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Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / What other Innovation Arms Races do you know, between humans & animals?

« on: 08/10/2022 01:30:18 »

A recent story in TNS podcast talked about the innovation arms race in Sydney between cockatoos (a kind of parrot) and humans (a kind of hominin) and their wheelie bins (a kind of garbage bin).
https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/cockatoos-become-bin-raiding-menace

The story mentioned the lack of similar examples in the literature (apart from squirrels and bird-feeders), so I thought we could pool some ideas...

To start off: One that springs to mind is the complexity of opening garbage bins in Alaska. The bears are very good at opening garbage bins.

I heard of one ranger who said "there is an overlap between the intelligence of the brightest bears and the dumbest tourists...".

So perhaps Yogi Bear might be another documented case? (but kids cartoons are not peer-reviewed scientific literature...)

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The Environment / Has atmospheric CO2 steadily reduced over the past 140 Million years?

« on: 01/09/2022 10:41:35 »

On social media, I see claims that atmospheric CO2 has steadily reduced over the past 140 Million years, with today's 412 ppm being abnormally low.

I tried searching for information on this, but all I could find were records for <1 million years ago.

So is it an urban myth, or is there some real data around for this time period?

Thanks...

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / MOVED: Dark Energy As Radiation Pressure (article)

« on: 19/06/2022 09:57:26 »

This topic has been moved to New Theories.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=85000.0

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Question of the Week / Can the Earth be used as a dynamo?

« on: 28/04/2022 10:28:10 »

Linda asks: Can the spinning of the Earth be used as a source of electricity, similar to the spinning of wind turbines?

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COVID-19 / Could the BCG Tuberculosis vaccine reduce the severity of COVID-19?

« on: 22/06/2021 05:03:27 »

There are hints that countries which routinely vaccinate against tuberculosis have a lower death rate from COVID-19.
- East Germany continued BCG vaccinations long after West Germany - and the COVID death rate is significantly lower in East Germany.
- Very high COVID death rates were expected in poor tropical countries. Apart from India, rates have not been enormously high. But these same countries have high levels of BCG vaccination. (Note that the coverage of diagnosis and quality of reporting is suspect in many of these countries).
- Is this coincidence or causation?

Clinical trials are underway, but no results published yet.

For an optimistic interview with an expert (start about 2/3 of the way through): https://after-on.com/episodes-31-60/056
For a more cautious view: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCG_vaccine#COVID-19

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / How do galactic jets form?

« on: 02/04/2021 09:57:15 »

Some additional analysis of data from the Event Horizon Telescope images of the M87 supermassive black hole revealed information about the magnetic fields in the accretion disk.

How do these magnetic fields propel the matter jets produced by active galactic nuclei?

See: https://scitechdaily.com/astronomers-polarized-image-shows-magnetic-fields-at-the-edge-of-m87s-black-hole/

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That CAN'T be true! / MOVED: Re: How can a question be fake news?

« on: 21/03/2021 09:30:35 »

This topic has been moved to COVID-19.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=81506.0

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COVID-19 / Has Europe declared a "Vaccine BREXIT"?

« on: 28/02/2021 20:20:03 »

Recently, the heads of Germany and France have come out strongly against deploying the Oxford University/Astra-Zeneca vaccine in their respective countries.

Are there objective reasons for this, or is it just another victim of BREXIT-19?

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COVID-19 / Could a nebulizer spread COVID-19?

« on: 14/02/2021 08:36:44 »

A recent outbreak of COVID-19 in a Melbourne quarantine hotel is blamed on a quarantine "guest" using a nebulizer for asthma.

Virus apparently spread from one room to the corridor and other rooms across the corridor, as well as other parts of the hotel. And yet security video showed that people did not sneak out of their rooms.

Could the fine mist of a nebulizer spread SARS-COV2 on droplets?

Start video at 25 seconds:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-11/how-did-a-nebuliser-contribute-to-victorias-hotel/13146434?nw=0
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebulizer

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Is the Milky Way galaxy blowing bubbles?

« on: 07/02/2021 03:30:28 »

On South African phone-in radio this week, Dr Chris Smith was asked a question about giant bubbles extending above and below the disk of the Milky Way galaxy. The caller could not provide any more information, leaving the question open.

