Today’s stories include Scientists are Unraveling the Mystery of Time to Gladiators were the Superstars of the Roman Empire to Scientists Discover ‘Uncontaminated Extraterrestrial Materials’ in an Ancient Asteroid Sample, and much more.
‘There are 80 trillion people yet to come. They need us to start protecting them’, reports philosopher William MacAskill for The Guardian. “MacAskill is a proponent of what’s known as longtermism – the view that the deep future is something we have to address now. How long we last as a species and what kind of state of wellbeing we achieve, says MacAskill, may have a lot to do with what decisions we make and actions we take at the moment and in the foreseeable future. That, in a nutshell, is the thesis of his new book, What We Owe the Future: A Million-Year View.
This logarithmic view of the Universe will blow your mind, reports Big Think. As we look to larger cosmic scales, we get a broader view of the expansive cosmic forest, eventually revealing the grandest views of all. “Rather than a linear scale, which would take several quintillions of Earths lined end-to-end to reach the limits of the observable Universe, a logarithmic scale holds far more cosmic insights to an onlooker.”
The messages that survived civilization’s collapse–“The Sumerians, Maya and other ancient cultures created texts that have lasted hundreds and even thousands of years. Here’s what they can teach us about crafting an immortal message,” reports BBC Future.
Scientists Discover ‘Uncontaminated Extraterrestrial Materials’ In Ancient Asteroid Sample, reports Vice Science. “Samples from the potentially hazardous asteroid Ryugu contain never-before-seen features that contain important clues about the evolution of the solar system and the origin of life on Earth.”
Mystery crater potentially caused by relative of dinosaur-killing asteroid reports Uisdean Nicholson, Sean Gulick and Veronica Bray for The Conversation. “Intriguingly, the crater, named “Nadir” after the nearby volcano Nadir Seamount, is of the same age as the Chicxulub impact caused by a huge asteroid at the end of the Cretaceous period, around 66 million years ago, which wiped out the dinosaurs and many other species.”
Asteroid Bigger than Pyramid Set for Closest Approach to Earth for a Century, reports Newsweek.”The asteroid, named 2019 AV13, is estimated to measure between around 330 feet and 750 feet in diameter—making it about the size of the 455-foot Great Pyramid.”
Planta Sapiens –extraterrestrials in the garden. “A mind-expanding exploration of botanical intelligence argues that plants can remember, learn and even plan ahead, reports The Guardian about Paco Calvo’s remarkable book, the result of “two decades of passionate exploration into a rich and alternate world that exists alongside our own” – the world of plants. The subject of his exploration is startlingly radical: the question of whether plants can be regarded as possessing intelligence.”
Scientists are unraveling the mystery of the arrow of time reports the CUNY Graduate Center Initiative for the Theoretical Sciences (ITS)–“The flow of time from the past to the future is a central feature of how we experience the world. But precisely how this phenomenon, known as the arrow of time, arises from the microscopic interactions among particles and cells is a mystery.”
Scientists Discover New Trigger for Mass Extinction of All Deep Ocean Life. The movement of continents over millions of years plays a surprising role in the survival of marine life, reports Becky Ferreira for Vice Science.
Wave created by Tonga volcano eruption reached 90 meters – nine times taller than 2011 Japan tsunami–New research reveals more about the magnitude of January eruption, as researchers call for better preparedness, reports the University of Bath.
A New Cold War Could Slow the Advance of Science, reports Michael Riordan for the New York Times. Dr. Riordan is a physicist who writes about science, technology and public policy. He is the author of “The Hunting of the Quark” and a co-author of “Tunnel Visions: The Rise and Fall of the Superconducting Super Collider.”
Gladiators were the superstars of the Roman Empire -More than mindless bloodshed, the gladiatorial games were organized sports. Gladiators were treated as world-class athletes, receiving superior diets and medical care, reports Big Think.
Electric Fish Genomes Reveal How Evolution Repeats Itself, reports Joanna Thompson for Quanta. By studying how electric organs arose in different lineages of fish, scientists gain new insights into a long-standing question of evolutionary biology. “When several species share an ability as unusual as generating electricity, it’s because they’re closely related. But the electric fish in the rivers of South America and Africa span six distinct taxonomic groups, and there are three other marine lineages of electric fish beyond them.”
NASA Studies Find Previously Unknown Loss of Antarctic Ice. “The greatest uncertainty in forecasting global sea level rise is how Antarctica’s ice loss will accelerate as the climate warms. Two studies published Aug. 10 and led by researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California reveal unexpected new data about how the Antarctic Ice Sheet has been losing mass in recent decades.”
The metaverse isn’t here yet, but it already has a long history, reports The Conversation. “The contemporary metaverse is overwhelmingly owned and developed by corporations whose profit models demand focus on the Next Big Thing. This typically sidelines history – with massive financial and social implications. At its core, the metaverse is defined by the concept of the virtual world.”
How ‘living architecture’ could help the world avoid a soul-deadening digital future, reports Tim Gorichanaz for The Conversation. “Over the past 60 years, the architectural theorist Christopher Alexander who died in March 2022 at age 85, developed a theory of design that has made inroads in architecture. Translated to the technology field, this theory can provide the principles and process for creating technologies that unlock people’s humanity rather than suppress it.”
Curated by The Daily Galaxy Editorial Staff
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