Is There Life on Exoplanets?

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description: 

Most of the planetary scientists believe that there can be at least one exoplanet in our Milky Way galaxy, which has life. They have also figured out that 20% of the sun-like stars that exist on the Milky Way are circled by planets, which has the same dimensions as Earth. These planets are located in habitable zones around the stars as well. Therefore, life on exoplanets has become a popular topic among planetary scientists in the modern world. 

The habitable zone of a planet can simply be defined as the area where the temperature is not too cold or too hot. These conditions help water to exist in those planets in the form of liquid. It is vastly known that life cannot survive without water in its liquid form. Therefore, while it has been figured out that there are about 2,000 exoplanets circling beyond our own sun, the possibility to have some sort of life in these planets depends on a variety of factors. The obliquity of the planet holds a prominent place among them. Obliquity can simply be defined as the angle of axis of a planet relative to its orbital axis around the parent starts.

The planet Earth has a low obliquity when compared to other planets. It rotates around an almost perpendicular axis of its own while rotating around the sun. Planetary scientists have figured out that the obliquity can vary from one planet to another. They believe that the planets with an extreme tilt have a very low chance of having life in it. 

Recently some research scientists as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology figured out that water exists on planets that have a very high obliquity as well. Therefore, we can keep some hope that life can exist in the planets with a high obliquity. They also figured out a shallow ocean with a depth of about 50m in a specific planet, which has a comfortable temperature. According to their calculations, the average temperature of that planet was about 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit per year. 

However, a planet with a high obliquity usually has an extreme and inhospitable climate. The North Pole would receive sunlight for a period of 6 months continuously and it would have to go through an unending night for the other six months. As a result, they believed that such a planet has a very little chance of having life. That’s mainly because the planet would freeze and boil throughout the year, which is really tough for life to exist. Nevertheless, this can differ under some conditions. For example, the oceans can store heat during the summer period and give it out during winter. This can create a somewhat mild climate in the planet. Therefore, we cannot neglect with extremely oblique planets by saying that they are not in a position to inhibit life. 

It has been assumed that the Milky Way has about 200 billion stars. In addition, it has been calculated that there are about 11 billion planets with “habitable” living conditions. All these consist of hydrogen gas and they are seething hot. The planetary systems have been established circling such stars. In fact, sticky and fine dust particles melt together to create rocky cores, which eventually turns into major planets. 

The very first exoplanet was discovered by research scientists 20 years ago. It was circling a sun like star and was named as 51 Pegasi b. Since then, they have discovered a large number of exoplanets, where most of them were smaller than their very first discovery. They even discovered an exoplanet, which is 150 smaller than 51 Pegasi b. 

Many different methods are being used by research scientists in order to discover new exoplanets in the Milky Way. The Doppler Shift method can be considered as the most popular one. This is an effective method, which can be used to discover giant planets that exist closer to fiery stellar planets. This is a sensitive method and is associated with a higher chance of discovering earth-like planets. 

Throughout the past two decades, scientists have figured out many other methods to discover exoplanets apart from the Doppler Shift method. The major drawback with the Doppler Shift method is that it cannot be used to discover smaller planets that have a wider orbit around the stars. However, the recently discovered methods are in a position to help the scientists with discovering such planets. At the end of 2015, they have been able to discover more than 1,900 exoplanets that belong to over 1,200 planetary systems. 

The Kepler Space Telescope of NASA helps a lot for the scientists to discover new exoplanets. It was launched back in 2009 and has discovered few thousand candidate planets up to now. Most of these candidate planets were confirmed as exoplanets by scientists. Several statistical methods such as the verification by multiplicity were used by the scientists to figure out whether they are in a position to inhibit life or not. The Kepler Space Telescope follows a unique methodology when discovering exoplanets. It differs a lot from the Doppler Shift method. This method searches for extremely small dips in stellar brightness when a specific orbiting planet passes ahead of the glaring face of parent star. 

In the meantime, the scientists at MIT spent their efforts in order to create a model of a highly oblique aqua-planet. This planet had the same dimensions of earth and it was positioned at a distance similar to the earth’s separation from sun. This 3D model simulated circulations among sea ice, atmosphere and ocean. The effects of winds and heat were also taken into consideration. They also created a motionless planet for comparison and discovered the possibility of having life in such a planet. They had the ability to control the obliquity of this planet and they discovered that the ocean absorbs heat during the summer period. 

Given the scientific evidence and ongoing research therefore it appears that it is not science fiction to believe in life in other planets. While there is still a long way to go before we start packing, we can keep our fingers crossed for the prospect of habituating an exoplanet in the near future.

