Weekly handpicked science news from 7 – 13 Sep 2020
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.
ISRO Set to Launch Chandrayaan-3 Early Next Year; Spacecraft to Carry Lander and Rover
Source: The Weather Channel
India’s Moon mission successor—Chandrayaan-3—may be launched somewhere in early 2021, as per the announcement from the Minister of State for the Department of Space, Jitendra Singh on Sunday.
Skeletal Study Suggests At Least 11 Fish Species Are Capable of Walking
Source: Florida Museum of Natural History
An international team of scientists has identified at least 11 species of fish suspected to have land-walking abilities. The findings are based on CT scans and a new evolutionary map of the hillstream loach family, which includes the only living fish species caught in the act of walking: a rare, blind cavefish known as Cryptotora thamicola, or the cave angel fish.
Original written by: Halle Marchese
Changing What We Eat Could Offset Years of Climate-Warming Emissions
Source: New York University
Plant protein foods can provide vital nutrients using a small fraction of the land required to produce meat and dairy. By shifting to these foods, much of the remaining land could support ecosystems that absorb CO2, according to a new study.
How to Have A Blast Like A Black Hole
Source: Osaka University Researchers
from the Institute of Laser Engineering at Osaka University have successfully used short, but extremely powerful laser blasts to generate magnetic field reconnection inside a plasma. This work may lead to a more complete theory of X-ray emission from astronomical objects like black holes.
Study Suggests Unconscious Learning Underlies Belief in God
Source: Georgetown University Medical Center
Individuals who can unconsciously predict complex patterns, an ability called implicit pattern learning, are likely to hold stronger beliefs that there is a god who creates patterns of events in the universe, according to neuroscientists at Georgetown University.
Humans, Not Climate, Have Driven Rapidly Rising Mammal Extinction Rate
Source: University of Gothenburg
Human impact can explain ninety-six percent of all mammal species extinctions of the last hundred thousand years, according to a new study published in the scientific journal Science Advances.
Inexpensive, Non-Toxic Nanofluid Could Be a Game-Changer for Oil Recovery
Source: University of Houston
Researchers from the University of Houston have demonstrated that an inexpensive and non-toxic nanofluid can be used to efficiently recover even heavy oil with high viscosity from reservoirs. The nanofluid, made in a common household blender using commercially available sodium, allowed for recovery in lab tests of 80% of extra-heavy oil with a viscosity of more than 400,000 centipoise at room temperature.
Original written by: Jeannie Kever
Meteorites Show Transport of Material in Early Solar System
Source: University of California – Davis
New studies of a rare type of meteorite show that material from close to the sun reached the outer solar system even as the planet Jupiter cleared a gap in the disk of dust and gas from which the planets formed. The results, published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, add to an emerging understanding of how our solar system formed and how planets form around other stars.
Original written by: Andy Fell
Carbon-Rich Exoplanets May Be Made of Diamonds
Source: Arizona State University
In a new study published recently in The Planetary Science Journal, a team of researchers from Arizona State University and the University of Chicago have determined that some carbon-rich exoplanets, given the right circumstances, could be made of diamonds and silica.
