The Science Thread

We should call him "Webby".

Originally Posted by pibbuR
PS. 0.75 km/s is about 2 700 km/h. We have airplanes going faster than that. DS

They consume infinitely more fuel to maintain their speed however.

It's not very fast indeed, compared to other flights. Maybe to save fuel in anticipation to necessary slowdown and manoeuvres? This little guy need to think long term.

I can't help thinking it's a chance there aren't many birds in space, it would make space travel so much more dangerous at those speeds (especially for the birds).

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Amazing / Strange Things Scientists Calculated in 2021

The world is full of beautiful equations, numbers and calculations. From counting beads as toddlers to managing finances as adults, we use math every day. But scientists often go beyond these quotidian forms of counting, to measure, weigh and tally far stranger things in the universe. From the number of bubbles in a typical glass of beer to the weight of all the coronavirus particles circulating in the world, LiveScience notes the 10 weird things scientists calculated in 2021.

• Number of bubbles in a half-pint glass of beer: up to 2 million bubbles, about twice as many as Champagne.
• Weight of all SARS-CoV-2 particles: between 0.22 and 22 pounds (0.1 and 10 kilograms).
• Counted African elephants from space for the first time -- Earth elephants (using satellites and AI) not Space Elephants.
• Acceleration of a finger snap: maximal rotational velocities of 7,800 deg/s and a maximal rotational acceleration of 1.6 million deg/s squared -- in seven milliseconds, more than 20 times faster than the blink of an eye, which takes more than 150 milliseconds.
• Calculated pi to 62.8 trillion decimal places.
• Updated the "friendship paradox" equations.
• Theoretical number and mass of all Black Holes: about 1% of all ordinary matter (not dark matter) in the universe.
• How long would it take to walk around the moon? At 4 hours a day, it would take about 547 Earth days, or about 1.5 years.
• How many active satellites currently orbit the planet? As of September 2021, there were around 7,500 active satellites in low Earth orbit.
• The "absolute limit" on the human life span: probably 120 to 150 years.

Dare I say I've always preferred beer to champagne?

Originally Posted by Redglyph
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Amazing / Strange Things Scientists Calculated in 2021


Dare I say I've always preferred beer to champagne?

Yes. As you should.

pibbuR who also liked the scientific stuff.

…..and here I wanted to know how many elephants they counted…….

Originally Posted by GothicGothicness
…..and here I wanted to know how many elephants they counted…….

I know, it's a bit of a letdown isn't it? But at least we know someone counted them, it's reassuring

Originally Posted by GothicGothicness
…..and here I wanted to know how many elephants they counted…….

It's elephants all the way down.

Also, count me in for a nice Belgian beer, rather than the less bubbly bubbly substance.

What about that elephant standing in the room ?
Does that one count, too ?

It rained fish in Texas a few days ago.

No, I'm not kidding. It actually rained fish.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news…exas-rcna10565

Talk about having your food delivered, that would be awesome, step outside and grab a few fish without having to bother with poles or such!

As long as they are small fish, it's fine.

Man gets first pig-to-human heart transplant.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59944889

He's doing well so far after 3+ days. Pretty amazing stuff.

Look at Maryland, going all cutting-edge medical advancements and whatnot! Nicely done and I hope he continues to do well.

The ecological destaters of the Lop Nur area : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lop_Nur
The German-language article is much more explicit than the English-language article.


The unique Tarim Mummies : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarim_mummies
Creek Burial of them (if i understood that correctly) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:C…g_China)_2.jpg
Article in the New York Times, archived : https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/w…pagewanted=all
The mystery of the unique Origin of these Tarim Mummies, according to the magazine Nature :
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04052-7
German-language article about them from the Scientific Max Planck Society :
https://www.mpg.de/17742621/die-uber…mbecken?c=2191



Perhaps somewhat related : "Triangulation supports agricultural spread of the Transeurasian languages" : https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04108-8


And, not uninteresting regarding mutations in evolution :
"Plants beat the odds of in mutation's game of chance" : https://www.bio.mpg.de/article/beati…ame-of-chance/
Apparingly, plants have found a way to deal with mutations … by ptotecting themselves in gene areas in which mutations would be especially harmful …
This was found out in research with the plant named "Arabidopsis thaliana ".


Regarding Glyphosat (Monsanto, "round-up-ready") :
"Inhibition of a nutritional endosymbiont by glyphosate abolishes mutualistic benefit on cuticle synthesis in Oryzaephilus surinamensis" - thus contributing to the mass exctinction of insects ? - German-language article with link to English-language article in a magazine : https://www.mpg.de/16860036/0506-cho…efers-155371-x
Original article, according to that : "Kiefer, J. S. T., Batsukh, S., Bauer, E., Hirota, B., Weiss, B. Wierz. J. C., Fukatsu, T., Kaltenpoth, M., Engl, T.
Inhibition of a nutritional endosymbiont by glyphosate abolishes mutualistic benefit on cuticle synthesis in Oryzaephilus surinamensis
Communications Biology, doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02057-6 (2021)"

Article on mummies in general : https://www.discovermagazine.com/pla…mmy-princesses

The Tyrant of the Deep.

Effective extinction of others.
Looks to me like a monster of dungeons & dragons, too.

Nepenthes holdenii is a tropical pitcher plant from western Cambodia, where it grows at elevations of 600-800 m above sea level. The species was originally known from only two peaks in the Cardamom Mountains, but the discovery of a new population was reported in October 2011.

@JDR13 I am too afraid (ashamed?) to like that post.

pibbuR who nevertheless did.

Nature has always been a great source of romantic inspiration.