tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57472717621567768392024-03-09T21:46:29.055-05:00Jennifer's DenMy thoughts about writing, books, and perhaps other stuff. Occasional reviews and commentary on things of interest to speculative fiction writers.Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.comBlogger3084125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-13342426676468064732023-10-13T11:05:00.002-04:002023-10-13T11:05:42.450-04:00How do you build a road on the moon?<p> Apparently, just as easily as on Earth. You just use a lens to focus sunlight to melt the lunar dust, turn it into tiles, and put them together. The only thing you need to take is the lens. And some people or robots to do the actual construction work...</p><p>(Science fiction writers writing about lunar colonies take note. This technique could be used for more than just roads!)</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-16207710958940931132023-10-12T17:03:00.001-04:002023-10-12T17:03:28.289-04:00Science is great...<p> ...and so are pretty pictures. Like this image of the stellar nursery NGC 364.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://bgr.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/STScI-01HBVHZW1Q7GTJ0VRPE721T5PT.jpg?quality=82" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="766" height="800" src="https://bgr.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/STScI-01HBVHZW1Q7GTJ0VRPE721T5PT.jpg?quality=82" width="766" /></a></div><br /><figure class="is-wp-image-block wp-block-image size-full" style="border: 0px solid rgb(229, 231, 235); box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "Noto Sans", ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1.625rem;"><span class="image-meta block clearfix" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-text-opacity: 1; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(229, 231, 235); box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.75rem; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%;"><span class="source right" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(229, 231, 235); box-sizing: border-box;">Image source: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, N. Habel (JPL). Image Processing: P. Kavanagh (Maynooth University)</span></span></figure><p>Lots of dust. And now we can get a good count of the stars and protostars. We'll learn about star formation.</p><p>But I sort of want to hang that on my wall.</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-31367213146187680452023-10-11T10:47:00.001-04:002023-10-11T10:47:15.101-04:00Lost birds<p> One of the things birders like is when a poor bird gets lost. It was trying to fly to Newfoundland and winds up in Scotland.</p><p>(In the U.K. "twitcher" was a derogatory term for people who chased those birds and trampled all over people's property on the way).</p><p>We now know why migratory birds (and sometimes local birds) get lost: Space weather. Solar flares can interfere with their ability to navigate using the magnetic field and cause them to wander way, way off course.</p><p>There have been instances of these lost birds getting help from the handy humans to get back on track...by hitching rides on ships going the right direction. Apparently cruise ships going across the North Sea routinely have passengers too, but those birds are just being lazy and smart ;).</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-72441323074708376392023-10-10T09:59:00.002-04:002023-10-10T09:59:47.062-04:00Mining the Asteroids?<p> In 2029, a NASA mission will reach the asteroid Psyche. Psyche is metal. Very metal. The estimate is about 60 percent. We don't know how it got so metal.</p><p>Metal asteroids like this could contain valuable resources for building <i>in</i> space, where you don't need to pull them out of a gravity well.</p><p>Or, perhaps, it's aliens.</p><p>Nah.</p><p>Definitely not.</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-14469752966685725012023-10-09T13:45:00.002-04:002023-10-09T13:45:50.313-04:00XY is male, XX is female...<p> ...not if you're a bee.</p><p>Bee sex is determined by the Csd gene, which has more than 100 variations. Except...that it's still the same. Two different alleles, girl. Two of the same, boy.</p><p>But you don't want to be a sexually produced boy bee. Drones are produced via asexual reproduction and reproduce only outside the hive.</p><p>So, what happens to male workers?</p><p>Infanticide. The eggs are "not raised." Which is probably a euphemism, nothing's wasted in a hive.</p><p>No, we don't currently know how the workers can tell. Scent is the lead theory.</p><p>Why do we care? It could be useful for breeding better bees.