TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

[Stanley]

A fascinating account Tiz. Nice to know 'normal' science is alive and well!
The thing that strikes me time and time again is that our arbitrary time periods are so often pushed back further because we find our ancestors were smarter than we gave them credit for being. We are so arrogant in our attitudes.

[Tizer]

Something else I've just read about South America in a book...
During the 1800s British engineers were encouraged to raise capital and build the first railways in Argentina. The country is dead flat and perfect for railways but the locals couldn't afford to do it because they had no metal ores, no stone and no timber except for on the borders of the country - and no way of transporting it from there to where they had to build the railways. In most of the country there was no river for transporting materials. Catch 22! So they needed money and the Brits to bring everything in from outside of the country. It explains why a difficult mountainous country like Chile had railways before an ideal flat one like Argentina.

[Stanley]

That's interesting Tiz. One of the occasions where we were a genuine catalyst.

[Tizer]

This is one of the subjects that gets me annoyed - the race to mine the moon and mine the ocean bed. Those places shouldn't be seen as `owned' by anyone. Any benefits from them should be shared worldwide.
`Why does President Trump want to mine on the Moon?' LINK
`President Trump wants the United States to start mining on the Moon for minerals. The US president recently signed an executive order stating America has the right to explore and use resources from outer space. The order also said the US did not see space as a common area for resources, and didn't need permission of international agreements to get started...'.

[plaques]

Just finished another of my 'lockdown' library books. Goldilocks and the Water Bears, (A search for life in the universe) by Louisa Preston. Basically an astrobiologist detailing the possibility of life, of some description, existing on other planets or moons. Lists many of the basic attributes that would be required to sustain life and what facilities space travelers would need in terms of bases etc: Gets a bit repetitive as it moves from planet to planet. An easy 'lockdown' read but not quite in the must read class.

[Stanley]

Tiz, I share your anger and would even extend it here to what we have done on earth. All wealth based on extractive industry is finite. As soon as we moved away from a peasant agricultural society we were doomed and by the time we achieved a state where the spoils could be shared more widely like car ownership, energy consumption or consumer society our fate was sealed but we couldn't see it. We are now in the Last Chance Saloon and on present showing are going to fail. Our only chance of eventual survival is to find another planet to despoil!
And yes, like all the rest of us I joined in, I knew no better.
P, if there is life on other planets and they have examined us is it any wonder they have left us alone?

[Tizer]

This article describes the great work being done to design and produce a new kit for covid-19 infection testing and also illustrates how it's more complicated than most people will think. Later in the article we hear about how the big pharma companies which normally make such virus testing kit keep their recipes secret and are doing their best to try and convince us that we should only use their products, not the newer ones. What a surprise! The author makes a comparison with inkjet printers and refills.
`The scientists who made a 'home-brew' coronavirus test' LINK

[Stanley]

I've read the article and it is well beyond my pay grade. It's a good job they aren't having to rely on me.

[Tizer]

AI to the rescue!...
`Coronavirus: AI steps up in battle against Covid-19' LINK
Examples given are:
Oxford-based Exscientia, the first to put an AI-discovered drug into human trial, is trawling through 15,000 drugs held by the Scripps research institute, in California.
And Healx, a Cambridge company set up by Viagra co-inventor Dr David Brown, has re-purposed its AI system developed to find drugs for rare diseases.
In the US, a partnership between Northeastern University's Barabasi Labs, Harvard Medical School, Stanford Network Science Institute and biotech start-up Schipher Medicine is also on the search for drugs that can quickly be repurposed as Covid-19 treatments.

[Stanley]

I wish them well and a speedy conclusion!

[Stanley]

I've just heard a news item this morning that highlights an unexpected bonus of the virus and depressed activity. Seismologists are reporting that they are able to make far more precise measurements of small tremors now because the 'background noise' of vibrations caused by human activity and industry has fallen to such low levels. A nice example of the law of unintended consequences.
(LINK)

[Stanley]

I note preliminary estimates of a fall atmospheric pollution. Every cloud literally has a silver lining!
See THIS BBC report. NO2 has fallen by as much as 60% in some locations.

[Tizer]

`Scientists explain magnetic pole's wanderings' LINK
An interesting article. It coincided with me reading `Erebus: The Story of a Ship' by Michael Palin. James Clark Ross `discovered' the North Pole in 1831 and later travelled to Antarctica aboard HMS Erebus and sister ship HMS Terror. Palin's book tells the story of Ross's adventures and of the later trip by Frankin and the two ships in their attempt to find a way through the North West Passage. It's a brilliant book and a rollicking tale.

[Stanley]

I heard that report also Tiz. Magnetism fascinates me, so important and we know relatively little about it. Very much like gravity.
From my reading there is much to support the theory that ability to detect and 'read' magnetic fields plays a part in bird's navigation systems. I wonder if magnetic variation affects them. Have we got the same ability? Is that what drives our sense of direction? We don't use it much of course but I remember being puzzled when I first went to Australia because I had a vague sense of unease. It took me a while to recognise that this was because the sun was moving 'the wrong way'. I wondered at the time if this was because it was arguing with my conception of magnetic North.

[chinatyke]

... I remember being puzzled when I first went to Australia because I had a vague sense of unease. It took me a while to recognise that this was because the sun was moving 'the wrong way'. I wondered at the time if this was because it was arguing with my conception of magnetic North.

How does it move the wrong way? It still comes up in the east and sets in the west. If you face south that would be rising at your left hand and setting at your right exactly the same as in the UK. I don't understand what you mean.

[Stanley]

I probably explained it badly China. Noon was in the North, not the south.

[chinatyke]

I probably explained it badly China. Noon was in the North, not the south.

I once had the same discussion with my brother. The sun can only be in the north at noon if you are located within the tropics and then only for 6 months of any year.

[Stanley]

Not my experience China.

[chinatyke]

I think you're right. I'm still trying to get my head around it! I'm not very good at spatial awareness! Does that account for why I'm always lost here? I'm going to go on the roof, stand on my head and see if I can work it out!

[Stanley]

In the Southern hemisphere the sun at noon is in the north instead of our experience in the North. That was what was disturbing me even before I had recognised it. What intrigued me was that it was instinct that alerted me to it. Perhaps we have forgotten senses that recognise magnetism.

[chinatyke]

You are right. In the northern hemisphere the sun is in the northern sky during the night and due north at midnight so we never see it due north unless we are within the arctic circle, and is south at noon. In the southern hemisphere it is the other way around. The sun rises in the east, travels the northern sky to get to its highest point and sets in the west. I've learnt something new, thank you. Now I'll have to go to Australia to convince my brain!

[Stanley]

[Tizer]

Some good news for our ash trees....
`Certain landscapes show resistance to ash dieback' LINK

[Stanley]

I saw that report as well Tiz. I hope they are right, one of our most important native trees and such good wood for many purposes that demand strength and flexibility. Tool handles and the spokes of wooden wheels spring to mind. Particularly good for axe and hammer handles because of it's shock-absorbing properties.

[Whyperion]

In the Southern hemisphere the sun at noon is in the north instead of our experience in the North. That was what was disturbing me even before I had recognised it. What intrigued me was that it was instinct that alerted me to it. Perhaps we have forgotten senses that recognise magnetism.

It is thought that some birds have a kind of lodestone material in their heads the brain can access. Has it been checked for in dinosaurs and mammalian brains /skulls ? Being down south and seeing the northern home is where the sun isnt, then when I come up north I get confused that south is where the sun is, - most of my London journeys are northwards in London, and most of the Lancashire ones southwards (and obviously the return journey).