SoylentNews

upstart writes:

Chinese astronauts return to Earth after 90-day mission:

Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth Friday after completing the country's longest-ever crewed mission, the latest landmark in Beijing's drive to become a major space power.

The capsule carrying the trio deployed its parachute and landed in the Gobi desert at 1:34 pm local time (0534 GMT).

"It feels very good to be back!," Tang Hongbo told state broadcaster CCTV after the 90-day mission, a record for China.

"I want to say dad, mom, I'm back! In good health and good spirits!" he said after emerging from the capsule within 30 minutes of landing.

The crew of the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft were in good health, China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement.

"The first manned mission to the (Chinese) space station is a complete success," it said.

The taikonauts—as Chinese astronauts are known—will undergo a 14-day quarantine before they can go home "because their immune systems may have weakened after the long mission," Huang Weifen, chief designer of China's manned space project told CCTV.

The mission was part of China's heavily promoted space programme, which has already seen the nation land a rover on Mars and send probes to the moon.

[...] "The successful completion of the mission... paves the way for future regular missions and utilisation of the (Chinese space) station," said Chen Lan, an independent analyst at GoTaikonauts, which specialises in China's space programme.

Original Submission

martyb writes:

Flying a helicopter on Mars is getting 'harder and harder,' NASA says:

Havard Grip, Ingenuity's chief pilot, talked about the challenges facing the chopper in a NASA status update this week. The density of the atmosphere in the Jezero Crater is dropping, a factor Grip said has "a significant impact on Ingenuity's ability to fly."

[...] This doesn't mean Ingenuity will be grounded. "Thankfully, there is a way to tackle this issue, but it involves spinning the rotors even faster than we have been doing up to now," Grip said. "In fact, they will have to spin faster than we have ever attempted with Ingenuity or any of our test helicopters on Earth."

The plucky little rotorcraft is headed into uncharted territory as its team plans to test this speed-demon version of its rotors. NASA JPL said Ingenuity did a rotor spin test and could take off on its 14th flight as early as today. The flight will be short and will aim to show the chopper can handle lower atmospheric densities.

[...] The planned tests will be quite a workout for the chopper. "The motors will need to spin faster, the electrical system will need to deliver more power, and the entire rotor system will need to withstand the higher loads that come with increased rotor speeds," Grip said.

Ingenuity has a knack for overcoming challenges. It's made it through technical glitches and software updates and taken on increasingly more difficult flights. Here's hoping it soars right past this latest obstacle.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

China prepares to test thorium-fuelled nuclear reactor

Scientists are excited about an experimental nuclear reactor using thorium as fuel, which is about to begin tests in China. Although this radioactive element has been trialled in reactors before, experts say that China is the first to have a shot at commercializing the technology.

The reactor is unusual in that it has molten salts circulating inside it instead of water. It has the potential to produce nuclear energy that is relatively safe and cheap, while also generating a much smaller amount of very long-lived radioactive waste than conventional reactors.

Construction of the experimental thorium reactor in Wuwei, on the outskirts of the Gobi Desert, was due to be completed by the end of August — with trial runs scheduled for this month, according to the government of Gansu province.

[...] When China switches on its experimental reactor, it will be the first molten-salt reactor operating since 1969, when US researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee shut theirs down. And it will be the first molten-salt reactor to be fuelled by thorium. Researchers who have collaborated with SINAP say the Chinese design copies that of Oak Ridge, but improves on it by calling on decades of innovation in manufacturing, materials and instrumentation.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

U.S. generals planning for a space war they see as all but inevitable

A ship in the Pacific Ocean carrying a high-power laser takes aim at a U.S. spy satellite, blinding its sensors and denying the United States critical eyes in the sky.

This is one scenario that military officials and civilian leaders fear could lead to escalation and wider conflict as rival nations like China and Russia step up development and deployments of anti-satellite weapons.