I am wondering if the caller was referring to the "Fermi Bubbles", which were discovered in 2010 by a space Gamma-Ray telescope?
- These do extend above and below the plane of the Milky Way galaxy, by about 25,000 light-years (about the same distance as between the Sun and the center of the Milky Way)
- There have been tantalizing reports from the Ice Cube neutrino telescope of unusually high-energy neutrinos coming from the general direction of the Fermi bubbles
- A more recent paper presented in mid 2020 claimed that astronomers have now been able to detect these Fermi Bubbles in visible light, which will provide far higher resolution measurements of velocity (via Doppler shift) than you can get with a Gamma-Ray telescope

Many radio galaxies had previously been observed, with elongated sources of radio emission extending from the center of the galaxy.
- This could be a polar jet emitted as a "burp" from the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy, after it had an oversized meal
- The Milky Way's supermassive black hole is currently rather quiet, but the presence of these Fermi Bubbles suggests that perhaps it was more active in the past, blowing large amounts of matter into space?

See: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200603120542.htm
Images: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Fermi_Bubbles

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COVID-19 / Does a high prevalence of virus in the community lead to a higher mutation rate?

« on: 12/01/2021 20:14:43 »

There has been an extensive "family tree" of SARS-COV2 RNA sequences created since the Wuhan RNA sequence was leaked provided to scientists outside China.

The common statistic quoted is that "SARS-COV2 virus incurs about 1-2 mutations per month".
- This is derived by looking at the RNA sequence in 1 patient, and counting the days back to the previously recorded ancestor of that virus
- That suggests to me that if there are average of 10 people infected over a month, we would expect to see 10-20 mutations appear throughout the 30,000 bases of this RNA genome
- However, if there are an average of 1 million people infected over a month, there would be 1-2 million mutations appearing. Since the genome is only 30,000 bases long, some of these mutations would make the same change to the same base, so they would be indistinguishable

If there are more mutations, it seems to me that there is an increased chance that one of these mutations (or a combination of them) would make the virus more transmissible, or change it in ways that evade the immune system or the vaccine.

Is this a reasonable scenario?
- Does having more infected people mean that there will be more total mutations in a given month?
- Does allowing the virus to roam freely increase the chance that mutations will create a new strain that needs a different vaccine?
- Have the governments in multiple countries just destroyed the effectiveness of the vaccines of which they were so proud?

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COVID-19 / Could COVID-19 cause Psychological problems?

« on: 30/12/2020 22:20:56 »

A few instances of COVID-19 infection possibly causing psychotic episodes months later?
- Another reason to minimize infection rates until a vaccine arrives!

See: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/28/health/covid-psychosis-mental.html

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COVID-19 / Which COVID-19 candidate vaccines have been abandoned, and why?

« on: 11/12/2020 21:19:44 »

This week, a COVID-19 vaccine candidate from University of Queensland (UQ) and vaccine maker CSL was abandoned, even though Phase 1 safety trials showed that it was safe, and produced a good immune response to the SARS-COV-2 virus.

The reason was that this vaccine (falsely) triggered a weak positive result in commonly-used HIV tests.
- This reduces the effectiveness of AIDS testing that is vital for maintaining public health (AIDS had caused a previous, slow-burn pandemic)
- The vaccine did not contain HIV virus particles, and could not cause AIDS

The false-positive HIV result came from a "clamp" protein used to hold the SARS-COV2 spike protein in the correct shape as part of the SARS-COV2 vaccine. This clamp protein was inspired by a well-studied protein in HIV.
- The researchers were aware of this possibility, and tested for it, and included it on the approval forms signed by the participants.
- Since there were other vaccines which have passed phase 3 trials, and are proven effective against SARS-COV2 virus, they decided to abandon the UQ/CSL vaccine.

See: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-11/how-the-uq-covid-19-vaccine-induces-false-positive-hiv-results/12975048

PS: Some people have doubt about the quality of the testing used for COVID-19 vaccines, or political pressure encouraging shortcuts. Examples of cases where the the decision has been made to abandon or modify a vaccine might improve public confidence in the process and the product.

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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Could the rings of Saturn be a good place to find fossils?

« on: 25/11/2020 10:19:40 »

Astrobiologists would love to have a space mission to explore the ice moons of Enceledus (circling Saturn) and Ganymede (circling Jupiter).

These moons have a liquid water ocean beneath their thick icy shell. But to get to the liquid ocean, you would need a big drilling rig. (...where is Bruce Willis when you need him?)

However, the rings of Saturn may be the remnants of an icy moon which was tidally disrupted after drifting too close to Saturn(?)

So if life ever existed there, whatever used to live deep in the ocean is now frozen into the surface of the icebergs circling Saturn, much more easily accessible! A laser sampler could look for evidence of organic chemicals frozen into these iceblocks. A hammer could extract samples for closer investigation.

Of course, that space mission would need to compete for funds with a mission to study organic chemicals from the "Tiger Stripes" of Enceladus.
https://science.nasa.gov/fresh-tiger-stripes-saturns-enceladus

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COVID-19 / Do we need an international certificate of COVID vaccination?

