Nobody Cares! (Science & Tech Edition)

[Innula Zenovka]

There is so much wrong with his. We actually have a pretty good evolutionary history of the eye, and it's not mysterious. Lots of the examples here are SUPER stretching things. Like the Senegal bichir is not “adapting to land in a single generation”, any more than a caterpillar is adapting to the air.

Obviously I don't know much about it, but it seems to me the cases of the Senegal bichir and the caterpillar are rather different, in that the caterpillar is at a normal stage of the butterfly or moth's life cycle, while a Senegal bichir's anatomy changes in response to a specific environmental change -- if you don't take them out the water, then those changes don't take place, and they stay as they are for the whole of their lives.

Presumably if the Senegal bichirs' environment changes radically and the water in which they live is no longer there, within a few generations we'll see populations of land-dwelling bichers with legs.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

Obviously I don't know much about it, but it seems to me the cases of the Senegal bichir and the caterpillar are rather different, in that the caterpillar is at a normal stage of the butterfly or moth's life cycle, while a Senegal bichir's anatomy changes in response to a specific environmental change -- if you don't take them out the water, then those changes don't take place, and they stay as they are for the whole of their lives.

It's still an evolved ability to adapt, not evolution happening in one generation.

 

[Free]

They're teasing us!

NASA scientists say images from the Webb telescope nearly brought them to tears

Deep field images of the universe, exoplanet atmospheres, and more to be unveiled.

arstechnica.com

"The images are being taken right now," said Thomas Zurbuchen, who leads NASA's scientific programs, during a news conference on Wednesday. "There is already some amazing science in the can, and some others are yet to be taken as we go forward. We are in the middle of getting the history-making data down."

NASA said it plans to release several images beginning at 10:30 am ET (14:30 UTC) on July 12, the result of Webb's "first light" observations. On Wednesday, space agency officials said the images and other data would include the deepest-field image of the universe ever taken—looking further into the cosmos than humans ever have before—as well as the spectrum of an atmosphere around an exoplanet.

NASA's deputy administrator, Pam Melroy, said she was blown away by the images Webb has produced so far. "What I have seen moved me, as a scientist, as an engineer, and as a human being," she said.

 

[Noodles]

I kind of want to see if I can build one in Second Life now.

Especially since I learned how to use captured spheres to make proper pendulums.

 

[Sid]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

That reminds me of an examination question that I heard some of my mathematician friends discussing after sitting an examination in fluid mechanics back at university.

As I recall, it concerned an indigenous hunter who was hunting game with a blowpipe and curare-tipped darts in the Amazon rain forest.

Given various data about the shape of the dart, the viscosity of the curare, how thickly it was spread on the dart, and so on, candidates had to discuss with equations how the curare coating on the dart would deform as the dart travelled from the end of the blowpipe to its target.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

Given various data about the shape of the dart, the viscosity of the curare, how thickly it was spread on the dart, and so on, candidates had to discuss with equations how the curare coating on the dart would deform as the dart travelled from the end of the blowpipe to its target.

It's a stiff paste so it probably won't be subject to detectable deformation.

But then actual cows are not actually spherical, so carry on.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

It's a stiff paste so it probably won't be subject to detectable deformation.

But then actual cows are not actually spherical, so carry on.

I did say it was a maths exam, not natural sciences.

 

[Free]

NASA to showcase Webb space telescope's first full-color images

The first batch of photos took weeks to process from raw telescope data, and may offer a glimpse at what Webb will capture on future science missions.

www.reuters.com

Drawing back the curtain to a photo gallery unlike any other, NASA will soon present the first full-color images from its James Webb Space Telescope, a revolutionary apparatus designed to peer through the cosmos to the dawn of the universe.

The highly anticipated unveiling this week of pictures and spectroscopic data from the newly operational observatory follows a six-month process of remotely unfurling various components, aligning its mirrors and calibrating instruments.

 

[Free]

NASA to showcase Webb space telescope's first full-color images

The first batch of photos took weeks to process from raw telescope data, and may offer a glimpse at what Webb will capture on future science missions.

www.reuters.com

Webb’s first image reveals fine details of galaxies from billions of years ago

This telescope is one of humanity's great engineering achievements."

arstechnica.com

It's impressive, but I guess I was expecting something more. Like I dunno, alien graffiti?

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

 

[Noodles]

It's impressive, but I guess I was expecting something more. Like I dunno, alien graffiti?

A quote in the article that makes it impressive.

It saif something "The image represents an area the size of a grain of sand held at arms length."

Plus I think they are galaxies not stars, but I may be wrong on that one. Which seems really nutty. Thats like, a lot of stars. An astronomical amount even.

 

[Govi]

The video in this tweet gives a true vision of just how incredibly good and fine and excellent is that deep field image from Webb.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

 

[Free]

Or, a really really REALLY tiny galaxy in front of it!

 

[Soen Eber]

/me counts the months before it's used in a Sci-Fi show with a starship blasting out of it. It really is amazing.

And gorgeous, now that I learned how to spell it correctly. Gorg + the usual French bit.

 

[Free]

Webb’s first image reveals fine details of galaxies from billions of years ago

This telescope is one of humanity's great engineering achievements."

arstechnica.com

It's impressive, but I guess I was expecting something more. Like I dunno, alien graffiti?

This is more like it!

Marvel at the first batch of full-color images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope

New images from the universe just dropped

www.theverge.com

 

[Isabeau]

This is more like it!

Marvel at the first batch of full-color images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope

New images from the universe just dropped

www.theverge.com

Looks like a balloon animal.

 

[Isabeau]