If a satellite came under attack, depending on the circumstances, "the appropriate measures can be taken," said Lt. Gen. John Shaw, deputy commander of U.S. Space Command. The space battlefield is not science fiction and anti-satellite weapons are going to be a reality in future armed conflicts, Shaw said at the recent 36th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.

[...] The U.S. military's space weapons that presumably would deter China from firing the first shot against a satellite are classified. In a rare disclosure, the Space Force last year said it deployed an advanced ground-based communications jammer made by L3Harris that could be used as an "offensive weapon" to disrupt enemies' satellite transmissions.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

We managed to toilet train cows, and they learned faster than a toddler:

Cattle urine is high in nitrogen, and this contributes to a range of environmental problems.

[...] Behavioural psychology tells us a behaviour is likely to be repeated if followed by a reward, or "reinforcer". That's how we train a dog to come when called.

So if we want to encourage a particular behaviour, such as urinating in a particular place, we should reinforce that behaviour. For our project we applied this idea in much the same way as for toilet training children, using a procedure called "backward chaining".

First, the calves were confined to the toilet area, a latrine pen, and reinforced with a preferred treat when they urinated. This established the pen as an ideal place to urinate.

The calves were then placed in an alley outside the pen, and once again reinforced for entering the pen and urinating there. If urination began in the alley, it was discouraged by a mildly unpleasant spray of water.

AnonTechie writes:

Whitest paint in world created at Purdue, may help curb global warming:

The paint has now made it into the Guinness World Records book as the whitest ever made.

So why did the scientists create such a paint? It turns out that breaking a world record wasn't the goal of the researchers: Curbing global warming was.

[...] Making this paint really reflective, however, also made it really white, according to Purdue University. The paint reflects 98.1% of solar radiation while also emitting infrared heat. Because the paint absorbs less heat from the sun than it emits, a surface coated with this paint is cooled below the surrounding temperature without consuming power.

Using this new paint to cover a roof area of about 1,000 square feet could result in a cooling power of 10 kilowatts. “That’s more powerful than the air conditioners used by most houses,” Ruan said.

[...] Two features make this paint ultra-white: a very high concentration of a chemical compound called barium sulfate – also used in photo paper and cosmetics – and different particle sizes of barium sulfate in the paint, scientists at Purdue said.

Will the reflected sunlight cause more global warming or less ?? And, what happens on cloudy days ?

Original Submission

upstart writes:

California wildfires threaten famous giant sequoia trees:

THREE RIVERS, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters wrapped the base of the world’s largest tree in a fire-resistant blanket as they tried to save a famous grove of gigantic old-growth sequoias from wildfires burning Thursday in California’s rugged Sierra Nevada.

The colossal General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park’s Giant Forest, some other sequoias, the Giant Forest Museum and other buildings were wrapped as protection against the possibility of intense flames, fire spokeswoman Rebecca Paterson said.

The aluminum wrapping can withstand intensive heat for short periods. Federal officials say they have been using the material for several years throughout the U.S. West to protect sensitive structures from flames.

[...] The Colony Fire, one of two burning in Sequoia National Park, was expected to reach the Giant Forest, a grove of 2,000 sequoias, at some point within days. It was unclear Thursday night whether that had happened. The fire didn’t grow significantly as a layer of smoke reduced its spread, fire spokeswoman Katy Hooper said.

upstart writes:

Pollutionwatch: how bad are bonfires for the environment?:

A team of French scientists has been investigating air pollution from bonfires. They used a specifically constructed fire chamber: a big room that could easily accommodate one or two whole houses, added instrumentation in the extract ducts, spread a bed of sand on the floor and set about burning leaves and hedge trimmings.

Bonfires are a frequent source of complaints to UK local councils, and in some places these complaints quadrupled during the 2020 lockdown. But little is known about the air pollution they cause. This means they are often assumed to produce pollution that is similar to home fires and wood stoves.

