1

Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Re: Is there enough lithium?

« on: 01/06/2023 10:16:30 »

Apparently, Lithium has no significant new sources in the whole universe...
- Lithium was produced in the early universe, making up 10^-9 of matter from the Big Bang
- When Lithium finds its way into the core of stars, it is rapidly fused into heavier elements (ie the amount is reducing)
- When stars fuse lighter elements, they "skip over" Lithium, so no new Lithium is being produced in stars

So, it is important to wisely use what Lithium we have (and recycle what we no longer use)...
- Lithium is great for mobile applications, due to its low density
- But for stationary power storage, other chemistries are becoming competitive, like flow batteries

2

COVID-19 / Re: What's included in protein-based vaccines?

« on: 29/05/2023 11:11:36 »

Every virus has a different set of proteins, so vaccines for different viruses need to emulate different proteins in order to create an effective immune response.
- But a useful target is the protein by which a virus enters the human (or animal) cell. Gum that up with antibodies, and the virus can't infect a cell - these are called neutralising antibodies.

Ultimately, the mRNA vaccines are also protein vaccines - they expose a protein to the immune system, which then targets that protein with antibodies.
- The difference is that the mRNA sequence provides the template from which the target protein is manufactured by ribosomes.

If you are talking about COVID specifically:

Like other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 has four structural proteins, known as the S (spike), E (envelope), M (membrane), and N (nucleocapsid) proteins; the N protein holds the RNA genome, and the S, E, and M proteins together create the viral envelope.

The only proteins exposed to the immune system are S, E & M.
- Most existing vaccines target the Spike (S) protein, to create neutralising antibodies.
- Someone who has been infected will also develop antibodies to E & M proteins. These won't neutralise the virus, but they will draw the attention of the immune system to an infection.

3

Chemistry / Re: Silicon based Life?

« on: 18/05/2023 10:41:48 »

Why haven't We seen any Fossilised Evidence of of (Silicon based Life) as Yet?

How do you know? We walk on silicon-based rocks all the time! We don't have any criteria for recognising any that may once have been alive.

As BC mentions above, at room temperature, silicates are solid, but 100km or so beneath our feet, they become plastic, and might show characteristics like movement, metabolism, reproduction, etc.
- Volcanic action can bring up rock samples from these depths, but we would just see it as a solid volcanic rock.
       - What would limit life is the amount of available energy:
       - At the surface of the Earth, we have a solar energy input of about 700W/m²
       - Under the oceans, heat flow is around 0.1 W/m² (and only 0.6 W/m² through the crust), although there are big variations, such as at volcanoes and mid-oceanic ridges.
       - This 4 orders of magnitude difference in available energy suggests that any life processes down there might be extremely slow

Perhaps we could keep our eyes out for some form of information storage: a silicate-based genetic code in rocks, which would provide the instructions for reproducing a silicate-based life form?

4

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: BLC 1 Signal from Proxima Centauri?

« on: 17/05/2023 22:45:07 »

Radio Telescopes in Deep space?
Or on the ' Other ' side of the Moon?

If you put a radiotelescope on the other side of the Moon, there is no line-of-sight back to Earth, so no easy way to relay back results for detailed analysis.

In practise, various countries are putting relay satellites in orbit around the Moon, so they can relay messages from experiments on the other side of the Moon back to Earth (eg China's Yutu-2 rover). If it is simultaneously visible from Earth and the Far side of the Moon, then it is in view of a conceptual radiotelescope there.

But perhaps technology will come to our aid - various satellite operators are using optical communications to carry the increasing flood of data collected from space, including LEO broadband satellite constellations, NASA missions, and military satellites.

5

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Can Light Experience 'Time'

« on: 15/05/2023 09:56:05 »

in an expanding universe, light will be redshifted...a photon experiences time because it does have a property that can change

That is a fairly slow rate of change, not easily observable within a lab.

Another property that can change more rapidly with time is the amplitude of the electric and magnetic fields of a coherent light beam. In the absence of any measurable expansion of the local universe in the time that light takes to cross the lab, a light beam in a vacuum will keep the same amplitude, frequency and direction (ok - you need to ignore Earth's gravity too!). Since these are the main characteristics of light, the light itself is not changed by the passage of time.

Similarly, if you slow down light by putting it through glass or water, any light that managed to avoid absorption, scattering or reflection will be effectively identical to what went in, so they are unchanged by the "experience". Since there is no change, there is no experience of time (for the light itself).

6

Question of the Week / QotW - 23.05.05 - How fast does evolution happen?

