Cool science stuff

This is a really interesting article in The Gaurdian on a promising plastic-eating bacteria. The story buries the lead a little bit, I think, leaving the part about a French company that has moved forward faster than anyone else on the process of super-powering the necessary bacterial enzyme in the middle of the piece. But it's a good in-depth look at a huge problem and the efforts to find some solution -- any solution -- to it.

‘We are just getting started’: the plastic-eating bacteria that could change the world

 

A couple of space items (because I am often spaced out).

First, there's this: https://www.space.com/europa-jupite...Ha2EgCGNgmOIHNlPYt-7Ibw06RmEqsrTB47o7KFZAyjMI

The story says the James Webb Telescope's Near-Infrared Spectrograph has for the first time found evidence of carbon on Jupiter's moon Europa. It's well established that Europa has an ocean of water underneath its icy surface and is considered one of the solar system's prime candidates to have produced life because of that. While the presence of carbon certainly doesn't mean there is life there, it is a necessary ingredient for life as we know it.

Next: Using data from InSight, scientists discover that Mars is rotating faster - NASASpaceFlight.com

I think this one is cool. Measurements made by the Mars InSight lander show the planet's rotation is speeding up (and hence, its days are getting shorter).

 

OK, so as I am wont to do, I have been putting off posting a bunch of science stuff I've run across in the past few weeks and am ready to dump it all at once.

We start with this:

An innovative experiment discovers sound shows the same bizarre quantum effects of light at very small scales -- as in a single phonon (the sound equivalent of one photon of light).

https://www.sciencenews.org/article...eHccopvE_FzzluciLI823PezOUmSbgwyS-aNlUYAbDXvI

 

This one is really cool to me.

For the first time, astronomers at the Keck Observatory at the top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii have directly imaged the cosmic web of filaments that connects the galaxies.

https://www.space.com/cosmic-web-fi...10jTKC068P5nzc1h2iwGfWDCJ6wsRWLxL4O1oTW4mJUsU

 

Now a little fun history.

You've heard of Diogenes, the Greek philosopher who wandered the streets with a lantern in search of an honest man?

Turns out if he'd found that honest man, he would have just flipped him off.

Yes, that's right. According to a historian, Diogenes was the first person in history to give someone the finger.

https://greekreporter.com/2023/05/1...nZCkqN1wzrAD4ojnea5R5o6B5q4__SRy0MjYVh-SZKgLU

 

OK, back to space, with a story somewhat related to the above.

Samples collected from the asteroid Bennu by NASA's OSIRIS-REx probe have been found to contain evidence of -- you got it, carbon and water.

Samples collected from the asteroid Bennu by NASA's OSIRIS-REx probe have been found to contain

This isn't to say there might be life on Bennu. What it does do is provide a little more credence to theories that water and other elements necessary for life to begin got to earth in the first place via meteor/asteroid impacts in the planet's infancy.

 

Next up, what was thought to be lightning in the atmosphere of Venus might not be lightning at all.

https://www.space.com/parker-solar-...x9oB7Z_-Sdt45O56zx_xxaYJ84WYXqEaoY8Vbu6OYrIrQ

The Parker Solar Probe, which is studying the sun, did a flyby of Venus to get a gravitational assist, and as it went by, it found evidence that the flashes detected previously might actually be caused by disturbances in the planet's magnetic field.

 

This one is my favorite, and kind of mind-blowing to me. I didn't post it last night because I was trying to figure out how to do superscript on this board. I could have sworn we used to be able to.

Anyway, everyone is familiar with Einstein's famous equation E=mc(squared) -- that's where I needed the superscript -- which states the equivalence and interchangeability of matter and energy.

We've all seen examples of how much energy can be released from a small amount of matter, most notably with the atomic bomb. But theoretically, that equation works the other way, too -- matter can be created from energy. In practice, that's extremely hard to do because of the immense amount of energy required -- remember, c in this case stands for the speed of light.

Well, now it's been done. Using a supercollider to create very high-energy photons by smashing heavy ions together at nearly the speed of light, researchers have observed matter (specifically electron-positron pairs) being created directly from light (a.k.a. energy).

For the first time scientists observe the creation of matter from light

 

Here we go again:

FAA clears SpaceX to launch second Starship flight

 

Elon go boom, again:

https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-second-test-flight-launch-explodes

 

"Rapid unscheduled disassembly" my ass. Much as I dislike Elmo, I hope SpaceX gets it together. NASA is betting the program on it.

 

They are designed to blow themselves up -- or someone in the control room mashes a button -- in the event that the sequencing fails. At least they didn't appear to tear a crater in the launch pad this time. That's a better sign.