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Science News General; Stuff that doesn't need its own topic
Topic Started: Apr 9 2014, 07:11 AM (11,229 Views)
Holben
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It's hard to decide whether a development should become a topic in this subforum, so here's a topic for stuff that doesn't need its own. If in doubt, here is probably the right place. Also, if you want to talk about updates in science, this would be a good place to do it.

The prompt that made me create this topic is this here: http://home.web.cern.ch/about/updates/2014/04/lhcb-confirms-existence-exotic-hadrons

Horribly simplified summary at end.

Quote:
 
The Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) collaboration today announced results that confirm the existence of exotic hadrons – a type of matter that cannot be classified within the traditional quark model.

Hadrons are subatomic particles that can take part in the strong interaction – the force that binds protons inside the nuclei of atoms. Physicists have theorized since the 1960s, and ample experimental evidence since has confirmed, that hadrons are made up of quarks and antiquarks that determine their properties. A subset of hadrons, called mesons, is formed from quark-antiquark pairs, while the rest – baryons – are made up of three quarks.

But since it was first proposed physicists have found several particles that do not fit into this model of hadron structure. Now the LHCb collaboration has published an unambiguous observation of an exotic particle – the Z(4430) – that does not fit the quark model.

The Belle Collaboration reported the first evidence for the Z(4430) in 2008. They found a tantalizing peak in the mass distribution of particles that result from the decays of B mesons. Belle later confirmed the existence of the Z(4430) with a significance of 5.2 sigma on the scale that particle physicists use to describe the certainty of a result.

LHCb reports a more detailed measurement of the Z(4430) that confirms that it is unambiguously a particle, and a long-sought exotic hadron at that. They analysed more than 25,000 decays of B mesons selected from data from 180 trillion (18012) proton-proton collisions in the Large Hadron Collider.

"The significance of the Z (4430) signal is overwhelming – at least 13.9 sigma – confirming the existence of this state," says LHCb spokesperson Pierluigi Campana. "The LHCb analysis establishes the resonant nature of the observed structure, proving that this is really a particle, and not some special feature of the data."


So quarks tend to exist in either the form of hadrons or mesons. Hadrons have three (valence) quarks with different "colour charge" (nothing to do with real colour, named such because of the RGB system) which "cancel out". Mesons have a quark and an antiquark, so the charge of one and anticharge of the other cancel out. However, what we've found here is something outside this system, which requires further investigation.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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Holben
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Because you people are boring and hate science, I have to double-post : P

Quote:
 
The mystery of a bizarre quacking sound heard in the ocean has finally been solved, scientists report.

The noise - nicknamed "the bio-duck" - appears in the winter and spring in the Southern Ocean. However, its source has baffled researchers for decades.

Now acoustic recorders have revealed that the sound is in fact the underwater chatter of the Antarctic minke whale.

The findings are published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

Lead researcher Denise Risch, from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Massachusetts, said: "It was hard to find the source of the signal.

"Over the years there have been several suggestions... but no-one was able to really show this species was producing the sound until now."

The strange sound was first detected by submarines about 50 years ago. Those who heard it were surprised by its quack-like qualities.

Since then, the repetitive, low frequency noise has been recorded many times in the waters around the Antarctic and western Australia. Suggestions for its source have ranged from fish to ships.

The researchers now say they have "conclusive evidence" that the bio-duck is produced by the Antarctic minke whale.

In 2013, acoustic recorders were attached to two of the marine mammals and recorded the whales making the strange noise.

Dr Risch said: "It was either the animal carrying the tag or a close-by animal of the same species producing the sound."
Antarctic Minke whale The researchers attached acoustic monitoring tags to the whales to eavesdrop on them

The researchers do not yet know under what circumstances the minke whales make their distinctive vocalisations, although the sounds that were recorded were produced close to the surface and before the mammals made deep dives to feed.

The team says solving this long-standing mystery will help them to learn more about these little-studied animals.

Dr Risch said: "Identifying their sounds will allow us to use passive acoustic monitoring to study this species.

"That can give us the timing of their migration - the exact timing of when the animals appear in Antarctic waters and when they leave again - so we can learn about migratory patterns, about their relative abundance in different areas and their movement patterns between the areas."