« on: 06/05/2023 03:43:41 »

On today's podcast, a listener asked how long does it take a mutation to spread through a population?
In summary, the answer was: Evolution can be very fast or very slow.

7

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Forgotten vocabulary - a thing being pulled apart by tidal forces.

« on: 09/04/2023 10:00:27 »

A month ago, I had the privilege of seeing 47 Tucanae (in the Toucan constellation) from a dark-sky park - it's a spectacular globular cluster.
- It's about 7% of the distance to the small Magellenic Cloud, which means that tidal effects from the Milky Way will be around 3,000 times stronger.
- However, this very dense concentration of stars has (so far) resisted tidal disruption, perhaps aided by the presence of a central black hole (not yet firmly established).
- It is possible that this is the core of a small galaxy, and that all of the outer stars have already been stripped off.
- The Gaia satellite has been able to spot stellar streams from other torn-apart globular clusters, but to date none have been detected from 47 Tucanae

This video from ESA starts with the Small Magellanic Cloud, and then zooms in on 47 Tucanae

8

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Forgotten vocabulary - a thing being pulled apart by tidal forces.

« on: 07/04/2023 11:25:29 »

Roche Limit.

There is a series of science fiction stories set on "Rocheworld" - a double planet which almost at the point of being torn apart, set against the very peculiar geography that might result...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocheworld

9

General Science / Re: [Asking ChatGPT] Why would LED ligths in cargo ship is a good idea?

« on: 28/03/2023 09:49:54 »

Today I heard a story about someone who became an editor at a major newspaper, just 2 years after graduation...
- She was editor of AI
- It turns out that the AI was writing the news stories, and her editors job was to detect and correct (or delete) the AI hallucinations...

The story is here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/if-ai-starts-making-music-on-its-own-what-happens-to-musicians/#transcripts-body

10

Physiology & Medicine / Re: Marburg?

« on: 27/03/2023 20:33:01 »

Monkeys are closely related to humans, so whatever infects monkeys can easily infect us (especially if humans eat the monkeys!).

Among mammals, bats have a very unusual immune system - perhaps tied to their very high metabolic rate (needed for flight).
- They harbour a lot of viruses (eg coronaviruses), but they don't seem to be severely affected.
- Bats are not closely related to humans, so these viruses are less likely to infect humans (or be transmitted amongst humans)
- But humans in rural areas of Asia do go into bat caves to collect guano as fertiliser (and often don't wear masks) - antibody testing have shown that many villagers  have antibodies against coronaviruses - even before COVID!
- Humans also eat bats

11

Technology / Re: How did they make the first screw?

« on: 19/03/2023 19:52:09 »

You have just invented CNC machining.

North Korea discovered CNC machining - and wax lyrical about it (the chorus is recognizable by English-speakers, and starts at 24 seconds).
- A decade ago, this was one of their most popular songs...

12

The Environment / Re: Is it not time to question pet ownership?

« on: 19/03/2023 01:20:07 »

During Wilson’s testimony, senator John Pastore bluntly asked, "Is there anything connected with the hopes of this accelerator that in any way involves the security of the country?"

"No, sir, I don’t believe so," Wilson replied.

"It has no value in that respect?"

"It has only to do with the respect with which we regard one another, the dignity of man, our love of culture. It has to do with: Are we good painters, good sculptors, great poets? I mean all the things we really venerate in our country and are patriotic about. It has nothing to do directly with defending our country except to make it worth defending."

From: https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201804/history.cfm

13

COVID-19 / Re: can i have a full run down on spike protiens please?

« on: 18/03/2023 20:53:04 »

I think that "spike protein" only hit the public press since COVID hit the public press in early 2020.

Google ngram says discussion about "spike protein" has been around a lot longer:

ngram_Spike_protein.png (13.15 kB . 1076x378 - viewed 1219 times)
 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=spike+protein&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3

The Coronavirus family of viruses is notable for their crown-shaped appearance under an electron microscope, with spikes sticking out, like a jewelled crown ("corona" comes from Latin, and means "crown"). These spikes are how coronaviruses mate with cells, and then enter them to infect them. The proteins which make up these spike are called Spike (S) proteins.

Other viruses have a variety of different shapes, and different mechanisms for entering a cell.
- Tobacco Mosaic Virus (one of the first to have its structure deduced, using X-Ray crystallography). It looks like a packet of cigarettes (no spike), when crystallised.
- Ebola looks like a bowl of spaghetti (no visible spike)
- Influenza virus does have projecting proteins, but they are described as hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N) proteins, hence variants of influenza are described like H5N1.

