Posted on Nov 29, 2022 in Artificial Intelligence, Astrobiology, Climate Change, Consciousness, Evolution, Extraterrestrial Life, Future, Mass Extinction, Physics, Planet Earth, quantum physics, Science, Science News, Technology
Today’s stories include The Time Oxygen Almost Killed Everything to Could You Survive the Quietest Place on Earth to Are We About to Find Alien Life? and much more.
How will the space economy change the world? asks McKinsey. “Pharmaceutical companies might establish a lab on a space station to study cell growth, for instance, or semiconductor companies might manufacture chips in extraterrestrial factories to determine whether any aspects of the space environment, such as the lack of gravity, improve the process. Such possibilities, which might have seemed like the stuff of science fiction a few years ago, could become an essential part of a business across multiple industries in the near future.”
Rise of Oxygen –An Evolutionary Moment that Shaped Our Planet, reports The Daily Galaxy. “Oxygen flooded into the atmosphere as a pollutant, even a poison, until natural selection shaped living things to thrive on the stuff and, indeed, suffocate without it,” wrote evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins.
Unique features of octopus create ‘an entirely new way of designing a nervous system’, reports the University of Chicago Medical Center. “A new study has described something new and totally unexpected about the octopus nervous system: a structure by which the intramuscular nerve cords (INCs), which help the animal sense its arm movement, connect arms on the opposite sides of the animal. The startling discovery provides new insights into how invertebrate species have independently evolved complex nervous systems.
A New Brain Model Could Pave the Way for Conscious AI, reports SciTechDaily. “Our model demonstrates how the neuro-AI convergence highlights biological mechanisms and cognitive architectures that can fuel the development of the next generation of artificial intelligence and even ultimately lead to artificial consciousness,” said team member Guillaume Dumas, an assistant professor of computational psychiatry at the University of Montreal.
What Octopus and Human Brains Have in Common--“Octopuses have a massively expanded repertoire of miRNA in their neural tissue, reflecting a similar development to that which occurred in vertebrates. Findings suggest miRNA plays a significant role in the development of complex brains,” reports Neuroscience News.
The World Could Be Entering a New Era of Climate War–Runaway climate change once seemed like it could spur violence. Now a different risk has emerged, reports Robinson Meyer for The Atlantic.
Could I Survive the ‘Quietest Place on Earth’?–Legends tell of an echoless chamber in an old Minneapolis recording studio that drives visitors insane. I figured I’d give it a whirl, reports Caity Weaver for New York Times Science.
Survival of the friendliest: How dogs evolved to be man’s best friend | 60 Minutes–Anderson Cooper reports on the evolution of dogs from wild wolves to domesticated pets and what this might tell us about human evolution.
Mauna Loa Volcano in Hawaii Erupts for the First Time in Nearly 40 Years--No evacuation orders were issued, but officials advised residents to review their preparedness plans. The volcano last erupted in 1984, reports The New York Times.
The evolution of Asia’s mammals was dictated by ancient climate change and rising mountains, reports The Field Museum.
Scientists Revive 48,500-Year-Old ‘Zombie Virus’ Buried in Ice, reports NDtv –“The revived virus has been given the name Pandoravirus yedoma, based on its size and the permafrost soil it has been found in.”
Physicists Debunk Myths About Quantum Theory including one that stumped Einstein. Debates about quantum mechanics can often get muddled, reports Inverse.
Hidden Ecosystems? NASA’s New Evidence of Vast Life Lurking Beneath Antarctic Ice, reports SciTechNews.
The Brain Uses Calculus to Control Fast Movements–Researchers discover that to sharpen its control over precise maneuvers, the brain uses comparisons between control signals — not the signals themselves, reports Quanta.com.
North Africa’s Covid ‘black hole’ reports BBC Future. “Last year Morocco – which has recorded more than 1.2 million cases of Covid-19, more than any other in Africa except for South Africa – boasted the highest vaccination rate on the continent. “
The search for Britain’s lost rainforests and the battle to save them--Fragments of temperate rainforest grow in parts of England, Wales and Scotland, and with the right action we could help them thrive, reports New Scientist.
Einstein didn’t think time was an illusion, reports iAiTV–“Despite Einstein revolutionizing our understanding of time, nothing in his theory of relativity suggests that the distinction between past, present, and future is an illusion.”
The Visions of Octavia Butler–As a science fiction writer, Butler forged a new path and envisioned bold possibilities. On the eve of a major revival of her work, this is the story of how she came to see a future that is now our present, reports Lynell George for The New York Times.
Researchers discover two new minerals on meteorite grounded in Somalia–Canadian scientists hail ‘phenomenal’ finds from iron-based 15-ton meteorite elaliite and elkinstantonite, reports The Guardian.
525-Million-Year-Old Fossil Defies Common Explanation for Brain Evolution, reports SciTechDaily. “Fossils of a tiny sea creature that died more than half a billion years ago may compel a science textbook rewrite of how brains evolved.”
Dolphins Whistle Their Names with Complex, Expressive Patterns–A new study quantifies how dolphins vary their “signature whistles”, reports Rebecca Dzombak for Scientific American.
San Francisco considers allowing law enforcement robots to use lethal force, reports NPR.
Can This Man Stop Lying?--Christopher Massimine, whose compulsive lying derailed a promising career in theater, maintains that it’s a mental illness that has dogged him since childhood, reports Ellen Barry and Dave Sanders for The New York Times.
Curated by The Daily Galaxy Editorial Staff
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