I haven’t been able to put together a video this week, so I thought I’d do a summary of some of the exciting science news that’s caught my eye this week. And it really has been a bumper week.
Arecibo
First the bad news. As I’m sure everyone has already seen, the giant Arecibo Radio Telescope is gone. The following footage is worth watching as it includes some historic film that gives a very clear idea of the enormous scale of the structure.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03421-y
The iconic structure collapsed at 8am on 1st Dec, ending a 57 year run of scientific discoveries and not a few starring film roles.
Fortunately no one was injured, although the future of the facility and its many workers must surely now be in doubt.
We’re All Alone
Scientists from Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute have predicted that the existence of “another” intelligent civilisation out there is extremely small. I don’t put a lot of faith in these predictions as there are way too many unknowns but it’s fun all the same.
Two quotes come to mind.
Monty Python: “And pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere up in space, ‘Cause there’s bugger-all down here on Earth!”
Arthur C. Clarke: “Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”
Yummy Lab Grown Chicken
You can now get your fill of chicken meat without cruelty to animals and with a lower environmental impact on the planet, thanks to this yummy lab grown meat.
The source cells used to grow the meat came from a live animal, so there should be fewer ethical objections as well. Whether people will be happy to eat the stuff is another matter. Personally, I’m happy to give it a go.
Protein Folding
We’ve already done this one during the week, but it’s so important I though I’d include the link once again.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/11/game-has-changed-ai-triumphs-solving-protein-structures
Space, the Final Front Ear
There’s been lots happening in space this week.
China have landed their Chang’e-5 probe on the moon. It’s collected samples of the “young” lunar surface (less than 2 billion years old – does anyone remember “young Mr. Grace”?- the Apollo missions all collected much older material) and has started it’s return journey to earth. Although not before they planted a Chinese flag on the lunar surface. Personally, I think it’s all a hoax. (Just joking!)
Not to be outdone, the Americans have started the final assembly of their Space Launch System. The SLS will launch the Orion spaceship into space as part of the Artemis, twin sister of Apollo, space programme.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-55070302
Artemis-1 is scheduled for Nov 2021 and includes an unmanned orbit of the moon.
Artemis-2 is a manned version and takes place in 2023.
Artemis-3, in 2024, will finally see humanity return to the moon’s surface.
And as if all that wasn’t enough, tomorrow morning, Sun 6th Dec, Japan’s Hayabusa2 finally returns from it’s voyage to the Ryugu asteroid where it collected samples that will be returned to earth tomorrow. Let’s hope all goes well for this last stage of its mission.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/04/japan-hayabusa2-asteroid-dust-ryugu
And today’s TFTD couldn’t think of anything interesting that was happening.
Platitude of the Day 