Science News related to Space Agriculture, Surface Chemistry on Mars, Farthest Galaxy in the Universe, The Intersection of AI and Neuroscience, Origami Solving Space Travel Challenge, New Type of Atomic Clock, Possible Exoplanet Radio Emission, Astronaut Flying Around the Moon, Life Support on Enceladus, Longest Intergalactic Gas Filament, White Dwarfs and Cosmological Lithium Problem, 100 Times More Efficient Entangled Photons
Note: I do not write/own any of the science news bits (and cover picture) given here. The links on each of the news bits will redirect to the news source. The content given under each headline is a basic gist and not the full story.
1. Fertilizer Made from Urine Could Enable Space Agriculture
Source: Tokyo University of Science
14 Dec 2020
From the perspective of future societies, in extremely closed environments such as a space station, self-sufficiency in food cultivation and waste management is critical. However, the technology to achieve this is still lacking. In a new study, scientists shed light on their most recent breakthrough: a cheap and efficient method to make liquid fertilizer (ammonia) from simplified artificial urine, serving an ideal dual purpose of growing food and treating waste.
2. Powerful Electrical Events Quickly Alter Surface Chemistry on Mars and Other Planetary Bodies
Source: Washington University in St. Louis
14 Dec 2020
Thinking like Earthlings may have caused scientists to overlook the electrochemical effects of Martian dust storms. On Earth, dust particles are viewed mainly in terms of their physical effects, like erosion. But, in exotic locales from Mars to Venus to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, electrical effects can affect the chemical composition of a planetary body’s surface and atmosphere in a relatively short time, according to new research.
Original written by: Shawn Ballard
3. The Farthest Galaxy in The Universe
Source: University of Tokyo
15 Dec 2020
A team of astronomers used the Keck I telescope to measure the distance to an ancient galaxy. They deduced the target galaxy GN-z11 is not only the oldest galaxy but also the most distant. It’s so distant it defines the very boundary of the observable universe itself. The team hopes this study can shed light on a period of cosmological history when the universe was only a few hundred million years old.
4. Researchers Uncover Blind Spots at The Intersection of AI and Neuroscience
Source: Purdue University
15 Dec 2020
Is it possible to read a person’s mind by analyzing the electric signals from the brain? The answer may be much more complex than most people think. Researchers working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and neuroscience say a prominent dataset used to try to answer this question is confounded, and therefore many eye-popping findings that were based on this dataset and received high-profile recognition are false after all.
Original written by: Chris Adam
5. Researchers Use Origami to Solve Space Travel Challenge
Source: Washington State University
15 Dec 2020
Researchers have used the ancient Japanese art of paper folding to possibly solve a key challenge for outer space travel – how to store and move fuel to rocket engines. They have developed an origami-inspired, folded plastic fuel bladder that doesn’t crack at super cold temperatures and could someday be used to store and pump fuel.
Original written by: Tina Hilding
6. New Type of Atomic Clock Keeps Time Even More Precisely
Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
16 Dec 2020
The researchers report that they have built an atomic clock that measures not a cloud of randomly oscillating atoms, as state-of-the-art designs measure now, but instead atoms that have been quantumly entangled. The atoms are correlated in a way that is impossible according to the laws of classical physics, and that allows the scientists to measure the atoms’ vibrations more accurately.
Original written by: Jennifer Chu
7. Astronomers Detect Possible Exoplanet Radio Emission
Source: Cornell University
16 Dec 2020
By monitoring the cosmos with a radio telescope array, an international team of scientists has detected radio bursts emanating from the constellation Boötes – that could be the first radio emission collected from a planet beyond our solar system.
Original written by: Blaine Friedlander
8. A Canadian Astronaut Will Fly Around the Moon on The First Crewed Mission of NASA’s New Rocket
Source: The Verge
16 Dec 2020
One of Canada’s astronauts will be sent around the Moon as part of a partnership between NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), NASA announced on Wednesday. The two organizations have formally agreed to collaborate on building a lunar space station called the Lunar Gateway. The Gateway is just one part of NASA’s larger Artemis program, which is focused on landing a woman on the Moon by 2024.
Original written by: Ian Carlos Campbell
9. Potential Support for Life on Enceladus, Saturn’s Moon
Source: Southwest Research Institute
16 Dec 2020
Using data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, scientists modeled chemical processes in the subsurface ocean of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The studies indicate the possibility that a varied metabolic menu could support a potentially diverse microbial community in the liquid water ocean beneath the moon’s icy facade.
10. Longest Intergalactic Gas Filament Discovered
Source: University of Bonn
17 Dec 2020
A team has now for the first time observed a gas filament with a length of 50 million light years. Its structure is strikingly similar to the predictions of computer simulations. The observation therefore also confirms our ideas about the origin and evolution of our universe.
11. Can White Dwarfs Help Solve the Cosmological Lithium Problem?
Source: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
17 Dec 2020
For the first time, hard-to-track lithium has been identified and measured in the atmosphere of burned out stars called white dwarfs, according to a study. Lithium helps power cell phones and computers and stabilize moods. But scientists have been stumped by what’s become of the lithium that was expected from the Big Bang, a discrepancy known as the “cosmological lithium problem.”
12. Researchers Create Entangled Photons 100 Times More Efficiently Than Previously Possible
Source: Stevens Institute of Technology
17 Dec 2020
Super-fast quantum computers and communication devices could revolutionize countless aspects of our lives — but first, researchers need a fast, efficient source of the entangled pairs of photons such systems use to transmit and manipulate information. Researchers have now done just that, creating a chip-based photon source 100 times more efficient than previously possible. The work brings massive quantum device integration within reach.