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An Overview of the Human Genome Project

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Mapping human genome can be considered as one of the main endeavors of modern world bio scientists. They have been pursuing this for decades and so far have achieved some measurable results. In simple terms, human genome can be defined as a map of how the cells of human beings are made up. If human genome is properly documented and researched, it could deliver answers to a myriad of mysteries.

Human genome is significant as it can provide with answers to questions like why we age, what genetic markers are, what causes and cures illnesses and many more. As a result, finding answers for this scientific puzzle has become part of an interesting competition. Entrepreneurs who start working on this field will be able to learn a lot of new things.

History of the Human Genome Project

The National Institute of Health in United States has established a partnership with the British government in order to solve the mysteries that are associated with the human genome project. They have hired the finest bio-scientists from different parts of the world and have created excellent equipment and facilities to complete their work successfully. A substantial amount of funds were approved generously to contribute to this project by both governments. According to statistical information, the government of United States has spent about $3 billion on this project. The British government has spent even more. 

1998 was an important year for the human genome project. In this year, a scientist named Dr. Craig Ventner was going through some published papers of the project and figured out that a different approach can be followed in order to get quick results. This method also had the ability to deliver more accurate answers for the complex issues and therefore he decided to undertake a project on this area himself. Nevertheless, as Dr. Craig Ventner was in need of financial assistance, he sought to get help from capitalist funding sources. His efforts became successful and was able to make $300 million within a short period of time. This motivated Dr. Craig Ventner to start working on his unique approach in the human genome project. His venture was named as “Celera” and it was charged with mapping the human genome to commercialize the findings. 

The Main Objective of the Human Genome Project

The primary objective of the human genome project is to figure out the consequence of chemical base pairs that are responsible for making up human DNA. It also focuses on mapping the genes of human genome through a functional and physical standpoint. As mentioned earlier, a lot of parties are involved in this project. Therefore, it can be considered as the world’s largest collaborative biological project. It was declared complete during 2003. At the early stage of this project, the main objective was to map the nucleotides in human body to reference genome. The genomes that can be found in human beings differ from one another. Hence, mapping the human genome is an extremely complex process for which scientists involved in this project hoped to succeed to eliminate that complexity.

State of Completion

The human genome project was not focused in sequencing the entire DNA that can be seen in human body cells. It only focused on the euchromatic areas of genome. In fact, euchromatic areas make up about 90 percent of human genome. The remaining area of the genome was called as heterochromatic and they were not considered in this project. 

As mentioned earlier, the human genome project was completed in 2003. The initial draft of the human genome was available by 2000 and a working draft was completed one year later. The final consequence mapping took place in 2003. This project was completed with a success rate of 99.99%. However, further analysis is being carried out at the moment and researches are scheduled to be carried out on HGP. 

Proposed Benefits of the Human Genome Project

The findings of the human genome project can be used for a variety of applications. These applications in turn have the potential to deliver tons of benefits, which range from molecular medicine up to human evolution. For instance, these findings can help people gain a better understanding about diseases. In other words, people will be able to get a clear view of the genotyping process of specific viruses that can be directed to appropriate treatments. It can also be used to identify mutations that are connected to different types of cancers. 

On the other hand, the human genome project is being used to design medication in an appropriate manner while ensuring their accuracy. The effects of medication on different people can also be predicted based on this theory. Commercial development of genomics is another major advantage that is associated with the human genome project. Therefore, it can be considered as a multibillion dollar industry. 

The sequence of DNA figured out from this method is stored in a database. The database is then being uploaded to the Internet, so that anyone can access. This database is well known as GenBank and it is being managed by the United States National Center for Biotechnology Information. Some other organizations are contributing towards it as well. 

Summary

It becomes apparent that the human genome project is one of the most important and useful projects in the biotechnology industry. It is in a position to deliver a variety of benefits for every human being that exists on the planet. From this project, it has been identified that around 20,500 genes can be found in human beings. The same range of genes can be found in mice as well.

On the other hand, the human genome consists of a large amount of segmental duplications. These duplications are nearly identical and can be defined as repeated sections of DNA. Even though the human genome project is completed at the moment, more and more studies are yet to be conducted on the same field to discover additional benefits that can be reaped out of it.

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Einstein’s Gravitational Waves Detected: A Breakthrough Discovery

Posted by Dr Stephania Savva

Description :

The discovery of Einstein’s gravitational waves reported during a blockbuster announcement in a news conference on February 11, 2016 at Washington DC, is making waves all over the world. What’s the big fuzz about it though and why should we care? This article explores the question by taking a more in-depth look into the phenomenon.

