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Giant Zombie Atoms of the Cosmos [Katia Moskvitch, Nautilus]

By William McClain
In [Nautilus]
February 27, 2023
134 views
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  • On Aug. 6, 1967, Jocelyn Bell discovered a series of sharp pulses coming from a distant galaxy every 1.3 seconds. This “scruff” was an unknown type of astronomical object, later named a pulsar.
  • A neutron star is the densest object made of ordinary matter, just a whisker away from a black hole. It is created when an ordinary star is sufficiently massive, eight to 15 times as massive as the sun, has exhausted all its nuclear fuel and collapses to extreme densities.
  • Physicists think a neutron star is sort of like an egg, with a crust, an outer core, and an inner core. The outer crust is made of iron nuclei, the outer core is a liquid consisting mainly of neutrons, and the inner core is an enigma with matter different to neutrons and protons.
  • To describe the squeezability of the inner core, physicists formulate a so-called equation of state. This equation of state relates density to pressure and predicts a certain relationship between the neutron star’s size and mass.
  • Astronomers have a battery of techniques to measure the mass and radius of neutron stars. These include pulsar timing, studying how deformable neutron stars are when they collide, and studying the aftermath of a neutron star collision.
  • The discoveries of neutron stars heavier than two solar masses indicate that the matter inside the inner core can’t be very jelly-like. Nuclear experiments and observations of gravitational waves, radio pulses, and X-rays are used to determine the equation of state.

Published February 24, 2023
Visit Nautilus to read Katia Moskvitch’s original post Giant Zombie Atoms of the Cosmos

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Is Earth Running Out of Freshwater? [Brian Gallagher, Nautilus]

By William McClain
In [Nautilus]
February 23, 2023
161 views
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  • Is Earth running out of freshwater? – Global demand for freshwater is expected to exceed supply by 40% by 2030, and 2/3 of the world’s population will face water shortages.
  • How are icebergs going to solve the water crisis? – Icebergs contain a large amount of freshwater, and one 2,000 ft x 650 ft iceberg could supply all of Cape Town, South Africa with water for a year.
  • What technology is needed? – Satellites are needed to locate icebergs, and modeling has been done by Alan Condron at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute to show that icebergs can be transported without melting.
  • What is the goal? – To convince people that icebergs can be a viable freshwater source, and to stop treating it as a joke.

Published February 22, 2023
Visit Nautilus to read Brian Gallagher’s original post Is Earth Running Out of Freshwater?

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The CEO of Black Girls CODE on the Importance of Self-Belief [Carlee Ingersoll, Nautilus]

By William McClain
In [Nautilus]
February 23, 2023
136 views
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  • For the month of February, Nautilus’ Marketing Team will feature interviews with organizations and institutions working to increase opportunities for young Black people to imagine and succeed in STEM career paths—and donate 10 percent of all new member subscriptions toward their initiatives.
  • Black representation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields totaled only 9 percent in 2021, as reported by The National Science Foundation.
  • The mission of Black Girls CODE is to increase the number of Black women and women of color in digital technology by introducing them to computer science, education, and STEM skills at a young age.
  • Black Girls CODE works to shape the narrative that Black girls and women belong in STEM spaces and builds self-belief, perseverance, and a sense of belonging through mentorship, leading by example, and skill building.
  • Black Girls CODE partners with schools and local organizations to facilitate relationships with girls and their families, and recently launched CODE Along, a free video-based coding academy.
  • When Black girls and women win, everyone wins, as it increases financial equity and economic freedom, and allows for more diversity of thought when solving some of the world’s biggest problems.

Published February 22, 2023
Visit Nautilus to read Carlee Ingersoll’s original post The CEO of Black Girls CODE on the Importance of Self-Belief

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Where Are the Black Female Doctors? [Kristen French, Nautilus]

By William McClain
In [Nautilus]
February 20, 2023
164 views
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  • Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first Black woman to earn a medical degree in the United States in 1864, providing medical care to former slaves in Virginia and later tending to the sick in her own private practice in Boston. She published a book of medical advice, the only known medical book written by a 19th century Black woman.
  • Jasmine Brown wrote Twice as Hard: The Stories of Black Women Who Fought to Become Physicians from the Civil War to the 21st Century to bring the hidden lives and contributions of outstanding Black female physicians to light.
  • When Brown began to pursue a pre-med track, she realized she had never met a Black female physician nor learned about any in school.
  • The book profiles nine Black female physicians and their stunning achievements amidst overwhelming obstacles—scarce mentors and financial resources, discrimination in schools, and even for those who graduated at the tops of their classes, few employment opportunities.
  • Brown chose the women she wrote about based on having lived at different points over the past 150 years, having retired and having enough information in the archives to give more depth to the story telling.
  • Having personal details about the women’s lives, their marriages and children, their emotional struggles was important to Brown to show the full arcs of their careers.
  • The connection between the book and the present political moment is the threat that affirmative action will be overturned by the Supreme Court, a decision that could lead to another significant dip in representation in the field of medicine.
  • Brown believes that if academic institutions taught more about the history of outstanding Black physicians who have been leaders in the field it could make a difference.
  • Brown hopes that her book will inspire more Black people to go into medicine, and will give people within academia insight into barriers to better representation in medicine.
  • Black History Month is seen by Brown as a catalyst for broader discussion, and if the book gets into more readers’ hands during this month, it can affect the way they think throughout the rest of the year.

Published February 18, 2023
Visit Nautilus to read Kristen French’s original post Where Are the Black Female Doctors?

