisions, with each decision that increases its altitude being rewarded.
Using this, the glider was able to learn how to optimize its position and angle for riding thermal currents in a mere 15-hours, faster than many if any birds learn the skill, though admittedly the glider is still likely an amateur by comparison.
What it has already learned may yield vital insights into avian soaring skills, which may even be applicable to practical human technologies, as well.
#BlindMeWithScience #AI #Biology
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Social Media was the Key for Ancient Roman Writers
The ninth verse of the first book of Ecclesiastes, a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of its pseudonymous author, states (in part), "There is nothing new under the sun." This includes Social Media, apparently, to judge by the ancient Latin book publishing trade.
For ancient Roman writers, operating in a world prior to the Printing Press, there was no such thing as centralized mass publication and distribution. To achieve wide publication, then, it was necessary to inspire others to make, and even sell, copies of their writings. And, as it does today, the difference between a writer who achieved fame and renown, adorning libraries of the learned, and one forgotten by history, often came down to social marketing.
As writers themselves, then as now, rarely possessed the requisite skills for this, they turned to those with greater wealth, influence, and social connections. One way to entice a potential candidate for the purpose was to Dedicate the work to someone prominent and at least a bit susceptible to flattery, and to otherwise seek endorsements among those of influence and means. Social Media Influencers, in other words.
In order to attract further interest in the book, such patrons would throw a launch party, or recitatio, at which all or part of the work would be read. Only after such an event, in fact, would a work be considered formally published.
At that point, as with social media today, its life and death came down to Sharing. A work which went 'viral' made its way into a great many copies in many bookstores and libraries. Although these copies made no direct revenue for the authors, they did open up avenues derived from the influence, esteem, and connections thereby acquired.
#BlindMeWithScience #History #Archaeology
The ninth verse of the first book of Ecclesiastes, a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of its pseudonymous author, states (in part), "There is nothing new under the sun." This includes Social Media, apparently, to judge by the ancient Latin book publishing trade.
For ancient Roman writers, operating in a world prior to the Printing Press, there was no such thing as centralized mass publication and distribution. To achieve wide publication, then, it was necessary to inspire others to make, and even sell, copies of their writings. And, as it does today, the difference between a writer who achieved fame and renown, adorning libraries of the learned, and one forgotten by history, often came down to social marketing.
As writers themselves, then as now, rarely possessed the requisite skills for this, they turned to those with greater wealth, influence, and social connections. One way to entice a potential candidate for the purpose was to Dedicate the work to someone prominent and at least a bit susceptible to flattery, and to otherwise seek endorsements among those of influence and means. Social Media Influencers, in other words.
In order to attract further interest in the book, such patrons would throw a launch party, or recitatio, at which all or part of the work would be read. Only after such an event, in fact, would a work be considered formally published.
At that point, as with social media today, its life and death came down to Sharing. A work which went 'viral' made its way into a great many copies in many bookstores and libraries. Although these copies made no direct revenue for the authors, they did open up avenues derived from the influence, esteem, and connections thereby acquired.
#BlindMeWithScience #History #Archaeology
Share it like Cicero: How Roman authors used social networking
tomstandage.wordpress.com
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Prime Numbers and Crystal-Like Materials May Share Similar Ordering
Prime Numbers, so called because they are evenly divisible only by the numbers 1 and themselves, are typically thought of as randomly distributed, with no way to predict when another will appear in the number sequence. Yet they are also very useful entities for a variety of purposes, for example in modern computer cryptography and error-correcting code.
It is for reason of this apparent randomness, in fact, that a great deal of computing power nowadays goes towards identifying the next unknown Prime in the number sequence. Without any clue to when the next number in a sequence will be Prime short of testing its divisibility manually, brute force processing has been the only really effective solution.
Princeton University researchers may, however, have finally found a pattern to make this easier, while also potentially reshaping how we understand their significance: hyperuniformity.
Hyperuniform materials, which include crystals, quasicrystals, and limit-periodic systems, display certain peaks (literally bright spots) when analyzed x-ray crystallography. These peaks, called Bragg peaks, appear similar to the distribution of Primes, especially in limit-periodic systems, which Primes so closely resemble that the researchers dubbed them "effectively limit-periodic".
This may help us to better predict the appearance of Primes, by using X-Ray Crystallography of crystals and crystal-like structures and systems. It may also cast the Prime Numbers in a more significant light than the mathematical curiosities they've been considered until now.
