Category: Science &Technology

{The Sun’s activity is determined by the Sun’s magnetic field. Two combined effects are responsible for the latter: The omega and the alpha effect. Exactly where and how the alpha effect originates is currently unknown. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) are putting forward a new theory for this in the journal Solar Physics. Their calculations suggest that tidal forces from Venus, the Earth and Jupiter can directly influence the Sun’s activity.}

Many questions regarding the Sun’s magnetic field are still unanswered. “As with the Earth, we are dealing with a dynamo. Through self-excitation, a magnetic field is created from virtually nothing, whereby the complex movement of the conductive plasma serves as an energy source,” says the physicist Dr. Frank Stefani from HZDR. The Sun’s so-called alpha-omega dynamo is subject to a regular cycle. Approximately every eleven years the polarity of the Sun’s magnetic field is reversed, with solar activity peaking with the same frequency. This manifests itself in an increase in sunspots — dark patches on the Sun’s surface which originate from strongly concentrated magnetic fields.

“Interestingly, every 11.07 years, the Sun and the planets Venus, the Earth and Jupiter are aligned. We asked ourselves: Is it a coincidence that the solar cycle corresponds with the cycle of the conjunction or the opposition of the three planets?” ponders Stefani. Although this question is by no means new, up to now scientists could not identify a plausible physical mechanism for how the very weak tidal effects of Venus, the Earth and Jupiter could influence the Sun’s dynamo.

{{Strengthening through resonance}}

“If you only just give a swing small pushes, it will swing higher with time,” as Frank Stefani explains the principle of resonance. He and his team discovered in recent calculations that the alpha effect is prone to oscillations under certain conditions. “The impulse for this alpha-oscillation requires almost no energy. The planetary tides could act as sufficient pace setters for this.” The so-called Tayler instability plays a crucial role for the resonance of the Sun’s dynamo. It always arises when a strong enough current flows through a conductive liquid or a plasma. Above a certain strength, the interaction of the current with its own magnetic field generates a flow — in the case of the colossal Sun, a turbulent one.

It is generally understood that the solar dynamo relies on the interaction of two induction mechanisms. Largely undisputed is the omega effect, which originates in the tachocline. This is the name of a narrow band between the Sun’s inner radiative zone and the outer areas in which convection takes place, where heat is transported using the movement of the hot plasma. In the tachocline, various, differentially rotating areas converge. This differential rotation generates the so-called toroidal magnetic field in the form of two “life belts” situated north and south of the solar equator.

{{A new recipe for the solar Dynamo}}

There is significant lack of clarity regarding the position and cause of the alpha effect, which uses the toroidal field to create a poloidal field — the latter running along the Sun’s lines of longitude. According to a prevalent theory, the alpha effect’s place of origin is near the sunspots, on the Sun’s surface. The Dresden researchers have chosen an alternative approach which links the alpha effect to the right- or left-handedness of the Tayler instability. In turn, the Tayler instability arises due to strongly developed toroidal fields in the tachocline. “That way we can essentially also locate the alpha effect in the tachocline,” says Frank Stefani.

Now the HZDR scientists have discovered the first evidence for the Tayler instability also oscillating back and forth between right- and left-handedness. What is special about this is that the reversal happens with virtually no change to the flow energy. This means that very small forces are enough to initiate an oscillation in the alpha effect. “Our calculations show that planetary tidal forces act here as minute external pace setters. The oscillation in the alpha effect, which is triggered approximately every eleven years, could cause the polarity reversal of the solar magnetic field and, ultimately, dictate the 22-year cycle of the solar dynamo,” according to Stefani.

The scientists surrounding Frank Stefani have been researching magnetic fields in the cosmos and on Earth for many years. They were also the first group in the world to successfully prove both the Tayler instability and the magnetorotational instability in laboratory experiments. In 1999, the specialists in magnetohydrodynamics were also involved in the first demonstration of the homogeneous dynamo effect in Riga.

