Science! (1 Viewer)

[Optimus Prime]

Would you believe me if I told you that staying single or ending your marriage could lower your odds of getting dementia? A new study led by researchers at Florida State University somewhat shockingly suggests that unmarried people are less likely to develop dementia.

If you think you’ve heard the opposite, you are correct. A 2019 study from America found that unmarried people had “significantly higher odds of developing dementia over the study period than their married counterparts”.

Indeed, married people are generally thought to have better health. Studies have shown that they are at reduced risk of having heart disease and stroke and they tend to live longer. So why did the new study come up with this surprising finding? Let’s take a closer look.

The researchers analysed data from more than 24,000 Americans without dementia at the start of the study. Participants were tracked for up to 18 years. Crucially, the team compared dementia rates across marital groups: married, divorced, widowed and never-married.……..

Now being married has been linked to an increased risk of dementia

Expert Avinash Chandra looks at the reason for the unexpected results

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Optimus Prime]

Controlling dietary potassium by eating more bananas could be key to lowering blood pressure rather than just reducing sodium intake, a new study suggests.

Nearly a third of all adults across the world are affected by high blood pressure and its complications such as heart disease and stroke as well as afflictions like chronic kidney disease and dementia.

Currently, doctors recommend that patients with high blood pressurereduce salt intake to control the body’s sodium levels.

The new study, published in the American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology, however, recommends that such patients include bananas in their diet in addition to cutting salt to regulate their blood pressure more efficiently.

"Usually, when we have high blood pressure, we are advised to eat less salt," Anita Layton, one of the study’s authors from the University of Waterloo, points out.

“Our research suggests that adding more potassium-rich foods to your diet such as bananas or broccoli might have a greater positive impact on your blood pressure than just cutting sodium.”……..

The fruit that’s better at lowering blood pressure than cutting salt

Nearly a third of adults worldwide are affected by high blood pressure and its complications

www.independent.co.uk

 

[fred8615]

Major Problem in Physics Could Be Fixed if The Whole Universe Was Spinning

Earth rotates, the Sun rotates, the Milky Way rotates – and a new model suggests the entire Universe could be rotating.

www.sciencealert.com

 

[Sailorsaint]

Major Problem in Physics Could Be Fixed if The Whole Universe Was Spinning

Earth rotates, the Sun rotates, the Milky Way rotates – and a new model suggests the entire Universe could be rotating.

www.sciencealert.com

I don't know. It sounds like they have a problem figuring out the speed of expansion so they think up a new variable to fix the whole thing. If everything "exploded" from a single point and went in all directions at the same time, how is it rotating? Maybe if the singularity was rotating went it "exploded" outwards? And I'm curious how they explain the influence of dark matter on this rotation. Was gravity stronger in one direction? Something would have to influence the direction, right? This may be the main reason I'm not a theoretical physicist.......

 

[Consigliere]

I don't know. It sounds like they have a problem figuring out the speed of expansion so they think up a new variable to fix the whole thing. If everything "exploded" from a single point and went in all directions at the same time, how is it rotating? Maybe if the singularity was rotating went it "exploded" outwards? And I'm curious how they explain the influence of dark matter on this rotation. Was gravity stronger in one direction? Something would have to influence the direction, right? This may be the main reason I'm not a theoretical physicist.......

According to my lawyer's grasp of physics, there were two steps - expansion and inflation. First the "something out of nothing" which hung around for a while, and separately, the "big bang" which makes space-time move out the way it does. So it could start spinning between the two. But my lawyer's grasp of BS explanations makes me agree with you that this is just another "cosmological constant" thing they made up to make the math work.

 

[Optimus Prime]

A giant planet 124 light years from Earth has yielded the strongest evidence yet that extraterrestrial life may be thriving beyond our solar system, astronomers claim.

Observations by the James Webb space telescopeof a planet called K2-18 b appear to reveal the chemical fingerprints of two compounds that, on Earth, are only known to be produced by life.

Detection of the chemicals, dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) would not amount to proof of alien biological activity, but could bring the answer to the question of whether we are alone in the universe much closer.


