SCIENCE!

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Low Down Low
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Re: SCIENCE!

Post by Low Down Low »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 Apr 2025, 3:57pm
Low Down Low wrote:
03 Apr 2025, 3:56pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 Apr 2025, 12:30pm
Question for people who understand this stuff: Okay, energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed, correct? Now, say you're Wolter driving the minivan, listening to his Best of Dadrock compilation. He's so into it he doesn't noticed the stop sign at the last minute and slams on the brakes. The kinetic energy of the minivan travels, in part, thru the seatbelt that keeps him from going thru the windshield. It goes tight as it absorbs the energy, and then goes slack. What happens to that kinetic energy as the seatbelt relaxes again?
I don't know but you could check out the work of James Graham Ballard, who had a passing interest in science. I believe he might have had some ideas on this subject.
Will it involve social disintegration?
If that implies at least some integration to begin with then...i'm not sure.

Kory
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Re: SCIENCE!

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 Apr 2025, 3:57pm
Low Down Low wrote:
03 Apr 2025, 3:56pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 Apr 2025, 12:30pm
Question for people who understand this stuff: Okay, energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed, correct? Now, say you're Wolter driving the minivan, listening to his Best of Dadrock compilation. He's so into it he doesn't noticed the stop sign at the last minute and slams on the brakes. The kinetic energy of the minivan travels, in part, thru the seatbelt that keeps him from going thru the windshield. It goes tight as it absorbs the energy, and then goes slack. What happens to that kinetic energy as the seatbelt relaxes again?
I don't know but you could check out the work of James Graham Ballard, who had a passing interest in science. I believe he might have had some ideas on this subject.
Will it involve social disintegration?
It’ll definitely involve scars from a seatbelt…
"Suck our Earth dick, Martians!" —Doc

Dr. Medulla
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Re: SCIENCE!

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This has turned out more fetish-y than I anticipated.
If a frog had wings, it wouldn't bump its booty. - Jimmy Carter to Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, 15 September 1978

Dr. Medulla
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Re: SCIENCE!

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If a frog had wings, it wouldn't bump its booty. - Jimmy Carter to Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, 15 September 1978

Kory
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Re: SCIENCE!

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Notice these are all from a year ago.
"Suck our Earth dick, Martians!" —Doc

Dr. Medulla
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Re: SCIENCE!

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Kory wrote:
13 Apr 2025, 8:04pm
Notice these are all from a year ago.
We're even closer to utopia!
If a frog had wings, it wouldn't bump its booty. - Jimmy Carter to Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, 15 September 1978

Flex
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Re: SCIENCE!

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Okay, this kinda stuff still thrills:
Now a team of researchers is offering what it contends is the strongest indication yet of extraterrestrial life, not in our solar system but on a massive planet, known as K2-18b, that orbits a star 120 light-years from Earth. A repeated analysis of the exoplanet’s atmosphere suggests an abundance of a molecule that on Earth has only one known source: living organisms such as marine algae.

“It is in no one’s interest to claim prematurely that we have detected life,” said Nikku Madhusudhan, an astronomer at the University of Cambridge and an author of the new study, at a news conference on Tuesday. Still, he said, the best explanation for his group’s observations is that K2-18b is covered with a warm ocean, brimming with life.

“This is a revolutionary moment,” Dr. Madhusudhan said. “It’s the first time humanity has seen potential biosignatures on a habitable planet.”

The study was published Wednesday in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. Other researchers called it an exciting, thought-provoking first step to making sense of what’s on K2-18b. But they were reluctant to draw grand conclusions.

“It’s not nothing,” said Stephen Schmidt, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University. “It’s a hint. But we cannot conclude it’s habitable yet.”

If there is extraterrestrial life on K2-18b, or anywhere else, its discovery will arrive at a frustratingly slow pace. “Unless we see E.T. waving at us, it’s not going to be a smoking gun,” said Christopher Glein, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.

Canadian astronomers discovered K2-18b in 2017, while looking through ground-based telescopes in Chile. It was a type of planet commonly found outside our solar system, but one without any analog near Earth that scientists could study closely for clues.

These planets, known as sub-Neptunes, are much bigger than the rocky planets in our inner solar system, but smaller than Neptune and other gas-dominated planets of the outer solar system.

