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Category: evolution

Scientists found a giant magnetic “twist” hidden inside the Milky Way

A hidden magnetic twist inside the Milky Way may rewrite what scientists know about how our galaxy is held together. Astronomers have uncovered a strange magnetic “flip” hidden inside the Milky Way. Using a new radio telescope, researchers mapped the galaxy’s magnetic field in unprecedented detail and discovered that a mysterious reversal in the Sagittarius Arm cuts diagonally across space. The finding could reshape how scientists understand the structure and future evolution of our galaxy.

For hundreds of years, astronomers have studied the night sky in an effort to understand the forces shaping the universe. One of the most important, yet invisible, forces inside the Milky Way is its magnetic field. Now, researchers at the University of Calgary are producing one of the clearest views yet of that hidden structure.

“Without a magnetic field, the galaxy would collapse in on itself due to gravity,” says Brown, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Calgary.

Plate tectonics shaped the Cradle of Civilization by merging two ancient rivers, study suggests

The Euphrates River is the longest river in Western Asia and runs through the eastern side of the Fertile Crescent. Flowing over 1,700 miles from Turkey through Syria and Iraq, the river played a crucial role in sustaining the region known as the “Cradle of Civilization.” Yet, researchers aren’t sure about the river’s origins or how tectonic activity might have shaped its evolution. A new study, published in Nature Geoscience, suggests that two ancient rivers, diverted by shifting plate tectonics, merged to form this vital river.

Previous research proposed two main hypotheses about where the early Euphrates river ended: the first was that the river ended in lakes in Anatolia or the Mediterranean; the second was that it flowed southeast into Arabia.

The team involved in the new study used seismic reflection and topographic data to map out and study ancient river paths and sediment deposits. They identified two ancient rivers, the Paleo-Karasu and Paleo-Murat, which appeared to flow into the Mediterranean Sea until around 3.6 million years ago. They found that the rivers were emptying into the Mediterranean in the Late Miocene, during a period in which the Mediterranean was partially dried up, referred to as the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC), lasting from 5.97–5.33 million years ago.

Atomic reshuffle leads to record-breaking catalysts for hydrogen production

Researchers have discovered that atoms can be mixed, separated, and recombined within the same experiment, providing a pathway to a record-breaking catalyst for green hydrogen production. In their study, the team created nanoscale particles containing only a few dozen platinum and nickel atoms and observed unusual dynamic behavior in direct space and in real time. As the two metals separate from one another while maintaining an interface, they become highly active for electrochemical water splitting, leading to efficient hydrogen evolution.

The project was led by the University of Nottingham in collaboration with the University of Birmingham, Diamond Light Source, and Ulm University in Germany. The study appears in Advanced Materials.

Research team leader Dr. Jesum Alves Fernandes, from the School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, said, “What makes this discovery exciting is that we can reversibly tune the structure of the particle while directly observing the process at the atomic scale. This opens a new strategy for designing adaptive catalysts for a wide range of applications.”

First direct view tracks planet-forming disk spinning around AB Aurigae

The rotation of a protoplanetary disk (a disk where planets are being formed) has been observed directly for the very first time by mapping the emissions from the dust grains within it. The disk in question surrounds the young star AB Aurigae. Although it appears to generally rotate in accordance with the laws of physics, certain regions close to the star show an unexpected departure from this behavior. A body of evidence suggests that this anomaly is caused by the presence of giant planets in the process of formation.

The study, led by scientists from the CNRS and the University of Bordeaux is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. It sheds fresh light on the mechanisms of planetary formation and the complex dynamics of protoplanetary disks.

Thanks to the unique near-infrared capabilities of the SPHERE instrument and its exceptional spatial resolution, the team was able to accurately track the disk’s structures and their evolution during three sets of observations, collected over a 4-year period. The scientists identified a bright structure, characteristic of accretion zones where gas and dust accumulate and fall onto an object in the process of formation. This phenomenon is closely linked to the formation of gas giant planets.

The Non-Physical Beings that Ingress Into Material Reality

Michael Levin’s novel biology demonstrates how material bodies access non-physical patterns. What if we examined these patterns from their own perspective: do they actively seek to ingress into the physical world? Furthermore, how does this framework relate to the concept of angels in religious traditions?

Find the full podcast: • The Hidden Realm of Patterns Animating Lif…

My first conversation with Michael Levin: • Memory Engrams, DNA, Evolution, Platonic R…

Podcast playlist with scientists from Michael Levin’s lab: • Michael Levin+.

From whole-body to organ-specific biological age clocks

Zalesky and colleagues discuss the evolution of aging clocks into organ-specific aging readouts that harness omics and imaging data. They review the insights that this additional resolution provides on differential aging across organs within interconnected systems, as well as the methods, priorities and future directions.

The complete evolution of spin glass from order to chaos

How come our universe is full of disorder, when all elementary particles appear to follow strictly ordered laws of physics? And are there organizing principles behind disorder and apparent chaos?

One avenue of studying these fundamental questions is through an assembly of spins: the quantum property that makes electrons behave like tiny bar magnets, with a preferred orientation of either up or down. Neighboring spins align either in parallel (up-up) or antiparallel (up-down-up-down), as in ferromagnets and antiferromagnets, respectively. This simple ruleset makes spin systems very attractive for studying the emergence of order.