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Neuroscience Has a Race Problem [Jackie Rocheleau, Nautilus]

By Spencer Chen
In [Nautilus]
February 15, 2023
156 views
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• Jasmine Kwasa, a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University, noticed that EEG technology had limited functionality with thick curly, kinky, and textured hair types, leading to potential exclusion from research.
• Biases against physical characteristics like dark skin and thick curly hair are baked into all major neuroimaging technologies, including EEG, fNIRS, and MRI.
• Neurobiological datasets are overwhelmingly white, with 95% of the data collected by the UK Biobank corresponding to white study subjects and the Human Connectome Project (HCP) being 76% white.
• Carla Bailey, a neurophysiologist at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, says she only encounters issues with EEG and Black hair when people don’t remove hair extensions that obscure the scalp.
• Precision Neuroscopics is perfecting the Sevo clip, which holds electrodes against the scalp between cornrows braided to accommodate electrode placement, and collecting evidence that it improves the quality of EEG data.
• A 2022 study found that machine learning algorithms trained on large neuroimaging datasets that favor white populations inaccurately predicted the behavior of Black Americans.

Published February 15, 2023
Visit Nautilus to read Jackie Rocheleau’s original post Neuroscience Has a Race Problem

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If Technology Only Had a Heart [Sian E. Harding, Nautilus]

By Spencer Chen
In [Nautilus]
February 14, 2023
150 views
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• The history of the total artificial heart is punctuated with both brilliant innovation and continual clinical failure.
• In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson funded a program to develop the first functional self-contained artificial heart.
• The first total artificial heart was implanted in 1969, but a reliable off-the-shelf version is still out of reach.
• The original goal was to replace the failing heart completely, but the goal changed to keeping the patient alive until a transplant donor could be found.
• The development of ciclosporin in the early 1980s dramatically improved the success of heart transplantation.
• Ventricular assist devices (VADs) take blood out of the ventricle of the heart and push it into the aorta at high pressure.
• Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) have become a therapy in themselves, with survival rates of over 50 percent seen at seven years.
• Solutions for a completely implantable total artificial heart seem tantalizingly close, but no one is anticipating an easy ride.

Published February 14, 2023
Visit Nautilus to read Sian E. Harding’s original post If Technology Only Had a Heart

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How Seawater Might Soak Up More Carbon [Warren Cornwall, Nautilus]

By Spencer Chen
In [Nautilus]
February 8, 2023
140 views
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• Gaurav Sant is flipping a switch on a machine aboard a barge in Los Angeles that will suck water from the Pacific Ocean and reduce its carbon dioxide levels.
• The machine is part of a larger effort to geoengineer the ocean to absorb more carbon dioxide.
• The ocean is already absorbing 90% of excess heat generated by burning fossil fuels and holds an estimated 41,000 gigatons of carbon.
• Strategies to increase ocean alkalinity, such as adding antacids to the ocean, are being explored to increase the ocean’s capacity to absorb carbon dioxide.
• Douglas Wallace, a chemical oceanographer at Canada’s Dalhousie University, believes this approach could make a difference without causing massive ecosystem risks.
• However, there are still many unknowns about the effectiveness and economic viability of these strategies, as well as potential ecological effects.
• Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan recently put $21 million into the UCLA Institute for Carbon Management, where Sant’s project began.

Published February 8, 2023
Visit Nautilus to read Warren Cornwall’s original post How Seawater Might Soak Up More Carbon

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The Moon Smells Like Gunpowder [Jillian Scudder, Nautilus]

By Spencer Chen
In [Nautilus]
February 8, 2023
92 views
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• Apollo 16 and 17 astronauts noticed a strong smell of gunpowder in the lunar module after returning from moonwalks.
• The lunar dust is sharp and can cling to the space suits, making it difficult to remove.
• Inhaling the dust can cause severe damage to the lungs, similar to silicosis.
• If humans are ever to live on the moon or Mars, they will need to find a way to protect themselves from the dust.

Published February 8, 2023
Visit Nautilus to read Jillian Scudder’s original post The Moon Smells Like Gunpowder

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What Makes the Milky Way Special? [Brian Gallagher, Nautilus]

By Spencer Chen
In [Nautilus]
February 6, 2023
135 views
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• Miguel Aragon is a computational physicist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where he studies the large-scale structure of the universe, galaxy formation, machine learning, data mining, and visualization.
• The Milky Way is not special in itself, but its location is what makes it special. It is located near the center of a cosmological wall, a flat association of galaxies that forms a membrane between cosmological voids.
• The universe looks like a sponge, with cosmological walls, filaments, and clusters. Clusters are the densest parts of the universe, and walls are the least dense.
• The Milky Way is strangely large for living in a wall, and its velocity dispersion is 10 times lower than what is expected. This has been considered a mystery.
• Miguel Aragon has explored the possibility that the fact that the Milky Way is so massive in this wall may have helped the development of life.

Published February 7, 2023
Visit Nautilus to read Brian Gallagher’s original post What Makes the Milky Way Special?

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What Is Scientific Discovery Worth? [Paul M. Sutter, Nautilus]

By Spencer Chen
In [Nautilus]
February 3, 2023
149 views
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• Neutrinos have been a mystery for nearly 100 years, and the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) was created to try to catch them.
• DUNE is a $1.7 billion project funded mostly by the Department of Energy, and it involves the most powerful neutrino beams ever created, 10,000 tons of ultra-pure liquid argon, and 800,000 tons of excavated rock.
• Neutrinos are everywhere, but they are so small and charge-free that they are difficult to catch and study.
• Other neutrino detectors, such as Super-Kamiokande and IceCube, have been built, but they have only managed to capture a handful of neutrinos.
• DUNE is now running about a decade behind schedule and over budget, and the DOE is questioning whether the project is worth the investment.
• The only way to find out if DUNE will be successful is to build it out and flip it on, but this raises the question of what scientific discovery is worth.

Published February 3, 2023
Visit Nautilus to read Paul M. Sutter’s original post What Is Scientific Discovery Worth?

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