In 2021, Dr. Madhusudhan and his colleagues proposed that sub-Neptunes were covered with warm oceans of water and wrapped in atmospheres containing hydrogen, methane and other carbon compounds. To describe these strange planets, they coined a new term, “Hycean,” from a combination of the words “hydrogen” and “ocean.”

The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in December 2021 allowed astronomers a closer look at sub-Neptunes and other distant planets.

As an exoplanet passes in front its host star, its atmosphere, if it has one, is illuminated. Its gases change the color of the starlight that reach the Webb telescope. By analyzing these changing wavelengths, scientists can infer the chemical composition of the atmosphere.

While inspecting K2-18b, Dr. Madhusudhan and his colleagues discovered it had many of the molecules they had predicted a Hycean planet would possess. In 2023, they reported they had also detected faint hints of another molecule, and one of huge potential importance: dimethyl sulfide, which is made of sulfur, carbon, and hydrogen.

On Earth, the only known source of dimethyl sulfide is life. In the ocean, for instance, certain forms of algae produce the compound, which wafts into the air and adds to the sea’s distinctive odor. Long before the Webb telescope was launched, astrobiologists had wondered whether dimethyl sulfide might serve as a sign of life on other planets.

Last year, Dr. Madhusudhan and his colleagues got a second chance to look for dimethyl sulfide. As K2-18b orbited in front of its star, they used a different instrument on the Webb telescope to analyze the starlight passing through the planet’s atmosphere. This time they saw an even stronger signal of dimethyl sulfide, along with a similar molecule called dimethyl disulfide.

“It is a shock to the system,” Dr. Madhusudhan said. “We spent an enormous amount of time just trying to get rid of the signal.”

No matter how the scientists revisited their readings, the signal stayed strong. They concluded that K2-18b may in fact harbor a tremendous supply of dimethyl sulfide in its atmosphere, thousands of times higher than the level found on Earth. This would suggest that its Hycean seas are brimming with life.
Full article: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/scie ... k218b.html
“As I traveled, I came to believe that people’s desires and aspirations were as much a part of the land as the wind, solitary animals, and the bright fields of stone and tundra. And, too, that the land existed quite apart from these.”

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Re: SCIENCE!

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Flex wrote:
16 Apr 2025, 11:08pm
Okay, this kinda stuff still thrills:
Now a team of researchers is offering what it contends is the strongest indication yet of extraterrestrial life, not in our solar system but on a massive planet, known as K2-18b, that orbits a star 120 light-years from Earth. A repeated analysis of the exoplanet’s atmosphere suggests an abundance of a molecule that on Earth has only one known source: living organisms such as marine algae.

“It is in no one’s interest to claim prematurely that we have detected life,” said Nikku Madhusudhan, an astronomer at the University of Cambridge and an author of the new study, at a news conference on Tuesday. Still, he said, the best explanation for his group’s observations is that K2-18b is covered with a warm ocean, brimming with life.

“This is a revolutionary moment,” Dr. Madhusudhan said. “It’s the first time humanity has seen potential biosignatures on a habitable planet.”

The study was published Wednesday in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. Other researchers called it an exciting, thought-provoking first step to making sense of what’s on K2-18b. But they were reluctant to draw grand conclusions.

“It’s not nothing,” said Stephen Schmidt, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University. “It’s a hint. But we cannot conclude it’s habitable yet.”

If there is extraterrestrial life on K2-18b, or anywhere else, its discovery will arrive at a frustratingly slow pace. “Unless we see E.T. waving at us, it’s not going to be a smoking gun,” said Christopher Glein, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.

Canadian astronomers discovered K2-18b in 2017, while looking through ground-based telescopes in Chile. It was a type of planet commonly found outside our solar system, but one without any analog near Earth that scientists could study closely for clues.

These planets, known as sub-Neptunes, are much bigger than the rocky planets in our inner solar system, but smaller than Neptune and other gas-dominated planets of the outer solar system.

In 2021, Dr. Madhusudhan and his colleagues proposed that sub-Neptunes were covered with warm oceans of water and wrapped in atmospheres containing hydrogen, methane and other carbon compounds. To describe these strange planets, they coined a new term, “Hycean,” from a combination of the words “hydrogen” and “ocean.”

The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in December 2021 allowed astronomers a closer look at sub-Neptunes and other distant planets.