However, while the theory of spin is well-established, creating the material conditions for observing spin disorder has proven notoriously elusive. While physicists have been able to create exotic materials that exhibit spin disorder, tracing the evolution from order to disorder within materials has been challenged by the lack of a clean starting point.

Insectoid Aliens — Hive Minds, Swarms, and Alien Evolution

Forget little green men — the galaxy’s most likely aliens may be hives and swarms. From biology to starships, insectoid life could shape civilizations stranger than ours.

Go to https://PIAVPN.com/IsaacArthur to get 83% off from our sponsor Private Internet Access with 4 months free!

Grab one of our new SFIA mugs and make your morning coffee a little more futuristic — available now on our Fourthwall store! https://isaac-arthur-shop.fourthwall… our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net Join Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a… Facebook Group: / 1,583,992,725,237,264 Reddit: / isaacarthur Twitter: / isaac_a_arthur on Twitter and RT our future content. SFIA Discord Server: / discord Credits: Insectoid Aliens — Hive Minds, Swarms, and Alien Evolution Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur Editor: Thomas Owens Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images Music Courtesy of Stellardrone & Music by Epidemic Sound: http://nebula.tv/epidemic Chapters 0:00 Intro 3:30 Hive Reproduction Strategy 6:10 Insectoid Evolutionary Paths 13:47 Signals in the Swarm 16:53 Sensory Worlds 18:13 Intelligence & Individuality in Hive Species 19:35 Privacy 22:08 Hive Architecture & Technology 20:54 Alien Ecology & Predators 23:21 Cultural & Political Models 24:31 Spacefaring Adaptations 25:52 Final Thoughts.

Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net.
Join Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur.
Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur.
Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a…
Facebook Group: / 1583992725237264
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Credits:
Insectoid Aliens — Hive Minds, Swarms, and Alien Evolution.
Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur.
Editor: Thomas Owens.
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images.
Music Courtesy of Stellardrone & Music by Epidemic Sound: http://nebula.tv/epidemic.

Chapters.
0:00 Intro.
3:30 Hive Reproduction Strategy.
6:10 Insectoid Evolutionary Paths.
13:47 Signals in the Swarm.
16:53 Sensory Worlds.
18:13 Intelligence & Individuality in Hive Species.
19:35 Privacy.
22:08 Hive Architecture & Technology.
20:54 Alien Ecology & Predators.
23:21 Cultural & Political Models.
24:31 Spacefaring Adaptations.
25:52 Final Thoughts

Meet The Axolotl — The Salamander That Can Regrow Its Own Brain

But over evolutionary time, mammals have obviously lost the vast majority of this regenerative capacity. Instead, evolution opted for faster wound sealing, stronger immune responses and more stable neural systems in mammals. This is likely because surviving injury would have mattered more than perfectly reconstructing tissue months later.

Salamanders, on the other hand, have retained far more of this ancestral regenerative toolkit. Their ecology may have reinforced this retention, since small amphibians are especially vulnerable to predation and environmental injury. Limbs, tails and nervous tissue can be damaged surprisingly easily in aquatic habitats filled with predators, debris, and competition. For an animal living close to the edge of survival, the ability to recover from catastrophic injury could dramatically improve reproductive success.

The axolotl’s strange life history has most probably also enabled this unique ability. Unlike many amphibians, axolotls remain in a juvenile-like aquatic state throughout adulthood, a phenomenon known as “neoteny.” Intriguingly, juvenile tissues in many vertebrates tend to be more regenerative than adult tissues. Thus, by retaining aspects of its developmental state for life, the axolotl may preserve cellular programs that would otherwise be “switched off” after maturation.

JWST Finds Distant Origins for Rare Exoplanet Pair

Dr. Chelsea X. Huang: “This was a one-of-a-kind system. Hot Jupiters are ‘lonely,’ meaning they don’t have companion planets inside their orbits.” [ https://www.labroots.com/trending/space/30520/jwst-distant-o…net-pair-2](https://www.labroots.com/trending/space/30520/jwst-distant-o…net-pair-2)

How can planets share the same space with each other, especially planets of different sizes? This is what a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated the processes that allowed two distinct exoplanets to form evolve and orbit so close to each other. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of planets throughout the universe and help narrow the scope for where and how to find life beyond Earth.

For the study, the researchers analyzed data obtained from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope regarding exoplanet TOI-1130 b, which is designated as a mini-Neptune orbiting a K-type star. TOI-1130 b is approximately 190 light-years from Earth, its mass is approximately 20 times larger than Earth, its radius is approximately one-third of Jupiter, and its orbital period is approximately 4.1 days. What makes this system unique isn’t this mini-Neptune, but its partnership with a hot Jupiter that orbits just outside of it, with both planets being locked in what’s known as an orbital resonance, meaning their orbits are synced. In this case, they exhibit a 2:1 resonance, meaning for every two orbits of TOI-1130 b, the hot Jupiter orbits once.

TOI-1130 b has an atmosphere rich in water vapor and other volatiles that astronomers have determined would not have formed so close to tis host star. Therefore, the researchers concluded that both planets likely formed much farther out, with TOI-1130 b accumulating its water vapor atmosphere, then both planets migrated inward. With this conclusion, the team notes TOI-1130 b is the first mini-Neptune to form so far out and beyond the “frost line”, which is where ice and other volatiles are much more abundant. Volatiles are compounds that melt or evaporate at very low temperatures, meaning the atmosphere of TOI-1130 b likely didn’t form so close to its star.

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