{{The Tayler instability restricts new liquid-metal batteries}}

“Interestingly, we stumbled upon the Tayler instability in the context of our research into new liquid-metal batteries, which are currently being investigated as possible inexpensive storage containers for the strongly fluctuating solar energy,” explains Frank Stefani. The fundamental principle of liquid-metal batteries is extremely simple. It consists of two liquid metals of differing densities — the electrodes — which are only separated by a thin layer of salt. The benefits are an extremely quick charging time, an (at least theoretically) infinite number of charging cycles and low costs, if a battery which is one square meter in size can successfully be produced. “For these batteries, the Tayler instability poses a serious danger because it inevitably arises when the cells get bigger and bigger. Without certain technological tricks, which we have already patented, the Tayler instability would destroy the battery’s stratification,” adds Stefani.

{No, these companies aren’t going to take over the world (quite yet). They want to educate the public about the benefits of artificial intelligence.}

You may not have noticed, but artificial intelligence has already arrived.

AI systems are used today to identify your friends’ faces in Facebook photos, cue up recommended videos on YouTube and help your Siri voice assistant talk.

Hoping to build on these uses, Amazon, Google, Facebook, IBM, and Microsoft said Wednesday they’ve created a new group called the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society. The nonprofit’s primary missions include researching AI, creating guidelines in developing new AI tech and advancing the public’s understanding of AI — perhaps helping allay fears that robots may want to kill us or take our jobs (or both).

The Partnership on AI isn’t intended as a lobbying group. Its board will include people from the corporate world, as well as academics and specialists in policy and ethics.

The new group points to how significant artificial intelligence has become to major tech companies as they look to deep learning and other technologies to increase the smarts of their devices and software. The value of AI should keep growing as more applications find their way out of academia and into commercial use. But there’s still a long way to go to make AI more intelligent and useful, and that’s likely why all these companies — which are usually competitors — came together.

Notably absent from the group is Apple. Additional partners in the group should be announced in the “near future,” the group said Wednesday.

Microsoft’s Eric Horvitz, an interim co-chairman for the new partnership, told The Guardian: “We’ve been in discussions with Apple, I know they’re enthusiastic about this effort, and I’d personally hope to see them join.”

Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Separately, Microsoft said Thursday it has created its the Microsoft AI and Research Group, bringing together 5,000 computer scientists and engineers to bolster its own AI projects. The company has a goal of “democratizing AI,” allowing more people to take advantage of the technology.

The new Partnership on AI, meanwhile, is already discussing work with some existing scientific and nonprofit AI organizations, including the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

{In smart homes of the future, computers may identify inhabitants and cater to their needs using a tool already at hand: Wi-Fi. Human bodies partially block the radio waves that carry the wireless signal between router and computer. Differences in shape, size and even gait among household members yield different patterns in the received Wi-Fi signals. A computer can analyze the signals to distinguish dad from mom, according to a report posted online August 11 at arXiv.org.}

Scientists built an algorithm that was nearly 95 percent accurate when attempting to discern two adults walking between a wireless router and a computer. For six people, accuracy fell to about 89 percent. Scientists tested the setup on men and women of various sizes, but it should work with children as well, says study coauthor Bin Guo of Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi’an, China.

In a home rigged with Wi-Fi and a receiver, the system could eventually identify family members and tailor heating and lighting to their preferences — maybe even cue up a favorite playlist.

{These tips below will help make your phone battery last longer so you will have more battery life. }

1. Never let your phone battery go flat because it reduces the charge the anode can hold. If your battery is almost flat, just turn off your phone.

2. Do not allow your phone to get too hot because it damages the battery’s lifespan.

3. Turn off location services like GPS .

4. Turn off push notifications for new emails and updates on social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

5. Turn off Bluetooth when not in use.

6. Lower your screen brightness.

7. Accessing data over a Wi-Fi connection consumes less power than over a mobile network connection.

8. Turn off vibration.

9. Turn off your data if you’re not using the web and don’t need frequent email updates.

10. Delete unnecessary apps.

11. Turn off camera flash.

{A new study shows that rocks formed by the grinding together of other rocks during earthquakes are rich in trapped hydrogen — a finding that suggests similar seismic activity on Mars may produce enough hydrogen to support life.}

Researchers from Yale, the University of Aberdeen, and Brock University studied rock formations around active fault lines in the Outer Hebrides, off the coast of Scotland. Their analysis appears in the journal Astrobiology.

