Random Science Facts Thread!

[kerbiloid]

Breaking news!

So, plasma probably forms a crystal-like lattice.

With the Russian-German device "Plasma Crystal" they have run an experiment.
In the chamber filled with true vacuum they created plasma and started blowing tiny dust particles inside.

In zero-G and pure vacuum the dusticles formed a 3-dimensional whirl structure similar to Milky Way _{(the galaxy, not the chocolate)}.

Also, when they cool it, it gets similar to the DNA structure.

https://translate.google.com.tr/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=ru&ie=UTF-8&u=https://www.interfax.ru/russia/653449

[Green Baron]

We can follow current observation of the GTC live:

http://grantecan.es/gtc-live

Click the menu symbol on the upper right, choose "English", click "Pointing" and see what their aiming at. Enlarge to read exposure and pointing data.

Enjoy :-)

And there is more, under events. I hope it'll be in English, if not, good luck :-)

Edited March 15, 2019 by Green Baron

[Cunjo Carl]

The zero-G crystalline plasma studies @kerbiloid just told us about were done up on the space station.

In order to get the high vacuum required for their plasma chambers, ISS researchers simply opened a 2.5cm window to space...

They call it their "Vacuum Resource".

http://www.spaceref.com/iss/ops/ISS.User.Guide.R2.pdf

[Green Baron]

Before we get another "Scientists have reanimated Mammoths !":

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-40546-1

(open access)

tl.dr:

They managed to transfer parts of the mammoth's cells damaged nuclear structures into mouse oocytes and got the chemistry to show some tendency for organization. By no means did they get an organelle to work again or even start a cell cleavage. I am not sure by quickly overlooking the paper in a few seconds how much of it is actually chemistry and how much is simulation.

What this means and if it means something at all has to be seen.

Edited March 18, 2019 by Green Baron

[kerbiloid]

1 hour ago, Green Baron said:

They managed to transfer parts of the mammoth's cells damaged nuclear structures into mouse oocytes

Spoiler

Spoiler

Seeking bananas

Upd.

33 minutes ago, Green Baron said:

Use block graphics rendering. Photographies might trigger the illusion of realism ...

Disclaimer:

These photos depict the artist's view. They are not photos of real animals.
No mice, mammoths, or mammice have been harmed while filming.

Edited March 18, 2019 by kerbiloid

[Green Baron]

Use block graphics rendering. Photographies might trigger the illusion of realism ...

[kerbiloid]

 

NASA has reported a meteorite exploded above Kamchatka in December 2018.
Altitude = 25.6 km, yield = 10 Hiroshimas. 

https://translate.google.com.tr/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=ru&ie=UTF-8&u=https://www.interfax.ru/world/654657

Upd.
Yield = 173 kt
(Then it's 12 Hiroshimas x 15 +/- 3 kt)

Edited March 18, 2019 by kerbiloid

[Green Baron]

Spaceflight activates viruses.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00016/full

Might be connected to the weakening of the immune system because of stress "immunocompromised astronauts".

What a word :-)

 

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

Always check your computers with an antivirus software after landing!

 

[kerbiloid]

Physicists just have discovered 3 new pentaquarks.
https://phys.org/news/2019-03-physicists-class-pentaquarks.html

[YNM]

Not that it's a novel fact in any way, but it transcends science and shine a light at it in a new direction.

 

 

[StrandedonEarth]

By invoking Geography and Topology as the sciences they are, this thread is probably the best fit for these facts, which are probably little-known outside of the Fraser Valley. I just finished reading Before We Lost the Lake by Chad Reimer, and here are some factoids from that history:

At the northern end of the Sumas Prairie which straddled Washington state and southwest BC, there was once a shallow lake in roughly the center of the Fraser Valley. Sumas Lake varied from a low-water state of 9,000 acres and a maximum depth of just nine feet, to an average of 16,000 acres and roughly twenty feet deep during the spring freshets. The highest recorded flood in 1894 covered an area of 30,000 acres, reaching a depth of thirty-one feet. There were sandy beaches and lush wetlands surrounding it, and it was home to five species of salmon, as well as trout and huge sturgeon. The surrounding wetlands supported billions of waterfowl as they migrated along the Pacific Flyway, along with uncountable insects and dense clouds of voracious mosquitoes. Prior to the arrivals of the Whites, the area supported nearly 25,000 Indians (I will use that term here for the indigenous peoples, as that is how they were refereed to in those days and that is the term used in the book) from several bands. That number was decimated to less than 2,500 by the smallpox plagues which accompanied the White settlers.

Aside from explorers and surveyors, the area was first settled by Whites starting in the 1850's, as a supply stop on the way to the Fraser/Cariboo gold rush areas. Over the next seventy years, the lake became a popular recreational spot for swimming, boating, sailing, and hunting. Since the 1870's, there were various proposals for dyking the Sumas Prairie, if not draining Sumas Lake, to reduce the impact of the yearly flooding (including mosquitoes, which caused a drop in dairy production by the tormented cattle!). The early plans never came to pass, due to incompetence, lack of capital, and the refusal of the provincial governments to get involved in the financing of the projects.