It may also help explain the peculiar Anti-Sameness Bias (http://bit.ly/2Ne9Tf3) observed in Prime Numbers, whereby consecutive Primes are less likely than the laws of chance should permit to end in the same digit value. If the distribution of Primes is indeed governed by physical principles, then this Anti-Sameness Bias likely reflects the operation of these same principles.
#BlindMeWithScience #Physics #PrimeNumbers
Prime Numbers, so called because they are evenly divisible only by the numbers 1 and themselves, are typically thought of as randomly distributed, with no way to predict when another will appear in the number sequence. Yet they are also very useful entities for a variety of purposes, for example in modern computer cryptography and error-correcting code.
It is for reason of this apparent randomness, in fact, that a great deal of computing power nowadays goes towards identifying the next unknown Prime in the number sequence. Without any clue to when the next number in a sequence will be Prime short of testing its divisibility manually, brute force processing has been the only really effective solution.
Princeton University researchers may, however, have finally found a pattern to make this easier, while also potentially reshaping how we understand their significance: hyperuniformity.
Hyperuniform materials, which include crystals, quasicrystals, and limit-periodic systems, display certain peaks (literally bright spots) when analyzed x-ray crystallography. These peaks, called Bragg peaks, appear similar to the distribution of Primes, especially in limit-periodic systems, which Primes so closely resemble that the researchers dubbed them "effectively limit-periodic".
This may help us to better predict the appearance of Primes, by using X-Ray Crystallography of crystals and crystal-like structures and systems. It may also cast the Prime Numbers in a more significant light than the mathematical curiosities they've been considered until now.
It may also help explain the peculiar Anti-Sameness Bias (http://bit.ly/2Ne9Tf3) observed in Prime Numbers, whereby consecutive Primes are less likely than the laws of chance should permit to end in the same digit value. If the distribution of Primes is indeed governed by physical principles, then this Anti-Sameness Bias likely reflects the operation of these same principles.
#BlindMeWithScience #Physics #PrimeNumbers
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Real Life 'Planet Vulcan' Discovered
According to Star Trek canon, the character Spock's home world of Vulcan orbits the star 40 Eridani A. For those hoping to meet these pointy eared intellectuals some day, astronomers just threw you a lifeline: a new analysis reveals that at least one exoplanet orbits 40 Eridani A.
Unlike most host stars of exoplanets, 40 Eridani A also happens to be visible to the naked eye in the night skies of this humble blue marble of ours. So, basically, astronomers have given you permission to gaze into the heavens and hope that, some day, humanity will embrace the Philosophy of the IDIIC, and all the people of the Federation will live long and prosper.
#BlindMeWithScience #StarTrek #PlanetVulcan
According to Star Trek canon, the character Spock's home world of Vulcan orbits the star 40 Eridani A. For those hoping to meet these pointy eared intellectuals some day, astronomers just threw you a lifeline: a new analysis reveals that at least one exoplanet orbits 40 Eridani A.
Unlike most host stars of exoplanets, 40 Eridani A also happens to be visible to the naked eye in the night skies of this humble blue marble of ours. So, basically, astronomers have given you permission to gaze into the heavens and hope that, some day, humanity will embrace the Philosophy of the IDIIC, and all the people of the Federation will live long and prosper.
#BlindMeWithScience #StarTrek #PlanetVulcan
Space.com
space.com
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Offspring Inherit More Than Genes From Sperm
It was long believed, in the reproductive sciences, that the contribution of sperm to fertility, reproduction, and the future health of the child was limited to direct genetic contribution. Whereas the mother, bearing the child in the womb, could also contribute environmental influences on development. Thus, the male's role apart from genetic health (over which he has little, if any, control, or even knowledge barring modern genetic tests) could be over in a matter of moments, and it then became the responsibility of the mother to ensure healthy development prior to birth.
In recent years, this paradigm has shattered, as evidence has accumulated suggesting that males, too, pass down environmental influences to offspring, in the form of Epigenetics: changes to the output of genes, in response to environmental input. Yet, despite this, countless offspring are produced each year through in vitro fertilization, involving extraction of sperm prior to ejaculation and in some cases prior to maturity, which begs the question as to whether these procedures may influence Epigenetic contributions from fathers.
