Posted on Dec 30, 2022 in Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology, Cosmos, Extraterrestrial Life, James Webb Space Telescope, Science, Science News, Space News, Universe
Today’s stories include If Aliens Contact Humanity, Who Decides What We Do Next to A Mind-Blowing Experiment Just Showed How Life’s Ingredients Formed in Outer Space, and much more.
If aliens contact humanity, who decides what we do next?–Scientists setting up ‘post-detection hub’ in Scotland are concerned humans would react ‘like headless chickens’, reports The Guardian. Michio Kaku, a professor of theoretical physics at the City College of New York, said reaching out to aliens “would be the biggest mistake in human history”.
Hint of Crack in Standard Model Vanishes in LHC Data–A discrepancy in the measurement of a type of particle decay had raised hopes of new physics, reports Davide Castelvecchi for Nature.
A Mind-Blowing Experiment Just Showed How Life’s Ingredients Formed in Outer Space -reports Becky Ferreira for Motherboard Science. “In a first-of-its-kind experiment, researchers showed that compounds called amino acids, which are the building blocks of life, can be forged by gamma rays that erupt inside space rocks due to the decay of radioactive elements. The results pinpoint one possible origin for the amino acids that ended up strewn across Earth billions of years ago, enriching our planet with the necessary ingredients for life. “
How do we know the fundamental constants are constant? We don’t, reports By Paul Sutter for space.com–Through a variety of tests on Earth and throughout the universe, physicists have measured no changes in time or space for any of the fundamental constants of nature.
The physics of entropy and the origin of life–How did complex systems emerge from chaos? Physicist Sean Carroll explains. “One way of approaching the question is to think generally about how complex systems emerge from chaos. Since the 1800s, scientists have known that entropy is always increasing, with everything in our Universe tending toward disorder over time.
Arrakhis: the tiny satellite aiming to reveal what dark matter is made of--Since dark matter eludes detection, the mission will target sources of light that are sensitive to it, reports Big Think. “But although its name is inspired by the sci-fi novel Dune, it will not be looking for sandworms or “spice” on a desert planet. Instead, this nimble satellite will punch hugely above its weight and try to track down one of the most elusive and mysterious substances in the universe: dark matter.”
China unveils plans for the largest optical telescope in Asia, reports Andrew Jones for Space.com. The project resembles an Earth-bound James Webb Space Telescope. “But unlike the newest space telescope, which orbits 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away from the Earth at the second sun-Earth Lagrange point, EAST would be built on Saishiteng Mountain near Lenghu Town in Qinghai Province on the Tibetan plateau(opens in new tab), at an altitude of around 13,800 feet (4,200 m).
We’ve Never Found Anything Like The Solar System. Is It a Freak in Space? asks Science Alert. “This has led some to conclude that our home star and its brood could be outliers in some way – perhaps the only planetary system of its kind. By extension, this could mean life itself is an outlier; that the conditions that formed Earth and its veneer of self-replicating chemistry are difficult to replicate.”
Is this the best chance of finding alien life in our solar system? Jets of water shooting from Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus could harbor signs of living organisms, scientists say, reports The Daily Mail.
NASA’s Pluto Spacecraft Begins New Mission at the Solar System’s Edge–New Horizons is about to wake up and study the Kuiper Belt, the universe, and even Uranus and Neptune. But a new target to visit could trump them all, reports Jonathan O’Callaghan for Scientific American.
What we learned about life beyond Earth in 2022, reports The SETI Institute.
Does consciousness explain quantum mechanics?, asks Paul Sutter for Live Science. A wild theory suggests that consciousness may explain quantum mechanics, by forcing the subatomic particles to choose one concrete outcome.
Something spooky is happening at the edge of the solar system, reports Stefanie Waldek for Space.com. “The heliopause — the boundary between the heliosphere (the bubble of solar wind encompassing the solar system) and the interstellar medium (the material between the stars) appears to be rippling and creating oblique angles in an unexpected manner.”
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