</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-20765727896558928182023-10-06T16:03:00.001-04:002023-10-06T16:03:47.263-04:00Mars has big things...<p> ...including a 1.2 mile tall dust devil. 200 feet diameter. Moving at about 12 mph. They couldn't see the top of it, but they were guessing the height. Perserverence snapped it.</p><p>Dust devils on Mars get huge because of the lower atmospheric pressure. And dust storms can encompass the entire planet.</p><p>If writing stuff on Mars...here's some bad weather for you to use.</p><p>Oh, and they can come with lightning too!</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-18089420250446616512023-10-05T15:43:00.001-04:002023-10-05T15:43:12.983-04:00A Good Problem to Have<p> NASA has a problem. You know that asteroid sample.</p><p>They got more than they bargained for. Specifically the dark fine-grained material on the inside of the lid and base was unexpected. And could give us SCIENCE sooner than we thought. What an excellent problem to have!</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-28523676546334410952023-10-04T11:46:00.000-04:002023-10-04T11:46:04.986-04:00Why is the early universe too bright?<p> One of the things the JWST discovered was a swarm of mysterious early galaxies that were just...too...bright. They didn't have time to form enough stars.</p><p>Now we've worked it out. They aren't massive, but it turns out that in the early universe, stars may have formed more explosively, in rapid, bright bursts. As galaxies got bigger, the process (gas ejection from supernovas) became impossible.</p><p>It's kind of like a forest. Large numbers of saplings grow in a young forest but are crowded out in a mature one, resulting in steadier replacement.</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-87596539181008549632023-10-03T11:13:00.000-04:002023-10-03T11:13:00.612-04:00New Horizons Extended<p> NASA found enough funding to continue to monitor the New Horizons spacecraft until the end of the decade.</p><p>The mission will now be to explore another Kuiper Belt Object, but they are yet to announce which one. In 2028 or 2029 the craft will leave the Kuiper Belt.</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-26642767603204990012023-10-02T16:18:00.002-04:002023-10-02T16:18:36.530-04:00Except Europa?<p> There's a significant source of <i>carbon dioxide</i> on Europa. And it seems to be leaking from the subsurface oceans.</p><p>Could this mean there is life? It seems pretty likely. Complex life? Unlikely...</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-78924668845189471862023-09-29T10:25:00.001-04:002023-09-29T10:25:18.844-04:00What is going on with TRAPPIST-1b?<p> It's...complicated.</p><p>We thought it had an atmosphere, but observations by the JWST showed it didn't.</p><p>But we also now know that stellar contamination makes observations of close in exoplanets hard. Is it an atmosphere? Or is it a starspot?</p><p>What this means is that when looking for life signs from a distance, you also have to model the star. Which means you can't do it in five minutes...you might have to take a couple of <i>years</i> to do it. Bear that in mind when sending out your fictional exploration ships?</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-26717466799027062942023-09-28T16:23:00.001-04:002023-09-28T16:23:37.758-04:00Are Mammals Middle Aged?<p> Earth could become uninhabitable to mammals, specifically, in about...250 million years. That's about the same amount of time they've been around.</p><p>Why?</p><p>The cycle of continent formation will bring the continents back together into an equatorial supercontinent, nicknamed Pangea Ultima.</p><p>This will result in extremely hot temperatures in the center of the supercontinent. Mammals might survive along the coast.</p><p>Then there will be 2.5% more energy from the sun. We're talking average monthly temperatures of 140 degrees Fahrenheit here.</p><p>Reptiles or dinosaurs/birds might become more dominant again, but small mammals might survive until the continents split again...and then re-evolve. Maybe.</p><p>But there's one group of mammals that might not have problems.</p><p>Cetaceans might survive, even thrive. Their return to the water is generally believed to be permanent, but who knows?</p><p>As for humanity? If we're still around then, then we might have to move into the water ourselves.</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-78670144337931436582023-09-27T10:13:00.003-04:002023-09-27T10:13:51.784-04:00The capsule is open<p> Turns out the sample container contains black dust. And probably some more stuff, but we won't know until next month. Right now we're just checking that there's something in there. And there is!