Now, Researchers can finally offer insight into how these Epigenetic influences are passed down, and their role in not only the Epigenetics of the offspring, but in fertility itself. The key may lie in what are known as small RNA's, which can conceal information from our genetic machinery, even 'ghosting' the outputs of certain genes entirely. After entering the early part of a 6-meter long part of the male reproductive tract called the epididymis, sperm discard many of their small RNA's, then apparently reacquire these later in the process from the epididymis cells themselves, thereby inheriting Epigenetic influences from the father.
Apart from affecting the subsequent development of the offspring, the Researchers found that these small RNA's play a critical role in implantation, and by extension fertility itself, such that mouse embryos from early and mature sperm implanted successfully in a surrogate, whereas those from the middle stage did not.
It is still somewhat unclear what this may mean for in vitro offspring using techniques that extract immature sperm prior to the shedding of small RNA's. Despite thousands of babies being conceived this way, the offspring are at most 3-4 decades old by now, and not all such techniques utilize immature sperm. Consequently, this may be very meaningful in considering the use of such technologies, or meaningless, or it may vary by the particular technique employed in any given conception.
It is as yet unclear why the sperm go through this shedding and reacquiring process, but a likely answer is that the reacquired small RNA's encode relevant instructions preparing the offspring for post-natal life. If, for example, dad's diet was bereft of some vital nutrients, this may signal the offspring's body to reduce or suspend processes depending on these nutrients, such that babies influenced by this process survive better than those born with a 'clean slate'. Epigenetics, then, would function like the kind of Cheat Sheet to prepare the child for the external world they'll likely encounter.
This finding should also have profound ramifications for how society understands the roles of each parent in producing offspring. Whereas women have traditionally shouldered the responsibility for environmental influences on developing offspring prior to their birth (if not afterwards, as well), and have shouldered the blame for anything but genetic contributions by the father (if even), these findings suggest that the lifestyle choices of fathers play a substantial, if somewhat less decisive, role as well, which cannot be overlooked.
#BlindMeWithScience #Genetics #Biology
It was long believed, in the reproductive sciences, that the contribution of sperm to fertility, reproduction, and the future health of the child was limited to direct genetic contribution. Whereas the mother, bearing the child in the womb, could also contribute environmental influences on development. Thus, the male's role apart from genetic health (over which he has little, if any, control, or even knowledge barring modern genetic tests) could be over in a matter of moments, and it then became the responsibility of the mother to ensure healthy development prior to birth.
In recent years, this paradigm has shattered, as evidence has accumulated suggesting that males, too, pass down environmental influences to offspring, in the form of Epigenetics: changes to the output of genes, in response to environmental input. Yet, despite this, countless offspring are produced each year through in vitro fertilization, involving extraction of sperm prior to ejaculation and in some cases prior to maturity, which begs the question as to whether these procedures may influence Epigenetic contributions from fathers.
Now, Researchers can finally offer insight into how these Epigenetic influences are passed down, and their role in not only the Epigenetics of the offspring, but in fertility itself. The key may lie in what are known as small RNA's, which can conceal information from our genetic machinery, even 'ghosting' the outputs of certain genes entirely. After entering the early part of a 6-meter long part of the male reproductive tract called the epididymis, sperm discard many of their small RNA's, then apparently reacquire these later in the process from the epididymis cells themselves, thereby inheriting Epigenetic influences from the father.
Apart from affecting the subsequent development of the offspring, the Researchers found that these small RNA's play a critical role in implantation, and by extension fertility itself, such that mouse embryos from early and mature sperm implanted successfully in a surrogate, whereas those from the middle stage did not.
It is still somewhat unclear what this may mean for in vitro offspring using techniques that extract immature sperm prior to the shedding of small RNA's. Despite thousands of babies being conceived this way, the offspring are at most 3-4 decades old by now, and not all such techniques utilize immature sperm. Consequently, this may be very meaningful in considering the use of such technologies, or meaningless, or it may vary by the particular technique employed in any given conception.
It is as yet unclear why the sperm go through this shedding and reacquiring process, but a likely answer is that the reacquired small RNA's encode relevant instructions preparing the offspring for post-natal life. If, for example, dad's diet was bereft of some vital nutrients, this may signal the offspring's body to reduce or suspend processes depending on these nutrients, such that babies influenced by this process survive better than those born with a 'clean slate'. Epigenetics, then, would function like the kind of Cheat Sheet to prepare the child for the external world they'll likely encounter.