“This is the strongest evidence to date for a biological activity beyond the solar system,” said Prof Nikku Madhusudhan, an astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge who led the observations. “We are very cautious. We have to question ourselves both on whether the signal is real and what it means.”

He added: “Decades from now, we may look back at this point in time and recognise it was when the living universe came within reach. This could be the tipping point, where suddenly the fundamental question of whether we’re alone in the universe is one we’re capable of answering.”

Others are more sceptical, with questions remaining about whether the overall conditions on K2-18 b, are favourable to life and whether DMS and DMDS, which are largely produced by marine phytoplankton on Earth, can be reliably regarded as biosignatures.

K2-18 b, which sits in the Leo constellation, is nearly nine times as massive as the Earth and 2.6 times as large and orbits in the habitable zone of its star, a cool red dwarf less than half the size of the sun. When the Hubble space telescope appeared to spot water vapour in its atmosphere in 2019, scientists declared it “the most habitable known world” beyond the solar system.

The supposed water signal was shown to be methane in follow-up observations by Madhusudhan’s team in 2023. But, they argued, K2-18 b’s profile was consistent with a habitable world, covered in a vast, deep ocean – a view that remains contentious. More provocatively, the Cambridge team reported a tentative hint of DMS.

Planets beyond our solar system are too distant to photograph or reach with robotic spacecraft. But scientists can estimate their size, density and temperature and probe their chemical makeup by tracking the exoplanet as it passes across the face of its host star and measuring starlight that has been filtered through its atmosphere. In the latest observations, wavelengths that are absorbed by DMS and DMDS, were seen to suddenly drop off as K2-18 b wandered in front of the red dwarf.


“The signal came through strong and clear,” said Madhusudhan. “If we can detect these molecules on habitable planets, this is the first time we’ve been able to do that as a species … it’s mind-boggling that this is possible.”……

Scientists hail ‘strongest evidence’ so far for life beyond our solar system

Astrophysics team say observation of chemical compounds may be ‘tipping point’ in search for extraterrestrial life

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

NEW YORK (AP) — A new Tatooine-like planet outside the solar system may orbit two failed stars, scientists reported Wednesday.

Located about 120 light years away, the exoplanet appears to take an unusual path around two brown dwarfs, whipping around at a right angle. Brown dwarfs are sometimes called failed stars because they’re lighter than stars, but heavier than gas giant planets. A light year is nearly 6 trillion miles.

The brown dwarf pair was first spotted years ago. Scientists noticed that the twins eclipse each other so one is always partly blocked when seen from Earth.

In a new analysis, researchers found that the brown dwarfs’ motion was changing — a quirk that’s less likely to happen if they circled each other on their own. The research was published in the journal Science Advances.…….

Tatooine-like planet outside the solar system may orbit two failed stars, scientists say

Scientists may have found a new Tatooine-like planet outside the solar system that orbits two failed stars.

apnews.com

 

[Sailorsaint]

NEW YORK (AP) — A new Tatooine-like planet outside the solar system may orbit two failed stars, scientists reported Wednesday.

Located about 120 light years away, the exoplanet appears to take an unusual path around two brown dwarfs, whipping around at a right angle. Brown dwarfs are sometimes called failed stars because they’re lighter than stars, but heavier than gas giant planets. A light year is nearly 6 trillion miles.

The brown dwarf pair was first spotted years ago. Scientists noticed that the twins eclipse each other so one is always partly blocked when seen from Earth.

In a new analysis, researchers found that the brown dwarfs’ motion was changing — a quirk that’s less likely to happen if they circled each other on their own. The research was published in the journal Science Advances.…….

Tatooine-like planet outside the solar system may orbit two failed stars, scientists say

Scientists may have found a new Tatooine-like planet outside the solar system that orbits two failed stars.

apnews.com

Kinda like the 3 body problem?

 

[Optimus Prime]

Scientists said this week that they have detected an encouraging sign of life on a planet beyond Earth.