</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-58023066233994715252023-09-26T11:46:00.000-04:002023-09-26T11:46:13.938-04:00The moon is harsh<p>Unfortunately, it appears that Chandrayaan-3 did not survive the lunar night. It went into dormancy and attempts to regain contact have failed.</p><p>This was not surprising; the lander was meant to have a 14-day mission duration and anything they got after the night was a bonus. It's still a bit disappointing, though. We could have got even more good science done.</p><p>Even without this, though, the mission has already been declared a success. </p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-83890641473824931422023-09-25T15:59:00.003-04:002023-09-25T15:59:41.645-04:00We have...<p> ...asteroid bits. The Osiris-Rex capsule touched down successfully in Utah (the main spacecraft will now do a gravity assist maneuver and zoom off on another mission).</p><p>Now we have 250 grams of asteroid bits to study <i>and</i> the knowledge that we can do this again with other samples.</p><p>While Osiris doesn't have another sample capsule, its next destination is Apophis, which it will study close up. Yeah, that's the one that's going to kill us all according to the tabloids (spoiler, it's not).</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-48491833986935367592023-09-22T13:55:00.002-04:002023-09-22T13:55:35.374-04:00Osiris-Rex touching down<p> The mission will drop its cargo of asteroid samples in Utah on Sunday morning. The sample will be carefully stored to prevent it from being contaminated by Earth's environment; it's carbon rich and may contain water.</p><p>This is some of the oldest material in the solar system. What will it tell us about our origins?</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-53974162219948647092023-09-21T11:28:00.001-04:002023-09-21T11:28:31.037-04:00Pink Diamonds<p> Yes, diamonds can be pink...but the coloration is extremely rare in natural diamonds.</p><p>We now know what caused them. The vast majority of these diamonds come from one place, Argyle in Western Australia. Pink diamonds are created deep in the earth's crust because they require heavy tectonic pressure.</p><p>In other words, there are probably a lot where we can't get to them. But in Argyle, the crust got stretched, magma was pushed up to the surface, and it deposited the colorful stones. Which tells us where to look for more.</p><p>(Or, honestly, we could just make them, but some people, that isn't good enough).</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-61841019613774134712023-09-20T13:00:00.002-04:002023-09-20T13:00:41.270-04:00A half million year old log cabin?<p>Or at least a wooden shelter. It was found above the Kalambo Falls in wet soil, on the border between Zambia and Tanzania.</p><p>Given the location it's also possible it was actually a fishing dock. Either way, it was made by putting logs together in a fairly sophisticated way. Wood seldom survives, and this shows that people were building wooden shelters or platforms...long before we thought.</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-92176526255824879302023-09-19T11:21:00.001-04:002023-09-19T11:21:51.036-04:00If Your GPS Isn't Working Today...<p> ...it's the sun's fault. We've been hit by a G2 geomagnetic storm, which can interfere briefly with radio communications.</p><p>Not a big deal, but it <i>could</i> make your GPS less accurate. Or if you still have a landline...I called my dad and we had static on the cordless phone!</p><p>Again, not a big deal (this is only the second highest rating of geomagnetic storm) but now you know what might be messing with your phone...</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-32189805104054267532023-09-18T15:16:00.002-04:002023-09-18T15:16:45.320-04:00No, Bennu Is Not Going To Kill Us All<p> No, NASA has <i>not</i> confirmed that asteroid Bennu will hit us on September 24, 2182.</p><p>Bennu has a 1 in 1,750 chance of hitting the Earth by the year 2300 and a one in 2,700 chance of specifically hitting on that date (although it is the most likely).</p><p>Bennu is 500 meters across. The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was 6 miles across. So, while Bennu hitting would be bad, it wouldn't kill us all.</p><p>What it would do is create a four mile wide crater, knock down buildings tens of miles away and shatter windows 100 miles away. So if it were to hit, say, Los Angeles, we'd have a real life disaster movie.</p><p>We're also developing planetary defense systems and if Bennu does start to get too close we should be able to, shall we say, convince it to go somewhere else. If not, we'd likely get enough warning to evacuate the impact site, or coastal areas that might be tsunami'd by a water impact.</p><p>(And in any case, 2182 <i>is</i> a while in the future).