This finding should also have profound ramifications for how society understands the roles of each parent in producing offspring. Whereas women have traditionally shouldered the responsibility for environmental influences on developing offspring prior to their birth (if not afterwards, as well), and have shouldered the blame for anything but genetic contributions by the father (if even), these findings suggest that the lifestyle choices of fathers play a substantial, if somewhat less decisive, role as well, which cannot be overlooked.
#BlindMeWithScience #Genetics #Biology
Dads Pass On More Than Genetics in Their Sperm
smithsonianmag.com
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Researchers Identify Possible Echoes of Black Holes From Previous Universes
The origin of our universe is still a matter of debate, to say the least. Most researchers favor the idea that our cosmos began as a homogenous point called a singularity, which then burst with energy, inflating spacetime itself. However, there have long been curious observations which are not seemingly consistent with this simple picture, such as discrepancies in the observed early temperatures of the universe versus those predicted by the singularity model.
Another curious data point comes in the form of swirling polarization patterns called B-modes in the Cosmic Microwave Background (a Big Bang echo). While there is still some debate as to whether these B-modes even exist rather than being artefacts of our own measurements, a team led by Sir Roger Penrose believes these are echoes of evaporated Black Holes.
This is a subject Penrose knows well, being credited alongside Stephen Hawking for finding Hawking Radiation, i.e. the energy radiated by a Black Hole. The process of a Black Hole evaporating through its own radiation is the ultimate Cosmic Tortoise, so gradual that we have literally never observed it in our universe, but we would expect to find echoes of this if Penrose is right.
Because, according to Penrose, our universe had no beginning, and will have no end, but cycles through periods where, all matter having broken down to more basic quanta eventually, a universe indistinguishable from a singularity eventually begins the cycle all over again, with only things like these B-modes left over from evaporated Black Holes to disturb the homogeneity that would prevail if this was a one-off process instead of an ongoing cycle.
Only time and future observations will tell us both whether these B-modes are a real phenomenon, rather than an artefact, and if so whether they prove that our universe is just the latest to inhabit this space, perhaps in a line of universes stretching back to unfathomable eternities, and which may be only a middle point of a cycle stretching forward to equally unfathomable eternities, as well.
#BlindMeWithScience #BigBang #Cosmology
The origin of our universe is still a matter of debate, to say the least. Most researchers favor the idea that our cosmos began as a homogenous point called a singularity, which then burst with energy, inflating spacetime itself. However, there have long been curious observations which are not seemingly consistent with this simple picture, such as discrepancies in the observed early temperatures of the universe versus those predicted by the singularity model.
Another curious data point comes in the form of swirling polarization patterns called B-modes in the Cosmic Microwave Background (a Big Bang echo). While there is still some debate as to whether these B-modes even exist rather than being artefacts of our own measurements, a team led by Sir Roger Penrose believes these are echoes of evaporated Black Holes.
This is a subject Penrose knows well, being credited alongside Stephen Hawking for finding Hawking Radiation, i.e. the energy radiated by a Black Hole. The process of a Black Hole evaporating through its own radiation is the ultimate Cosmic Tortoise, so gradual that we have literally never observed it in our universe, but we would expect to find echoes of this if Penrose is right.
Because, according to Penrose, our universe had no beginning, and will have no end, but cycles through periods where, all matter having broken down to more basic quanta eventually, a universe indistinguishable from a singularity eventually begins the cycle all over again, with only things like these B-modes left over from evaporated Black Holes to disturb the homogeneity that would prevail if this was a one-off process instead of an ongoing cycle.
Only time and future observations will tell us both whether these B-modes are a real phenomenon, rather than an artefact, and if so whether they prove that our universe is just the latest to inhabit this space, perhaps in a line of universes stretching back to unfathomable eternities, and which may be only a middle point of a cycle stretching forward to equally unfathomable eternities, as well.
#BlindMeWithScience #BigBang #Cosmology
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Intelligent and brave...
How The Father of Infection Control Let Down His Own Discovery
You've probably never heard of Ignaz Semmelweis, but there's a statistically good chance you're only alive now because of him. A mid 19th Century Obstetrician, his clinically rigorous analysis of the transmission of childbed (or pueperal) fever led to the discovery that the infection was being transmitted, via unwashed hands, from Doctors themselves, leading to the then revolutionary encouragement for Doctors to wash their hands.
While this is such a seemingly small thing we now take it for granted, this simple hygienic practice has likely saved as many lives as nearly any of the greatest medical discoveries of history, especially for high risk groups like mothers in labor, their newborn offspring, etc...