« on: 24/11/2020 08:59:34 »

Vaccinations are mandatory for travellers to (or from) countries where certain diseases are endemic (eg yellow fever).
- Vaccinations are mandatory or recommended for people in certain occupations
- This is indicated by a certificate of vaccination

Will we need a to show a certificate of COVID vaccination before we travel internationally, or take certain activities?
- What form of certificate would be most widely recognized?
- Will there be an App for that?

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COVID-19 / Could we diagnose SARS-COV2 with a downloaded App on our phones?

« on: 13/11/2020 07:46:43 »

Some researchers are using AI techniques to analyze the sound of a forced cough, in an attempt to diagnose SARS-COV2.
- They claim to be able to diagnose asymptomatic cases too...
- In fact, some researchers claim that asymptomatic cases are easier to detect, because the symptomatic COVID-19 cases are hard to disentangle from colds, flu, hayfever or asthma!

If the claims are fulfilled in practice, this could be as accurate as some of the antibody tests that have been promoted in the past 6 months, as well as quicker (30s vs 15 minutes), cheaper (no disposable devices), no need for trained medical staff, and probably less intrusive (able to be performed at home every day before you go to work or school).

I'm not sure how traditional medical regulatory bodies would deal with a downloadable app developed amongst the empty pizza boxes and cola cans...
- Compared to a traditional medical device developed and manufactured under cleanroom conditions by people with medical PhDs...

What do you think?
See: https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/artificial-intelligence/medical-ai/ai-recognizes-covid-19-in-the-sound-of-a-cough

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Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / How does your dog recognize you?

« on: 24/10/2020 01:45:02 »

Many people say that their dog recognizes them

On Naked Neuroscience this week, they reported on a story comparing the responses of dog and human brains to images of (dog and human faces) vs the back of (dog and human) heads.
- They used an MRI machine to study human and dog(!) brains
- They reported that while humans have a distinct brain region for recognizing individuals, dogs do not.
- This finding suggests that dogs do not recognize people by sight, but by other senses.
See/Listen: https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/can-dogs-recognise-their-owners-faces

Recently, I was on the far end of a Zoom meeting, and my wife reported that as soon as my voice came through, our dog started hunting around. This suggests that my dog can recognize my voice.

My dog also recognizes when my wife arrives in her car - also sound-oriented.

From playing various "hide and seek" games with my dog, I can see that my dog is very smell-oriented; when he gets near his target, he can home in very quickly. They have an advantage over humans, as dogs can "smell around corners".

How does your dog recognize you?

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COVID-19 / Could Interferon deficiency lead to severe COVID-19?

« on: 25/09/2020 23:06:12 »

Some suggestions are around that lack of immediate interferon response to coronavirus infection may lead to severe COVID-19 a week or so later.

The reduced interferon type 1 response may be due to mutations in interferon, or antibodies against interferon (which disable it).

Could Interferon deficiency lead to severe COVID-19?

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interferon
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-020-00306-4

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COVID-19 / Should DNA printers and PCR machines become mandatory on cruise ships?

« on: 13/09/2020 22:21:25 »

There were several severe outbreaks of COVID-19 on cruise ships - one was quarantined in Japan for a month, while another disembarked many cases in Sydney without testing.
- The confusion in Sydney seemed to be caused by the assumption of port staff in Sydney that if there were any COVID-19 cases on board, they would have been diagnosed on board and notified
- At that time, there were no commercially available antibody tests for COVID-19 (and the ones that are available 6 months later have questionable accuracy); even if there were one available, you could not practically deliver to a ship  at sea.
- Or, indeed, to doctors in many countries around the world

So that leaves the possibility of diagnosis via PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction to multiply small DNA/RNA samples), which can work for any pathogen, including a novel coronavirus. This has been the gold standard for COVID-19 diagnosis on land-based laboratories. But is this technology now small enough and cheap enough (and robust enough) to install on a cruise ship?

Then you have the problem of detecting the new pathogen. This could be done by sequencing all the DNA in the sample, and looking for snippets of the new pathogen. Would these expensive machines be affected by the motion of a ship at sea?

Or could you synthesize RNA or single-stranded DNA for a characteristic snippet of the new pathogen, anchor it to some glassware, and wash the PCR-multiplied DNA over it? This might allow detection of a new pathogen without a full DNA sequencing capability.

If future disease outbreaks are also accompanied by rapid publication of a pathogen genome, would cheap and robust PCR+DNA synthesis allow rapid testing and diagnosis in remote locations like cruise ships (and in many countries around the world)?

PS: I have a vested interest in this - I quite enjoy cruising, and I would like to return as soon as it is safe (after a tested vaccine becomes available!).

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / MOVED: Question About Riemann Spheres

« on: 16/07/2020 22:45:38 »

This topic has been moved to New Theories.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=80042.0