“Previous work has suggested that hydrogen is produced during earthquakes when rocks fracture and grind together. Our measurements suggest that enough hydrogen is produced to support the growth of microorganisms around active faults,” said Yale geologist Sean McMahon, first author of the study.

While humans and other animals get their energy mainly from the reaction between oxygen and sugar, bacteria use a wide array of alternative reactions to obtain energy. The oxidation of hydrogen gas, for example, generates enough energy for bacteria deep in the Earth’s subsurface.

“Mars is not very seismically active, but our work shows that ‘Marsquakes’ could produce enough hydrogen to support small populations of microorganisms, at least for short periods of time,” McMahon said. “This is just one part of the emerging picture of the habitability of the Martian subsurface, where other sources of energy for life may also be available. The best way to find evidence of life on Mars may be to examine rocks and minerals that formed deep underground around faults and fractures, which were later brought to the surface by erosion.”

Co-authors of the paper are John Parnell of the University of Aberdeen and Nigel Blamey of Brock University.

“NASA has plans to measure seismic activity on Mars during its 2018 InSight mission, and our data will make those measurements all the more interesting,” Parnell said.

{Deep in the oceans exist some of the world’s oldest and most mysterious sea canyons and mountains, or seamounts. Formed millions of years ago by extinct volcanoes and sediment erosion, sea canyons and seamounts are biodiversity hot spots — home to many rare and endangered species.}

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today applauded President Obama’s action to use his authority under the Antiquities Act to designate the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.

Themonument, more than 100 miles southeast of Cape Cod in the northwest Atlantic Ocean, is home to undersea canyons and seamounts that comprise fragile and largely pristine deep marine ecosystems and rich biodiversity, including important deep sea corals, endangered whales and sea turtles, other marine mammals and numerous fish species.

The monument designation comes after significant engagement with local communities and fishermen.

“The United States is a leader in ocean stewardship and marine conservation,” said Secretary Pritzker. “This designation follows extensive engagement with various stakeholder groups and ensures conservation of important marine species and recognizes the strong economic and cultural value of fishing in the region. From sea level rise to ocean acidification to warming ocean temperatures, climate change is affecting our nation’s fisheries and fishing communities. Now, it is more important than ever to protect these valuable resources.”

“Today’s designation will help protect the unique geology and biodiversity of these important underwater features and wildlife species that cannot be found anywhere else in the world,” said Secretary Jewell. “This critical marine area, which serves as important habitat for pelagic fish species, corals, whales, sea turtles, sea birds and other species, will now be protected and preserved for future generations, serving as an important natural laboratory for research and enhanced understanding of the impacts of climate change on our oceans.”

The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument includes two areas: one that includes four undersea mountains — Bear, Mytilus, Physalia, and Retriever; and an area that includes three undersea canyons — Oceanographer, Lydonia, and Gilbert that cut deep into the continental shelf. The combined area is approximately 4,913 square miles. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will manage the monument.

These areas are home to deep-sea coral ecosystems with rich biodiversity and unique species. Additionally, these geographic features result in oceanographic conditions that concentrate pelagic species, including whales, dolphins, and turtles; and highly migratory fish such as tunas, bullfish, and sharks. A large number of birds also rely on this area for foraging. The purpose of the proposed monument designation is to protect these fragile and largely pristine deep-sea habitats, and species, and ecosystems. Designating the monument ensures continuing and expanded protection of the area for future generations.

Both areas have been the sites of active scientific exploration, investigation, and discovery by oceanographic researchers. The New England seamounts have been found to have many rare and native species, several of which are new to science and known to live nowhere else on Earth. Recently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s research vesselOkeanos Exploreridentified 15 species of coral in the area that had not been previously reported.