</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-56444078634076287772023-09-15T14:07:00.001-04:002023-09-15T14:07:13.854-04:00No, NASA Did Not Release A UFO Report<p> NASA published a <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/science-pink/s3fs-public/atoms/files/UAP%20Independent%20Study%20Team%20-%20Final%20Report_0.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> they commissioned on <i>studying unidentified anomalous phenomena</i>. The report acknowledges that sometimes people, including trained pilots, see things that can't be specifically identified.</p><p>It was put together by a panel representing NASA, the FAA, several universities, and aerospace technology companies. The conclusion: It's worth putting some time and effort into studying these anomalies, understanding them, and analyzing them.</p><p>Nowhere does it say "We found aliens." The point is to see what we really have...acknowledging that it <i>could</i> be aliens, but most of the time it isn't.</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-901508536724421362023-09-14T11:36:00.001-04:002023-09-14T11:36:49.289-04:00What Do Multiple Sclerosis, Celiac Disease, and Type I Diabetes Have in Common?<p> A: They're all considered autoimmune diseases.</p><p>Second A: There's no cure.</p><p>Celiac disease can be managed by sticking to a very strict diet that generally precludes eating out or at parties. People with Type I diabetes have to use expensive insulin all the time.</p><p>What if we could cure all of these diseases?</p><p>A new technology may actually give us the answer. It's called an inverse vaccine. Instead of training your immune system to react to something, an inverse vaccine trains it to <i>stop</i> reacting.</p><p>Phase I safety trials have been carried out for celiac disease and are underway for multiple sclerosis.</p><p>The technology could also be used to treat Hashimoto's disease and other autoimmune thyroid conditions, pernicious anemia, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and a wide variety of other currently incurable diseases.</p><p>It might not be a cure (it might be that people will need to receive "booster" shots to maintain things), but it's certainly better.</p><p>I know people with celiac disease and their lives would be changed by this. Let's make it happen!</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-47525574376347082522023-09-13T10:33:00.000-04:002023-09-13T10:33:17.974-04:00This Time It Could Be Aliens!<p> The James Webb Telescope is doing some fantastic science. For right now, let's focus on K2-18b. This is an exoplanet that is almost nine times the size of Earth (larger planets are, obviously, easier to observe).</p><p>K2-18b orbits in the habitable zone of a red dwarf. It would not be particularly great for humans, given the much higher gravity and radiation.</p><p>But.</p><p>In 2019, Hubble detected water vapor on K2-18b. This made it a good target for the much more advanced JWST.</p><p>Which found methane, carbon dioxide and...dimethyl sulfide. We know of only one process that can produce this molecule.</p><p>Life.</p><p>K2-18b is believed to be a Hycean world, with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere and a mostly ocean surface.</p><p>We need to do follow-up observations to fully confirm (or debunk) the findings.</p><p>But there might just be aliens.</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-13578261153953200312023-09-12T10:23:00.001-04:002023-09-12T10:23:12.563-04:00Oxygen on Mars<p>Looks like we can potentially make oxygen on Mars. A NASA experiment successfully produced enough to sustain a small dog for 10 hours. That's not a lot, but this was a preliminary experiment to prove the concept, so I'd say it did pretty well.</p><p>Any humans sent to Mars will need to stay there a while to justify the trip and they may not be able to take enough plants with them. So, making oxygen from the rock is vital for their survival.</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5747271762156776839.post-58766201990225135622023-09-11T15:22:00.000-04:002023-09-11T15:22:00.102-04:00Watching the sky from the moon<p> I'm a huge fan, conceptually, of building a giant telescope on the moon. There's now a new paper that introduces the hypertelescope concept...which is a basic <i>optical</i> telescope built in a crater. This would be a huge visual light observatory protected from light pollution and atmospheric distortion.</p><p>I still prefer the idea of a radiotelescope, though.</p><p>At this point, though, we almost certainly <i>will</i> build some kind of observatory on the moon.</p>Jennifer RPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13804020453735917745noreply@blogger.com0