Any gardener (and their neighbours) will know the smell of smoke from burning green waste. Unsurprisingly, for each kilogram burned, garden waste on bonfires produced up to 30 times more particle pollution (smoke) than burning logs in a stove, but smoke from the wood stove contained up to 12 times more cancer-causing polyaromatic hydrocarbons. The pollution from bonfires more closely resembled wildfire smoke, which is being increasingly linked to health problems.

Autumn is coming and so is the annual garden-tidy before winter. The simple message is: do not burn your garden waste; compost it instead or shred it to make a mulch.

Journal Reference:
Camille Noblet, Jean-Luc Besombes, Marie Lemireb, et al. Emission factors and chemical characterization of particulate emissions from garden green waste burning Science of The Total Environment (DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149367)

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Facebook documents show how toxic Instagram is for teens, Wall Street Journal reports:

The Journal report exacerbated at least one lawmaker's concerns over Facebook's exploration of a children's version of Instagram. Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., has made children's mental health concerns in connection with social media use a key priority and previously rebuked Facebook for considering such a product.

Following the Journal's report, Trahan called for Facebook to "immediately abandon plans for Instagram for Kids" and focus instead on protecting existing young users.

"Facebook's internal documents show that the company's failure to protect children on Instagram – especially young girls – is outright neglect, and it's been going on for years," Trahan said in a statement.

"Facebook has no business developing additional social media platforms explicitly designed for our children^{[* see below]} when they can't be trusted to keep their current house in order."

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has also made children's mental health online a cornerstone of her platform. In a statement Tuesday, she said Facebook "refused to comply" with a request from Republicans on the committee in March asking for its internal research on its products' impact on kids' mental health. [...]

Read the full Wall Street Journal report. [Seems paywalled -- ed.]

[* Maybe the story's changed since submission, or there's some GeoIP trickery going on, but the story I now see is fairly different to the above, and contains this statement: "Facebook is also building a version of Instagram for kids under age 13." which explains the representatives concerns, above.]

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Engineered E. coli could make carbohydrates, renewable fuel, from CO2:

Researchers from Newcastle University, UK have engineered Escherichia coli bacteria to capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) using hydrogen gas (H₂) to convert it into formic acid. The research, published today in Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Normally, an enzyme in E. coli catalyzes the reverse of this reaction—production of H₂ and CO₂ from formic acid. In nature, the latter is best known as a type of vinegar compound ants use to ward off predators (Formic comes from the Latin 'formica', meaning ant.)

To reverse the normal reaction in E. coli, the investigators got the bacteria to switch out molybdenum, a metal that is normally a critical part of the enzyme, for tungsten, by growing the bacteria in an excess of the latter. "This is fairly easy to do as E. colicannot readily tell the difference between the 2," said principal investigator Frank Sargent.

"Swapping of tungsten for molybdenum changed the properties of our enzyme so that it was locked in CO₂ capturing mode rather than being able to switch between CO₂ capture and CO₂ production," said Dr. Sargent.

[...] Dr. Sargent developed the idea from reading about the emergence of life on Earth, both in primary literature and popular science books, he said. Three and a half billion years ago, there was no oxygen in the atmosphere, but there were high levels of CO₂ and H₂, and cellular life had begun evolving 10,000 meters below the ocean's surface.

[...] "Around the world, societies understand the importance of combatting climate change, developing sustainable energy sources and reducing waste," said Dr. Sargent. "Reducing carbon dioxide emissions will require a basket of different solutions. Biology and microbiology offer some exciting options."

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Study: Childhood obesity in U.S. accelerated during pandemic:

A new study ties the COVID-19 pandemic to an "alarming" increase in obesity in U.S. children and teenagers.

Childhood obesity has been increasing for decades, but the new work suggests an acceleration last year — especially in those who already were obese when the pandemic started.

The results signal a "profound increase in weight gain for kids" and are "substantial and alarming," said one of the study's authors, Dr. Alyson Goodman of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It's also a sign of a vicious cycle. The pandemic appears to be worsening the nation's longstanding obesity epidemic, and obesity can put people at risk for more severe illness after coronavirus infection.