The scientific community are still overwhelmed by the news of the breakthrough discovery of gravitational waves in the form of faint ripples of gravity, reverberating invisibly through the fabric of space-time from the collision of two black holes. 

Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), designed to open the field of gravitational-wave astrophysics supported by Caltech and MIT, captured this groundbreaking moment in history reportedly on September 14, 2015. Nevertheless, what does the phenomenon entail in reality and why is it so important to us? We will try to demystify the latter in the next few paragraphs. 

What Are Gravitational Waves? 

The term gravitational waves was originally introduced by Einstein back in 1915 in establishing his theory of general relativity. The latter concept suggests that mass distorts both space and time similar to how a heavy bowling ball distorts a trampoline. 

When an object accelerates, it creates ripples in space-time, in the same way a boat causes ripples in a pond. These ripples that allude space-time are called gravitational waves. Due to the fact that they are extremely weak signals, it is difficult to detect them. Therefore, although there's convincing indirect evidence that gravitational waves exist, a direct detection had proven elusive, until now. 

Missions like LIGO and LISA are dedicated to detect these waves by observing small changes in the distances between objects at set distances. The most optimum opportunity to detect gravitational waves comes from detecting the collision of two black holes or pulsars into each other.

The Discovery

“We have detected gravitational waves. We did it,” Prof David Reitze, executive director of LIGO, told journalists. LIGO, uses the world’s most sophisticated detector, utilizing laser interferometry, which in simple terms means firing lasers into long, L-shaped tunnels; the waves disturb the light to detect the collision of black holes when they merged. A merger occurs when two black holes start to spiral towards each other and radiate energy as gravitational waves. 

Scientists listened the characteristic sound of these waves, namely a chirp, for 20 thousandths of a second as the two giant black holes, one about 36 times the mass of the Sun, the other slightly smaller at 29 solar masses, circled around each other.

The signal detected, allowed them to calculate how stars perish: the two holes had begun by circling each other 30 times a second. Before the final collision and a dark violent merger had occurred at the end of the 20 millisecond snatch of data captured, the two had accelerated to 250 times a second!

The research findings from this study, undertaken by the LIGO Collaboration, have been published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Signals of Gravitational Waves, As Einstein Predicted detected by the twin LIGO observatories at Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington. Image Credit: Caltech/MIT/LIGO Lab

Why It Matters

The significance of detection of gravitational waves is attributed in the following key issues:

1. The discovery of gravitational waves opens a new window to research of the universe since it provides with insights on its existence and a potential paradigm shift on how we detect and study cosmic phenomena, in particular those that do not radiate in the electromagnetic spectrum.

2. The findings of this research confirm Einstein’s prediction of gravitational waves as part of his Theory of General Relativity and regenerate the interest in exploring the theory in depth. 

3. Re-enforces the study on the use of gravitational telescopes which allows to hear phenomena at the same time as light-based telescopes see them.

4. Since gravitational waves were detected from the energy emitted from the collision of two black holes, it is now confirmed that black holes really do exist and that mergers between two black holes proceed as predicted.

Image by THE OFFICIAL ANDREASCY: Fast Facts about Gravitational Waves

In sum, the detection of gravitational waves opens the field to completely new investigation suggesting that some exciting days lay ahead for scientists. Stephen Hawking suggests that "gravitational waves could revolutionize astronomy".

Conclusion

Through this discovery we are one step closer to solving more of the mysteries of the universe following 380,000 years after it is thought to have been generated. And possibly the biggest mystery of it all: the 'Big Bang' singularity.

SOMETHING RELEVANT: Dreaming About the Future of Space Tourism

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7 Great Natural Pain Relievers

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

If you've ever been debilitated by a sore back, you aren't alone: back pain is a very common problem. In fact, it is among the most common health complaints by Americans. 

The reason for this is simple: back pain can affect anyone.

The Causes of Back Pain

Though back pain can happen regardless of a person's age, gender, or physical health, according to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, there are certain things that increase the risk. These include getting older, being out of shape or overweight, genetics, underlying medical conditions (such as arthritis or tumors), jobs that involve physical exercise, poor posture, and smoking (smokers tend to heal from injuries slower than nonsmokers).

Ways to Relieve Back Pain Naturally

No matter how back pain affects you - whether it is acute or chronic, minor or extreme - it's likely that you want it gone. While help may be found through trips to a chiropractor, surgical intervention, and ingestion of anti-inflammatory medications, there are also natural ways to find relief.

