Our universe is so rad!

[Norah]

hasn't everyone had that thought in the 10th grade?

[E.H. Ruddock]

But have you really thought about it?

[hlniv]

[hlniv]

[nyquillyn]

Really looking forward to hearing Kip Thorne and Frank Wilczek speak at this panel discussion at ASU.

https://origins.asu.edu/panel-einsteins ... relativity

[dimejinky99]

NASA have an alien protection plan in case we get visited

http://discovermagazine.com/2014/nov/22 ... ction-plan

[Simple Torture]

NBD, just a new planet on the very edge of the solar system: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/ ... lar-system

[LoathedVermin72]

[nyquillyn]

This is cool!

Converted milk proteins clean pollution; Amyloid fibers can snatch contaminants from water, scientists find

Tenacious proteins similar to those implicated in Alzheimer’s disease could help purify polluted water. A newly designed membrane uses thin amyloid protein fibers to pull heavy metals and radioactive wastes out of water. The membranes can capture more than their own weight in some contaminants, scientists in Switzerland report January 25 in Nature Nanotechnology.

“I think what’s really interesting in this study is that it actually used a protein material, which is novel,” says Qilin Li, an environmental engineer at Rice University in Houston who was not involved in the study. Specifically, the team converted milk proteins into fibers of durable amyloid protein. Other amyloids are infamous for building up in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, but the team put their amyloids’ sticky tendrils to different use.

When paired with strong, porous carbon in a membrane, the lab-made amyloids successfully filtered over 99 percent of toxic materials out of solutions that mimicked severely polluted waters, the scientists report. The amyloids trapped particles of lead and mercury at a molecular site that is involved in turning the original milk protein into its pasty form. Radioactive waste particles also got tangled in the membranes. And the membranes snagged gold contaminants, which the team found could later be recovered and purified. A membrane with less than 6 milligrams of amyloids could trap 100 milligrams of gold, the scientists report.

It’s exciting to see that the amyloids can hold more than their own mass in heavy metal particles, says Li. More typical membrane materials, she says, would grab only a fraction of their weight in pollutants.

The membranes could be developed for small- or large-scale water purification units, says study coauthor Raffaele Mezzenga, a physicist at ETH Zurich. Mezzenga estimates the technology would cost roughly one dollar per every thousand liters of water filtered. And a membrane can recover hundreds of times its own value in precious metals, Mezzenga says. The membrane design is simple and flexible, and could be adjusted to optimize cleanup or metal recovery, he says.

Li says the membranes will need to be tested and optimized in real polluted waters, which may have chemical complications such as high or low acidities. But the amyloids’ performance is encouraging, she says, and the proteins’ contaminant-trapping capabilities could inspire other researchers developing contaminant filters.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/con ... trike-gold

[Simple Torture]

So, uh, this: http://www.avclub.com/article/bobs-neil ... :1:Default

B.o.B.’s Neil DeGrasse Tyson diss track definitively proves the Earth is flat

[Norah]

So, uh, this: http://www.avclub.com/article/bobs-neil ... :1:Default

B.o.B.’s Neil DeGrasse Tyson diss track definitively proves the Earth is flat

Ruddo, your rebuttal?

[E.H. Ruddock]

So, uh, this: http://www.avclub.com/article/bobs-neil ... :1:Default

B.o.B.’s Neil DeGrasse Tyson diss track definitively proves the Earth is flat

Ruddo, your rebuttal?

These are the kinds of things that make perfectly normal people go on rampages, Pete.

[nyquillyn]

But seriously, most Flat Earthers generally don't believe the Earth is actually flat, right?

It's just more about questioning the scientific method.

[E.H. Ruddock]

But seriously, most Flat Earthers generally don't believe the Earth is actually flat, right?

It's just more about questioning the scientific method.

No, they actually believe it is flat and there is a conspiracy. Not sure what that conspiracy would be but whatever.

[Norah]

But seriously, most Flat Earthers generally don't believe the Earth is actually flat, right?

It's just more about questioning the scientific method.

No, they actually believe it is flat and there is a conspiracy. Not sure what that conspiracy would be but whatever.

Yeah, I always assumed that the term Flat Earthers was more of a metaphorical thing. Then I started reading about them.

[Strat]

Kind of like Christians against Dinosaurs

[nyquillyn]

Kind of like Christians against Dinosaurs

[Rangi Guy]

Kind of like Christians against Dinosaurs

[chuck taylor]

LIGO press conference on 2/11, 10:30 EST

http://www.ligo.org/news/media-advisory.php

[chuck taylor]

Looks like they found something statistically significant. This should be good for a Nobel prize a few years down the road

"On Thursday it's predicted that LIGO scientists will announce the first clear evidence of gravitational waves, rumoured to have come from the merging of two huge black holes. And if the number of press conferences are anything to go by, we're in for something exciting, with simultaneous announcements scheduled in Washington DC, Livingston, London, and Paris, as well as an online broadcast."

http://www.sciencealert.com/physicists- ... s-thursday