Science! (2 Viewers)

Nasa has issued an alert for a stadium-sized asteroid set to make a close approach to Earth on Tuesday.

The 2024 ON asteroid measures 290 metres (950 feet) across and will come within 1 million km of Earth, according to the US space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.….

 
September 19, 2024 at 5:40 p.m. ET
For the next two months, an unusual object about the size of a bus will be orbiting above our heads. Say hello to Earth’s temporary new mini-moon.


From Sept. 29 to Nov. 25, a passing asteroid will be pulled in by Earth’s gravity — sort of like a window shopper — before returning to its normal orbit around the sun.

Objects that get captured by our gravitational force for a short time are known as mini-moons.

This one, named asteroid 2024 PT5, came from the Arjuna asteroid belt near our sun, about 93 million miles away.
Of course, you won’t really be able to “say hello” without a professional telescope.

At 33 feet long, the mini-moon is too mini for our eyes. Its closest approach is still five times farther than our permanent, non-mini moon.

That challenge, though, makes it all the more exciting that scientists are able to detect the tiny rock in the first place…….

 
Very interesting
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Parents who find themselves exasperated by their child’s fussy eating, take heart: the refusal to tuck into a broader range of foods is largely down to genes rather than parenting, according to scientists.

Researchers investigated eating habits in toddlers to teenagers and found that on average fussiness over food changed little from 16 months to 13 years old. There was a minor peak in pickiness at seven years, then a slight decline thereafter.

When they looked into the drivers of fussy eating, DNA emerged as the dominant factor. Genetic variation in the population explained 60% of the differences in pickiness at 16 months, rising to 74% and more from three to 13 years old, the study found.


The finding suggests that eating only a narrow range of foods and grimacing at the prospect of trying something new are more down to nature than nurture. It also points to windows of opportunity when interventions to encourage a more varied diet might be more effective.

Dr Zeynep Nas, a behavioural geneticist at UCL, said: “The main takeaway from this work is that food fussiness is not something that arises from parenting. It really does come down to the genetic differences between us.”……

 

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