Finally, a plan of dykes, diversions, dams, canals, and pumps was proposed that satisfied the White landowners (the federal government was derelict in protecting the interests of the Indians, or even giving them a voice in the matter), and with engineering that was determined to be both sound and feasible. Construction on the Sumas Lake Reclamation Project lasted from 1920 to 1924, when the lake was officially declared "drained," despite seepage under the dykes and from the high water table in the area.

The goal was to "reclaim" tens of thousands of acres of farmland, which was somewhat successful in that the weeds had to be battled back and nutrient deficiencies (nitrogen and potash) in the soil needed to be remedied. It was more successful in mostly eliminating the plague of mosquitoes which followed each wet season. However, it also eliminated the main source of sustenance and income available to the Indians, by destroying the home of the salmon, sturgeon, and waterfowl they relied upon, as well as the mammals that lived (otter, mink, beaver, deer) or came to feed there (wolves, bears, cougars). The loss of a prime stopover point on the Pacific Flyway had a profoundly negative effect on migratory waterfowl (which had already been decimated by White hunters), as similar wetlands up and down the western part of the continent were also developed. It also eliminated a natural spillway which helped mitigate the yearly flooding further down the Fraser River.

The project was budgeted at roughly $1.5 million, but came in at nearly $3 million, mostly due to underestimating the sheer volume of earth to be moved. Decades after completion, the cost was pegged at $9 million, with the difference attributed to the compounded interest on the financing the project required (The sale of the lands reclaimed did not garner as much revenue as expected due to falling land prices during the Great Depression). This compounded interest could have been avoided had the provincial government financed the project at the start as they should have as a public works project, instead of spinning it as a business project to reclaim land for sale. Eventually the cost was quietly added to the provincial books.

The town of Yarrow Proper sits on the former lakebed, and the whole of the Fraser and Sumas Valleys are highly productive farmland, at the cost of a highly productive wetland ecosystem, which at the time was simply thought of as a wasted land. The true value of that now-gone ecosystem was not recognized until modern times.

Before and After:

Spoiler

That vegetation in the after pic is mostly willow bush and thistle, which was quicker to grow than the grasses that the farmers wanted to grow as fodder for cattle

 

Edit: tl;dr: 100 years ago there was a shallow floodplain lake between Abbotsford and Chilliwack, where Yarrow now sits, that I knew next to nothing about until recently!

Edited May 20, 2019 by StrandedonEarth
finally noticed too many diversions and no canals

[StrandedonEarth]

Another fact from the book I mentioned above" A powerful glue called isinglass  (among other uses) can be made from the swim bladder (air bladder) of the sturgeon. This was one of the main trade items produced by the Sem'ath natives around Sumas Lake.

[cubinator]

Cockroaches are alpha pre-release termites.

[kerbiloid]

Do you like astronomy like they do?

https://mymodernmet.com/armillary-sphere-finger-ring/

[kerbiloid]

Probably, there is an iron-nickel asteroid under the South Pole of the Moon.

[cubinator]

Earth is the densest planet in the solar system.

[kerbiloid]

Several nuclear spaceships.

http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=5353

[cubinator]

Flies are so good at getting away from your swatting because the nerves responsible are fused - they skip the part where a neurotransmitter chemical gets transferred between the cells.

[kerbiloid]

7 hours ago, cubinator said:

Flies are so good at getting away from your swatting because the nerves responsible are fused - they skip the part where a neurotransmitter chemical gets transferred between the cells.

While books are teaching: "don't mix UI with program logic!", "don't mix UI with program logic!"...

[Cunjo Carl]

Someone made a special Gold-Palladium alloy which is apparently so good at cracking hydrocarbons, that the surface builds up a layer of graphite 'coke' at room temperature. This tiny layer is so durable that the alloy becomes effectively one of the most abrasion resistant materials in the world. That's crazy because Gold Palladium itself is pretty dang soft.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180816132009.htm

[kerbiloid]

A day ago read a brief version of the Space Shuttle history, why and how had they come to such life. So melancholically...

https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4221/contents.htm

Spoiler

Brief version in Russian which mentioned the book

 

[purpleivan]

On 8/22/2019 at 7:34 PM, kerbiloid said:

A day ago read a brief version of the Space Shuttle history, why and how had they come to such life. So melancholically...

https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4221/contents.htm

  Reveal hidden contents

Brief version in Russian which mentioned the book

 

Halfway through this now and it's a very good read, thanks for posting the link.

[cubinator]

Earth has been around for one third of history.

[kerbiloid]

A nice Apollo Heatshield Impact Attenuation System testing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Red-DxV9UJs

if sduch thing was in KSP and equipped with motors, the capsule could on its own jump from the landing site to VAB.