The CDC on Thursday released the study, which is the largest yet to look at obesity trends during the pandemic.

It found:

• An estimated 22% of children and teens were obese last August, up from 19% a year earlier.
• Before the pandemic, children who were a healthy weight were gaining an average of 3.4 pounds a year. That rose to 5.4 pounds during the pandemic.
• For kids who were moderately obese, expected weight gain rose from 6.5 pounds a year before the pandemic to 12 pounds after the pandemic began.
• For severely obese kids, expected annual weight gain went from 8.8 pounds to 14.6 pounds.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Scientists find evidence of humans making clothes 120,000 years ago:

[...] Now researchers say they have found some of the earliest evidence of humans using clothing in a cave in Morocco, with the discovery of bone tools and bones from skinned animals suggesting the practice dates back at least 120,000 years.

Dr Emily Hallett, of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany, the first author of the study, said the work reinforced the view that early humans in Africa were innovative and resourceful.

"Our study adds another piece to the long list of hallmark human behaviours that begin to appear in the archaeological record of Africa around 100,000 years ago," she said.

While skins and furs are unlikely to survive in deposits for hundreds of thousands of years, previous studies looking at the DNA of clothing lice have suggested clothes may have appeared as early as 170,000 years ago – probably sported by anatomically modern humans in Africa.

The latest study adds further weight to the idea that early humans may have had something of a wardrobe.

Writing in the journal i Science, Hallett and colleagues report how they analysed animal bones excavated in a series of digs spanning several decades at Contrebandiers Cave on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. The cave has previously been revealed to contain the remains of early humans.

Journal Reference:
Emily Y. Hallett. A worked bone assemblage from 120,000–90,000 year old deposits at Contrebandiers Cave, Atlantic Coast, Morocco, iScience (DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102988)

Original Submission

upstart writes:

France suspends 3,000 unvaccinated health workers without pay:

Thousands of health workers across France have been suspended without pay for failing to get vaccinated against Covid-19 ahead of a deadline this week, Health Minister Olivier Veran said Thursday.

France's national public health agency estimated last week that roughly 12 percent of hospital staff and around six percent of doctors in private practices have yet to be vaccinated.

"Some 3,000 suspensions were notified yesterday to employees at health centres and clinics who have not yet been vaccinated," Veran told RTL radio.

He added that "several dozens" had turned in their resignations rather than sign up for the jabs.

That compares with 2.7 million health workers overall, Veran said, adding that "continued healthcare is assured."

"A large number of these suspensions are only temporary" and mainly concern support staff, with "very few nurses" among those told to stay home, he said.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

China is honing its technical skills in sixth-generation communication networks, which are expected to be rolled out commercially as soon as 2030.

China's 6G development had been expected to slow due to sanctions against Huawei Technologies imposed by the U.S. government under former President Donald Trump in 2019, but China has maintained its competitiveness by mobilizing state-run companies and universities.

Nikkei worked with Tokyo-based research company Cyber Creative Institute to survey around 20,000 patent applications for nine core 6G technologies, including communications, quantum technology, base stations and artificial intelligence.

China topped the list with 40.3% of 6G patent filings, followed by the U.S. with 35.2%. Japan ranked third with 9.9%, followed by Europe with 8.9% and South Korea with 4.2%. Countries with more patent filings tend to lead in terms of advanced technology and have a bigger say on industry standards.

owl writes:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/16/home-computing-pioneer-sir-clive-sinclair-dies-aged-81

Sir Clive Sinclair, the inventor and entrepreneur who was instrumental in bringing home computers to the masses, has died at the age of 81.

His daughter, Belinda, said he died at home in London on Thursday morning after a long illness. Sinclair invented the pocket calculator but was best known for popularising the home computer, bringing it to British high-street stores at relatively affordable prices.

Many modern-day titans of the games industry got their start on one of his ZX models. For a certain generation of gamer, the computer of choice was either the ZX Spectrum 48K or its rival, the Commodore 64.

Original Submission