As an exoplanet passes in front its host star, its atmosphere, if it has one, is illuminated. Its gases change the color of the starlight that reach the Webb telescope. By analyzing these changing wavelengths, scientists can infer the chemical composition of the atmosphere.

While inspecting K2-18b, Dr. Madhusudhan and his colleagues discovered it had many of the molecules they had predicted a Hycean planet would possess. In 2023, they reported they had also detected faint hints of another molecule, and one of huge potential importance: dimethyl sulfide, which is made of sulfur, carbon, and hydrogen.

On Earth, the only known source of dimethyl sulfide is life. In the ocean, for instance, certain forms of algae produce the compound, which wafts into the air and adds to the sea’s distinctive odor. Long before the Webb telescope was launched, astrobiologists had wondered whether dimethyl sulfide might serve as a sign of life on other planets.

Last year, Dr. Madhusudhan and his colleagues got a second chance to look for dimethyl sulfide. As K2-18b orbited in front of its star, they used a different instrument on the Webb telescope to analyze the starlight passing through the planet’s atmosphere. This time they saw an even stronger signal of dimethyl sulfide, along with a similar molecule called dimethyl disulfide.

“It is a shock to the system,” Dr. Madhusudhan said. “We spent an enormous amount of time just trying to get rid of the signal.”

No matter how the scientists revisited their readings, the signal stayed strong. They concluded that K2-18b may in fact harbor a tremendous supply of dimethyl sulfide in its atmosphere, thousands of times higher than the level found on Earth. This would suggest that its Hycean seas are brimming with life.
Full article: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/scie ... k218b.html
That wily god, still planting tests of faith for us throughout the galaxy.
If a frog had wings, it wouldn't bump its booty. - Jimmy Carter to Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, 15 September 1978

revbob
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Re: SCIENCE!

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Dr. Medulla
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Re: SCIENCE!

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If a frog had wings, it wouldn't bump its booty. - Jimmy Carter to Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, 15 September 1978

gkbill
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Re: SCIENCE!

Post by gkbill »

Hello,

I'm not sure whether to place this here or in the Trump ... Darkest thread. This bothers me a lot - plus it's frightening.

https://archive.ph/jlQfu

Flex
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Re: SCIENCE!

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gkbill wrote:
03 Jun 2025, 9:23pm
Hello,

I'm not sure whether to place this here or in the Trump ... Darkest thread. This bothers me a lot - plus it's frightening.

https://archive.ph/jlQfu
I think it's good to spread this stuff out. Yeah, I've been following these moves and it's one of the most frightening aspects of the administration. And it's something that won't be able to just be rolled back in 4 years. The admin is renaking these institutions in ways that will make us more oppressive, ignorant and vulnerable.
“As I traveled, I came to believe that people’s desires and aspirations were as much a part of the land as the wind, solitary animals, and the bright fields of stone and tundra. And, too, that the land existed quite apart from these.”

Pex Lives!

Dr. Medulla
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Re: SCIENCE!

Post by Dr. Medulla »

gkbill wrote:
03 Jun 2025, 9:23pm
Hello,

I'm not sure whether to place this here or in the Trump ... Darkest thread. This bothers me a lot - plus it's frightening.

https://archive.ph/jlQfu
The obvious echoes are of Nazi Germany's rejection of "Jewish science" or the Soviet Union's of "bourgeois science."
If a frog had wings, it wouldn't bump its booty. - Jimmy Carter to Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, 15 September 1978

revbob
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Re: SCIENCE!

Post by revbob »

So we have this to look forward to
Deadly fungus that can "eat you from the inside out" is now in the U.S. and quickly spreading around the world
https://www.earth.com/news/deadly-fungu ... the-world/

Flex
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Re: SCIENCE!

Post by Flex »

revbob wrote:
14 Jun 2025, 3:05pm
So we have this to look forward to
Deadly fungus that can "eat you from the inside out" is now in the U.S. and quickly spreading around the world
https://www.earth.com/news/deadly-fungu ... the-world/
Please God let the fungus take me. Or my enemies. Whichever.
“As I traveled, I came to believe that people’s desires and aspirations were as much a part of the land as the wind, solitary animals, and the bright fields of stone and tundra. And, too, that the land existed quite apart from these.”

Pex Lives!

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