Releasing Endorphins

Endorphins are natural pain relievers: they are chemicals the body releases to help block pain signals (in addition to pain, they can also ease anxiety, stress, and depression). One of the most effective ways for the body to produce endorphins is through aerobic exercise. Thus, regularly working out can help ease back pain. If the back pain prohibits you from certain types of exercising, consider something low impact, such as walking or water therapy.

Exercising Abs

The abdominal muscles play a major part in supporting your lower back, but they aren't generally exercised through normal, everyday activities. Thus, you must go out of your way to exercise them. You don't need to be so intense that you develop abs of steel, but exercising your core moderately can reduce discomfort significantly. After you're injured? Take it easy for a few days, then engage in gentle exercise until you feel better. 

Applying Ice and Heat

Ice and heat may be two of the oldest tricks in the injury book. This is because they serve different purposes that work together to eliminate soreness. Applying ice reduces inflammation and acts as a local anesthetic while heat helps blood circulate (which helps in the healing process) and inhibits the brain from receiving message of pain. Alternating these two treatments can be very helpful in easing all kinds of discomfort, including back pain.

Distract Yourself

Many of us, as children, probably scraped our knees and didn't realize we were in pain until we looked down to see gushing blood. This concept can apply to all kinds of pain, not just those that are the staple of childhood. Because pain isn't just a sensation, but also an interpretation by your brain, it does allow for some manipulation. You may find that distracting yourself from your pain can help ease it. Try doing this by working on a crossword, watching a comedy, or cooking a complicated meal.

Natural Herbs

In addition to the above, natural herbs may also serve as strong pain relievers.

Per NBC News, some of these herbs include:

Capsaicin

Found in chili peppers, capsaicin may be effective in reducing back pain, particularly if it is caused by arthritis. Topical capsaicin applied to the skin can temporarily reduce sensitivity in nerve receptors of the skin.

Fish Oil

Often taken for the heart, fish oil also contains chemicals that are successful in reducing inflammation. In a University of Pittsburgh study, two thirds of people suffering from neck and back pain were able to stop taking NSAIDS after ten weeks of ingesting cod-liver oil.

Arnica

Like fish oil, arnica also has anti-inflammatory properties. Those who orally take arnica often find decreased pain after suffering acute injuries and less swelling after surgery.

We hope to provide helpful advice to those with health related questions. If you need further medical help or information, we suggest visiting a professional or feel free to contact us for some guidance. 

*by andreascy*

Video Animation : All You Need to Know About DNA

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description : 

BBC Knowledge and Learning is exploring a wide variety of topics from social history to science in a series of three-minute online Explainer documentaries, and commissioned Territory Studio to produce an animated film on the subject of DNA. 

It's hard to explain DNA replication, transcription, and protein building in an accessible but non-dumbed-down way. This quick and elegant video does it though : You get the full story with helpful visualizations in the most awesome science video about DNA.

As Will Samuel, lead designer and animator on the project explains, the approach taken wasn’t just to look into a scientific future. “We needed to find a graphic style to communicate the beauty and intricacy of DNA. We wanted to create nostalgia; taking the audience back to the days of textbook diagrams and old science documentaries, such as Carl Sagan's COSMOS and IBM’s POWER OF TEN (1977). Using the double helix circular theme as a core design we focused on form, movement and colour to create a consistent flow to the animation, drawing on references from nature, illustrating how DNA is the core to everything around us.”

Three minutes is a short time to explore a subject where most doctorates only scratch the surface, so writer Andrew S. Walsh teamed up with molecular biologist Dr Matthew Adams to distil the script down to the most fundamental elements required to understand not only DNA’s form and function but how our understanding of these discoveries has affected the wider world. 

While this length may feel restrictive, the team found that this limitation acted as a lens, focusing the piece on the essentials. Enjoy the video!

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The Ultimate Electricity & Money Saving Technology - Electromagnetic Motor

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description : 

The tsunami of new "green" energy technologies has come ashore and so have the scams. People all over the world are struggling with the high costs of energy and are looking for new methods for solutions. The well informed and diligent homeowner can find many ways to slash their utility bills by improving efficiency of existing systems.

All too often, the contractor has been nothing more than a con - artist. One such technology packed with incredible promises and unheard of savings, is the Electromagnet Motor. Remember, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

From the replacement of old boilers and furnaces, to the addition of solar voltaic panels and solar hot water units, there are many options when it comes to improving your home performance, prioritizing your utility bills to achieve the highest savings while spending the least is crucial in choosing a home project.