>correction from bored chemist

14

Technology / Re: Are solar panels worthwhile?

« on: 16/03/2023 09:00:13 »

I had a look at my electricity bill recently...
- The amount of kWh I export to the grid..
- Is roughly the same as the amount of kWh I import from the grid (but at different hours)
- The bill doesn't tell me how much I consume onsite, without exporting to the grid

I installed the solar panels 2 years ago, by which time all the really attractive sell deals had been scrapped.
- So I get paid a lot less for electricity exported to the grid than the electricity consumed from the grid
- But I'm happy that my electricity consumption is now fairly much carbon-neutral (averaged over a week or so)

...now all we need is a good grid-scale battery technology to align peak production (around midday) with peak consumption (around 7am/7pm).

15

Chemistry / Re: Can glucose be synthesized without organic inputs as sources?

« on: 13/03/2023 09:16:57 »

There is apparently quite a lot of Ethanol in molecular dust clouds...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_interstellar_and_circumstellar_molecules#Nine_atoms_(10)

16

Chemistry / Re: Can glucose be synthesized without organic inputs as sources?

« on: 12/03/2023 07:29:37 »

A wide variety of organic chemicals have been discovered in space, presumably formed in dust clouds from inorganic sources.

Glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆) is a fairly complex molecule; to date detection has not been reported in space, but a number of other molecules with 6 or more carbons have been discovered.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_interstellar_and_circumstellar_molecules#Ten_or_more_atoms_(21)

17

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Do you change the spectrum of radiation inside an oven if you change its shape?

« on: 10/03/2023 21:57:51 »

Multiple modes can be put to good use by making the second cavity tunable.
- This allows selection of one mode amongst many possibilities
- By selecting different modes in different devices, you can have many different devices transmitting on the same optical fiber, increasing the fiber capacity by a factor of 10 to 100: "Wavelength Division Multiplexing"
- If the independent wavelengths are closer together, then better control over wavelength accuracy and stability is needed (ie more cost)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wavelength-division_multiplexing

Today, Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFA) are used to amplify a wide range of wavelengths (other exotic elements like Thulium, Praseodymium and Ytterbium are also usable).
- This is effectively a laser without a cavity, and it is able to amplify all wavelengths in a Wavelength Division Multiplexing system.
- See EDFA at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_amplifier

18

Just Chat! / Re: How Human Morality 'Evolves'...

« on: 10/03/2023 21:12:57 »

diversity, which is counter-evolutionary.

Isn't diversity the basis of new species?
- In this case, we are talking about "cultural species", rather than the more biological genetic species..

How we can have multiple cultural species coexisting in the same country or city is a challenge, which is where the tolerance for "diversity" comes in.
- The government is likely to be less tolerant of diversity when it comes to paying taxes
- Otherwise there will be a rapid and overwhelming evolutionary pressure for people to join the "no taxes" sect
- Soon after which, the government bureaucracy and social infrastructure will crumble and chaos ensue...

There is still opportunity for diversity between countries, eg:
- High-taxing Scandinavian countries
- Medium-taxing Australia & UK
- Low tax USA
- Near-zero tax in some Caribbean tax havens (but near-zero services, too)

19

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Do you change the spectrum of radiation inside an oven if you change its shape?

« on: 10/03/2023 08:04:10 »

Lasers have a 1-dimensional cavity, for which there are several modes.
- Cheap semiconductor laser pointers continually jump between these modes
- More expensive lasers for telecommunications often have a second optical cavity coupled to the first; only one mode is able to resonate in both cavities, reducing interference due to the different speed of light of different modes when traversing an optical fiber.

This video shows mode changes every few seconds in a green laser.

This page shows a typical laser spectrum, averaged over time - but in practice, not all of these resonances are there at the same time.
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-laser-spectrum-at-t-6-nsec-Axial-cavity-modes-are-visible-in-the-laser-spectrum_fig4_321257044

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Do you change the spectrum of radiation inside an oven if you change its shape?

« on: 10/03/2023 06:51:48 »

The only way radiation of those frequencies could have got into the cavity would be when the oven door was opened

If you are looking at the spectrum excited by the cavity magnetron, it spans a range of about 10MHz (it jumps around between different modes inside the magnetron).
- So there are a number of modes that might be excited by the magnetron
- To minimise uneven heating due to standing waves, microwave ovens often have a rotating platform for the food, or else a mode stirrer (like a metal fan, but usually out of sight)

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Magnetron-spectrum-without-PLL-control-and-with-full-heater-power-68-W_fig4_3074637