Commercial fishing, with the exception of a seven-year phase out for existing permits of the red crab fishery and the American lobster fishery, and other resource extraction activities will be prohibited within the monument boundaries. Additionally a 60-day grace period is in effect to ensure an orderly transition for all fisheries (other than red crab and American lobster) that are prohibited in the monument. Noncommercial fishing, such as recreational fishing, will be allowed in the expansion area by permit, as will scientific research.

Today’s announcement is made by the President under the authority of the Antiquities Act, a 1906 law that has been used by 16 presidents starting with President Theodore Roosevelt to protect national treasures such as the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, the C & O Canal, and Colorado’s Canyons of the Ancients. President Obama has used this authority granted by Congress now 27 times to protected hundreds of millions of acres of public lands and waters — more than any other President — and has preserved sites that help tell the story of significant people and extraordinary events in American history.

{In June 2015, when the cameras on NASA’s approaching New Horizons spacecraft first spotted the large reddish polar region on Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, mission scientists knew two things: they’d never seen anything like it elsewhere in our solar system, and they couldn’t wait to get the story behind it.}

Over the past year, after analyzing the images and other data that New Horizons has sent back from its historic July 2015 flight through the Pluto system, the scientists think they’ve solved the mystery. As they detail this week in the international scientific journal Nature, Charon’s polar coloring comes from Pluto itself — as methane gas that escapes from Pluto’s atmosphere and becomes “trapped” by the moon’s gravity and freezes to the cold, icy surface at Charon’s pole. This is followed by chemical processing by ultraviolet light from the sun that transforms the methane into heavier hydrocarbons and eventually into reddish organic materials called tholins.

“Who would have thought that Pluto is a graffiti artist, spray-painting its companion with a reddish stain that covers an area the size of New Mexico?” asked Will Grundy, a New Horizons co-investigator from Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and lead author of the paper. “Every time we explore, we find surprises. Nature is amazingly inventive in using the basic laws of physics and chemistry to create spectacular landscapes.”

The team combined analyses from detailed Charon images obtained by New Horizons with computer models of how ice evolves on Charon’s poles. Mission scientists had previously speculated that methane from Pluto’s atmosphere was trapped in Charon’s north pole and slowly converted into the reddish material, but had no models to support that theory.

The New Horizons team dug into the data to determine whether conditions on the Texas-sized moon (with a diameter of 753 miles or 1,212 kilometers) could allow the capture and processing of methane gas. The models using Pluto and Charon’s 248-year orbit around the sun show some extreme weather at Charon’s poles, where 100 years of continuous sunlight alternate with another century of continuous darkness. Surface temperatures during these long winters dip to -430 Fahrenheit (-257 Celsius), cold enough to freeze methane gas into a solid.

“The methane molecules bounce around on Charon’s surface until they either escape back into space or land on the cold pole, where they freeze solid, forming a thin coating of methane ice that lasts until sunlight comes back in the spring,” Grundy said. But while the methane ice quickly sublimates away, the heavier hydrocarbons created from it remain on the surface.

The models also suggested that in Charon’s springtime the returning sunlight triggers conversion of the frozen methane back into gas. But while the methane ice quickly sublimates away, the heavier hydrocarbons created from this evaporative process remain on the surface.

Sunlight further irradiates those leftovers into reddish material — called tholins — that has slowly accumulated on Charon’s poles over millions of years. New Horizons’ observations of Charon’s other pole, currently in winter darkness — and seen by New Horizons only by light reflecting from Pluto, or “Pluto-shine” — confirmed that the same activity was occurring at both poles.

“This study solves one of the greatest mysteries we found on Charon, Pluto’s giant moon,” said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute, and a study co-author. “And it opens up the possibility that other small planets in the Kuiper Belt with moons may create similar, or even more extensive ‘atmospheric transfer’ features on their moons.”