Popular mythology suggests his idea was ridiculed, with Semmelweis losing his mind over years of professional attacks and passionate efforts to save lives, but the truth now seems to have been much simpler: he waited too long to publish.
In fact, his findings appear to have enjoyed wide and early support, but by depending on other researchers to publicize his findings until many years had gone by, he missed his chance to spread knowledge of modern infection control methods earlier and farther than they ended up reaching in his time.
He later succumbed to an apparent case of Alzheimer's, during which he began to write letters and correspondences accusing others who did not follow his findings of butchery, of killing women and children, causing him to be committed before the age of 50 by his own family. His loss of sanity, thus, appears to have been incidental to his findings, rather than its cause.
#BlindMeWithScience #Medicine #Epidemiology
You've probably never heard of Ignaz Semmelweis, but there's a statistically good chance you're only alive now because of him. A mid 19th Century Obstetrician, his clinically rigorous analysis of the transmission of childbed (or pueperal) fever led to the discovery that the infection was being transmitted, via unwashed hands, from Doctors themselves, leading to the then revolutionary encouragement for Doctors to wash their hands.
While this is such a seemingly small thing we now take it for granted, this simple hygienic practice has likely saved as many lives as nearly any of the greatest medical discoveries of history, especially for high risk groups like mothers in labor, their newborn offspring, etc...
Popular mythology suggests his idea was ridiculed, with Semmelweis losing his mind over years of professional attacks and passionate efforts to save lives, but the truth now seems to have been much simpler: he waited too long to publish.
In fact, his findings appear to have enjoyed wide and early support, but by depending on other researchers to publicize his findings until many years had gone by, he missed his chance to spread knowledge of modern infection control methods earlier and farther than they ended up reaching in his time.
He later succumbed to an apparent case of Alzheimer's, during which he began to write letters and correspondences accusing others who did not follow his findings of butchery, of killing women and children, causing him to be committed before the age of 50 by his own family. His loss of sanity, thus, appears to have been incidental to his findings, rather than its cause.
#BlindMeWithScience #Medicine #Epidemiology
The Man Who Invented Modern Infection Control | JSTOR Daily
daily.jstor.org
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The problem with dark matter is that none of this exotic stuff has ever been found even with facilities designed to look exactly where theory says it exists. Which is why MOND is so good. You can think of MOND as an application of relativity; that's simplified almost to the point where it's no longer correct but it's a good enough analogy for now. So the big selling points are no new exotic undetected even though we looked right where the theory told us to matter and relativity has been experimentally confirmed on all counts.
Modified Newtonian Mechanics Theory Rescued By New Study
Earlier this year, a study published in Nature claimed to falsify Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) by showing that the motions within dwarf galaxy NGC1052-DF2 were too slow.
MOND, consists of several variations of modifications that strengthen the gravity of a galaxy's visible mass at very weak scales, thereby explaining why galaxies don't fly apart even though apparently lacking most of the gravitational mass they would require in the form of visible matter. They present an alternative to Dark Matter Theories, which claim that an as-yet-undetected source of actual mass, Dark Matter, explains this 'Missing Mass'.
The problem with Dark Matter Theories, is that this alleged substance has simply never been found in any form, despite numerous predictions about where to find it, and the construction of expensive research facilities for the purpose of finding it, and its allegedly tremendous abundance in the universe. Its properties remain ever-beyond-detection, and its location in space ever-elusive. MOND would wipe this issue out at s stroke, if validated.
The apparent falsification of MOND, then, was a major blow to proponents. Fortunately, a team of international astronomers have successfully rescued it, by identifying a critical flaw in the original paper, according to research also published in the newest edition of Nature.
The issue, it turns out, was straightforward: MOND works only at very weak gravity scales, whereas Galaxy NGC1052-DF2, though a dwarf galaxy and thus an apparently logical candidate, also happens to neighbor a massive galaxy, thereby slowing down its internal motions.
This is not to say that MOND has now overthrown Dark Matter Theories. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and we don't yet know for certain which encampment will be validated in the long-run. But it appears that the reports of MOND's death have been greatly exaggerated, and it may yet win the day.
#BlindMeWithScience #Physics #DarkMatter
Earlier this year, a study published in Nature claimed to falsify Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) by showing that the motions within dwarf galaxy NGC1052-DF2 were too slow.
MOND, consists of several variations of modifications that strengthen the gravity of a galaxy's visible mass at very weak scales, thereby explaining why galaxies don't fly apart even though apparently lacking most of the gravitational mass they would require in the form of visible matter. They present an alternative to Dark Matter Theories, which claim that an as-yet-undetected source of actual mass, Dark Matter, explains this 'Missing Mass'.