The team will be analysing data from the PALAOA station, the Alfred Wegener Institute's (AWI) permanent acoustic recording station in Antarctica, which has been recording in the Southern Ocean continuously in the last few years.

This is not the only acoustic puzzle that scientists have recently shed light on

Another baffling low frequency noise - called The Bloop - turned out to be the sound of Antarctica's ice cracking.


Via BBC.

I personally don't really like whimsical names being used in biochemistry, but for ecology, as long as it's a minor thing, I can live with it. But that goddamn gene name.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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T.Neo
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you people are boring and hate science


Them's fighting words, Holben. :lol:

Scientific discussion isn't limited to posting news articles about random discoveries, after all.
A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork.
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Ànraich
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A new mineral, unrelated to any of the known minerals on Earth, has been discovered in Antarctica. Yes, really, and no not like some alien conspiracy thing.

http://www.salon.com/2014/04/26/the_worlds_newest_mineral_is_unlike_anything_weve_ever_seen_before_partner/

We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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Holy crap, I wonder if my mineralogy professor knows about this already.
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Ànraich
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http://nix.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20050092385&qs=N%3D4294966819%2B4294583411

So NASA has estimated that if humanity utilized resources from asteroids alone the solar system could support up to 10,000,000,000,000,000 (ten quadrillion) human beings. I'm sure it's more of a mathematical curiosity than a legitimately plausible number, but it's compelling nevertheless.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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Interesting, but not particularly revolutionary- John S. Lewis proposed a similar figure in Mining the Sky.

I wouldn't consider it particularly compelling, much as a postulation, for instance, of an interplanetary fusion torchship putting out many terawatts of power and being capable of travel to Mars in a couple of weeks is probably not a very compelling argument for fusion power. Space travel is still extremely expensive, and there are no habitable environments within our reach whatsoever beside Earth. Sure, we can make our own habitats- in theory- but that's not exactly something we yet know how to do in the self-sustaining sense and even if we did it'd probably come with considerable cost.

Space technology will not be a silver bullet for overpopulation, resource/energy availability or environmental problems. At best asteroid mining might make acquiring rare elements easier, and there's also the possibility of space-based solar power, but these are questionable (solar power on the ground is a viable option- and is currently much cheaper, obviously). A lot of developments that will be beneficial on Earth will also be beneficial in space, but it's not like they need to be applied in space to be beneficial overall.

I think we also need to consider the mathematical issues with large populations such as these. Continuous exponential growth and population sizes approaching the carrying capacity of star systems are not something I've found particularly encouraging.
A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork.
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Ànraich
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I agree. I'm a proponent of human expansion into and colonization of space, but I think it would be beneficial to learn how to live a sustainable, high technology lifestyle with minimum impact on the environment here on Earth before we go spreading to other worlds. That being said I also think it's important that we establish outposts on neighboring bodies like the moon and Mars right now so that we can learn how to practically establish human habitation in such hostile environments. I think outright colonization is a bit much given our current technology, even if it is possible, but manned scientific research posts similar to the ISS would be very beneficial.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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An enormous new sauropod has been discovered in 90-(or 95-the sources seem to conflict)-million-year-old rocks in Argentina.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/argentina/10837839/Worlds-largest-dinosaur-discovered-in-Argentina.html
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Holben
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Nice, BBC had the find on there too - apparently one of their TV teams was there at the find.

Interesting that there's no mention of Amphicoelias, from my viewpoint I see palaentologists ignoring and accepting it in equal numbers
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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There's also no mention of Alamosaurus, which was apparently just as big.
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Apparently 'big' only means weight when it comes to paleontology. Nevermind that people want length in sauropods, not girth.
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Martin
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May 28 2014, 05:52 PM
Apparently 'big' only means weight when it comes to paleontology. Nevermind that people want length in sauropods, not girth.
Exactly , you can't imagine something by knowing just it's weight.
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LittleLazyLass
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Fakey
May 28 2014, 05:52 PM
Apparently 'big' only means weight when it comes to paleontology. Nevermind that people want length in sauropods, not girth.
That's downright the meaning of the Word "big". As for Amphicoelias fragillimus, I've seen it recently suggested it was a giant Rebbachisaur....

On other palaeontology news, new hadrosaur open-access paper with really interesting phylogenetic analysis (I hope someone other then me can see why it's so weird for these days....).
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