The primary areas of consideration when looking to lower your utilities are:

- Insulation is probably the most overlooked aspect in construction today. Outdated technologies remain the norm in many locations where new innovative products struggle to market their product against the might of the fiberglass industry.

- Often times they will do a free detailed analysis to determine if your home is suffering from a poorly sealed building envelope. Money spent here will have the greatest payoff.

- Heating/cooling Replacing an aging furnace or air conditioner will NOT save you money if insulation hasn’t been optimized. That said, the newer boilers, air conditioners and forced air furnaces run more efficiently than older units. 

- It may be time to look for new technologies for savings. Solar hot water panels use evacuated solar collectors to charge glycol/water mix up to 180 degrees F in the winter. This water can be circulated to use in many types of boiler fed heating systems including radiant floor and baseboard heat.

- If your location and climate permit, landscaping trees for shade in the summer or using wood burning stoves can offset costs some. Lighting this can be as simple as turning them off. It is estimated that over a quarter of home electrical use is due to leaving lights on when not needed.

- If you can’t bear to turn out the lights, buy some new super efficient LED lights or compact fluorescents. These can save huge amounts over the course of a year, but the initial cost can be substantially more than incandescent bulbs. Even with the large investment, the savings of an LED will pay for them over and over as many last over 10,000 hours! So it would be reasonable to assume that to reduce our energy bills one could simply purchase solar panels or a wind turbine to capture the free energy all around us.

- This is a good assumption and with a large savings pay off this can be a good investment. Once again, if the above listed remedies aren’t in order, it will not save much if anything as it can take up to 20 years to pay off. Recently new advances in solar panel efficiency have put them back into the spotlight for viable alternative energy sources. The troubling new trend is the emergence of fly by night scam artists looking to sell unbelievable technology.

- There are many scams out there, but the one receiving the spotlight today is the electric magnet motor. It is claimed that by using rare earth magnets or electromagnets it is possible to make an infinite supply of energy for the home.

- Supposedly the magnets would begin to spin spontaneously and without any outside input, increase the velocity at which the motor spins. This is simply impossible. It violates the basic laws of physics and principles that govern the real world.

- Newton and Leibniz would be rolling in their graves to see some of the claims made on the internet. The law of conservation of energy states that energy cannot be created nor destroyed in an isolated system. Energy can only change state. 

Theoretically, the magnetic motor could work if it gave up mass to the surroundings, but eventually the motor would dwindle down to nothing and would no longer power anything. New technologies are emerging every year to enhance our lives at lower costs. There are many well founded and proven methods that can be used. “Free energy” machines are far from actual cutting edge products and the sellers prey on the desperation of struggling consumers.

*by andreascy*

The Anternet : Researchers Revealed How Ants Developed Internet Before Us

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description : 

Before researchers developed the Internet, red harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex barbatus) developed the "Anternet". A surprisingly similar communications network using the same Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) that the Internet uses to manage data transmissions 

Stanford University biology professor Deborah Gordon loves ants. She's got pictures of them on her walls, sculptures of them on her desk, and about 8000 live ants running around her lab. She's been studying them for more than 20 years. 

Recently, when she came to understand how colonies of harvester ants regulate foraging, that is, how they decide how fast to send out ant to gather food, she thought that the ant algorithm could apply to other types of networks. She went to Stanford's Computer Science & Engineering professor, Balaji Prabhabar, with her idea to set up a series of experiments to test the theory.

Gordon was right.

"An ant colony, like many other complex systems, works without any central control. There’s no one in charge, nobody tells the ants what to do, and they have to use the information they get from local interactions to decide what to do", Deborah said.

"What the Internet and the Anternet have in common is the algorithm itself that is used by senders of data", Prabhakar said.

If you like this article you can read more at IEEE Spectrum. Discover other interesting Nature topics and let us know what you think.

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The Smartest People in the World

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description : 

How can we measure how smart somebody is? Can we even agree on one way to measure? From the following list, we can see some common characteristics of smart people. What do you think "smart" means?

Is it just your IQ points? IQ, or intelligence quotient, is simply how well you score on an intelligence test. This measurement is easy because there's a specific number to look at. But someone could do very well on a test and not really do anything with their intelligence. Is that smart?

Is it accomplishments? Many people we think are "smart" are people who win Nobel prizes, come up with new theories, or write a highly praised or popular book. We especially praise accomplishments at a young age - people who go to college, or become the best in the world at something, younger than most people could. 

Many people would say it's probably a combination of all three. The people on our "Top 10" list tend to combine IQ and accomplishments.

What measures brainpower? Who would you add to the list?
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