Now, a separate group of researchers has announced that a greater number of our Milky Way galaxy’s roughly 10 billion white dwarf stars may provide an environment that has greater potential to be hospitable to life-supporting exoplanets than previously expected.

A white dwarf is the stellar core left behind after a dying star has exhausted its nuclear fuel.

The findings suggest that there are many more targets of opportunity for locating potentially habitable worlds across our galaxy. A research team had previously found that as many as seven Earth-sized planets could orbit a single star.

“While white dwarf stars may still give off some heat from residual nuclear activity in their outer layers, they no longer exhibit nuclear fusion at their cores. For this reason, not much consideration has been given to these stars’ ability to host habitable exoplanets,” Aomawa Shields, a professor of physics and astronomy at U.C. Irvine, explained in a statement.

“Our computer simulations suggest that if rocky planets exist in their orbits, these planets could have more habitable real estate on their surfaces than previously thought.”…….

There could be more than 10 billion other exoplanets that support life

The findings suggest often overlooked dying stars could support life-sustaining exoplanets

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Sailorsaint]

Scientists said this week that they have detected an encouraging sign of life on a planet beyond Earth.

Now, a separate group of researchers has announced that a greater number of our Milky Way galaxy’s roughly 10 billion white dwarf stars may provide an environment that has greater potential to be hospitable to life-supporting exoplanets than previously expected.

A white dwarf is the stellar core left behind after a dying star has exhausted its nuclear fuel.

The findings suggest that there are many more targets of opportunity for locating potentially habitable worlds across our galaxy. A research team had previously found that as many as seven Earth-sized planets could orbit a single star.

“While white dwarf stars may still give off some heat from residual nuclear activity in their outer layers, they no longer exhibit nuclear fusion at their cores. For this reason, not much consideration has been given to these stars’ ability to host habitable exoplanets,” Aomawa Shields, a professor of physics and astronomy at U.C. Irvine, explained in a statement.

“Our computer simulations suggest that if rocky planets exist in their orbits, these planets could have more habitable real estate on their surfaces than previously thought.”…….

There could be more than 10 billion other exoplanets that support life

The findings suggest often overlooked dying stars could support life-sustaining exoplanets

www.independent.co.uk

So, the habitable zone is closer in to a white dwarf. I thought I read somewhere that a planet that orbits close to it's star would end up an "eyeball" planet. Orbiting like our moon, with one side always facing the star.

 

[Optimus Prime]

After walking the Earth for a few hundred thousand years, humans might think they have seen it all. But not according to a team of scientists who claim to have experienced a colour no one has seen before.

The bold – and contested – assertion follows an experiment in which researchers in the US had laser pulses fired into their eyes. By stimulating individual cells in the retina, the laser pushed their perception beyond its natural limits, they say.

Their description of the colour is not too arresting – the five people who have seen it call it blue-green – but that, they say, does not fully capture the richness of the experience.


“We predicted from the beginning that it would look like an unprecedented colour signal but we didn’t know what the brain would do with it,” said Ren Ng, an electrical engineer at the University of California, Berkeley. “It was jaw-dropping. It’s incredibly saturated.”…..

The researchers shared an image of a turquoise square to give a sense of the colour, which they named olo, but stressed that the hue could only be experienced through laser manipulation of the retina.

“There is no way to convey that colour in an article or on a monitor,” said Austin Roorda, a vision scientist on the team. “The whole point is that this is not the colour we see, it’s just not. The colour we see is a version of it, but it absolutely pales by comparison with the experience of olo.”……..

Will the rest of the world get the chance to experience olo for themselves? “This is basic science,” said Ng. “We’re not going to see olo on any smartphone displays or any TVs any time soon. And this is very, very far beyond VR headset technology.”……..

Hue new? Scientists claim to have found colour no one has seen before

Contested discovery achieved by experiment firing laser pulses into eyes, stimulating retina cells

www.theguardian.com

 

[Nisey55]

One would hope that the experiment be conducted would eventually lead to helping/curing loss of sight or eye traumas, but don't all humans see color differently anyway? I am slightly colorblind, does anyone have perfect color vision?