The problem with Dark Matter Theories, is that this alleged substance has simply never been found in any form, despite numerous predictions about where to find it, and the construction of expensive research facilities for the purpose of finding it, and its allegedly tremendous abundance in the universe. Its properties remain ever-beyond-detection, and its location in space ever-elusive. MOND would wipe this issue out at s stroke, if validated.
The apparent falsification of MOND, then, was a major blow to proponents. Fortunately, a team of international astronomers have successfully rescued it, by identifying a critical flaw in the original paper, according to research also published in the newest edition of Nature.
The issue, it turns out, was straightforward: MOND works only at very weak gravity scales, whereas Galaxy NGC1052-DF2, though a dwarf galaxy and thus an apparently logical candidate, also happens to neighbor a massive galaxy, thereby slowing down its internal motions.
This is not to say that MOND has now overthrown Dark Matter Theories. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and we don't yet know for certain which encampment will be validated in the long-run. But it appears that the reports of MOND's death have been greatly exaggerated, and it may yet win the day.
#BlindMeWithScience #Physics #DarkMatter
Gravity theory saved from death
phys.org
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Machine Learning 'Translates' Bat Talk and Hears a Lot of Fighting
Researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel adapted a Machine Learning algorithm originally used for human voice recognition for a different, but related, purpose: to see if it could tease meaning out of the squeals of bats, or more specifically Egyptian Fruit Bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus).
Until now, most researchers in the field supposed that all bat squeals meant the same thing, usually some variation on a warning call, while others have been eager but, due to the difficulty of the task, unable to challenge this convention.
By feeding the algorithm over 15,000 bat calls, and comparing its results afterwards with video of the behaviors of the bats making the calls, they were able to classify ~60% of bat squeals into four categories, each involving disputes: over food, over sleeping position, in response to unwanted mating advances, and what might be called 'comfort zone' disputes when one bat sits too close to another. They also found variations in how the same bats speak to different individuals, as is often observed in highly social mammals.
Given the great density and crowdedness of typical bat populations, this may be likened to the sort of frequent dust ups observed in groups of human roommates living in close quarters with each other. As with all such research,
though, it's important to remember the Hard Problem of Consciousness: mapping objective behaviors onto subjective states, even within our own species let alone between species.
I can't help but wonder if dispute may be the wrong word in some cases, rather than something like beseechment, lively discussion, or banter. What appears to be a fight about food, might instead be the bat equivalent of each bat shouting, "Pass the potato salad here, please!"
Then again, they do say that familiarity breeds contempt. Maybe bats, with their extremely crowded and intimate cohabitation patterns, are the ultimate living proof of this principle.
#BlindMeWithScience #AI #Biology
Researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel adapted a Machine Learning algorithm originally used for human voice recognition for a different, but related, purpose: to see if it could tease meaning out of the squeals of bats, or more specifically Egyptian Fruit Bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus).
Until now, most researchers in the field supposed that all bat squeals meant the same thing, usually some variation on a warning call, while others have been eager but, due to the difficulty of the task, unable to challenge this convention.
By feeding the algorithm over 15,000 bat calls, and comparing its results afterwards with video of the behaviors of the bats making the calls, they were able to classify ~60% of bat squeals into four categories, each involving disputes: over food, over sleeping position, in response to unwanted mating advances, and what might be called 'comfort zone' disputes when one bat sits too close to another. They also found variations in how the same bats speak to different individuals, as is often observed in highly social mammals.
Given the great density and crowdedness of typical bat populations, this may be likened to the sort of frequent dust ups observed in groups of human roommates living in close quarters with each other. As with all such research,
though, it's important to remember the Hard Problem of Consciousness: mapping objective behaviors onto subjective states, even within our own species let alone between species.
I can't help but wonder if dispute may be the wrong word in some cases, rather than something like beseechment, lively discussion, or banter. What appears to be a fight about food, might instead be the bat equivalent of each bat shouting, "Pass the potato salad here, please!"
Then again, they do say that familiarity breeds contempt. Maybe bats, with their extremely crowded and intimate cohabitation patterns, are the ultimate living proof of this principle.
#BlindMeWithScience #AI #Biology
Researchers "Translate" Bat Talk. Turns Out, They Argue—A Lot
smithsonianmag.com
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